1st day at the ISI . . . Everybody knows
Everybody knows . . . almost nothing. I thought everyone knew to turn off cell phones in public, such as a movie theatre, but apparently not. Cell phones continue to ring or buzz when I attend the movies, not every time, but just enough to invoke the idea of violence on my part.
Everybody knows how nervous I am the first day of the ISI. That one is true, I think. I worry about everything--about the people I'm spending my summer with, about the assignments, about the quality of writing (although the sharing from the two PreInstitutes have convinced me that isn't a problem), about people's health and ability to live long and prosper, about people's ability to balance multiple demands while enjoying themselves because enjoyment matters, about my ability to stay up with all the texts drafted in my groups and my ability to provide thoughtful, challenging commentary to push texts to the next level. I'm a worrier, but only the first day. As soon as the first day ends, I sigh and realize that everything will be okay, that blips will occur, but that we'll work around them, that the rhythm of the ISI will soon take over, that my marriage will survive this almost month-long encounter, and that I will leave the ISI with strong drafts of texts to share with family and with new colleagues.
Everybody knows the trouble I've seen. Okay, I haven't really seen much trouble, but I couldn't resist the line from the song even though it should be "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen." What's that from anyway?
Hmm, my fingers stall, and I search for new ideas. It's a little bit scary to write on the blog because we have new readers, people who may not be used to my rambling freewrites, my search for meaning, people who may just think I'm dumb for not having a coherent idea and following it consistently throughout the post. My mind doesn't work that way. It does okay for a few minutes, then loses focus and searches for another idea, one that may be tangentially related to the first or one that may be completely random.
Everybody knows (except for me) that you shouldn't just randomly triple the filling in the coffee cake because it will make a cake that needs a saw to get through it. Maybe it would have worked if I had spread it out into two places rather than just one. Hmm. Oh well. I should have made breakfast casserole as I did the other three years. The fruit is good though, particularly the strawberries.
Everybody knows (in here at least) how to use technology. At least six people are typing on computers rather than writing in notebooks. We've never had that many people start freewriting on the computers. Usually, we have one or two, and then the numbers grow throughout the ISI. We would have more, but Julie can't access the Internet. Well, I guess she could be using a Word document, though.
Everybody knows that forty-five minutes is a long time to write, but by the end of the ISI, we'll be stopping them instead of them staring at the clock and begging it to speed up. They'll run out of time before they run out of ideas. That's weird to me--how the more you write the more you have to write. Common sense suggests that a person will run out of ideas or out material, but instead writing, particularly in a community, is generative--the more you do, the more you can.
Everybody knows to be quiet during freewriting. Well, that seems to be the case, at least in here. Everybody knows that it's hard for Carrie Beth to be quiet--just kidding, Carrie Beth. You haven't made a sound, but I always think of you as the boisterous one.
Everybody knows that women are more punctual than men--at least that seems to be the case. It's true in my marriage. Wes's family members suffer from punctuality disorder. I wonder how widespread that is.
Everybody knows that many Americans eat out too much. Sorry, I'm playing around with a budget for the first time, and I'm realizing that I waste far too much money on eating out. It's fun and all, but is it really worth that much of my budget? I don't think so. Yeah, I'll be bringing my lunch most days this summer, starting today. I made spaghetti last night for supper just so I would have something to bring for lunch. I've also already planned dinner--a white pizza with sauteed onions and bell pepper. Yum. I sauteed the veggies last night to make dinner super fast.
Hmm, it's almost 9:00, so this should be wrapping up soon. Yay! It's always tough to get started. During the academic year, I write for fifteen minutes at a time, so forty-five seems like a long time.
Okay, I'm going to post and see if anyone else is on the blog today. I'm guessing not, but I don't know for sure.
Everybody knows how nervous I am the first day of the ISI. That one is true, I think. I worry about everything--about the people I'm spending my summer with, about the assignments, about the quality of writing (although the sharing from the two PreInstitutes have convinced me that isn't a problem), about people's health and ability to live long and prosper, about people's ability to balance multiple demands while enjoying themselves because enjoyment matters, about my ability to stay up with all the texts drafted in my groups and my ability to provide thoughtful, challenging commentary to push texts to the next level. I'm a worrier, but only the first day. As soon as the first day ends, I sigh and realize that everything will be okay, that blips will occur, but that we'll work around them, that the rhythm of the ISI will soon take over, that my marriage will survive this almost month-long encounter, and that I will leave the ISI with strong drafts of texts to share with family and with new colleagues.
Everybody knows the trouble I've seen. Okay, I haven't really seen much trouble, but I couldn't resist the line from the song even though it should be "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen." What's that from anyway?
Hmm, my fingers stall, and I search for new ideas. It's a little bit scary to write on the blog because we have new readers, people who may not be used to my rambling freewrites, my search for meaning, people who may just think I'm dumb for not having a coherent idea and following it consistently throughout the post. My mind doesn't work that way. It does okay for a few minutes, then loses focus and searches for another idea, one that may be tangentially related to the first or one that may be completely random.
Everybody knows (except for me) that you shouldn't just randomly triple the filling in the coffee cake because it will make a cake that needs a saw to get through it. Maybe it would have worked if I had spread it out into two places rather than just one. Hmm. Oh well. I should have made breakfast casserole as I did the other three years. The fruit is good though, particularly the strawberries.
Everybody knows (in here at least) how to use technology. At least six people are typing on computers rather than writing in notebooks. We've never had that many people start freewriting on the computers. Usually, we have one or two, and then the numbers grow throughout the ISI. We would have more, but Julie can't access the Internet. Well, I guess she could be using a Word document, though.
Everybody knows that forty-five minutes is a long time to write, but by the end of the ISI, we'll be stopping them instead of them staring at the clock and begging it to speed up. They'll run out of time before they run out of ideas. That's weird to me--how the more you write the more you have to write. Common sense suggests that a person will run out of ideas or out material, but instead writing, particularly in a community, is generative--the more you do, the more you can.
Everybody knows to be quiet during freewriting. Well, that seems to be the case, at least in here. Everybody knows that it's hard for Carrie Beth to be quiet--just kidding, Carrie Beth. You haven't made a sound, but I always think of you as the boisterous one.
Everybody knows that women are more punctual than men--at least that seems to be the case. It's true in my marriage. Wes's family members suffer from punctuality disorder. I wonder how widespread that is.
Everybody knows that many Americans eat out too much. Sorry, I'm playing around with a budget for the first time, and I'm realizing that I waste far too much money on eating out. It's fun and all, but is it really worth that much of my budget? I don't think so. Yeah, I'll be bringing my lunch most days this summer, starting today. I made spaghetti last night for supper just so I would have something to bring for lunch. I've also already planned dinner--a white pizza with sauteed onions and bell pepper. Yum. I sauteed the veggies last night to make dinner super fast.
Hmm, it's almost 9:00, so this should be wrapping up soon. Yay! It's always tough to get started. During the academic year, I write for fifteen minutes at a time, so forty-five seems like a long time.
Okay, I'm going to post and see if anyone else is on the blog today. I'm guessing not, but I don't know for sure.
posted by Donna Sewell at
8:32 AM
1 Comments:
It it very comforting to know that I'm not the only rambler. When I was freewriting this morning, I kept wondering..."It this stupid? I bet everybody else is writing something life-changing, and I'm rambling about how nobody knows how to drive in this town." Turns out NASCAR Tatum (Kristin) is one of those crappy drivers I was talking about... I love you Kristin :) But I might not ride to lunch with you.
Speaking of lunch...soo Donna, you gonna bring that whole pizza to lunch tomorrow, because it sounds yummy! Now that you mention pizza, I'm pretty sure I'm going to bring some veggie pizza for lunch tomorrow. That'll be good, and now that you mention it I need to be saving money since I'm going to have to start paying lots of real-world-holy-crap-I'm-married bills.
I am so glad that I am getting back into writing more. It feels good. Call me a dork, but I was actually excited to come home and respond on the blog. I think I'm ready to join the blog world.
By
Jennifer Swain, at 6:00 PM
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