When I went off to graduate school in 2004, it was because I couldn’t stop chasing the dream of teaching. After the master’s degree, I chased the doctorate, trying to improve my chances at that elusive higher-education job. And then, the master of fine arts in 2017, capping a 13-year…
Category: Writing
All things writing related in my life.
As a blogger and podcaster, I missed most of February and March of 2019. This academic year has overwhelmed me physically and emotionally, and I admit I’m not up to the workload required of a full-time instructor with 140 students. The expectation that college writing instructors can and should have…
Podcast Episode 0025; Season 02, Episode 14; February 26, 2019 Unabridged Press is changing media for good (double meaning intended), expanding and elevating digital media, first, and primarily by creating high-quality audio podcasts about topics, people, and places previously underrepresented. A respect for the environment, investors, work partners, and society…
Podcast Episode 0027; Season 02, Episode 13; February 8, 2019 Too often I hear people suggest that education, especially higher education, is somehow the ideal career path for autistics. It might be good for some, but education has proven to be an impossible path for me. If I had focused on…
Podcast Episode 0026; Season 02, Episode 12; January 22, 2019 Daniel Sansing discusses his interest in writing and communication theories. Sansing studies academic composition and teaching composition courses. The myth that autistics are only concrete thinkers dismisses the uniqueness of individuals. Yes, some of us are concrete thinkers… and we can…
Writing is how I relate to myself and to others. Writing has been a part of my life since at least the second grade when I started to make little books and write short stories. I tried to start a novel in the fifth grade, which I still dream of…
Here we are on December 31, 2018, and many of us reflect on the past year and make plans for the coming year. As readers know, 2018 has included all the elements of this blog since 2007 — and the cyclical nature of my life since at least junior high and…
Night after night, I find myself grading papers well into exhaustion. Often, well after midnight. My weekends are spent grading, too. In fact, right now I’m pausing between papers to gather my thoughts before yet more grading. Teaching this semester continues to interfere with everything that isn’t school-related. At times,…
Podcast 0019; Season 02, Episode 05; October 2, 2018 People ask me how an autistic parent can be a foster-to-adopt parent. I might not be perfect, but with my wife’s support, I do okay as a father and I’m always trying to be better. Transcript (lightly edited) Scott: Hello and welcome to The Autistic…
Podcast 0015; Season 02, Episode 01; September 4, 2018 We open Season Two chatting with Grayson Rumsey, a 20-year-old autistic self-advocate, creative writer, performing artist, and member of the LGBTQ+ community. Grayson has dealt with more in 20 years than I have in nearly 50. We should admire Grayson and the…