I don't usually post anything super personal here because I am so impressed by so many of my peers that I don't want to challenge the nature of it or waste anyone's time by using this inappropriately as an outlet. This one's border-line. And cheesy, but me.

I am made of two parts: One part that is careening through the universe, and caught on fire, and that cannot be still, and that is wrapped up in a new song and swallowed whole by the passion, jealous of it's fierce honesty. That part of me wants to burn across the globe finding friends (anyone who understands) and learning to play music so I can get it out from under my skin (and maybe be still for a second), and writing and writing and writing, and that part of me will never be complete until it is allow to grow until it grows tired (as I hope it won't), or grows to be softer.

One part is the part that has me in Mississippi, finding love for a community that I am hungrily working to belong to, spending most of my time fighting not to be another disappointment to the beauty that is disappointed over and over again, wondering how I should be living, how I should be doing better by my students and moreover their families, contemplating the meaning of leadership and the nature of my obligation, of everyone's obligation, to pursue it, and on Friday night every other weekend, drinking in a few exhausted hours of solitude.

One of the most significant differences for me this year outside of the classroom is my living situation. I have one roommate- so far so good, and a lot of personal space that I didn't realize I wanted or needed. While I got a lot out of the support of four roommates last year, I am also getting a lot out of the peace and solitude of just one, who is barely around. It's freedom to live my own life, and see what it is made of when there is no one else frequently and immediately in my personal time and space. Most of it of course goes to school, but some of it I claim for my sanity, and even the balance of those says something about me and my choices that I might not have known before.