Last Night I Needed a Talk with the Great Whatever. I Headed to Short Beach, Parked the Car, Saddled Up Karal, and Off We Went...Prayers and Meditation

This is week three. It didn't take long for the #$@#$ to catch up and the insanity to invade personal space. During the summer, NWP teachers and leaders can navigate educational settings with a mission, purpose, equity, and justice. Then, the school year begins and we are invaded with bureaucracy, administrative hierarchies, and all the inequities that come with it. It's discouraging, frustrating, mind-blowing, and wrong. Yet, this is the way systems work.

There are kids. There are great practices. There are phenomenal educators. And systems keep them from doing good. It's absurd. Don't even get me started on higher education --- when my boys joked that it was a player-hater degree (pile it higher and deeper) I had no clue how correct they were. The Gods Must Be Are Crazy.

And this is why I needed to walk. I was at my computer from 6 a.m. until 3 p.m and only pee'd once. I forgot to eat. I was simply putting out dumpster files and accomplishing work that needed to be done (the lack of support is tremendous, and jobs that used to be held by many are now dumped back on faculty - it's insane).

So, when 3 p.m. came by, I simply got the dog, jumped in the car, and said, I need to see the ocean. I need water therapy. And I got it. 

I posted a similar picture this time last year and my older sister turned it into a portrait that now hangs in the hallway as you walk toward my bedroom. We need reminders in our life about what is most important: water, sunlight, clouds, and human-less spaces. Joy has nothing to do with man- (and woman-) made labor. Joy is being free from the stupidity of our species.

That's why I walked. I needed to think, to process, and to build sustenance, because at week three, I'm already furious with the way universities operate. They are sick, sick institutions (and I know I need to count my blessings....because I'm paid to be a thinker, writer, educator, and doer...which is rare as far as work is concerned). 

At some point, Faustus, I just wonder why we have to sell our souls so much, especially when we work at the foundation of privilege, but fail to see this in our cults of hubris, injustice, and lack of inclusivity. Yet, there we have words, so who needs the actions?

I came home from the walk and reread Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak. I can't recommend this book enough (yes, there's a Syracuse connection). I'm going to try something new tonight, too. I want to be a silent instructor...and to spend two hours listening. I have an idea in my head, but am unsure if I'll pull it off. Great books beget fantastic ideas. I have Laurie (and Melinda) to thank for this.

And I also have the skies and Sound from my Stratford 4-mile walk. 8,000+ steps and a lot of much-needed mental space. 

Okay, Tuesday. What do you got?