Eight weeks in and I am still surviving! I cannot believe I am halfway through this semester. Time flies so quickly and I feel like I have done a lot and nothing at the same time.
On Monday night, the PPRS crew got together and carved some pumpkins. Here is the pumpkin a fellow seminarian and I carved. We named him Patrick:
During the afternoon on Tuesday, I led my first mentoring session for the haiku group that is associated with Haiku Society of America. It went well, and thankfully, they already liked me, and enjoyed the session. Starting November, we will be meeting twice a month and looking at other Japanese poetry forms.
That evening, I had Applied Storytelling. We watched a TEDtalk about single stories. Single stories are like stock stories which are like stereotypes. If you only hear one side of the story, your perception of a person or event will be different than if you heard several different stories. The readings and the discussions for this class were how storytelling can be used for social justice. The chapters we read were from Storytelling For Social Justice: Connecting Narrative and the Arts in Antiracist Teaching by Lee Anne Bell. Bell introduces the Storytelling Project Model and tells the reasons why it is needed. It boils down to (in my understanding) creating an environment where all can tell their stories in a safe and welcoming environment. The context for the book was in the classroom setting and next week we will be doing some of the exercises.
During class, my professor asked the class to write about the stock/single stories you heard about your people and the stock/single stories that you have held about others. Besides stock stories, I learned about concealed stories, resistance stories, and emerging/transformative stories.
Wednesday morning, we had chapel outside!
Thursday was a night filled with poetry as I learned during class about villanelle, sestina, abecedarian, and a new poetic form, ghazal.
Friday through Sunday night, I attended the 2021 Haiku North America online conference. This was their 30th year celebration! (First time attending!!!) Nine hours a day in conference with activities after, so it made for twelve-hour days. While I drifted off sometimes during the conference, the speakers and presentations were great and fantastic. The theme was ma which is negative space. Most of the presentations dealt with that theme. I also learned about Ba which is place but a little deeper than that. I wrote rengay, renku, tried out tan-renga (first time), and learned more about haibun and haiga. I even tried out exquisite corpse game for writing haiku! I also learned about zuihitsu.. I was blown away by the diversity of perspectives and ideas at this conference. (Check out their website to see what they have done in the past and this year!) I am looking forward to the next one which will be held in Cincinnati in the summer of 2023. Ohio haiku poets will be helping out, and I can’t wait to show the world what we are doing in the Buckeye state!
This upcoming weekend, I’ll have my second weekend intensive. Pray for me as I finish all the readings, videos, and short essay for next weekend.
Prayers and thoughts are always appreciated for me as I continue my journey in higher education! Thank you for reading and have a blessed day!
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