{"id":4035,"date":"2017-09-21T14:18:19","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T12:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/?p=4035"},"modified":"2022-12-26T12:12:29","modified_gmt":"2022-12-26T11:12:29","slug":"stationery-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/?p=4035","title":{"rendered":"Stationery Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I am about to release a group of high school students at the end of an hour-long class on American history. Many of them enjoyed the lesson. We laughed a lot.<\/p>\n

And yet, they prime for release. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the general antsy nature of teens or the fact that I told them about the cakes awaiting them, but they can’t wait to escape. I ignore any possible reflection this might be on me or my lesson. I can be self aware tomorrow.<\/p>\n

The stampede for the door is laced with murmured goodbyes. In a matter of a few seconds I am alone.<\/p>\n

Correction: I am alone with the notebooks and pens the university has provided for each student, many of whom eschewed their utility or ignored them altogether.<\/p>\n

I got into teaching for the stationery. Sure, there\u2019s the joy of collaboration and communication, the pleasure and reward found in assisting learner development and helping a student be their best selves.<\/p>\n

But mostly it\u2019s the stationery. For I am Stationery Man.<\/p>\n

I am an avowed stationery nut. Nothing brings me greater joy than choosing a notebook from my notebook shelf. A lot of time and consideration are focused on picking the perfect notebook for a task. We will be together for some time, so a conscientious decision must be made.<\/p>\n

Is it a journey? Well then perhaps a pocket-sized notebook for ease of mobility and access. Is it for drafting stories when out and about? Well, then a thirteen centimeter hardcover meant for placing on my lap on trams. Opening our stationery cabinet at work and looking for a pack of Post-its, markers, or a staple remover is a moment of zen in a hectic day. If there are stickers in that cabinet, well then my next lesson will feature stickers. Better yet, they\u2019ll stay in my desk drawer until I can come up for something to use them for at home. Can you say Czech labels on household items for vocabulary review?<\/p>\n

Oh, this pleases Stationery Man greatly.<\/p>\n

My journeys to other countries always include a visit to stationery shops. As Stationery Man, I like to see the national tendencies in notebooks and pens, the preferred method of keeping track of what tasks and events have to be done at a particular time on a particular date. It\u2019s not what you think, though, I do manage to keep a hold of myself. This is mostly due to the fact that I am usually carrying a backpack with limited room, so twenty notebooks are narrowed down to five, and then two are selected from them. Twelve pens are test driven and cut down to three and I choose one from them.<\/p>\n

Or sometimes I take all three. I am Stationery Man.<\/p>\n

Japan was a problem. As my friend Emma said, \u2018a stationery shop in Japan is like an orgasm with walls and a door\u2019 and this old man agrees. The rows of notebooks, each one representing a possible fresh start, a new, clean, dense, cool pad of paper, on which to spread my hand oils while writing my profoundest Twitter jokes and Facebook comments, all between two leathery protectorates. Each pen housing a plausible future best seller, a naughty note to a waitress, an expansive list for the grocery store.<\/p>\n

It is with that same joy and intent that I scour the leftover notebooks and pens in the classroom. I try one, two, three pens on the same pad. I discard one of the pens, and then weigh some of the other notepads. One winner has been marred by a top corner booby doodle and is instantly cast back at the desks. I decide on three notebooks, two pens. I fit them in my hand and carry them through the door. I don\u2019t look back at the sad rejects that remain inside, only pat the notebooks and pens I have as if to say, worry not, you\u2019re with Stationery Man now.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am about to release a group of high school students at the end of an hour-long class on American history. Many of them enjoyed the lesson. We laughed a lot. And yet, they prime for release. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the general antsy nature of teens or the fact that I told them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/damiengaleone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/stationeryman.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EvEu-135","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4035"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5743,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions\/5743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}