As I understand it, in mid-2025 the topic of personal curriculum started emerging on TikTok. Jenny, then working at a small local library, sought to add a Personal Curriculum segment to the library programming. The schedule up until the turn of the year was packed.

So they scheduled a session for January; but due to inclement weather, postponed the inaugural session until yesterday.

There were five attendees with Jenny facilitating. She introduced the concept with a presentation, a mix of examples and videos, highlighting the breadth of what others had considered as well as how to write a curriculum:

• topic
• learning objectives and tangible outputs
• secondary outcomes
• potential resources
• schedule of activity

Jenny emphasized that the topic should be of interest, one in which you have some basic knowledge, and identifying a goal to achieve. Everything else was in support of enriching a personal interest.

Jenny gave her example: Color Theory. With a list of weekly activities. And a final outcome.

The others of us shared our ideas:

• Bassoon reed making
• Mushroom foraging
• Either ancient history or true crime

For myself, I came with a list of possibilities:

• poetry
• standing up a media server
• reading chonky books
• doodling

And while we were discussing our topics, I began narrowing mine. I knew that I wanted to avoid technology for my first foray; after all I’m on a computer all day. I looked to my other topics and narrowed poetry to haiku and chonky books to Don Quixote; with secondary sources.

We had a great shared conversation, I asked the young patron about their interest in ancient history. And knowing she was a young mother, made mention of Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. Something she could listen to in those moments between parenting.

As the session wound down I settled on a 4 week exploration of Haiku. We also agreed to meet in 4 weeks to check-in and report back.

STARTED A Personal Curriculum: Haiku

• Outcome: Assemble a small haiku zine (8 or so)
• Secondary Outcomes: Read classic haikus. Read on writing haiku.
• Timeframe: 4 weeks

Throughout:

• Write with pen and pencil on paper; one goal is to disconnect from my computer.
• Always carry a pen and paper.
• Seek to always carry Haiku and read from, instead of glancing at my phone.

Schedule:

• Week 1: Read «How to Haiku» by Bruce Ross.
• Week 2: Read introduction and excerpts of Sōseki Natsume’s Collected Haiku translated by Erik R. Lofgren
• Week 3: Review past haiku’s written to find samples.
• Week 4: Assemble hand-written haiku zine pamphlet, reproduce 20 copies.

The Morning After

When we got home from the library, I started reading How to Haiku. I wrote a few in pencil. We went to bed early, and around 5am this morning I found myself waking, a short poem at the tip of my thought. (Sidenote: Not some Kubla Kahn, just myself parsing out a haiku.)

I needed to capture that moment:

quiet early morn
commuter cars growl on by
old dog curls on chair

From which I found myself awake, and thinking of Don Quixote, and of Borges and Me by Jay Parini, and of Terry Gilliam; and a dawn readying itself to burst upon a still frozen lake.

My phone rattled, I had a before the dawn text from my father. Yesterday he had sold off his entire wood working setup; he’s moving and downsizing. His whole life, fixing things has been his identity, and the wood shop his means of becoming. The morning text being a follow up, saying that he has had to get comfortable with reading during daylight hours.