I have just finished Old School, and there is a chasm where your book used to be. I’ve felt this before – my wife and I call the delicious sense of loss being “bookless;” this however, is different. Maybe because it has taken me a year to read (my fault, for reasons too silly to record), but I think it is because too much of me lived in your characters.
I moved from the British West Indies some thirty years ago, and the Old School experiences in many ways mirrored mine, even though St. Mary’s College, my “old school”, was not one of boarding like yours at the Hill School. It is almost painful to admit that I walk the path of a writer not yet published. In this way I connected with the inner turmoil those characters you created enjoyed, or endured. You have made me realize that as I continue to develop my talents, the life and energy I feel from exploring through my writing, this note included, is the reward. Seeing my name in print, and being enjoyed by readers, while still being valid, is more a payment to my ego, than it is an obligation to my gift. I look forward to reading more of your work, and thank you for the smiles afforded me through Old School. Until then, I will continue to have my students (fifth graders) believe in the “power of the author.” Sincerely, M. Stephen Riviere Teacher, Rancho Santa Fe School
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Do you really have the space in your mind for that stale old dream? Come on, think about it -- you’re never going to do it, be it, feel it. Unless you are. Either way, you deserve the room and energy for taking concerted steps toward something purposeful. You deserve the accomplishment, and the world needs your presence. The old, dusty dreams are distracting you away from how you can enjoy who you already are today. The joy in dream smashing is like clearing out the freezer. You’re never going to eat that stuff -- throw it away.
Here’s what’s delightful: you’ll find something you forgot was even there, and you may even have a way to develop a tasty meal around it. If nothing’s worth saving, guess what’s left? Room for something perfect for NOW. Tastes change. Dreams do too. Poke around your inner Self for ways you wanted to be, and ask yourself honestly, Does this need even still exist? Smashing that dream in order to replace it with something current is EXACTLY what you need to invite some vibrancy into your life. Break the habit of feeling guilty about how you aren’t enough. (Insert cheesy oyster/pearl analogy here). Feeling like shit about yourself is easy to do; it's as comfortable as that holey, not Holy, sweatshirt you insist on wearing. That old dream is freezer-burned. Unless it isn’t, in which case, please start the beautiful snowball rolling downhill -- enjoy being you! |
AuthorTwenty-one years of teaching, and I'm still fascinated with my role as an educator. What will it be like as a principal? Archives
January 2017
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