Elgan speaks
...and her words thunder across the land

Sumer is icumen in�

Tuesday, Mar. 9, 2004
9:11 a.m.
Spring (?) break being officially over yesterday, things more or less returned to normal. Buddy boy had the day off, though, so he got to sleep in and play computer games and watch television. I got a frantic telephone call from Jacques (the librarian) because he was missing the Bass Trombone part, so I quickly printed off a new one, bound it, and drove over to the orchestra office before my goddess class. I got there at about 12:20 p.m., and the door to the building was locked. Great. So, after knocking rather loudly on the door, I heard a THUMPITY THUMP THUMP as Jacques ran down the stairs to relieve me of the music.

Then I drove back to the university for my class, wherein we discussed the Innana cult of ancient Sumer, which lasted all through the various Mesopotamian religions even as goddesses were downgraded and their places usurped by the husbands imposed upon them. The question was, �Why did this particular goddess keep her power when the others didn�t?� I think it had to do with sex. Innana was quite a bit like Aphrodite, a lot like Hera, and comparable to the Virgin Mary (except she was childless). She was the goddess at whose feet men would worship because she was the epitome of womanhood. Hence the need for the renewed sacred marriage between the king and the goddess (through her priestess). In our own age, we can point to various screen actresses who held the same kind of sway over the public imagination, like Marilyn Monroe for example. Except that Innana was also the fertile crescent itself, that patch of earth between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that is now causing so much trouble in today�s world.

At belly dancing, Lise gave us the choreography we have been learning printed out so that we can actually practise it at home. Finally! I was beginning to despair that this old dog would ever learn new tricks. This will definitely make it easier. Now if only I could figure out how to combine the abdominal undulations with the steps. It�s like walking and chewing gum, only more difficult.

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