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My Story, the Radio Edit
My Story, the Radio Edit
My full name is Trudy Nielsen Kimble. This is my 21st year as an educator. I have taught secondary level language arts for 17 and was a consultant for the area education agency for four. Prior to teaching, I attended college and then graduate school at The University of Iowa. I have a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in English and teaching.
My favorite subjects to learn about are science and history. As a child and young adult, I would read practically anything I could get my hands on and I wrote poetry and drew and painted...that is when I wasn’t riding my horses or my bike. The other day, while cleaning out my parents’ basement, I found some of my old artwork. With a slight pang of regret, I recognized that it was actually good, despite now being covered in 25 years worth of dust and basement mold. Or perhaps the mold is an enhancement. Who knows?
I have three adult children. They are each in a different phase of adulting: college, working, and whatnot. I miss them each day, but I am glad they are out living life, exploring options, having fun. All three are musical, intellectual, and hilarious. My favorite times in life include car trips with them and any time they are all home together these days. I am proudest of the fact that they each have a deep sense of social justice and I have never met another person like any of them, even their own siblings.
I have an 8-year-old at home. Because her life has been spent around much older people, she talks like a weird little adult. I could listen to her all day….not always by choice. She has no personal punctuation. She is verbal stream of consciousness. She is musical like the big kids, loves science, and enjoys all kinds of animals. She is getting into farming with me on our ancestral land. She loves the chickens and ducks best of all.
I spend most of my time outside of school working, hiking, or mountain biking on the farm. This year I had bumper crops of tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs. We have more than enough eggs, but I can’t picture eating any of the chickens, so I make lots of egg nog, omelets, and egg salad. I feel a little guilty that I don’t actually like eggs, but yeah, the chickens are surprisingly sweet and fun.
When I am not hanging out with my kids, farming, or rescuing tiny kittens, I play the piano badly, write short stories (nothing serious, just for narcissistic giggles), or ride my bike 20-30 miles at a time. Sometimes I stop a ride to hike along the Missouri River. Sometimes I fish or sketch or paint, then ride home to reluctantly go back indoors. I am an introvert and the time alone fuels the enormous amount of energy required to even attempt to be a good teacher.
My favorite moments in teaching always involve realizations--mine or those of my students. Like the time I realized that this thing I do as a job is, to many of my students, the thing that made some kind of a difference to them. Or the time I realized that everyone else might believe this kid is in the wrong, but today, in this moment, this kid is amazing, and I get to tell her that.
If I could change one thing about education, it would be to add more music. That could take many forms. The point is that my happiest times and those of my children have always included or been about music. How could more of that ever be bad?
If I could change one thing about the world, it would be to add more kindness. I lose nothing in being kind. The absence of kindness is hell. Why wouldn’t we mitigate that with the simple acts of being kind?
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