A House

My TPRS world is like a house. The foundation/basement is the research. Once we know how solid it is, there is no need to build more. It does the job and I don’t want to go down there and rummage around, going through dusty old boxes, because I don’t have the time. The main floor consists of all the strategies here – more than one can shake a stick at. There are plenty of good things for beginners and experienced people. The attic is the part where the mind is. I don’t want it too cluttered. My mental health that is up there in the attic is along with the foundation/basement key to the success on the first floor, the first, the most important one, the one people see when they enter the house. My students and my administrators don’t need or want to go to the basement or the attic. They want to see what is happening on the main floor. It is that way in any profession and why ours is a profession (the meaning of the word “to profess” something is so apt) and not just a job. So in my house if the basement and the attic are in good shape, then the main floor will be in great shape as well. That is what has happened in my own experience, at least. I like my house now. It’s not too cluttered. And the blueprints and all that stuff that details how the house is built, as Claire said here this week, are a double edged sword. Sure they get a class working and get the house built but equally do they clutter the house if they are not put away when they are no longer needed. Too much planning and blueprinting and mapping out prevents our enjoyment of our work, as per the nature of language which has as one of it’s most salient features the enjoyment of life and the unexpected nature of human conversation patterns.