#YES SEIFERT AND I DO PLAN ON CONTINUING THIS

[this-book-has-been-loved]

A Gremlin In Glasses Swoops In To Save The Day

For @platonicvldweek​ Day 7: Alternate Reality

A Percy Jackson AU, cowritten by myself and @kabber​

Read it on Ao3 | Read it on FFN

“He’s on his phone again.”

Lance and Hunk sat in the back row of their classroom. Professor Montgomery was droning on an on about torque—whoever that was—and Lance was bored out of his skull.

Hunk, on the other hand, was intently paying attention, taking rigorous notes. “What?” he whispered.

“Marcus,” Lance hissed. “He’s on his phone again.”

The person in question was sitting a few rows in front of them, off to the right. He was a new student, having only transferred to their school about a week prior, but had already made teachers’ pet in nearly every class. Seemingly in opposition to that fact, Marcus was slouched in his seat, tapping away at the smartphone in his lap. Lance wasn’t sure how he was getting away with it. If he had pulled out his phone, the professor would be on him in an instant.

“He’s being so obvious about it!” Lance continued in a hushed tone. “How is no one noticing?”

Hunk shook his head. “It’s fine, man. Just focus. Don’t get too hung up on this.”

Professor Montgomery’s gaze fell on the two of them in the back, hardening in distaste, and Lance only hunched further in his seat.

Professor Montgomery resumed her lecture, and Lance resisted the urge to bang his forehead against his desk.

“I just don’t get it,” he continued. “I mean, who the fuck is torque?”

Hunk glanced at him in mild shock. “Lance, torque is a what, not a who. And we studied that weeks ago, we’re on the next chapter now.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

“Yes?” Lance’s attention shifted when the professor’s tone of voice changed. Montgomery was looking towards the far left end of the third row, a slightly pained smile on her face.

“Well, technically, centrifugal force isn’t actually a force.” The speaker was someone Lance recognized immediately—the precocious nerd kid who made most teachers’ lives a living hell. They were wearing an oversized green shirt that made them look even tinier than they were; and they were already pretty small to begin with, having skipped a few grades and being younger than everyone else in class. “It’s merely the reaction to the centripetal force on the object in question, resulting in the tendency of an object following a curved path to fly away from the center of curvature.”

Lance bit back a groan.

If it was possible, Professor Montgomery’s smile only tightened. “Yes, thank you, I was getting to that.”

“I hate this class,” Lance muttered, resting his chin on his desk. “I hate this.”

“Just a bit longer till the bell,” Hunk reassured him.

Marcus raised his hand, and Lance’s grip on himself got even more tenuous. “Though not a real force,” he said, ignoring the fact that he hadn’t actually been called on, “the centrifugal force is an inertial force. Newton described it as the pseudo-force directed away from the axis of rotation that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference.”

The know-it-all in the front rolled their eyes. “Well, yeah, everyone knows that. But it’s still just an effect of the inertia of motion, rather than its own force.”

Professor Montgomery opened her mouth to respond, but before she could say a word, the bell rang. The classroom full of students began to pack up, and Lance let out an audible sigh of relief as he grabbed his backpack off the floor. “And we’re out of here!” he said happily. “Weekend, here we come!” He turned back to Hunk, who was still putting away his notebook. “Ready to hit the town, my man?”

Hunk rolled his eyes in exasperated fondness. “Yeah, yeah. Just gotta stop at my locker first.”

“I swear,” Lance muttered, “sometimes I’m pretty sure that guy’s not human.” He was leaning against the wall of lockers, speaking energetically with his hands. Beside him, Hunk had his locker door open, digging through it.

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Hunk agreed absently.

“Like. No one is that perfect!”

“I hear you, man.”

“Fucking Marcus.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Him and his stupid iPhones.”

“Yep.”

“Thinks he’s so much better than everyone else, just cuz he uses Apple products.” Lance pulled out his own phone—a perfectly serviceable Samsung Galaxy Note 7, thank you very much. “Shit. You almost good to go? I don’t wanna be late for the movie.”

“Yeah,” Hunk said, closing his locker door. “Ready.”

“Perfect.” Lance took off down the hallway as Hunk followed “Let’s cut through the gym,” he suggested. “That’ll take us out closer to 2nd street.”

When they got to the gym, they were shocked to see that it wasn’t as empty as they thought it would be, and Lance’s irritation returned full force when he saw it’s occupant. “Oh, it’s Marcus.”

“Hey guys,” Marcus replied, just as chipper as always, a bright smile on his face. “Just got the new iPhone XLV.”

Hunk narrowed his eyes. “Pretty sure that’s not a thing.”

“I get all the newest iPhones before they’re released to the public,” he said with a smile. “This is the newest one! So new you’ve never even heard of it, I’ll bet.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Whatever, dude. Get outta the way, I’ve got places to be.”

Marcus made no indication that he had heard him. “These phones keep getting more incredible every day! There’s so many cool new features that you humans could only dream of!”

“Us humans?” Lance asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Like, look at this app I downloaded,” he continued, not taking his eyes off the screen. “It’s so useful. Really helped me out when tracking you two down!”

They looked at each other and simultaneously took a step back.

“Wait, tracking us?” Hunk asked.

“Dude, what the hell are you talking about,” he said flatly.

Marcus finally looked up at them, still smiling. “But I don’t need an app for what I’m going to do to you next!”

Right before their eyes, Marcus started to change. His arms and legs thickened to the size of logs, his shoulders widened dramatically as he began to grow taller and taller…

His face shifted, two eyes becoming one giant one in the middle of his forehead. His smile went from friendly and charming to a sneer full of crooked, darkened teeth.

The monster rose to his full height slowly, grinning widely down at them.

“Welp,” Hunk said. “We’re screwed.”

“Shut u—no, you’re right, we’re janked.”

The newly monsterized Marcus threw his head back and laughed, before raising his giant fist, the one not holding an iPhone, above his head, ready to pound them into tiny pancakes. The boys were frozen in place as he brought his fist down on top of them.

Right before they were crushed to smithereens, something small and green launched itself, screaming angrily, right at the cyclop’s massive one-eyed head.

The giant grunted in surprise, trying to get a glimpse of the thing currently riding on his neck. “Wha—Get off of me!”

“Wait a second…” Lance said, narrowing his eyes. “Isn't that the weird nerdy know-it-all kid in our physics class?”

“Oh, yeah, hold on.” He snapped his fingers a few times, his brow furrowing. “Shoot, what was their name…starts with a K, right?”

“Pidge,” the newcomer shouted down at them, hanging on for dear life. “I mean, yes, you’re right. But I prefer to go by Pidge.” They held on tighter as the cyclops tried to dislodge them. “Now get out of here!” They wielded a strange weapon- like a cross between a dagger and brass knuckles, which they were currently trying to slash across the monster’s neck.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Hunk said, already halfway to the door.

“Hunk, wait! We can’t just leave him!”

“What?! Are we looking at the same giant monster thing here?”

“I said,” Pidge growled through gritted teeth. “Get out of here, you stupid morta- Whoooa!”

The monster had finally gotten a hold of Pidge, ripping them away from his neck and halfway across the gym.

“Shiiiiit,” Pidge said as they landed with a loud crash on a pile of gym equipment.

The monster turned his steely gaze on the boys.

“Just for the record,” Hunk said matter-of-factly, “this is your fault.”

They turned and ran towards the door.

“It’s locked!” Lance shouted, pulling desperately at the door handle. Now they really did have no choice but to help. It was either that or cowering in the corner. The latter was starting to seem more appealing.

They didn’t get a chance to decide, because at that moment, Pidge emerged from the pile of old, smelly gym stuff.

“Catch!” they shouted. The two of them turned around just in time to catch two… hockey sticks?

“A hockey stick,” Lance muttered. He sent a glare towards his tiny classmate. “You couldn’t have thrown us something more useful?”

“We’re in the middle of our hockey unit, we don’t exactly have a whole lot of options here!” And with that, they whirled back on the giant, weird blade thing at the ready.

“I don’t know about this, bro,” Hunk muttered.

“Yeah, me neither. Let’s do this shit.” He rushed at the cyclops while yelling, waving his hockey stick wildly in front of him. Hunk followed behind him, also yelling, though it was definitely more out of fear than determination.

They whacked uselessly at the giant’s knees. The monster laughed. “You really think those cheap plastic things will do anything against me?”

“No, but this will!” Pidge pounced on the giant, swinging their arm like a street fighter suckerpunching his opponent. The blade in their hand sliced into the monster, sending the iPhone in his hand flying across the air and against the wall, showering them in a spectacular explosion of glass.

“No! That was my last backup phone!” Marcus roared.

“Oh, just wait three months for the new one to come out,” Pidge scoffed. They drew their blade across the back of the cyclop’s calves as they rushed past him, causing him to fall to his knees.

“You little shit!” He swiped at them, but they were too fast, dancing just out of his reach.

They ran up the monster’s arm as he pounded the ground just next to them. “Fuck you! And your overly-priced phones!”

The cyclops twisted his body trying to get rid of the unwanted pest.

“Looks like you need a new service provider,” they said intensely.

“Wow,” said Hunk. “That was kind of…”

“Really cool?” Lance suggested.

Pidge drew their knife across the cyclop’s throat, deep enough that his head hung off his shoulders for a moment, before exploding into dust, quite literally.

The force was enough to knock Lance and Hunk back several feet.

When the dust cleared, Pidge stood at the center of the room, covered in dust but looking quite satisfied with themself.

“Well,” Hunk started. “That was. That was a thing.”

“That’s certainly one way to put it,” Pidge muttered.

“So,” Lance said. “Pidge? Um, yeah, quick question. What the hell just happened?!”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Pidge replied cooly, wiping their strange dagger against their shirt. “Well. I’ll see you in class.”

“Hold up!” Lance cried, chasing after them and grabbing them by the shoulder. “You can’t just leave. What was that?!”

“Yeah, man,” Hunk agreed. “A giant cyclops or something just attacked us, and you’re trying to brush it off—”

“Wait.” Pidge paused, turning to glance at the two boys. “You…could see all of that?”

“Uh, yeah?” Lance replied, looking at Pidge in confusion. “What kind of a question is that? Of course we could see it!”

They were silent for a moment, looking between Hunk and Lance in shock. They took a step back, eyes falling to stare at the floor, their brow furrowing. “It must have sensed you,” Pidge murmured to themself. They looked up sharply, meeting the startled eyes of their companions. “What exactly were you doing before that thing attacked?”

Surprised at their vehemence, Lance stepped back. “Um. I dunno. We were just gonna cut through the gym to use the far exit.”

“He said something about tracking us?” Hunk offered. “Something on his phone.”

Pidge’s expression changed to one of annoyance. “Of course.” They raised an eyebrow, smirking at Lance. “Lemme guess. Too many selfies?”

“No!” Lance sputtered. “And even if that was it, there’s nothing wrong with selfies! They’re a great way to capture the moment—”

“Yeah, not for demigods,” Pidge interrupted.

Hunk frowned. “Demi what?”

Pidge bit their lip, looking around them anxiously. “We need to get out of here,” they decided. “Don’t wanna be here when the police show up.”

Hunk paled. “Police?!”

“Just follow me!” Pidge called, headed towards a side exit. “I’ll explain once we’ve reached a more secure location.”

‘A more secure location’, as it turned out, meant the alley a few blocks down the road. The three of them crouched behind a dumpster, Pidge periodically checking the street for any intruders.

“Alright, know-it-all,” Lance demanded. “We’re at your ‘secure location’. Now talk.”

Pidge sighed. “Okay. You saw that, right? You saw what Marcus turned into?”

“Y-yeah,” Hunk replied nervously.

“You’re lucky I was there to help.”

“That begs the question,” Lance began. “How exactly did you know to come to the gym just then?”

Pidge crossed their arms. “I’ve been tailing that guy for days,” they confessed. “Just waiting for him to reveal himself. I just didn’t expect him to go after you guys instead of me.”

“It looked like a cyclops…” Hunk added. “But that’s impossible.” He frowned. “Right?”

“Did it look impossible when you were whacking at it with plastic sticks?” Pidge asked.

“Uh…”

“But yes, to normal people, it would seem impossible. So impossible, in fact, they wouldn’t have been able to see it the way it really was. But obviously we’re not.”

“Normal people?”

“Yeah.” Pidge crossed their arms and tilted their head. “Well, I mean, some mortals can see through the Mist. But the odds of running into two at once—”

“Whoa, whoa, back up. Why did you say…normal people? Mortals? As if…as if we’re not?”

Pidge looked at them for a long time. “Yes,” they said after a while. “You’re not. And neither am I.”

Hunk’s eyes widened in horror. “If we’re not human,” he fretted, “then what are we?! Are we aliens?!?!”

“Relax, Hunk, none of us are aliens,” Lance said. “Aliens aren’t real.”

Hunk breathed a sigh of relief.

“You’re still human,” Pidge assured him. “Or, half.”

Lanced narrowed his eyes. “…what’s the other half?”

Pidge crossed their arms. “You’re in my history class,” they stated matter-of-factly. “With Mr Harris, right? Do you remember what unit we were studying last month?”

“Um.” Lance blinked. “Maybe?”

“Ancient civilizations,” Pidge answered. “Egyptian, Norse, Roman….” They raised an eyebrow pointedly. “Greek.”

“Greek,” Lance repeated dumbly.

“Greek god, Lance. One of your parents was a Greek god.”

There was a moment of silence. Then Lance abruptly stood up, turning to walk away. “Okay. Good talk. Nice meeting you. I’m going back home, where things make sense.”

“Yeah, where the police are out looking for the kids who just trashed the school gym?”

“But—” Hunk protested, “we didn’t do that! That was Marcus!”

“Remember what I said about normal people not being able to see that kind of stuff?” Pidge asked, raising an eyebrow. “This falls under that category. I can guarantee that when they watch back that security footage, they’re just gonna see the three of us, tearing apart the gym. No Marcus to be seen.”

Lance had frozen a few feet away, mid step. He and Hunk were silent for a moment, processing.

Pidge sighed. “I’ve been here before,” they said softly. “I know how this is. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve had to transfer schools. My brother too.”

“So….” Hunk still looked completely freaked out, as though he didn’t know where to go or who to turn to. “What do we do now?”

“Listen,” Pidge told the two of them gently. “Now that you know, things are gonna start getting more dangerous for you.”

“I’m not a fan of the word ‘dangerous’,” Hunk said.

“I need to get you someplace safe.” They stood up, brushing the dirt off their cargo shorts. “Come on. I know a place we can go.”

“A place?” Lance echoed warily.

“Mm-hmm,” Pidge said, flashing them a sly grin. “You guys ever been to New York?”

#platonicvldweek #Voltron: Legendary Defender #Voltron Legendary Defender #Voltron #vld #Voltron fanfiction #Voltron fanfic #pjo #pjo fanfiction #Lance MacClain #Hunk Garrett #Pidge Gunderson #Katie Holt #mine #my writing #i'm a writer #YES SEIFERT AND I DO PLAN ON CONTINUING THIS

[rodrigohyde]

Everything You Need to Know About Spring Cleaning Your Closet

How to Spring Clean Your Closet

There is something about spring that always seems to inspire cleaning. As temperatures warm up after a long, dark winter spent inside with little opportunity to ventilate with open doors and windows, you might find yourself digging through layers of coats, scarves, and sweaters in your closet. While looking for those warm-weather essentials, you have probably said to yourself, “It's time to clean out this closet.”

RELATED: 8 Ways to Give Your Bedroom Sex Appeal

This means it’s the perfect time for a good spring cleaning. We talked to some experts who know a thing or two about how to get a closet organized and keep it that way. It’s not as difficult a task as you might think.

Start With a Plan

First things first: Don’t be too hard on yourself if you have accumulated a lot to deal with since the last time you cleaned out the closet). Not everything has to be tackled at once. California Closets design consultant Nicole Caswell recommends tackling one section at a time so the whole project isn’t overwhelming.

“The easiest way to to start the decluttering process is to really see what you’ve got. Go into the project knowing your end goal,” says Caswell. “Do you want to minimize your wardrobe, display your clothing, or organize your pieces by season? You will more likely achieve a well-organized closet if you are focused on a specific end result.”

“Avoid stress with a realistic goal,” San Francisco-based professional organizer Molly Cole of Cole + Co. tells us. “A lot of my clients tell me they feel like they make an even bigger mess when they try to organize their closets.” She advises that even if you only get rid of a couple of items, you’ll feel better about your project if you achieve what you initially set out to do. “Have a plan for the items you decided to part with [and] remember to give yourself time to make that run to [a donation center such as] Goodwill.”

Michael Dimopoulos of Lazy Susans Cleaning Service in New York City recommends taking the following into consideration before starting: “If I’m just seasonally rotating my wardrobe, I need to be clever about what stays and what goes, in the event that I need to find a particular item.”

Know Your  Personal Limits

“Our closets are extremely personal, and there is not a ‘one method fits all’ approach to reorganizing your belongings,” points out Caswell. “Some might want to toss out their items and save the bare minimum, while others may want to keep everything and maximize their storage space.”

“Any method that gets you past procrastination is the best one for you,” agrees Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, clothing resale app Mercari’s finance expert and founder of Ask The Money Coach. “[According to a recent Mercari study] Americans currently have an estimated $93 billion in unused stuff cluttering our homes … just take the first step!”

The KonMari Method is the organizing method du jour, but watch for variations on the theme. “It’s important to remember that nostalgia is not your friend,” says Cole. “Many people want to hold on to items, not because they have any practical use, but simply because it brings up memories” She encourages her clients to think about the actual memory an item is connected to. Does it bring up a happy memory or a sad one? “If it’s the latter, it’s probably time to let it go,” she says.

“KonMari is very popular, but I found that it wasn’t for me,” The Container Store’s closet buyer Jimmy Seifert says. “It’s extreme … We like to hold on to things that have meaning … It’s easy to get rid of something that you’ve been holding on for years if it doesn’t mean much to you.” He swears by the Japanese minimalism book titled “Goodbye Things,” wherein author Fumio Sasaki changes his life by getting rid of everything he doesn’t absolutely need. “That actually pushed me to go beyond my comfort zone.”

RELATED: How Often You Should Be Replacing Your Sheets

Seifert recommends hiring a service, suggesting that some can even help with a move; purging, packing, and organizing as you leave one dwelling for another.

“It’s very important to give your space a once-over and remove items — especially big ones — that you want to get rid of before you start,” Cole says as a big believer in purging before organizing. “This clears up space and makes organizing much easier in the long run. I like to designate a space for those items outside the ‘organizing zone’ so you’re not stepping over anything or creating more clutter.”

Jordan Barnes, senior director of brand and communications at Mercari, likes to follow this rule of thumb: If you haven’t worn it or used it in a year, get rid of it. “Take a good look at all the stuff in your closet you’re no longer using,” she says. “Think about why you bought it. Maybe you moved to a new city with different weather. Maybe you upgraded to a newer phone. Maybe you just never got around to actually wearing those athletic shoes. You bought all that stuff for good reason [and] so will someone else.”

Maximize the Most Minimal Space

Even professional organizer Dimopoulos admits to feeling the limitations of space. “Living in New York City, unfortunately most of us don’t have much of a choice but to keep some things in off-site storage. You could vacuum-seal heavier items such as coats jackets, and bags, and stack them on top of one and other to maximize the space … or the lack of it.”  

Start by paying attention to how you fold. Cole recommends the KonMari folding method (check out YouTube for how-tos) for storing items vertically in drawers, maximizing space and accessibility. Sort clothes in the closet by type, then color. “Organizing is not just about clearing clutter; it’s also about making things aesthetically pleasing,” she points out. “I like to use this notion when organizing a closet, primarily because [it] tends to involve a lot of daily decision-making … which can cause stress and anxiety. If you wake up to a nicely organized closet, you’ll not only feel less stressed as you get dressed for work, but you’ll also feel a great sense of accomplishment when you get that daily reminder of the hard work you put in to organizing that space.”

The Container Store

“When I am done with everything, I then have the space to coordinate and organize T-shirts, hanging or folded together, long-sleeved T-shirts, sweaters, shirts, jeans, trousers, etc.,” Dimopoulos agrees. “Everything has room to breathe. The ability to see everything is important. I now feel lighter and cleansed and have a sense of being organized.”

Caswell likes utilizing boxes, jewelry drawers, slide-out pant racks, and cabinet doors to store, display, and organize clothing. “When everything has its place, clutter is eliminated,” she points out. “When hanging clothing, make sure to purchase higher quality hangers that are preferably all the same. By keeping hangers, boxes, and containers consistent, your closet looks instantly cleaner.”

Of course, as a buyer for The Container Store, Seifert isn’t short on storage ideas. “Basic shoe storage is probably the most common issue. We also have hangers for just about anything: wooden are best if you have the space, but we also have space-saving ones. Bins and storage boxes are next: I use bins for things that I wear often, keeping them lower in my closet so I can see them. Boxes go up high for seasonal stuff. We also recommend drawer dividers to keep like items together. We have plastic versions, as well as cedar to prevent pests [such as moths].”

RELATED: How to Make Your Apartment Look Bigger

Seifert also shared his thoughts on plastic, both for its environmental impact, as well as whether it’s good for clothing storage. “It depends on what you’re storing,” he says. “We use the phrase ‘fur, feathers, and leathers.’ All of those things need to breathe. If they don’t, they can deteriorate or get moldy, so we recommend cotton storage for them. I wouldn’t put them in a box: Bins are best, or hangers. Cottons and synthetic materials are fine in plastic, though — I use clear plastic boxes for all my sweaters.

“As an alternative to plastic, we carry a brand of post-consumer fiberboard boxes from Sweden called Bigso,” he continues. “If you’re going to buy plastic, buy high-quality products that will last a long time and that don’t have to be replaced often because they crack and break easily. When you are done with them, they can be recycled.”

Donate, Sell, and Recycle the Rest

Still, now that your closet has been organized and styled, donate what you can’t sell to local charities. “It’s a good idea to review your items at least once a year,” says Caswell, “and if you don’t wear it, find it another home.”

Dimopoulos is a big believer in giving away clothes such as great sweaters, jackets, bags, and coats. “Luckily, I’ve always had someone in my life whose taste in clothes I admired … and who had the best brands that I couldn’t afford,” he says. “I love hand-me-downs. In fact, [over half] of my leather jackets, luxury brand bags, wallets, and coats are from upscale brands that I’d never buy at full retail.” Don’t be afraid to give things to friends and family that might not be as concerned that last season’s styles aren’t exactly “au courant.”

He even suggests doing what he does and always buying second-hand since, by his thinking, it means he saves more. “So yes, I ‘pay it forward’ by donating my excess wardrobe items.”

A quick survey of some of the larger “thrift” charities’ websites suggests that you can donate just about anything, from clothing, shoes, and boots to hats, gloves, and scarves, even some housewares and collectibles. Don’t donate things like personal care items and fragrance. The “Golden Rule” of thrifting applies here: Don’t donate to others that which you would not buy yourself (even if you’re not a second-hand shopper).

Toss or better yet, recycle pilled knits, clothing with holes, used swimsuits, underwear and socks … and anything that smells too bad to ever freshen up or that is badly stained. There are resources for clothing recycling such as Planet Aid which focuses on specific populous areas, TerraCycle which allows for bulk shipping of old textiles, and Earth911 which has an easy search feature that makes it quick and easy to find a drop-off location near you.

If you feel like taking the time, this is also the point at which your discipline may turn profitable. Apps and websites such as Let Go, Mercari, Grailed, Poshmark, The Real Real, even Amazon or the granddaddy of them all, eBay, may allow you to turn certain items back into cash. If you’re a real brand or label fan who has only worn your expensive things a few times or less, this has more potential than clothes or accessories that are in your regular rotation.

Khalfani-Cox suggests doing a quick search to see how much items similar to yours are selling for. That will help you decide whether it’s worth the effort to sell them or just make a donation. “For things you’d like to donate, bear in mind that, over the past few months, organizations like Goodwill say they’ve been overwhelmed due to the popularity of the KonMari tidying method,” she says.

A New Hope

Once those donations are made, Seifert recommends paring down shopping habits now that you’ve got room for a fresh start. “I find myself buying things that aren’t as trendy, focusing on more classic items that I can have for years if I take care of them,” he says. “I may have less, but what I do have is higher quality. I buy a lot more solid colors so I end up purchasing less all around. That’s a good next step.”

Spring is always a great season to whip that closet into shape and start the green season fresh. Remember, this is not reality TV: Do things at your own pace and set realistic goals. Ask an expert for advice, which could be an organized friend, a hired hand, or even just found within the pages of a book. Be sure to have a clear separation between the “toss pile,” and what you’re keeping.

If you live in a small space, and can afford it, don’t overlook off-site storage if that’s the best solution for you. The “spark joy” conversation may be one best saved for your therapist … even Martha Stewart admits to having a bit of a hoarding mentality. Once you’re done, remember to sell, give away, or donate your cast-offs to your favorite charity.

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How to Upgrade Your Wardrobe for Each Decade of Your Life Your Comprehensive Guide to Packing a Carry-On Like a Pro How to Bring Pantone's Color of the Year Into Your Home from AskMen Style https://www.askmen.com/style/fashion_advice/how-to-spring-clean-your-closet.html

#AskMen Style

[lindenwoodhumanities-blog]

Legacies of Learning: A Conversation Between Geremy Carnes (Associate Professor and Chair, English) and Judy Seifert (Class of ’66)

Dr. Geremy Carnes, Associate Professor and Chair of the Lindenwood University English department, recently sat down to interview one of our alumnae, Judy Seifert, who graduated from Lindenwood University in 1966. An excerpt of the interview appears below. Enjoy!

Legacies of Learning: A Conversation Between Geremy Carnes (Associate Professor and Chair, English) and Judy Seifert (Class of ’66)

“Be as general as you can be. Try to take courses in as many different areas as you can, because you never know when you go out to teach what you’re going to wind up teaching.”

That was Judy Seifert’s response when I asked her what advice she would give to a student trying to make the most out of their English or Education programs. Given the many unexpected turns her own career as an educator took, it seems like very sound advice.

I recently spoke to Seifert, a Lindenwood alumna (class of ’66) about her experiences at Lindenwood and in the years since. Although far fewer high school graduates enrolled in college in the 1960s than do so today—especially female graduates—she told me that there was never any doubt growing up that she would be going to college. Seifert credits her father, Charles William Boswell, Sr., for making her recognize the importance of education from a young age. Boswell had obtained his own college degree on the GI plan, and Seifert remembers watching him walk across the stage in his graduation robes to accept his diploma when she was four years old. “In his mind, there was never a question about whether I would go to college,” Seifert said. “I would have never questioned it because he made it so apparent.” And as the only girl in the family and the eldest child, she always had the sense that she needed to “do something with [her]self.” So she enrolled at Lindenwood—at the time still a small women’s college.

I asked her if she always knew she would major in English. The answer: yes. “I think I knew from the day I walked into high school that this is my area.” She also knew that she wanted to teach in secondary education. (Elementary education was never on the table: “Maybe it was from having all those younger brothers, but I just could not imagine myself with a bunch of small children.”)

A Winding Path

If Seifert’s education seemed foreordained, her career as an educator proved anything but. Upon graduating from Lindenwood she got a job as a language arts teacher, first in nearby O’Fallon, and later at a high school in Texas when her husband was hired at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University). She assumed she would teach “forever.” It was a surprise, then, when an administrative position opened up at the high school and the principal came to see her. “We’d really like you to take that job,” he said. “Oh, but I don’t have a certificate!” she protested. “Well, that won’t be hard for you to get,” was the response. And that was how her career in school administration began.

Seifert made it clear, however, that it wasn’t the end of her career as a teacher—not by a longshot. “I was still so grounded in the classroom, I kept on teaching for five years and was an assistant principal at the same time,” she said. “That teaching part of me was alive forever as I moved on up into various areas of administration.” “Various” might be putting it mildly; over the course of her career Seifert served as an assistant principal, an assistant superintendent, and a college instructor, before eventually finding her way to the Education Service Center in Kilgore, TX, where she helped train the next generation of teachers and administrators. While she has held many different job titles, she has continued to think of herself first and foremost as a teacher, whether her students were children or her fellow educators. “I was fortunate enough to always be able to secure a corner for teaching in my administration profession. I was either in charge of curriculum or in charge of brand new teachers, student teachers.” In those roles, she was able to help new teachers learn how to “make the classroom come alive for students rather than being someone who just preaches at students,” she said. “Preaching doesn’t seem to do the job for us,” she added wryly. (I had to confess that my own experience has led me to that conclusion as well.)

When Seifert took that first language arts instructor job in 1966, then, she wasn’t entirely wrong when she thought she’d teach forever. “I have taught forever,” she said, chuckling. She just didn’t know exactly what or who she would be teaching.

Prepared for Every Future

When I asked Seifert how her English degree served her in her various administrative roles, she was quite clear about its value to her. “When you’re an administrator, you put out a lot of written material,” she said. It gave her confidence to know that when she sent those materials out to an audience, her professionalism would never be doubted. “Because no matter how great your message is,” she insisted, “if you don’t say it well, if you don’t say it so that it sounds like you know what you’re talking about—and I think that includes usage and grammar and syntax and everything—then it just doesn’t carry importance.” She also felt that her language usage skills transferred well when it came to public speaking. “As an administrator, you stand up and you speak in front of parents, you speak in front of big crowds of people. And you have to be able to sound like you’re an intelligent being. You can’t stand up there and misuse the language. If you do, it’s certainly not going to look like you should have the position you have.”

Her education training also transferred from the classroom to the administrative office. In fact, when I asked her for advice about instructing colleagues (I have myself recently dipped my toes into administrative waters) she told me that there isn’t much difference between teaching students and teaching teachers. “There’s a difference, of course, in age and maturity, and all those sorts of things,” she elaborated, “but teaching is a pretty fundamental art, and no matter what the concept is you’re teaching, you just do the very best you can to break it down so that people understand what it is you expect them to get, and what they should expect to get out of what you’re giving them.”

Challenges and Rewards

I asked Seifert what challenges she sees facing students about to enter into careers as language arts educators. While she has concerns about how changing technology has affected students’ communication skills, she insisted that the biggest challenge “is the same challenge that’s always been there: teaching English is an incredibly time-consuming outside-the-classroom job.” Language arts instructors can’t get away with having computers do the grading for them. “You’ve got to read it and you’ve got to give some personal feedback on it. And that’s a constant in your life.” At the same time, though, she insists the rewards of the job are commensurate with the challenges. One of her favorite things to do in the classroom was to assign her students an essay at the beginning of the semester and have them read it again at the end of the term. Usually, their reaction to their own writing could best be described as “appalled.” Helping students not only improve, but recognize the extent of their own abilities changes their lives. “Students come back and say, ‘I never could do this, I thought I was awful at this, and then you taught me that I’m not awful at this.’” Those are the moments Seifert finds make all the effort worthwhile. “If you taught them that they can actually write, that they’re not bad at this and that they can use this skill to make some difference in the world—wow, that’s maybe your best reward of all.”

Despite the challenges inherent in the profession, Seifert had this piece of advice for students pursuing Education certifications: “Please stay in teaching. It is so vital and so important to the future of this country. … Some days when you think, ‘Gee, I’ve graded all the papers I can stand, I’ve taken all the English classes I can stand,’ remember that there’s a bigger picture out there and you’re going to have an impact like no other person in the world can have. I just think teaching’s the most important job there is.”

A Family Legacy

At one point in our conversation, Seifert remarked, “Education is just part of my soul.” After learning about her and her family, I would add that it also seems to be in her blood. Two of her daughters and three of her grandchildren are teachers, as is one of her sons-in-law, and her husband is a university dean. She credits this family legacy of a love for education to the father she watched get his diploma all those years ago—and who she got to see obtain another one many years later. “When I got my master’s degree, and my brother got his, my dad said, ‘Well doggone, how come you two have one and I don’t?’ So he went back and got a master’s degree”—an MBA from Lindenwood, which had long since opened its doors to male students.

After Boswell, Sr. passed away in 2005, Seifert wanted to do something meaningful with the monetary legacy he left to her. “I realized the best way for me to honor him and honor his belief in education was to take some of that money and put it together into a scholarship—to make a tribute to his belief that education was important and that teaching was important.” The result is the Judy Boswell Seifert and Charles W. Boswell Sr. Endowed Scholarship, which goes to one Lindenwood student every year who is studying to be an English teacher. Now this family’s legacy of teaching is helping some of Lindenwood’s students to set out on their own winding paths through the education profession—and, eventually, to establish teaching legacies of their own.

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