It was an ideas day this morning. I was doing my body awareness exercises (reading about breathing), and I had an idea. I stopped reading and grabbed a notebook. I began making a list of courses that I might teach once we start holding classes in the literacy center.

I decided that I’m going to teach Community Literacy, since this will be an introductory course that will be a prerequisite for the other classes. The other classes will be in the areas of writing-related, community, and academic literacy.

Alys in the big box

As I was writing this down, it occurred to me that I was still working with the theme, build it and they will come. I have always envisioned teaching in an academic environment, one in which classes are held in established and accredited institutions. Now I am envisioning stepping outside the box and teaching these classes in a non-academic setting.

I’ll end up doing what I have always wanted to do – teaching classes in my areas of specialization and interest.

Conceptualizing the course description (which I worked on later today) and coming up with a list of courses was really easy for me to do. Writing up both was a bit more difficult because I was tired. It’s still in the single digits weather-wise, and I was out quite a while with the horses today, so the colder temperatures took it out of me.

I was able to get both done because I had single minded intensity of focus. I was much like Ryder, who when I say, “Squirrelly Whirly,” trots into the other room, jumps on a chair, looks out the window and begins scanning the area, in hopes of seeing him or her again. We have not seen Squirrely Whirly in some time, but Ryder never gives up. Shadow on the other hand, has no intensity of focus, so she just follows Ryder and tries to get her to play.

I, when it comes to this project, do have single minded intensity of focus. I had (originally) saw this book project as being peripatetic – this was just when my vision was focused on books. The teaching end of things – well, purchasing land and having one building be for distribution and the other for literacy, is anything but peripatetic. In fact, having the property in our possession is going to be like putting a tap root into the ground.

I will, in my classes, talk about the importance of standing, citing Katie Bowman’s Move your DNA. And I’ll have everyone get up every half hour or so and move around. I’ll also talk about being peripatetic. I might even quote the sophists.

If I was sixty years younger, my career years would be stretching out in front of me. However, I would not be doing as I am doing now, which is drawing upon my life studies and experiences in putting the literacy-related aspect of this project together.

Tomorrow I will start sending out copies of this course outline/list of courses and see what people think. This is called Testing the Waters.

Next: 348. 12/19/22: Build it and they Will Come