On the Verge of a New Year...

With the coming of the New Year, I'm reminded of living by the clock.    I have gradually been reintroduced to city life and one of the more remarkable features, after having lived 3 years entirely by my own schedule, regulated by roosters, hungry mouths, whatever work requires, and my chronic insomnia, is how in ordinary society, we live so regulated by a clock.  

I was a teacher in my "former" life.   Classes began at times like 9:47 am and ended at 10:27.   We would have faculty meetings to debate the amount of "passing time" to reasonably expect between classes.    Some teachers lock students out of the classroom for being more than a few minutes late.   Referrals.   Detentions.   And the damned bells... Pavlovian training for a life of punch cards and authority figures.    It is what we were expected to do, and yet it was never me.   As a teacher, I was "soft" in the eyes of my colleagues.   I just couldn't seem to conform.   I couldn't be a tyrant for the sake of 30 seconds.   Worst- or best depending on perspective- my students knew I didn't believe and no matter how I tried, I could never play the tyrant authentically.   

 These days, not one of my watches works and yesterday, I wrote my cousin a note wishing her the best for 2010.   I suppose I should get the year right.