Back to school... again

SO I did my workshops on Tuesday and they were cool... but TODAY I went back to Cawthra Park, MY high school. It was weird to go back - it looked the same as I remembered. The workshop was awesome. The students were engaged and enthusiastic  and we filled the two hours with good discussion. It was a blast. 

Then I had to hightail it through construction and traffic (which means I wasn't hightailing it very fast) to a library on Eglinton where I met with students from a couple of different schools to do the workshops again.

From there I headed downtown to bring cupcakes to Angela Misri's Jewel of the Thames book launch. 'Course I was early so I had to kill some time at the Eaton Centre. Terrible, I know.

All in all it was a super cool day.

Return to High School

I had two workshops today, in two different high schools in Saskatoon. I had hoped I had grown since then. I had hoped I had found out who I was, understood myself, gained confidence to be me. Nope. Walking through the halls with the chatter and loud laughs, furtive texting that's not nearly as secretive as they think... Words like 'loser' and 'geek' rumbled around in my head. And as I started talking my doubts grew - doubts in their interest in me and my talk, in my relevance and in their perception. I could actually feel myself willing to be invisible.

Don't look directly at them, whatever you do.

I could have been fifteen again - desperately searching for acceptance and reinforcement of worth from people too worried about their own image to contribute anything positive to mine. I hated that feeling way back then and was shocked to feel it again today. Except today I had to be a growed up. I pushed forward and kept talking, even called a few out when I was competing with a phone.

I think they were able to gleam something from my rambling. I did see a shift as I talked, a glimmer and a lean forward that shed their initial apathy. Then as I was packing up and bracing my fifteen year old mind for another dose of the halls, five girls approached and asked "Can we ask you a couple of questions?" Can you??? YES PLEASE! We chatted a bit more. They asked about motivation, about direction - relevant, thought out questions... they were listening!

I was so caught up in my own insecurity that I forgot how fickle perceptions can be. My perceptions of them were driven by my own anxiety, still there after all this time. I wonder how many of them felt the same way I did today. High school is tough, man, to show up there day after day and make friends, walk the halls, study and learn... they're pretty awesome if you ask me. It was such a great opportunity to see it from this point of view.

N

Richmond Public Library

I had the exciting opportunity to talk to 19 teens in Richmond today. A few seemed excited about the writing workshop, but about half admitted they were there because their mothers registered and sent them. Sigh. Sounded like we were all going to have fun. But that's okay, I have four kids and work with kids, I know how to pull teeth well enough I could have been a dentist. We got through the workshop and I saw some head nods that seemed like they were paying attention. By the end I even got some laughs and unsolicited participation. I had a blast.

Before the workshop we toured Granville Island. What a cool place that is! So many neat shops, colourful food, and crafts and arts and trades. Even painted cement trucks. 

Here are a few pictures!

N