Thought-Drive

  I write this in the quiet following submitting the last assignment due for this first half of the first term of grad school. As the semester went on, I slowly developed systems for how I would go about managing my time and executing my work. Overall, it was not difficult, but I did have my struggles. One of the classes had at its final project the design and execution of a website. I decided to take the opportunity to challenge myself to update my online footprint. Someday, I hope this blog will link from my invention. And I think that is a microcosm of how things have gone so far. I have experienced non trivial gratification with growing and learning and failing. It felt good to be in a classroom again, putting thoughts and words together and interacting with new content. The degree should give me the ability to teach in a college classroom, but also pursue private sector writing, and I even found a way to indulge in some creative writing as well. It will be years from now whe...

  For the past few years, summer work in education has not been anything like the benefit assumed by people who don’t work in the industry. “Getting summers off” is largely a K12 idea, and even then the season is made busy by other things, like material rushing into a vacuum. Time finds a way to spend itself. However, this week, today, I discovered a wellspring of time that I could reasonably project forward as lighter, open even. So, among other things, it felt appropriate to provide an update. I came back from my first official professional vacation with a lot of understanding for when I would hear other people “working themselves back” or “getting used to being in the office again.” I had work waiting for me, more than there would have been had I not taken the time off, but it was very easy to accept that such was the tradeoff. It was good to see friends, perhaps even better to be seen by friends. As the echoes of the train ride died down, I was able to separate the parts I en...

  I was given cause recently to ponder on impact with regard to time. It’s been a theme that has echoed repeatedly recently, and it gave me a greater appreciation for consistency, beyond all the other important characteristics that contribute to success.  I was waiting for an order at a restaurant, on one of the rare occasions I was moving outside my comfort zone. I was looking at the colorful decorations and bombastic menu and the busy workers in the back. The person that took my order walked from behind the counter and over to me directly and asked if I had worked in education. The question made me wonder at our recent interaction, my asking about the menu and other details. I told him I did currently, and as I was speaking I realized I had to admit I had been in and around education for some 17 years. He asked if I had ever worked for a certain school, and I admitted I had, then all of his reservation disassembled into comfort and familiarity. He knew it. He knew he recogni...