There is terror in this first step: writing about writing.
I’ll never forget the award my 4th grade teacher gave me at the end of the school year. It was a blue ribbon that read, “Can tell a story with a single picture.” Although I no longer have that precious blue ribbon, the sentiment stuck with me nearly thirty years later, so far away from the city I was born in.
It’s a familiar sentiment: wild childhood and childish dreams that expand until right-angled parents, mentors, and society steer one into practical productivity.
I woke up one day, having accomplished very little in the shadow of that ribbon. I’m a teacher now, and that ugly, judgmental statement even my dad parrots stirs a bit of anger: Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach. Somehow this phrase from George Shaw’s 1903 play Man and Superman has spiraled into an easy way to insult and demean teaching and education—even though Shaw’s original critique was intended for revolutionaries and theorists of revolutions, who are quick to drown in endless conversation over taking up pens and arms.
That said, to teach is to also be a student. Working with young people on the verge of adulthood has done something very unexpected: reinvigorated my original love of pictures and stories.
A student of mine this year allowed me to read her poetry, and I cried. I adored every word, her passion for metaphor, and her deep understanding of surprisingly mature topics despite her only being twelve years old. We truly underestimate how brilliant young people can be, and I always look forward to experiencing the creativity of my students. It wasn’t only her poetry, but the written prose by one of her gothic friends, the comedic voice another young man’s persuasive essay, and previous students, now in high school, contacting me years later asking that I read their work.
They all inspired me to stop burying the dream of writing, neglecting it, and deferring it until it does stink like rotten meat.
Writing about writing is very uncomfortable. The gauge for which we measure the title of writer or author is reserved for the traditionally published. However, seeing a book I’ve written one day on another reader’s shelf is still my greatest dream of all.
Galls & Walnuts 