My Week Without Internet

I have carried my shame with me for the last several years. Specifically, I have carried my shame in my pocket. But now, it is finally time to confess to the world: I still do not have a smartphone. I have never had a smartphone; instead, I have a slide phone. It can text and make phone calls and, occasionally, send and receive pictures, and that is about it. The list of things that my dumbphone cannot do is long, but most of the items are covered by one word: internet. Last week I moved from Virginia to North Carolina into an apartment that was formerly sans internet access, so, lacking a smartphone with the ability to look up addresses and check out social media and such, I knew there would be a period of time in which I would have to survive without regular internet access. In order to catalog the experiences of this week, I kept a journal of what it was like to be internet-less. The text of the entries has been transcribed below.

The journal basically looks just like this. But with fewer drawings. And the pages are whiter. And it might have a metal spiral in the middle. But other than that, the exact same.

The Five Stages of Packing to Move

For most of the last eleven years, I have lived in Newport News, Virginia. I went to college at Christopher Newport University, graduated with a master’s degree in teaching, and then began work the following fall at a local high school. In that time, I have lived in eleven different places (counting the dorms), which has made me a veritable expert on the packing and moving. As I prepare to move to North Carolina and take the next big step in my life, I am again reminded of all the wonders that moving brings, like the “can I fit that in my car?” challenge, or the decisions about whether or not I like ____ enough to make it worth packing and lugging to a new place. And of course, there is my personal favorite game: “can these make a meal? I don’t want to move food. Scrambled eggs and Brussel sprouts are probably fine together.” As much fun as the whole packing things is, the tediousness of the task can only be described as a process.

Stage 1: Denial

“I’m not moving until the end of the month, and it is only the 20th! I have plenty of time.”

In the first stage of moving, there is plenty of time for everything. No need to rush when you have nearly a fortnight left to transfer all of your stuff to a new place. This is when you “plan” how you are going to pack the copious amounts of junk that you have acquired since your arrival in your current living situation. About this time, you also begin to really think about how daunting the task will really be; a fact which you promptly put out of your mind since that is an issue that future you will have to worry about. Sucks to be future you!

How to Write a Dystopian Young Adult Trilogy

The idea of the dystopian post-apocalyptic universe has been around since George Orwell discussed Big Brother in 1984. Recently, however, the adaptation of these dystopian young adult series into movies has become massively trendy in Hollywood (see: Hunger Games, Divergent, The Maze Runner, etc). While I enjoy many of these books, we have to go ahead and admit right now that these series are all pretty much the same. I know that I have little room to speak as a lover of Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels, which don’t exactly break new ground with each release, and I am not saying that these books/movies are not enjoyable; on the contrary, I often enjoy them despite clearly no longer qualifying as a member of the authors’ target audience.

These series typically contain several mutual elements: a reluctantly heroic protagonist, an occasionally forced love story, an evil and oppressive but functional governing body, and a common plot scheme. Trilogies also seem to be the primary means of telling these stories, with an occasional prequel or collection of related stories mixed in there. Since this will be my seventeenth blog post, I am basically a professional writer at this point and am totally qualified to advise future authors on how to write their own dystopian young adult novel trilogy.

Trust me, I’m a professional.

Quick Notes!

Wonderful readers, I regret to inform you that today’s post will be a few hours late! I spent most of Tuesday (aka writing day) in Raleigh at a job fair, and when I finally got home the quality of my writing was not up to my own standards. As soon as I get home tonight, I will be editing what I wrote and posting it! Sincerest of apologies for the tardy posting!

Additionally, the name of the blog will be changing tonight to “Scrumming with Shakespeare.” While I have loved writing for “Rucking English,” not enough people know what a ruck is and it sounds too much like a naughty word. Since the secondary purpose of this blog is to showcase my writing, it behooves me to not potentially turn off employers. My twitter account (if you follow me or are interested in following me) that I have had for a whole week will also be changing to “Shakespeare and Scrums.”

Thanks for the support and understanding!

The Three Things I’ll Miss the Most About Teaching

Depending on the source you believe, between 40% and 50% of teachers will leave the classroom in their first five years. In just over a month, I will be adding to that particular statistic by leaving teaching, possibly permanently. This will have been my fifth year teaching and the decision to change careers has not been one that came easily. It seems like each year there are more and more articles published in which former teachers and soon-to-be former teachers explain all the reasons why they are leaving teaching. At this point, it has all been said, often by professionals more eloquent and intelligent than I am.  If you want to know some of the reasons that so many teachers are leaving, Google “Why teachers quit” or check out this article, or this one, or this one. While those three articles range from informative to regretful to scathing and all have some viewpoints that I have shared at one time or another, I would rather end my tenure by reflecting on the three things I’ll miss the most.

1. The Kids (Most of the Time)

First off, it is time to admit that not all students get along with all teachers. Just like with adults, there are people you like and people you do not like. However, for the most part, I really like a lot of my kids, especially the ones who fly under the radar. By that I mean the kids who show up, do their work, laugh at my corny jokes, and are generally successful. Those are the students I feel bad for as I have to stop what I am doing and discipline the same students for the eighth time in a week.

This is what you get for assigning homework.

Realistically, even some of the students who are “problem children” are some of my favorites. As a grown up ADHD kid, I fully understand the ones who are bouncing off of the walls and need to roam the classroom a bit more. Teaching primarily freshmen over the past five years has allowed me to see some very bright and interesting young people (especially the problem children) mature and develop into impressive young men and women. I will really miss trying to push kids out of their comfort zone and helping guide the ones who are willing to take that push and run with it.