Saying Yes to TEACHING

A couple of weeks ago I went back up to Santa Clara University (where I taught last Fall) to go visit some of my former students and see my friends and colleagues.

It started when I got a phone call from some of the male students who were in a study group for their Dramaturgy class.  They were all in the Fall show, The Three Muskateers, and asked if I would come see them in the show.

I said YES, I'd try.  Then I thought about it some more in the week following.  I wanted to see my friend Veronica, who I hadn't seen since May.  We had worked together on a project up there.  I always stayed with V and her fiancé James.  I missed them.  And I always worry about my friend V.  She's at a crossroads in her life as well, but feeling very stuck.  I relate to that.  I felt stuck for years before I walked out of my relationship two years ago.  I even have given V my copy of Bethenny Frankel's "A Place of Yes" because it had been very helpful for me.

So I reach out to them to see if I could stay with them for the weekend.  They said YES.

Then I thought since I was going to be up there and I had been putting out some feelers and looking for teaching jobs, that maybe I could see if I could set up a meeting with the Communications Department at SCU to see about teaching screenwriting or TV writing as an adjunct professor.  I had reached out to my old boss, the head of the Theatre Department.  She said that she would set something up for me.  This was on a Monday and I was going to be up there on Friday.  By Wednesday morning, I hadn't heard anything, so I reached out again.  On Thursday night, I got an email that the person who she tried to put me in contact with had a booked schedule on Friday.  I had my doubts whether my former boss had reached out when I asked her, but I LET IT GO.

Then I had coffee with a former colleague and we discussed my desire to teach.  I thought of reaching out to the Comm Department because maybe I could teach one class in the theatre department and one class in the Comm Department to make it worth my while.  He liked that idea and actually confirmed the idea that this person had dropped the ball.  Without going into major details about the conversation to protect the identity of the person I had coffee with, an idea sprouted.  This person is a person of influence.  And he said he'd set up the meetings for me.  He then asked me if I would be willing to relocate and how my boyfriend would feel about that.  He said that he wanted to find a way to make me a colleague again.  This is someone who possibly would have the resources to affect a change and avoid some of the red tape.  He's also a person who shared his vision of what the theatre department could be.  And that's when I lit up.  His vision was about making the theatre education relevant to careers that extend beyond being an actor, writer, performer, director, or technician.  Maybe the department tries to see itself and the skills attained through that degree program as applicable to other fields like law, psychology, architecture, PR, speech writing, etc.  That's a progressive approach that I would like to be involved in.  This conversation was filled with YESes.

Then I came back home.  On the night of the Presidential Election (another night of big YESes), my friend Tim suggested that I just write up some syllabi of the courses I would want to teach, in case I was ever asked to present something.  This past week I went through the course descriptions and requirements and created four syllabi.  I have two other syllabi I could create for courses I could teach.  That means I could teach six classes covering both departments.  Actually, I just thought of another one.  More YESes.

I don't know if teaching is the path.  But I like the idea of affecting change using my skills.  If that's through teaching and this opportunity, I welcome that.  If it's through working in TV and it's a direct way to affect change, I welcome that.

Although, it was interesting to note that my mentor from college said to me at lunch that she had a feeling that I was moving back up to the Bay Area.  I'm not sure if she's a clairvoyant, but she's definitely someone in my life who I feel is in touch and in tune with something metaphysical.

In the meantime, I'm being here now.