June 30, 2008
I dream I am in graduate school doing a class presentation on an elaborate circus set. I don’t know what I’m going to say, but I make it all very obtuse and ironic as I swing from one piece of apparatus to another. There is a competitor who is swinging, but his irony is not as good as mine. Later on, I am teaching a seventh grade class in which I insist that all lessons are to be taught while singing. My teaching assistant, Kevin Cooney, is not thrilled with my edict, but he acquits himself well. I find that the kids are getting overly excited.

August 23, 1999
I dream it is the last day of school and it is time to display all my belongings on the street outside my dorm so that passersby can ask questions. I explain to my rather backward roommate that he must a) appraise his one piece of jewelry in case somebody chooses to buy it, and b) get all of his schoolwork together to the front of the building. His display is not nearly as clever as mine. He has a Chinese pamphlet painted with bug remains, and the paint is amazingly resilient. He can jump up and down on the pamphlet as if he’s on a spring. I know that this special paint will save the world.

December 20, 1993
I dream I am a student and it is the last day of school. The teacher has us do an exercise in which the boys and girls separate into teams and categorize objects. The boys are much faster and more efficient; the girls want to consider more alternatives, talk more, and try on clothes. One of the boys tries on a dress and finds that he likes it. I point out that it’s not such a bad impulse, since women in our culture are the ones who get to be beautiful; I can understand why he would enjoy being looked at.

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