STALKED!

The comp students are writing a group essay designed to have them experience a PROCESS essay. Sometimes just talking about it does not clarify how important it is to see an essay as an on-going process that involves many divergent tasks that cohese into a completed product. They chose their own groups, their own topic, assigned the tasks as appropriate to complete the task, and will present a finished product at tonight's class. One group decided to write about a "retired college professor," but I guess I didn't realize I am that subject until the group leader sent out an all-call to the writing team re: a meeting today.

I read the background he dug up in amazement: I didn't recall some of the specific dates and items he found!! Of course, there's always so much more, some of which, thankfully, he didn't find.
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True story. I left the desert in 1997, relocating to live in PA as my daughter was giving birth to her first (and only, it seems) child. I had a job lined up in corporate America, but found out when I arrived and moved into the home I had leased for a year that the corporation's plans had changed and I was, as Shakespeare wrote, "hoist in my own petard." With no income, I signed up with a temp agency and woke up every day to a new job. Of course I applied at local school districts, but could not be hired as (1) I have a CA credential and (2) it was mid-year. I loved temping, but knew it would not keep the rent paid for the rest of my life, so kept looking.

Meanwhile, a former student with whom I continue contact called me one day and asked if I'd like to move to Texas: he had a job for me in the corporation's education center. The corp flew me to Dallas, where I spent 3 days visiting the primary sites and being interviewed, one of which was conducted during an incredible Dallas dining experience. Yes, I was offered the job, accepted, and moved to TX.

Eighteen months later, the job suddenly took a left turn (long story) and I had to go to Plan B. After spending about 3 hours with my pastor in frank discussion and deep prayer, I picked up the phone and called the district office for PSUSD. I was offered a job on the spot, repacked everything, and drove myself back to the desert, where I moved into the home I still owned there (it took about 6 months to sell that home and relocate down the hill). When a friend heard I was back in the area, he shared that with the college administration, and I received a phone call asking me if I'd like to be back on staff.

The circle continues as the student who hired me to work for him (and is now himself a professional actor) also connected me with an older actor-turned-author-lecturer-teacher, who is writing a book on acting for which I am the editor. What makes the story bring a smile to my face is that this student and I had a hellacious dust-up when he was a high school student acting in a play I was directing, Arsenic and Old Lace, his first acting job. He wanted to tell me how he was going to present his character to the audience and when I disagreed, he yelled that he was going to have me fired from my job. I offered to walk him to the office and be available for the immediate termination; on the way between the multi-purpose room and the office, he calmed down, we began to talk, and that, my friends, was 30 years ago.

We're still talking.