inspire

The Wall Between Us

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / Leave a comment

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Today’s prompt is a concrete poem, and I have been struggling with finding code that would work to fit this page. I may have to renovate my blog page this summer so that I can manage to do more create visual texts, but in the meantime, here is a link to the Document, because I couldn’t manage the formatting for this page.

Gratitude List:
1. (What wakes you up?) Birdsong, misty morning, small snuffly boy
2. (What disturbs you?) In yesterday’s class, the professor suggested that we interrupt our students after five or ten minutes of computer work, and have them ask each other questions or tell each other what they’re doing.  I asked if that wouldn’t be disruptive, and she said, “Precisely.” And it suddenly made sense to me, that we would intentionally disrupt a solitary process in the classroom to create interaction, to break the particular flow, in order to create space for new ideas.  I was worried about breaking their focus, but I really like the idea that when they’re doing certain writing tasks in class (perhaps not all), they need the intentional disruptions of their teacher and their peers.  This is different from the disruption of their neighbor showing them the latest youtube Fail video, of course.  I found the idea helpfully disruptive.
3. (What inspires you?) More ideas from yesterday’s class, to use WordPress blogs to create common collaborative spaces for students to share and peer review.  I am really excited by this possibility.
4. (What will draw you into the future?) The tasks of the summer.  Cleaning, sorting, preparing, playing with the boys
5. (What keeps you in the moment?) The feel of the air against my skin, someone I love whistling in the kitchen, the smell of coffee, the residual ache in my back (That puts a whole new twist on the grateful moment.  I would not be grateful for the ache in my back, but today when I feel it, I will remember it not as a symbol of aging but as a marker that keeps me focused on the moment at hand.)

May we walk in Beauty!

Where Do You Find Hope?

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / Leave a comment

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Gratitude List:
1. (What inspires you?)  A child I know.  This morning, I was watching video of President Obama placing a wreath at Hiroshima, and Joss asked what it was about.  I told him a little about the end of WWII, and how this is the first time a US president has visited that site.  “I’m kind of glad he went there,” he said.  I think children often understand these things better than adults do.
2. (Where do you find relief?) Change of schedule, end of year.  There’s sadness in saying goodbye to the seniors–but we know and they know they they’re ready, that they’ve been working toward this coming moment for years.  And I need this summer that I am heading into.  I am looking forward with great relish to sleeping in until past 6, to playing with my children every day, to preparing for next year’s work.  There are a few loose ends to wrap up in the next two weeks, but without the constant pull of classes, I can manage the loose ends.
3. (What fills you with wonder?) The view from Mt. Pisgah near Sam Lewis Park, with mist in the folds of the valleys and mist caught in the trees on the other side of the River.
4. (What will you do for yourself?) I am going to get a haircut today.  Some people have a regular appointment to keep their hair looking a certain way.  This has never been my way.  It usually feels like “an event” when I get my hair cut, like I am treating myself to something special.  I like to do it that way.
5. (What gives you hope?) I need to keep answering this question for myself these days.  I look at the ways of the world and I get rageful or cynical or filled with despair.  And there are good reasons for all of those responses.  But there are also good reasons to be hopeful.  Right now, one of the places I turn for hope is the work of international women’s groups.  These women look into the teeth of the beasts of war and displacement and terror, and they raise their voices and their arms and their hearts.  UN Women, the Nobel Women’s Initiative, Isis-WICCE, Women in Black, TreeSisters, Carry the Future, Code Pink, and many others.  (Which women’s groups inspire you?)

May we walk in Beauty!