Jennie's Class

My life is a classroom where I continue to study and learn. I am sharing these life lessons and trying to memorialize them into ideas that have given me perspective, hope, and confidence. Some observations are strickly satisfying for my enjoyment and entertainment. These are things I would talk about that are stimulating to my mind and spirit. As a teacher and leader I had many a captive audience that had to endure my little meanders through epiphany. I realize how patient they all were who politely indulged my philosophizing. But just because I have no ready outlet does not mean I am not still traveling through the colorful landscape and architecture of thought. So to organize and capture this experience, I attempt this project as an open canvas to doddle and scribble out what currently captures my imagination. I realize I need to continue this process for my own mental and spiritual health. I share it only because the discipline it requires of me to organize and present it in some form elevates my expectations. Just like any art or work of writing seems worthless if there is no one on the other end to appreciate or even critique, I have not been able to be creative as an end in itself. When my creativity dries up I find that I dry up. Iknow that to maintain my emotional health I need to be creative. I have always thought of myself as a creative person–but lately I realize that without an effort to deliberately engage in some project or activity, I am withering away, feeling old, giving in to apathy.

Apathy is a life without passion and maybe even without compassion–even without feeling. As i get older I notice loss pretty dramatically. As my vision or hearing dims I realize how critical all my senses are and how desperately I need them to engage with the world. I don’t want to recede into the darkness and hollow emptiness of quiet. I want to keep feeling. I want to keep caring. I want to continue enjoying. I want to be fascinated with life and everything around me. I want to keep learning, keep discovering, and keep enjoying all the things life is revealing to me.

• History Class: My experiences in various times and places including characters that defined my understanding of the world
• Art Class: My attempts to explore the visual arts
• Music Class: Songs and music that are personal to me
• Science Class: Observations of things I have discovered in the natural world
• Religion Class: Spiritual insights
• Language Class: Communication
• Math Class: Observations of principles of natural laws
• Phys Ed Class: Life lessons about health
• Sociology Class: The study of what I have learned about people