Hangin' out

What a fun summer-- Trash art and aerial dance!

What I have been up to

So far it has been a fun and busy summer. In June I attended two different trainings. The first was a "writer's workshop" where along with other teachers, I learned more about teaching writing. The second workshop was put on by EL Achieve, an organization that trains ELA (English language acquisition) teachers like myself. While I was there, I trained to lead their workshops for other teachers in the future. It was very empowering to be treated as a teacher leader again.

July has been a mix of action and down time. I ended June and started July with a week at the Naropa summer Writing Program in Boulder. I wrote my "Legacy" poem while I was there. I also created a bunch of other new work.

At the end of June I worked a kids birthday party with my roommate where she ballooned and I taught Little Animals yoga and face painted. We teamed up again on July 4th for more balloons and face painting. This (face painting) is a new passion for me. I am learning as I go.

Lately I have been resting a lot, recovering from all my adventures, getting organized and experimenting with the construction of "trash art". This is shaping up to be an excellent summer.

Click on each of the links to see my fun in action!

Legacy

Legacy

I had a nightmare last night.
In the corner of a dump
Hundreds of plastic laundry containers--
Even in the dream state, I recognize them.
Their contents spilled on the ground,
A graveyard of glass syringes.

That is what I left behind?
Piles of plastic and glass—

Glatirimar Acetate
During a double-blind, placebo-controlled pivotal trial, COPAXONE®reduced relapses by 29% vs placebo over 2 years in patients with RRMS (Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis) diagnosed using Poser criteria.6

No note to mention this drug only helps some people,
No guarantees.
Try Rebif, Avonex, Betaseron or Copaxone
Try hope…

No note to mention
Some never find a drug that helps--
There is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis.

Teva pharmaceuticals packages hope in blue, rectangular boxes.
30, prefilled glass syringes,
1mL Glatiramer Acetate.
Individually sheathed in smooth plastic casing.
Stacked in rows of 5
Soldiers battling disease?
Nestled beside 30 alcohol swabs
Individually sealed.

Cremate my body.
Only ashes remain.
My legacy—
Just comb through my trash.

For Readers and Writers

When I started this blog I promised myself and my readers to write with sincerity and honesty, even if the feelings my writing evoked were not always comfortable and pleasant. I made this promise with the idea that while each person's experience is unique, someone might find a piece of themselves in what I had to say. I see this as a rational for publishing personal observations, if only in blog form.

Today I was gratified to discover a reflection of my ideas in an essay by Jane Tompkins called "Me and My Shadow." While Tompkins danced around this issue in her own way, I still found several mirrors to my own thinking in her words. She called the language of "Western epistemology" a male language. Perhaps that is true, but I tend to just look at it as the language in which we are taught to write, the rhetorical style of writing used in our education system. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but it is far from personal. If we look for ourselves in such writing, we are unlikely to find much of genuine human experience. That can only be found in unfettered, brutally honest, naked and personal writing. That is what I want my blog to be.

It can be hard to write so honestly. Tompkins mentions how the inner critic quickly arises for her when she writes this way. It's not comfortable. There is no road map for how it "should" sound. I can relate. There are many times I have written half a page on my blog, only to delete it before publication because I felt it didn't "sound good." Even now, I find myself putting this entry through the editing lens of my own educational background, but I long to write from my heart, my experiences and to be comfortable with what comes out.

I go through obsessive stages of seeking my "true self", but I suspect that self is always there. It is the inner critic, the ego, that keeps me from comfort with who I really am. Everything I say, everything I do filters through how I believe others will perceive it. It is only when I do things without such a filter, that I can say I am truly being me.

Walk MS

Had a hot, but super-fun walk with the peeps from my support group and some of their friends. Go team "Walk by ME!"

Vacation

Spring Break is finally here and I am about to head out of town for a week of adventure. I am going to Baltimore to visit my best friend and I am also going to catch up with some fellow MS bloggers.

Then we will be heading to Philly to see my brother and my cousin. We plan to go to D.C. on Friday as well.

During my vacation, I plan to relax, party (a little), eat, shop and spend time with my BFF and some other close friend.

I am getting excited. More details to follow soon...

My 4 Words on Living with MS

Enjoy now, Live fully!