An Interview with Robin Cedar, an LBCC Instructor

An Interview With Robin Cedar, an LBCC Instructor

A poet, a lover of colorful clothing, and an all-around passionate human, Robin Cedar is an instructor at Linn-Benton Community College. She teaches Poetry and Creative Fiction among other writing classes.

She wakes up early, ( under normal circumstances ) taking the bus from Corvallis, just like many other people. Because of that schedule, she's typically on campus far earlier than any of the classes she teaches will start. With all that free inbetween time, she will deal with housekeeping stuff such as emails and grading.

She tries to keep all her classes on the same day, and put them back to back. After classes she has her office hours where students can come and talk to her about their writing, and she also shares an office with other writing teachers here at LBCC, so she can always get an extra pair of eyes on an essay shes grading.

Robin has a lot of spunk and a passionate heart for poetry and all things creative. Here's hoping this interview can capture some of her charm.

What led you to this job as a teacher? 

I have wanted to be a teacher since I was in the second grade. I like telling that story because people infer that I had a great teacher, but the reality is that I had a horrible second-grade teacher. 

I recall, at the tender age of eight, thinking, “I could do this better.”

As for the job itself, I have always loved working with students, either in a group or one on one. I love seeing that “ah-ha” moment when everything connects. 

I love writing and therefore I love teaching writing. It's really rewarding.

How did you get your job at LBCC? Were there any other colleges you considered teaching at?

LB is such a great place. I'm painting a wide brush here, but in general community colleges have a wide array of students. 

You have students who are trying to transfer elsewhere, returning mothers, veterans who have served our country and are now here to get an education.

You get a diversity of people, as opposed to a university where you're mainly teaching students 18-20, and fresh out of high school. Those students are great, but I love working with a wide array of people.

LB is special, you get people returning to gain more knowledge, and it's really rewarding to help them reach their goals.

Why writing?

I think teaching writing especially, I get to know my students a little bit more deeply than I would if I was teaching math. 

I think writing is so inherently vulnerable. Especially creative writing or narrative writing. You learn a lot about your students and I like that point of connection. I like being able to foster that empathy to help students expand their world view. Even if many of my students, given the choice, would never take a writing class. 

Helping them realize that they really enjoyed this class or that they learned something practical, I like helping them reach that moment. 

Do you have any advice for teachers during this time of lockdown and transition into online learning?

For many teachers, old and young, technology is a struggle. They’re used to teaching in person. So having to make a website or navigate a Zoom class can be really frustrating. 

So I think it's important to not just be understanding of your students and the struggles they’re going through, but also to be gentle with yourself. You're not a perfect machine. You’re a human too who is struggling and stressed out and afraid. Just because the online thing isn't working, doesn't mean you’re a crappy teacher.

I think especially in an online class, it's good to check in with your students. It can be hard over the internet when you don't see a face. 

How have you been “staying sane” during lockdown? Have you taken up any new hobbies or gotten to dive deeper into old ones?

Bold of you to assume I am sane. But if I'm honest, I'm playing a lot of “Animal Crossing” (my native fruit is pears). 

Usually I get hard on myself about “wasting time” on some frivolous thing, but I think that game is definitely keeping me sane. 

I also took up knitting again for the first time in 10 years. I have made two truly lumpy scarves. And to keep myself out of my head a little, I have been trying to do more physical activities. I’m going for walks, listening to podcasts while grading, and some art that will be buried with me.

Also I have purchased yeast, but I have yet to make any bread.

I've been very mindful with how my time is spent without beating myself up. Some days are just Animal Crossing days.

Do you have any place or person you're looking forward to visiting once quarantine has ended?

Ah, my family of course. All my family lives in Washington and I haven't seen them since February, and I miss them. 

My mom and I have lots of “Project Runway” to catch up on.

 Can you give any early examples of how you were interested in writing?

Yes! In first grade ( I was six ) I wrote a 100-page epic. It spanned multiple generations of characters. It started with two people who grew up, had a family and the rest of the book was about those children characters. 

Extremely rudimentary, and the only thing I can remember is the ending. Which was the grandchild flying a kite with the grandparent and that was the story coming full circle. 

You mentioned that you write poetry.

I do, I've said before that you don't get into poetry because you want to make money. It's about self-expression. The published world of poetry is a lesson in being humble, you get a lot of rejections. But you can't beat that thrill when you get the acceptance letter. It's a really nice feeling.

Do you have any stories in the works right now?

I have about four books of poetry, currently unpublished, that I let sit for about a year before I come back to them. 

This might sound silly, but a couple of years ago I started seeing a therapist. After I started doing that, a lot of the things I felt I needed to write about stopped being a focus. 

I actually took about a year-long break from writing because I didn't feel like I needed to. It was as if I didn't have anything to work through. I could just focus on my teaching. In a way it was very freeing, as if I had given myself permission to not worry about it. 

I no longer worry that I haven't wrote a poem this week! And I focus on what I want to write. Subjects surrounding identity, exploring what a home is, and of course I love me some nature metaphors. We love the ocean, we love the cosmos. But one of my obsessions is exploring how we relate to ourselves.

Can you talk about any unique properties in your writing process?

I have that all-or-nothing energy. If I have Saturday off, then that whole day is spent on writing for like nine hours straight. It's intense and not practical because of how exhausting that is. 

But what benefits me is having a specific time for writing. Specifically this term where I'm working from home, I spend about 20 minutes before grading that is just for writing. That helps me. 

Also sometimes I will just disconnect my internet so I’m not tempted to get distracted during that writing time. And sometimes I have to change locations, that can be helpful. I do not write in the same place where I do my work.

Do you have any influential books that inspired you to pursue this writing road?

A lot of the poetry I experienced early on was mostly Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein, and there's a reason those writers are so well-known and well-loved.

But to this day, even as someone in her 30’s, I genuinely love young adult novels. I find it so fun. I love the escapism of it and I love the silliness but at the same time YA can tackle some real issues. 

My go-to book though is “Howl’s Moving Castle.” It's very different from the Studio Ghibli movie. It's fantasy with a bit of tongue in cheek.

To end on a Very serious note, If you had to choose one superpower, what would it be?

It really depends on the day, if you had asked me a few weeks ago I would have said invisibility because I didn't want people to look at me. But right now I would say teleportation. 

Specifically, teleportation where I could literally go anywhere. Like to be able to say, “I wanna go to Paris,” then POOF there I am. Top of the Eiffel Tower.

At a Glance

Robin Cedar

Occupation: Instructor at LBCC

Family: Single

Years at LBCC: Four

Classes: Fiction Writing, Poetry, Technical Writing

Other Interests: Studio Ghibli Movies

Final Thoughts about "On Writing" by Stephen King

On Writing gave me the inspiration and push I needed to write my first short story in months.

The book is masterfully written by Stephen King, containing wonderfully chunky sections that detail his younger life experiences, the tools every writer needs, a hefty section about the writing process itself, and then a capstone which details his life after a gnarly car accident.

In this post I aim to summarize the main points I took away from this book.

Scheduling:

King offers that a writer should set aside a specific time each day, and he does mean every day ( because Stephen King is mad but passionate ), that time should be completely dedicated to writing. 

Curtains drawn, door locked, phone hucked to the other side of the room and if you can help it write longhand on paper so even your computer can't distract you. 

Setting aside this time will make writing feel like a real thing you're accomplishing, you know when and where you're going to take the time to just write. 

Having this set aside and scheduled will also inform your muse ( what King uses to refer to his personified inspiration, if that sounds strange, its because it is but King explains it better ) when to show up and to: "chomp their cigar"

I have taken this step to heart and for a week thus far from 9 to 10:30 am I have made my bedroom a perfect creative prison in which I am doing solely writing. I must speak as highly as possible of this technique. it really gets you in the mood quickly, especially when you're aware of its arrival the night before. You'll be very excited about getting to write.

Cuttin' the Crap:

Throughout this book king is adamant about being straightforward, ignoring unnecessary techniques, and above all else getting right to the story. 

Specifically he talks about how stories benefit from not slogging down their readers with backstory, how a writer can benefit from simply writing everything onto the page and then fixing it up later, and especially King is adamant about his hate for adverbs.

After you read his few page tirade against Adverbs, I won't dwell on this for as long as he might. but you won't be able to see an adverb again without really thinking about its place in your writing.

The attention to simply telling your story in the most straightforward way possible can be a great relief for many writers to hear. I know it has been for me. 

Intended Reader:

There is a beautifully wholesome section of this book that details King's relationship with his wife and his writing. Describing her as his Intended Reader, the person he thinks will chuckle at this line or will shed a tear at that one. 

He imagines this while he's writing his first draft or so and this act of thinking ahead as to how your piece will be received gives you some foresight into what messages or emotions your story might be evoking, and how you can improve upon them.

This is a similar technique to one i've heard comedy actors/ performers use. where the live stage can be a very panic inducing place so you focus up, You find one friend and you act as though you're performing just for them. 

This takes off some of the pressure of the outside viewer and this same lens when applied to writing can help you forget about the whole world reading your story, and just think about how you're trying to impress them (your intended reader) and make them laugh, instead of the entire world.

Closing:

Im near certain that every writer by this point has heard the old, "Show don't tell line" but like everything in life and in writing, it must be a balancing act. So i've taken Kings quote of, "Never tell us if you can show us" to mean the same thing but to give that balance where sometimes: one must tell.

and just because Im greedy and love this book, I'm going to share another quote, "And why worry about the ending anyway? Why be such a control freak? Sooner or later every story comes out somewhere."

I cannot recommend this book enough. I haven't read many other "on writing" type books, but I have taken a lot of writing classes and have watched many video essays on the topic of writing. 

This book by Stephen King is a very whole piece of literature that tells the hopeful writer like it is and holds back no necessary punches along the road of education, and at the same time there is so much wholesome and beautiful or inspiring quotes in this book to really kickstart your heart and make you need to pick up the pen.

Postcard from the future: Fitton Green

Fitton Green holds many of my most cherished memories and I'm glad for it. 

Three years ago the natural area hiking zone

known as Fitton Green became the perfect

encapsulation of Oregon's natural beauty for me. 

Three years ago I moved from suburban wasteland

Swartz Creek Michigan, across the country to green

Corvallis Oregon. The first group of friends I made

in Corvallis took me to see a sunset one evening.

Located at a spot that the group's self proclaimed

“Mountain Man” had picked out. 

The drive was longer than the hike to get to the lookout

point and when you're there, all you can muster is an

open mouth and two eyes filled with wonder.

The rolling hills are everywhere, the distant cityscape

is expansive, and The green pines are tall. 

One Pine tree in particular you'll notice stands alone against the wind. Over the years

this tree has adapted to the weather and only grows its branches in the same direction the wind typically blows.

This was taken on my first trip to Fitton Green, just before the sun set.

The views are unbeatable. You feel like you're standing at the edge of a great valley, overlooking

the entirety of nature in one massive swoop. You can see distant lamp like lights of peoples houses,

there's a distant road with ant sized cars that drive along it, Fitton Green puts this part of our world

in perspective. Give it a shot, I think you'll enjoy the feeling.

What I wish to detail in this entry are two off the beaten trail

secrets for you to find on your next trip; a lengthy cage and the superior vantage point

known as ‘the Grand Chinook’ to those with the knowledge.

The Dangling Cage

This small feat of human mcgivering can be found just off of the main beaten path.

When you’re walking along towards the mountain views there is one point with some

thick wooden railing. On your left of the trail is a steep incline that is barely a path. 

When standing there, if you look up into the sky ahead you can find a visible rope tied

from one tree to another. Dangling down from there is a seperate rope which holds up

the metal cage in question.

Be aware that this is a very steep place to hike.

Wear proper footwear and proceed with caution.

Especially avoiding this small offshoot trail

when it's muddy.

That being said, if you do find this hanging

woodland art piece, feel free to leave a note

or something interesting. Perhaps the next traveler

will find what you say and continue the action.

But be sure to put it in something waterproof,

we do live in Oregon and Oregon sure loves to rain.

To give some extra backstory on the cages origins,

it was set up by myself and the aforementioned

"mountain man." Some weeked in the april of 2017

we decided the world needed a bit more hidden things

in it and took it upon ourselves to provide. 

We took a trip around Corvallis grabbing the supplies; the Cage, proper tree climbing attire,

dried pineapple (as snacks), and lots of rope. Once we were stocked, we took the mountain

man’s beat up vehicle to our destination. We listened to tunes we could nod our head to on

the way there. 

With supplies in hand, finding our spot was quick. We needed it to be hidden but accessible. 

Then came the climbing. The Mountain Man took to the thick branches like he was born into

them. I can still remember his face smiling down at me without a word.

At the top of his tree with the rope, the Mountain Man tied my end to a heavy weight which

he proceeded to hurl in my direction. The tricky part was getting it around the thick foliage

which wished our plan to fail.

After a few tosses the rope was hooked onto a branch far enough away to provide some

tautness. 

Next came my tree. Thinner than the previously climbed tree, its branches begging to

stay connected. I cautiously made my way to its peak, reached an arm out to get my

end of the rope, Tied it off, and slinked my way to the ground. 

With the heavy lifting complete, the Mountain Man and I victoriously connected

the cage to the hanging rope, took a few photos, and took his vehicle back home

for dinner. 

The Grand Chinook

This second secret of Fitton Green I will say very little about. For whats an adventure

with all the mysteries revealed?

The Grand Chinook is a small trail disconnected

from the rest of the fitton green loop. It gives an

even better view of the sun kissing the green peaked

rolling hills, and without a doubt is a solid place for

a hangout with your bestest of friends.

Fitton Green has many stories its tall trees could

tell, many of them mine, and I'm certain you could

make a few of your own there as well.

At a Glance

Where: Fitton Green

What: Natural hiking area

Best Way To Get There: park at the trailhead and hike a short way up to the viewpoint

Address: Corvallis

Best Times to Visit: Day time, warm months, preferably sunset/ sunrise.

Lesson's from "On Writing" by Stephen King

To the best of his ability, Stephen King documents how his stories form and how he allows his stories to come to him. Saying time and again that, "Good stories seem to come quite literally from nowhere -- two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job (as a writer) isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up"

That quote speaks volumes for how this book is written. King's "On Writing" is a guide that helps you integrate a new type of perception into your daily life.

He doesn't attempt to force his way of writing onto you, rather through examples King shows the reader what ideas formed the start of a story for him and how you can do the same. For everyone lives interesting lives to one degree or another, it's all about how closely you pay attention to yours.

Now, Stephen King is known for his horror so go into this book expecting some degree of bleak scenery and gut turning stories. King pulls no punches when describing his younger days, which only adds to the memorability.

Some of the nastier stories include trips to the doctor as a child, terrible babysitters, and a later story about a man named 'Hook Hands Harry' who won't have to worry about washing his hands ever again!

Past the stories there is a section titled, "Toolbox." This section goes into what King believes every writer should carry with them and some helpful examples to what you could add to this supply.

After scouring through this quick read of a book, these are the top two lessons King conveys.

King is married to Tabitha King and in the section of the book where he's describing the process of writing "Carrie" and how he almost gave up on the story he says the following,
"Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don't have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough"

Referring to how his wife quite literally pulled the script out of the trash and encouraged him to keep going at it.

The second and final thing I will say about this book is how well King conveys the lesson of, how much he detests adverbs. I mean this guy really loathes the things. There are many pages dedicated to bashing the use of them. But by the end of his tirade you can see his point. We will close on this quote which I think sums up his feelings.

"The previous context (in your story) should be your Adverb. You don't need to tell us that he closed the door firmly because if the story has that tension already then we should get the vibe that the door wasn't closed gently."