Graduation

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

I did something over the weekend that I dislike doing.

I went to a graduation.IMG_0976

Really, I dislike going to graduations.  I am almost that parent who would pay their kids to skip graduation.  As a result, I have been to three in the past few years.  So much for doing things to please your mother!

There is just something about being in a big auditorium and having to sit there for hours.  I am not very good at sitting anywhere for hours.

On Saturday, we went to the graduation ceremony at University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.  There were approximately 1200 graduates.  They read 1200 names!  I will give them credit that it did move along pretty well.

Since there were so many graduates, we were told to get there when the doors opened so that we would get a seat.  We left home at 6 a.m. so that we were at 8:15 a.m. in line to get into the arena.  In retrospect, we did not have to be there that early.  But we did get our pick of seats.  Yes, we got to sit on our folding chairs that were zip tied together from 8:30 until the ceremony stared at 10.  Thank goodness my husband carries a little knife that could cut the zip ties.  We are a close family but not that close!

On each of the seats, there was a commencement program.  I did the same thing that each person in the place did when they opened the program.  I looked for my son’s name.  I found it fairly quickly.  To my surprise, there were two asterisks by his name.  I looked around the page to find out that that meant.  Being the most supportive parent ever, my thoughts were “awarded a degree but we have grave doubts about this one” or “getting out by the skin of his teeth”.  Nice, huh?  Let me explain a bit.  My son is wonderful.  He is a great guy.  He has taken his own path.  As I have often said, if there were two roads and one was marked “easy” and one marked “hard” he would be on that hard road as fast as possible.

When he was 13, we found out that he has a brain malformation. Doesn’t that sound awful? Well, it is not good but in the scope of things that can be bad, it is not bad.  We were very lucky.  The malformation was found before he had any problems and we never had to sit and wonder what was wrong.  We knew parents who had sick children who had to wonder and go through test after test.  We did not have to do that.  Between the years of 13 – 16, he had three neurosurgeries. In essence, his brain is too big for his skull.  This has led to many jokes in the family.  “He is so smart…”

During these years of surgeries, he didn’t miss any school.  We just kept trucking through.  He is very bright (yea, I know, every parent says that…).  He got into a university and off he went.  Only, it seems at the time he knew he shouldn’t be there.  He needed some time.  So he took that time while he was supposed to be in school.  At the end of the first year, we had decided that he needed to figure out a few things.  So he came home.  He worked, moved out of the house, and supported himself.  And drove me crazy because he was not going to school.

One day he came home and announced that he was too smart not to finish his degree.  FINALLY!  I was ready to throw a parade in his honor.

So, he started back.  At first going to an on-line school and finishing his Associates degree.  He then enrolled at University of Wisconsin – Whitewater and flashing forward, here we were at his graduation.

I am very proud of him.  It was not easy to go back to school after not going for several years.  It was not easy to give up a steady paycheck to be a poor student. But he did it.  He finished.  I know there were times that he was sure that time was standing still and he was never going to get to the finish line.

So, back to the asterisks.  I did find the legend.  It seems that the two ** meant that he was graduating magna cum laude.  I was stunned.  It also occurred to me that he should have had something to wear with his gown to indicate this honor.

It seems that there was a meeting to tell the student what they were supposed to have for graduation but my son skipped the meeting because it was going to be too crowded.  (insert your own comment here) Here is the best part – he discovered that he was graduating magna cum laude about the same time we did.

But at least he was inventive.  When he crossed the stage, he had on a braid.  It seems he borrowed it from a guy he knew two rows in front of him.

We drove home after the ceremony and he had some friends over to celebrate.  After much debate, we decided on the perfect inscription for the cake.

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He not only has finished his degree but (and best of all…) he has a job!

I love that kid.

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Wordsmith Studio Photo Prompt

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

Each week, a group that I belong to posts a photo prompt.  I usually want to participate but shy away because they are all so talented and I am not sure I am up for the challenge.

But this week, I decided it was time to wade into the water.  The prompt this week is

Books

I seem to have books squirreled away around the house.  I do have one very comfy chair where I often sit to read.

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It doesn’t look too bad from this angle.  This is what you might be missing.

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It could be worse, right?  But wait a minute, is that a Nook?  How many books could be hidden in that little electronic brain?  And then again, is that an ipad?  With a Kindle app?  Oh, the books are starting to pile up.

And then a quick stop in my office.  This is not my computer desk but the other desk in my office. I keep saying that I am going to get it out of my office but then where would the books go?

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The ones on the file cabinet might be okay but the ones there on the desk?  Is there room for them?

Oh, and then the research ones next to my computer.

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What messy piles of books there are!  Don’t tell but I like it that way.

Posted in Writing and Photo Prompt Responses | 3 Comments

This is how I imagine that the infamous Earworm. Yuck!

Okay, you know how you get a song stuck in your head?  Usually it is because you hear it and there is something there that catches you.

I don’t think that I have heard the song that is stuck in my head lately.  But boy, is it stuck.  All I can think of is the line “same as it ever was, same as it ever was”.  For those of you lost at this moment, it is a song by the Talking Heads.  They were led by David Byrne, who many would call a genius.

I went looking for this song.  It took me forever because despite what I would have thought, the title was not “Same as it ever was”.  The title is really “Once In a Lifetime.”

So, when I got the title, I was able to find the video for the song.  And in a gesture of generosity  I am going to share it with you to see if you can get it stuck in your head.

 

I actually thought the video was pretty funny.

So now I know that having a tune stuck in your head is called an earworm.  That seems about right.  Wasn’t there a tale about how an earwig could get into your ear and then go right to your brain?  Then the earworm goes in and just wriggles through there until you can get it out.

While I am not a fan of believing everything on Wikipedia,  it seems that the best explaination can be found there.  You can check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earworm

What songs do you get stuck in your head?  I know that for many  “It’s a Small World” will become an abhorrent earworm.  What song become your earworm? Or do you try very hard to block it out so it won’t happen again?  I know in our house that the song “Black Betty by Ram Jam will also become stuck.  Don’t know the song?  Here you go:

(Oh, it is so awful…)

Come on, let’s compile the top 10 Earworm songs.  Please leave your earworm song(s) in the comment section or send it to me on Twitter at #carolearlycoone.

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney | 3 Comments

Of Mindfulness

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney
What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you’re mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/mindfulness

I am interested in the concept of mindfulness. I have a tendency not to pay attention to the here and now and only think of what comes next. Or what could be next. Or what I would like to have happen next. (At times none of these are based in reality…) I find that time is speeding by and I am not enjoying the wonderful moments in the present and I seem to have blinked by moments in the past.

I also try to get past bad things as fast as possible. This does not always work. Sometimes you just have to feel those bad feelings and accept that they are what they are. Yes, I am in favor of speed mourning. I know I am going to feel bad. I have acknowledged it. Now it should be over.

Funny, it doesn’t work that way.

Thanks to Veronica Roth (http://veronicaroth.com ), I ran across a small book with the title of The Mindful Writer – Noble Truths of the Writing Life. This small volume caught my eye for two reasons. The first is that each chapter starts with a quote. I am a sucker for quotes. The second thing that drew me to this book is that it is that I frequently read about writing.

The author’s name is Dinty W. Moore. Yes, his name is the same as the canned beef stew. By the way, he is not named for the stew -not that it matters because that is what you will think of when you hear his name. On the upside, it is easy to remember his name.

Mr. Moore practices Buddhism and his book combines what he has learned from both the religion and his years as a writer. As a novice writer, his insights are reassuring and helpful. It is a nice volume to keep close by when you are in need of a reason to stall (hmmm. I think I will look for inspiration here) or as part of your “getting ready to write” habits.

In the book, he starts each chapter with a quote and then explains how that quote applies to the writing life. The chapters are short and to the point.

As I try and write more, I find that I am so busy trying to learn and so busy thinking of all that I don’t know, that I am not always in the here and now of writing. I have this wonderful opportunity and I should be excited, not overwhelmed with the weight of all I don’t know. I should be enjoying this time. The work of writing is hard and annoying and fulfilling but the freedom to do it should be relished.

“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”

Thomas Mann

Would I like to be a rich and famous author? Yes, of course I would. I would like each word that rolls off my mind and fingers to be absolute pearls that the world can’t wait to read? Of course! Is that going to happen? The chances are slim. What could happen is that I find some people who like what I write and they tell me that they like it.

(I am referring to those outside my family. My family usually tells me that they like my writing. Hey wait, that isn’t true. I have family that doesn’t even read what I write. I would call them out on it but they wouldn’t know.)

Sometimes, no matter what I am doing, I need to just stop and breathe. I need to look around and see that today is a pretty great day. Or I need to pay attention to the bad things so that I can move past them. But mostly I need to stop and pay attention.

I don’t do this enough. Do you?

“The real voyage of discovery consists not seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

Marcel Proust

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Posted in Miscellaneous Thoughts | Tagged | 3 Comments

To the Group at the Back of the Class

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

In February of 2012, I started a blog about my family’s adventures with diabetes.  That blog, The 9 Inch Plate, was the first time I “put myself out there” as a writer.   I, of course, anticipated fame and fortune.  To no one’s surprise, that didn’t happen.

I was working in a bit of a vacuum.  (that is a giant understatement)  Once I started the process, I started to find out how little I knew about writing.  Somehow, I thought that you just wrote and it would all work out.  Okay, I was not that naive but I didn’t have great expectations so I thought it would all work out.

HA!

But I did start reading and learning.  Last April, I was led to a blog with the unlikely name My Name Is Not Bob. Really, that is the name.  Not really the catchiest name but then again who was I to judge?  I had no idea who the author, Robert Lee Brewer, was or why I should read his blog.  But I did.

(Cue Blessings fall like rain)

The blog in April of last year was about platform building.  It was a month long challenge to take steps to build your writer’s platform.  Right.  So, I decided to find out what a writer’s platform was, how to build it, and why I should do this.  And I found out during the month.

I Facebooked, I Goodread, I set up a Twitter account, I Google+ed.  It was all interesting and new to me.  It was a great first step.  Toward the end of the month, Robert mentioned that there was a Facebook group forming of people who were also doing the challenge.

I went to Facebook and joined the group.

Such an innocent step.

Little did I know what I was signing up for with that group.

The group started as  MNINB or the Not Bobbers.  After a period of time, it was decided that a new name was in order.  After taking suggestions and voting the Wordsmith Studio was born.

I would like to tell you a little secret.  I tend to come at situations from a business perspective.  I learned years ago that my mind works differently than the mind of some of those “artsy” people.  I was involved with a group and had to leave because I was so baffled by the thought process of the group.  I was the square peg in that round hole.

So, I was a bit trepidatious about this group.

I was wrong.  I am so fortunate to be a part of this group.  They are the most wonderful people.  They are supportive and helpful and just all around good people.  They want to help.  They want to give you the information that you need to succeed.  They are there to hand out cheers for successes and kleenex for rejections.

They are the ultimate kindergarteners.  They know how to share.  And they are so creative and fun.  So, I now can twitterchat with the best of them and post to Google+, and even create a Storify.  There are still so many social media worlds to cover but I know that I will not be alone.  I will have someone at WSS that will know how to do it or will work with me on figuring it out.

I even found a group that sits in the back of the class with me.

So on the first anniversary of the group, I want to thank all of them for their help and support.  What a fantastic year it has been!  I have so much respect for all of them and I appreciate their willingness to share with such a neophyte.

On to year two!

Posted in Writing about Writing/Working | 28 Comments