I continue to enjoy this class and was happy that we took the time to do the midterm gallery walk though. It really gave me the opportunity to write about other students work in more depth. Like I say every time the self reflection comes up I really feel like the consistent practice of writing is making me a better writer.
So often we lack the time or incentive to sit down and think and then put those thoughts onto paper of screen in most cases. Writing has evolved in the workplace to email writing which in the UC system doesn’t even have to address the person, the email sometimes just comes up as a bulleted list or starts mid-sentence. It’s very odd that writing has changed into such a informal practice and style has taken a serous backseat to pragmatism. I sometimes look as old civil war era letters or just letters that I got from my grandmother and they were so different. People would take hours to write a letter and think about what they were going to say and then put the pen to paper and think about their penmanship. Today I just shoot off half intelligible text messages to friends that have the poo emoji as often as I use adjectives.
So in a way this class has been therapy for me to get closer to what my writing can be and should be if I just put a little thought into it. So my big take way is that I need to slow down and write but at the same time write in high volumes to get better.
I’m heading back to work next week after a month long paternity leave. I thought this month I would fall behind in my school work but I always found a couple of days a week where I could leave home and head to the UCLA library where I feel I can focus on my writing in a very quiet and aggressively intellectual environment. I wonder how I will be able to keep up with the writing when I have to work 40 hours a week and take care of my newborn. It is a struggle that most parents feel at some point. I mean being stretched thin in time and money is one of the clichés of parenthood I just hope that I don't start resenting my wife and the people around me for circumstances that I 100% signed up for when we decided to have this baby.