Into the New (vol. 2, no. 12)

December 17, 2021 Shawn Humphrey

Here are a few things I’m sharing this month

1. Question I’m living with:

“What does it take to abandon what does not work and take the risks of uncertainty?” – Robin Wall Kimmerer (Skywoman Falling)

2. Quote I’m considering:

“Always in big woods when you leave familiar ground and step off alone into a new place there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the ancient fear of the unknown, and it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going into. You are undertaking the first experience, not of the place, but of yourself in that place. It is an experience of our essential loneliness, for nobody can discover the world for anybody else. It is only after we have discovered it for ourselves that it becomes a common ground and a common bond, and we cease to be alone.” – Wendell Berry (The Unforeseen Wilderness)

3. Poem I’m pondering:

How swiftly the strained honey
of afternoon light
flows into darkness

and the closed bud shrugs off
its special mystery
in order to break into blossom

as if what exists, exists
so that it can be lost
and become precious

4. Something inspiring:

Newly (re)discovered recording of Louis Armstrong reciting ‘The Night Before Christmas’. It’s truly special. Here’s the story behind the recording.

5. New blogs:

Your Students and Their Fearscapes – “We are divided individuals. “Who we are” and “Who we are meant to be” do not match up. This is not how it is supposed to be. And, to bring this existential mismatch to the attention of my students, I ask them to doodle their fearscapes.”
My Kinda Different – “I line the rifle’s sight on the bird’s blue and white stripes. “Hold it steady and take a breath” they say. I breathe in…”

Thanks so much. And, have a great day! – shawn