Write and Ski

Spring Semester 2009 is ON, full intensity. Busy is good, and an exceptionally "good" week it was. To the demanding load of 17 credits, add teaching skiing 1-2 days per week, running a small business, writing for the school paper, social events, and come what may... eeesh.

On a positive note, every class session was filled with that vague, euphoric sense of having so much to gain from the coursework in the syllabi - nerdy but thrilling to sit and know that over the course of months, my understanding is going to be kneaded, spread out, formed into something new and increasingly comprehensive. Learning is awesome.

An unexpected highlight of the week: officially being hired on for my first paid writing job. I am now a stipend earnin' Campus Reporter for the SLCC Globe. This thrilling little twist in the plot of my spring term marks the advent of my next phase as a writer.

This blog has been a refuge for me, a place where my writing has gone public for the first time, albeit with limited scrutiny. SLCC boasts a ballpark enrollment of 60,000 students, and the Globe is available at every door of every campus. A fantastic opportunity to step into the public eye and begin building a portfolio, but seriously?! Bye bye academic wallflowerism.

Other than that, the second week of the 2009th year bearing the post-fix A.D. looks a lot like: smog in the valley and sunshine and soft, melted snow in the slopes. My favorite ski conditions... the air is pure, the wind on hiatus, my favorite runs are steep and soft and I can lose myself wholly in those moments of rhythmic reaching downhill, carving, finishing, flattening, reaching, repeating. On a particularily glorious ski day, Tuesday, I was riding solo on the lifts and contemplating the feeling of gratitude - how much I feel for health, recreation, deep breaths, good friends, long hard days of calorie torching shredding, followed by wholesome nourishment.

Being alive is great! Cheers to my faith in sustaining it through this semester. :)

JH