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Working through the pain

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Lately I've been struggling with pain. No, don't worry, Mrs. B. is not sick. In fact I am moving toward wellness, which is part of why I am in pain. The other part of my pain is teaching feshmen to write.

As I've written before, I am working toward wellness at Ladies' Workout Express, a mellow gym filled with kindly women who empathize with my goals. While the RAC at Georgia Southern is a beautiful building, it's full of students who might show up in my classes, and skinny 18-year old girls who can fit into one leg of my leotard. At LWE I am safe, and no one cares if I sweat.

I care, however, because with the sweat comes pain. If I don't stretch, my legs hurt. If I don't use the jacuzzi, my back hurts. I have bones that have been inactive far too long. Although I have lost 20 percent of my body fat, I haven't changed the pain.

More pain: teaching freshmen to write. One of my colleagues put it well this afternoon when I went looking for solace. "You cannot undo what has been done for 18 years," he told me. "And you can't make them writers in 15 weeks. So let up on yourself." He's right, but I still want 5 classes full of Hemingways.

Mrs. B

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