My spouse has a particular vision for the house, how the inside will match the outside. Happily he isn't insisting that we'll remodel and decorate in the style of 1929-1935, when the house was built. He has a vision of a Spanish Mission inside, so instead of the glass tile or iridescent backsplash I'd have chosen if left to my own devices, my spouse found a company that makes tin for backsplashes or ceilings. The tin comes in a multitude of colors and patterns, and we spent a lovely Friday evening a few months ago thinking about the best choice.
I felt a bit anxious about our contractor and the expensive material, but when I opened the door, all was well. My spouse was at chorale practice, so I spent the evening watching how the light changed on the backsplash. At first, I thought it was breathtaking, and about an hour later, I was wishing we had chosen something jazzier in a non-Spanish Mission style, and by the end of the evening, I was loving it.
I tried to take pictures to show the effect of the backsplash. It's a bit dark, as photos go, but here's a picture from the first night of the finished kitchen remodel:
And with a different kind of glowing, with more of the undercabinet lighting turned on (and the other side of the kitchen):
It's a strange feeling, having this big project come to a close. It's kind of like finishing my dissertation, where I was expecting to feel ecstatic, but instead, I'm just kind of exhausted.
Of course, it's been an exhausting time at work, with the due date for accreditation documents upon us--there's still time for inquiries and revisions, but not much time, so the tone of the e-mails is different.
It's interesting to reflect on this as a writing project. Each campus has various pieces to write, which we then forward on to Corporate folks who do the final editing and submission. In some ways, I serve as the campus editor and Corporate the overall editor. We're lucky, in that we have the previous self-study to use as a model and as a start for our writing.
Yesterday, I realized that I'm comfortable with including a variety of writing styles: some people use more charts and graphs, some are more concise, some have lots of examples and explanations. I think the Corporate editor would prefer that they all have the same style. Part of me understands--there's less risk that way, as long as your readers like the style chosen. Part of me approaches this project as a writer myself, so I'm less likely to edit for conformity.
I've seen the same dynamic as a teacher and administrator. Most of the administrators who have been above me would prefer all teachers use the same approach, and most of them prefer a conservative approach. I'm happy to let teachers create the curriculum that works best for the subject matter, so if one teacher requires more writing/journaling/photos/speeches/lecture/teamwork than another, that's fine with me.
I'm always surprised by how many people are not fine with diversity.
This post has gotten a bit long, so let me just record one more thing that's making me happy this week: I wrote a poem yesterday in the voice of the person who cleans up after the Last Supper. It's a quiet sort of poem, but it brought me joy.
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