SingTeachRun

I have often said I have only two strengths as a runner: 1. I don't injure easily. 2. I like to run. That second one is probably the single most important reason I can think of to run. It has driven me since my childhood (in spite of the fact that I am not a gifted runner), and it is driving me now. In 2001 I completed two marathons. Those races brought me both disappointment and satisfaction (both stories for another day), but what has stayed with me more than the marathons themselves, is the training. Much to my surprise, I found that I really love long runs. The 10 to 20 milers that are part of marathon training have a place in my memory, and, more than likely, in my imagination, that continues to draw me back in time to those days. I completed most of those runs with no one to talk to, no Ipod, no GPS device to tell me my time (just an old-fashioned wristwatch). I was surprised to find that I could settle into a pace and maintain it with astounding consistency, often run...

Up until a year ago, I could have written about my profession with few qualms. I could have written about the joys and challenges of teaching without fear of what readers might think. But during last year's legislative session in Idaho, things began to change. Not only did education law change, in Idaho and other states, but my perspective changed, as well. I read just about everything the Idaho Statesman printed regarding the new laws, and as disheartening as those laws are, even more disheartening was what I read in the public comments, both in the Statesman  and in other on-line sources from throughout the nation. Granted, many of the comments were wholeheartedly supportive of teachers and schools, but without fail every comment thread included those who see teachers as lazy, underworked, overpaid, and whiny. I saw comments that insisted teachers only work five or six hours a day. And anyone who attempted to correct this ridiculous notion was immediately dismissed by the critics...

I became a songwriter about ten years ago. I had written a few songs in the decade before that, but they were few and far between, and for the most part, I wasn't very impressed with them. Then around 2001-2002 I began to be bombarded with tunes and words as I went through my days. This went on for several months before I actually began to write them down and sing them. It was around this same time that I became our worship leader at Christian Life Center, in my hometown, Kellogg, Idaho. What a wonderful perk to have a built-in band and a built-in audience where I could try out new material weekly.  For me, songwriting is primarily a mystical, supernatural, God-inspired experience. The majority of my songs have shown up in my head with tune and words, not necessarily fully formed, but often with a full chorus that arrives and stays with me. Once I get a chance to sit down at the piano--to write out the words and play the part of the song I can already hear so clearly--the best s...

                 They say humans are born with the primordial instincts for  either fight or flight, when faced with acutely stressful situations.  I sometimes fall victim to a third option: not fight, not flight, but freeze.                  I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t afraid of dogs.  This is not something I am proud of.  In fact, I am quite uncomfortable with my discomfort.  I am embarrassed by it, mostly because I see how abnormal I am.  I would love to be one of those people who feels at ease in the presence of dogs.  I would love to bend at the waist and gleefully greet your dog—to not mind if it licks me, jumps on me, chases me—but I am not that girl. And so I have spent a lifetime looking for routes to walk, run, and ride my bike that will not lead to encounters with dogs. I have run my current course hundreds of times in the last eight year...

In the spring of 1998 I had grown weary of nursing a broken heart. I had spent months wallowing, and I was sick and tired of myself . . . and sick and tired of sitting. It had been 10 years since I had run regularly, but on May 18th, 1998, I stepped out my back door in Kellogg, walked down the little hill behind my house, and began to run down Mission Avenue. I knew I wouldn't make it far, but my goal was to try to gauge when I was half done, and then turn around and return home--without stopping. (I know I could still locate that turn-around spot within just a few yards--somewhere just past McDonald's on Cameron.) It turned out to be a pretty good guess, at least for someone like me, who takes a certain pleasure in pushing herself. About a quarter mile from home this run became quite painful, as I developed an intense side ache. I have always been determined to run through side aches, no matter how painful, and so I made it to my self-appointed finish line, at the foot of my...

SingTeachRun was born of a whim one summer day a couple of years ago when I decided to create a Twitter account. It looked to me like most people weren't using their real names on Twitter, so I spent all of three minutes contemplating and then settled on my three-word handle. In the last two and a half years I have only logged on to Twitter a half dozen times, but last January when I began contemplating starting a blog away from my other website, I decided this title fit me pretty well. Much of the time I feel like the name should actually be SingTeachRun? Most of my days involve singing and teaching, but the running--well that is much more sporadic. For a variety of reasons, chief of among them being laziness, I often go months at a time without running. Nonetheless, running is in my soul. It pulls at me--calls to me. Just this morning, I saw several people running in the dark, at 6:00 a.m., and I longed to be one of them. And I will be one of them, again. Soon. Really. Beca...

Much of my life has involved a tug-of-war between using and not using my voice. I am naturally shy, self-conscious, even plagued with social anxiety. As a student one part of me wanted to find a safe spot to sit in a classroom, preferably near a wall, in the hopes that no one would notice me. Even as a graduate student I feel this same urge to blend into the woodwork. But as strong as the urge is to hide, the drive to speak--to share my thoughts, to tell my story, to sing my song--is usually stronger. The truth is, this battle still rages within me. Often I fear I have spoken or sung too much, too loudly, or with too much intensity. Of late, this is a battle I am winning more often than losing. I am learning to dismiss that voice that says "Don't tell your students your stories." I see that my stories have become the building blocks of the community of my classroom. And while I am occasionally aware of the rolled eyes or the apparent disinterest, much more often I sen...

New year--new blog. After nearly a year's absence from my blog at laurie-roberts.com, I am ready to enter, yet again, into this strange world of going public with private thoughts.  For now, I have given up on finding the perfect template, the ultimate subtitle, the ideal font.  It's time to stop stalling.  It's time to write. This photo was taken by my dear friend and honorary brother, Simon, about a year ago. This is Kellogg, Idaho, town of my birth. Even though I left Kellogg nearly a decade ago, it still has a hold on my heart. This is where I learned to sing with passion and to write the songs God poured into my head and my heart. This is where I taught for the first 15 years of my nearly 25-year career. And this is where I ran, and ran, and ran.  I am starting this new year, this 2012 (30 years after my graduation from Kellogg High School) with renewed passion for singing, teaching, and running. I'll write about those passions, and whatever ...