I Bleed

" It seems only yesterday I used to believe

there was nothing under my skin but light.

If you cut me I would shine.

But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,

I skin my knees. I bleed."

Billy Collins "On Turning Ten"

Life has a way of getting more ragged and "real". Somehow we attempt to navigate its crags with determination and creativity. We pick ourselves up and reinvent ourselves and try to find a better way of "doing it". Even when we make a stramache everything, we revel in the exhilaration that comes from at least trying.

For me, this is evident in my teaching and my parenting. I continue to reassess and try something new in order to make it better and to help my children/students grow and learn while I also learn and grow. It means that sometimes I do all that I can to keep them innocent while at other times I reveal the harshness of this world, knowing that this revelation is important, too.

Spring again!

The weather has taken a pleasantly warm turn today and it feels good! The daffodils and crocuses are blooming around lampposts and bushes. Undergrads are strolling around campus in shorts and flip flops, and the week is drawing to a close. Now that Spring Break has passed, the semester is downhill now.

I continue to be amazed at the ways my students are making connections between our coursework and their own lives. They are meeting together to discuss ways their writing can improve and in what venues they can publish. They have even helped to organize our first annual poetry reading called Poetry Aloud which will be held on First Friday at Millersville's downtown campus. We even have Lancaster's first poet laureate attending! Best of all, my students are telling their stories in powerful ways and are finding healing in the process. This is one of the best parts of my job.