Strange Little Collecting Project

Earlier this week, I found myself feeling more vulnerable than I have felt in a long time. I’m reading The Awakening by Kate Chopin with my juniors right now. It’s an amazing little book about a 28 year old woman that begins to realize her place in the world and her role in society. Basically, it’s about her journey to self-awareness and just in case her audience didn’t catch that, there is this one little chapter where Chopin lays it out pretty plainly. It goes like this: “In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her. This may seem like a ponderous weight of wisdom to descend upon the soul of a young woman of twenty-eight-perhaps more wisdom than the Holy Ghost is usually pleased to vouchsafe to any woman.” My students couldn’t quite figure out this section, so I started to attempt an explanation. Before I knew it, there I was, in front of 24 pairs o...

Relationships between people have always been interesting to me. I think that is why I enjoy reading fiction so much because avid readers are merely people watchers. Since we are all scientifically hard-wired the same way, it seems like human relationships and behavior would be standard and predictable. But there is one ingredient of Human Interaction that Science fails to take into account. The element of passion throws a wrench in everything. I don’t necessarily mean romantic passion. I’m talking about our convictions, our beliefs, our interests. The more I think about it, the more I’ve realized that many of the significant conflicts and wars in the civilized world were created not because of our basic human needs like food and water (yes I realize there are many exceptions to this). Many conflicts have been brought about because of our passion as individuals or as groups of people. It’s our passion for certain things that draw us together or push us apart, like magnets...

Basically every four years for as long as I can remember, I’ve gone through some big transition, and because of my career choice, that transition has always involved school. Well, I’ve been out of college for four years now and I guess I’m subconsciously itching for another transition. It’s starting to feel unnatural for me to stay in one place for this long. And I worry that this fear of sitting still could be self-sabotaging. Is it merely a case of “the grass is always greener?” I work at one of the best schools in the area with great people. My friends and family are loyal, supportive, warm, and funny people that accept and even love me despite my drama queen tendencies. I have a nice home and I’m making a living wage. But still I just feel stuck. I’ve really struggled to think, let alone write about this because I worry that I’m being ungrateful. I don’t think I’m alone though. My beliefs as a “writer” force me to try and make sense of this because I know that it’s anoth...