The Cousin in the Courtyard

From: Gerry To: Emma Date: August 16, 2009 Dear Emma, Hello!  Let me first respond to this essay about Ollie the dog.  You took a true-life occurrence and mined it for the deeper meanings present in the moment, and also applied those lessons to further, more abstract, realizations.  Often allegories are just fables and fairy-tales used to illustrate lessons (such as my Jack Frost story).  Yet you took a REAL occurrence and in a way, turned it into an allegory for a deeper and more universal message.  It wasn’t just that you found the “moral” or “lesson” of the story.  You found the next level up, the universal principle which was embodied in the specific example.  You did this by being attentive to your deepest emotions. I imagine that as you wrote it, you went back in time to really feel the experience.  This essay also shows your ability to perceive life and its lessons deeply.  Many people would have either not noticed the dog...

From: Emma To: Gerry Date: July 23, 2009           Dear Gerry, Wow, I really like that story.  I like the fact that you wrote the answer AS a story.  And I also like the fact that there is not actually a specific directive answer in the story itself, though ironically it is indeed an “answer” to my question.  Perhaps it is better to call it a “response” to the question.  Please feel free to respond to any of my questions in this way!  I resonate so well with stories and, as you say, allegory.  The neat thing about such responses is that it allows the reader to have their own interpretation, while still widening the view, offering a new perspective.  The reader can then take the nugget, the wisdom, contained in the tale, and apply it to the particular situation, in a way the “advisor” never could.  And if a reader doesn’t see the lesson in the story, well, then that could mean that they a...

13 Months Later… From: Emma To: Gerry Date: July 8, 2009 Dear Gerry, Hello!  I have not forgotten you!  I have to start by saying I am so sorry to not have written sooner.  You have probably been wondering what is going on with my writing, and the truth is nothing much has been going on for a long time.  I kept thinking that I would begin it soon.  I wanted to wait until there was more to report before writing, but that led to a much longer than I intended.  So, with the apologies out of the way… First of all, I want to thank you so much for coming to see me in Philly last year.  When you came across the courtyard and said those things, it felt like an intervention by my muse, telling me to wake up, slow down, and not forget.  From that time forth, I have had a shift in my perspective.  It made me realize that the creative muse has been trying for years to get my attention, to give me important messages, if I was ever qui...

Twenty-five years later From: Gerry To: Debbie Date: March 11, 2008 Dear Debbie, Hello! I hope you have been well.  I’ve enjoyed keeping up with your family’s activities via your Christmas letter.  It’s hard to believe it has been 7 years since I saw you at the wedding. My Christmas letter is not as detailed, so I’ll let you know the basics:  I am still teaching creative writing at the university, and have had a moderate measure of success as an author, having just published my fourth novel.  Vanessa is still working as an editor, and Betty is now looking at different colleges, since she will start 12th grade next year.  She has really grown up since you saw her 7 years ago! I am planning to come to Swarthmore for my 30th reunion around the end of May (just me) and I hope it works out to come by for lunch one day. Also, I have enjoyed hearing of Emma and Michael’s activities via the Christmas letter.  I still remember the last ...

On a cloudless day in early June, a familiar event unfolded on the green campus of a small, top-rated East Coast college.  People of all ages gathered for the weekend to reconnect and enjoy the camaraderie of their college reunion.  As it was approaching noon, most of the attendees were clustered at the dining hall, a welcoming vaulted gray building partway down a rolling manicured green hill that was crisscrossed with walking paths.  Inside the dining hall, the atmosphere was festive.  There was a buzz of animated conversation as the diners went through the lunch-lines, filling their trays with a wide array of choices. A young man, tall and broad-shouldered, with medium-length sandy-colored hair, casual in T-shirt and jean shorts, took his loaded tray and emerged into the dining area of the building, looking around for his Class Table.  As he looked back and forth, he could see all the other Class Tables.  He was struck by how that sea of humanity, a...