We just had our first class two days ago. This is my third class with Dr. Richards, and I am not surprised to feel that rush of energy, an appetite to think, create, challenge myself.
I finally read her “Every Word is True” and feel like I cheated myself by not reading this manuscript when she first mentioned it back in May. I was too swamped then and felt I could not possibly squeeze a multi-page article. I should have. It would have helped me in my academic writing class. I also see how and where I connect with my fellow students. I feel a kinship because I was allowed to take a peek inside their heads as they progressed through their Qualitative 1 class. I do not relate to most of the students who co-wrote the study because I did not feel tense about my Qual 1 (I also did not take it with Dr. Richards). Instead, I could not wait to take it.
Now I see that intellectual “leavening” I invariably experience at the beginning of each Dr. Richard’s course does not just happen to me. I wonder if this is so because Qualitative research stimulates thought by demanding we leave the boundaries of routine, or because Dr. Richards inspires it. I think it may be both. The subject matter generates the opening, Dr. Richards helps keep it open.