Bird Droppings July 30, 2024
Why would someone rather send a photo than write?

“Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.” Aldus Huxley

1965, I was introduced to this author in a tenth-grade English Class. The book we were reading was Brave New World, written in 1932. You would think that a book thirty years old at that time would not have been that controversial. However, our English teacher was fired because of the reading list we had. What amuses me is how these books we read imparted more than simply the words contained between the covers; they were catalysts for thinking that was developed. After several days of a new teacher orientation for the millionth time, I was pleasantly surprised as illustrations and quotes were not politically censored.

Today, in 2024, with a new school year about to start, English teachers use the books my tenth-grade teacher was fired for as part of their reading list, as do many high schools nationwide. These were 1984, Anthem, and Brave New World, which were so controversial in their time more than fifty-eight years ago. Still today, these same words can inspire students and adults to think and ponder. I fear the undercurrent in politics in some areas of the country towards education may again squelch such reading.

“To write is to make oneself the echo of what cannot cease speaking — and since it cannot, in order to become its echo, I have, in a way, to silence it. I bring to this incessant speech the decisiveness, the authority of my own silence.” Maurice Blanchot

“Writing is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress; then it becomes a master; then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.” Sir Winston Churchill

Each morning, as I sit down and wonder about the direction in which the ideas may or may not flow, I try to find a spark, a starting point for the day. It is sort of my kick-start to the day to revitalize my cerebral cortex. I thought of the experience as a start earlier, but within the semantics of the word, there are so many limits to the concept of experience. I was seeing a teacher, and most as I read were seeing experience as a limit; coming back to a note the other day, I used the idea of a container as per students yesterday, talking with future teachers. That was until I read this line from Huxley.

Over the past few days, numerous emails from former classmates in high school, perhaps prompted by nostalgia and finding a few on Facebook, remembering fondly a nearly forgotten class of tenth grade yet one that truly started a process of thinking that has continued for me nearly fifty years later. But the direction changes as I look; we convey so much through writers and writing.

“To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author.” Charles Caleb Colton

“I never know what I think about something until I read what I’ve written on it.” William Faulkner

Each day, I walk outside and look at the sky on clear mornings. Today, a slight mist and cloud cover greeted me. For some, the stars and constellations provide direction. As the seasons pass, the constellations change, which denotes the time of day and position in the sky, and often, as I go out, I am greeted by a new or slightly different sky appearing before my front door. If by chance I am writing at home and not at school as I have for a few months now, I can go out into the backyard surrounded by pine, pecan, black walnut, persimmon, and oak trees, depending on where I stand much will be obscured and I see only a shrouded sky laced with the branches.

As I read Faulkner’s note so often, this is true: we do not think about something till we read what we have written. I will often return to a piece week and months later and find a new meaning or understanding of what I was thinking at the time. I wrote a philosophy of teaching paper, and until it was returned with comments, I wasn’t sure what my philosophy was. A journey begins in reading, then in experience, and moves through writing, for it does take the written word to read.

“You must often make erasures if you mean to write what is worthy of being read a second time, and don’t labor for the admiration of the crowd but be content with a few choice readers.” Horace

“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.” Samuel Johnson

It is as true as I write each morning, glancing through previous writings and reviewing articles, emails, and any books handy, looking for and pondering where and how I will direct my thoughts. Often, my morning consists of reading more than writing words on paper or a computer screen. So many times, a search for an idea or thought has eluded me.

“If written directions alone would suffice, libraries wouldn’t need to have the rest of the universities attached.” Judith Martin

“Although most of us know Vincent van Gogh in Arles and Paul Gauguin in Tahiti as if they were neighbors — somewhat disreputable but endlessly fascinating — none of us can name two French generals or department store owners of that period. I take enormous pride in considering myself an artist, one of the necessaries.” James A. Michener

What comes so easy for some, it has been said, may not be for others. I sit each morning, writing two or three pages, reading numerous articles and emails, and then go to class and ask students to write 500 words about what they learned this year in school. Most will say nothing since that makes it so much easier to write. As I think about where that student comes from, maybe they never read Brave New World. It could be because somewhere, somehow, or someone did not give them the opportunity.

In my room, often it is because somewhere and someone did not teach them to read effectively or to think beyond just surviving day to day. It might have been that was the only alternative. I was reminded in an email of Dr. Laura Nolte’s famous poster, “Children learn what they live.” As I spelled checked, I made an error; I had typed, “Children learn what they love.” As I thought a bit, you know what? That is just as true, too. So, how do we help children love learning and love reading? I wish it could be an easy answer. Perhaps we can start with ourselves. Let us set an example today, keep all in harm’s way on our minds and in our hearts, and always give thanks namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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