Ad Lib

This is "bliss"...

Bliss is that first bite of an exceptional sushi roll. The sweet eel rolls with avocado are heavenly; with the salty soy sauce, they’re a little piece of euphoria. Or, on a lazy Sunday morning, staying in bed while eating chocolate-chip waffles with fresh strawberries—oh, does it get any better?
KIRSTEN BASSION ’97,
ceramic artist

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My life and bliss do not exactly belong in the same sentence. In small doses it does manifest itself in various ways: golf, trips to the ocean, quiet dinner with my wife, a little Irish music. Bliss, to me, is fantasylike—it completely blocks out unpleasantries and concerns. It’s also very difficult to come by for any extended period. I think it’s worth pursuing, to help balance out one’s life; but all bliss, all the time, would no longer be bliss.
BILL FISHER, assistant director, financial services

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I might feel happy that a performance has gone well, or happy that I’m out with my friends having fun. But bliss happens suddenly, when everything in the world feels in balance. I am flooded by a feeling of utter perfection, a feeling that everything is exactly as it should be and I am part of it. Bliss is both silent and thundering, electrically charged and peaceful at the same time.
DEBRA FERNANDEZ,
associate professor of dance

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Bliss is doing what I intuitively know I was born to do. Intense focus is an important element that takes me outside myself, into another realm in which “I” don’t exist; only the work exists and is important. I also lose myself collaborating with others who are similarly focused. Skidmore’s old, ill-equipped little theater and its basement shop, which stank of horse glue simmering on a hot plate, were places where that magic happened.
LYN CHEVLI ’53, publisher, writer

PICK YOUR OWN. What concept would you like to ad lib about? If there’s a topic you’d like to see addressed in this column, send an e-mail to srosenbe@skidmore.edu.