We start our day with Scared Writing. It is a quiet time to write after we are given a prompt or idea. The very first day we had to write about being a writer. Here is my first Red Cedar Writing Project work.
“Be A Writer”
By: Sheila Sims Iding
Be a writer my dad said. He always encouraged me to write. When I got older and wondered what I wanted to be when I grew up, he would say “get a degree in journalism…be a writer”. I am not sure where he got this career path for me. I am not sure when he first noticed my knack for writing. But he knew I loved writing before I did.
Perhaps it was because my mom was bedridden with Multiple Sclerosis and I used to write to help cope. I wrote a poem about her once called “She Smiles”. It was about how MS took away all her abilities. She couldn’t walk, she couldn’t hold her beloved cigarettes and she could barely talk. But she could smile. So I wrote a poem to tell MS not to be too damn proud because “She Smiles” still.
So here I am at MSU and I sit at the same table where I interviewed for a coveted spot in the Red Cedar Writing Project. I am already humbled by the portfolio and the syllabus and the talent that sits around me. Honestly, I am overwhelmed but I choose not to admit that to myself…just yet. But I am honored to be here and worried about the 4 weeks ahead. Mixed with the worry is a sense of excitement that tempers the fear that worry tries to send me.
As I walked campus this morning trying to calm the worry so excitement could dominate, I loved that my mom and dad both graduated from here. My dad was a proud Spartan who would never leave any game before singing MSU Shadows. When I heard this was the oldest public building on campus and once a library I wondered if my dad had sat near this classroom or stood in this hallway. And as I sat on that step out front this morning, I wondered if he waited there to meet my mom after class. My dad has been gone for over 29 years but I feel his presence every day…even more so today under his MSU Shadows. And I felt his presence this morning when I was feeling a bit overwhelmed (around 9:15) and I think I heard him whisper “be a writer”.