Tag Archives: memories

Becoming Ms. Russell

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I did not set out to become a teacher, I left that to my younger sister Erica.  As her older sister, I’ve never known her to want to be anything other than a teacher and a mother.  I envied the fact that she was so certain about her desired profession, not to mention her dedication to her love of children.  When we played school – and we did often – I ended up being the school librarian while she insisted on being the teacher.  Until our younger brother was born when I was age 10 and Erica age 7, we didn’t have a single pupil.  By the time he was two, Erica made our toddler brother a series of report cards, grading him on things like “listening” and “sitting still.”  But, this isn’t my sister’s story.  It is mine.

My story of pursuing a career as a secondary teacher is by no means conventional.  In fact, it is so unconventional and challenging that I would recommend it to no one.  If it weren’t for the facts that teaching is in my DNA and I am meant to be a teacher, I would have given up long, long ago.  Instead, I doubled-down when I was faced with what at the time seemed to be insurmountable obstacles.  I even went back to substitute teaching when needed while deciding what my next step would be.  I am a better person, and teacher, for it.

Every story needs to start somewhere, and mine starts with the statement that teaching is in my blood.  It truly is.  As a genealogist, as far as I can tell, the teaching tradition goes back at least five generations on my mom’s side of the family.  It likely goes back even further.  Both of Mom’s grandmothers taught, and one of her grandfathers served as principal of his daughters’ elementary school, as well as coach.   

Interestingly, the teaching careers of my great-grandmothers could not have been more different.  I knew both Grammy Bea (Beatrice Williams), who taught kindergarten and first grade for decades at the height of the baby boom, and Great (Leona Buttrick), who taught in a one-room schoolhouse and quit teaching once she married my great-grandfather Hatley.  Although these are stories for another time, their careers illustrate massive changes in public education.

Funnily enough, the teaching tradition isn’t exactly confined to mom’s side of the family.  Even though neither of my dad’s parents had the opportunity to further their education, they highly encouraged their children to do so.  Both did, and even though my dad and his sister didn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye on much of anything, I find it telling that they both married teachers.  On the Suszko side of Dad’s family, there are several special education and agricultural teachers.  In fact, my cousin Kristy, a woman with whom I attended school at all levels from kindergarten to college, now teaches dairy science at the university level.

As much as I did not want to admit it, I am a teacher.  It took me far too long to make peace with that fact.  Something inside me would not let it go.  As soon as I graduated from Michigan State in 2004 with degrees in supply chain management and Spanish, my entire world shifted.  It would not be made right again until I went back to school in 2013.

It all started during the Great Recession with a casual conversation with my ex’s mom Cindy.  We were invited to dinner as usual, and Cindy and I struck up a conversation.  She told me that she wished that she’d gone back to school to become a nurse.  All I could think at the time was that I did not want to be in my 50s and regret not pursuing an interest.  During the Christmas shopping season of 2008, I worked at Best Buy in   Saginaw.  As I lived in the South End of Bay City at the time, I drove by Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) every day on my way to work.  Slowly, I started to wonder what would happen if I did decide to go back to school to become a teacher.  The idea excited me and fed my imagination. How could I make it happen?  How would I adjust?  Online classes, in their infancy back in 2004, intimidated me.

Eventually, I had the ability to make it happen in 2013.  I largely enjoyed my time at Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), although I would advise commuter students to do their homework.  For example, if I had not followed up with my advisor, I would have stressed out about the math portion of the general MTTC exam necessary to even apply to the College of Education.  I didn’t necessarily doubt my ability to do higher-level math likely trigonometry and low-level calculus, but I had not remotely touched those subjects in well over a decade.  The thought terrified me. Much to my relief, my counselor informed me that I scored high enough on the ACT test I took in high school that I did not need to take the general MTTC at all.  I then questioned why I wasn’t informed earlier.  She simply stated that it likely stemmed from the fact that I was a commuter and a non-traditional student.  While I would highly recommend SVSU to traditional college students coming right from high school, I’m not so sure in other situations.

I enjoyed most of my classes and professors at both Delta College and SVSU, but I can’t say that I didn’t have any bad experiences.  In fact, one professor and class at SVSU stands out for all of the wrong reasons.  This particular professor taught a class that focused on diversity.  However, somehow, throughout the entire semester, he managed to offend nearly everyone in the class.  Horribly.  He supposedly hated coaches.  When I ran into a former classmate in a school setting years later, we naturally discussed this infamous class and professor.  This man, who happened to coach as well as teach, informed me that this professor tried to get him removed from the College of Education program, likely because he planned to coach.

Somehow, this professor appeared to have no issue with me or one of my good friends, even though he had long ago deeply offended us both.  As we paired up to complete our main teaching project for the course, things fell apart.  When it came time to “teach” our project, our professor respected my teaching time and even seemed pleased.  Then, he proceeded to continually interrupt my friend and teaching partner for her entire portion of the project.  He made it exceedingly difficult for her to even finish.  Already extraordinarily introverted, I have no idea how she made it through.  Disrespectful doesn’t even begin to cover it.  Unfortunately, she never did become a teacher, although she would have been wonderful.  Instead, she became a librarian.  To this day, I still believe that the world needs introverted teachers too.  There are too many people like this professor that discourage future teachers every step of the way before they even get started.

Stay tuned … There is much more to this story.

Not just my favorite TED Talk on education and teaching, my favorite TED Talk period.

Rita Pierson’s famous Ted Talk on Education – Well worth watching!

Welcome February!

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2025 started off pretty well, but I’m just getting started.  There is so much more I wanted to accomplish, but days rush by, especially when fighting off the January “ick.”  My writing really took a nosedive and a backseat.  Fortunately, it is NOT for a lack of ideas.  In fact, it is quite the opposite.  I have too many.  I need to prioritize and mix it up.  Here are a few things to look forward to in 2025.

Gen X

I’ve been floating around this idea for months.  It gets right to the heart of my best and deepest childhood memories.  Between belonging to a fun Xennial Facebook group (NOT SFW) and discovering hysterical Gen X content creators discussing everything from the 70s-90s, I can relate.  Aside from the childhood nostalgia, they are discussing the perils of becoming the default mediators between Baby Boomers and Millennials, perimenopause (or just menopause), and the weirdness of some being the parents of grown children while others have toddlers or even infants.  There is something for everyone.

My favorites so far:

  • The “virtual” dodgeball game between some of the more well-known Gen X content creators.
  • The elaborate storylines, complete with 80s costumes, of some of the creators.  There are two in particular who created an entire world of characters just using their imaginations, along with costuming and makeup techniques.  Both are incredibly talented!

Frankly, my childhood would not have been the same without Gen X.  They were always the “cool” older kids – namely my cousins (all girls) and the teens who worked at the canoe livery every summer – all of whom introduced me to the best music, slang, and fashions of the ‘80s.  I distinctly remember wanting to replicate some of my cousins’ outfits and being so eager to grow up.

As much as I can relate to Gen X, I am definitely not strictly Gen X.  While technically Gen X ends in 1980, I was born December 18th, 1980, just two weeks away shy of 1981 and being classified a Millennial.  If anyone is on the cusp of those two generations, it is me.  As a result, I am a Xennial (1977-1983), with characteristics of both generations.

Grandma Reid @ 100

January 22nd, 2025 would have been Grandma Reid’s 100th birthday.  She always told my sister and me that she’d live to be 100 to “haunt you girls.”  Then, she’d laugh as only she could.  Gratefully, she lived a long, full life, passing away the day before her 92nd birthday in 2017.  Still, I am left with so many memories and lessons, especially now that I am well into my 40s.  It all deserves to be mentioned.

1925

1925 played a pivotal role in my family history.  Two of my grandparents were born in 1925, Grandma Reid and Grandpa Buttrick, and my second great-grandfather, A.G. Forward, started Forward Corporation, which would become the reason why my maternal grandparents eventually moved to Standish.  My parents would have likely never met otherwise.

Grandpa Buttrick @ 100

Born on April 1st, 1925, he definitely needs to be commemorated as well.  He taught me a lot, and if I hadn’t moved back to Michigan in 2005, I would not have known him nearly as well as an adult.  He, along with my dad, are the original inspirations for my decision to study business.  It has served me well!  Sometimes I think I learned just as much from them, and the companies they headed for so many years, as I did from my formal education.

Music

Not only are there dozens of songs I need to add to my mixtape, I have much to say about Oasis’s recent attempt to join the 90s nostalgia craze in concerts, not to mention the fact that Ringo, now well into his 80s, recently released a #1 album, country no less.  Also, I didn’t fully realize this until fairly recently, but I belong to a generation that closely associated music videos with the music we love.  That just doesn’t happen much anymore.  There is a reason why there are jokes stating that MTV only provided approximately 15 years of music.  We still want our MTV!

Book Reviews

Book reviews consistently get the most traffic, and I adore writing them.  I am way behind.  In fact, The Women by Kristin Hannah still haunts me, and it will continue to haunt me until I write a review.  I loved that book, and I consider it one of the best pieces of historical fiction I’ve ever read.  Then there is The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, another great piece of historical fiction.  Of course, there are others I need to review as well.

The Supply Chain Lens

In light of all that has transpired over the last several years, I feel compelled to share what keeps me awake at night.  It all involves supply chains and our manufacturing capability.  It is far more interesting that it sounds, I promise.  Also, I plan to keep it as non-political as possible, even though I feel we have all been fooled.  Even though I did not necessarily pursue a career in supply chain management, my business education forever colored how I see the world.

As you can see, lots of great things to come!  Welcome February!

The Reading Life

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I love it!  I finally took the time to clean out my Goodreads account.  I’ve had an account for well over a decade (possibly even close to two), but I have rarely used it to keep track of my reading or anything else.  When I first joined, I started to use it to catalog my books.  At the time, torn between Goodreads and LibraryThing, I didn’t realize that both websites were created with very different intentions.  Goodreads aims to connect readers, help readers keep track of their reading, and serve as a true social media platform for readers.  LibraryThing, on the other hand, is meant to help people catalog their book collections.  They have also cataloged famous personal libraries and annually hosts one of my favorite Christmas traditions – SantaThing.  Basically, SantaThing is similar to a secret santa for book lovers.  Participants chose the amount they would like to spend.  Then, participants choose books for another person while someone else chooses books for them.  I have yet to be disappointed!

After several years of trying to decide how I want to go about tracking my reading, I have finally settled on Goodreads.  You can find my Goodreads profile here.  The wonderful thing is that a large part of my family is going along for the ride.  Several of my aunts are avid readers, as are my new brother-in-law, his daughter, my sister, my sister-in-law, and my mom.  We now have quite a crew and have already spent some time sharing book recommendations with one another.  My Grandma Buttrick would be incredibly proud!

In fact, I’ve been meaning to brag about this here, but my grandma proved to be way ahead of her time.  In the late 80s and throughout the 90s, Grandma Buttrick helped to establish an early version of a free little library.  During that time, she always seemed to have a box of books to take/donate to the hotel in her garage.  At the former Quality Inn in West Branch, a continued important part of Forward Corporation (Grandpa was president at the time, and later, served as chairman of the board), Grandma kept a rotating paperback rack full of books for hotel guests.  Sitting in the lobby in an alcove near the registration desk, guests could take or leave a book.  I wish I could tell her just how ahead of her time she was.  I like to think that she’d be incredibly pleased to see how we’ve passed her love of reading down the generations.  Our little book club of two lives on!

As a child, Grandma Buttrick was the one who helped me get my first library card in Standish.  I’ve done the same with my niece and nephew.  I do hope that our excursions to the library leave an impression on them.  If anyone out there continues to believe that libraries are no longer relevant, they need to actually visit one!

Book Review: Prairie Man by Dean Butler

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Dean Butler as Almanzo Wilder
in Little House on the Priarie

This year, the TV show Little House on the Prairie celebrates 50 years since its television debut.  Oh, and does that show still have a following.  To celebrate, several events were held at various locations throughout the country, including most of the homesites of the Ingalls and Wilder families.  They even recreated several of the sets at Big Sky Movie Ranch in Simi Valley, California, where most of the series was filmed.  Infamously, the last installment of the series saw the original set of the town literally destroyed as part of the plot.  Under the terms of filming, the producers of Little House on the Prairie contractually had to return the land to its original condition.

So, where does Prairie Man by Dean Butler come in?  First, the book debuted this summer in the midst of all of the events.  Second, and most importantly, Dean Butler, who played Almanzo Wilder in the last years of the series, and Alison Arngrim, the one and only Nellie Oleson, who famously penned Confessions of a Prairie B*tch, have worked tirelessly to keep the legacy of the TV show alive.  In fact, this entire year, they decided to host a podcast dedicated to all things relating to the 50th anniversary of the Little House on the Prairie TV show.

Prairie Man stands out for a couple of reasons.  First, I may not be technically correct on this, but I believe that Dean Butler is the oldest surviving male cast member.  Several actors that played young boys on the series survive, but the grown men, including Michael Landon, Victor French, Richard Bull, and Dabs Greer, just to name a few, are long gone.  While there are several memoirs written by female cast members, including two alone written by Melissa Gilbert, Prairie Man is the only one written by a man. 

While I’ve only read Confessions of a Prairie B*tch by Alison Arngrim (you can read my review here) and Prairie Man by Dean Butler, they could not be more different.  I loved both, but I enjoyed Butler’s sense of history, not to mention his diplomatic handling of tensions between fans of the books and fans of the TV show.  He addressed all of the controversies surrounding both series well.

I learned a lot.  While I knew that Rose Wilder Lane’s “adopted” grandson, Roger Lea McBride, ended up with the television rights to the novels, I did not know the full story.  The real story is included in Prairie Man.  In the early 70s, Ed Friendly purchased the rights from McBride due to his wife’s and daughter’s love of the books.  Only when Michael Landon became involved as executive producer, taking the TV show further and further from the original books, did trouble occur.  According to Butler, Roger Lea McBride became horrified when realized what he had done.  Like Friendly, he envisioned a TV series much more faithful to the books.

The real Almanzo Wilder, subject of Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Eventually, all of this grew tension between Landon and Friendly.  Landon’s vision, of course, ultimately prevailed.  It may have been for the best.  Ask yourself, how many children and adults were introduced to the books via the TV show?  Alison Arngrim even admitted that she didn’t read the books until after being cast as quite possibly the best child villain ever portrayed on television, Nellie Oleson.  Michael Landon may have taken extreme creative license, but love it or hate it, Little House on the Prairie, the television show, is still shown all over the world in syndication 50 years later.  It will not die.

The funny thing is that I used to blame Roger Lea McBride for selling the rights to the television series and Michael Landon for what it became.  I used to view the Little House series of books as a cautionary tale as to what can happen if an author’s legacy isn’t well-guarded or just ends up in the hands of attorneys.  For those who don’t know, Rose Wilder Lane never had children (she never formally adopted Lea), and thus, with her death in 1968, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder no longer had any direct descendents.  I see it differently today.  I suppose I now subscribe to the old saying “any publicity is good publicity.”

While I probably would have discovered all of the books on my own, especially after my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Butz, read Little House in the Big Woods to our class, I doubt any of it would have left such a lasting impression without the TV show.  Early elementary school would not have been the same without it.  I distinctly remember jumping off the bus after school, pigtails flying behind me, eager to catch the 4 PM reruns.  Funny note:  Due to the fact that I grew up on the reruns, I thought Dean Butler was significantly younger, by at least a decade, than he actually is.  His book, of course, made this clear.

Today, I am not necessarily a fan of the TV show, although I do greatly admire what Dean Butler and Alison Arngrim have done for all Little House on the Prairie fans.  I suppose I am not a typical fan.  Normally, most people are devoted fans of the books or the TV show, not necessarily both.  More than anything, I am a huge fan of the real person, the writer herself, the real Laura.  Her true story is far more fascinating than just the books.  She lived an incredibly full additional 70 years after the life she described in all of her books.  When you add in all of the drama surrounding her only daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, it justifies all of the relatively new scholarly work surrounding the Ingalls and Wilder families.  There are still so many questions left to answer.

If you are interested in the Little House series at all, whether book or TV show, Prairie Man is well worth reading.  Butler makes the case that he feels he was born to play Almanzo.  Growing up on a ranch in California, he describes in detail how his entire career has been shaped by that one role.  As he grew older, he decided to lean into it and run with it, much as Alison Arngrim has over the last few decades.  Fortunately for Little House fans, its incredible legacy is in good hands for the time being.

You can also check my review of Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser here.

Deer Camp

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Written during the pandemic as an example for a poetry project I assigned my middle school students. They needed to take a line from a favorite song and then use that line to begin a poem.

There are places I remember
Places that hold memories long forgotten
Long shadows, witnesses to the past
Smells that immediately transport me back

Back to a simpler time when we could gather freely
Children could be kids
Adults accepted responsibility
A time when freedom reigned and the republic lived

A black and white portrait here,
Kerosene lanterns afixed to the wall
Polished glass overlooking the cedar swamp
The coziness of a Franklin stove

My sister and I, in curls, smocked dressed, and bows
Polished patent leather shoes and all smiles
Helping mom and grandma prepare Thanksgiving
Waiting for hunters to return and string a buck up on the pole

Living as pioneers until nightfall, the generator roaring to life
The bustle and business of extended family
Cards, laughter, and love
Cousins, forts, and leaves

Memories long buried, decades past
Rising each fall with the smoke from burning leaves

Welcome December!

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Ah!  It is finally here.  I adore December.  Yes, there is my birthday and Christmas, but I love advent.  There is always so much to do in the lead-up to Christmas.  My instinct is to want to do it all, but I am so very glad when I don’t.  What really matters is spending time with all the people I love.  For me, all of the traditions and planning are half the fun!

This year, I am grateful for all I have in my life.  Is my life perfect?  No, but that said, I am far from where I once was.  I have a job I truly adore, and I didn’t give up on teaching, although it would have been so easy to do so.  I also have a man in my life I love and am deeply loved in return.  John and I both agree that we would not have done nearly as much over the past few years if not for each other.  I am grateful that I get along so well with my siblings and their families.  As frustrated as I can get with my parents at times, I am acutely aware of how lucky I am to still have them both in good health.  I could go on, but just know that I am well aware of how truly blessed I am.

As I move into 2025, I’ve been thinking about writing, blogging, podcasting, and so much more.  My issue here at Ramblings of a Misguided Blonde is not that I don’t have enough material, it is that I have too much.  I have a notebook full of ideas.  Right now, I am trying to decide which songs to write about next, which books to review and when, not to mention how to write a long piece on supply chain and its place in geopolitics, which is probably a series.  I’m not exactly sure how it fits here, but it explains so much as to who I am and what I believe.  How do I put all of this together?

I experimented with podcasting in 2020, and it remains something I am interested in. The issue is this:  How do I settle on a topic?  As far as I am concerned, the best podcasts are highly focused.  I have too many interests that would make for great podcast content.

I do know this:  I intend to write more in 2025.  I am not getting any younger.  I have more to say, not less.  It is a matter of establishing good habits.  I am happier when I write!  I am not one to get bored – at least not when I have a book to read or access to my writing materials.

So, once again, welcome December!  Happy Advent!  I hope that your holiday season is off to a great start.  2025 will be here soon enough.

Goodbye, November

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Where did November go?  Seriously?  It seems as though we just went back to school, and now, we are well past the halfway mark for first semester.  I have to say, my November was packed with lots of fun.  So many new memories made!

At the beginning of the month, I attended a Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) game with my siblings and their families.  Go Cards!  After the game, we all spent time hanging out at my parents’ house watching even more football and eating pizza.  I think it has to become a new tradition.  Even though I don’t hunt, I enjoyed everyone else discussing and making plans for opening day (November 15th for firearm deer season here in Michigan).  I love that the tradition continues, even if Camp Russell is long gone.

The following Friday night, John and I attended the Barenaked Ladies (BNL) concert at Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.  It did not go as planned, to say the least.  Somehow, we did not have the seats we thought we had.  I still have no idea how, why, where, or when the mixup happened, but it did.  First, let me start with the opening band, Toad the Wet Sprocket.  While not quite a one-hit wonder, Toad the Wet Sprocket had a couple of hits with “All I Want” and “Walk on the Ocean” in the 90s.  Honestly, pretty forgettable and comparable to dad yacht rock of the late 70s and early 80s.  Way, way too mellow, even for me.  The aesthetic of the set worked well, but if things were going to start off this slow, we were in for a long night.

Now before I discuss BNL, you have to understand that I waited 20 years to see them in concert.  BNL is a huge part of the soundtrack of both my high school and college years.  In 2004, during my senior year at Michigan State, I had the opportunity to see them at the Breslin Center.  Unfortunately, my firstborn intuitive sense of responsibility kicked in.  I had too much to do.  I shouldn’t spend the money.  It goes on and on.  As I have proven time and time again, I am my own worst enemy.  Buy the damn concert tickets!  Just go!

As much as I tried to lower my expectations for the BNL concert, it didn’t work.  Instead, I left disappointed.  In fact, we left after the first song.  It just wasn’t what we were expecting at all.  We’d looked up set lists from earlier concerts on the tour, and it looked great.  As one would expect, they opened with one of their monster hits and continued to mix their hits with their new, super mellow album “In Flight.”  I’d listened to the new album before the concert and enjoyed it for what it was.  Looking at the supposed setlist, I thought it would work well.  Wrong!

Mt. Pleasant happened to be the last concert on their tour, and for whatever reason, they completely changed up the set list.  They started with the new songs and continued the dad yacht rock vibe with a vengeance.  No telling when they would get to their back catalog.  Also, what really worried me is the fact that their hits could have been played in a more mellow, stripped down, acoustic version a la MTV Unplugged.  I enjoy that type of music at times, but that is the exact opposite reason why I wanted to see BNL.  I wanted the crazy energy of “One Week,” “The Old Apartment,” and the “Big Bang Theory Theme.”  Add in a BNL superfan who insisted on talking to me throughout the entire break between acts, in addition to continually bumping her purse in John’s side, we were over it.  We left.  Again, lesson learned.

Fortunately, the weekend wasn’t ruined.  We spent time at Michigan State on Saturday.  I showed John all my old favorite haunts.  It is surreal though.  In East Lansing, I constantly felt simultaneously back at home and flabbergasted on how much had changed.  I’m just glad that Crunchies, the Peanut Barrel, and the Pita Pit are still there.  Fun note:  Barstool Sports sponsored a pub crawl throughout East Lansing that Saturday.  We were trying to figure out why we were seeing groups of students dressed up as bananas all over campus and East Lansing.  At first, we thought it might be some crazy type of protest.

Now that Thanksgiving and deer season are behind us, bring on Christmas!  December, of course, never disappoints.  Advent starts tomorrow.  I hope to slow down and enjoy it!

For This, I Am Thankful

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Over this long Thanksgiving weekend, I am grateful for all of the wonderful people in my life – family, friends, coworkers, students, customers, and more.  I am truly blessed.  If I started a list of all the blessings in my life, it would take me hours to complete.

I hope this post finds everyone well enjoying time with family and friends.

Until then …  Now, let the Christmas season begin!

Feliz Día de los Muertos

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Teaching the meaning behind Día de los Muertos was always one of my favorite parts of teaching Spanish.  Enjoy the ending of Coco, one of my all-time favorite animated movies.

November 1st – Happy National Author’s Day!

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I just found out today is National Author’s Day. How appropriate!  The creative writing club I started at school met this afternoon at the end of the school day.  There is never a dull meeting.  They are so passionate about their interests, including but not limited to writing.  I’ve watched as members have bonded over music and other media.  It is inspiring how they support one another, too.

In the online school environment, there aren’t quite as many opportunities to strike up friendships with classmates as in brick and mortar.  Personally, I think that is why school clubs are so vital in an online school environment.  Last year, my first year teaching online, I watched as students planned for weeks and even months for the in-person prom held at the Lansing Center.  Students attended from all over Michigan. The pictures, conversations, and friendships made that evening were discussed repeatedly as the school year came to a close.  I can only hope that that same can be said when I reflect on the creative writing club at the end of the school year.

In my first year as mentor and creator of the club, I sought to find the best possible resources for aspiring high school writers.  Luckily, my online classroom set aside for our new club allowed me to do just that.  It is now a place where students can collaborate, offer one another and seek encouragement, as well as find resources and inspiration.  I can only imagine if I had had such a resource in high school.  I admit, I’ve had too much fun setting things up.  So far, my entire experience with the creative writing club has underscored the importance of community as a writer.

Face it:  Writing can be lonely work.  Over the years, I’ve always enjoyed meeting other writers.  I can’t imagine where I’d be as a writer without Mid-Michigan Writers.  I’ve learned so much from other members over the years, and I would not have discovered Delta College’s general writing certificate program if I hadn’t attended MMW’s Gateway to Writing workshop with other writers who raved about the experience.  If my students take away anything from our creative writing club, I do hope that they realize the importance of community for writers.  Brainstorming works best with others!  At some point, we could all use a second opinion.  We all have to learn from someone.  I can’t imagine not having my very own community of writers and readers. Happy National Author’s Day!

Oh, and happy first day of NaNoWriMo. IYKYK.