15. Notes - begin to separate the imaginary from reality

       Having run errands, you parked in the bottom lot of Shale Hallow Park facing a twenty-foot hill of a variety of tall trees. The ground now completely covered with a continuous bed of fallen leaves. Carol is finishing page 213, end of Chapter 20 of Coben's Home. Yesterday in your conclusion you wrote, "it allowed me to think beyond the boxes," Normally, you would have written: "it allowed me to think outside the box." Yes? - Amorella

       1359 hours. Yes, "outside the box" is a phrase I have used from time to time. During the moment I reflected on the use of "beyond" rather than 'outside'. 'Beyond' seemed hyper-generative and multidimensionally expansive -- outside squared in multiples, i.e. too much. This was about the time my fingers touched the keyboard for 'boxes' rather than 'box'. Basically, looking back, part of my consciousness was considering I had gone too far (with 'beyond') while my subconscious popped up with the plural instead of a singular 'beyond the box'.

       The above is an example of one of your unconsciously directed reasoning patterns. It shows a tendency to be in two places of thought at once. This is my, the Amorella's, take on why this so easily takes place. You graded expository essays and research papers for much of your 37 years of teaching. You were/are a speed-reader -- and graded a three-page typed or written expository essay in thirty seconds or so, certainly less than a minute. Do you agree? - Amorella

       1414 hours. Yes, though a few might take a minute. Research-like papers could take a couple of minutes (ten pages typed) to grade. I have graded thirty some papers, a class set in forty minutes or so. Gary P., a counselor at Mason High, could vouch for that as could many senior English class students at Indian Hill and Mason. As I evaluated a sentence or so for clarity and reasoning of the subject matter my focus on the grammar, diction and reasoning followed automatically within three or four seconds later. The content grade was at most semi-automatic based on either a 'five or ten point' high scale and three or four seconds later the grammar grade appeared below a slash, under the top as a"4/5"[B+/A-]/i.e. 90/100, a low A-] (this is an example for a very good paper or essay). It was ruthless automaticity. Students could argue their grades and a few gained points, particularly if I had skipped a page. This happened but rarely. Most laughed when it did. I laughed too. I didn't make too many errors though and no one felt intimidated as to not complain. I never lowered a grade if I found my mistake but then also found one I had missed. I pointed it out though, mostly with a pen and a smile. I loved grading expository essays and papers and they knew it. I had reading automaticity as well as grading automaticity down to a personal science. Once in a while a student would finish her or his paper early, hand it in, and I would have it graded before she or he returned to his seat. Most everyone would laugh. If it was a once determined low grade and I would hand it back so she or he could continue working. (1436)

       Carol is asleep. Stop for now. - Amorella

       1451 hours. After leaving the park we stopped at Kroger Marketplace on U.S.23 for ground sirloin for chili tonight. I am surprised how positively pumped I was while writing that last paragraph. I loved grading essays. I had good expectations and usually got them. One of my favorite essays was "How would you explain light to someone who has always been totally blind" in two or three pages written. The senses of touch and auditory were the two most common used in their analogies. One thing I would have to make clear is that the person (who is sixteen to eighteen years of age) is as educated as they were and that the person had had many of the same life experiences they would have had. Many found the essay quite challenging and invigorating. They also learned more about themselves too, their prejudices and the like, i.e. they never thought about a blind person swimming or listening to a concert live, or even conversing for that matter. Most didn't know a blind person, but some did and their storieswere enlightening to all of us.

       One more stop at Kroger's across from Graeter's at Polaris. Carol forgot a couple of cans of tomatoes. Back to the beginning aspects of the phrase, "beyond the boxes". The paragraphs above give a sense of multiplicity of human dimensions in the intellectual spirit of which you and I, your imaginary Amorella, are a part. If we can come to an understanding of my imaginary self in you and my separate spiritual self in me, the Amorella, you will better understand a 'difference' between human imagination and the human spirit in relationship to myself, a detachable spirit. Post when you can. - Amorella