10.23.2004

I will not make disclaimers...except this one time.

I thought journaling was about speaking your mind at the moment you feel a certain way. Was I wrong? Are people going to hold against me something that I feel misanthropic about at the time I write about it? Apparently so. Looking back over the comments left from yesterday's post, I feel that I should make it clear that I am writing about how I feel at that very moment. I thoroughly enjoy my career (not job), otherwise I wouldn't be doing it. If anyone can tell me that they are absolutely happy with every aspect of their job, I would tell them they are lying. Nothing is that perfect. I do live in the real world where there are negative aspects to many things. Work is no different. I know all about being a "nontraditional" student, as I started school when I was 25 with a one-year-old daughter. I got my BA at 28 and my MA at almost 31. All of my students this semester are straight out of high school and, therefore, are all 18-years-old..

I am not criticizing high school teachers, nor the education my students have received. My issue lies with how my students are doing in my class. Am I failing these students because they can't even write a proper thesis sentence after we worked on it for a week? I tell myself that I have to be doing something right because in my six years of teaching I have had students go on to win writing awards, decide they want to major in English, and graduate with honors. I have a higher than average attendance rate, and a higher than average evaluation score. So like I said, I must be doing something right.

I am not a racist, sexist, bigomist, favoritist, communist, or any other word that ends with -ist. What I am is a mother to two wonderfully intelligent and beautiful girls, a wife to a handsome and loving man, a cross stitcher, avid reader, and an excellent college instructor who enjoys what I do. If I post that Alyssa made me angry today because she lost one of her ballet slippers and we had to leave in 4 minutes for her master ballet class, or won't keep her room clean, am I to be told I shouldn't be a mother? If I post that my dear Justin irritated me because he drug mud through my clean kitchen floor, should it be suggested that I get a divorce? If I post that my cat shit on my shoe in the back of the closet, would it be better if I didn't own pets? I should say not.

I will not apologize for my religious views, my political views, or my views on abortion, parenting, and treating everyone (including animals) with respect. I will not deliberately point fingers at anyone, nor will I single out someone to be a scapegoat. But I will use this journal to write about how I feel at a particular moment in time.

And that's all I have to say about that.

2 comments:

Margaret said...

{{Sandy}} You are fine, and I personally saw nothing wrong with your comments at all. I completed my BS degree at 37 and my MBA just this past summer, so I too was a non-traditional student, but I saw plenty of what you are talking about. Grammar is my biggest weakness, but I still write well enough to et both degrees with roughly a 3.96! Comments are simply other people's responses to what you wrote and their thoughts. Its great to get comments so that you know someone is reading, although they aren't always what you want to hear!

I've bookmarked your blog and hope to follow it with some regularity, although I don't have as much computer time as I used to, I will at least drop in from time to time to see how you're doing, and will eventually get you added to my blogroll!

Terri said...

I meant what I said; however, I didn't mean to come across so harsh sounding, for that I apologize. I had just sat through 2 1/2 hours of lecture with an instructor who has a horrible attitude about the subject she's teaching and I guess *I* just spoke my mind at the moment. Another great reason why I need to count before I *speak.*