Etymology

13 January 2017: "Am I the snafu?" --one of my favorite* students, at the conclusion of our Sigma Tau Delta meeting today, wondering (humorously) if she was the one always messing things up.

Some background: Earlier in the meeting another favorite* student explained the origin of "snafu," an etymology that delighted her so much, she is using it all the time. She added, "It perfectly sums up my life."

These kids make me laugh. And today, they taught me an etymology lesson. So all in all, a positive meeting.

*This descriptor isn't a very helpful one, as so many of them are my favorites.

Another good-bye...

12 January 2017: “I just hope that the asterisk in history that is attached to my name when they talk about this presidency is that I can say I was part of the journey of a remarkable man who did remarkable things for this country. Remarkable things.” --Vice President Joe Biden, at a ceremony where he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Sigh. Sob. So long, Joe.

Lady of the Flies?

11 January 2017: "Did they just get along and not fight?" --a student in my Adolescent Literature class, asking another student what happens in a re-telling of Lord of the Flies with girls instead of boys. I loved this response for so many reasons, but mainly because A) it made me laugh, B) it's probably what would happen, and C) it was much better than my own (internal) cynical response, wondering if they got into cat fights and pulled each others' hair. These students...they teach me, too.

One last time...

10 January 2017: "For all our outward differences, we in fact all share the same proud title…Citizen." --President Obama, teaching us how to say goodbye. I can't believe how much I've grown to respect and love this president. I will miss him and his lovely family. And I love his optimism about the future and this rising generation. He's right: there are lots of great people in this nation, especially among the much-reviled millennials. We can do it. We can make things better.

First day...

9 January 2017: "My daddy used to take me fishing when we were supposed to be at church. He'd play The Doobie Brothers and say 'Hear that? That's all you need.'" --a student in my ENGL 204 class, in answer to a "getting to know you" question about songs/albums they loved when they were younger. This guy cracked me up; he's from deep in Georgia, a little bit older than the rest of the class, and certainly had a unique answer to the question.

"Tiny repairs in reality"

8 January 2017: "It was like a little repair in the world, you know? But just a tiny little repair." --Shelia Heti, on the 10th episode of the Sleepover podcast, in which all the participants reflect on their experiences.

I blogged about this podcast less than a week ago, so this feels like a bit of a cheat for the daily post, but it's been a kind of quiet day in terms of being around other people. It's frigid outside, and though I did take a quick trip to the store this morning and later took a long (and COLD!) walk around my neighborhood, I haven't really had much aural interaction with the world.

Beyond that, though, I think Shelia does a great job summarizing what is so appealing about the Sleepover podcast and its overall mission: get people together to listen to and talk with each other and you can make these tiny but meaningful repairs to the world. I love that. We need more of that.

So long, Winter Break!

Last semester, while students in one of my classes were completing their final exam, I typed out a pretty ambitious goal list for the break. It included revising and resubmitting one article, starting to sketch out another, reading four books, and prepping for all my classes. This evening, I checked off the final item on that list and I gotta say, it feels good.

What felt best, though, was sending off those article revisions on Friday. And I kid you not, "Feeling Good" was playing on Pandora when I clicked "send." Perfect. 

Bonus reason to feel good: I found out today that another article has been accepted for publication. More chair-dancing commencing...

Book listening?

7 January 2017: "If you've only listened to an audiobook version of a book, do you say you've read it?" --my friend Josh, asking me this really interesting question this evening.

I loved talking about this with Josh and my friend (and his wife) Anna. It's such a cool topic to dive into. (My answer to the question: "Yes, but with an asterisk." Josh asked, "What's the asterisk?" I said, "Well, you say, 'I listened to it to audiobook'-you are up-front about it." But it also depends on what you mean by "read" and who is saying it, etc.)

Opening convocation

6 January 2017: "Remember why we needed to develop those big brains. It's hard!" --my friend and colleague, Dr. Anne Murtaugh, from Psychology, delivering the keynote speech at our opening convocation today.

Anne was reminding the audience (new Shepherd students and lots of faculty/staff) that working together to make a better world is not easy, but it's work that's worth doing. She explained that scientists think humans developed such large brains in part to help us work better with each other--to be better at working with people who don't know and with whom we don't always agree. She also reminded us that "Diversity is a gift to us." Amen. It was a heck of a speech--timely, uplifting, challenging, and reassuring--and a great way to kick off the semester.

Weird kids...

5 January 2017: "Hey Melissa. Can you open the garage? I want to do something." --said by a kid in my neighborhood as he took a short break from hitting his forehead on his mailbox. Not too hard, but with a consistent beat.

I love weird little kids.

She gets me...

4 January 2017:

 
"Did you feel like flipping the table?": One of my favorite lines from my lunch with my friend Hannah, who is perhaps my favorite audience for venting about something. She always makes me laugh and makes me feel validated in my silly complaints.
 

La La Land

3 January 2017: I saw La La Land today and found it just lovely. Swoon-worthy in places, too. The simple lines from this little ditty that Ryan Gosling sings have been in my head since we left the theater, so they'll work just fine for today's entry:

"City of stars
Are you shining just for me?

City of stars
There's so much that I can't see

Who knows?
Is this the start of something wonderful and new?
Or one more dream that I cannot make true?"

Tai, math, and love

2 January 2017: “Love really is just brain stuff, but when you get the feeling of love, it can’t be expressed through science, but true love is just unexplainable. Math understands me and the girl doesn’t. Sometimes I can’t understand the math but I can never understand the girl.”  --Tai, 8 years old, math prodigy and guest on thewonderful Sleepover podcast. Little dude is deep.

Listening...

Like I wrote yesterday, I needed to do some thinking (and last-minute consulting--thanks, Jane!) before deciding on my 2017 blog theme. I like the idea of continuing to push for a post per day, especially if I could somehow, I don't know, be a better person when it was all done? (Lofty goal!) I think it worked a bit last year. I don't feel like a worse person, at least. So I'll give it another go.

My theme for this year will be "listening"--every day I'll post about something interesting/surprising that I heard (or overheard) that day. It doesn't have to be the "best" or even necessarily good, though I do like focusing on the positive. And, until I get a couple of weeks of posts under my feet, I think I'll keep the category broad (including podcasts and music). But I do want to focus on words (not just sounds).

I like the idea of just listening more and being mindful of other people's words. I do that for a living (more or less), but most of those are the words of people I have never met--writers and such. This year is looking like it's going to be a rough one in some ways, so listening--really listening--can't hurt.

Here we go...

1 January 2017: I spent a lot of time yesterday thinking about what I would post if I did end up going with "listening" as a theme. Unfortunately, by the time I started thinking about it, I couldn't remember the exact specifics of anything I had heard earlier that day. I spent a lovely and charming morning with Jane and her family, which included comfortable words of kindness and love, but--as happens so often with ordinary kindness and love--they dropped out of my head, leaving only the feeling and not the specific words.

Later that day, re-watching Call the Midwife for the millionth time, I heard one of my favorite bits of writing from that show, a pretty close encapsulation of what I want my blog to do, in part:

“Sometimes, there's a brightness and a richness in the moment. A ripeness that simply says, ‘Taste this’ and calls us to partake without fear or any thought of punishment. It is the fruit of our experience and, in its heart, it bares the seed of all our hopes. Take the joy, take all it gives. Life is sweet and it is ours. As is our right to love and relish every moment.”

I had heard it before, but so loved hearing it again. So we'll make that snippet of my beloved show the first "listening" entry of the year.

366 good things...

31 December 2016: A year ago, I set out on this (relatively modest) goal of posting about "one good thing" per day. And--with this post--I've done it. Plus, there's a lovely circularity to the project as December 31's good thing also involved someone who figured large in January 1, 2016's post. So here it is: the last "one good thing" of 2016 was playing this game with Jane and her family as we waited for the new year to roll in.

I am not alone in seeing 2016 as a pretty rough year in a lot of ways. And I am really fumbling for some optimism to get 2017 off on the right foot, but this little project helped me in the ways I hoped it would, so I am glad to have done it.

Now I need to think if I can/will do another blogging goal for the year. I have a couple of ideas, but nothing concrete yet. I am going to sleep on it again and, if I decide on a daily thing, I will do some catch up posts.