Quaker Pagan Reflections

Wow... I knew that posting was going to slow down once the school year began, but I had no idea twelve days had gone by since my most recent post. On the other hand, I've been very busy indeed at my classroom website and blogs. The teaching is starting to feel more manageable this year, and the tweaks and adjustments I've made to the weekly assignments seem, so far, to be keeping the grading load down to a manageable one. I suppose that isn't a very "spiritual" line of thought, in some ways. On the other hand, the biggest challenge I've faced, since becoming a teacher, is managing the business of daily life and still having time for friends, family, solitude, and exercise. For the last two years, it was time in Pagan ritual and in Meeting that got cut, a luxury I don't think I have this year, having agreed to serve on Ministry and Worship . This is the part that scares me most about having said yes--everything else can be learned, but keeping up wit...

It seems like cheating to have a big part of my blog entry be about another person's blog entry, but Liz Opp has posted two in a row that really speak to me. Her post on Quaker Blog Ettiquette resonates with me a lot, though I must admit that I don't entirely live up to some of her ideas as fully as I might--especially when it comes to seasoning my remarks, both here and in comments on other blogs. I think that's because though some of my entries come from a spirit-centered place (and, like Liz, I think those are the blogs that speak to me the most, as well as the entries of my own I'm happiest with) other entries are more like a wave hello to friends (and fFriends) who may be stopping by. I guess it's as if some of my entries are like a worship-sharing, and others are chatting over coffee during fellowship. I know that, in Wiccan circles, I often felt that there was a way in which the most important thing we did was share that warm connectedness over cakes and ...

I totally forgot how utterly exhausting teaching school can be. It's 8:30 on a Friday night... and I'm going to crawl into bed now. I can't believe how tired I am already... Still. A great two days. The third year of teaching is much, much, much easier than the first two... Not only that, but: my class sizes are small, almost private-school-sized small (two sections of 17 students each and one of 24); I have, temporarily at least, a work-study aide who has graded my first two sections of pretests; the kids are actually _listening_ to me (huzzah!); and, best of all, at the end of the day, one of our master-teachers came by my room to pass on a comment she heard from one of my new kids, who says I'm cool and they're glad they are in my class. It does _not_ get much better than this. (Though the stamina to have a personal life wouldn't be terrible...) Good night, blogosphere!