My Next New Thing

Understanding Change Means Plunging Into It

It’s a busy summer ahead. The days and hours are precious. Among the tasks: a backyard landscaping project, finishing up requirements for my teaching certificate, preparing for my first year of public school teaching beginning in August, garage cleanup, selling our Tennessee lake properties, and building a new website as the repository for written thoughts on education, my literary work, and a myriad of other topics where there’s something that needs saying.

I just completed the bio for the “about me” section of that site (stevewatkins.me) that should be live by July. Here’s the text:

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A wise man once told me, “Always be a rookie at something.”

There’s wisdom in that statement. We should always be learning, growing, pursuing our better selves through the gifts we’ve received.

At 60, I plunged into the rookie world once again, and after a 35-year career in mass media, became a high school English and oral communication teacher. My students are my mission field for this new life season. It’s been an answer to my sincerest prayers.

As a non-traditional educator, I teach through the lens of a journalist/author who has lived and loved the craft daily. South Carolina author Pat Conroy, one of the best to ever craft a sentence, once said, “The most powerful words in the English language are, ‘Tell me a story.’”

That’s true enough.

Society is founded in the notion of story. We share accounts of our daily lives, family, hardship, relationships, right to the very end where our life is encapsulated in a few short paragraphs called an obituary. One day a cemetery headstone will mark my life with a span of years, something like 1966-2056. That dash in between numbers represents the story of my life.

But let’s speak of better things.

My writing is guided by thirty-five years’ experience as a journalist, a rural upbringing on a small Arkansas cotton farm, an intentional pursuit of truth and authenticity, and an empathetic nature. Personality profiles label me as an ENFJ on Myers-Briggs, Enneagram Type 3, DISC 99^th percentile high “D,” and my love languages are acts of service as a giver, and physical touch as a receiver. All this creates a communication style that is direct, to the point, and sometimes guided more by emotion than by rational thinking. I am a “feeler.”

For the record, and while we’re being honest here, my work is also guided by my faith. In many ways, I’ve considered myself a missionary-journalist with a high capacity for empathy over the years. I’m lavishly imperfect but anchored in faith.

I’ve published three non-fiction books, one of which achieved status as an Amazon Best-Selling New Release. The current WIP is a novel titled “Empath.”

Outside writing and the classroom, I love gardening, cooking, fishing, and duck hunting. Someday, I hope to attend culinary school and to complete seminary which I started in 2022. I suppose I’ll pursue rookie status to the end. My personality is best described as eclectic – someone whose style and ideas are derived from a broad and diverse range of sources.

My wife, Dana and I have lived a great life together. We’ve walked the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago, spent ten years off and on at a home we built in Puerto Cayo, Ecuador, and even appeared on an episode of House Hunters International.

I have three amazing adult children, all of whom work in the health care industry. Dana is a real estate agent in Jonesboro, AR. Levi is our mini Australian Shepherd.

We created this site as the home base for expression on a wide range of topics, not the least of which is education. I enjoy having a platform for public expression where I can say things I believe need saying.

Thanks for stopping by. I’d love to hear from you. Reach out any time through the “contact” dropdown on the menu.

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