Wednesday night I teach creative writing. I am typing this while my students are doing free writing. I learn as much from my students as they do from me. I love teaching writing. On my sabbatical I get to concentrate on writing. Then I will return to teaching in the fall.
No good piece of writing can make more than one point. That is tonight's lesson.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Gardening, meditating, and writing
Although I didn't list it among my sabbatical goals, I do intend to plant a
vegetable garden in the spring. The place where my collapsed carport ended up is
right where the garden will go. As I was cleaning up the damage yesterday, I was
already thinking of planting seeds for a new beginning.
I see a natural affinity among gardening, meditating and writing.
I could also add running, which for me is an important form of meditation. I am heading for the gym this morning to run on the treadmill. I prefer running outdoors, but that is not always practical in the Northeast in the winter. Regular running and meditating seem to stabilize my mood, which opens the door to writing.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The morning after
Hurricane Sandy knocked out power to my neighborhood about 2 p.m. yesterday, and it is still not on 20 hours later. Around 3 p.m. a gust of wind picked up my vinyl carport and blew it across the yard. Isaac and I wrestled it to an area where it couldn't do much damage and tied to to a tree. The carport was already damaged, so I think this was the final injury. I plan to dismantle it and just take the parts to the dump. The structure simply was not strong enough to withstand a hurricane.
I am at Starbucks in Mashpee Commons, where there is power, wi-fi, and hot drinks. I got my favorite: a vente soy chai tea latte. Most of the 20-or-so people here are typing on laptops or cell phones. One of my students recently wrote an essay about how the new coffeehouses of the 21st century are like the Colonial coffeehouses of the 18th century. Now we read the news on the Internet and share our views on blogs or social media. Back then we read the news on the emerging new medium of newspapers and shared our views in person or through pamphlets and broadsides.
SABBATICAL THOUGHT: My book about mindfulness of the mass media could have a chapter exploring that concept.
The woman across from me is sipping a cold drink and staring at her iPhone. The man to her right is typing on a small apple laptop. He is wearing headphones. Across from him, to my left, a man has a large hot drink and is typing on a 17-inch hp laptop like mine. He also has a small tablet e-reader set up on a stand next to his computer. To my right two women are facing each other and eating scones. Neither of them has any electronic devices in sight, but they are not talking to each other.
OK, I am going to grade papers now.
10 p.m.: The power was restored about 3:30 this afternoon. When I returned form my drumming circle around 9:30, my room was ablaze with lights I had not realized were turned on.
I am at Starbucks in Mashpee Commons, where there is power, wi-fi, and hot drinks. I got my favorite: a vente soy chai tea latte. Most of the 20-or-so people here are typing on laptops or cell phones. One of my students recently wrote an essay about how the new coffeehouses of the 21st century are like the Colonial coffeehouses of the 18th century. Now we read the news on the Internet and share our views on blogs or social media. Back then we read the news on the emerging new medium of newspapers and shared our views in person or through pamphlets and broadsides.
SABBATICAL THOUGHT: My book about mindfulness of the mass media could have a chapter exploring that concept.
The woman across from me is sipping a cold drink and staring at her iPhone. The man to her right is typing on a small apple laptop. He is wearing headphones. Across from him, to my left, a man has a large hot drink and is typing on a 17-inch hp laptop like mine. He also has a small tablet e-reader set up on a stand next to his computer. To my right two women are facing each other and eating scones. Neither of them has any electronic devices in sight, but they are not talking to each other.
OK, I am going to grade papers now.
10 p.m.: The power was restored about 3:30 this afternoon. When I returned form my drumming circle around 9:30, my room was ablaze with lights I had not realized were turned on.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Write
To be a writer, write!
I am a writer. I also teach writing at Cape Cod Community College. I advise my students to keep a daily journal, a practice I keep irregularly. Beginning today, I plan to keep a journal here. The focus will be to document the sabbatical I have been awarded for the spring semester of 2012.
Officially, the sabbatical covers the period from late January until early May, but I plan to take advantage of the entire time from today until the following semester. That gives me 10 months to make significant progress on my writing projects. They include four books, all of which are under way, but none of which are published yet.
I am a writer. I also teach writing at Cape Cod Community College. I advise my students to keep a daily journal, a practice I keep irregularly. Beginning today, I plan to keep a journal here. The focus will be to document the sabbatical I have been awarded for the spring semester of 2012.
Officially, the sabbatical covers the period from late January until early May, but I plan to take advantage of the entire time from today until the following semester. That gives me 10 months to make significant progress on my writing projects. They include four books, all of which are under way, but none of which are published yet.
- I Just Want to Be Happy (a spiritual memoir)
- The Elements of Academic Writing (a brief textbook for English Composition I students)
- Whither the Revolution (a historical novel about the revolution of 1968 on three levels)
- Mindfulness of the Mass Media (a book about becoming media literate in a media-saturated world)
- Attend Writers Conferences
- Continue writing poetry
- Compile a notebook of previously published articles
- Read more frequently
- Renew my running practice
- Deepen my meditation practice
- Practice yoga
- Be happy
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