(no subject)
I could be an amputee. That is what my friendships are like.
Most often they resemble phantom limbs: I know them by what they are not-perhaps by what they once were, but not by what they are. I can define them only in terms of what they lack.
Today I taught, but I learned more.
A 5th grade boy from Paris named Richard-pronounced in French, with none of the harshness the same name carries when spoken by an American tongue-he told me about the stories he’s read, and spoke English like only a foreigner could-with a comforting fluidity. I am certain no American could speak as beautifully as he did. No amount of eloquence could euphemize like his simple accent.
Richard reminded me: elementary students are so open, so innocent, so vulnerable and real.
I crave that in people my own age and older. It is, in most cases, conspicuously absent. Painfully absent-hence amputation.
Now, everything is calculated. Each word is spoken only after a careful risk-analysis: can I trust you?
P.S. I've found it.
My major, that is. It was awaiting discovery on a girl named Kate's profile-Scripps website. Commercial Communication and Design, she calls it. Elements of psychology, economics, art, writing and critical theory. With that, my future has been titled and packaged, ready for delivery.
Most often they resemble phantom limbs: I know them by what they are not-perhaps by what they once were, but not by what they are. I can define them only in terms of what they lack.
Today I taught, but I learned more.
A 5th grade boy from Paris named Richard-pronounced in French, with none of the harshness the same name carries when spoken by an American tongue-he told me about the stories he’s read, and spoke English like only a foreigner could-with a comforting fluidity. I am certain no American could speak as beautifully as he did. No amount of eloquence could euphemize like his simple accent.
Richard reminded me: elementary students are so open, so innocent, so vulnerable and real.
I crave that in people my own age and older. It is, in most cases, conspicuously absent. Painfully absent-hence amputation.
Now, everything is calculated. Each word is spoken only after a careful risk-analysis: can I trust you?
P.S. I've found it.
My major, that is. It was awaiting discovery on a girl named Kate's profile-Scripps website. Commercial Communication and Design, she calls it. Elements of psychology, economics, art, writing and critical theory. With that, my future has been titled and packaged, ready for delivery.