Food for Thought (Response to August Blues Daily Prompt)

Synapse in the brain (Credit: UCLA/Public Domain)

Daily Prompt: As a kid, were you happy or anxious about going back to school? Now that you’re older, how has your attitude toward the end of the summer evolved?

It’s August and once again I have thrown myself into the community college pool. I enrolled in two writing courses for this semester, one in  short fiction, the other in poetry. I want to learn as much as I can about the craft of writing, so I can write better. Of course, now that classes have begun, I am riddled with doubt and anxiety. What possessed me to attempt two college courses? After reading the syllabus for each class, I am convinced that I will fail spectacularly.

I have decided to press on because I enjoy taking college classes. The material presented draws me in new directions, exposes me to broader ideas. Required readings instruct about new topics, while refreshing dim memories of past subjects. It’s been 38 years since I was a college freshman (yes, I am that old). Back then, history was divided into BC and AD. Now it’s all BCE and CE, which doesn’t really change a thing but did give me pause. I haven’t read any philosophy since college but now I am presented with Aristotle’s Poetics as part of my class reading. We are asked about Sisyphus and I begin to recall the Greek mythology I read in my youth. It’s all new and old at the same moment. I swear I can feel synapses forming in my brain as I dive into the course material.

Will all this make me a better writer? I don’t have the answer to that yet. But at least I’ll give it the old college try.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/august-blues/