TGIF

I am so thankful that it is Friday. Kristie, KoKo, and I are going camping with some friends. It will be nice to get away and relax. Kristie has turned me into an outdoors person. I never thought this possible. I've always enjoyed tubing and jobbing, but as for being a lake or camping person or grill out in the backyard person - no. Last summer she had me to the lake just about every weekend. So far this summer we have spent several evenings outside - usually biking (she bought me a new bike for father's day. Unfortunately, I took it out for our usual six mile jaunt - on a really nice bike path that used to be rail road tracks but our city had them removed and the path paved - but on the way back, I ran over a branch, which punctured my rear tire. This left me stranded about three miles from home. So I hid the bike in the bushes at the end of the bike path and trudged home.

Three times in the past week we've been out in the yard playing sport toss (I've been informed that it's not "Spot Toss"). I have yet to beat Kristie in a single match. So we likely won't be out playing anymore of that worthless game.

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Two days left at the ALC. I'm not looking forward to grading the research papers from my Accessing Information class. They only had to do a 2-3 page research papers (plus a works cited). But trying to accomplish that in 9 days was impossible. There is just too much to try and get them to understand. After all I'm dealing with some kids who just can't even write complete sentences - and they're supposed to understand in-text citation and how to craft a works cited? Oh man. They are (as am I) over their heads.

But most put in good efforts and learned a lot. The form - though - will be a nightmare to read.

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I've been thinking about the projects for the RRVWP. I have to write three pieces from three different genres. One has to be a research based piece. I haven't heard back about my proposal, so I am thinking of just going ahead and expanding that into an essay. At least I'll get some use out of it.

I am also thinking about writing a poem. I came across a student essay in a writing text that chronicled all the things that were lost when he father was struck with Alzheimer's. In a flash she lost all of his memories, his smile, her connection to his family, all of his little idiosyncrasies. So this got me thinking about all of the things that were taken with Dad - his jokes, his bright blue eyes, his stories, all his memories and images of my mother and us, his routine calls, his advice. I could mine that for a lot of powerful things. Another poem idea I have been kicking around is about his knife. I don't know anything more than that. It is just one of the last symbols I have left. I just have a feeling if I sat down with it and started writing, something good would come out of it.

For the third piece, I'm thinking of writing a creative nonfiction piece on my grandmother. I might use it to add to my memoir on her. Mom used to tell of Granny bringing a dead cat to class and dissecting it. That is all I know. And now Mom is gone, and so is the source to confirm this. I've asked my relatives, and they certainly think it's plausible. So I'm going to invent the rest. Maybe it will end up being a really creative nonfiction piece, but a lot of the story is already in place. I just need time to get it out.

Finally, I have to give an hour long presentation. The last time I was there I presented on my take on revision (using ideas from Peter Elbow and Pat Belanoff's "A Community of Writers" text. It went over extremely well. But now I don't know what to do for a follow up. I've thought about doing something on using blogs in a writing class. Of course, this is something I haven't done yet, but I'd like to in my College Comp class next year. I could talk about my plans and get other teachers' feedback. I also am thinking about presenting on writing a braided essay. This is something that comes quite naturally to me and I would love to teach it in my College Comp class. The final idea I have is about a prewriting exercise I do in my Comp classes. I have students draw a childhood map. I borrowed this idea from Bill Roorbach's "Writing Life Stories." It works great to generate ideas. Then I'd also talk about how to build the narratives from there and focus on the details of their narratives.

No matter what I decide, I'm going to be busy.