Sure, I Will Marry You Sure, I’ll marry you, if you’d like. That’s what I told a student of mine who sent me this message out of the blue fifteen years or better after he’d been in my classroom reading some Shakespeare, saying he had asked his girlfriend, who was also a student of mineContinue reading “#44: Sure, I Will Marry You”
Category Archives: Self Reflection
#43: The Summertime Blues Is A Real Thing
The Summer Time Blues Is A Real Thing I’m here to tell you that the Summertime Blues is a real thing. And I’m not talking about the silly song about the kid who couldn’t work late or can’t use the damn car and is too young to vote, no, I’m talking about the summertime blues thatContinue reading “#43: The Summertime Blues Is A Real Thing”
#41: On the Very Last Work Day of the School Year
On the Very Last Work Day of the School Year It began with a breakfast during which we said tearful goodbyes to beloved colleagues retiring or moving on, a difficult, but joyful thing, wanting them to stay but wishing them well and happy returns for all they’ve done for our school and our kids. WeContinue reading “#41: On the Very Last Work Day of the School Year”
Forced Creativity Experiences (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly)
April concludes and the new month begins with my successful participation in the National Poetry Month challenge of writing a poem a day for 30 days. I’m happy to say that I missed not a single day and that all 30 poems are posted here at michaeljarmer.com for your reading pleasure. I thought I wouldContinue reading “Forced Creativity Experiences (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly)”
#3: Self Censorship and the Creative Writer (You Can’t Say That)
I hate it. I wish it were not true, but whenever I have penned something delicious or exciting or in some way daring or brave, a series of questions begin nagging my monkey mind: What will my students think of that? How will my mother react? Will my brother disown me? Will my wife want me reading thisContinue reading “#3: Self Censorship and the Creative Writer (You Can’t Say That)”
Combustion Deconstruction: Some Musings on the Fate of a First Novel
I started writing my first novel when I was, perhaps, 28 years old, I finished it coming out of an MFA program when I was 32, revised it when I was 35, began a long, demoralizing, tedious, and ultimately unsuccessful agent search, and then, when I was 40, I put the novel in the proverbialContinue reading “Combustion Deconstruction: Some Musings on the Fate of a First Novel”
Of Fatherhood: The Most Difficult Job Ever Invented
Outside of motherhood, that is. The way I see it, the three most difficult jobs ever invented, in this order, are motherhood, fatherhood, and teaching in an underfunded public school. I’ve taken on two out of three. I find fatherhood exceedingly difficult and this perturbs me. Whose big idea was it in the first place,Continue reading “Of Fatherhood: The Most Difficult Job Ever Invented”
Of Moral Perfection
This is the assignment I gave to my students this week in American Literature. I wrote it on the board. “For homework, arrive at moral perfection. You have one week.” A few of them looked at it right away and were puzzled and slightly amused, but as we worked through the lesson of the day,Continue reading “Of Moral Perfection”
Of Internet Trolls and Stupid Insecurities
A first for me! I’ve experienced, or have been the victim of, my first internet troll (or so I think). It’s only been in the last year or so that I’ve become aware of such an animal as the internet troll, my first introduction probably coming from an internet video blogger by the name ofContinue reading “Of Internet Trolls and Stupid Insecurities”
Of The End of Winter Break and a Bunch of Other Of
Sunday, January 6, the end of Winter Break in the school district for which I work. Always mixed feelings about the end of any lengthy break from teaching. There’s some dread about having to get up and work hard again, always. And there’s a sense of discombobulation and confusion about what it was we wereContinue reading “Of The End of Winter Break and a Bunch of Other Of”
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