tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post2015967827727897297..comments2024-02-21T14:12:55.866-06:00Comments on coming home to myself: My Sojourn in the AsylumDeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-57585221546170856582013-09-17T14:05:51.074-05:002013-09-17T14:05:51.074-05:00Dear Pearl, I'm glad you're enjoying the s...Dear Pearl, I'm glad you're enjoying the series. Tomorrow--Wednesday--I'll post the the rest of the story, if I can fit it into 600 words; if not, I'll post on both Wednesday and Thursday and finish it off! Thanks for stopping by. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-22019677709717083612013-09-17T12:27:01.372-05:002013-09-17T12:27:01.372-05:00I love this series. I can't wait to read the ...I love this series. I can't wait to read the rest of it!<br /><br />PearlPearlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05261369905176088917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-61451105021195919562013-09-16T11:14:19.549-05:002013-09-16T11:14:19.549-05:00Dear Munir, thanks for stopping by. I know this do...Dear Munir, thanks for stopping by. I know this does often happen with substitute teachers, but that particular class tested everyone I think. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-20153950618688761872013-09-16T11:13:23.047-05:002013-09-16T11:13:23.047-05:00Dear Michelle, I think I was more naive than brave...Dear Michelle, I think I was more naive than brave. Today I would have realized the impossibility of the situation and I'm not sure whether I'd have accepted the obedience to teach in that classroom! Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-13415287955908938622013-09-16T11:08:50.753-05:002013-09-16T11:08:50.753-05:00I thought that this kind of thing went on only wit...I thought that this kind of thing went on only with substitute teachers.MunirGhiasuddinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05232362559666320301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-26491720653693074622013-09-15T17:52:00.507-05:002013-09-15T17:52:00.507-05:00You were/are a brave soul Dee! Looking forward to ...You were/are a brave soul Dee! Looking forward to reading how this all turned out. fullsoulahead.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04053261523883986863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-24777796973584318402013-09-15T15:27:27.263-05:002013-09-15T15:27:27.263-05:00Dear Deb, and I can hardly wait to write the next ...Dear Deb, and I can hardly wait to write the next chapter and see if I can encapsulate what happened to change all this. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-64267317180958302572013-09-15T15:26:44.343-05:002013-09-15T15:26:44.343-05:00Dear Vagabonde, in an October posting I'll exp...Dear Vagabonde, in an October posting I'll explain what the reasoning was for throwing me "in the deep end." I was astounded when I got back to the monastery that summer and discovered why this had happened. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-36731344259738754772013-09-15T12:22:55.685-05:002013-09-15T12:22:55.685-05:00Not the most helpful advice, I don't think. Ye...Not the most helpful advice, I don't think. Yet you clearly found your way, and I can hardly wait to read the next chapter of this story. Deb Shuckahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03439395710731341021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-57185426414880656802013-09-15T11:28:55.391-05:002013-09-15T11:28:55.391-05:00What a terrible experience! I did not know this h...What a terrible experience! I did not know this happened in real life – I thought it only happened in the movies. I certainly never saw any of this while going to school in France – everyone was very quiet in class. I wonder how those kids behaved at home. Also, I think it was totally unprofessional to let you among those monsters without any help from experienced teachers – what where they thinking.Vagabondehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10774109692564954568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-75347065054318642562013-09-15T08:41:35.905-05:002013-09-15T08:41:35.905-05:00Dear Friko, if I'd been more mature t the time...Dear Friko, if I'd been more mature t the time I probably would have "turned tail and taken the consequences" also. But I truly thought that this was how classrooms were and I was just a bad teacher. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-26396719101048155492013-09-15T06:15:39.514-05:002013-09-15T06:15:39.514-05:00Horrendous. Quite outside anything I have ever exp...Horrendous. Quite outside anything I have ever experienced as a student at any of the schools I’ve attended. <br /><br />I am sure I’ve turned tail and taken the consequences.Frikohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04277167831642088694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-68745761110595306272013-09-14T13:46:38.747-05:002013-09-14T13:46:38.747-05:00Dear Deanna, I always like your pondering. Althoug...Dear Deanna, I always like your pondering. Although I'd call what you do musing. Musing philosophically about being human. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-80799234956076908582013-09-13T17:56:28.729-05:002013-09-13T17:56:28.729-05:00I like this week's connection with famous batt...I like this week's connection with famous battle scenes. I think these classroom experiences depict basic conflict scenarios between human beings and the emotions that go with them. It's amazing that people do this to other people (at least I've always thought so). Feel free not to spend time answering this pondering comment; I'll be watching for your next installment and no doubt will ponder more to you then.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-36271936312706851442013-09-13T12:19:18.808-05:002013-09-13T12:19:18.808-05:00Dear Perpetua, please read the response I left for...Dear Perpetua, please read the response I left for Penny in which I share my thoughts about my predecessor and the predicament she was in. In a sense, I reached the same point she did with deciding how to gain control. I did something different from what she did but both our solutions came, I think, from desperation. Peace,Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-54946064898536532262013-09-13T12:17:03.063-05:002013-09-13T12:17:03.063-05:00Dear Rick, I so agree with you. Peace.Dear Rick, I so agree with you. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-45930442409798030882013-09-13T12:16:46.699-05:002013-09-13T12:16:46.699-05:00Dear Kate, you know when I was in the silence of t...Dear Kate, you know when I was in the silence of the novitiate for the eighteen months previous to making first vows, I never thought--or at least now I can't remember--thinking about discipline or what teaching would be. I was so naive that at the time I just thought that along with the grace of vows would come the grace of teaching well. Peace. Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-49882657629239454482013-09-13T12:15:03.865-05:002013-09-13T12:15:03.865-05:00Dear Penny, I can't remember whether there wer...Dear Penny, I can't remember whether there were any lay women teaching that year--1960. All I ever heard, and this was from one of the other nuns at the mission that year, was that their previous teacher, a nun, had handled them by saying they were her Nazi stormtroopers and they could do what they wanted outside the classroom but inside the classroom they were to give all their loyalty and obedience to her. I wonder now if perhaps the stress of all that drove her a little mad and that's why she ended up in the mental hospital in Council Bluffs. <br /><br />Thank you for the wish for peace. Telling these old stories does bring peace because I find that as I recall these old stories I bring to them my learning of a lifetime and so can come to resolution and understanding. I do wonder why the hard times have lodged in my mind and heart rather than all the really good times. I need to spend some time thinking of what made life on mission good. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-65373930143856954462013-09-13T12:10:16.960-05:002013-09-13T12:10:16.960-05:00Dear Arkansas Patti, the saving grace of all this ...Dear Arkansas Patti, the saving grace of all this was discovering those students, like Maureen and John and James, who truly wanted to learn. They gave me hope that good things could happen in that classroom. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-90922762772600942662013-09-13T12:09:17.230-05:002013-09-13T12:09:17.230-05:00Dear Annie, I'm sorry to learn that your daugh...Dear Annie, I'm sorry to learn that your daughter has had experiences like this in classrooms. A teacher wants to teach, just like a writer wants to write. One of the reasons I'm looking for an agent is so the agent can free me from the details of getting published. If only a teacher could have an agent to deal with discipline!!!!<br />Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-39642017748156736992013-09-13T12:07:55.729-05:002013-09-13T12:07:55.729-05:00Dear Rita, I wish you'd been with me back in J...Dear Rita, I wish you'd been with me back in January 1960. I bet you could have cut a swath through those fifty-five students, separated those who wanted to learn from those who didn't and then shown who was boss! Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-44963848893659165792013-09-13T12:06:18.163-05:002013-09-13T12:06:18.163-05:00Dear Betsy, I did, with help, find some answers. I...Dear Betsy, I did, with help, find some answers. I'll share that next Wednesday or Thursday. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-56033778187613246332013-09-13T12:05:31.449-05:002013-09-13T12:05:31.449-05:00Dear DJan, I didn't realize how bad it was unt...Dear DJan, I didn't realize how bad it was until that summer when I returned to the Mount for three months. I'll post about that realization after I complete the story of the classroom in another couple of postings. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-4490402684257723642013-09-13T12:04:24.097-05:002013-09-13T12:04:24.097-05:00Dear EC, for most of my life I thought of myself a...Dear EC, for most of my life I thought of myself as pretty much a milquetoast kind of person. No backbone. The truth was that I never liked myself much. After all, if my parents could leave me when I was five, I mustn't be worth much, I thought. And that thought stayed with me--glued like a barnacle to my psyche--until I was in my sixties. <br /><br />Only in the last ten years have I come to recognize that there is a strength to me. And that sometimes I can be indomitable. I suspect that strength came at birth when I was born with asthma and had to spend the first weeks in the hospital back in 1936. Until I was eight, I fought with asthma and held on to life. And I think that has stayed with me. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-195629195750583833.post-68756645130214475892013-09-13T12:00:12.063-05:002013-09-13T12:00:12.063-05:00Dear Mimi, I've responded to both Kari and Fis...Dear Mimi, I've responded to both Kari and Fishducky with regard to the waiting. All will be revealed next Wednesday and, if necessary, Thursday. I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Peace.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00612299013780771262noreply@blogger.com