Where Half the School Year Went
Taking stock in the middle of a very specific moment
Having gotten my dissertation to the point that there are working drafts of all 5 chapters, the new year brings me a moment (and a bit more space) to take a look through my non-dissertation writing. For the past semester, there hasn’t been much of anything. Actually, there’s only one thing in my Ulysses inbox: A reflection document that I set up at the beginning of the school year and then promptly forgot about. When I say that I forgot about it, I mean that. I have no recollection of writing the one entry that was in it from the start of the year. Though it’s existence, and the topic it spoke to (profound unease about a distasteful pre-year coaching PD that I attended) demonstrate that it was definitely something that I wrote. I suppose this is the way that things went this past semester, with my focus being in a few other, pressing, places, than my personal writing.
I find myself looking at a new year and the remaining half of the current school year with discomfort. Much of this discomfort is due to the current global moment, as the pandemic continues to impact every aspect of life, even here in Singapore where things are as untouched as they probably could be anywhere on Earth. But that’s not all of it. Professionally, I’m happiest when teaching, and I also feel somewhat…
