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Updates
Hey Y’all,
Updates to the website are slowly happening.I’ve added some upcoming classes, and of course my podcast (Rusty Water Towers).
I also have a couple series planned for the website. Look for a post on Monday to explain the first!
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Working Hard!
I’ve had some busy months. I’m a pastor now. I am working on a podcast. I am teaching a ton of classes.
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Linoleum Tables – Chapter Finished
I’m in a hotel room about to head down to a conference on rural life and resilience in North Carolina. I haven’t written in 11 days. I worked through that in journaling and contemplation. I think it was imposter syndrome and anxiety of completing something and sending it into the world (the anxiety of releasing something that is only in it’s first draft, and has 6 more chapters to go, but still).
This morning, I woke up, did my devotion, answered a few emails, listened to a podcast, and showered. Then I sat down. I wrote. The end of the introduction came. It wasn’t hard. Sometimes this is hard, and that’s not bad, but to have the conclusion flow out like that was a relief.
As I finished, I was listening to Lori McKenna, a singer/songwriter who understands rural life in ways that speak to realities I never had words for.
“God bless the linoleum table in my daddy’s kitchen
If he was scared he’d never tell but I sure as hell did listen
And it don’t matter how many prayers ever came off my lips
I still learned how to curse just like he did”– Stuck in High School
The image of a linoleum table reminds of the kitchen tables I’ve sat at in so many rural homes. The homes that need the hope I hope this book holds.
Daily Writing Challenge Word Count: 1013
Challenge total: 8329
Chapter Drafts Complete: 1
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Day 12 – 549 Words
I spent a large portion of today editing video. Hence, the featured photo screen grab.
However, before that I was able to celebrate a student defending his Master’s Project and get my 500+ words complete. I’m starting to get to the point where I wonder if this is any good. I’m 25ish pages into this project, and I know it is likely going to be 150. I need to push through this self-doubt and imposter syndrome, and know that while its a rough draft, a very rough draft at that, it is something that has value and merit.
So, as I doubt myself, I need to remember, my ideas and thoughts are good, people want to read this book, and I know that rural communities are full of creative hope.
I also need to take a break from editing video.
Daily Word Count: 549
Challenge Total Word Count: 7316
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Day 11 – 720 Words
Alright, back in the groove. Writing today was less challenging. One reason was that included a ton of country music lyrics. In academic writing I see so many people shaming people who quote directly from other writers. I understand the need to prove that you can interpret a work and not just directly quote it, but I feel like country lyrics that come with some interpretation toward an idea of rural genius or rural spirit that inspires these lyrics makes sense. (We’ll see what my future editor says).
I also referenced my first philosopher that I can remember (I may have already mentioned Derrida, but I can’t remember and don’t feel like going back and searching).
Any way, here’s a link to a country song for you:
Daily Word Count: 720 Words
Writing Challenge Total: 6767 Words
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Day 10 – 508 Words
I haven’t posted on the blog for a few days. It was a mix of being tired and the content I was writing about. Having to write about film and TV depictions of rural life is hard. Particularly, writing about the way both comedy and horror distort rural life, often from the perspective of the city folks gaze.
The truth is, there are two ways I think this form of media can harm rural areas. The first is internalization. The idea that these images and the message they are sending is something that is true. Whether that message is that rural people are backwards cartoons or monsters or that escape from rural life is the only way to success. I think Hallmark movies try to do something different, but they often still demonstrate an urban savior motif or treating the main protagonist’s (usually a woman) choice to return to the rural space as a sacrifice. The internalized image here being that “we are the places people settle or come to save.”
The second, and I think equally harmful result of this imagery is the either idyllic or grotesque perception city folk gain from this media. I think particularly of people who refuse to go to rural areas because everyone is a drug addict, rapist, murdering, racist. I exaggerate, but I have met people who are terrified to enter rural spaces. A more common idea is that all rural people are uneducated, uncultured, and need saving by the saviors of metropolitan life. Both understandings are dangerous and disrupt relationships and potential futures for rural communities and urban/rural relationships.
All that to say, I’m past that, it was only a few pages, and I’m back to hope.
I also know how to spell Leatherface correctly.
Daily Word Count – 508 Words
Writing Challenge Total – 6047 Words -
Day 7 – 680 Words and 75,000 People
Write about Mayberry in the morning, make history in the evening.
I went to the first home match for Charlotte FC. We lost, but I loved every minute.
Daily Word Count – 680
Challenge Total – 4522
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Day 6 – 615 Words
This morning I drove into Charlotte to volunteer with my Charlotte FC supporters group at Second Harvest Food Bank. I was late. It was mostly my fault, but I will blame the wreck in Lincoln County for at least five minutes of my lateness.
Our job was sorting food donations. I have never seen so many dented cans. I enjoyed my time, and will likely join them again in the future. I also met some really interesting people. Good folks who love soccer and just want to hang out with other soccer fans.
After that, I came back to the office so I could get my scarf (and complete a short to do list that included writing goal for they day. Yesterday was statistics from the government, today led into the impact of the education system on the rural experience. I had a strange experience. I straddled the career/technical track and the college prep track because of my Agriculture Education courses. Yes, I was in FFA, I was a regional officer, and I have National Gold Medal in Forestry. I regularly use the knowledge and skills from those classes today, even if it’s just to show third graders how to turn their spit green.
Daily Word Count: 615
Challenge Total Word Count: 3842
Photo: Small group of supporters from Mint St. Mafia. Photo Cred: That guy in a Wisconsin T-Shirt
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Day 5 – 571 Words
Today’s writing came in three parts. It involved research. And didn’t prioritize it like I have for the past few days. But I got it done.
This is a reminder to re-prioritize. I got distracted by the endless emails, the news, the Twitter bird, and the needs that could have waited. Still, I got it done. There are dishes to be done, but I got it done. And I am thankful.
In other news, I picked up a new class yesterday that starts in two weeks, which is exciting and nerve wracking. When I told students about it, some of them actually told me they were rearranging their schedules to take it. That’s a humbling experience.
The rest of the day is dishes, pizza, and friends. And the weekend is mostly about soccer. But, regardless, I need to continue to prioritize the creative work.
Daily Word Count: 571
Challenge Word Count: 3227
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Day 4 – Ash Wednesday – 879 Words
It’s Ash Wednesday. It’s a relatively new observance in my tradition, but I like it. It is both a reminder of mortality and a sign that spring is on its way. I have my windows at home and in my office open.
I wrote quite a bit today, and the introduction is coming together. I know that anger is what led me to apply for PhDs. This anger was from churches that seemed to do nothing in the face of shifting socio-economic realities. I know now it was not that they refused to engage, it was that they didn’t know how. It was also that the church was made of the very people suffering.
My hope is this book offers hope and possibility. Like Ash Wednesday, I want it to be a reminder of death, but also that new life is waiting just below the soil.
Daily Total -879 Words
Challenge Total – 2656 Words
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Jonathan LeMaster-Smith 