ABSTRACT
In the Fall of 1996, several of my Indiana University colleagues asked about my recent sabbatical, especially about the semester that I spent at Teachers College working with Maxine Greene and others. After I described some aspects of Maxine’s class and teaching, a woman asked, ‘What did you get out of the experience?’ I was oddly flustered by this ‘bottom line’ question, and yet some part of me accepted the provocation to get to the heart of the matter. I remember searching for something fittingly important to say; finally, I replied, ‘It gave me more self-confidence.’ I probably elaborated on that statement, but only that sentence remains in my memory now. My answer seemed horribly inadequate at the time; it was too insignificant, too personal, too self-revelatory. I felt that I should have been able to reel off ‘important new learnings’ and knowledge gathered and stored for use in writing and teaching. My answer also seemed inadequate in relation to my experience of Maxine’s teaching. The grandness of Maxine’s work and reputation was not lived up to, not even approached in my thin, awkward answer.
