Emancipated to Free Flow Again without the Poetic Rules. Great to Wake Up and Simply Go Stream-of-Consicousness

Celebrating Max Limric. I know he's a Corrigan Scholar and I've been lucky to mentor him for two years. He also received the Newman Civic Award, so I can mentor him another year (while he stays and earns his elementary education certification). Yesterday afternoon, after a 3.5 hour faculty meeting and two hours of grading in my office, I attended the University Library Awards and Max Limric won the undergraduate student prize for a paper he wrote in Dr. Elizabeth Petrino's class. Her remarks about him were spot on and now I'm wondering (after CWP finishes this summer...he's working for me, year 2), what I'll do without him. It's wonderful when you get an amazing kid.

In the meantime, my tongue is now obsessed with a screw I have in my jawbone awaiting an implant. It fascinates me, actually. 

And the pollen has moved through my nostrils into my lungs. Coughing fests, galore. We are definitely in May.

I'm also glad that Disney has unleashed the second season of Andor, as it gives me evening distractions to get my mind of the world (even as it offers a metaphor for our world in Star Wars terms. It really is wonderfully done.

Today...more grading...lunch with a colleague in engineering....writing time with Max...and dinner with Anisa Libuya, a young many from Zambia who graduated before the pandemic (when Chitunga was still in high school). He's returned and is earning his MBA, so I want to celebrate that he's back with us. 

But back to the Library Prize...it's always wonderful to have spectacular students...but when they arrive with the gifts of a kid like Max...you simply count the blessings.

And VerseLove25 is Complete. Come What May. 30 Straight Days of Poetry for 5 Years Straight. Love the EthicalELA Community...But Now, Onward

What a doozy the last of April was. I know I had the poem to write (which I wrote combining all 30 titles of the prompts for the last Month). Got a hair cut. Washed the car. Walked the Dog, and did all this in anticipation of my last Wisdom Tooth abstraction (no wisdom left) after I had an implant installed (my first). I wasn't not a happy camper about drilling into bone, but the procedure was mild...same with the removal of my last bit of intelligence. Gone! Poof. Now for good meds, ice packs, and a hope for healthy healing (which my credit card says will not be for quite a while). If I could stomach being in the mouths of others all day, I may have taken the path of dentistry. They will always be in business. Ah, but the new technologies they have...perhaps all of it will be machines one day, too.

On campus for meetings this morning and award ceremonies in the afternoon. Tomorrow, I go back to the regular Crandall blogging, so all the poem-haters will be relieved. In the mean time, one last poem. It won't kill you. It's MAY-TIME. Woot Woot.

Just Two More #VerseLove25 Poems Left. Day 29. Titling a Poem with Opposite Meaning & a Last Graduate Course Taught for the Semester

These dang allergies. Can't find the seasonal pollen. We were to hold a hand in our writing but I was in self-deprecation mode and, truth be told, I'm simply exhausted from another semester of labor and I'm in need of down time to grade and advise.

I'm very thankful to teacher/writer/author Dr. Jarred Amato for visiting with my students today after they read Just Read It. It's a teacher's dream...so many ways to make reading doable and accessible in the classroom. 

Ah, but I need to get through today. Busy one. Again, I just want to be left alone to grade, but we all know how that is. 

April is Coming to an End. Day 28 of VerseLove25. Tonight, My Last Grad Class of the Semester. And so Many Thoughts for My Dog-Loving Friends

Last night I ended with one class, only to come home and get ready for the class tonight. Always crazy to think we've ridden the 15-week wave together. I know it's hard to admit, but the blurring of such rituals are real, even if the learning is new to the students in my care. I love them, really I do, but the conveyor belt is so fast at this point, that I can't keep any of it straight. 

Did I already teach this? Have we discussed this? Stop me if I'm being repetitive. 

I loved yesterday's prompt to push us to make flowers out of rain showers...to write optimism over our despairing selves. I've tried to do this all my life, keeping the ugly to the side, but it is a hard battle. It's too easy to get into the Chicken-Little syndrome, because there's always reasons to think the sky is falling. Schindler's List vs. Life is Beautiful. Similar stories. Different takes (and that is a horrible analogy, I know). It's just that I've always fought to find joy, even in joyless times, even if it is not my natures. For me, happiness is a choice (but I know many others don't see it this way). 

So, to respond to yesterday's poem prompt I tried to explain myself a little. Happy Tuesday. I can't wait to be finished with teaching this semester.

 

Day 27 of #VerseLove25, Thinking About Serenity, Odes, and Finding Ways to Calm the Being on Hectic Days

I realize this work-a-holic doesn't have too many getaways for finding serenity. Rather than knitting, I tend to find other intellectual projects to jump into, including a poem-a-day for #VerseLove. When asked for an unwinding poem, my trend used to be with running, but those days ended (boo) and walking is good, but I've done that before. I hate that I don't have the sweaty, pavement-pounding salvation of my younger self (and these days I'm even finding walking difficulty, especially up and down stairs.

Still, writing gives me peace, so I went with that.

Yesterday, I was on campus again (twice) for varying events (a softball game and another awards ceremony). I also delivered 300 books for an even next week.. We're getting there. I came only to make the Kentucky Cake (thanks, Alice for the recipe) for the last nights of graduate courses. 

Here's to yet another Monday, and a little poetic mandala.

It Was About the Ode, Yesterday, and a Wish for Better Health (Embrace the Age). Day 26 of #VerseLove25 Before Heading to a Community Event

I had the great blessing of hosting author Torrey Maldonado in Connecticut the last few days and in addition to visiting schools, we also had a book story event, a National Indy Bookstore Day, at Possible Futures in New Haven, Connecticut. The past two days have been exhilarating, especially at this time of the year when a University Professor's time and energy are at an all time low. I'm excited, though, because the joy on the faces of teachers and young writers makes everything single ounce of time worth it. 

Yesterday's prompt what to do an ode to old age and to bring forward wishes for a better body of wellness. I have to say I could have very easily gone with teeth, but I've always been fond of my hernia surgeries and my newfound psoriasis which seem to find a way into how I write, poetically, each year. I was telling Torrey that we only need a good thunderstorm and the leaves will burst. That happened last night, so I'm hoping the pollen phase will soon end as my head is a battleground of plugged ears, a runny nose, and a tight chest. 

In the meantime, my ode. It's Sunday and I need to look ahead to the work-week ahead.

On the 25th of #VerseLove25, My True Love Gave to Me Good Wishes with a Double Dactyl Poem (Whatever That Is)

I readily admit I failed yesterday's #verselove25 challenge, only because I was out of the house for 14 hours with writer Torrey Maldonado visiting schools and living a good live of storytelling, humor, middle school kids, and the beautiful dedication of teachers (more on that down the road). Truth is, we spent hours with 500+ 7th & 8th graders at Wooster Middle School - a day to be remembered for always. 

This afternoon we'll be at Possible Futures in New Haven, 2 p.m., where Torrey will be signing more autographs and doing his thing at a public venue. What a day (and that Scrabble game we began will soon be completed....someday. When? Who knows?). 

Happy Saturday. The poem assigned yesterday was to be whimsical and dactyl (something about syllables and emphasis, which I couldn't figure out with this aging-fart brain...but I tried).