Welcome to Musing Interruptus. After a brief hiatus of writer's block, I am overwhelmed with ideas. Writer’s block is a terrible ailment. I thought I would never imagine anything, ever again. Terminal writer’s block. It wasn’t so. And that is all I have to say about that.
Now, I want to write about desire, seduction, and feminism, I want to write about true love among friends and family, the fragility of life, and the importance of leaving it all on the line when it comes to living and loving. What can I tell you, we are reminded how short life is, every day. Whether it is war, a pandemic, a horrible illness, or simply the feeling of how fucking unfair life can be, we know there is an egg timer and the oven won’t be able to hold us forever. Are we rising? Did someone open the oven door ahead of time? Are we a perfect loaf of bread or has the souffle of our life gone flat? Can anything be done? Well, if you are afflicted by these questions, don’t ask a pessimist, ask a helpless optimist who believes in magic and the power of creation.  Ask me…
A good friend of two of my friends passed away at the end of February. As his life was brutally taken, a part of their innocence was stripped away with it. I am so sorry for your loss. As they gather their bearings and relearn to walk this earth, minus a dear friend, we are all reminded of how important it is to tell the people we love, our friends and family, that in fact, nothing will change our feelings for them, not their actions, not their performance. That is true love, that is true friendship. I’ve never shied away from telling people how important they are to me. But I am reminded of making a point of telling my friends of my appreciation of the wonder they bring to my life, the colors, and laughter. Friendship is a beautiful thing. Sisterhood and brotherhood are friendship’s older siblings.
That being said, it might seem I’m going off on a tangent, but I’m not. I want to say some things about my day job, which also happens to be one of my great loves.  This is dedicated to new and future teachers… A letter I wrote to a student who became a teacher. A young woman I profoundly admire, who I remember from one of my first classes when I became a high school teacher. History. Not my forte. Her group bore the brunt of my inexperience. The growing pains in that classroom were real and went all around. The letter said something like this:
To one of my dearest students:
It is impossible not to remember the teenager full of curiosity and intelligence, unwilling to follow anyone’s lead, just her own. A young person who seemed to enjoy her intellect and authenticity. I also remember that you were part of the group that saw me teach my first classes in high school. I had years of teaching experience, but not in high school. That was the beginning of a new education for me. The experience forced me into adolescence.
I am going to share with you some things that I would have liked to know, things that other teachers would later share with me, in a roundabout way. I do it in the hope that your experience will be diametrically different, and that you do not feel alone, in one of the loneliest professions I know, next to uninhabited cave guard.
I'll start with something mild: Preparing the class doesn't mean it will turn out that way. Planning is sometimes a suggestion, and that is ok. Teaching and learning will happen.
It seems that teaching is a juggling act between achieving learning objectives, keeping students engaged, incorporating all learning styles, grading, preparing for class, dealing with your humanity, your expectations, your students' expectations. Do no harm. Do no harm. Nurture. Teach. Learn. Relax. It's ok to fail. Relax. Tomorrow is another day. Relax. Nobody gets it right the first time. 23 years later, I am still learning and I still love teaching. Keep reading 

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