Despite the preponderance of dreams aboutunpreparedness and performance, a few professorialdreams defy categorization. Professor of ClassicsGregory Nagy, who teaches "Heroes," classifies hisown.

"I have two of them: one about fallingdownstairs, and another about crashing into thecar in front of me. I blank out on impact," hesays.

"What happens is reminiscent of a rhetoricalfigure--`aposiopesis.' It literally means that thecrucial word which is jarring or shocking is leftout, like a voice being cut off at the actualpoint of impact," he continues.

Verlyn Klinkenborg, lecturer in the CreativeWriting Department, is another faculty member withan unusual anxiety dream: "I'm driving across thecountry on a road trip. But I'm driving in thewrong direction."

WE HAVE NOTHING TO DISCUSS

English Professor Philip J. Fisher laughsnervously when asked whether he would care toshare his dreams. "No, I don't think so."

And Professor of Government Michael Sandel, whoteaches Moral Reasoning 22: "No, no. Sorry."

Tec has seen such reactions before. "Manypeople are reluctant to talk about [anxiety]because it invokes terror," he explains. "They mayhave a phobic reaction to that. Phobias andanxiety dreams go together."

The fear of the unknown also prevents opendream dialogue. "People are afraid of theirunconscious. People feel guilty they're not incontrol," the UHS therapist says. "If people dreamsomething that's violent or erotic or cruel,people feel, `is that a part of me?' instead ofsaying `what do you suppose this means?"'

SO WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

In spite of the volumes of dream studies andthe hordes of academics who have devoted theirlives to dream analysis, the interpretationcontinues to puzzle the experts.

The best expert might be the dreamer, anyway.According to the UHS therapist, "one is one's ownbest interpretor of dreams. A therapist can raisea lot of questions but I wouldn't presume to knowmore about your dreams than you do."