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