Okay, I haven’t done a Friday 5 for a while so let’s give this a shot.
1. Today is the next to the last session with my group of incarcerated teen poets. I’m sorry I haven’t managed daily updates with the visits but I will do a few posts about them soon. Monday is the last day and there is so much to do (like typing in all their work so I have copies for the exhibit)) before then. But today we paint. They collaged some canvases last week as backgrounds for the display and today we’ll do another layer with paint and textures. Fingers crossed that it’s another good art day. I have hot Cheetos in my backpack as a bribe reward.
2. I fell off the blogging wagon. I think part of it is the intensity of this teaching I am doing lately. It’s a lot of prep and a lot of recovery time for me. And part of it is adding new things to my life without letting go of any old things and come to find out, there really are only 24 hours in a day.
3. I haven’t even been reading blogs, just a quick scan of the feeds on Facebook which means I haven’t been commenting and I feel bad about that because so many people have been so supportive of my blog over the years. There are some exciting things going on with various people and I do cheer them on, I just don’t seem to be able to pause long enough to make an insightful comments.
4. I think about blogging a lot more than I have actually done it this month. I think, oh, I have ten minutes I could whip out a little blog post and then I think that everything I have to write about at that moment feels either too slight or too personal so I stare at the page for too long and finally decide that it is conceited of me to think that people want to read all that kind of stuff so I don’t post. What I think is happening is that I am having a shift of identity which is all good but it fits me differently and I need to figure out how it fits into the rest of my world. I did catch a great post by
5. I’ve committed to writing an original poem a day (and blogging it) every day in April for National Poetry Month. Last year I posted a new haiku a day based on my native plant garden. I’m not sure what form or topic I will use this year but I do promise one new poem a day.
Happy Friday, all. I’m off to see my young poets.
FYI – I for one love to read your posts. I may not always have time to comment, or maybe I have nothing interesting to add, but I do read your blog. 🙂 I miss our blogging community. It gave me such a sense of belonging – I don’t get that from FB.
The collages with the teens sound fab! You inspire me and I can’t wait till we can collage together again!
Thank you. I do the same with yours, always read but don’t always pause to respond. And I miss that community from the blogosphere too. It’s not the same on FB for sure.
The teen stuff has been tough…I need to quit doing so much, quit caring so much.
Looking forward to another art day with you too!
Good luck with all things, and thanks for that post about blogging. Fascinating how much it paralleled a lot of my thinking.
Thanks. That post made me think a lot too. It’s sometimes a slippery slope of sorts.
It kind of comes down to we can’t do everything. I’ve come to love the LJ community and you are a big part of the heart of that to me, whether or not you can blog regularly. Everyone needs their own time and space sometimes, and more of a community at others.
Thank you for the link to Sara Zarr’s blog, which was thought provoking.
Thank you, Jeannine. I love the idea of being part of the heart. I really think it’s all this rediscovery of myself that is shifting things and it will probably be good when I finish shifting things around inside of me.
I’m glad you enjoyed Sara’s post too. It really made me think.
I’m hideously behind on reading blogs so I will join you on the Guilt Wagon!
How wrong is it of me to say I welcome the company? 🙂 We’re going have to chat soon. Hope you’re doing okay.
Just my usual freaking-nervous-wreck self as usual. 🙂
I know what you mean about the blogging, Susan. Most of what I feel I have to share lately feels either like bragging or whining (depending on whether it’s good news or bad) or too slight. I know I don’t need to have something substantive each day, but I want to have stuff to make readers think. I think. Anyway…I hear ya!
I realize I’ve spent a lot of this month thinking and processing stuff, which is good, but not quite shareable. But later today I’ll post about Poetry Month and my big project I’m going to attempt and hope that will push me through and get me posting more regularly again.