Free Imaginative Variation
  Dan Lukiv

What change or changes to a circle make it into something else? In other words, when is a circle not a circle (Circle, 2003)? When is an ellipse not an ellipse (Ellipse, 1999)? A hyperbola not a hyperbola (Hyperbola, 1999)? A line not a line (Kline, 1967)? An elliptic (or hyperbolic) paraboloid not an elliptic (or hyperbolic) paraboloid (Paraboloid, 2005)? Is a chair still a chair if it has only three legs instead of the usual four? Polt (n.d.) discusses the form of "a triangle [that] makes it be a triangle, rather than any other sort of thing--its triangleness" (para. 3; see, also, Boeree, n.d.a, n.d.b). Polt speaks about free imaginative variation in terms of a technique, a way to "imaginatively subtract one feature, then another, discovering in the process which features are essential and which are not [i.e., which are incidental]" (para. 6). Some know about this technique through their studies of Husserl, the mathematician and phenomenologist (see, e.g., van Manen, 1990).

Mathematicians describe the essential features of circles, ellipses, hyperbolas, lines, elliptic and hyperbolic paraboloids, and other geometric figures in their one, two, or three dimensional domains. Mathematicians even describe the essential features of figments of their imaginations, such as n-dimensional hyper-spheres defined by formulas of the form x₁² + x₂² + x₃² + ... + x_n² = r². I invite the reader to begin listing the essential features of a chair. Phenomenologists describe essential features that define phenomenon (van Manen, 1990). In the arena called hermeneutic phenomenology, as a research methodology, researchers often use free imaginative variation to help them determine essential versus incidental themes (1990).     full text >>>

Zen and the Art of Graduate School
  Susan K. Gardner

I began three journeys in the summer of 2003. I enrolled full-time in graduate school to finish my Ph.D. in Higher Education; I began my research assistantship studying doctoral education; and, I began reading the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig (1974). These journeys often reinforced what I knew about education and about life but more often taught me about the many things I had yet to learn; most especially the things I had yet to learn about myself and the phenomenon called graduate school.     full text >>>

The Black Wig
  Madeline Sonik

     Lynne wound an orange electrical cord around her canister vacuum. She made last minute swipes at swirly, sticky fingerprints with her duster, and then she hauled the bulky metal trolley out into the corridor. It was time for her coffee, but she couldn't have any today; she was running behind. The master key twisted in a lock. The door clicked, and heat poured through the balcony's doors. In a puddle of light, a styrofoam wig stand offered radiant coils of dark hair. Lynne rushed past, uneasy. In all the months she'd been a chambermaid she'd never dallied over the guests' belongings. Still this restraint never showed in her work. She inevitably needed help finishing her rooms, and yesterday the head housekeeper, Jean, said if she didn't clean faster she could drag her feet in the unemployment line.
      The rumpled bedspread felt like a weight when she lifted it. She wobbled off balance. So far she was thankful she had not become absent-minded...     full text >>>