20181130.0430

I've made it to a month of mundane entries, of prose and not of verse, with but one hiccup--and that amended. It's not been the achievement of a lifetime, to be sure; I've not written a novel, and probably haven't done much in the way of simple essaying (if it can be called simple; my students might well contest such a description). Still, I am largely pleased with what I have done; I am happy to have reminded myself that I can, in fact, do such a thing, that I am not limited to writing short snippets at a time, but can instead still spend at least a little bit of time finding an idea and expounding upon it--regularly. (The twice-weekly posts on my other blog, of which one has been a sample for class, are not the same kind of thing, buffered or no, as the writing I've been doing here. They're longer, generally, and for different audiences. Too, they're fewer, so the sustained effort is not in place for them as for the pieces in this webspace; even building up a buffer takes a longer exertion than the pieces I draft elsewhere.)
As the new month promises to begin, I am not sure whither I will turn. I could continue to write these bits of prose--whether ravings or repeated dashes of the lucid, I am unsure. Perhaps I ought to, and to do so working from the newspapers that I have bought and continue to receive. Time was, I looked at what was my local paper and responded to it in earnest; perhaps I ought to do so again, engaging more fully in the life of the greater community in which I live. It would be a good thing to do, helping me to understand better the people I'm around and the place where I grew up and where my daughter will be growing up. I've certainly struggled with that understanding enough over the years; having an aid for it should be welcome.
I am not certain that I will do so, at least, not consistently. If I am going to build up a buffer, responding to the news is not necessarily the best way to go about it; the ephermeral, emergent nature of the news is not something that readily admits of planning ahead of time, as buffers require. But not all pieces demand immediate response; many allow more consideration and reflection. And, again, it will be good to have a better handle on the part of the world in which I live and work...