Writing a short column can be more challenging than it seems. Especially when you have no theme assigned and complete topic freedom. ‘Here’s a blank page: good luck.’
In two years of writing for Resource, I’ve never skipped a column. I often have absolutely no idea what to write about until the very moment I open a blank document. Somehow, every time, something fairly interesting to address comes to mind. This time, though, I was very tempted and very close to skipping this one. But then I thought: this may be one of my last blogs. If not the very last one. And guess what? This thought did everything but help me. You know, one wants to finish on a high, write something memorable, relevant, emotional, nostalgic even. The thing is: I’m just a little bit stuck. And it’s not that I don’t have anything to say. I have too much.
What about what you can’t put in CVs, that just translates into gut feelings and weird dreams?
And I’m not the only one! That’s the thing: we’re overflowed with information, opinions, facts and fake news, there’s so much stuff deserving attention that eventually nothing really deserves it anymore, in this whirl of more or less unnecessary worries. To what does my opinion contribute ? Is my contribution really needed to this or that debate? Often, my answer is: no. I wish more people would answer the same before clogging the social media.
Next chapter
At this particular moment of my life, when a long chapter is closing, and the new one doesn’t even have a title. The pen is in my hand, but the book page is wrinkly, wet, stained, I wonder: what is it that really matters? What do I do with this cargo of stuff I learnt and experienced here, as a student and more? What about all the rest that you can’t put in CVs, that you cannot explain, that just translates into gut feelings and weird dreams? What am I going to write on this worn-out page that the world is giving me? How do I make it worthwhile even if it is falling apart?
The answer is: I don’t know – yet.
Donatella Gasparro graduated recently as a master’s student in Organic Agriculture; she hails from Italy. She currently works as a Teaching & Education Coordination Assistant – Farming Systems Ecology.