| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- the things they don't teach you There are a lot of things they do not teach you about teaching. Like what to do when a student dies unexpectedly. God, it's been an awful week. N, who was in a wheelchair and had very limited use of his hands, joined the paper this semester and immediately infused it with life. He'd been going to this college for 10 years and knew more about it than the rest of us. And yet he wasn't jaded by it. He had such a curiosity and a drive and a wonderfully dry wit. Last Saturday my newspaper students spent the day at a conference together--N, included. He was part of the team. They went to workshops together, they ate lunch together, they got dinner afterward together. They bonded. And then on Sunday N., only 33, died of a heart attack. We spent Monday in shock, devastated. And then my students brushed themselves off and started to work on his obituary. Because that's what journalists do. Yesterday we went to a celebration of life gathering for him. N's mom told us the paper was his favorite class. "There was a lot he couldn't do physically, but he could write," she told me. "He'd found his voice." N, I'm glad we had that short time together. The impact you had on my life has already been significant. Rest in peace, my friend. 11:47 am - 29.10.17
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tiny failures every day - 15.01.18 - 1:22 pm hustle along now - 19.12.17 - 1:35 pm no easy way to there from here. - 27.11.17 - 7:17 pm give me a glimmer - 08.11.17 - 9:45 am worry, worry, worry - 31.10.17 - 7:37 pm |
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