Bosom of Family

My dad's hometown is a nine hour drive from here. We used to leave after dad would get off work and all of us would sleep while dad would drive. I can remember waking up on those trips and hearing dad sing along with Harry Chapin to stay awake. This is classic car trip music in my world.

We leave tonight for Grandma's house where we'll holiday with eighteen of our family members. I didn't realize until Sunday that Wednesday would be the 20th anniversary of my Grandpa's death. I'm glad we'll get to be there. In my memory, losing Grandpa was the first death that affected me.

I'll miss hearing Harry Chapin in the middle of the night and I'll miss Grandpa meeting us at the door with some silly 3am joke. But I'm blessed beyond belief to have these memories.

Happy Thanksgiving

Overheard

So today, a young lady in the back of my room had a full volume discussion with her friend about the anxiety surrounding the results of her most recent pap smear.



You're wondering? She's fifteen.



The young men at the front of the room were discreet enough to simply put their heads down to laugh (or to HIDE THEIR HEADS AND WEEP) as the young ladies speculated as to what sort of abnormalities the doctor might find.



All I could think of is that if I get a choice, I'm hoping she has syphillis because if she does, there's a chance that that last brief bout of severe genius might come at the same time as her End Of Instruction test. Seriously, because that would be some kind of writing score!

So When You Say Senior Assembly, You Probably Don't Mean This...

It's Coming!!!

Start thinking now how you'll spend the International Year of Natural Fibres! I rang it in early by knitting with way more wool this holiday (all the better to felt you with, my dear) and by ordering our ultra cool spirit club shirts in 100% ringspun cotton.

What Did You Learn In School Today?

Just so you know what we learned in school today, this work of art is from a young lady who finished our 65 question district benchmark test in a half hour.

"Ok, are you sure you did your best?"
"Uhh...Yeah."

So then she drew unicorn on her computer.

Please don't think less of me.

Back For A Visit

I stumbled over what to title this post and almost called it "The Cool Popular Girls Come Back", but then I remember that these are the girls who did The Safety Dance in a pep assembly. Laverne and Shirley (holy crap, they're really like Laverne and Shirley!) revelled in their quirky, geeky, weirdness. It paid off for them, both were elected Miss Student Body in their respective Senior years (they mourned aloud to my third hour today, "This is killer, but no one past High School cares. It's true. How awkward was it to find THAT out!?").

I love them. I love their sarcasm and weirdness and I love that at nearly 25 years old, they come visit their HS teachers once a year.

So when they come, they only visit three teachers and I'm proud to say I'm one of them. They liked to give a sort of "Stay in school, say nope to dope" talk to my class and their observation of kid-in-the-back-who-just-isn't-gonna-learn was both astute and hilarious (for the record, he was totally out of earshot).

"Oh this is learning!! Look at that one, he's resting his head so that his brain is RIGHT BY the work!! It's like he has a port for knowledege."

Thanks, ladies, seriously. Come back anytime.

This Is Where The Party Ends

So let's say your'e at a gathering of co-workers on a Saturday night.

And let's say that one party-goer is a woman who hasn't attended a social event with you in forever.

And let's say that at said party, said party-goer thinks it's a fab idea to tell Anti-Semetic jokes.

Three of them.

And she's totally undeterred by the uncomfortable statements everyone makes between the jokes ("Um, wow, I think I'm a bit too close to teaching Night to hear this..."), in fact noticing how awkward the situation is and then continuing with the jokes.

How would you handle this situation? Create a diversion to draw attention from the bigoted jokester? Skip the passive aggressive and go right to aggressive with her? Whatcha gonna do? Spit in her eye?

Seriously, I'm fascinated. Share away.

Pondering...

If a kid you had in class sacks your groceries, why does he call you ma'am then despite the fact that he never calls you ma'am in class?

Love And Mercy

Somehow, through a complicated series of events, I've been put in charge of my school's Senior Assembly (the same event that inspired this). I'm more excited than overwhelmed--I haven't directed anything in ten years!

One of my plans is to gently suggest a few songs that vary from the standard graducation fare. This is one of the songs I plan to introduce. Aside from my introduction to the song (on the closing night of National Institute for Teaching Shakespeare, thoughts of grief for life without my dad echoing around in my head), I've recently become fascinated with Brian Wilson. Despite writing all these feel-good, sun and surf songs, his battle with mental illness forced him to hide from the world for some time. I love to listen to his music through this lens, it takes incredible optimism to wish for this world while knowing so personally of its dark opposite.

That's a wish I have for my students. The dark world will rear its ugly head at them sooner or later, and the optimism you find at the end of the darkness is so much sweeter.

What songs would you use for an assembly like this? Upbeat or slow, I'm collecting ideas.

New Comment For Report Cards

"Student is the reason my doctor prescribed Xanax"

The Creepiest Part of The Whole Night

Will I Am via hologram? Dang. Can I hologram myself to Anderson Cooper too?

Because You Can't Watch Election Returns All Night Without Looking Away

Carry This With You Today

You haven't felt like a citizen until you've had a teenager look you in the eye and ask you to promise you'll vote today. It's happened to me every election since I've been a teacher and it makes me proud of these students and proud to do my duty.

Someone is counting on you to vote today.

Baby's First Election

For years, I've wished my students could be excited for their first election. I've wished that they could vote for someone whose vision for this country could inspire them.

They make me remember my first election.

A group of us had restarted Young Democrats on our small Baptist campus. We generated quite a ruckus. There were shouting matches and signs defaced and all sorts of ugliness (if I were being fair, I suppose the ugliness came from both sides), but on election night, we were so excited.

I remember standing in line to vote about three people behind Brad and Kim Henry (now the Governor and First Lady of Oklahoma) and being in a huge rush to finish so I could get ready for the Young Dems election night party.

Our faculty advisor made a huge pot of spaghetti and as social chair, I planned the party activites. We had US maps to color the electoral college votes and I made party games like "Pin The Blame on The Oval Office" (Blindfold up and take a slip of paper with a Regan/Bush era failure, pin it on our picture of the White House!) or "Dan Quayle Foot In The Mouth" (rolled up sock with a Quayle-ism, aim and throw it into the cardboard box with an open mouth Dan Quayle on it!). It was quite a party, and Dr. Sanders' two preschool daughters played the games with as much vigor as we did.

When the returns came in and a winner was declared (because back then, children, we knew early in the evening), we got in our cars and hurtled toward OKC to the State Dem Party Victory shindig. We almost missed the party we were so late, but the DJ was still playing and we were giddy. When he cranked up "Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)", we all took the floor like madfolk and noticed a lone, elderly gentleman, weeping, head in hands.

"Sir! Come dance with us!! Aren't you happy?!"

"I am happy. I've been waiting twelve damn years for this night."

Ahhh...youth.

Maybe My Strangest Craft Project To Date

This is Morty. I made him in observation of Dia De los Muertos. I've liked the idea of the holiday since Dad died, and when the directions for him came in my email, it just seemed right. Please note that Morty is only the prototype and future yarn and paper clip skeletons will be far more attractive and neat.

If you want to show me up, you can get the directions here.

High School Tony Awards Honor Nation's Biggest Drama Club Nerds

Ahhhhh....

Are you ever pleasantly shocked to find that someone you like also likes something you like? Could I say "like" one more time? When I was listening to Cast On (knitting podcast) this morning and heard this song, it was that kind of squealy girl moment.

The Crib Chick introduced me to Lone Justice in High School, but this song takes me back to college where we danced to this song on our walkmans while camped out for Wind In The Willows tickets in London at the Royal National Theatre.