Life in late capitalism can be vexing, alienating, fragmenting, and otherwise frustrating. There are many wonderful things in my life, but I'm more likely to talk about what's bad rather than what's good. I'm going to try to post one good thing here each day, and if you would join in by adding a good thing from your day in the comments, I'd love it--I'd absolutely love it. --RR
9/9: reading a white heron
Chris and I held a short-story session in the library today. Anyone who wanted to come was welcome, and we spent an hour reading aloud "A White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett and then discussing it. I love this story, I loved learning what other people saw in it, and I loved the fact that the event was entirely optional: only people who wanted to be there were there.
Unlike school, right?
ReplyDeleteToday's good thing was when I asked some girls at Juvenile Hall if they had watched Obama's speech to school kids and what they thought of it. They had watched it and used words like "inspired," "it's okay to make a mistake," and "I want to work harder."
All is not lost.
Hi, Barbara--I'm glad that the girls you spoke with had such a good experience with the president's speech; that is really good news.
ReplyDeleteI generally feel lucky in my teaching that people are only in my classes by choice. But after their choice is made, all the formal things of a classroom kick in: grades, attendance policy, homework. I love teaching and school, but there's something special about an event like yesterday's, where everyone there has decided to gather and learn together without all the classroom apparatus and in a more informal way. For me, it was a reminder of the joys of life-long learning.