Hope Against Hope
I have been immersed in my two graduate courses. Thank goodness. Teaching all year, I am on "output." The joy of being a student is to reverse the process to "input." (Not that I can keep my mouth closed in the classroom as a student. I just keep those questions and thoughts coming. Thank you to my current and past teachers for putting up with me.) I am the oldest student in one class and -- I think -- the second oldest in the other. This is probably good as I have spent my life the youngest of three . . . and here I will end my foray into family dynamics' analysis in cyberspace.
I have done a website analysis on bullying prevention for one course. To analyze a website is a bit like finding shapes in clouds. There really is great material out there, but it shifts so very quickly. I turned my project in today. I am reading in electronic texts and real books on violence, victimization, and abuse. For me, it is downbeat but truly necessary to probe these topics. I believe that bullying is akin to emotional and physical abuse -- and my perception is that kids, along with many others in our midst, have a bent toward incivility these days. I am deeply concerned about it. For one class, I will do a more scholarly paper based on several key articles on this same topic in a few weeks . . . and lead a discussion with some future school psychologists and community counselors (fellow students) on it. May I find strength.
I continue to tutor through OhioReads. If anyone reading this has any inclination to try literacy tutoring through that organization or any other -- now or in the future -- do it! To be with young children eager to crack the code of reading is one of the most inspiring things I've encountered in the past few months. I love being with the kids and getting a glimpse of their minds and hearts; I love children's books and the extraordinary talent of the writers and artists who create them.
If only the spark to read would not be extinguished . . . if only it could continue in their lives and in my own . . .
I have had college students proudly announce that they never read. I do imagine that trauma is sometimes connected with that total abnegation of a life-giving process. I can't heal it all, but I can gently support the student. To write, one must read. Something. It does not have to be novels by Dickens.
I continue to swim against the stream of some difficult circumstances. "Hope is the Thing with Feathers/that perches in the Soul . . ." -- Emily Dickinson, who knew that sometimes life really hurts.
Wishing any reader out there a moment of peace as your eyes light on this. Thank you for your attention.
I have done a website analysis on bullying prevention for one course. To analyze a website is a bit like finding shapes in clouds. There really is great material out there, but it shifts so very quickly. I turned my project in today. I am reading in electronic texts and real books on violence, victimization, and abuse. For me, it is downbeat but truly necessary to probe these topics. I believe that bullying is akin to emotional and physical abuse -- and my perception is that kids, along with many others in our midst, have a bent toward incivility these days. I am deeply concerned about it. For one class, I will do a more scholarly paper based on several key articles on this same topic in a few weeks . . . and lead a discussion with some future school psychologists and community counselors (fellow students) on it. May I find strength.
I continue to tutor through OhioReads. If anyone reading this has any inclination to try literacy tutoring through that organization or any other -- now or in the future -- do it! To be with young children eager to crack the code of reading is one of the most inspiring things I've encountered in the past few months. I love being with the kids and getting a glimpse of their minds and hearts; I love children's books and the extraordinary talent of the writers and artists who create them.
If only the spark to read would not be extinguished . . . if only it could continue in their lives and in my own . . .
I have had college students proudly announce that they never read. I do imagine that trauma is sometimes connected with that total abnegation of a life-giving process. I can't heal it all, but I can gently support the student. To write, one must read. Something. It does not have to be novels by Dickens.
I continue to swim against the stream of some difficult circumstances. "Hope is the Thing with Feathers/that perches in the Soul . . ." -- Emily Dickinson, who knew that sometimes life really hurts.
Wishing any reader out there a moment of peace as your eyes light on this. Thank you for your attention.
posted by Wordsanctuary | 10:15 PM
3 Comments:
As reader, "writer" (I must put that in quotes), student and former teacher, I appreciate what you're saying. Reading has meant so much to me it's hard to understand how others can do without it; yet, given the complexities of human pyschology, I suppose some can. Best of luck to them. I mean it.
I found your site through Alana Baranick. She forwarded your message about her book when she thanked me for putting it on the Web site. Glad you get the chance to look at Nightsiders once in a while. Did you ever follow the link to Rumors of Order? Sometimes I like to goof around (Nightsiders) and at other times I can be very serious (Rumors of Order). I am still not sure how the photo blogs play into this ... but they're good for the soul, though I am not really sure what that word means anymore.
Keep up the good work!
This was lovely, and matches my experiences, too.
Nightsiders is very funny and Rumors of Order is very deep. Thank you for your good wishes to all readers. On the word soul, I think not knowing is a valid way of knowing.
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