Procrastadabbler

Wordle is so much fun. It is beautiful, but it also is providing me with a visual of the central focus of my writing. I am currently working on an article based on the last two years of research. It’s coming along. Actually it’s a mess right now, but that’s normal. Just out of curiosity, I ran the draft through wordle and came up with this.

I’m happy with it. I love how students is the dominant word. It reassures me that I am keeping the students foremost in this article. I also love the arrangement; the word students is the foundation for all the other words. The other larger words are also the words I wanted to pop out.

I love how new tools help us see things in new ways and I also love how it taps into our sense of play.

School’s starting. Well, the students aren’t back yet, but this week we’ve got all sorts of meetings including professional development. This year it’s all about technology integration. I have to work to keep my mind open. I admit, I have strong opinions about technology integration and the way most people view it. Generally, I’m really dissatisfied with most approaches. Way too functional for my taste. Few people bother to think beyond the surface. But I will attend these sessions taught by my colleagues, and I will try not to come in with preconceived notions.

I’ve written before about how I’m trying to slow down or more specifically to live in the moment and to savor the small things in life. As part of this, I’ve been trying to buy as much of my food as possible from the local farmers’ market, local farm stands, and we joined a community supported agricultural group. Lovely. But the thing is, those things take time. This morning I wrote for a bit and when I was feeling overwhelmed, I decided to do my grocery shopping. I have to pick up my farm share on Saturday mornings anyway. So, first to the farmers’ market where I bought a lovely collection of fruits and vegetables. Then to the grocery store for the staples and nonperishables, then to the CSA pickup point. Once home I had to put my bounty away.

But when buying from farmers, putting one’s groceries away is more than just shoving stuff in the cabinet, refrigerator, or freezer. Things have to be cleaned and sorted. And that all takes time. By the time I was done, it was noon (and time for lunch).

As I was eating, I was bemoaning the fact that the morning was gone. Then I stopped myself. How is it that something can be gone. I spent the morning quite productively. I was about in my community saying hello to people and gathering glorious wholesome food with which to feed the bodies and souls of my family.

How is it that I’ve come to measure productivity in the number of pages written or papers read rather than doing those things that ground us in our humanity?

This afternoon I wrote some more (haven’t gotten very far, but I realize that for me, writing is a circuitous process), and then I prepared fresh beet salad and froze corn on the cob. There is something in the act of food preparation that is nourishing - as much as the act of eating is.

Now it’s back to writing, but I am learning slowly, not to measure my writing against the clock. I have learned from the slow food movement that attention to the moment, to the flavors, to the act is as important as the product. So I write, and I know an article will result and when it does it will nourish me as well instead of draining me.

Does this sound too new agey. Well too bad!

The premier literacy journal, Research in the Teaching of English, has changed editors. The interesting thing about research journals is that who the editor is strongly affects the editorial content. The new editorship of RTE is exciting. Now don’t get me wrong. I like and admire the work of the former editors of RTE. They certainly presented a strong set of quality research during the past years. But the new editors, consisting of Mark Dressman, Sarah McCarthey, and Paul Prior are bringing in a perspective that is along the lines of what I believe is the future of literacy research. For a long time I’ve felt that literacy research has been struggling to find its focus. The new literacy studies is no longer new. People babble about “Literacy as a social practice” without really understanding what it means. I’m hoping that the Dressman, McCarthey, and Prior will help shape a clearer vision of what literacy research is and should be.

This has nothing to do with research, literacy, or anything profound. It’s just that I want to complain about some small dog in my neighborhood that yaps and yaps and yaps and yaps. It has to be one of those little things that people call dogs (to me a real dog has to weigh over 25 pounds) because it’s bark, no make that yip, is so high pitched it’s actually painful. And it starts early in the morning and keeps going until dark - or even later. I don’t blame the dog. I blame the owner. If you own a dog, please don’t leave it outside all day. Dogs are pack animals. They need to be with their people/pack. This dog is probably barking because it’s bored, or lonely. But regardless it is making me insane. I can only wear headphones for so many hours a day! I’m either going to kill it, it’s owners, or myself