Susan’s not the only one feeling a little out-there. Here are my Total Randoms that explain it all.
1) After school closed, I couldn’t settle into writing until I cleaned off my desk at school, cleaned my bedroom, put away the winter clothes (yeah, I know, it’s June…) and cleaned and organized my office. My house is still a mess, but my mind is clear.
2) My fantasy job: archaeologist, but only if I don’t have to endure hoursunder the hot sun not finding stuff—the stuff would have to be guaranteed. And my ultra-fantasy job: lead singer in a rock band. Super-ultra-fantasy job: Rock and roll archaeologist.
3) I am one of the only people I know that hasn’t read and loved the Harry Potter series. I know, I know! Most of my students read and loved H.P., so maybe I just don’t need to, right? I know, I know! I actually read the first book with my class and enjoyed it, but I didn’t feel compelled to read the others. I know, I KNOW!
4) As well as not getting how people can write their drafts in longhand, I don’t get how writers can type without looking at the keys. Yup, I’m a pecker. No, that’s not dirty-talk. Get your head out of the gutter! I just happen to be a child of the ‘70’s. In those days, typing class was thought of as sexist, so I never took it.
5) And finally, here’s a secret on that same ‘70’s vibe, man: I went to a hippie school for part of my high school years. These days it would be called alternative. It was a K-12 school with maybe 30-40 kids. It was a series of geodesic domes attached in a long caterpillar shape where we read, and wrote, and discussed what we read and wrote. Very, very cool. I even got to design my own high school diploma. It is a tree reaching for the sun with deep roots in the earth.
~R.M.M.
