Day Fifteen of Writing 101 requires us to
“think about an event you’ve attended and loved. Your hometown’s annual fair. That life-changing music festival. A conference that shifted your worldview. Imagine you’re told it will be cancelled forever or taken over by an evil corporate force.”
Many hours were spent cogitating, contemplating, considering.
To little avail.
When pressed to name something that I particularly like, or identify a favourite, my mind freezes.
My hometown. Yes, I have a hometown, the place where I was born. But, not a place I regard as “home”. That place lies within. Not outside.
And music festivals? Yeah. Done that. Maybe even have a tee shirt. But, life changing? Nope.
Conferences that shifted my world view? Right. Been to a lot of conferences, find it hard to shift in my sleep during the sessions, but world view shifted? Nope.
Oh, and, as always, the task had a “twist”
“While writing this post, focus again on your own voice. Pay attention to your word choice, tone, and rhythm. Read each sentence aloud multiple times, making edits as you read through. Before you hit “Publish,” read your entire piece out loud to ensure it sounds like you.”
Ok. Now we’re talking. I do like the sound of my own voice. At least, that’s what they say. And that’s good, right? Right? Ah.
So.
I thought a bit more and then it came to me.
I remembered the day I realised that my life as a student was over.
And, yes I mean the studying part.
Not the other.
The mistaken assumption that on leaving University, I would leave behind forever the world of learning.
That’s what I am writing about.
Walking along a pavement in London. Thinking, no more Schrödinger’s cat, no more complex organic compounds, no more contemplating the infinite.
No more questioning the why, what, how, when, where and if.
No. I realised that I had traded that life of learning for a living.
Instead of reading to discover, I would read to earn money.
Yes, they had taken my soul.
An evil corporate force, well actually several different evil corporate forces, would now determine my direction.
No more worrying about the fifth dimension, the forces that bind the universe, the philosophical questions about who we are. And why.
No, now, balance sheets and books of account, files and fiches, debits and credits. A trial balancing account. A life where learning would end.
So. Yes, at that moment my heart and soul went cold.
So. Yes, I was wrong.
The learning and lessons had only begun, the real class about to start.
The class of life.
People, relationships, love, loss. And all the bits in between.
The event I feared. The end of learning. It never happened.
Instead, it blossomed and grew.
And, not just in me. In the faces of those who followed. Upturned eyes, hands reaching out, those searching questions again from younger minds. And the total trust that I would know the answer.
So, next time. When someone asks why.
Think hard, before replying.
As today’s Writing 101 prompt involves the use of “voice”, I decided to accompany my writing with a recording of today’s response.
(for wordpress writing 101 – day fifteen)
andy townend 
That’s a mildly scary and self-searching post, but thanks hid for the humour: “find it hard to shift in my sleep during the sessions”, yes, that’s precisely my experience of conferences…
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So, we have a shared experience?
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Well, much of human experience is universal, I think.
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Indeed it is, and some learn more from it than others.
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This is great! I think you would do well as an audio book narrator. 🙂
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Thank you Amy, hey now that would be a dream job 😉
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This was lovely – I lacked inspiration as well. At least you pulled through!
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Thank you!
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so true…and very well written
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Thank you very much, i appreciate that thought…
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You have a unique and very recognizable voice, I like your take on this prompt and twist. ‘The evil corporate force’, I guess too many of us are deluded by that.
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Thank you again, yes I think it all too easy to get our priorities wrong, we are full of ideals and a thirst to change the world at one stage of our lives (or many of us are?) and then we lose that, and I think that a great shame?
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I have always thought about trying to record my poems and upload them on YouTube….
I just don’t like hearing my own voice that much outside of my head. I prefer listenting to other people’s voices and as yours is unique and fitting to what you write I loved listening almost as much as reading 🙂
And then you made me think (although I don’t really know why) The voice for reading out loud isn’t the most important but maybe the individuality of it. Every single word sounds different depending on who is saying it and in what kind of situation…
Maybe I’l try recording a piece of writing even though I don’t like listening to my voice that much after all…
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Thank you so much for those kind words, I’m really glad you liked both my writing and my reading. I think you are write, so often it is not what we say that matters. But how…
Yes, please do record your own writing!
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life is the best teacher, only we are lousy students sometimes, are we…
I enjoyed reading the text… and I enjoyed even more listening to it as you read it 🙂 it’s even more personal that way…
and on a sidenote, so you are not Belgian? 🙂 you sound British?
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Thank you, glad you liked the audio as well as reading.
Yes, I’m British, have lived in Australia and Serbia and currently living in Brüssel…
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