Classroom Talk
Spring - Summer 2002 Archive
Just a hard-working stiff. Posted by John on May 10, 2002 at 14:01:24:
Turns out that my Boss has needed me at the ranch much more this week than I expected, as he breezes in and out on business. Three overnights,
and I've been sleeping as much as possible during the days. And now I've got to do a swing shift and overnight tonight, and then my regular
weekend days this weekend. Sorry for the inconvenience to all of you. This won't be a regular thing after this week. Meanwhile, lots of overtime . . .
on the good side of it.
It's good to see so many old familiar faces on the blackboard this semester. There are plenty of important things for me to get to next week.
Douglas, I hear your problem about practicing mindfulness when you're feeling bad. Turns out you've got company in that, I see. I'll come up with
some ways around that when I get back. I guess that's the most important thing on the board to me at this time. Also, some brief talk on mindful
playwriting to come. I don't mean to hang that on you, Douglas. Maybe it's not your thing. I got the idea because you have a designer's familiarity
with the stage, the spatial realities of the ways things are arranged in the theatre. (And Player/Judge is the octant of Theater on our wheel.) So, I
thought you might be good at mindful play-writing, if you took a shine to it. Anyway, I do think you deserve a better role in a production some day
than the last part you got.
You and Eddie could pool your talents and collaborate on writing a fantastic one-act play where the characters were all of us characters in this class. .-
) Get Pauline in on that, to write a few jokes.
Eon, I'm just plain proud of you. I'm sure you are an inspiration to all of your classmates here who have been caring about you and your life.
Congratulations on the new job! I guess you see now what I meant by holding out for a job where you say, "Wow! And they're even paying me to
do this!" And you did it all on your own!!! Super!
I squeezed in an hour reading that website you referred us to. Good for you! That's quite a big school you belong to! I'm unaware of any
disagreements between your teacher's messages and what I'm coaching here. Would you care to elaborate on what you thought the differences
were? "Sexual health is as important to society as clean water." I agree with that whole-heartedly. Neat way to put it! Fun, too, to see a picture of
you . . . handsome devil that you are! No wonder you once had problems with too many women flirting with you. — More on all this later, when I
can.
Eddie, thanks for emailing me that essay on Freud. But, despite my new iMac, the email program doesn't handle long attachments like that, and I
couldn't open it. Got a message that it was too long for Simple Text. Maybe Brent can tell me a way to get around that when I have time to talk with
him again. Frustrating. The email program with my former old Macintosh never had that problem with attachments, and I keep running into that
now. Eddie, would it be too much trouble for you to print that out and mail it to me by snail mail? (Address is in the Copyright Notice on the Site
Map of the Campus.)
And, by the way, Brent, thanks for transferring the last semester to the Archives. I haven't had time to check through it yet, as I usually do. Next
week, Bruddah.
Pauline, here are a couple more questions pursuant to identifying your types on the wheel:
• Are you an animal lover? Explain, please.
• Do you find that you cry easily? Explain, please.
These ought to be easier than that first batch of questions. Attempting conscientiously to be a "tough coach," nowadays, I'm prone to ask questions
that students find difficult to respond to. But the purpose behind that approach is to make you stronger by your efforts. I think my job here as coach
could be compared to being a weight-lifting coach. The more that you students find out that you *can* lift these weights, the sooner you will become
invincible warriors.
I love it when you surprise me.
Student John, Sally, Deirdre, Rakesh, Jeff, Suz, Perk and all of you . . . I do love you all.
Just a hard-working stiff . . . (cf. Hard Worker/Doormat), and yes, I do love that other job, too. But I am sorry when it cuts into the time that I have
for you Folks here.
Coach
Are we all mellow enough together to be "a support group" yet? Any thoughts on that? — A few more honest expressions of contrition around the
circle might do the trick.
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Archived 08/26/2002