Back in the Saddle Again....
Aug. 11th, 2005 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kadollanNo, I'm not on my period. (There is a story there...It involves my mother, a college dorm room in the early 60s, and those weird belt contraptions that women used to have to wear for sanitary protection.)
Anyway, the point is, we're back on-line, and moreover I'm back to reading my email and LJ regularly. Its amazing how easy it is to get out of the habit.
There's a meme going around these days, involving Jello, random thoughts and "questions I've always wanted to ask you." I am going to post it myself here in a bit.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wintermoon3 asked me the following question:
something that I've always wondered about you - why haven't you ever gone back to school or tried to do anything else with the smarts you have, since you seem to miss it so much and you apparently believe you aren't "doing anything" with it now? (Sorry if that sounds bad, I can't seem to word it the way I want to. I do believe you're smart and using it, but you don't seem to believe it yourself.)
I thought that was a pretty interesting question, all in all. Enough so that I decided to carry my response over here.
There isn't really a simple answer to this question. Partly, its because I've small children, partly because I can't afford to, partly because after 8 years getting my BA I was SOOOOO ready to not be in school for a while.
I perceive myself as an intelligent woman, even as an academic. I know I occasionally make comments like "I used to be so smart!" -- I don't really mean that I'm not smart now. Its more like "Wow. I wrote that. Go me!" Sometimes I do feel as though I've lost something. Access to knowledge I used to possess, the vocabulary of the philosophy student, I'm not sure what.
There have been stretches in the past 5 years where I really *wasn't* using my brain. It was tired and wanted a bit of a lie down.
Nowadays, I've got four students of my own, and another that I'm helping, a regular class for the coven that I co-Teach.... I have also recently started doing more work for myself---and that's what I think is most important. I'm reading the Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels and writing a summary/reader response in my journal. After re-reading my responses, I realized that I still sound pretty bright. Go me! *grins*
Anyway, the point is, we're back on-line, and moreover I'm back to reading my email and LJ regularly. Its amazing how easy it is to get out of the habit.
There's a meme going around these days, involving Jello, random thoughts and "questions I've always wanted to ask you." I am going to post it myself here in a bit.
wintermoon3 asked me the following question: something that I've always wondered about you - why haven't you ever gone back to school or tried to do anything else with the smarts you have, since you seem to miss it so much and you apparently believe you aren't "doing anything" with it now? (Sorry if that sounds bad, I can't seem to word it the way I want to. I do believe you're smart and using it, but you don't seem to believe it yourself.)
I thought that was a pretty interesting question, all in all. Enough so that I decided to carry my response over here.
There isn't really a simple answer to this question. Partly, its because I've small children, partly because I can't afford to, partly because after 8 years getting my BA I was SOOOOO ready to not be in school for a while.
I perceive myself as an intelligent woman, even as an academic. I know I occasionally make comments like "I used to be so smart!" -- I don't really mean that I'm not smart now. Its more like "Wow. I wrote that. Go me!" Sometimes I do feel as though I've lost something. Access to knowledge I used to possess, the vocabulary of the philosophy student, I'm not sure what.
There have been stretches in the past 5 years where I really *wasn't* using my brain. It was tired and wanted a bit of a lie down.
Nowadays, I've got four students of my own, and another that I'm helping, a regular class for the coven that I co-Teach.... I have also recently started doing more work for myself---and that's what I think is most important. I'm reading the Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels and writing a summary/reader response in my journal. After re-reading my responses, I realized that I still sound pretty bright. Go me! *grins*
