What a Crazy Random Happenstance...

I’m not a highly religious person, but I am quasi-spiritual and I only believe in chance to a certain extent.

In his infamous essay upon the true nature of horror (“Dan Unheimliche” 1919; frequently translated as “The Uncanny”), Freud speaks about what it is in a certain situation which gives that situation a measure of eeriness, creepiness, or “uncanniness”.  He uses the example of a number (62, actually, though pity… he totally should have used 42… or Adams should have used 62… I digress) having no innate unusualness attached to it.  If one were to check one’s coat and receive the coat-check number “62”, it would hold no factor of eeriness whatsoever.  However, if one were to come across that number several times in one day, or repeatedly within one’s life, one would begin to feel a certain degree of strangeness attached to “62”.  If the number follows you, it’s a little uncanny.  And not just because of the idea that the number may be a creepy mouth-breathing stalker.  

So here’s my little uncanny anecdote, or rather series of uncanny anecdotes. 

To begin, we have to go way back to the dawn of Danielle.  Back when the Danielle you know and love today was a wee little Danielle (this, by the way, is a favorite story of my mother’s which she whips out at every possible opportunity so… if you’re coming to graduation dinner, expect to hear it.  HI MOM!).  This Danielle had no concept of space and the realities of it.  This Danielle loved animals.  This Danielle thought it would be a great idea to have an elephant for a pet.  This Danielle told her mother in as many words.  When told that the elephant would be too large and unable to fit in the house, this Danielle rationalized “but just a baby one!”.

Embarrassing story over, flash forward to the education of The Danielle.  The Danielle attended two separate high schools – the first a very large and well-funded college prep school where she felt utterly alienated from anything offered at the school itself, and the second a small under-funded inner-city public school where she felt that everyone understood her and she fit right in.  The first school’s colors were purple and white.  The second school’s colors were red and black.

Move forward again to the higher education of The Danielle.  The first institute of higher education which The Danielle attended (her undergrad) was a large, well-funded school where she felt utterly alienated from anything offered at the school itself.  The second institute of higher education which The Danielle currently attends (her Masters’) is a small, under-funded, inner-city public school where she feels that everyone understands her and she fits right in.  The first school’s colors were purple and white.  The second school’s colors are red and black.

The Danielle is now getting prepared to journey off unto what will hopefully be her final port-of-call in terms of her own formal education (though as a Professor she will never stop learning).  That institution’s colors don’t fit into the schema (brown and light blue… who the heck chose those anyway?) however, the mascot most certainly does.  Ladies and Gentlemen; The Tufts mascot:

 Yep.  I think Freud would agree with me when I say that things, in the end, always work out the way they’re meant to.