My first night back at teaching
It's been months since I've walked
into the U of T and taught. The class
is big, 15, horseshoed around me.
Usually I teach six or eight. Intimacy.
Harder to connect. A rumble below us.
That's the subway. A chant to the right --
another class. Then a second class behing
the other wall. At least there's no
asbestos in the ceiling (last
year's classroom). We spend 45
minutes introducing ourselves and it
works. Everyone says a sentence that
is interesting and could be used in a
story. It's hard to convince people
who have real jobs that their work is
interesting and they can write about it.
A woman who works in mutual funds spoke
of an outside client. Those words, outside
client. If a story began with those
words, I'd read on. Half of them could
write stories just on how they got their
first names. The exhilaration of teaching,
of screwing my face up to think if something
is good and true, then, after two and a
half hours, the quiet return home.
into the U of T and taught. The class
is big, 15, horseshoed around me.
Usually I teach six or eight. Intimacy.
Harder to connect. A rumble below us.
That's the subway. A chant to the right --
another class. Then a second class behing
the other wall. At least there's no
asbestos in the ceiling (last
year's classroom). We spend 45
minutes introducing ourselves and it
works. Everyone says a sentence that
is interesting and could be used in a
story. It's hard to convince people
who have real jobs that their work is
interesting and they can write about it.
A woman who works in mutual funds spoke
of an outside client. Those words, outside
client. If a story began with those
words, I'd read on. Half of them could
write stories just on how they got their
first names. The exhilaration of teaching,
of screwing my face up to think if something
is good and true, then, after two and a
half hours, the quiet return home.
8 Comments:
there was asbestos in the classroom last year? :/
mr asbestos, wasnt he
sitting to your right?
no, i believe that was donald francis :D
Asbestos? What I remember:
Michael: Donald, what do you think?
Donald shudders out of his snooze.
He then goes on to win second prize in the Random House contest.
I loved that class.
Michael, where can I find The point David made earlier?
you have to take an air canada
flight and fly very fast, perhaps
break the speed of light and
return to the month of august
and peel out the en route magazine
from the seat pocket in front
of you.
Oh la la ... Quel voyage!
Or here
Thank you anonymous. How do you differentiate one anonymous from another?
Michael, it's good to see that Gabe is alive and well ... but what a rough one. For the anonymous who asked, you can find more of Gabe in One last good look, and This all happened.
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