Dancing Together
Oct. 27th, 2011 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cedar_groveFrom The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.
We race and pause and stop and start, never sure if the road we are turning on to will be congested or barren and free.
I must first confess to being surprised at the use of a quote by Starhawk. I love some of her work, some of her books on the Craefte and Paganism are second to none. The only thing is that some of her later works are so overly political that I feel – me personally – that she's lost a lot of the depth and spirituality that I felt more present in works like The Spiral Dance. I do appreciate her zeal and activism, and working for what she believes in, but… I like the earlier works because, though no less strong, they feel gentler somehow.
Today I was working at a school I've never been to before. It's always a bit nerve wracking, walking into new places, because you're never sure what kind of reception you're going to get, whether the rest of the staff will be kind and helpful, chatty and welcoming, or frosty, reserved and aloof… whether you'll be accepted into their little world or shunned and tolerated. As a supply teacher, honestly, you get both ends of the spectrum and all the shades between.
Today was one of the good days, the staff were wonderful, warm and welcoming, truly embracing all of us (and there were at least 4 of us there from the same agency), and it was a good experience – and affirming one. I spent the afternoon making fireworks out of paper tubes and shiny paper with crepe paper fire – it being Diwali of course, lots of schools in Leicester are engaging in many craft activities in recognition of the festival… and they'll carry that on into next week, when we celebrate Guy Fawkes Day – with more fireworks. It's all very vibrant and colourful. We ended the day with an assembly – the birthday assembly… and the school honestly had a real sense of community; of life and togetherness. It was a refreshing change.
Earth Mother, you who are called
by a thousand names. May all remember
we are cells in your body
and dance together.
--Starhawk
We race and pause and stop and start, never sure if the road we are turning on to will be congested or barren and free.
I must first confess to being surprised at the use of a quote by Starhawk. I love some of her work, some of her books on the Craefte and Paganism are second to none. The only thing is that some of her later works are so overly political that I feel – me personally – that she's lost a lot of the depth and spirituality that I felt more present in works like The Spiral Dance. I do appreciate her zeal and activism, and working for what she believes in, but… I like the earlier works because, though no less strong, they feel gentler somehow.
Today I was working at a school I've never been to before. It's always a bit nerve wracking, walking into new places, because you're never sure what kind of reception you're going to get, whether the rest of the staff will be kind and helpful, chatty and welcoming, or frosty, reserved and aloof… whether you'll be accepted into their little world or shunned and tolerated. As a supply teacher, honestly, you get both ends of the spectrum and all the shades between.
Today was one of the good days, the staff were wonderful, warm and welcoming, truly embracing all of us (and there were at least 4 of us there from the same agency), and it was a good experience – and affirming one. I spent the afternoon making fireworks out of paper tubes and shiny paper with crepe paper fire – it being Diwali of course, lots of schools in Leicester are engaging in many craft activities in recognition of the festival… and they'll carry that on into next week, when we celebrate Guy Fawkes Day – with more fireworks. It's all very vibrant and colourful. We ended the day with an assembly – the birthday assembly… and the school honestly had a real sense of community; of life and togetherness. It was a refreshing change.
