Monday, July 30, 2012

begin.

the moratorium on writing is now over.

for clarification, the coffee has been consumed, the nap looms on the horizon, both children are well taken care of, elsewhere, and it's been a month since my last post: july was busy. i knew that july would be absolute hell, and full of writing more scholarly than what is to occur here, so i resigned myself to writing entirely for class, and not at all for this blog. unfortunately, that means that i have a lack of creative juice running over these keys, and an habitual itch to capitalize things.

i learned a lot in july.

there is something about going back to the role of student in classroom subject to others and their learning and teaching styles that brings back all the notions and prejudices and uncomfortable recollections of the last time i was a student in a classroom. thankfully, these things are now mixed with a heavy dose of coarsely chopped perspective and teaching experience, and nuggets of genius have been folded in gently. there will always be more to know, and learning is more fun than knowing. it's also harder, significantly more taxing, and not as immediately beneficial.

regardless, i learned a lot, and now i know a little more, and this is pretty exciting. i learned that i can be a student again, and that i'm not as bad at it as i was in undergrad. i learned that i know some things that are important and valuable to people other than myself. i learned that i'm terrible at giving critiques, which used to be a strong point for my art endeavors. i learned that all those prints look better when i collage them, and that cedar is a tough ground to glue to. i learned that postmodernism is the loose term for what i think about education, that, if nothing else, it helps to define a bit of the crisis of the system right now. i remembered that much of this only applies in my head, as i grasp things, and not in the world where rich people are still rich and it's hard to be one if you're not born that way. some systems and metanarratives will not dissolve as easily as education or religion or the Truth. i learned that i still have something to say, and much to do, and it's important.

i also raced a bunch in july, and there was learning there too. second overall in the duathlon. a good hard finish for my leg of sinister seven. i can run much better than i can ride. and, if i put my mind to it, an impossible thing can really become possible. and sometimes, we need to borrow before we can pay everything back in full.

welcome to the first day of summer.