my problems with writing this blog seem to be a symptom of the constant anxiety i have always been prone to. i worry about how much i worry. i sometimes lay awake at night wondering if i am worrying enough.
sometimes, though, life gives me something concrete to worry about. i try not to be superstitious, but i really could do without the month of april. i wrote in my last post about how creepy things seem to happen in this month. a few days after writing this, something horrible DID happen to someone close to me. close enough that there was no way i could not be deeply affected. as to what this was, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to write about it in detail, at least not at this time. as of this writing, pieces are being picked up, damage repaired.
hopefully, with the passage of time, this event will move from being "the worst thing that ever happened" to being just another thing that happened. life does go on, but i spent a couple of weeks or so being stressed enough that the concept of writing my blog seemed trivial to the point of being ridiculous.
the real hard part for me is that i would like to think of myself as a writer. i can't do that if i am not writing.
when i told the teacher about my problem, she told me in so many words to dismiss all of the psychological reasons for writers block. just write for, say, two hours a day, about anything, absolutely anything. as she pointed out, my day job is to cook food at a restaurant. if i suffered from "cooks block", i would soon be unemployed. think of writing as my second job, and i will find the time and energy to get it done.
this teacher has an exercise she sometimes gives her students. they will be given a question, one example she cites is "to what extent (twe) was woodrow wilson an effective president of the progressive era?". the students are then given eight minutes to write on the subject. they must write steadily for the entire eight minutes without pausing to reflect or ask questions. the exercise is almost physical in nature, as the students may not stop moving their pens. they can write about anything relating to the topic, they can make personal observations, raise more questions for discussion, probably even confess total ignorance of the given topic, as long as they write about it for eight minutes.
after the eight minutes are up, then the students can re read, re write, do research, etc. the exercise seems to be almost more about the skills of thinking quickly and getting thoughts in writing quickly than it is about knowing early twentieth century american history.
so here is the question i was given. just for fun, i am going to try typing my answer in only eight minutes. i haven't decided if i will correct spelling errors. here goes:
" to what extent is the phrase "keep austin weird" lame and pretentious?"
i live in austin, texas. about 4 years ago, this expression began appearing seemingly everywhere on bumperstickers, signs, and t-shirts, said t-shirts usually being worn by tourists. this town has it's share of eccentrics, but weird? this is a university town known for having an educated populace and for being tolerant of different lifestyles and points of view, at least compared to the rest of the state. that's weird to someone? did "keep austin iconoclastic" have too many syllables? i have a new expression for you: keep austin safe - from whatever advertising/ marketing dipshit thought up "keep austin weird".
i am a little embarrassed that it actually took me all eight minutes to come up with the preceding paragraph, but at least i'm writing again. thanks teacher.
