I found myself trying to get the clown from every angle, collecting shot after shot that would eventually hit the proverbial cutting room floor.

Is the clown a powerful figure? Is their ability to speak some sort of truth to power negated by their position as clown? Am I an academic clown? And, if so, is that a good thing?

The Carnival, as it is meant to do, provided that "overflow of experience" (Blair 51) that I needed, however obvious an experience it might be, to find my way into linkages. I am terrified of clowns; but, as my brother was sure to remind me, I was once, at least during dance lessons, a clown.