It should be said that the infrequency of my posts is not a reflection of my commitment to this blog but rather speaks to my writing philosophy and perhaps my upbringing. Modeling the classroom management of my 7th graders after my mom’s discipline techniques, I am learning the importance of the Economy of words. Growing up, my mom would always let my mistakes accumulate and reprimand her unsuspecting son once a year; these were incomparably the scariest moments of my life and I cried on my knees begging forgiveness each time. To establish credibility, my mom uses the times she doesn’t speak to reinforce the times that she does.
It seems that all new teachers return with bruised egos, deflated passion, and hoarse voices; they quickly learn the futility of yelling over their unruly students. By raising my voice, I am really just saying that they can talk to their friends and still hear my directions. By constantly nagging for quiet, students grow jaded and eventually tune me out. BUT by picking my battles, I can prevent power inflation and wield the same influence my mom holds over me. It is critical for teachers, parents, and leaders to show a rationale behind their decisions instead of abusing authority.
I find that this universal concept applies to nearly all facets of life. As a guitar player, the hardest thing about performing acoustic is building climax and varying volume without the luxury of amplification. Given the limited projection of a single guitar, the way to lift dynamic in a performance is to show tasteful discretion. Instead of trying to play the chorus louder, muting the verse lets the chorus jump out in comparison. Rather than yelling over students, I condition them to strain their ears to my whisper. By harnessing the momentum of a song or a class, I can use its lows to build its highs.
Among my favorite authors, J.D. Salinger is noted for being reclusive and having a limited written collection. Followers feel cheated and blame complacency, but I question how many masterpieces one person can truly craft. My answer would be one per lifetime. Salinger’s lifestyle purifies and consolidates the message of his work. He only wrote one true novel because he packed his entire being into Catcher in the Rye (the rest being novellas or short stories).
Finally, I force myself to blog sparingly so I can fully digest various stimuli and develop my thoughts completely. I subscribe to a high “thought to word ratio” for writing efficiency, saying the most I can in the fewest words. Do you guys remember that old-school Megaman videogame where you could fire bullets from his forearm? The most interesting thing was that you could charge your shot to make it more powerful at the sacrifice of holding it longer. At the end of the day, I want to be able to say that this is how I lived as a writer, teacher, and friend. To take fewer shots but to make them count.
