beginning
I'm beginning this journal as part of a course titled Writing in New Media, which I'm taking at Texas A&M Commerce where I'm a student in the Literature and Languages Ph.D. program. In the spirit of this wonderful course, taught by Dr. Shannon Carter, I intend to make use of the journal in my courses at Northeast Texas Community College, just as I will the audio/video composing skills I'm learning. I will also maintain the journal for my own purposes, of course.
The learning in Writing New Media has been challenging! Not only am I using technology that heretofore was foreign to me, but I'm also in the process of emerging from a life stage. Today, 7th Mar. 2009, is the eighteen-month anniversary of my sweet husband Randy's death from cancer. The work of coming to grips with the loss and of transitioning to a new age of life has interfered with all of my coursework this semester because I've worked on a particularly hard piece of the transition. However, the season of renewal surrounds me these days with a warmer wind and the budding of trees and and flowers, and I sense that same season within me as well. I'm happy these days.
This is the third incarnation of my life. The first incarnation comprised my childhood and child-rearing years; the first flowed into the second, and I matured and changed until that life hardened around me like a cocoon. I came forth from it into my second incarnation, my life with Randy, during which time I became a grandmother, a college writing teacher, and a self-actualized old hippie. Randy's death hardened that life around me. I emerge now as ... well, as what? I'm a calmer, more peaceful person. I live alone for the first time in my life. I conquer fear more easily. The rest remains unknown, and that is okay.
The learning in Writing New Media has been challenging! Not only am I using technology that heretofore was foreign to me, but I'm also in the process of emerging from a life stage. Today, 7th Mar. 2009, is the eighteen-month anniversary of my sweet husband Randy's death from cancer. The work of coming to grips with the loss and of transitioning to a new age of life has interfered with all of my coursework this semester because I've worked on a particularly hard piece of the transition. However, the season of renewal surrounds me these days with a warmer wind and the budding of trees and and flowers, and I sense that same season within me as well. I'm happy these days.
This is the third incarnation of my life. The first incarnation comprised my childhood and child-rearing years; the first flowed into the second, and I matured and changed until that life hardened around me like a cocoon. I came forth from it into my second incarnation, my life with Randy, during which time I became a grandmother, a college writing teacher, and a self-actualized old hippie. Randy's death hardened that life around me. I emerge now as ... well, as what? I'm a calmer, more peaceful person. I live alone for the first time in my life. I conquer fear more easily. The rest remains unknown, and that is okay.