I’m starting to get into a routine, which is a relief. The first week or two of classes I was finding it difficult to approach everything with the necessary organization and, I suppose, discipline, to get through everything comfortably. The result was that I was up late a lot of nights reading—and I’m still up late reading most nights, but I’ve managed to put a division in place such that when it comes to reading in the evening, I’m reading things that aren’t related to my classes—at the moment that consists of Edward Hirsch’s anthology The Poet’s Choice, Marianne Moore’s Complete Poems and some essays by Cynthia Ozick. Those three will most likely keep me busy for a little while, but it’s good to feel like I have some kind of time to myself to remember that, as well as being work, reading is also a pleasure.

I live very close to the M Street Barnes and Noble, so I’ve settled on that as my work place in the mornings. I read an interesting article about ways digital literacy impacts study, and one point that struck a chord with me is the fact that when you work directly onto the computer, you are more likely to interrupt yourself—either checking things online, or playing some addictive game that came with the operating system—such that the task at hand never gets your full attention. I’m now trying to go back and make a plan for essays and response papers by hand before working through them. When I’m at Barnes and Noble I don’t pick up internet (well, not without paying—which I don’t do) so it takes away one of those distractions. On weekday mornings the café isn’t too crowded, so there’s ambient noise but not the kind of bustle that makes me lose my train of thought.

Before I had an office on campus earlier this year, I found that my best way of working was “constant change of location”, so I’ve gone back to that work method. One to two hours in Barnes and Noble are followed by one to two hours back in my living room, before I go into university, where I work a little and socialise a little before classes or Writing Center work start.

Starting this Thursday I’ll also be spending an hour a week at Duke Ellington High School as a volunteer writing tutor. Duke Ellington is a local school for the arts, with streams in Music, Dance, Fine Art and Drama. I’ll be interested to see how the program functions, and fit in another piece of the puzzle that American education is for me at the moment. I think it will be another nice complement to the subject I’m taking, Approaches to Teaching Writing, which I’m starting to get very interested in.

I did make it to the gallery last week (then later the same day nearly passed out from sheer exhaustion). I spent about two hours there only, as I really just wanted to get a feel for the collection (I viewed sections of the West building only—so I haven’t gone into the twentieth century selections yet) and to find some paintings I want to come back to. There’s a wonderful Rubens painting—the first I have been really engaged by—of Daniel in the Lion’s Den. The lions were wonderful: especially their big velvety paws. I sat in front of it for a while, and will revisit sometime soon. The bus across town from M street only takes twenty minutes or so when it’s quiet, so I should be able to dash across to the mall more often now that I have scheduling somewhat sorted out. But obviously my next trip will be devoted to the East Building… and there are so many other museums and galleries to catch up with. All in good time.