I Don't Want to Write My Next Book

I don’t want to write my next book.

I’m not talking about Dear Warriors. That book is moving along in amazingly cool ways. (I could use more art by those with type 1 diabetes, though! More info on my Dear Warriors blog. Deadline for that is July 31.)

I’m looking ahead to my future in writing, based on how I've changed.

I’ve already seen my concepts and direction evolve from 2017’s Dear Teachers. In that, I took 40 nature scenes by my good friend and awesome hobby photographer, Marlene Oswald, and built a story that I hoped would inspire and support all those hard-working teachers out there. I had several people comment that, to them, it spoke to anyone with children or anyone in the field of education.

That sense of “universality” flavored my thinking as Dear Warriors began and fledged. Dear Warriors was originally to be focused on boosting those of us with type 1 diabetes. As I began writing, I realized it also had to be for all the people related to those with T1D. Then, I saw so many connections, I had to explore the dots between people with T1D and all of humanity...and vice versa. We need each other. We can’t do this alone, and in fact, we are not.

Unlike Dear Teachers, I began developing the texts within Dear Warriors before I had visuals. From the beginning, I wanted multiple contributors from the T1D community. I wanted randomness and decided I’d work with what the creators who gave me a chance submitted. As pieces have come in, I’ve been struck by how well they fold into the narrative that I had sketched out. Their work is fueling my revisions and editing. When writing changes are needed, they are ones that excite me because the overall message is getting clearer and clearer. Talking with the artists and their families has been more thought-provoking, moving and inspiring than I had even hoped.

The idea that we all have a part of us that craves and benefits from other humans (let’s call it collaborative spirit) really took off in the writing and development of Dear Warriors. I’m left now wondering: how can I dive into this even more deeply?

As you’ll see in my blog biography About Me, it’s been my intention to write about a third subject: the boys we are raising today. I’m a mom of two boys, and it has bothered me to see the ways we continue to restrict this gender in so many ways, including their looks, behaviors and interests. That book idea has evolved as I’ve worked through the first two subjects on my list.

Writing about raising our “boys” feeds into the very thing I’m concerned about. It’s too binary. What I really want to explore is the ways we can and should raise our children. There should be more universality- some broader umbrellas. How can I do that in a collaborative way?

What if I could work with some children themselves and help them write and illustrate their own book about themselves? Using my book series verbiage, I’m picturing something like this:

Dear Us:
A student-led guided journal to support & inspire youth and our adult allies.

What if I found a school that will let me get an entire student body to express themselves in terms of their bodies, minds and spirits? What could I learn about, and show to them, myself and the world, what they really experience, want and hope for? How could the students use one another's’ work (art and writing) to build their own expressions on these subjects?

Kids writing books is not a new concept by any means. Teachers have been having their students create books forever. The underlying purpose of this one, though, would be to see if the children could, as a whole, express what I’d hoped to explore on my own. What do they really want? What do they really see and feel? What brings them joy? What do they love and hate? What do they long for? What ideas might they have to make their lives, and other people’s lives, better? How do they relate to one another? How do they want to?

If you know of someone who’d be willing to explore this idea, let me know! I’m picturing this as a school year-long project, at the very least. Ideally, I’d like to be hired on where I could develop relationships with students and staff to create an overall framework before getting the students creating and building their book with their messages.

I don’t want to write my next book- I want to help other voices write one that they can call their own. Perhaps from there, I might find a path to yet another work of my own.

Lessons from Zebra Mussels

Life experiences can teach you lessons for as long as you live and remember.

I studied the effects of zebra mussels on the phosphorus-chlorophyll relationship in Lake Erie as an undergraduate. Back then, the natural world was all I could handle. People confused and scared me because I grossly lacked experience, assertiveness and confidence in myself. That lake and its inhabitants offered me a safe place to explore and discover many amazing things.

That was decades ago. I have many more miles on my odometer of life now, and I find myself looking back at that time with new eyes. Today, I live hundreds of miles from its shore. However, that lake is teaching me a new lesson.

Life can achieve rich balances with many thriving beings.

Lake Erie was an extremely bountiful lake, flush with genetic diversity. A kaleidoscope of fish, bird, invertebrate, mammal and plant species called it home. The largest orchestra playing the most complicated symphony would be an apt comparison.

With that diversity, the lake could adapt to many things, whether natural or those driving my human activity. When conditions shifted, there were species who could multiply, fill in and take advantage.

There are community-builders and absorbers.

Some behaviors in the natural world allow for other organisms to coexist or to even benefit others. Healthy populations of algae and microorganisms feed baby fish, who grow up to be large fish that create waste to feed more plant species that support more microorganisms. Those large fish are also prey for birds and mammals- including us.

From https://minnesotawaters.org/westbattlelake/invasive-species/

Some behaviors, such as those demonstrated by zebra mussels, rock entire water systems and their inhabitants. Zebra mussels pelletize everything in the water they “swallow”, even if they don’t digest the material themselves. They also produce massive amounts of offspring that continue this cycle. Those offspring attach to any surface they can, cloaking all the hard surfaces found under the water’s surface in thick crusts of their shells. When introduced into Lake Erie, native populations were faced with massive changes to their food supplies and water chemistry. Some benefited, others faced extinction and the whole ecosystem became susceptible to new patterns of aquatic plant populations as the water clarity increased.

Our behaviors can be community-building or absorbing.

This is today’s lesson from Lake Erie to me. There are people today who act like zebra mussels. More troubling is the idea that most corporations act this way, as well. They boost of record profits and squirrel that money away in assets they control and enjoy. When overwhelming dominance is a top priority for either an individual or group, pain and suffering for many others will result.

I don’t look at species such as zebra mussels as “bad” and seeking a place is every living thing’s goal. All of us humans seek this goal. We all want a place in a community.

We humans also have 2 amazing skills: we can acknowledge the results of ours and others’ actions and we can amend those actions to achieve a balance. That sense of community can drive us to make decisions that build and not just absorb. We just need the resolve to do so.

To the teaching community, the holiday season is upon us! Dear Teachers, a year’s worth of beautiful nature images, supportive essays and space to record your own journey, makes a great gift for yourself or a teacher in your life!

November Thoughts: Light or Dark Crossroads

Near the shore, huddled fowl do bob, their

Observant eyes tracking prey and gulls alike.

Vibrant mounds of shed leaves abound,

Ending their summer life to cold autumn’s rot.

Maybe it will snow, perhaps it will sleet

By the time night falls across this scene.

Enjoy the light whilst we can, I cry.

Remember to keep the spark of life inside.

This time of year can be dangerous in the Northern Hemisphere. Everything is withdrawing: light, temperature, life-forces. Trees shed, animals migrate. The world wants to rest and protect. It’s so easy to turn this opportunity to rest and reflect into a cloak of darkness. Viewpoints can become shaded by feelings of helplessness and loneliness.

November can be a reminder to come back to our truths. In summer’s robust madness, we can lose sight of our ultimate goals. Or, we may have discovered something in our fun explorations that we need to consider further. This is a perfect time to do that.

We are not hopeless.

We each have means to affect ourselves and those around us. I was reminded of this today with the announcement that BTS has signed a longterm deal with UNICEF to help world youth. As stated on their new website love-myself.org,

“Children and teens have the right to pursue their lives in safety and happiness and to grow with love and care. At this very moment, however, some of them are falling victim to various levels of violence. Many of them are unable to enjoy their fair share of chances to dream of a healthy future.”

This is a huge task they are taking on. Bullying. Physical abuse. Sexual abuse. Violence towards those you feel aren’t like you. Can they fix everything? No. Can they try? Yes. Can you and I help through our deeds or develop our own plans? Yes.

Yes. Now. Always. Together.

That’s the key we need to hold onto: Yes. That’s the spark of life. It’s hope. It’s optimism. It’s what can get us up in the morning when darkness wants to linger and root itself inside us.

I wrote When's It Gonna Change? Right Now. in response to the song, Change, that BTS’s leader, RM, did with rapper Wale this spring. The song declares that today’s young adults need to stand up and with each other. Clearly, this Unicef deal was in the works during this collaboration. All this effort is a great example for us all (young, old and everyone in between): don’t give up and don’t just think of yourself. Look for opportunities and try.

Try. Try. Try.

Things Comply. We Collaborate.

This essay began as a quick sketch as I was editing my upcoming book, tentatively titled Dear Warriors: A guided journal to support & inspire those with diabetes. It grew and a bridge developed between two of my passions, diabetes and education. I felt compelled to share it live today. I’d love to hear your response!

Compliant vs Noncompliant. Absolute trigger words for me.

To be compliant means to conform or bend to an authority. Merriam-Webster defines it as “ready or disposed to comply :submissive.” and its opposite, noncompliance, as “ :failure or refusal to comply with something”.

I was reminded of these words recently while observing a twitter chat regarding diabetic care. I guess I had blocked the dark pall these terms cause to fall over my mind during the last few years as I’ve been focusing on raising my kids and exploring the world of education. If you’re not aware, when medical directions are not being followed, the phrase “patient is noncompliant” can be used. If they are followed, the “patient is compliant”.

The use of “compliant” and “noncompliant” does not usually happen in education today. “Compliant” may be used to indicate simple indifference but they both smell of right/wrong, good/bad and strength/weakness and are typically avoided. I immediately wondered why they would still be used to describe diabetic warriors today. Or ANYONE for that matter. Even two former presidents are giving speeches on our need to work together.

You demand my submissiveness?!? <insert heated response here>

The truth is, whether you’re in first grade or midlife, you want to belong. You want to be a part of something. You want to be valued. You want to be respected. You want to be heard and to feel comfortable sharing your reality.

Julie Woodard M.Ed is a 6th grade elementary teacher in Texas with a talent for depicting the critical messages teachers are trying to convey to tomorrow’s adults: their students. I’d like you and I to sit for a bit together. Let’s examine a couple of her pieces and consider these ideas in light of today’s adults and today’s people (young and old) who are saddled with chronic conditions like diabetes and see what we discover. Why?

If we’re leading our children there, couldn’t we embrace it, too? And should?

October is National Principals Month and it also hosts National Bosses Day. Mrs. Woodard’s graphic on what defines a good principal smartly ties in the fall season. Let’s look what happens when we replace “principal” with “boss”. Why? If the terms “compliant” and “noncompliant” are to be used, someone has to be the boss, right? I'd like to show that even if the medical directions are from a "boss", that boss should not have this terminology in their vocabulary toolbox.

According to this graphic, a good boss creates leaders, not followers. They include others who are involved in a situation as “an integral part of the decision-making process” and they “empathize, encourage, (and) empower”. Those traits seem to go against the notion of compliance. “Just submit.”, you might want to say. “Why should I do any of that?”, you might be still asking.

It’s because empowered partners work together to something greater via collaboration.

Enter Mrs. Woodard’s 2nd graphic on collaboration. Collaboration requires work and practice. Notice the EKG-like art on her tool! It’s almost tailor-made for a medical textbook. This subject is at our heart: it’s vital. Again, let’s look at this image and take out the notion that this is geared to children and apply it to our adult world.

Information is shared and everyone involved learns something with collaboration. It levels the field by establishing goals and expectations together. Clearly defined roles, needs and ways to resolve problems are outlined in advance. As Mrs. Woodard reminds us, “One of the most valued skills employers look for is the ability to work together and collaborate.” Speaker, entrepreneur, corporate organizer and executive coach leader Anthony C. Gruppo speaks in what I feel are similar terms, tweeting, “When you aspire to achieve for others, the result exceeds what you imagined for yourself.” If that’s the case, we should act accordingly.

Things and objects should be compliant to human collaborative efforts.

Humans should never be submissive. You may argue that I’m messing with trivial semantics. However, I have written previously on the power of words, in The Word Soup We’re Living In. Words have weight. We can (and should) be collaborative, not superior/submissive.

If we find that plans aren’t being followed, we need to come back in partnership and review them together. Talk. Review options. Figure out what’s going to work for everyone involved. Confusion can be cleared that way and new agreements- workable ones, can be forged. The plans bend to the people’s needs and abilities.

Diabetes is complex and messy, as is life in general, frankly. No one is perfect. We’ll all benefit if we adopt the mindset of growth over time by collaboration. Sure, we’ll screw up. But, we’ll learn. We’ll evolve.

We’re in this together. We’re stronger that way, too.

I wrote my book, Dear Teachers, to help teachers take time for themselves and track what is working or not through a school year. It’s a collaboration with your inner voice! :-) If you haven't gotten a copy for yourself or a teacher you know, please consider it today!

Serendipity

From Merriam-Webster:

Serendipity: (noun) the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for

I decided to take a picture of one of my favorite t-shirts and post it on Twitter on Friday. It was a spontaneous decision and I’m glad I did.

My shirt came from TeeSpring and reads:

Mistakes Are Proof That You Are Learning

I love the mental space this message offers. It was sold as a math shirt, however I think it applies to quite a bit more. Like...everything. I’ve made mistakes in math, writing and science. I’ve also made some pretty epic ones at home and at work. With things. With people.

The very fact that we HAVE to make mistakes in order to grow has been a hard lesson for me to learn. I grew up with a nasty combination of both high expectations from outside and anxiety from inside. I suppose I posted the tweet to encourage others to embrace the strength of this message in a more timely fashion than me. That way of living is so painful and destructive.

What came after that post was the truly beautiful bit.

Two individuals stood up and responded. One from New Jersey (Jace @inspire0818). One from Georgia (Chris Shearer @hbprincipal). Between the two, something clicked in me. I found myself back in Wisconsin combining their thoughts into a brand new statement:

Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn, but either way, you cannot lose.

Then, Mr. Shearer took it up another notch and designed this cool graphic and shared it with us all. (As an aside, I can even see this as another t-shirt opportunity. I know I’d buy one.) Let’s dig a bit into this collaboratively-crafted sentence.

Sometimes You Win & Sometimes You Learn

There are times when we totally get it. There’s nothing better than feeling that wave of adrenaline when we achieve what we had hoped for and we can raise our arms up and howl in triumph. We’ve won! And yet, typically, we reach that AFTER we’ve failed. Whether it’s catastrophes or a simple series of minor hiccups, the victories come AFTER we learn from our mistakes.

Teachers remind students of this every day. We all could benefit from a voice gently whispering this reminder into our ears as we go about our days. “It’s OK! What worked? What didn’t? What can you do differently next time?”

Either Way, You Cannot Lose

When do we really lose? When we quit. When we lose hope. When we close ourselves off from people, from experiences and from the rest of the world. Initially, it may feel like we’re protecting ourselves. However, when we lock ourselves away from opportunities to win or learn, we in fact become adrift. Why? We don’t obtain the tools needed to captain our ships. Adrift, we are tossed about by the storms of fear, doubt, depression, and anger that brew for us all.

My experiences on Twitter over the last year have been amazingly uplifting. If you’re in education and aren’t active on it, you should check it out. You can find some fantastic peers and sources of inspiration. This was one of many beautiful connections. I’m encouraged to see what resources I can find as I continue my memoir/journal book for those with diabetes and begin writing another edition of Dear Teachers.

We’re all stronger #together. We’re all stronger when we win and when we learn #together. As long as we’re doing one or the other with positive intentions, we cannot lose.

Life Is Interaction

On Being always has though-provoking podcasts. In my spring yard work craze this week, I was able to listen to Krista Tippett’s dialogue with Italian physicist Dr. Carlo Rovelli entitled All Reality is Interaction for the second time and it was even more rewarding than the first. I am anxious to read his book, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, which they reviewed.

The very title of the discussion was a revelation to me. Dr. Rovelli’s assertion that life is not about things, it’s about interactions, made me pause to consider. At one level, it made me think of the old physics rules we learned in high school about energy moving from one form to another. We can picture everything as a dance and flow of energy. We expend and receive it all day long. To get to school, we use energy. When we talk, we’re converting calories to what fuels our brain, breathing and muscles.  When we reach out to pat a loved one’s shoulder, again, there’s energy conversion and interaction.

Then, he took it up another notch. He commented that we can either interact as warriors or as collaborators.

Talk about smacking me upside the head with simple truth. I had to set my branch clippers to the side for a minute  in order to sit with that idea for a bit.

Interaction is life. But WE choose HOW.

Why does this excite me?

Sometimes it feels like we’re stuck. Personally, I’ve had times where it’s seemed as though I wasn’t getting anywhere. Dr. Rovelli’s first assertion and proof establishes that life, by definition, is not static. It’s constantly moving. Even a rock, as he puts it, is a rock for only a while. It was in another state before it became a rock and it will decay into something else eventually. His words remind that there is always change, we just might not see it.

Sometimes the world feels excessively competitive and dangerous. From world leaders to us and the folks down the street, interactions can be weighted heavily towards “Me Versus You”. We can sit with “our” people on social media and separate ourselves a hundred different ways from “those people”.

Dr. Rovelli reminds us, using physics as his teaching prop, that the interaction of energy we experience doesn’t have to be that way. The idea that we’re all undergoing a constant flow of energy brings us together. With similar conditions placed upon us all, it makes sense to collaborate.

We should collaborate before we fight.

A kiss. A smile. A discussion. A birth. A death. A meal. A walk. We can’t hold any of these things in our desk drawer. They are interactions between us and everything and everyone around us. Dr. Rovelli’s thoughts challenged me to focus even more on building bridges and connections.

We can achieve so much more by holding hands than holding onto fears.

When's It Gonna Change? Right Now.

Photo: earthday.org

There is always going be someone complaining about something- just as there will never be an end to reasons for complaints. “Perfection” in this world is impossible. As it’s said in Buddhism, there will always be suffering. However, being upset at perceived ills in the world is beneficial (and perhaps necessary) to us as long as we take the next logical step: action to correct those ills.

I’ve written before about having hope (Truth, Youth and Love) in humanity and this world. I still do. I’ve been given a few reminders this week of reasons why.

Global Networking

I have wide-ranging interests. On Twitter, I follow a number of professionals in the fields of education, mental health, philosophy and science based in the United States and the UK. Other contacts include professional writers from around the globe specializing in a rainbow of subjects. On a daily basis I receive messages of hope, frustration, humor and inspiration. I see that the struggle is real and while the details differ, it is shared by all. That’s comforting and inspiring to me.

Every single person on the planet with access to a smartphone can find valuable contacts and transmit powerfully positive messages anywhere. Yes, we must fight the urge to fall into the abyss of argument and attack, but the potential benefit of our current abilities to see The Other as more like us than not is enormous.

Awareness of Varying Cultural Histories

This networking doesn’t just count for today’s events. This ability to connect with members of the global community allows us to exchange stories of our personal and cultural pasts well beyond that of our personal circles of influence. As a simple example, if I mention something about a certain food online and describe how it relates to my past, someone from another culture can gain that perspective and offer to me a comparison based on their own story. We both grow.

Thus, the old adage of “If we forget our history, we’re doomed to repeat it” can now be applied in much greater terms: we can ALL learn from ALL histories. We can take lessons learned in one place, take its lessons and reconfigure things to help a situation in a whole other hemisphere. Powerful stuff!!

Young Adults With Strong Social Conscience

The benefits of this cross-cultural awareness is already in play today and young adults are assuming the mantle of responsibility. For example, the Washington DC-based rap artist Wale released a collaboration song with Korean singer-rap artist Rap Monster of BTS entitled Change. Teen Vogue has an interesting interview of BTS that includes talk of the collaboration and XXL Magazine described Rap Monster as someone to watch for in the hip-hop scene. Both artists have reputations as deep-thinkers. In this song, they caution listeners on a wide range of negative choices (personal and societal) and the lyrics say “I believe that real friends love you to no limit (yea) I believe that real change lies in the mirror (yea)”. How they will influence the future as hip-hop stars is yet to be seen but I have high hopes from what I've seen so far.

In a broader view, Grist publishes a list each year of 50 innovators working on some the world’s biggest challenges. This year, the organization dubbed them Fixers. Each person on this year’s list has a unique perspective and mode to accomplish something constructive, from sustainable cities to improved sewage treatment. In scanning through their smiling faces and interests, I am consoled by the depth and breadth of both.

These are only 2 examples- I am sure you can name of many others. From neighborhood coffee shops and religious organizations to large organizations like Omaze and Heifer International, people can and are stepping up and speaking out for themselves and others.

I admit that today, we are capable of horrendous lows. However, I declare just as adamantly, that we can rise up that much higher. As Rap Monster and Wale say, it’s not IF or WHEN the world’s going to change. It’s right now.