Puzzling Pieces Find a Fit

"All those steps are like pieces of a puzzle. They all come together to form a picture."

 ~ Michael Jordan

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."

~ Robert F. Kennedy

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. 

Explore.

Dream.

Discover.

~ Samuel Clemens / Mark Twain

 My daughter Aris, Bodega Dunes, 7 yrs old. 2001

      She takes after me and she inspires me at the same time. My daughter Aris, isn't afraid to take a leap either!

     My last two semesters at SRJC mark a major cross roads in my life. With my daughter grown and off to college, I also have found my way back to school. I have not taken an English class in over 25 years. When I went to take the placement test the first time, I bombed it horribly, qualifying for only one section up from English as a second language. I knew I could do better than that but I was horrified and panicked. I rode home sickened and depressed. To give up and quit would mean failure without effort. Instead of throwing in the towel, I gathered my thoughts and began to think about some of the things Professor Frank Pugh had said, 
     "When in doubt...

•  ...think of strengths not weaknesses."
• ...persistence trumps talent."
• ...make excellent mistakes, learn  from them."
• ...leave an imprint."

 These were a few of the puzzle pieces. I began to put them together and started teaching myself how to write an essay. I read numerous papers and articles, I studied college websites on writing then I got some prompts and I wrote. I wrote a lot.
     I took the test a second time and placed into English100. Still feeling nervous in the beginning, but better when I started hearing things like, don't be afraid to fail, and take the shots. It felt as if Michael Jordan was in class with us. If he can fail his way to success, then anybody can. Because who would have ever thought of Michael Jordan failing. That thought would never have occurred to me until I read his story. Now, it really started to make sense. And the pieces started coming together.
     In this class I have learned to open up and speak my voice again. I have words and a skill to write a response to all those issues in the world that I feel are important. I can use a variety of other authors information to back up and support my ideas without plagiarizing. I am gaining the skills to talk with power and credibility. That will be carrying me on through the remainder of my education as well as the rest of my life. I continue to collect the puzzle and assemble the pieces.

       I have taken in so much information in the past few months. It is too early to take inventory as it has not all completely sunk in. But here are a couple of examples of things that will probably never be the same.

(pieces)

  After learning to habitually annotate (active reading), my books may likely look like this from now on. 

When my six year old niece saw this she said, "ooooh! you're gonna be in trouble!"

This is going to cost me a fortune in library fines.
 

(more pieces)

Any novels I read from here on will inevitably be growing a stickynote mohawk as I will be madly collecting quotes for future use and thought. I am on a mission to deconstruct and I'm addicted to tiny post-it notes in every color.

(a treasure chest of pieces)

 The landscape of my desk has also been forever altered with its new altar of writing tools and devices. 

     Sherry Turkle says in her article, The Flight From Conversation, "Human relationships are rich; they're messy and demanding. We have learned the habit of cleaning them up with technology."(web)

       My experience here with classmates and Professor Mott has been all of the above. Except that, in no way did I ever feel that it was sanitized for the sake of easy consumption. This experience was filled with real, powerful, and rewarding conversation, interaction, and deep discussion. These are wonderful pieces to add to my jigsaw. I appreciate that. 

Thank You Classmates!

Thank You Ms. Mott!

I will leave you with this;

This Summer, watch this film and

 Be Happy.

Thanks for reading