By SUSAN DROMEY HEETER, InDepthNH.org
It’s a wonderful time to muse joyfully on education, on reading, on learning, on getting up to speed on verb conjugations, the middle ages, physics, impressionist art. Today, while I muse joyfully on the power of knowledge, on the glory of learning, of the most ever, ever, ever necessity of information, I muse joyfully also on the glory of clogs.
First of all, I just invested in a pair of clogs which right away should tell you, yes, I’m a teacher. Sure, I could be a chef or nurse, but, as my clogs are patterned blue, that might tell you, I’ve got a classroom.
Clogs allow me to run to the bathroom in the 1.5 minute I have between classes; allow me to slip on comfort for a day where I’ll be on my feet for hours, where I’ll be walking and standing, moving and adjusting. Clogs allow me to stand outside for hours during a fire drill; clogs provide me one more object to throw at a potential shooter. In short, clogs are utilitarian, vital, and, most importantly, comfortable.
Last night I started to watch the series Clickbait, on Netflix, a show about an abduction involving an online twist. Honestly, I found it annoying, the acting felt too much. But the worst part was the teacher wearing heels. Heels. Really? Obviously no educator had been involved in wardrobe. And even though Adrian Grenier is adorbs, the series simply doesn’t work for me.
It’s pretty amazing to be an educator and to those of you reading this who have spent the last weeks getting prepared for the myriad of minds returning to their seats, I muse joyfully you will have the endurance and vitality to not only survive this year, but to thrive. And if clogs help you move and run and grade and teach, I muse joyfully you stay on your feet, stay healthy and celebrate all things education.
Susan Dromey Heeter is a writer from Dover who recently let her hair go au natural white. Writing has been her passion since her English majoring days at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Dromey Heeter has lived in The Netherlands, Alaska and currently basks in all things New England, including the frigid winters. An avid swimmer, Dromey Heeter’s great passion is to bring back body surfing as most children have no idea how to ride waves without ridiculous boogie boards.