About

Joni Koehler, aka the pauser

FAQS, Year 2

Why do you call your blog the pauser?

Because I quit my full time job, even though I’m not old enough to retire.  Now I work part-time and write part-time.  It was a “pause,” I really needed, and one I’m continuing for a second year.

The idea of a pause also speaks to a philosophy of taking a step back and re-evaluating what’s important.  In my pause, I’ve learned that few things are important enough to get all het* up over.  In my pre-pause life, I had a rather long het* list.

What is your blog about?

The World Wide Intergalactic spectacle we call the internet.  I determined to learn more about the processes, skills, etiquette, and consequences of living in the virtual age.  I’m still in my digital chrysalis, and when I learn something new regarding social media, I write about it.

Writing.  In my professional life, I work with public school writing teachers in both the language arts and content areas.  I hope to write about the processes and skills of writing in a way that will be helpful to other folks like me who just like to write, as well as classroom teachers who are working to get their students to write in more meaningful ways.

Other.  I’ll write about other stuff that interests or inspires me.  I might right about hard things I’m going through just because writing makes me feel better.  You may be subjected to some of this writing if it seems good enough to read.  It’s my blog.  This is one of those things I refuse to get het* up over.

Who are you, pauser lady?

I’m a fifty-five year old woman.  I live in South Texas in a small town.  I own a tractor.  I have two canine creatures that we refer to as dawgs. If I say the s-h-i-t word (sorry, Mom, sometimes it just slips out), I use all of the vowel sounds in there, because I’m southern and it’s only polite. I say things like *het because my mother and her mother said *het.  I’m not sure what *het means, but I think you could substitute the word “worked,” or “bothered,” for het to get the closest meaning.

I’m married to Super Husband for the last thirty-one years.  I still want to be around him, so that is a happy statistic in my column.  We have two grown children.  Our children are both happily married, live in their own homes, and pay their own bills.   Another happy statistic!  In fact, most of my statistics are happy ones.

What do you hope to accomplish with this blog?

I hope that someone else who reads my blog will say, “If the pauser can start a blog and a writing life at the age of 54, then so can I.”  I hope people will sometimes laugh when I write something funny and mist up when I write something sad. I hope to advance the cause of holistic literacy in the classroom.  That sounds kind of heavy.  I hope to learn ways to advance causes without sounding like a soul sucking downer of a person.