Writing My World

Three years it had been since I've hugged one of my blood relatives. My recollection has it as four Christmases / New Years' ago (2018/2019). I was lucky enough to have an extended stay while I waited for my visa but that had it's own stressors.  Roughly 1000 days since I've seen my big sister in the flesh. And tomorrow I get to hug her neck.  The last time I saw her I didn't have a child and I wasn't married. During these 1000 days she has sent her eldest to boarding school at the top end of the earth. I know it broke her heart a little, and the best we could do was connect via WhatsApp.  I can't wait for my boy to meet his Debbie Debbie Dumpling.  I will be cautiously optimistic until her plane touches down at JFK. Once it does I will soak up every bit of the next 5 days. 

Breathe. I open my eyes to start the day.  Breathe. Watch my son squirm as he does not want to wake.  Breathe. Step into the shower to begin the day with a clean slate.  Breathe. Make breakfast to nourish our bodies.  Breathe. Drop off at Gamma's; hope.for a smooth hand over.  Breathe. Start my day at work.  Breathe. One task down.  Breathe. Physical task to switch mindset before starting next computer task.  Breathe. Connect with people, remember why we donwhatbwe do.  Breathe. To listen with an open mind.  Breathe. Stop to support a friend see the forest through the trees.  Breathe. Check another task off the list. Breathe. Catch an email that had been forgotten. Breathe. Find a solution to a problem.  Breathe. Ask for help.  Breathe. Collect my son from Gamma's.  Breathe. Say more yesses than nos. Breathe. Support his regulation.  Breathe. Dance to music.  Breathe. Wait for Papi. Breathe. Cook dinner.  Breathe. Eat as a family.  Breathe. Sneak a work task in.  Breathe. Read

As we move into the second half of March I wanted to stop and reflect on my Slice of Life Writing Challenge journey so far.  I firstly want to celebrate that I have written and posted something everyday. When I've been tired and have been close to missing a night I've gotten creative; hello haiku poem on being tired.  The challenge has helped me rediscover the writer within me. I've always known it was there. Like a long distance run, I love being there once I'm in the zone, but getting in the zone is hard.  Finding a regular time to write has been helpful. Writing while I lay with my little one while he falls asleep has been key. That is not something I miss, so therefore it has helped me not miss a writing session.  Being metacognitive about what I do as a writer really helps me to think about how I can support children and teachers.  So where to from here? Well I already have my goal for next year. Read and comment on other Slicer's writing. I've read a few t

The Pixar story telling structure follows the framework:  Once upon a time... Every day ... One day... Because of that... Because of that... Until finally... And ever since then... Below is my attempt at deconstructing the new Pixar movie Turning Red. It was an interesting process to do. I actually started at the end did the bottom two and then came back up to the top to the beginning of the story. I know I have way too many 'Because of this...' statements. This is where I would want to refine my practice. In my mind I wanted to go back and look at the examples of Up and Toy Story to get a sense of how many they used.  I would definitely use this framework with kids. I could even see it being a fun way to do a group story.  Definitely more to be explored here.  Turning Red   Once upon a time there was a girl called Mei Mei, who lived with her mother and father at their temple.  Her job was to honor her parents. She also secretly loves the boy band 4-Town. Every day, she went t

This is going to be a two part post as I want to practice breaking deconstructing the new Pixar movie Turning Red through the lens of the Pixar Storytelling framework. I've watched the ones on YouTube where they deconstruct how movies like Up and Inside Out follows the formula (I feel these were like modelled writing) now I want to try it out with the new movie not to catch them out but to understand how they use thos formula to great effect. I'm hoping this can help me as I continue to write and support writers in thinking about what makes a great story.  My next step is to go back and review the formula. I'll then think about the story of Turning Red and plug them in where appropriate.  Warning about Part 2 - there will be spoilers. 

I've started watching an Australian TV show from the mid 2000s, which to me was only not that long ago. It's a cop show set in a Sydney neighborhood that has a high Arab population. The protagonists is a cop of Iraqi descent -- an Arab. He's endeavoring to work with his community and not against it like some of the other blatantly racist cops characters.  So as I was watching the second episode today a noticed a pit forming in my stomach. The line that triggered this pit was, "You're either an Arab or a cop." UGH!! This was only made 15 years ago - we knew better at this point, or so I thought. But it got me thinking about what is it that we should representing on TV. Should we be representing the world that is warts and all? Or should we be representing the world that could be as a model for the viewing public.  What impact do the narratives that play out on our screens day in and day out have on the norms and behaviors that take hold in society?  What it doe