Write with us for the next 12 weeks as we strive to see the world in all its brutal beauty, while aiming to get as close up to the world with our words as we can
hello! i got this message late and there's a blazing fire a couple miles from my house so i'm a bit scattered but i wanted to join! i am not sure what to do, but i'm going to explore this site as i am able to. right now, unless i get an order to evacuate, tho we keep getting them and then a "disregard" alert. so stressful! so glad to finally join you, jeannine!
Oh my my heart is breaking for all my friends and writers in LA. I am so sorry! Please just stay safe. Our motto at WITD is we are never late and always enough. Yesterday's post will be there for you whenever you are ready ... everything here will be. Love to you. https://writinginthedark.substack.com/p/is-sorrow-the-true-wild
What you don’t know until you pick up a large coil of electrical cable and drape it over your shoulder like a shoulder bag is that as a woman, you’ll get respect! When you ask the taxi driver to wait for you and you pick up the cable at the hardware store, he watches you come out with your precious cargo, and when he opens the trunk and moves to open his driver door, you have already slipped off the coil from your shoulder—all seventy pounds of it―and placed it in the boot of the taxicab.
When you reach your hotel, he motions again to open the door (likely in recognition of his tip) but you retrieve your purchase on your own, and head for the lobby. By the elevator doors across the floor, you press a button and join two other guests headed up. They have two suitcases each, and you feel light by comparison. When the elevator starts and there is the tiny lurch as you stand, you tap the coil. The last three days you spent at a conference on Mental Health, and you missed your workouts, even though there is a dark small room downstairs with a few machines, you feel a bit off-centre. The man nods approvingly at you, as you exit on the seventh floor and make it past other hotel guests to your room.
This is Prince George, a Northern town in British Columbia, with hardy people, trades persons, but also a university, and gangs, built on the land of the Lheidli T'enneh which is Carrier for "People from the confluence of the two rivers," referring to where the Nechako and Fraser Rivers meet. The day before, you walked along the Nechako and you enjoyed Cottonwood trees, so different from the Coastal cedar and hemlock back home, and you feel the pinprick of the late afternoon sun on your skin. As you leave the park, you inhale and feel a bit off; this is the smell from a pulp mill. You love to read but hard copy comes at a price.
When you check your cable at the airport the next day, early to catch a connecting flight, you try to read the service agent’s face for assurance, but she leaves you to manage your anxiety. This too is respect! No need to get hung up with worry, you think and you picture the cable buried in your yard, and you grab your tiny carry on and enjoy a latte.
I go back to campus today. Reading this, during my favorite time of day—the world is quiet, 5 am and dark out, decaf Americano, reading—was perfect reading to inspire a teacher at that most beautiful of moments: a new semester. An opportunity to begin again. Should there be more poetry in a sociology classroom? Yes, there should. The human connection you wrote about here, well that’s it, isn’t it? What it’s all about? Reading and writing and living?
I re-read The Book of Delights over break on account of this intensive, and The Sanctity of Trains (#47) jumped out at me. So thank you, because that will be the first thing my students read this semester, and I will be having them pay attention to, and write about, the kind of “caretaking” he argues for in that “delight.” So excited to see how that takes shape! 🙏
I loved your story about Aly. I am a Montessori teacher (I teach 3-6 year-olds) and my students don't write me emails -- at least not so far. But I was at the grocery store the other day, and a girl, about 17, called my name from behind the bakery counter and asked if I remembered her. Yes I did! She was one of my students many years ago. We chatted for a few moments before she excused herself to return to work. It made me so happy. Her sister, who had also been my student, had sent me a picture about a year ago of her wearing a shirt that read, "I'm running for... Serena." She'd done a run for cancer research (at the time while I was on sick leave for breast cancer treatment). These things get me right at my core. I can't wait for this intensive. There are joys and sorrows everywhere and if we just pay attention we can see them.
I'm a retired English as a Second Language teacher at the pre-university level and have rarely met students after teaching them because my contracts often lasted about 3 years and took me all over the world. But I treasure those few times students came to me and told me how important it had been to them that I had been one of their first "foreign" teachers. I created a safe space for them as Jeannine has done for us here.
I’m really looking forward to this one! I adore Ross Gay. I highly recommend experiencing The Book of Delights on Audible. It is how I consumed it and I continue to go back to it. To hear Ross recite his delights is, well… a pure delight!
The story you told here was spellbinding. And I feel a note of personal regret through Aly's note to you, that I didn't, when I had the chance, thank the few teachers who were turning points in my understanding of the world. What a gift.
I look forward to this intensive. And you. And Billie. And everyone and all the reading and writing we will do.
Warmest love from the cold and snowy edge of the forest.
Hello! I’m very new here and don’t quite know yet how to navigate. I am a member of WITD, as of ten minutes ago, and want to be sure I can access the “For the Joy and the Sorrow” intensive. Do I need to click a button somewhere or will it just magically show up in my email at the right time? Thank you so much for any guidance you can shoot my way!
Hi, Sandra, and welcome to you!! The emails will show up magically (or ... from me!) every Wednesday. People post their responses in the comments. I do recommend that you make sure your Substack settings are set to receive emails, vs. just using the app, because it's easier to make sure that you do see the posts when they come out!
What a lovely story of how our impact on one person often touches lives we'd never expect. The Mary Oliver story with your student Aly reminds me of the magic of serendipity, which I notice almost daily, and I wonder how if this ability to notice connections might be related to Oliver's three points you listed here.
Noticing things - attunement - has been my goal for about three years, and I do believe it's made me a better writer, listener, and human.
I began reading THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS yesterday and was delighted to learn that Ross Gay teaches in my home state, about 1.5 hours away from where I live!
When you mentioned this book earlier, I listened to it again but this time using the close reading skills we've been practicing. Wow! It's even better than I remember the first time. I'm jumping ahead but his ability to describe in detail the external world and seamlessly bring us into his own internal thoughts is remarkable in skill and relatability. And the juxtapositions he is constantly presenting is awesome to experience. Can you tell I'm excited about this? Thanks, Jeannine.😉
hello! i got this message late and there's a blazing fire a couple miles from my house so i'm a bit scattered but i wanted to join! i am not sure what to do, but i'm going to explore this site as i am able to. right now, unless i get an order to evacuate, tho we keep getting them and then a "disregard" alert. so stressful! so glad to finally join you, jeannine!
Oh my my heart is breaking for all my friends and writers in LA. I am so sorry! Please just stay safe. Our motto at WITD is we are never late and always enough. Yesterday's post will be there for you whenever you are ready ... everything here will be. Love to you. https://writinginthedark.substack.com/p/is-sorrow-the-true-wild
thank you!
Essayette: Saving Freight, Uncoiling Worry
What you don’t know until you pick up a large coil of electrical cable and drape it over your shoulder like a shoulder bag is that as a woman, you’ll get respect! When you ask the taxi driver to wait for you and you pick up the cable at the hardware store, he watches you come out with your precious cargo, and when he opens the trunk and moves to open his driver door, you have already slipped off the coil from your shoulder—all seventy pounds of it―and placed it in the boot of the taxicab.
When you reach your hotel, he motions again to open the door (likely in recognition of his tip) but you retrieve your purchase on your own, and head for the lobby. By the elevator doors across the floor, you press a button and join two other guests headed up. They have two suitcases each, and you feel light by comparison. When the elevator starts and there is the tiny lurch as you stand, you tap the coil. The last three days you spent at a conference on Mental Health, and you missed your workouts, even though there is a dark small room downstairs with a few machines, you feel a bit off-centre. The man nods approvingly at you, as you exit on the seventh floor and make it past other hotel guests to your room.
This is Prince George, a Northern town in British Columbia, with hardy people, trades persons, but also a university, and gangs, built on the land of the Lheidli T'enneh which is Carrier for "People from the confluence of the two rivers," referring to where the Nechako and Fraser Rivers meet. The day before, you walked along the Nechako and you enjoyed Cottonwood trees, so different from the Coastal cedar and hemlock back home, and you feel the pinprick of the late afternoon sun on your skin. As you leave the park, you inhale and feel a bit off; this is the smell from a pulp mill. You love to read but hard copy comes at a price.
When you check your cable at the airport the next day, early to catch a connecting flight, you try to read the service agent’s face for assurance, but she leaves you to manage your anxiety. This too is respect! No need to get hung up with worry, you think and you picture the cable buried in your yard, and you grab your tiny carry on and enjoy a latte.
I go back to campus today. Reading this, during my favorite time of day—the world is quiet, 5 am and dark out, decaf Americano, reading—was perfect reading to inspire a teacher at that most beautiful of moments: a new semester. An opportunity to begin again. Should there be more poetry in a sociology classroom? Yes, there should. The human connection you wrote about here, well that’s it, isn’t it? What it’s all about? Reading and writing and living?
I re-read The Book of Delights over break on account of this intensive, and The Sanctity of Trains (#47) jumped out at me. So thank you, because that will be the first thing my students read this semester, and I will be having them pay attention to, and write about, the kind of “caretaking” he argues for in that “delight.” So excited to see how that takes shape! 🙏
I loved your story about Aly. I am a Montessori teacher (I teach 3-6 year-olds) and my students don't write me emails -- at least not so far. But I was at the grocery store the other day, and a girl, about 17, called my name from behind the bakery counter and asked if I remembered her. Yes I did! She was one of my students many years ago. We chatted for a few moments before she excused herself to return to work. It made me so happy. Her sister, who had also been my student, had sent me a picture about a year ago of her wearing a shirt that read, "I'm running for... Serena." She'd done a run for cancer research (at the time while I was on sick leave for breast cancer treatment). These things get me right at my core. I can't wait for this intensive. There are joys and sorrows everywhere and if we just pay attention we can see them.
Oh, this is just beautiful!! I'm running for ... Serena. Powerful, lovely. Thank you for sharing this!
I love to share those moments. It's one of those things you'll always cherish, just like your story shared here. 😊
This is beautiful: "I'm running for... Serena".
I'm a retired English as a Second Language teacher at the pre-university level and have rarely met students after teaching them because my contracts often lasted about 3 years and took me all over the world. But I treasure those few times students came to me and told me how important it had been to them that I had been one of their first "foreign" teachers. I created a safe space for them as Jeannine has done for us here.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Marlee. Learning a language is so vulnerable. Your students were lucky to have you!
I’m really looking forward to this one! I adore Ross Gay. I highly recommend experiencing The Book of Delights on Audible. It is how I consumed it and I continue to go back to it. To hear Ross recite his delights is, well… a pure delight!
Thanks for teeing this up, Jeannine.
1) I recently became a paid subscriber. 2) I have my copy of The Book of Delights. 3) I can't wait to start For the Joy and the Sorrow intensive!
Yay! Thanks for joining us!
The story you told here was spellbinding. And I feel a note of personal regret through Aly's note to you, that I didn't, when I had the chance, thank the few teachers who were turning points in my understanding of the world. What a gift.
I look forward to this intensive. And you. And Billie. And everyone and all the reading and writing we will do.
Warmest love from the cold and snowy edge of the forest.
Oh, it was such a gift. It makes me want to be sure to do the same wherever I am able, too. So much love to you, Diana!
Hello! I’m very new here and don’t quite know yet how to navigate. I am a member of WITD, as of ten minutes ago, and want to be sure I can access the “For the Joy and the Sorrow” intensive. Do I need to click a button somewhere or will it just magically show up in my email at the right time? Thank you so much for any guidance you can shoot my way!
Hi, Sandra, and welcome to you!! The emails will show up magically (or ... from me!) every Wednesday. People post their responses in the comments. I do recommend that you make sure your Substack settings are set to receive emails, vs. just using the app, because it's easier to make sure that you do see the posts when they come out!
Hi Jeannine - thank you!
What a lovely story of how our impact on one person often touches lives we'd never expect. The Mary Oliver story with your student Aly reminds me of the magic of serendipity, which I notice almost daily, and I wonder how if this ability to notice connections might be related to Oliver's three points you listed here.
Noticing things - attunement - has been my goal for about three years, and I do believe it's made me a better writer, listener, and human.
I began reading THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS yesterday and was delighted to learn that Ross Gay teaches in my home state, about 1.5 hours away from where I live!
How appropriate. Needed.
P.S. I love Krista Tipett's podcast.
Me, too! She's brilliant.
When you mentioned this book earlier, I listened to it again but this time using the close reading skills we've been practicing. Wow! It's even better than I remember the first time. I'm jumping ahead but his ability to describe in detail the external world and seamlessly bring us into his own internal thoughts is remarkable in skill and relatability. And the juxtapositions he is constantly presenting is awesome to experience. Can you tell I'm excited about this? Thanks, Jeannine.😉