Back At the Writing Game

 I'm going to try to write something every day. We'll see how long I can keep it going. I am back in the classroom teaching Latino Literature, Film Studies, AP Literature, and 10th Grade English. Some students are in the classroom with me and some students are at home. I'm always saving articles to read later that I never read or buying books that I never read. I like to buy books about writing more than writing. It's such a challenge to sit down on put my thoughts on paper or on a screen. I enjoy it afterwards though. I can't really think of a better use of my time. All the commitments of the day slip away, but the fact that I wrote something sticks with me in an important place where I define myself or aspire to be better than I am. Writer's were always praised and admired in my family, and if there is one superpower that I'd want besides being able to live forever it would be to write well. To have a unique style of writing and looking at the world. What is the unique viewpoint that I bring? I am a 43 year old white heterosexual male who speaks Spanish and is married to a Mexican woman. I have two young kids. I want this country to be more just. To live up to its ideals. 

I enjoy connecting with students. Helping them to improve their writing. Suggesting books that they might enjoy. I like conferencing with them about a piece of writing they're working on. This year I haven't had many long range plans for what I'm teaching. It's day to day and trying to find what will engage them. For example, in Film Studies I couldn't figure out a way to show a movie to everyone, so I had students teach movies and tv shows and show clips from Youtube. It's been fun to see what their passions are. I tried to read Fences with my AP Literature students yesterday, and the students at home couldn't hear it so I just ended up reading it to them myself. You have to be flexible and able to adjust on the fly when the technology doesn't cooperate, but that is a school a teacher needs for teaching in general. 

I still worry about humans destroying the earth and killing all the animals, but I have given up trying to do anything in my daily life. The problem feels too big. We are on a ship or a train that we can't stop. Capitalism. Rapaciousness. We can chip away at the inequalities and we should, but they have been building for so long that they will never be dissolved.