A to Z Blog Challenge – Theme Reveal 2017

Posted on March 20, 2017 by hdh

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A to Z Blog Challenge 2017: Theme Reveal – What if…?

Last year was my first attempt at the A to Z Blog Challenge. I really enjoyed it. I spent that period of writing, focussing on things I knew about. I wrote about Life’s Choices and Life’s Changes. I wrote about things in my life that I had experienced, what decisions I made, what I learned or gained from those experiences and decisions. So what’s left for me to do this year? I could, if I desired, write about the same theme. At 66 years of age, I certainly have had enough experiences to come up with more ideas for changes and choices. But I want to try something new.

 

I asked my family and friends for ideas for what I should have as my theme. “What if you wrote about the same thing?” “What if you wrote about teaching?” “What if you made up stories?” “What if you wrote about storytelling?’

 

Listening to all of their ideas there appeared to be an over-riding theme. It occurred in all of their suggestions. “What if…?

 

I now had my theme. I plan on using each of my What ifs…? on each letter of the alphabet. Now all I have to do is figure out what to do for each letter. To do that I brainstormed myself and with the help of my family, friends and students that I told about this challenge, who knew about what I did last year. This gave me lots of ideas to write about. I’ll share all those ideas in my reflection writing at end of the challenge. You can read about what I chose as the days go on, once the Challenge begins. What if … something happens to me before I begin writing? We’ll that’s always a possibility. I guess you’ll find out on April 1st.

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In pursuit of happiness…

Posted on January 14, 2017 by hdh

In today’s writer’s group, we each picked a phrase on a piece of paper out of a box and that was our topic to write about. Mine was “pursue happiness”:

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We are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, and among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Okay, I understand what life is and what liberty is. I like the part where I have the right to pursue happiness. But how does one do that in a world that is filled with conflict, mistrust, and so much anger.

If each of us is allowed to pursue our own happiness, what happens when that pursuit or our goal of happiness, impinges on the pursuit and goal of someone else’s happiness? Did our forefathers really think this through and understand what difficulties were in place for us to achieve that right.

That sounds way too negative, so let me see what I look for in happiness and see where it fits in with where I am now.  To me, happiness is the right for me to be me. I’m happy when I’m with the people I love and those that support me for who I am. I may not be the person that you want me to be, and I’m willing to make some changes if necessary to work towards that ideal for you, but I’m still me and it is my choice, not someone else’s, whether it be friend, family, acquaintance or stranger. That sounds a little bit selfish but that is what makes me happy. In most cases I try to change, so don’t picture me as a stubborn, self-centered malcontent. I’ll wait till I’m much older to become one of those.

Happiness is feeling good about yourself. Doing some of the things you enjoy with the people that like doing or talking about those things. Happiness is exploring new things. Trying to do some things that you haven’t done in the hopes of becoming a better, more knowledgeable person. Happiness is being surrounded by those you love and at times also being by yourself. Happiness is doing lots of things and also being able to do nothing at all. Happiness is being able to be empathetic and able to sympathize with others.

One pursues happiness by being open and striving to do good. It makes me happy not to argue. To accept other people’s point of view, but not necessarily to agree with everyone. To be self-reflective.

How do you pursue happiness? You don’t stop. Happiness is a goal that can be reached for moments, but something that you never reach in totality, because you can always yearn for more. The pursuit of happiness may be a right. But it is something not just given, it is something that is worked for. So keep on working in your pursuit of happiness. And hopefully, as others pursue theirs, you will meet in some place where there is no mistrust, conflict, and anger and be happy.

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Follow me? Not so fast!

Posted on December 10, 2016 by hdh

We are a nation of followers. We latch onto an idea, a person, a group, and no matter what information is out there to clarify or dispute the reason that it is there, we follow. We follow those that love us. We follow those that lead us. We follow those that deceive us. We follow.


When I was a teacher and part of a union, it was always us against them. We, the union, were in the right. The administration and the Board were in the wrong. So a lot of us bought into the words that were told to us and we followed, blinded to the goals of the district and any commonalities that we might have shared.

There’s not much I can say about our present political climate that hasn’t been said, except it remains, us against them. We’re right, they’re wrong, no matter whose side you are on. And based on those principles we do not progress.

When I started in the teaching profession, I was placed as a student teacher in a Middle School on Long Island. I had three mentors that taught me most of the things that I needed to know about becoming a well-rounded person and teacher. Dennis Littky, my college supervisor and future principal, who taught me to think outside the box and even though the community might disagree with me to try new things. Liala Strotman, my cooperating teacher and future colleague, who taught me to persevere, to believe in what I was doing and to share with others. And Barry Luna, another teacher in the school, who taught me a crucial message: When you are in a debate or a disagreement, before you make a decision or judge, make sure you see the issue from the other person’s point of view.

Those 3 people that I met early in my life, taught me to believe in myself. They taught me to see that everything is not black or white. Within those black and white colors, lie a number of shades of colors that can work with both black and white.

So I choose to believe in me. I choose to look at all perspectives of issues and people when I decide what I want to follow. I choose to believe that a majority of the people want similar things that I want and between both sides of an issue there is a common ground to show that things can progress. I choose to follow my beliefs. And those beliefs often cross lines. I will continue to disagree with people, but I will try to understand how they got to where they are, and accept that that is where they are. I will use whatever support I need to help guide me and hope, optimistically, that at some point in my future we will reach a point where we all can believe in ourselves and not just follow blindly.

In the words of the chorus of a song I wrote:

I believe in me.
I know I can do it.
I can be anything that I dream to be.
And you can help me do it.
I believe in me
I just keep on trying.
I will do my best to have great success
‘Cause I believe in me.

If you’re interested, here’s the whole song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7x08GJjUL8

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Night work

Posted on November 12, 2016 by hdh

Falling asleep feels like it is time to go to work. Not in a sense of the daily grind that one has to do to make a living, but for my mind to take its time to unleash itself and begin the process of growth and creativity.

There are nights when I have trouble getting to sleep. My mind is filled with all of the things that I didn’t  get to do that day, all of the due dates I have upcoming and things I haven’t finished. My mind tries to sort out the myriad projects I want to attempt or have been putting off doing. Those are the hard nights, for sleep does not come easily.

But when sleep does arrive, it is like checking into the imagination spa. You strip off all of the baggage and weights that you have been wearing and it is casual Friday.

My mind continues to roam, only this time it is not weighted down. So those things that I wanted to do, I do. I’m a writer, a song composer, I can fly (well float actually) and do things that might seem impossible.

There are times during mid-work sleep that I do wake up. Sometimes disappointed that my dream project I was working on was incomplete. Sometimes thankful that I was able to escape the confines of whatever it was I was involved in. Usually I go back to sleep after my sleep work-break and begin a new task. At times though, I do get up, as is the case if a new tune for song is in my head, and find a recorder to record the tune by humming it before returning to sleep, for I know from experience that that tune will be gone from my head when the sleep work day ends.

And the night continues on. When the day arrives and it’s time to finish my sleep work, some products of my work do usually survive for a retelling for a short period of time. Then they get filed away, sometimes to be rekindled at a future work sleep. More often, to be sealed up and not accessed again. And so it goes. Back to the daily grind of the waking work day; passing time until it is again the moment when I can say, “Falling asleep feels like…”

dream

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Dear Me,

Posted on September 10, 2016 by hdh

This month’s Writer’s group writing prompt that I chose was: Write a letter to your younger self. what would you like him to know?

Dear self,
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Oh what a time we’ve had. I’m not sure when you will get this letter, time travel being what it is, but either way it’s time you learned some of the wisdom that I’ve gleaned from years of trying, making mistakes, succeeding, failing and just doing. You know, you’re going to turn out okay.

Continue reading →

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Summer – the dog days

Posted on August 13, 2016 by hdh

The dog days of summer. An interesting turn of phrase describing the hot, humid days of the summer when days seem to just drag on. The phrase itself originates from the rising of the “Dog Star” Sirius. For me, since I neither like summer nor dogs particularly, it is a fitting name for these days.

Dog Days

When I was younger, summer was the best time of year. It was a time off from school. It was a time I could swim in neighbor’s swim club. (It sometimes helps to be friends with people who own a public swimming club in the summer and an ice skating rink in the winter). It was time free to play with my friends all day if I wanted to. When I was in college I even got to work summers at that same pool club. They were hot and humid and surely considered dog days, but I didn’t mind.

Then I grew up. I was never one that traveled a lot. I didn’t mind being there, just getting there was not fun. I bought a house, got married and had a son. Now summers became a different routine. Yes, as a teacher I was off from school as I had been as a child, but now I had to continue taking workshops and courses to improve my teaching, which I didn’t mind since I like learning. But I also had to mow lawns and trim bushes and pull weeds. Then there was the constant battle with deer and mosquitoes and ticks, over who had the right to stay outdoors and who had the rights to our flowers and garden produce. And I didn’t have a pool or any neighbors that had pools that would allow me to come over and swim. Continue reading →

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Lifeline

Posted on July 9, 2016 by hdh

As I age I find myself torn between where I see myself going in the future, all of the new things that I hope to experience, all of the new thoughts I hope to have, all of the new adventures I hope to go on and all of the stories of the past and where they took me and what I have learned from those events and research I have undertaken.

Some have said that I spend too much time in the past. I’m always re-living things I’ve already done. Obsessing on select times with and without certain people. Focussing on the study of my ancestors and those of others. For what purpose? Time wasted that is leaving me stagnant in pursuing the things that are needed and wanted, whether it be getting the house cleaned, buying new furniture, traveling around the world, as most of my fellow retirees do, experiencing the now.

Then there are those that say I focus too much on the future. What new technology is coming out. I’m retired! Why do I get to do what I want while others have to continue working or going to school? Why do I try to do so many things at once rather than focus on accomplishing one task at a time?

past-present-future

This is where I’m torn. I sort of like what I do. There are times I enjoy being with others and doing new things and being out and about. There are times I like working at my own pace and not being held accountable for what gets done and when, reliving and expanding upon things that I’ve done.

 

Bottom line is I can’t please all, including myself. I live in a world where there is no line between past and future. My son at his wedding spoke about the fluidity of time. How both the past, present and future are intertwined. It is not a timeline, but a connected mass of points that all interact with one another. Some things that one can consider destiny happen because of this fluidity.

 

past-present-future2So that’s how I end up where I am, torn between the past, present and future. Enjoying the things that I have done, the world where I am now, and the places that I have yet to see. I’m glad that I have the people I live and interact with to follow and join me on this journey between the ancient and the new.

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To Protect and Serve

Posted on June 27, 2016 by hdh

To Protect and Serve – It’s For the Birds!

We recently were visiting my daughter-in-law’s parent’s farm. They have become good friends and we always visit and stay over when we are visiting our son and his wife. This farm raises lots of animals: alpaca, guinea hens, chickens, pigs, ducks, geese, and bees (I know they’re insects).  They grow lots of different vegetables and mushrooms that they sell to local markets, and make their own cider, mead and honey lager, to keep themselves busy. Their male alpaca are protected by 2 great pyrenees dogs and their female alpaca are protected by a guard llama.

On this particular visit we were going to see a Cirque du Soleil performance in Boston. We arrived the day before the performance. In the early afternoon before we were to leave for dinner a baby bluejay was discovered in the pen with the 2 pyrenees and alpaca. We assumed it fell from a tree overhead. Its parents and nest were not to be seen or heard. We were quick to get the fledgling out of the pen but then had to decide what to do with it. I held the fledging in my hand and attempted to comfort it. I tried using Reiki on it, but it is debatable whether or not that had any effect. The bluejay, who I named BJ, was placed on a branch of a nearby evergreen tree. Continue reading →

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What animal do you want to be?

Posted on May 14, 2016 by hdh

In today’s writing group, one of the suggested prompts was, “Name an animal that you most identify with.” which is the one I chose. I debated  whether it should be a squirrel or bird or … well, you’ll see that I decided to be a cat.

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If there is one animal that I could identify with it would be a kitten or cat. The thought of having 9 lives would be the best part of being one. Especially if I could switch between them at will.

The thing that I can relate to most is curiosity. I am what I consider a professional curiositist. When I see something that looks intriguing I have to know what it is and how it works. That worked for me in college, when my friends who were projectionists for Stony Brook, would watch me tinker with their projectors and ask them lots of questions. I was told, “Why are you wasting your time, you’ll never be a projectionist.” Of course, when all of the projectionists left that one weekend for a protest march on Washington, guess who they asked to show the 7 showings of “the Graduate” at the university.

When computers first came out I couldn’t help but play with them and still do. That is why districts now hire me to train teachers on technology.

Being curious and wanting to find answers has taught me a lot. Continue reading →

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A to Z Blog Challenge 2016 – a Reflection

Posted on May 6, 2016 by hdh

Reflection of A to Z Challenge 2016

A-to-Z Reflection [2016]

I have completed the 2016 A to Z Blog Challenge and I have to say it was fun. Choosing the theme I had, Life’s Choices/Life’s Changes, made it somewhat easier for me since I write about those things all of the time when I do write. My problem is that I don’t write as often as I should. The best thing that came out of the  A to Z Challenge was that it encouraged me to write more.

Once I decided on the theme, I started brainstorming a whole list of ideas that I could possibly write about for each letter. This was the original list I came up with:

A: Animals B: Breaks, Bill, Brother C: Cooking D: Dreams E: England

F: Fire Alarm, Father G: Genealogy H: Hair I: Instruments

J: Jewish K: Kazoos, knapsacks L: Lost, Leslie M: Mom, Marion

N: Neighbors O: Old P: Promoting oneself, Pet peeves Q: Quiet, Quotes

R: Raw Bits S: Stings/Stitches T: Teaching U: Understanding, Unfortunately

V: Versing W: Winter X: X-rays Y: Yelling Z: Zoo

I decided that I would write the blog entries in the order of the alphabet and do them as soon as I could, starting after the Theme reveal date: March 21st. Blogging on WordPresswriting calvin allowed me to schedule posts, so that I didn’t have to write and complete my writing on the day it was due. If I had to do it on the day it was due, I would never have completed it on time. For the most part, I was about 4-5 days ahead of the due date.

 

Some of my original brainstormed ideas worked for me, others, when I got to that letter didn’t inspire me at all. As I reached a letter that I had trouble with, I would ask friends, family, and colleagues for ideas, or I would pick up a dictionary and try to find a word that jumped out at me ( L for Library, Z for Zoom in, Zoom out). Then there were times that I was just in the right place or looking at the right thing at the right time (J for Journal, N for Noise). Sometimes it was just the people around me that inspired what I would choose (C for Christina, D for David, P for  Positive, Perseverance, Progress) or it just hit me out of the blue (X for Xanadu)

Here is the final list and links to all of the entries I made:

A:  Animal Speak, B: Oh Brother, C: Christina, D: David, E: England,

F: French, Foreign Languages, G: Genealogy, H: Hans Christian Andersen,

I: Uncle Itch, J: Journals, K: Keyboarding, Knapsacks, L: Library, M: Misheard,

N: Noise, O: Oops Plan, P: Positive, Perseverance, Progress, Q: Quiet Time,

R: Relax, S: Substitute Teaching, T: Teachable moment, U: Unity, V: Voices,

W: What do you want to be when you grow up?, X: Xanadu, Y: You’ve lost me,

Z: Zoom in, Zoom out

I did all of my writing on Google Docs. After looking at some other A to Z blogs I realized that my writing would look better with illustrations. Some pictures I used I had on my computer. Where I didn’t have pictures, I used Google Docs Research Tool to search out cartoons and images that went along with what I was writing.  After revising and checking over what I had written, I copied it to my WordPress blog, re-inserted the pictures, and scheduled my writing to post on the appropriate day at 7:00 in the morning.

I posted on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ each morning the link to my blog entries. I got about 20 – 40 hits each day. I probably could have gotten more. It wasn’t until the last few letters that I realized I should have used #AtoZChallenge on my Twitter posts and I didn’t take part in any of the Twitter discussions (I don’t use Twitter very often).

All in all, I learned a lot. I really enjoyed reading a number of the other blogger’s writings during this challenge. I hope some of you got something out of reading mine. I hope I can follow this up with writing more often. I’m definitely sure that I will do this again next year, but coming up with a theme could take time.

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