A Hut of One's Own

Alright since no one got the last literary allusion - the Doomsday Approacheth = The Iceman Cometh? Sigh. Well the title of this one should be easy enough.

This was an exercise from my Teaching Creative Writing grad class at IA State. I will warn you, it is long - so I made the font smaller.

“Hut” – from Okakura’s The Book of Tea – “an ephemeral structure built to house a poetic impulse…devoid of ornamentation except what may be in placed in it to satisfy some aesthetic need of the moment…purposely leaving some thing unfinished for the play of the imagination to complete.”

Where is it located? Be specific.

My hut is located on a grassy knoll, lightly shaded by hundred year old oaks. The knoll overlooks rolling hills of something green – corn, hay, it doesn’t matter. There are light to medium breezes that come off the hills, rippling the green stuff like waves. It looks like my backyard when I was little – only without the row of farm houses and Interstate by-pass in the background. It could be in the farmland anywhere, Iowa, England – anywhere rural and remote. There is flowing water nearby – either a gently lapping lake or softly running stream.

To what is it orientated?

It is orientated to overlook the hills, but facing west to catch the sunsets. The water is farther down in front of it, but obscured by a rise or tree.

Briefly describe the exterior and interior of the hut:

The exterior of the hut is composed of mesh screens so the walls are completely transparent, but the mesh is so fine you can’t even tell it’s there. It just looks like an ornate roof and several columns with nothing in between. The roof is tiled with clay or ceramic tiles so that when the rain hits it sounds like wind chimes. In fact there are wind chimes hanging from the outside, wind chimes of all sizes and compositions so there are many different timbers. The curve of the roof and columns looks Asian – an anachronism, like a mini pagoda in an English countryside.

The interior has several benches and columns that look like tree trunks with branches painted on the ceiling as though the outside were inside as well. But in the middle of the room are two long, plush chaise lounges, once again anachronisms. They face opposite directions so that I can lie or sit either way and see everything around me. There are a few tables held up by books and holding books – very English library/studyish. There is one long low table to one side from which I serve tea. We sit on oversized plush pillows and look out at nature.

What is it made of?

It is made of a dichotomy of things. Clear mesh for the walls, dark, smooth wood for the columns, clay or terra cotta for the roof, and of course just grass for the floor.

Describe a ritual you would enact that would be appropriate in you hut and express things fundamental to you.

There would be a daily afternoon tea, but it would be a cross between the English social gathering and the Japanese ceremony. I would have people over like English tea-time, but it would be far more formal and reflective like the Japanese tea ceremony. It would be a time for conversation and reflection, for togetherness and introspection, for being at one with the world.

Create a tribute to someone important to you.

This tribute is about my great-grandmother – my maternal grandmother because I was lucky enough to know one of both my maternal and paternal great-grandmothers. Her name was Alice, and she died this spring at the age of 98. My great-grandmother has a profound influence on my life. Starting when I was six months old my mother took me to visit her once a month until I started college. She used to winter down in Arizona, and she would fly my mother and I out to see her because she was lonely and missed us. My great-grandmother was a true wonder woman – a woman in every sense. She never went out without full make-up and hair. When she had a near heart attack five years ago, she wouldn’t let the male nurse into her room until I helped her put her “face” on. She loved dancing – she literally danced in the street. After her first husband, my great-grandfather, died she and her sister had a rivalry to see who could get more men to dance with them – and who could steal the other’s boyfriend! This at 65. Yet, she was always true to her man. She remarried ten years after my great-grandfather died and stood by her second husband’s side through better and much worse. She watched him wither away in a nursing home, a victim of Alzheimer’s. She stood by him, visiting him everyday even when he no longer remembered her – only that she was the nice lady who visited him. She walked a mile every day until 95, and then still walked to church and to get groceries after that. She was truly the most amazing woman I have ever known.

Choose a particular music that would be played in your hut. Under what circumstances?

I would play a variety of music – depending on my mood. Generally it would be new age/mystical music to help free the mind and spirit. Sometimes it would be Broadway show tunes, so I can sing along. Other times it would be something – just completely out there – for a change.

What smell would be prominent in your hut?

Natural smells – flowers, grass, rain, fields of drying crops, whatever came in on the breeze.

What living person would you bring to your hut?

I would bring a friend I haven’t seen in two years, my friend Greg. I would bring Greg, because he would understand the draw of nature and the country.

If possible to raise the dead, which famous dead person would you like to bring to your hut?

I’d like to bring my ancestor Eleanore of Aquitaine because I would like to know what she thinks of me and what has become of her line. I would like to know what she thinks of a great to the nth power grandchild of hers living on a continent that hadn’t even been discovered when she was alive, what she thinks of what we have done since then, whether she would be proud. I would also want to know what her life was really like – what she was really like.

List three personally important objects you would display inside:
1. My cedar hope chest – because it contains all my memories
2. A photo of my great-great grandparents taken on their wedding day, 12/25/1890
3. My animals – because they are love

What would someone close to you discover about you by visiting your hut?

They would discover that I am more mystical and meditative than they know. They would discover that I am much more in tune with nature and the world than they think.

What about you would most interest someone after a visit to your hut?

I think the complete dichotomy between East and West, natural and comfort, old and new would interest people most. I also think the worship of nature within the hut would interest people.

What one food would you serve there?

Sushi. J Well, sushi and the occasional really good chocolate cake – make that not so occasional. Sushi is such a feel good food and so is chocolate cake – just not together.

What one memory would you commemorate? How?

The one memory would be the collective hard work of all the women in my family. I would commemorate all the memories but retelling, at least to myself, the story of one female ancestor a day. I would retell and in a sense relive her life in order to celebrate everything she did so I can be where I am today.

What one photograph of yourself would you include?

I would include an old photo taken my senior year of high school. It shows me as an eager, enthusiastic, ambitious young woman on the verge of everything. It shows me before disappointment.

What photograph of another?

I would display the wedding photograph of my great-great grandparents because of the look in my great-great grandmother’s eyes. It is the same look that is in my senior picture.

What one thing you’ve made?

I would display the dresses I have sewn as well as the costume sketches I have drawn and painted. I like the flow and texture of the dresses as well as the permanence of the renderings.