First and Random Thoughts

Okay, trying this again. Why do I keep losing my posts? I am just going to publish it now and if it has typos fine. And in my unending attempt to inspire myself with insipid minutiae I've gleaned along the writing trail, I remember the story of those fine writers who wrote a novel, then put it in a desk, and rewrote the whole thing without looking at the first draft. This, apparently, was not a mark of insanity, but of genius. So, I'm in good company. Ha.

Understandably, my brain is bruised by the foghorn from below that I thought at first was a grounded tugboat, but which turned out instead to be an oil truck trying to blast a double parked SUV out of our narrow lane by laying on his horn for like an hour. Good luck. This is probably the same idiot who spilled the oil in our basement that stunk so bad that we had to keep all the staircase windows open for a week in two degree weather. Thanks, dude. I love New York.

So why did I decide to join the burgeoning ranks of blogdom? I was inspired by all these teacher blogs (links forthcoming) that I have been reading lately. However, I hadn't seen any from middle school ELA teachers in the NYC DOE (Doh!) and thought I'd add my two cents to the pot. (If you know of any, let me know!)

Secondly, (hmm this is starting to look suspiciously like an essay for the 8th Grade ELA exam) I have been experiencing a massive writer's block lately, and since I style myself a writer, this has caused no small existential crisis. I was last writing in a small blue journal with a black and white dog on the cover that I bought to entertain myself while I was sitting at my mother's bedside in the hospital to quell my anxiety and capitalize on all the stories that constantly danced to life in that bizarre half-world. After my mom died a few weeks later, I wasn't able to get it together. Well, in lots of other ways, too, but more on that later.

And why soucouyant (sue-coo-yahng)? She's my favorite character from Trini folklore. What could be more fierce than a woman who takes off her skin at night and travels across the sky in a blaze of fire? Eh?