Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Three Beautiful Things 01/12/10: Clarence in WR 122, Dust in the Wind, Unknown Territory

1. I was standing in front of my WR 122 class this morning yammering on and on about MLA format and documentation and my left eye caught Clarence and I felt a sudden joy that he was in this class, that he worked with me over the break to finish WR 121 so he could register in WR 122 and receive a full financial aid package and he's getting close to having a place to live. Oh, difficulties persist. His son is in jail. He doesn't have a home just yet. But he keeps moving forward with determination and a good heart.

2. Driving home from LCC tonight, "Dust in the Wind" came on the radio and memories of driving back to Spokane from Nampa over thirty years ago after Terry and Nancy's wedding and the joy I felt for them and the good drunk we had the night before the wedding and the deep pleasure I felt being with Eileen, not realizing amidst my naive joy that our marriage and even knowing each other would be dust in the wind, flooded me. That day, impermanence was the farthest thing from my mind, even as Kansas warned me otherwise.

3. I'm teaching WR 122 in a way I never have before. It makes each class session a plunge into the unknown and, so far, the plunge has me fired up.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You've had a little more dust in your wind than most Bill. Glad you have less so now days and you have a great partner.

I'm not surprised you are helping to make a difference in the lives of people that attend your classes. As we all know, a lot of learning happens outside the syllabus on both sides. You're still doing a great job!

Terry