When I was in second grade, my teacher (Ms. Rainey) didn’t know what to do with me. I wasn’t exactly a bad or troublesome student, but I was the only black student in my class and obviously bored. Ms. Rainey had an overloaded class and had her hands full catching kids up to the current curriculum in class much less deal with students who were ahead of the curve. So she put me in a corner with a stack of paper and told me to just “create whatever appealed to” me. So I wrote, drew, created little books and just let my imagination and creativity run wild.
[As opposed to my brother, who was also bored, but his teacher—who shall remain nameless—had low to no expectations of blacks, males in particular, and all but said so. So through neglect, she stripped away any interest he had in school that he’s only regained as an adult.]
I was reminded about the state of my desk as I wandered into the room of my eldest son, Reese. He has his own desk in there, surrounded by books and stacks of paper. Within easy reach were trays of markers, pens, pencils, crayons, beads, and clips – things he’d need at fingertip access to in order to create at a moment’s notice. Everything was collected and separated by sandwich bags (which reminded me of the shelf of cereal boxes I used to use as my filing cabinets for all of my projects and “research” when I got home). All about were half-finished projects and preparation for new projects amidst the organized chaos that is a creative mind.
I had entered the forbidden zone since I had to clean it because when I’m in MY creative throes, I am compelled to clean and organize. No worries, I preserved the order and condensed it to his desk, getting rid of only the trash and toys and cups that tend to accumulate during … creative bursts.
Just something I wanted to note. On the flip side, we spent the evening trying to convince my youngest son that “Cock” was not the best way to shorten the name for his pet rock, “Cock-A-Doodle”. Of course, I suppose that I probably ought to be more disconcerted by him talking to and petting a rock …
I love this anecdote! i like school anecdotes + anecdotes in general… So how are you at math? You can't be taught that by being left to your own devices in a corner! (And is convention season over – but deadline not?)
convention season is basically over (i plan on going to bouchercon, but that won't be nearly as intense as i'm mostly going just to see what it's about and because it's local). this intense deadline season won't be over til the end of the year. that's why my blog is so hit an miss lately.
it was the math stuff which let my teacher know just how far ahead of the class i was. once she saw that i was fine with math and english, she left me alone.
Oh, right! With me it was probably the sole reason I didn't get certified "infant genius" and whisked away to one of those gifted children's schools, which I am sure I would have loved to attend, and done better there than Bart Simpson did! High IQ kids often find lessons boring. I had a bit of a hang-up about sums and such, though I caught up later, and reading and writing I was always very adept at. As for you, you sound like the (lazy/overworked) teacher's dream! Abandoning you to yourself though… What about music and drama? I accurately banged the tambourine for a performance of "Ten Green Bottles" aged 4. My fave school play aged 5/6 was "The Three Billy Goats Gruff". What about you – did they let you do anything? You have to have rhythm but can ya sing? (I'd lay claim to that as one of my natural talents.)
Organizing tip (from a guy who normally has paper clutter all over the place):
If there's a comic book shop in your area, grab a bag of magazine-size mylar comic/magazine bags. (They are intended for use by collectors to preserve their collection.) The "magazine size" is just the right size to fit American-standard 8 1/2 x 11" notebook paper, and a bag can hold 20-40 sheets. Great for organizing loose manuscripts or notepapers. Much better than sandwich-bag separators.
Sounds like a great tip! Maurice is a comic-book fanboy though: he might think it is sacrelige! (Unless maybe for original comics scripts/artwork?)
my boys love any excuse to go to the comic store. what a great idea!
(admittedly, i am also in need of some magazine bags, so it's a win-win)
As long as they don 't "idolize" those printed graven images, eh? Something not allowed to Christians. With pagans/heathens it's different, though really we need our own comics to reflect our ideas in a way that the oligarchy doesn't and never really has (surprising seeing the growth in alternative religions since even the 1980s: mainstream culture must feel insecure!) I already told you that Mighty Thor comics aren't exactly accurate: though they are quite fun; I liked Rob Rodi's "Loki".