Party planning

On Friday, I've planned a big shindig. It's not just to celebrate my graduation but also to thank all the various people in my life here in the area who've helped make my success possible. In Melanesia, anthropologists like Marilyn Strathern tell us that the people there don't conceive of individuality in the same way we do. They see people as "dividuals" - that is, networks represented and accumulated within the unfolding, ever changing bodies of individuals and their societies and communities. I feel like that often, aware that my own self is the confluence and manifestation of myriad other forces of encounter and lines of influence. When I succeed, so do those who have helped me become me. I want to honour them. Thus, the idea of a thank you party was born. I have prepared a somewhat extravagant menu which includes this delicious Old South cocktail punch which I can't wait to try. Tomorrow, I'll be cooking and baking for much of the day. I'm so pleased to bring so many loved and special people together. I just wish that the special people I miss and love back home in Wales and in other parts of Europe could be with me too.