Einstein thought up Relativity while shaving.

So, I was in the shower this morning getting in touch with my subconscious (Shut up, Brian.) and I’ve decided to do an independent study before I start my thesis.

It will involve travel to some place amazing and wonderful. It needs to include a writing/art combo of some kind (Music? Theater? Dance? Visual arts? I don’t know.) and some cultural study and immersion.

Here is what I know. It’s still vague and flexible and without solid structure, so if you have traveled or have a suggestion or guidance or a favorite book I should read or anything, feedback is most welcome. I’m trying to get it sorted out enough to start a proposal, and possibly apply for a grant.

What I Know So Far:

When: Jan-May of 2007. Spend 3 or 4 months reading and writing, then 2-4 weeks (depending on work schedule) in the country/town I studied.

Where: I’m narrowing it down to the following regions, and I’ll need to narrow it down more from there—Northern South America, Central America, Caribbean, Mexico. The more I think about it, I’m drawn to the Caribbean, but I don’t want to go anywhere infested with tourists. Also, maybe Costa Rica? Belize? The small beautiful town Gabriel G. Marquez grew up in? Where can I go that is welcoming/accessible but not infested with a bunch of people on a Carnival Cruise?

What: This is tough. I want it to be interdisciplinary and involve both art and writing. I’m also interested in art that is a result of oppression. Not the "Shout out against oppression!" cathartic kind, (which has it’s place, of course) but more the art that people who are oppressed use to bond with one another and both express and soothe themselves. Like, what are the stories parents tell their children during war? What secret arts to they keep from their oppressors?

Example: Steel drums were invented because the local people were being forbidden by the US military to practice their religion, and when the locals adapted Christianity in a way that was deemed blasphemous, music was then forbidden. Ludicrous, but true: humming? Big trouble. So the oppressed secretly stole the empty oil drums that the Americans had littered on the shores, and made them into musical instruments because all the other music-making materials had been confiscated. This i what I mean. The way art and the joy of it can’t be squashed, and that sometimes adverse conditions create a unique environment for creative work that wouldn’t have come about otherwise. I find this interesting.

More “What”: So, I suppose I’d study the chosen area’s art and culture, history, politics, music, you know, EVERYTHING (I need help narrowing this down for sure), and then go there and live in it. And, I suppose, attend lectures or take a class or interview people. I insist that several days be spent in a small hut near a beach wherein I write in solitude. When I’m not swimming in solitude.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of music and writing. Stories and poems about music? I don’t know. I don’t know. I need to have a meeting with DK. She brings it all out. She could just sit there next to me and brilliant ideas float up. She’s the reason I started the refugee project, which I love. I shall beg her to be my IS advisor.

And, the Big Question really is, how could I use this project to become a better writer? What would my final project be and what purpose would it have? I don’t just want to do a bunch of research and write essays. I want a creative piece in the end, at least, but I’m sure I could do an essay or CNF piece, too. That’s a lot. I want to get something out of it for my fiction writing (and poetry, I hope) but also would want to report on the experience. What can I do and how can I do it so that, in the end, I have something creatively rich and valuable to contribute?

If you guys could just solve that for me, that would be great.

Maybe this IS a thesis? Okay, okay, now I’m totally overwhelmed. Starting to melt down. Must stop. Must think about something else. AHHH.