The Best of Sailors

Finishing is an interesting word, for people seem to measure their progression through life with starts and finishes based on a goal line, a completion date, and a pack up and move forward mentality, yet so much is left undone, inadequate, and unfinished. So many “should’a, could’a”, regrets and nagging beliefs. If one had just a little more time, just didn’t quit prematurely and call it done, that one could have done it better. As a painter I learned that a painting is never done, so when you think it is, it is not. Most of life is that way. If I had turned left instead of right. If I had only done that instead of this. The human condition has been described most accurately as the expression of neurotic anxiety of existential free will.

Across the last months, weeks, and days of introspection, the portfolio is still a work in progress. As two remaining courses are yet to be scheduled and completed, I am inclined to borrow the words of the winemaker. For all the grapes, soil, temperature, yeast, and water required to ferment and extract the wine from the lees, there is no substitute for time. One has to be patient, for the combining of the elements takes years to reach maturation. The wine is finished when the last bottle is empty. So, it is with the development of the portfolio.  Certain criteria need to be appropriately assembled, redesigned, coded, and polished to a high gloss.  I suspect by the beginning of fall 2024, I will have all the necessary time to not only present the portfolio but also follow up quickly with the dissertation defense.  It has also been brought to my attention that Knezek and Lee will not be on contract this summer and unavailable to sign off on the portfolio or dissertation proposal. Dissertation, oh dissertation! Where art thou dissertation? Plans do go awry, so sayth Burns. But, hope springs eternal, so sayth Pope, so I will be shooting for Spring 2025. Of course, due to the political climate and noting over the years that mankind cannot achieve understanding and peace with each other, and being somewhat perceptive and a good guesser, I expect civil disobedience to prevail across the land. Be it civil war, or terrorism on a grander scale, regardless of who is elected, conflict will occur and a new chapter of American history will be written. The best sailors brave the torrents of great waves and howling winds, longing for a safe harbor. Regardless of the stormy days ahead, I will tie myself to the mast, and hold the rudder true to course.