From my agèd perch, Hutcheon’s theory of parody as a trans-contextualization of a source script could just as easily be a theory of education.

All learning involves reproducing old forms – of language, of bodily gesture, of thought – and much of it, I hope, also involves the transformation of those old forms into new art, new bodies, new thoughts, to meet the new context of the present.

A sense of a break with old forms feels particularly acute for me both vis a vis my previous educational experiences – very much not artistically inclined – and vis a vis the normal (is there a normal?) art school experience.

I am older, shyer, more impatient, less flexible, more independent, and just less Gen-Z than I perceive my art school colleagues to be – and also more immature, more creative, far less wealthy or ambitious than the people I consider my friends.

It’s not quite satire – my educational path has no acute moral message, unless it is that expecting people to be primarily workers rather than learners is a tragic way to live – but it certainly seems to perplex and challenge some people in my life:

What is she doing here?

How much is this costing?

What is she going to do with this degree, anyway?

Have I broken my adult life? Am I hopelessly lost? Are my friends? Who is performing their lives, and for which audience?