The Ocean Calls to Her Sisters in the Dark of an August Night

This air hangs down the skin of my back
like the veil of a new bride

or the gauzy covering over the face of a dancer who waits to fly
like the orange crescent that hangs in the dark of an August night.

The ocean rages against these summer shores
even as the sun shines on the face of the sky.

She is unable to contain her restless discontent
and calls out over the miles of trees and rolling hills

to the sisters she will stir to action
now that there is no reason to be silent.

Change is constant as a heartbeat in her depths
and less painful than giving birth to the tears

that erode days into years of squandered breath and broken peacemaking
with warriors who will not lay down their swords.

I make ready in these dark dunes to cross over sand and waters
to a new land where love is never rationed or reserved

but blooms in abundant beauty under the soft warmth of reason,
patience, and kindness beyond any heavenly dreaming.

A MULTI-CASE STUDY OF PRIMARY CIRCUMSTANCES AND LIFE EXPERIENCES CONTRIBUTING TO THE CAREERS OF FEMALE PRESIDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS IN NEW ENGLAND
by
Leigh C. Marthe

Abstract

Early in 2007, the American Council on Education (ACE) released the results of their 20th anniversary edition of The American College President. In this study it is identified that only 23% of all college presidents are women, up from 18% just ten years prior. Though the ACE research shares significant insights into the world of women president through statistical analysis, this study intends to inform the larger body of knowledge concerning women in uppermost leadership roles in higher education in the context of qualitative research. By understanding through qualitative research conducted through individual, face-to -face interviews with five female college and university presidents in New England, this study asked the subjects of the research to describe the life and career experiences that enhanced and/or hindered their success in achieving their leadership roles in higher educational settings. This research replicated research done by Smith (2004) in her dissertation entitled “A Multi-Case Analysis of Perceived Circumstances and Life Experiences Contributing to the Presidential Ascent of Mississippi Female College and University Presidents” in which it was recommended that future, regionally diverse studies might reveal patterns identifiable to others interested in pursuing leadership roles. In this New England study, the women interviewed offered insights into their backgrounds and education, career opportunities, and mentoring relationships, as well as refection on how self-esteem, personal and professional skills, and goals for future experiences offered opportunities to succeed. The results of the research revealed negative gender bias, lack of formal mentoring or training, and relationships on all levels of experiences impacting the smoothness of their transitions into leadership roles.

Just heard this song today for the first time in a really long time and forgot how much I love it. Had to find the lyrics and put them up here. . .Ahhh! The Cure. . .thank you for these heartfelt words.

Lovesong - The Cure

  Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again

However far away
I will always love you
However long I stay
I will always love you
Whatever words I say
I will always love you

I will always love you

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am free again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am clean again

However far away
I will always love you
However long I stay
I will always love you
Whatever words I say
I will always love you

I will always love you

Into the Night of Falling Stars

I hear your voice in my bones at the blushing of dusk.
It is here I slip under the surface of these cool waters
and into the night of falling stars,
circling and gathering above and below me,
like the essential light of the single candle of kindness
you always offer.

The darkness is nothing in this liquid forgiveness,
where everything is possible,
and where I shine as my purest self.

If you arrive in this falling universe
and find the courage to plunge into this ocean—
wash out with the tide
into the place where sky and earth meet
like old souls on the horizon
of the bodies we left behind—

you will find yourself
swimming into my skin
and to the sugared center of abandon
sprinkled in the heavens
and on the flowing fields of lilies
that smooth the waves
heat wished to capsize
and drown all hope of freedom.

Follow your breath in this patient current
and the healing springs will carry you
into the calmest waters of absolute blue.
Call out like a bird
and I will answer
from the marrow of love.

Moon Over Monadnock

I tell myself not to look back
like a servant to the watch
I no longer wear—
the habit a ghost of the memory
of happiness.

But I know the moon is there,
hanging like a shadow over my shoulder--
rising over the single mountain on my horizon
and I can’t help but admire her yellow, aged beauty.

Even in the rear view,
after too many miles on this road,
she takes my breath away in a panic
at seeing her naked roundness
ascend the edge of the night.

I have begun to count the beads
on the strand of your soul
you share hungrily with me.
These prayers drift across the sky
just like the moon
and when I close my eyes to dream
you dissolve into my blood
to glitter and glow
from the inside out.

Tonight you will become the air inside
the bubbles under the surface of the water where I live
and remind me I am alive and the light
that fills the ocean of your cries
to gather me into your arms
and vanish into one body.

You have only to gaze at this August orb,
call my name into the gentle softness of this heat,
and I will arrive on a promise of patience—
slowly with the wisest ones who have anointed
me like a bride on the morning of her wedding.

The Hours After Midnight

The hours after midnight
I wander through the dark
doing nothing
but missing the empty spaces
between my fingers
and the feel of mystery
between the curve of my foot
and the promise of everything.

How is it possible to extract desire
from this exquisite blue of alone
in a bed not big enough for two?

And yet,
I fly so close to these flowers,
I can’t help but collect their pollen in my hair
and taste the sticky trembling on my breath.

All day I feel the hands of restlessness brush lightly
along the length of my arm
and where they land firmly on my hips
to steady my blurred vision.

And tomorrow the full moon rises
and lifts herself onto the canvas of the teacher
where she waits for the dialogue of the oldest lovers
and the careful instruction to begin.

Even the ocean cannot resist the tide on this shore
and the beautiful music she sings softly
into the ear of the one who insists
on opening his eyes at the first kiss.

What I would give for the morning
to spare me and to release the children of these ghosts
who have settled like August fog
under the shutters of my busy mind.

Mystical Horizon

I have never seen the moon
cut the shape of a sideways glance
stare orange at the end of the day
but there she was calling to my deepest dreaming
where cats and birds dance and fly away from each other.

There she was
with the smell of smoke
on her dressing gown.

There she was,
a piece of ripe melon
in the mouth of my lover
just waiting for him to bite down
on all that musky juice
and swallow.

Once in a lifetime
we are given a gift like this
and we must call for angels to witness—
to join us –
to gasp and linger on the edge
of the unmade bed.

The blessed ones know the signs of leaving
when they see them and they travel
to the watery sky with their eyes open
and smile to know when grace is noticed
and heeded and followed.

I let myself break down here
like a widow alone for the first night of forever
and the memory of the night before the wedding.

It is here I will wait
for the wounds to heal
into scars and the shape of my radiance
to return to the mystical horizon.