When I left teaching two years ago, I had this vague narrative: I always wanted to live in the mountains and I always wanted to write. This brought the dreaded (but 100% sensible) question: What do you want to write?
I really didn’t know (true confession: I still don’t) but I started this blog and have published several education feature stories for a local newspaper.
I tend to write first-person narratives (like David Sedaris but without the fans or money) and recently discovered a Medium publication called Playback Memoirs that fits my style pretty well.
They’re looking for something a little edgier and, as it happened, I had a couple of pieces that, for my blog, felt a little too . . . too what? Revealing? Off-color? Naughty?
And then it hit me. When I taught, I needed to keep a very clean and neat public persona. Teachers know what I’m talking about. There is an expectation of uprightness and innocence. I’ve known teachers who deliberately live far away from their schools so they can go to the liquor store in peace.
But I no longer have that pressure. So I advertised my most recent Medium story on Facebook. It was about buying marijuana in Seattle and trying to mail it home.
I got some positive feedback on it but one teacher friend seemed a bit taken aback and this gave me pause. Do I want to risk making people think badly of me? Do I keep my writing tame so that never happens?
As usual, I’ve more questions than answers but thought I’d share what I’ve been up to and see how it goes. Here are two recent stories I’ve had on Medium. Click on the link below the picture to read them.
If you’re so inclined, please clap and follow me so you’ll get updates on future essays. And if I’ve surprised you somehow, I hope we can still be friends. ; )
The Boomer Weed Fiasco
https://medium.com/playback-memoirs/the-boomer-weed-fiasco-9ba070cc0f9e
The 40-Year Fib
https://medium.com/playback-memoirs/the-40-year-fib-d169b89bcecc
