Life. So much randomness. So much weirdness. I suppose it’s what keeps me coming back for more every day. Well, that, and reading your blogs… So without further ado, some random life things from the past month-ish… Including snippets from my trip to see my family. 🙂
- Teaching is weird. I teach pretty much the same classes every year. Great, you say, you don’t have to learn a new class! And I say, well, yes, but. But but but. Students are so different year-to-year. So, so different. This summer’s class is the best example yet that I have of this. Last year’s students were really confident in their ideas… this year? We have some people who – at the midway point of the class – JUST figured out what they want to focus on. And, their topics are relatively novel ones, so I’ve had to shift several presentations and planned activities to meet them where they are. On the plus side? It is really keeping me on my toes, as several of them have needed a lot of discussion and encouragement as they sort through all of the ideas in their heads. 🙂
- File things under Things You Never Think Will Happen To You: When I was walking from the parking ramp (side note: parking ramp or parking garage? or, something different? which one do you use? [this is kind of like soda vs. pop vs. Coke…]) to class last week, I passed the retention pond by one of the buildings. I pass this pond every single week, just fyi. Last week, I heard birds but wasn’t paying attention. The next thing I knew, something was attacking my head. As in, flying into my head, trying to peck at me, and even trying to land (I think) on my head. From the shadow I could see on the ground (I was looking down at this point, waving my arms around my head, and shouting), it looked like an enormous flying bug. When I finally escaped the as-yet-unidentified attacker, I looked up to see 2 people I know from my school, who informed me that it was a red-winged blackbird. So yeah, I got attacked by a bird when I walked by its nest. Turns out, this is pretty common for this bird at this time of year. When I left class, I walked out with 3 students and my (fabulous, wonderful) TA. I mentioned that I was trying to figure out how to run the gauntlet of the path beside the retention pond, only to find out that the same thing had happened to one of my students. I felt vindicated – at least it wasn’t just me! (The answer: I took the same path, accepted that they would probably try to attack me again, and prepared by pulling up my hood and walking as quickly as possible without falling down…)
- Because I’ve been putting this post together for four days or so… I now know that Sarah and her daughter had a similar encounter! So it’s not just me!
- Living a quiet life sounds like a good choice, if you ask me.
- Also, this: Why are we afraid of reading? (from the NY Times)
- Reading is something else: an activity whose value, while broadly proclaimed, is hard to specify. Is any other common human undertaking so riddled with contradiction? Reading is supposed to teach us who we are and help us forget ourselves, to enchant and disenchant, to make us more worldly, more introspective, more empathetic and more intelligent. It’s a private, even intimate act, swathed in silence and solitude, and at the same time a social undertaking. It’s democratic and elitist, soothing and challenging, something we do for its own sake and as a means to various cultural, material and moral ends.
- (Much later in the essay) Reading liberates and torments us, enlightens and bewilders us, makes and unmakes our social and solitary selves.
- From a reader comment: Reading is a space ship, a time machine, a magic carpet. It can take you places that you can’t find in the physical world. Reading is equality. A great way to enforce inequality is to make reading “optional.”
- That article – including the comment from the reader – makes me think of the joy I am experiencing, rereading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Engie is our fearless reader for this online book club, and I am thrilled that she chose a book that has lived in my heart for as long as I can remember. My favorite part so far is remembering the text as I read it. Does anyone else have this experience? When I’m reading an old favorite (the list has many entries, but includes the HP series, The Dark Is Rising series, the Anne of Green Gables Series, Little House, the Wrinkle in Time trilogy, and on and an on…), there are whole passages where I know what the words will be, yet I am eager to read them again for the umpteenth time. It’s like my brain has stored the text all these years, and seeing it on the page is like seeing an old friend after far too long. So thank you, Engie, for helping to feed my soul in this busy time. <3
- Oh! the trip East. Goodness, I nearly forgot, I went so far down the rabbit hole that is the internet…
- First things first… it was so much better than I anticipated. I always dread trips just a bit, thanks to being out of my routine (even when the destination is family…what can I say? I’m weird. But you knew that.)
- I got to see chosen and, well, regular? default? inherited? family, and both were wonderful. My mom’s extended family – what I think of as inherited family – is huge, and I hadn’t seen many of them in 7 years. I really enjoyed the time I spent with them, despite most of them a) having no clue what I do, and b) not knowing where I live. They have very different lives than I do, but they are warm, loving, and LOUD people. 🙂
- My chosen family. Oh, my. I could go on and on about how wonderful it was to spend two full hours with them, talking about recent travels, a bit of politics, philosophy, science, books… These are my second parents, and they are in my heart as much as my biological parents. I don’t know what I would do without them.
- And I spent so much time with my parents, which was wonderful. I took a couple of photos of each of them in their natural habitats – my mom, in the kitchen, and my dad, in his grungy garden clothes. This is where I picture them when I think of them throughout the day. We had ice cream and summer fruit and wonderful food and just… it’s so good to just see them, even if the visits are too rare.
- I did take a few photos of my dad’s beautiful gardens. A rhododendron for Engie, which we think was planted about 50 years ago? And a beautiful pot in another garden.
- And, finally, this: Who’s afraid of being idle?
- Me. Definitely me. Sigh.
- I hope you are all well. I also hope that someday I can figure out how to have some of a post in bullet points and other parts of it not. Things to learn…
- I’ll leave you with this favorite from Nick Cave:
- Read. Read as much as possible. Read the big stuff, the challenging stuff, the confronting stuff, and read the fun stuff too. Visit galleries and look at paintings, watch movies, listen to music, go to concerts — be a little vampire running around the place sucking up all the art and ideas you can. Fill yourself with the beautiful stuff of the world. Have fun. Get amazed. Get astonished. Get awed on a regular basis, so that getting awed is habitual and becomes a state of being.
I used to do bird research and red-winged blackbirds are notorious for attacking humans – usually around swampy water where they have a nest. Also – chickadees are particularly fierce and aggressive if you catch them in a net (to, say, attach a tracking device).
The university where I work has a group of resident crows that are very aggressive. Each year our Safety and Security department sends around a notice to not wear flashy clothes (things like sequins really attract them) and to never have food in your hands. They will attack!! I actually had to move my kids off a playground once because crows were dive-bombing.
On a happier note, what a fun trip East. It’s lovely to reconnect with family <3
Good grief. How am I the only person on the planet who didn’t know that birds have a disturbing tendency to attack us?? Now I shall be avoiding swampy areas, not wearing my bedazzled clothes (HA!), and not including chickadees in any of my research projects. 😉 (But seriously – how did I not know this was so common??)
The trip East was, indeed, lovely. I love that the connections are (still) there, even when (many) years have passed. <3
Yikes, I keep hearing about red wing black bird attacks. As if the world didn’t have enough problems!
I would like to be idle!!! Sign me up!
Can we have a blog idleness accountability group? I think I need that. Desperately. As in, updating everyone when I’m sitting on the couch and not doing anything “productive” other than reading. Ahhh…. (Also, what would you GIVE to be bored again, like you were as a child? It’s like a far off dream or something…)
Thanks for the link about ATGIB book club. I’m super excited for people to join in and hope we get a good crowd with lots to say!
I LOVE talking about regional dialects. I use parking garage/parking ramp pretty interchangeably, if referring to multi-level parking structures. If it’s just one-level, though, it’s a garage. I do wonder if it’s regional.
Red-wing blackbirds are huge jerks. I mean, I guess technically they’re just really protective parents around their nesting grounds, but their nesting grounds seem to be the entire Midwest, so they are super annoying to me. As a hiker and cyclist, they can be dangerous! Jerks.
“huge jerks” is the best description ever. I shared that with my parents this morning, and they were completely amused by it. (Not amusing? The terrifying picture of a red-winged blackbird my dad emailed me the night after I was attacked. Thanks, dad, for the nightmares! ;>)
Parking ramp was terminology I learned when I moved to Iowa, 20 years ago now. (Good grief…) Out east, they were always parking garages. But I’ve bought into the distinction (at least among some) being a) one level vs. multi-level, and b) below ground vs. above ground. Note that “b” does not always apply, but parking garages can be below ground and, IMO, parking ramps cannot. So complicated. Ha!
I LOVE that Nick Cave quote! I need to be awed more often.
I recently read (or heard) somewhere that when you read fiction, you immerse yourself in another life. So true! That’s why it helps us develop empathy. I like non-fiction, but my real love is fiction. On that note, I’m also joining Engie’s book club! I read ATGIB when I was a teenager, so I’m definitely looking forward to a re-read.
I’m glad your trip went so well! Time with your parents is priceless. And you’re lucky you have an inherited AND chosen family. Oh, and I’m glad you survived the bird attack- strangely, I’ve heard stories like that from several people lately. Is this a new thing? What is going on??? Anyway, I hope your hood up solution works well.
I loved that quote, too – so much so that I saved it from two sources!
I love this: “when you read fiction, you immerse yourself in another life”. So, so true, Jenny. And since people in books live lives that I never will, it allows me to travel anywhere and anytime. 🙂
Inherited and chosen family are the best. You are right – I am beyond lucky. <3
I am so glad you had a nice trip!
And it’s really exciting your students are pushing you like that and coming up with new ideas.
Ha, as I was reading about the birds I was like “I bet it was a red-winged black bird.” I’ve been attacked by them MANY times while running.
HOW did I not know about red-winged blackbirds?? This needs to be in the “So you’ve moved to the Midwest” orientation manual! It was definitely missing from mine. 😉
And you’re totally right – I love it when my students push me and ask questions that I never even thought of. I tell them, right up front, that I do not claim to know everything about a topic. And, I love when someone in the class has either more knowledge than I do (and contributes that to the discussion) OR has a completely different viewpoint. One of my favorite phrases is, “Tell me more about that, because I have a completely different perspective.” 🙂
THOSE DUMB BIRDS!
Also this is perfect and exactly how I feel about that book: “a book that has lived in my heart for as long as I can remember.”
I agree re: students and the need to re-make classes for them. It;s actually one of my very favorite things about teaching.
As Engie said, they are HUGE jerks! Gah. I hope they chill the heck out and soon.
Well-loved books are the best. They are the only ones that I keep these days. I’m sometimes sad that I don’t have kids to share them with. (My niblings are not readers like I am a reader… sigh… Fortunately they are fabulous in many ways. :>)
Isn’t that the BEST when you’re teaching and you need to shift course mid-discussion? Or when someone has a completely different viewpoint on something? So. Much. Fun. (and I never thought I would say that about teaching!!)
Oh goodness, a bird attack! I haven’t heard of such a thing … that’s so scary (did they hurt you?)
It was the strangest thing! They bonked my head (there’s really no other term) but it didn’t hurt much. I did have my hood up on the return trip, and last week I went through the building next to the retention pond to get to my class – I was not taking any chances! I also read a story about a local woman who had one of them LAND on her head while they were attacking (hence the hood), which freaked me out even more! Also, everyone I mentioned it to who has lived in this area for a while apparently knows about this. I think it needs to be in the “Welcome to the Midwest” handbook, along with a few other key pieces of information. 😉
P.S. As you can imagine, I am so happy about the time that you were able to spend with your family.
I knew you would be, my friend. <3 (I hope you will get to visit your family again this year? Maybe in the Fall?)
I have never heard of red-winged blackbirds and had no idea that birds would attack you like that! What the heck?! That’s so scary. I’m glad you emerged unscathed from your first encounter with one of them.
I’m also joining Engie’s ATGIB readalong, and I’m so excited! I’ve only read the book once, and it was only a few years ago, but I adored it and can’t wait to read it again – this time with lots of people!
I’m glad you had a wonderful time with your family. <3
Well, I certainly had not heard of this! But, when I mentioned the attack to people who have lived here a lot longer than I have, none of them were surprised! Why do they not warn those of us who move here? I think they should be required to. 😉
I have never been in a book club, so Engie’s virtual option is the first one I’ll participate in! I love this book – for me, it’s one of those where the lines just unfold equally from my memory and the page. I’m reading ahead but…well… I’m just enjoying it too much. 😉
Thanks, friend. I always forget how wonderful it is to see them in the anxiety-laden run up to my visits. I need to remember that it’s always worth it in the end. <3
OMG I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF A BIRD ATTACK. Except for, you know, the movie The Birds. Yikes.
I’m so glad you got to travel and see your family! What a lovely trip it sounds like.
I love reading – fiction, non-fiction, all of it. I will be joining the book club, although I’m in the middle of a move…but I should be able to join in all the same.
THANK YOU! I know, right! This is the stuff of scary movies! (And yet, as I told San and Stephany, everyone ELSE seems to know about this… at least those people who have lived here for a while… don’t you think they should warn those of us who are transplants??)
I know you love reading everything – I love seeing what you’re reading on IG and on your blog. Since we are very close in age, I trust your reviews of YA books and others that may be directed at, shall we say, other generations. 🙂 (Although I do not have the same experiences of having, raising, and now launching kids into the world… you have all of my admiration for that!)
So, being attacked by birds is one of my true fears (it’s why I watch birds safely from the inside on my spy cam, haha)!
Your experience teaching this summer sounds like an adventure. When I taught at a community college a while back, it was always so interesting to see how the same plan could go so wildly different depending on where my classes were at. At times, I loved how alive it all was, and, at others it frustrated me something terrible (especially as I taught a lot of works that weren’t connected to my concentrations)! I hope it keeps going well as you stay on your toes!
Well, it was never one of mine but I think I am revising my list after this. And also altering my behavior (I cut through a building rather than risk it again next week… stupid birds.)
It IS an adventure. So far, so good, but there is always, always another curveball. Adjusting on the fly is not one of my strengths in life so I like to think these experiences are teaching me something, too. Right? 😉
I can’t believe you got attacked by a bird! Birds are my mom’s biggest fear so I won’t share this story with her… hope it doesn’t happen again! I also say parking garage (or parking deck)..I haven’t heard of it being called a parking ramp before. Very interesting- I love little regional differences like that 🙂
Do NOT share this story with your mother, for sure. I have avoided that path since it happened. Not sure what I’ll do Tuesday… do I risk it? 🙂 And yes, regional differences are so fascinating! Have you encountered people in NC who refer to all pop (ahem, sorry, soda :>) as “Coke”? I grew up a “soda” person and have converted, in the 20 years I’ve lived mostly in the Midwest, to pop. 🙂
Oh no bird attacks. It does sound awful. But then I have witnessed a swan attacking a swimmer last summer and I believe anything. Birds are mean. On the other hand they just protect their little ones.
I have been so absent from the blog worlds the past few months that I apparently missed the online book club. And just when I read A tree grows in Brooklyn myself all by my lonesome and struggling a bit.
You visit with family sounds lovely. And the garden your dad has seems so beautiful.
Oh, Tobia, my comments are either late or absent, so I completely get you on the book club. But I see that you have joined! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂
The birds are FINALLY gone. I can walk in peace. And my class is over now, so whew. And yes, birds. are. mean. No two ways about it!