Wayfarer Journal

The Year of the Black Dragon

2012-01-29T11:17:00.000-05:00

I'm not an astrologist, but I've been fascinated for a long time with the rich, descriptive nature Chinese astrology. Its many separately turning dials (yin/yang, five elements, twelve animals) all work together to evoke a wonderfully expressive variety of images to communicate in much greater depth the essence of a thing than I feel like western astrology does.
Consider the way Chinese astrology is used to forecast the energies for a given year. Last year was called the year of the White Fur Rabbit (or, more particularly, the Yin Metal Rabbit). It was, astrologically speaking, expected to be one of a series of years with conflicted energies. This one would look peaceful on the surface, but be full of hidden (unexpected) problems, challenges and trials. These trials were not expected to be of a catastrophic type, overall, but it was not a time to do things on a grand scale because even the smallest of these problems could bring down a great endeavor.

Doesn't that give you a good sense of things?

2012 is the year of the Yang Water Dragon, which is known more descriptively as the Black Dragon.

Chinese dragons traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers. They are a symbol of strength and good luck and, as the lone mythical animal in the Chinese zodiac, are considered to be unpredictable, untouchable, mysterious. The Black Dragon is traditionally associated with auspicious new beginnings, so when their image comes up on the calendar it suggests a time to start new ventures and boldly, but thoughtfully, initiate change. People who can pursue their own passionate ambitions while meeting the needs of others are best suited to navigating the energies of Black Dragon times. The image of water calming the Dragon's usually tempestuous nature communicates in a descriptive manner the importance of being mindful of other perspectives and considering to the plight of the less fortunate is a good way to be in tune with the energies around us.

In terms of the year ahead, the Black Dragon does not mark the end of the unsettled period of the last couple of years, but it does indicate the beginning of transition and potentially major change. The relationship of the various cycles in the upcoming year is symbolized by the image of water sitting on top of earth (some use the image of an earthen dam). According to Chinese element theory, earth is the destroyer of water (or, in the image of the dam, it holds it back) and so this relationship indicates a period of conflict. However, the water of the annual cycle is a natural element of the Dragon. Water produces wood, which signifies growth and so, even though things are still in a bit of turmoil, there is plenty of possibility for the year to be a positive one.

Doesn't that sound cool?
Happy New Year!

[Image Credit]

Not Your Mama's Grading System

2012-01-13T16:27:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of the fall semester at my school. Grades are due soon, at which point parents will be able to see where they're students are on the continuum of success in my classes. I thought I'd explain how grading works in my world, because it's very different from the traditional.

My school has adopted a standards-based grading model, which means that students are not given grades strictly as an average of their work on assignments (tests, homework, etc.) over a given term. Rather, teachers define at the start of the class a series of things that students should be able to demonstrate they know or can do by the end of the class. For example, my class has 15 Learning Targets, including the following (they are each meant to be preceded by the phrase, "I can..."):

...Carry on a conversation in the language I’m studying about familiar topics, with appropriate vocabulary.

...Identify and use the numbers from 1-100 in the language I’m studying.

...Use a foreign language dictionary.

Students are then assessed (repeatedly, in lots of ways, over time) on their ability to know or do these things, and their progress is measured on the following scale:

4 – Exemplary, or "I wicked get it!"

3 – Accomplished, or "I get it."

2 – Developing, or "I kinda get it."

1 – Beginning, or "I’m just starting to get it."

Over the course of the year, students work toward being accomplished at the things they set out to do in the classes (I try very hard to communicate that this is not the same as getting a grade). At the end of the year, I evaluate where each student is at on all of them and, together, we make a determination about whether they are prepared to move on to the next level of language. I have come to love this approach for several reasons:

1. The conversations I have with my students are not about getting grades (which, ultimately, mean nothing), but about learning stuff. When I student does a crappy job on an exam, for example, I don't talk to them about the crappy job they did. I ask them what went wrong and, through that discussion, we come to some conclusions about how to do better next time. Maybe they didn't study because they've got a lot going on in their world at home. OK, fine. How can the studying of my material live in harmony with that? What needs to happen at school to support doing that practice? I'm finding that this is far a more effective and meaningful conversation to have than, "You got a C."

2. It takes away the fights over why, "You got a C." The goals my students are working toward in the class and are clear, and so they are able to make good connections about how my material relates to the big picture. "Have a conversation in French" is clear and understandable. When I tell them to practice reading dialogs out loud, it's not just work. It's work with a purpose that makes sense. When it comes time to look at how well they can do that, we can both refer to the evidence and come to consensus about how well they can do each of the standards. The discussion about advancement or retention is based only on their performance on the 15 standards of my class -- things like attendance, behavior and timeliness of homework are not on that list, and so my students know they won't be used punitively by me. That doesn't mean I don't report on them or that they don't enter the conversations we have about how to do the best they can; what it does is put those things in their rightful place, which is NOT in the gradebook.

3. It allows me an incredible amount of flexibility to help students in individual ways. There is no single way students have to demonstrate a standard. For example, if the goal is to get students to be able to have conversations in French, but they're very shy and don't participate in class, I can sit with them one-on-one in the hallway or in the library or at lunch and, totally informally, add French to our conversations (it's worth mentioning that I spend a lot of time with my students that doesn't take place during my class), over time and without realizing it, they've shown me that they can talk with someone in French, and how well. This is a lot harder to do well without fudging a grade in a traditional system.

4. It makes clear that grading is subjective and that it involves professional judgment. Any teacher will tell you that there is no such thing as a truly objective grading system. We have created countless methods to make them appear objective but, when it comes right down to it, we fudge grades to make them say what we want them to. By bringing the conversation openly to my students (who, it is worth noting, are generally harder on their performance than I am), I take away the mysterious math and convoluted averaging, weighting and coding and own what my impressions are based on what I know the standard to be. I have the benefit of a professional understanding of what the standard contains and I work hard to communicate that clearly and regularly to my students, so when we talk about their readiness to move on I can be forthright about saying, "I have worries about..." and be clear about what I need them to show me they know or can do.

5. It communicates much more comprehensively what students know and can do for the outside world. What does a C communicate about all the myriad things a French student might know? What about "Accomplished" next to the standard, "...Can use a bilingual dictionary." A composite grade means very little in terms of explaining well the performance of students. A standard comes much closer. Colleges, sadly, will be a long time accepting this (which is ironic because it is through their research that the idea of performance-based grading came to be), but it is very useful in evaluating how best to serve students.

This is the first year my school has used this system in all its classes (I piloted it last year, along with a couple of other teachers). What do you think? If you were/are a student, would you like it? Would it be helpful to you as a parent? How would it change your teaching practice, if you're an educator? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Quick Hit: Good Numbers

2012-01-11T21:42:00.000-05:00

Today at my school I gave or received:

42 hugs -- including the complete set from all three triplets, two visiting alumni, three teachers and one parent.

17 high fives -- most notable among which was the two-sided, four-handed option done while passing at full speed in the hallway between classes.

6 handshakes -- with one that felt very similar to this:

(I'm convinced I'll get it, but it feels like it changes every time :/ )

8 expressions of love -- four left on my whiteboard, three given in passing and one note stuck to my computer screen.

I love my where I teach!

10 Things Tuesday: Diet and Exercise

2012-01-10T19:59:00.001-05:00

I'm in the phase of rebuilding the two foundations of my training regimen for triathlon season. Part of that involves losing some fat, but there's more to it than simply saying, "fat, be gone!" (though wouldn't that be cool!)

Here's where my efforts are focused:

Be mindful of what I eat. Hello, my name is Wayfarer and I am a carb junkie. There. I've admitted it. If I have an addiction of any kind, it's to carbs. I don't drink to any real degree and I don't do drugs, but you can absolutely fill my plate again with pasta (and I'll take some bread to go with that, too, please). It's not always a bad thing, though. When I'm in full training mode, carbohydrates are a necessary energy source. They're the fuel that allows endurance training to take place. When I'm not running, swimming or biking all the time, though, carbs turn from Yoda to Sith lord. I know this intellectually but, in moments of low mental and spiritual fortitude, they are my comfort food and I am less aware of how much of them I eat. The first place I turn when I need to shed fat before I start full on training is to the carbs. I eliminate the extra bits that have crept in over time (the extra half a bagel I somehow started eating again, for example) and steer back toward more whole grains. We all know we're supposed to be eating whole grains, right? Yeah, well, if they tasted like white bread I'd probably eat more of them.

Be mindful of when I eat. School is busy for me. I hit the ground running and, if I don't remind myself to do it, I won't stop to do things like eat, drink or run to the bathroom (I cannot tell you the number of times I ridicule my wife for saying, "I've needed to pee for four hours," but truth be told, I do the exact same thing at school). If I don't take the time to eat around noon, I'm ravenous by 3pm, which makes me much more likely to the aforementioned comfort foods -- especially the kind that come in bags or boxes. I won't eat the apple or banana I brought, and if it requires heating up, the lunch from home takes too much time. Regardless of what I eat at 3pm, I'll still eat supper at 6pm. I'm not one to turn away a meal. I mean, what happens if the zombie apocalypse should occur before the next one comes?

Be mindful of water. I do not drink well in colder weather. When it's cold, I like warm things in my cup, but the problem is that I'm finicky about my warm drinks. I love coffee, but it's not good to drink too much of it (especially with cream and sugar, like I prefer). Tea is for being sick or supremely cold; I don't like drinking it all the time -- it lacks the richness of coffee, for one thing, and it never tastes as good as it smells. All the other warm drinks (hot chocolate, cider, etc.) are yummy, but definitely Sith drinks when consumed in quantity. Warm water is, well, bleh. I don't have a good solution for dealing with this, except to set an alarm to fill my mug every so often with water and drink it right then. I'm open to suggestions about a better way. Don't take it personally if I criticize it, though. It's the finicky thing.

Take time to breathe. Meditation is something that does me a great deal of good. Sometimes it leads to naptime (which is always nice), but even without that bonus just taking a moment to center myself and recharge is helpful both to my ability to be mindful of things I should and resist doing things I shouldn't. I try to build it into my routine every day, but the fall semester at school is very full and it very easily gets dropped from my schedule to accommodate for one obligation or another.

Lighten my schedule. I make the choice to coach soccer in the fall, and I've learned that this carries with it the consequence of pushing my normally full schedule over the line into the zone of brain exploding busy. I accept that for the two and a half months that is the soccer season, and I do a decent job of maintaining good habits during that time. Once the season is over, I need my calendar to have more white space in it. Sometimes, I overestimate the value of that white space and take on projects that I really need to put off or simply let go. This year, I added a lot to my plate early on, including two independent studies, one of which requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work. I can't in good conscience let those go, but as other things resolve I can choose to leave that time free. Just say no.

Moderate the heavy thinking. Here's the thing: When I'm doing a lot with my brain, I eat. Unlike when I use my body a lot, though, the calories consumed as part of brain exercise do not burn off. I'm a big picture thinker, and I many of my projects require a lot of that for long periods of time. Because I enjoy that kind of thing, it's easy no ignore how much time goes by when I'm doing it. The problem is that it's also easy to ignore that I'm eating while I'm doing it, and that isn't conducive to shedding fat. So, I'm trying to moderate the amount of time I sit down with them and, when the timer goes off, to put them away.

Go for a walk. It's not super rigorous, but walking is an effective way to lose fat and has several advantages this time of year. It's flexible in it can be done in small amounts during the day or in a longer chunk of time. It doesn't require warm up or cool down. It doesn't require special equipment (just dress for the weather). It carries a low risk of injury, which is good if you're just getting into a habit of exercise (it's hard to hurt yourself from walking too much) or if, like me, you haven't set up your bike on its trainer upstairs or fully set your internal clock to get up at 5am to hit the pool or the treadmill.

Keep records. I've done this for training for the past 6 years, and it does a good job of keeping me honest about taking time every day for some form of exercise. I have a log for eating that I use less regularly, but that is also good for helping me watch my diet. Some people really like paper for this because it's more tangible, but I choose to do this on the computer with spreadsheets because I live on my computer. Do what works.

Have a reason. I committed to shedding 25lbs in 90 days, but there's more to it than that. I have other goals that depend upon this, like running triathlons or going on distance cycling trips or doing my first half marathon. To know why I'm losing the fat (that is, this goal in a context with the rest of my life) goes a long way toward seeing it realized.

Congratulate the successes; Revise as necessary. Failures are only failures if the trying stops. Life is rarely about things being done. If I meet my goal (today, for example, it was just to get out for a walk), I'll tell myself I did a good job. If I should make a mistake and fall off the wagon, I just have to think about what went wrong and try it again. Tomorrow's another day, with another chance to do it right if I choose to. I'm choosing to.

Where are your efforts focused right now?

Monday Meditation: Definitions and Implications

2012-01-09T11:01:00.000-05:00

Compassion comes from the Latin roots for "suffers" and "with". In today's language, it means a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is suffering in some way, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate that suffering.

Tolerance comes from the Latin "to bear", and has come to imply a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race or other identifiers differ from one's own. The dictionary also added this phrase: "Freedom from bigotry", which rather fortuitously aids my point in writing about it. I'll come back to that.

Bigotry is defined as the stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own. The term comes from French bigot, and was originally a derogatory term applied to the Normans (who, to the French, were a notably stubborn people in their refusal to espouse the behaviors and attitudes of les français).

Finally, freedom is used in the definition of tolerance and so it should be included here. Among its several definitions, the word freedom illustrates the power to determine action without restraint.

In reviewing these words and their definitions, let us consider some implications:

Compassion, if we are to practice it, implies that we all -- together and equivalently with others -- experience suffering. We are not separate from or unaffected by suffering, but instead must contend with it in much the same way as everyone else. In other words, all of us are stuck in the same quicksand.

Bigotry, based on its origins as a word, affords us an interesting look back into a history when at least one group of people thought another less than they because of their beliefs. I find it no end of ironic that this word would come from French, whose culture has been vilified by ours for its own views, but my point is that at least part of the quicksand in which we are all mired has its origins in this state of mind. Simply put, we cannot get to the place of being effective at ending suffering (as the second half of the definition of compassion suggests is our desire) if we adhere stubbornly to the belief that others' beliefs are less than ours.

The definition of freedom above supports the statement that, at least as it relates to belief and action toward others, we have the power to choose. The statement in the dictionary, "Freedom from bigotry", can appropriately be interpreted to say that we can choose to cultivate an attitude of acceptance of difference, and that it doesn't matter what kind of difference. The French thought the Normans were stubborn. We Americans think the French are stubborn. The rest of the world thinks Americans are stubborn. The particular flavor of stubborn doesn't really matter. What matters is the view that someone else's flavor is less than our own.

Let's bring this back to compassion and being stuck in the same quicksand. If we accept bigotry to be a negative term and, thus, the behavior it references to be negative, and if we accept that bigotry is something we all wrestle with, and if we accept that we have the freedom to choose different behavior then it seems as though the most effective way to practice compassion would be to do the following:

To work to discover that my own views probably come from the same place as everyone else's (that is, they are an amalgam of my experience, my understanding and the particular flavor of the world around me).

To free myself from the thought that my own views are better that everyone else's and that everyone else's views are less than my own.

To work to relate to others' and their views from a place of sameness, not separateness (I'm in this world with everybody else, not just by myself).

Do you think you would be able to see more clearly the wholeness of people by doing these things? What about the idea of practicing compassion through sameness? What does this idea mean for how we relate to people? Does it matter if the people are strangers or friends? Does it matter if we like them or we don't? Feel free to share your thoughts!

Check-in: Day 11

2012-01-08T10:14:00.000-05:00

The last few days have seen no shortage of things to keep me occupied, but I didn't want to lose sight of my goal from before the new year to shed 25 pounds of fat. Here's where we're at:

I have to own that I haven't been terribly regular with any sort of exercise since the clock started. I've been to the gym a few times (mostly to the pool), but I have yet to set my bike up in my office or clear the boxes off my weight bench. I did manage to get up early on Friday to do some work on my core muscles before school started (oh, sweet gods, but I need to do more of that kind of work), but I didn't even hear my alarm yesterday. I have the ability to set a second alarm on my watch, so I'll do that until I've reached the point where my body's internal clock has adjusted to getting up at 5:30 in the morning.

Another part of the equation of weight and fat loss for me involves medication. I've been taking synthetic thyroid hormone to replace what my thyroid is no longer producing and this, I've discovered, has a dramatic effect my appetite, my energy level and how my body processes food. My doctor and I are still tweaking the official dosage, but I think I've discovered that I need more of it in the fall and winter that I do in the spring and summer. I didn't increase my dosage when school started, which might have contributed to why I put on as much weight as I did when I stopped paying attention to what I was eating. This reinforces the importance of being mindful of my diet during the colder months.

I've been better about paying attention to food lately. Fatty's has come and gone, and there is less on my plate now, with more of it being veggies. I'm drinking more water and less coffee. I had dessert last night, but that was a special treat because we were invited to dinner chez Mahk and Lisa (a wonderful and very welcome surprise). Such indulgences are rare for me anyway, but I'll be particularly aware of them now that I have a goal to meet. It always takes a couple of weeks for me to fully bring myself back into line when it comes to food, but I feel like I'm making good progress.

The journey to lose 25 pounds of fat is one that will take all of the 90 days I committed to it, but I've done much of what I need to do in these early days to see that goal realized. Over the next week, I'll focus on the habit of daily exercise and in making sure that the end-of-semester grading craziness doesn't distract me from eating right or getting good sleep. I'll check in again next week

Day 1: 204 lbs.
Day 9: 200 lbs. (-4)

Goals: Part 1

2012-01-07T13:15:00.000-05:00

Normally at this time of year I take some time to look at the goals I've set out for myself over the past few months. I make adjustments to them, add new goals and, in general, make decisions about what projects I want to undertake and what new paths I want to explore. I'm a little bit behind schedule, what with the events of last week and all, but this presents me with an opportunity to share something I talk about in my classes fairly often, but less so outside of school.

With my students, I spend a lot of time on the topics of setting goals. Very often, it's within the context of doing things like building habits of daily practice and making good choices about time management, but in general I try to impart the value of actively engaging in the process of goal setting while modeling effective ways for people to think about where they are and where they want to be. Over the next few posts, I thought I might do some thinking about this out loud for you. Apart from the entertainment value of reading someone's internal dialog, perhaps seeing the process unfold will be helpful for you if you've ever had trouble seeing your goals realized.

My students are often confused when I talk about the process of setting goals. Many think of it as simple decision making. They think that if they say, "I'm going to be a lawyer," or, "I'm going to get my homework caught up," that this should equate to making it happen. Most of us as grownups know well from experience that this is not the case, but when you don't have that experience it's sort of looks like a magic trick.

"Watch me pull a goal out of my hat!" *TADA*

It's reasonable for them to think that way, especially if the only parts of the process that they actually see are the parts where someone says what the goal is and (if it ever happens) the goal itself. That's what most of us see, and it explains to a large degree why we view goal setting as something designed to produce an end product. It also explains why when we talk about goals, we do so with linear terms like "climb a mountain" or "reach your goals".

Most of us have come to accept that we will very often experience failure when we set goals. We've had to contend with frustration time and time again when we didn't realize what we set out to achieve. We approach the task of setting goals with a healthy dose of cynicism, or we simply quit doing it because we know we'll never be successful at it. We look at people who experience success and think there must be some sort of magic in it, some sort of quality that they possess which we do not.

I would submit that this is not the case. I would further submit that much of the problem lies not with our abilities, but with the way in which we view the task. In looking at goals only as things to be accomplished, we're missing the greatest part of their potential. Sort of like seeing your 4G iPhone as just something to use to make calls to your grandma. It'll do that, sure, but that's not what it's really there for.

Let me propose a thought: What if we consider the act of goal setting as a cyclical process instead of a road to be followed? What if, when we set a goal, we see the goal not as a finished product, but as a moment, an experience that, by its very existence creates another cycle, more goals, more choices?

I developed a way of thinking a few years ago called the Learning Spiral. It looks like this:

The text you see associated with it is has to do with learning, not goal setting, but the underlying idea is the same for both:

Think of a cyclical process instead of a product to be created.

I put this out there because this paradigm is fundamental to how I approach my thinking this time of year. I think about the spiral to see where I am on it relative to my goals, and I make decisions about how to move forward based on where I am. It takes a little while because I may be at different places on the spiral depending upon which goal I'm thinking about. It's hard for me to explain it without taking a long time to do it so, over the next little while, I'll try to show you what it looks like with a couple of different examples.

If you'd like to follow along with an example of your own, I'll ask you to think about one goal that you'd like to realize. It doesn't matter what it is. It could be a big thing, like deciding on a career. It could be a small thing, like finding a place to put your keys so you don't lose them every day. Whatever you choose, write it down so you can look at it from time to time. You don't have to commit to it right now; commitment comes from an understanding of all that's required to realize it, and you might not have that yet. For now, it's enough that you've made a choice. If I do this right (and understand, please, that I'm not working from a script or a book here), you'll be able to follow my process with your example and end up in the same place. That's the plan, anyway.

Things Learned About What Happens Next

2012-01-05T18:21:00.001-05:00

It's been a couple of days, and most of the details of my mother's passing have been attended to. Thank you, everyone, for your expressions of support and love! My family and I very much appreciate every one of you, and it is of great comfort for us to know that you're out there.

I said before that I was learning a lot about this whole thing, and I thought it might be useful to share some of that. Here's what I've learned:

The task of informing people takes more effort than one might at first believe, especially if, as in my family, most people are spread to opposite ends of the earth and have no desire to talk to each other. The Digital Age has made finding people a great deal easier, but it still took a full two days before all of my mother's kin were contacted.

When someone dies and there is any question about the manner of death (even if that person is elderly), an investigation is undertaken to determine factually what happened. A detective is assigned, and the coroner arranges for whatever procedures are necessary. Because coroners are often country government officials, they don't have the facilities to do much more than basic procedures and bodies are often shipped to other places.

It often takes a month or more for such an investigation to be concluded.

My mother's primary wish was that her body be left to science and medicine, but because of the length of time between her passing and her arrival at a place that could preserve her body under refrigeration, no organ or tissue donation programs would take her. She was also over the weight-to-height limit that most programs have (she was very short, which meant she had to weigh about as much as a ham sandwich), and so she would have been ineligible for that reason, in any case. My parents made a mistake in expecting that all they had to do was call and offer their bodies after the fact. In particular, they erred in relying on such programs to take on the cost of disposing of the bodies. They didn't have a Plan B option, and that made for more stress, not less, in terms of what to do.

A forensic donation might have been possible, but there are no programs nearby that would have made such a gift practical. A forensic donation is different than a medical one in that there are almost no qualifiers to participate. Unfortunately, there are only a couple of programs in the country. The nearest one to my folks was in Tennessee. The university would have taken the body, but we would have had to pay to transport it there, which made no financial sense and meant additional costs.

Every state has its own laws regarding how bodies must be handled. In Alabama, for instance, a body may not be transported out of state unless it is embalmed.

Funeral homes take care of much of the paperwork associated with someone's death, but there is much in the way of detail that they require in order to do that job well. I didn't have much of that when I started making arrangements and it took a while to pull it together.

There are several different kinds of services that funeral homes offer. The most basic (the default for my mom) was what is called a Direct Cremation. That is, they'll cremate the body, but not offer their facilities for services or memorials of any kind. This service, at its cheapest, was more than $1,000 (several charged twice that figure). Social Security, by contrast, offers a benefit of around $250 for burial services.

Funeral homes are a "money-up-front" business for the most part. This makes sense when you think about it, but it does present certain problems when you consider the following:

Funeral homes are usually the ones generating the death certificate.

No insurance in the universe will pay out a policy with a death benefit until they receive a death certificate.

Funeral homes will not generate a death certificate until the check clears.

No matter how well you might deal with the passing of someone close to you, the task of dealing with everything you see above (which, you will note, does not include going through possessions and settling other matters like bills, property or inheritance) is more exhausting than you'll expect. I offered to take care of most of the details on behalf of my father because I could tell he was not mentally in a place that would allow him to do it. I'm glad I did; it was more than enough for *me*.

Now that things are largely taken care of, I can go back to work and actually focus on all that goes into teaching. I have grades due on Monday and an intercession activity to set up. The world keeps on turning, after all.

Some News...

2012-01-03T11:37:00.000-05:00

My mom passed away on Saturday at her home in Alabama. She was 63 years old.

I've been in regular contact with my dad since he wrote to tell me and, although he is very sad, he's holding up well and has people to look after him while grieves. I also spoke to my brother, and he seems to be doing ok. He admitted at the time that he didn't exactly know how he was feeling, but I've learned that this is not at all unusual. I'll be in touch with him over the next little while. We're not super close, he and I, but I don't want him to feel like he has to figure it all out on his own.

Our house is processing the news slowly and deliberately. My girls are still awfully young to know how they feel about it, but we're taking the time to have good conversations and they have lots of chosen family to guide them. My wife is doing her usual amazing job of being supportive, even in the midst of working through her own feelings of loss. We went down to Alabama to see my folks for Thanksgiving, and I'm really glad that this happened because my mom got to spend time with us (an all too rare occurrence because of the distance between us), and also particularly because my family got to know her at least a little better before she died. She was a wonderful person.

I'm in a good place, although it'll be a couple of days before I'm able to focus fully on more than this because I've offered to my dad to take on most of the prosaic details of my mom's passing. I'll talk in more specifics later; there's not much to tell about that right now except to say that I'm learning a lot and that there are a surprising number of things to attend to.

There won't be a funeral or any sort of service in Alabama. Mom didn't want anything like that. We're talking about how to most appropriately remember her here at Wayfarer House, though. I'll share what we've decided when the time comes.

In the meantime, hugs (virtual and physical) will be most gratefully accepted.

89 and 25

2011-12-27T08:51:00.000-05:00

I went swimming this morning. It is the first time I've been to the gym since September. I did a little more than half a mile. I didn't die.

This fall has not been a good one for staying fit. I finished my last triathlon in late August (crossing the finish line as Hurricane Irene was ripping up the world around me-- it was epic), and that was the end of my season. School started the next day, soccer season kicked off and it was just non-stop from there. It's always non-stop from the start of school. I don't accomplish a lot in the way of fitness from September through December because of that. I was looking at my records from all the way back to 2006 and the latest into school I've ever kept up a training regimen was the third week of September. That's when I say, "&%#$ this!" and start looking for cookies. Or cake. Or fast food. Or anything that will stop long enough for me to eat it. Think Po from Kung Fu Panda.

I thought that if I added a race or something later in the fall, I'd be more motivated to keep training up into the fall, which would lead to winter workouts, which would mean I'd be fit and ready for something fun in the spring. Nope. I signed up for a ½ marathon, but didn't have it to do what I needed to, and the entry fee melted into the breeze. Lesson learned.

Two things -- stress and season -- seem to be at the heart of my problem. This year was especially frenetic, but even during a good year it's so crazy that, by the end of the average day, I'm so mentally and emotionally exhausted the thought of even watching tv is more than I can handle. I hate that! All the new shows are just coming out and my brain just can't process them, so I grab a cookie and go to bed. I've learned that if my brain is exhausted, my body goes into shutdown and the idea of physical exercise becomes as strenuous as the actual exercise.

And then there's the fact that autumn is in full swing. Autumn leads to the Dark Time, and it is the season when my body sends a near constant stream of commands to my hands telling them to keep putting food into my face. Clearly, I'm genetically tied to some species of human that, in prehistoric times, needed to hibernate for the winter. Some years, I'm able to resist (if not refrain from) gaining too much weight. This year was not a good year and the scale made that abundantly clear when I stepped on it this morning. It wasn't telling me something I didn't already know, though, based on the tightness of my heretofore loose-fitting jeans.

A week ago, I started to draw up the ganas to reverse the trend. I told myself it was time to get in the pool, on the bike, on the road, under the weights. It was time to put down the damn cookies! Today's trip to the pool marked the beginning of my yearly sojourn from sloth to fit, from fat to svelt (if still a little pudgy in places). I'm ready.

I'm very much a loner when it comes to training. I don't like to work out with people and I don't talk much about what I do, unless it's part of a teachable moment. I thought I'd share the journey publicly this year, though, because I want demonstrate that the process of realizing a goal is not magical. It does not follow a straight line and it is not without distractions, temptations, obstructions or doubt. It is a process of decisions, and it is as easy as making a choice. To be fair, there can be a lot that goes into making a choice well. There's a whole separate discussion to be had about all that goes into it, but that's a topic for another time.

In order to be ready for triathlon season, I first need to melt off the weight I've put on since September. Based on the scale's reading this morning, that's 25 lbs. My goal is to get rid of as much of that weight as I can in 90 days. I'm going to do it by doing the two things that are at the core of any effective weight loss program: Do more, eat less. Neither will be especially hard at first. It gets more challenging as it gets closer to tri season because there's a balancing act that must be played between eating properly for ever-increasing amounts and intensities of exercise and doing the kind of training that will continue to burn fat (as opposed to muscle). That's later, though. For now, I need to be concerned with rebuilding the routine of daily practice. My students know all about that.

So here we go! Day 1. 89 days and 25 pounds to go.

Quick Hit for Xmas

2011-12-25T09:12:00.000-05:00

The kids were quieter than the cats this Xmas morning. This was annoying until I discovered they'd found my missing earbud. The cats, not the kids. Both cats and kids are excited for favors, food and family today. I'm perfectly content to just sit by the fireplace and soak it all in.
May every blessing of this special season be yours, and may the best wishes of Wayfarer House find you well and in good company.
Happy Holidays!

This serene winter image comes from the woodblock print "Pine Tree on a Fine Day After Snow" (1929) by Japanese artist Kawase Hasui. The actual print is part of the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Prodigal Mart?

2011-12-24T16:26:00.000-05:00

Many of you are already aware of my longstanding boycott of W*%m&!t, but for those of you who don't, let me make clear that this boycott is not one of principle. That they may have used child labor, demeaned women and minorities or killed all the younglings at the Jedi temple has nothing to do with my refusal to do business with The Store That Must Not Be Named. Rather, my boycott is a practical one.

Simply put: They NEVER have what I go in there to buy.

When I say never, I mean never in a string of around two dozen times did Voldemart have what I went in there for. Some examples of the more mundane items I would have purchased include a tape measure, a sweatshirt in my size, wrapping paper and a best-selling movie title. The event that instigated the boycott involved the search for a pencil.

That's right. A pencil. And not an automatic pencil or a 205-B high polymer drafting pencil. A regular, run-of-the-mill, any-student-in-any-school-should-have-it, yellow, wooden pencil. I went into Sprawlmart, a retail outlet the size of a city block, looking for an item so ubiquitous I could have found one on the sidewalk, but there was not to be found a single one in the store. You should have seen the looks on the faces of the blue vested people when I asked them where they might be hiding their pencils. You would have thought them some form of mindless undead for the blank stare they gave me.

That was about 18 years ago.

Being the forgiving sort of guy that I am, I've gone in every so often since that time in an effort to see if the label of shame might be lifted, but to no avail. I even manufactured a completely unnecessary shopping trip to the Evil Empire some years ago just to see if they would have a combination lock. No such luck. Wifeness called them to see about a car seat, which was rumored to be on sale there. A clerk on the phone said the item was in stock and even purported to set one aside for her. When she arrived, she was told there were none. I'd resigned myself to the fact that Darth Wal would forever remain untouchable.

I have had reason to revisit their censure.

The [ ] Memorial Dollar

2011-12-23T22:54:00.000-05:00

I was cleaning off my desk for the holiday (which mostly meant making different piles from pre-existing ones) and I came across a dollar bill. This is what it looked like:

Now you, the reader, probably don't see that this is an unusual dollar. It certainly doesn't look different from any other dollar, but trust me it is. This dollar is a lesson. This dollar is an honorific reminder to my students. It even has a name: The [ ] Memorial Dollar Bill. It joins the { } Memorial Chair Rule and the <> Memorial Mouth Guard. The [ ], {} and <> each refer to the students for whom these things are named (and whose names I will not use here, although within my school they and the things for which they're named are well known).

The [ ] Dollar Bill has its origins in a bet. During class one day a while ago, I wanted to do an activity that required a packet I had handed out a couple of days earlier. I asked the students to take this packet out while I prepped the rest of the activity. When I turned around, [ ]'s desk was still devoid of packetage. I raised my eyebrows (the class-recognized symbol for wtf) and she said, "You didn't give me one."

"Yes, I did."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yes-huh." (I can talk at that level, too).

"Nuh-uh."

We might have continued this highly literate lexical stalemate for some time (and on many days, I'm happy to go there), but I had a plan and time was running tight.

"Where's your binder?" (all my students are required to have a binder for the materials they receive).

Her binder, one of the 5-subject kinds, was full to bursting with papers from all her academic classes. She hefted it up onto her desk and folded her arms across her chest.

"It's not in there. I checked. Twice."

My internal dialog started off with a stream of "Oh, no you di'int" comments, but I decided this learning opportunity required a different approach.

"What do you want to bet that it's in there?"

She thought for a moment. "$10."

"You don't have $10."

"I have $1."

"You wanna put that $1 up against my $1 that I won't find your packet in this binder?"

"It's not there. You won't find it."

I opened her binder. It took exactly 17 seconds.

*rummage, rummage...* "Here it is."

I handed the packet to her, then went on to teach the class.

I found the dollar bill you see above sitting on my desk when I came back from lunch.

I'll keep the [ ] Dollar Bill in my desk. I'm sure it'll be useful the next time a student says, "You didn't give me one." And there will be a next time. Certain things are predictable like that.

A Late Addition to My Xmas List...

2011-12-22T12:25:00.001-05:00

It's a longshot, but if you don't ask...

[HERE] is the link to read about it. It only costs $19.7 million!

The Last School Week of the Year

2011-12-21T21:46:00.000-05:00

This is the last week before the Xmas holiday break. It is also the time for two other seasonal events:

It is the time when unexpected gifts arrive. All week, random expressions of love and appreciation have been appearing in my classroom -- as often as not without notes to identify their bestowers. Some are simple notes on the board, sticky notes on my laptop or pictures for my wall. Some are gifts for Mbungo, my wooden classroom manikin. Some is food laid almost venerationally at my desk. It's very cool! Today, I got a whole chocolate cake! The student who brought it stayed and helped me eat it, and we sat and talked about family, holidays, religion. It was one of those special moments that reinforce to me that I made a good choice in being a teacher. It also served to remind me that I need to get back on the damn treadmill.

It is the time when the alumni come home to visit. I'm blessed that I get to see my alumni throughout the year, but the ones away at university often take this week, their first back home, to come and visit. I love it, and I'm always honored that they take the time to knock on my classroom door to visit! I try to leave this week light in terms of teacherly stuff so I can spend time with them when they show up, but inevitably it's not enough time. Today, Kestrel came by to say hello and all we had time for was a quick hug and a promise to figure out when to actually sit down with each other. I'm sure she'll come to Wayfarer House to visit (the rest of my family adores her and wants to see her, too), but there are others who are only able to connect during these brief moments and I think it's important to make them last as long as I can.

To all my students, those I see in class every day and those I don't, I love you very much! My door is always open to you.

credit

Santa's Cinematic Gift

2011-12-21T07:38:00.003-05:00

My inner geek rejoices, even though it's a year away...

The Wayfarer House Elves...

2011-12-18T21:39:00.002-05:00

...have been quite busy today! The dining room table is piled high with gifts in the making and the kitchen effuses the rich, heartwarming scents of delectables both sweet and savory. The excitement of the holiday season is bubbling through the house and, though time is short, there is the sense that Santa will have time to enjoy his milk and cookies this year.

Of course, there is still a week to go and it could all go to hell in a handbasket, but let's just close our eyes and enjoy the fantasy, shall we?

The (Unofficial) Holiday Photo

2011-12-17T12:45:00.002-05:00

Can you tell who the (supposedly) normal one in the house is?

The very best of the season from Wayfarer House to you and yours!

Some (Timely) Wayfarer House Rules

2011-12-16T19:51:00.000-05:00

Be kind, helpful, thoughtful and respectful of others -- in and out of the house.

Art supplies shall be used at the dining room or kitchen tables only (not in your bedroom).

Quick Hit: Random Whiteboard Art

2011-12-15T20:19:00.000-05:00

This came from Denver (my student, not the city) last year. I just found it!

Now I just need a note from Ninja Girl. Monica, are you reading this?

10 Things Tuesday: Movies I'm Glad Were (re)Made

2011-12-13T20:18:00.000-05:00

Last week, I wallowed in bitterness at the steaming pile of celluloid that passes for remade movies being released of late. This week, I look at the flip side and look at some of the best of the recycled. I was surprised to actually come up with a full list of titles where I'd seen both (or at least two) versions, although I have to admit it did take some thinking.

1. 3:10 to Yuma. I loved that the remake of this movie actually focused on relationships between the characters -- while at the same time bringing the gunfighting into the 21st century. I also loved that the ending so unexpected! I wish more westerns (remakes or originals) were as good!

2. Ocean's 11. The reasons to like the remake of this story begin with the fact that there's no singing. The cast is wonderfully diverse and the acting keeps the same light and slightly smirky feel to the story that the original tried to portray. The ending in the Brad Pitt version is nothing like the original, but that's not a bad thing when all the rest of it is so entertaining.

3. 13 Assassins. Like its predecessor, it takes the time to honor the conventions of a good samurai film: It takes the time to introduce its characters, it is unapologetically violent, it brings a dash of witticism to contrast the sadistic villainy and the battles are truly epic. What makes this movie better are a few new twists and turns and cinematography that brings the movie into the right century.

4. True Grit. When I heard the Coen brothers were remaking this movie, I cringed. It is a classic of Western films, after all, and made John Wayne a household name. When I saw in, though, I was very much impressed. It focused on the girl, which made the movie interesting from the point of view of the plot, and had a much better ending. It paid appropriate homage to the original, though, by keeping much of the same kind of language as the original film.

5. Star Trek. This movie was like letting go of an old, yet very comfortable pair of shoes for me. I knew it needed to be done, but I mourned the fact that the old version was so used up, so well worn that nothing more could be gained from it. I hoped that, when it came out, it didn't destroy an innovative, engaging universe that had growing and maturing for some 40 years. I was relieved to see that it did not. In rebooting the franchise, J. J. Abrams breathed what I hope will give another 40 years to those of us who want to continue the mission to explore strange, new worlds and new civilizations.

6. King Kong. The original film is very much a classic, and that should properly have put this remake on last week's list, but after watching it I changed my mind. The new version doesn't displace the original, but pays it appropriate respect by sticking with the same time period and storyline while taking advantage of the latest in visual effects (something the 1933 film was recognized for, as well).

7. Casino Royale. James Bond was another franchise desperate for a reboot, and this one does a beautiful job of it! Daniel Craig makes a real (flawed, tortured) version of 007, supported by better (darker) writing and intense action sequences. I used to go see every new Bond film when it came out because it had become something of a tradition. I'm genuinely excited to see the series continue now in a way I haven't ever been, thanks to this film and its sequel, Quantum of Solace.

8. Batman Begins. I was ruined on the story of Batman after Tim Burton's version (and the incessant mediocre sequels that followed), but this film restored my faith in Hollywood to do justice to comic book superheroes. Christian Bale gives Batman the dark, yet realistic flavor he's been needing and the plot actually did justice to Batman's origins, instead of going straightaway to his clashes with the Joker. If the rest of the superhero universe would take some notes, please?

9. I Am Legend. This is the third film to be based on Richard Matheson's book (1954). I've never seen the first one (The Last Man on Earth, made in 1964), and the second one, Omega Man (1971) was just not that engaging. The Will Smith version, however, scared me to death! It was edgy, dark, suspenseful and every bit as unpredictable as I could stand without jumping out of my seat and spilling my popcorn. The nightmares have faded over time.

10. M*A*S*H. The movie was forgettable, but not the TV series. The weekly ritual of watching this show provided some memorable moments from my childhood and the series finale easily ranks as one of my favorite episodes of any show, ever. I don't know if today's kids would find it as entertaining as I did, but I would hope that someone, somewhere would succeed in producing for every generation an ensemble show that is as funny, yet poignant, as this was in its time.

Monday Meme: Ghosts and Insipid Answers

2011-12-12T21:44:00.000-05:00

Stolen from Sunday Stealing, who in turn stole it from bluelifememories:

Are you happy with the person you've become? I think it's important to recognize that I'm still becoming (it is, as I see it, the nature of the human experience to evolve continually), but I like that I am learning to master some aspects of myself and that I still very much value active living over simply existing (although there are certainly times when that's good, too).

What's a sound you hate; sound you love? Fingernails on chalkboards make me want to crawl out of my skin! There are other sounds like it, but that's the only one I can think of right now. On the flip side, the sounds of "happy" make me smile, as does the particular *whump* of a well-kicked soccer ball

What's your biggest "what if"? Hmmm... Conjecture allows for a whole lot of possible answers here, but I don't engage in second guessing much with any attachment so, just to put it out there, I'll go with this: "What if I'd gone to Hawai'i at 22 when I had the chance?"

Do you believe in ghosts? I've never seen one that I'm aware of, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. I haven't seen evidence to say that there can't be any, either. I accept the influence of "otherworldly forces" on the world, but I also accept that there is a great deal about this that I do not perceive or understand well. If I ever have an answer for this question that isn't insipid, I'll let you know.

How about aliens? My answer here is much the same as for the previous question, but the more I learn about the vastness of the universe, it seems less and less likely that we are alone out here. If they ever come to visit, I hope they treat us nicely -- and vice-versa.

What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far? To marry my wife. I was very nervous to make the leap, but it has affected my life wonderfully in so many ways. I sigh regularly with relief that I made the right choice.

What's the worst place you have ever been to? When I was about 8 years old, I lived in Jacksonville, FL for around 9 months. I wasn't there long enough to have any friends, but managed plenty of run ins with local bullies, thugs and even a sexual predator. My folks were big on the "go outside and play" thing, so I spent a lot of time riding around the (very small) neighborhood on my bike. I would ride around, doing my best to imagine myself doing something fun. It was a long 9 months.

Can insanity bring on more creativity? Sanity is the condition of behaving (and, thus, thinking) within societal norms. Since creativity necessarily involves working outside what is expected by social norms, insanity (the condition of behaving outside those norms) certainly fosters it. It's a source of great social tension in our culture that we must reject the one while appreciating the other.

Most attractive actor of your opposite gender? There are so MANY! My celebrity crush of the moment is Megyn Price but, with so many to choose from, I can flit about from one to the other like a butterfly in a field of daisies.

To you, what is the meaning of life? To experience it! We'll never get all of it in a lifetime, but that doesn't mean we don't enrich our lives incredibly for the attempt. Living life is how we learn, how we grow (see the first question) and how we give back -- for we must do this in some form or other -- to the forces of the universe that created us.

Define “Art”. Again, perhaps, I offer an insipid answer, but I like a valueless definition: The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination. When people ask, "Is it art?" what they're really asking is, "Does this (creation) have any value or worth?" It's value and worth that are absolutely contextual (in the eye of the beholder, as it were), not the creation.

Do you believe in luck? I roleplay, which means that I have experience with rolling dice as a means of deciding the fates and fortunes of imaginary characters. I've also lived in Las Vegas, which means that experience with rolling dice as a means of deciding the fates and fortunes of real people, too. What I've learned is that, whatever role randomness may play in the universe, it does not act entirely independent of the people around it. Just ask Kelly, who won every time she gave me money to gamble on her behalf (even though I, myself, never won more than $200 during the entire 6+ years I lived in Sin City), or Indigo Frostfoot who, almost every single time monsters would attack, would succumb to paralysis as a result of poor die rolls (no matter who rolled the dice).

In your opinion, what makes a great relationship? The great triumvirate of Communication, Trust and Compromise. All relationships are made greater (or lesser) by how much and how well these three qualities work together.

What's a song that always makes you happy when you hear it? To answer this question I decided to scroll through my Walkman's playlist until I found a song that made me smile. The first one to come up? "I'm Alright [the theme from Caddyshack]" by Kenny Loggins. The gopher gets me every time!

Where were you yesterday? I spent all day at Wayfarer House doing domestica and working on a couple of publications that need finishing (more on those later). The real news came the day before. The girls and I walked downtown -- and discovered that Myryah has come back! Myryah is an alumna from *ahem* years ago who is known for fading in and out of the Wayfarer House universe. I'm excited to sit down with her and find out all that's been happening to her since we saw her last!

What's the worst injury you've ever had? My gallbladder nearly killed me, but that's not an injury in the normal sense of the term. The spinal injury I received from when I was run over by a lime green Porsche while training outside of Las Vegas still gives me lingering pain almost every day, some 20 years later.

Do you have any obsessions right now? I seem to be all about the eating of food, but that's normal for this time of year. Damn you, Wintertime!

Ever had a rumor spread about you? Oh, for sure! In fact, there are probably 3 spreading about me right now. It's the necessary consequence of working where I do, how I do, with the level of students I do. I wonder what the rumors are, though. Would anyone care to share?

Do you believe in real magic? The only difference between magic and science is whether you know how it works. I enjoy the mental imagery of the mystical, and I'm perfectly comfortable with the idea that I don't know how it all works, but I try not to be afraid of what I don't know or understand.

Do you ever hold grudges against people who have done you wrong? Truly, no. Life's too short, for one thing. I've also found that doing so gets in the way of understanding an essential truth: The vast majority of people are just trying to make their way in the world like I am. Although they may not make decisions I appreciate, it's much easier to anticipate and adapt than to attach negative emotion to them.

What's your favorite (non-pet) animal? I'm fascinated by all the big animals of foreign lands -- giraffes, jaguars, pandas, kangaroos. Oh, and moose. Moose are the most gangly, ungainly, ridiculous looking things, and yet they are among the most elegant creatures in our part of the world.

What is your secret weapon to get people to like you? Humor and approachable conversation work well for me. I strive to use these in other cultures as well, but must often settle for humility and embarrassment when it's discovered that I'm American.

Where is your best friend? Right now, she's at a PTO meeting, but she said she'd be back by the girls' bedtime.

The Week in Quotes

2011-12-11T13:20:00.001-05:00

“[It was] a rhetorical point...” Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa Divsion of Human Rights Watch, in response to criticism of her impromptu estimation of the population of Libya as double that of Bahrain (to make a point about the proportion of violence in the larger country). Detail-oriented viewers were quick to point out that it is, in fact, nearly nine times the size.

“Would you be willing to commit to it at 1:00? 2:43? 3:27?” SiSi, after I told her I would not be willing to commit to a time to discuss time in front of the television in the afternoon.

“This isn’t getting less creepy over time.” Kai

“...with the puhstrophuphe.” Julia

“You can admire and respect tightrope walkers with no desire to be one yourself.” Someone talking about being, “as traditional as Garrison Keillor” and feeling ok about it.

“Sorry, I couldn’t tell. He had chick underwear on.” Jasmine, about a Where’s Waldo picture.

“Before, I had asked God to right the wrongs and comfort the suffering. I now know--really know--that God entrusts those tasks to us.” Sister Helen Prejean, from the book Dead Man Walking.

“I’m confusing my algebraic function of time and my Latin ablative of time!” Gabbie

“The most important part of any mental prosthetic (as calculators and all forms of finger math are) is that they support good mental models of mathematics rather than replacing them.” Indiana University professor Andy Harris, in his musings about Chisenbob, a Korean method of doing basic arithmetic using the fingers.

“I don’t have a wardrobe, I have a floor-drobe.”Kenna.

“When you find a top hat you are required to have a photo-shoot.”Monica.

“Hey! Did you see a little naked man running around with a $100 bill?” Eddie Murphy, in the movie The Golden Child.

“I've never seen anyone dance like that!” NiNi, of her mother.

"Morgan Freeman is coming. Everybody look busy!" Maypaz.

Are you looking busy today?

Quick Hit: Saturday Morning

2011-12-10T10:20:00.000-05:00

Scene: Papa sits in comfy chair, laptop in lap, typing away productively. Cat arrives, placing self on the small portion of Papa's lap not already occupied by technology.

Papa: "I'm just about to get up and get some coffee, you know."

Qita: *purrrrrrr*

Papa: "No, really. I'd like some coffee."

Qita settles down and gets comfortable. Papa sighs.

Quick Hit: Leisure Time

2011-12-09T20:38:00.000-05:00

According to the Greek philosophers, men and women could only realize their potential during their leisure time. That is, only during the time not required for necessary things could we properly realize our human potential by devoting time to self development. That time, which the Greeks termed scholea, is the root for our English word “school”, which suggests that the best time for learning is leisure time, not “work” time.

What does this mean for you?

Technology and Educators

2011-12-08T19:11:00.001-05:00

Today's seminar made clear to me two things about educators:

1. This is where most of us are.

2. This is what we need to be talking about.

Unpacking Diversity

2011-12-07T19:09:00.001-05:00

Jinx posted this article [HERE] online today that led me to two others [HERE] and [HERE]. The general question posed throughout them all was this:

What is the effect of promoting a universal acceptance of diversity?

I would encourage you to read the articles because I'm not going to summarize them here (I've got too much to do). After you've read them, I'd welcome some respectful and thoughtful discussion on the points of the article.

A warning: This stuff is heavy on your brain (or it should be). Like any deep reading, take it in steps:

1. Read it, then let it sit.

2. Think on it for a while.

3. When you're ready, go back through it. Try to put the information in the readings in context with your thoughts. What makes sense? What doesn't? What do you agree with and, more importantly, what do you NOT agree with? Are there things in the readings that you're not sure about or have questions on? Are there points in the readings that seem unfounded or invalid?

4. Write your thoughts down, then let them sit.

5. Reread them after a bit. Ask the same questions you did of the reading.

6. If you're inclined, send your thoughts to me. I'd love to hear them! Please remember to be respectful in your use of language if you post them for others to see. Let's model good behavior, people!

I'm only on Step 2 just now, but it's been a busy day. I'm hoping to have time to post something more lengthy soon. Maybe for a Monday Meditation.

10 Things Tuesday: Movies That Didn't Need To Be (re)Made

2011-12-06T21:26:00.001-05:00

I am thoroughly dismayed by the number of films being produced lately that are nothing more than remakes or reboots of other, older (and sometimes not all that much older) movies. It smacks of a distinct lack of creativity or vision, and makes clear that Hollywood is simply afraid to take chances on something that might stray even a little from the well-worn rut of popular success. Here are 10 examples of films (actually, 9 films and a TV show) that illustrate this:

1. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The original film, a Scandinavian production released just 2 years ago (and released in the U.S. just last year), was an excellent adaptation of the gritty, gripping book by Stieg Larsson. It was wildly successful in Europe and critically acclaimed around the world, and is expected to see a couple of Oscar nominations this year. What possible reason did Hollywood have for stepping all over this work by putting out an American version? Is it that big a deal to read subtitles?

2. Footloose. The original 1984 film starring Kevin Bacon was iconic because it dealt with one of the more touchy social issues of the time -- the tension between popular (rock) music and mainstream conservative Christian values. Although this topic is still timely in certain areas of the country, it is not at all as compelling as it was and most definitely not worthy of simply rehashing a melodramic teen drama of nearly 30 years ago.

3. The Grinch. I have a particular distaste for live-action versions of perfectly charming animated films, especially if the original version continues to appeal to audiences. This movie is the prime exemplar of this most annoying categoriy of film remakes.

4. Arthur. Even for those of us who remember when it came out, the original was just not that good. Who in their right mind thought said, "Dude! We should totally redo this movie! People will LOVE it!" Whoever you are, can I have some of what you took before making that statement? Clearly, it's good stuff.

5. Conan the Barbarian. The original 1982 production had better names than the remake, better acting (which is hard to believe, if you've watched it) and a lack of plot that no amount of 3D work will ever atone for.

6. Psycho. Another classic film whose remake served no purpose whatsoever. It didn't advance the idea of the original. It didn't improve on the original. It was a near exact copy of the original. I'll give credit for the acting where it was due, but as a project, it's hard to see what the point was.

7. Fame. Roger Ebert summed it up very well, so I'll quote him. "Why bother to remake 'Fame' if you don't have clue about why the 1980 movie was special? Why take a touching experience and make it into a shallow exercise? Why begin with a R-rated look at plausible kids with real problems and tame it into a PG-rated after-school special?" Especially if you're going to do it with actors that looked like they were graduating college, not entering the 9th grade.

8. Hawaii Five-0. This is the odd one out in this list because it's not a film. This show bugs me for two reasons. First, there's the name. If you're going to reboot a story, people, use the same name! It's Hawaii Five-O (that's right, the letter O). Second, if you're going to reboot a story, show some respect to the more than just the theme song and the phrase “Book him, Danno”. Most people don't remember the original show well, and this probably accounts for the new show's positive public opinion, even though it plays like a standard modern action show and nothing like the complex crime drama that ran for an impressive 12 seasons.

9. The Last Airbender. M. Night Shyamalan might have taken an opportunity to revitalize his reputation for making a quality film. Instead, he made this. With acting that ranged in quality from mediocre to ridiculous and a painful ignorance of the subtlety of the original series, anyone who enjoyed the original animated series must have wanted to cry at the seeming active attempt to find new and creative ways to irk them. I certainly did.

10. The Departed. Martin Scorsese said that he didn't think this film was a remake. Are you kidding me? The script and most of the details of the film came straight from the Hong Kong movie Internal Affairs! And it may have won an Oscar, but Departed is not as good. Martin Scorsese, I shake my finger at you.

For next week, I'll see if I can find 10 remakes that were actually worth their weight in celluloid.

Monday Meme: Have you ever caught a fish?

2011-12-05T18:17:00.001-05:00

The following questions come through Sunday Stealing from several blogs (which I'm sorry to say I haven't read)...

If you were an animal what would you be? Why? I've considered that question for some time as it applies to martial arts fighting style and I haven't come to a firm conclusion. I'm a Leo, so I suppose I portray some of the charactistics of a lion but I don't think that's quite right, either. *shrug* What do YOU think?

Hair color you like on someone you’re dating? I'll admit I've always been a sucker for redheads but, as a colorblind guy who sees most hair as green, the color of the hair doesn't mean a lot.

If suffering an injury, would you rather be left blind or deaf? Of the two, I think deafness would be easier to adapt to in my current lifestyle. Although colorblindness gets in the way sometimes, it doesn't really affect my ability to do the things I really want to do (like get around and type on this blog). Total blindness would certainly do that.

Do you have any special talents? We refer to them as superpowers at Wayfarer House, and yes. I can nap anywhere, anytime, and for exactly as long as I want. OK, it's not exactly something to fight crime with, but a superpower's a superpower!

What do you do as soon as you walk in the house? In this order: Put keys in key basket, put gloves/hat in bin, hang up jacket, put laptop bag and briefcase into bedroom. Simultaneously to this, I'll say hi to any and all who may be present.

Do you like horror or comedy? Comedy. I don't like being scared.

Are you missing anyone? Ed MacMahon. He seems to have taken a wrong turn on the way to deliver that Publisher's Clearinghouse sweepstakes check.

Where do you want to live when you are old? Someplace warm and quiet. Wifeness wouldn't do it, but I'd be totally comfortable living in the desert Southwest. I'd also take Hawai'i or the Carribbean (with a sailboat).

Who is the person you can count on the most? My wife. She is amazing in her consistent ability to follow through on whatever she takes on.

If you could date any celebrity past or present, who would it be? I've had far too many celebrity crushes to answer this question well. Currently, I'm enamored of Megyn Price but that'll change before too long. Celebrity crushes are just not meant to last.

What did you dream last night? I have NO idea! It is rare that I remember my dreams the next morning. If I do at all, it's usually because they're reminding me that I haven't done something I'm supposed to.

What is your favorite sport to watch? There are several types of sports that lend themselves well to the small screen. American football is great if you have a bunch of people, decent weather and a tailgating experience, but the game itself is more more pleasant with a couch to nap on. Also, sports like golf, marathon and cycling are much nicer to enjoy when you can see the entire event, not just the brief moment when the contest passes your location.

Are you named after anyone? My middle name is my father's original last name (he adopted my current last name when my grandmother remarried).

What is your favorite alcoholic drink? I very much enjoy (though rarely partake of) a good wine at dinner, a good beer at the grill and a good piña colada for the coconut and pineapple.

Non alcoholic drink? I drink a fair amount of selzer. Sometimes I add a splash of kid friendly juice, but often I enjoy it just on its own.

Have you ever been in love? "Ah, to be young again and feel loves keen sting!" To be sure, I've been in love in a variety of forms in my life. Every one, every time, has been wonderful.

Do you sing in the shower? Every day, a different tune. Sometimes it's an actual song, sometimes it's just some random improv, but I've learned that it's part of my subconscious' morning routine.

Have you ever been arrested? Nope. I've been ticketed, lectured, drawn on and patted down (not all at the same time), but never have I had cuffs applied and Miranda warnings issued.

What is your favorite holiday? New Year's Eve/My Anniversary. It carries great person significance to my wife and me, but it has taken on a life of its own from all the contributions of our chosen family -- and that means it's special to more than just us, and that's really great!

Would you ever get plastic surgery? Not to be vain (please! There's no amount of plastic surgery that can fix this). If I needed cosmetic help to address some form of trauma, I would at least give it some thought.

Have you ever caught a fish? Everything from perch to flounder, catfish to bass. I love fish! I'm less interested nowadays in catching them than eating them, but a good day out in a boat with nothing to do but watch the water certainly has its appeal.

Happy Monday!

Breaking Wi... Dawn

2011-12-04T11:14:00.001-05:00

The womenfolk are going to see the latest installment of the Twilight saga. I am kidsitting and hanging out with Mahk and working on grades. I have the better end of this bargain.

Quick Hit -- Because I'm Doing Grades

2011-12-03T22:11:00.001-05:00

Ten thousand thank-yous to Sandi for passing along a digital copy of Wifeness' Jeopardy! episode! You are so wonderful! It looks great, and I'm totally excited to have something of such high quality to keep for posterity.

In other news, we have kittens in the house. This can be interpreted as either great or a headache in the making, depending upon whether or not you're me. Details to follow. And maybe pics.

22 Minutes of Fame

2011-12-02T23:50:00.001-05:00

Today was a celebration of my amazing wife's accomplishments as a contestant on the pinnacle of game shows. Thanks to everyone who encouraged her, cheered her on and shared her special moment with us at Wayfarer House. Your support of her meant so much!

This is (my wife on) Jeopardy!

2011-12-01T12:15:00.001-05:00

My super smart, incredibly talented, amazingly creative, shamelessly unreserved (on camera) will be on national television tomorrow as a contestent on America's favorite quiz show!

Check out the commercial for this week's shows! Further down the page, as well, is her "Hometown Howdy".

Her show airs TOMORROW, and I'm looking for volunteers to record it digitally. We have a VCR, but not a DVR and the show isn't available in any form online that I can find. If you're able to help, I'd be happy to offer something delicious as compensation!

To make an appearance on this show was the realization of a dream for her. Contenstants have to qualify (through two tests) to even get a chance to audition, and she went through the process TWICE!* I went with her to L.A. for the taping of the show, and I'll tell you in was an incredible experience. It is not possible to communicate just how much more intense it is to be watching the show live, and how much harder it is to keep your nerve -- and I wasn't even on playing the game! I can't discuss specifics about the show until after it airs TOMORROW, but I can tell you that it was so exciting to be there to support my wife in making this happen. Without any question, she deserved to be on that stage, and it was great to see her doing something she'd worked toward for several years.

Jeopardy! is syndicated, so check your local listings to find you when/where the show airs in your world. For us at Wayfarer House, it's at 7:30 on channel 5, and a whole bunch of us will be squeezed into the living room to watch it unfold. We hope you'll join us (wherever/whenever), and I hope you'll talk to her about it afterward. She's just bursting to talk about it!

* People who qualify for the show are put in a contestant pool and are selected for the show at random. You stay in the pool for 18 months and, if you're not selected during that time, you have to requalify.

The Dilemma of Oral Hygiene

2011-11-30T17:20:00.001-05:00

First, to my students: I'd like to apologize if I offended any of you by standing too close. I was not ignoring my dragon breath; I just didn't have time to slay it while you were there.

I should explain.

Because of its 50-minute commute, my morning routine rarely allows me the time to eat breakfast and enjoy my coffee properly so I can clean my teeth before I get to school. Thus, it is often the case that I have to deal with it when the flow of the day allows for it (sometimes, even during class). I keep a toothbrush, toothpaste and some mouthwash in my desk for just this eventuality. I keep lots of weird things in my desk. Maybe I'll do a 10 Things post on that someday...

Anyway, I really hate when I don't get the chance to brush because I feel like I'm breathing coffee breath (or worse) all over my students. Plus, I feel better (and probably teach better) when I'm all minty fresh. There are days, though, when, despite my best efforts, it just doesn't happen until later in the day. Listerine® and Trident® help a little, but neither is really an all-day fix. It's a daily challenge to keep a minty fresh face.

Disappointingly, today was not a minty fresh day. I walked in the door and it was non-stop stuff: Meetings, teaching, the 48 conversations that take place in the hallway as I'm going to one or the other. Like many of my days, it was a challenge today to find time to take a deep breath, let alone dig out my toothbrush.

I had to be at school a little while after the students left this afternoon to work on a college recommendation for one of my seniors. I waved good-bye to them as they left, had the standard 48 conversations on the way to my classroom and planted myself at my desk. I realized at that moment that I actually had time to take a deep breath. That led quickly to the realization that I needed to get right back up and, with my Reach and my Tom's of Maine, make my way to the sink.

I returned much better able to focus on the recommendation, and I'm sure the student for whom I'm writing it will appreciate that I did so with a clean, fresh face.

It was a better recommendation, I'm sure.

The image above is from animator Jeff Robinson. He is working on a short film project titled Eye Like Pizza. He has a production blog [HERE]. This is one of his main characters.

10 Things Tuesday -- Holiday Traditions

2011-11-29T15:44:00.001-05:00

Although much of the luster has faded from the celebration of Xmas, there are certain elements of this holiday (and others) that very definitely make them more meaningful and enjoyable. Here are ten of them:

1) Black Friday. I don't start thinking about Xmas until after Thanksgiving is done with but, when the time is right, I like to jump into it with both feet! I have a tradition of going out early-ish on Friday morning, getting breakfast and heading to the mall. I don't do this to take advantage of sales or do any real shopping; I just go out to immerse myself in the spirit of the season. And people watch! I love to just watch people do their thing at the mall, and rarely are there more people to watch than on the day of Thanksgiving. NOTE: I did not get the chance to do that this year because we were with my folks, which might account (at least in part) for why my attitude toward the holidays is so subdued.

2) Evenings until Christmas Day. Sitting in the softly lit living room with Theo all dressed up (Theo is our ficus tree, who doubles as our Xmas tree), listening to good holiday music or watching It's a Wonderful Life just radiate all the best things of the season.

3) New Year's Eve and New Years Day. Wifeness and I have been celebrating our anniversary with the Wayfarer Community on this date for 432 years (give or take), and it has taken on a life of its own. We've done a culinary theme for many years, we (those who have stayed up) always go outside just at midnight to quietly wish each other a special year ahead (going back inside almost immediately because it's arsefreezing cold outside), and then there's Fatty's. It's a wonderful, special way to commemorate our year of wedded bliss!

4) Chinese New Year. Of course, we bring in all manner of Chinese food, and our little lion does its annual dance of blessing (complete with lion dance music). It's nothing like what you'd see in Chinatown, but our humble way of paying homage to the culture of Shaolin helps keep our house connected to some very important and special people.

5) Memorial Day Weekend. This weekend marks the unofficial start of summer at Wayfarer House and, as such, the beginning of the grillage season, as well. For me, personally, it's also the beginning of the long and exhausting annual trek that is my school year.

6) Graduation Night. I wear a tie only twice a year for my job, for Parent's Night (but not the last two years because I've run straight from the soccer pitch to the classroom) and Graduation Night. Graduation at my school is special for a lot of reasons, but this is the day that I say a formal good-bye to my students. I give them hugs, tell them I love them and reiterate that, although my role as their classroom teacher may have ended, I am still there to support them in any way I can. I'm very honored by the number of alumni who continue, even years later, to renew, expand and strengthen their relationship with me into something mature and reciprocal. It is a testament to the value of connecting with students as people first.

7) Father's Day. On this day for many years, Wifeness' family gets together at a local lakeside camp for the annual lobster feed. The big table is unfurled (seriously, this table is like 15 feet long!) and everyone brings a dish, their lobster (or other food, as desired)... In recent years, I've taken to biking from Wayfarer House to the lake for this event (a hilly trip of some 30 miles). It's two hours of nothing but me and the quiet sounds of country roads, which is really about the best way to celebrate being a papa.

8) Fourth of July. The other gathering day at the lakeside camp, but without the lobster. I bike to the lake this day, too, usually, and the water is usually warmer by then, so there is more swimming.

9) Family Reunion. The second weekend in August is always set aside for this event. Its location and attendance vary according to the year, but it's an opportunity for all of that branch of Wifeness' family to come together and renew their ties. My family has no such traditions, and I'm grateful that my girls are able to be part of this. It strengthens their concept of family and encourages other, less dedicated members of the bunch that to be active members.

10) Thanksgiving. Regardless of where it's celebrated, the chance to get together with family (given and chosen) and appreciate all that I have is special. And sure, copious amounts of turkey and football are great, too!

Holidays and Politics

2011-11-28T19:29:00.001-05:00

I've come to the conclusion that I'm oversaturated with two rather seasonally ubiquitous things:

Holidays: It's not so much that I'm done with Xmas (although, to be sure, I'm slowly heading in that direction). Rather, it has to do with the fact that, more than ever before, Santa has stomped all over every other holiday from Columbus Day to Hanukkah and, in doing so, overwhelmed mind and media with the narcissistic belief that if it's not red and white, it just isn't worthy. Add to that this year's theme "Let's celebrate fanaticism!" which seems (to me, at least) like business and advertising are promoting unrestrained, extremist shopping behavior as an appropriate social value, and I have reached the point where my tolerance for (nay, hypersensitivity to) the high level of mania that is now deemed acceptable in the name of the holiday season has left my soul exhausted and my eye twitchy. I've written a letter expressing my support of Nordstrom's decision to wait until after Thanksgiving to put on their Xmas face and I'm doing my best to quietly, subtly suggest that the mainstream needs to take a step back. I cannot be the only one dismayed at the direction our holiday season is headed, but I worry that it will get much worse before it gets better.

Politics: The 2012 election season started right after the 2010 congressional elections ended, and this smacked of a blatant attempt by both parties, but especially the Republicans, to turn the Race to the Whitehouse into some kind of drama rich reality show, full of drama and completely devoid of any value whatsoever except as a diversion. Such premature agitation of the nation's political waters would seem to serve no useful benefit, and risks wearing out the voting public by overexposing it to a near constant stream of daily phone calls, issue ads and proclamations that the nation is "on the wrong track" (a statement made, as it happens, at election time by the minority party in every presidential contest since my birth). It has certainly pushed me, as a devout and passionate independent, to the point where I avoid any mention of politics in the media and steadfastly shun discussion of the topic during conversation (teachable moments with my students excepted). It's not that I do not have opinions about the issues facing our nation. It's not that I am an apathetic participant in our democratic process. It is simply that I have seen so little substantive dialog among either the candidates or the gaggle of pundits that dissect their every syllable that to follow the noise would amount to a colossal waste of my time. I intend to check the waters again after the primaries (as an independent, I don't vote in primaries, so I have that luxury). When the field is narrowed to two (or more, I'd like more), I'm hoping that someone on the dais has something intelligent to say. If not, I'm quite happy to turn off the tv and unplug the phone.

Are you oversaturated by something?

Quotes of the Week: From the Archives

2011-11-27T20:48:00.001-05:00

Even though it's been a while since I've posted them, I've been collecting quotes quite steadily for a year. Here are some I've set aside to share...

"I'm this close to rocking my Patriots snuggie to work tomorrow morning." Ashley, our new local television meteorologist, who is clearly a dyed-in-the-wool New Englander.

“Why would you even think that?” Karly, questioning why I was about to admonish her for socializing instead of practicing her French when I saw her pull up a chair to a classmate and get comfortable with a cup of tea.

“His success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself. We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine. While this may seem a curious thing to do for a sea creature, Paul achieved such popularity during his short life that it may be deemed the most appropriate course of action.” Stefan Porwoll, manager of the Oberhausen Sea Life Center in Germany that housed Paul, the octopus that fascinated the world by correctly predicting results at this past summer’s World Cup soccer tournament.

“Yep.” Emily (RIP), after taking a random mouth guard from off the bench and putting it straight into her mouth to see if it was hers.

“Is there too much granola in this room for you?” Loris, questioning someone’s “hippie tolerance quotient”.

“I’m thinking of imposing an hourly limit.” Wifeness, on the number of questions asked by the children.

"Well, it's a rather complicated proccess. First, I go and get a paper plate, plastic knife, plastic fork, and napkin. I unpeel the entire banana and place it on a plate. Then I cut it up into tiny slices using the knife (and leave the banana on the plate still in its relative banana shape). Next, I proceed to pick up each slice of banana with my fork and consume it. In this manner of banana consumption I don't feel rushed by the peel and do not get my hands all yucky (of course, I have a napkin if that does happen.)" Joanna, on her particular method for enjoyng bananas.

“Do you have scissors and glue? I need to make fire.” Lindsay.

"GAAAARGHGHGH! That’s my noise of very frustration!" Ella. ‎

“How do you say benefits?” One of the many seemingly random questions I receive during my classes that are assiduously ignored (in this case, because the whispered discussion I overheard that immediately preceded it involved the word 'friend').

“What if I know what the word is in Hebrew? Can I put that?” Jonah, during a Spanish exam.

“They smelled like past.” NiNi, describing the stuffed animals she recently discovered while poking around the attic.

“It's time for some thrilling heroics.” Jayne Cobb, from the series Firefly.

“I stopped a lot of balls. It hurt.” Jake, a first-grader, at the end of a first soccer match as a goalie.

Happy week, everyone!

Today's timeline...

2011-11-26T18:36:00.000-05:00

2:00am Alarm goes off. Pitch black. Must get up.

3:00am Bags in car. Wifeness, children up. Eating something. Ready to drive an hour to Pensacola to catch our flight. Mom coming, too (she'll drive the car back).

4:05am Mom drives off.

4:06am Wifeness realizes her wallet is not in her luggage. Brief drama ensues.

4:13am Wheel breaks on Wifeness' luggage. Brief drama ensues, followed by exasperated phrase, "Really?!"

4:45am Through security (who lets Wifeness through, despite having no identification). At the gate. How is it possible that every, single flight we take goes in and out from the gate farthest from the entrance?

5:25am SiSi's water bottle leaks on her and her carry-on bag as she finds her seat on the plane. Brief drama ensues.

5:30am Wheels up. NiNi sits next to Papa and chats at regular intervals throughout the flight, breaking Papa's concentration as he tries very hard to control his motion sickness. Airsick bags are located, but are not required.

7:45am Arrival in Atlanta. Connection to Boston is at the other end of the airport at (once again) the farthest gate possible. The long walk begins.

7:55am Arrival at Gate A32,741. Several among the group decide to visit the bathroom just as the intercom announces boarding for next leg of the journey. Brief drama ensues. Intercom announces the wrong flight. Ours is NOT boarding at this time, after all. Again, the exasperated phrase, "Really?!"

8:35am Wheels up. Wifeness and children are seated separately, so Papa sleeps to alleviate the worst of his motionsickness.

9:30am Zzzzzzz.... *snork* "Beverage, sir?" So much for sleep. Airsick bags located, but are not required.

11:10am Arrival in Boston. The long walk from Gate 2.39x10³ begins.

11:18am Pitstop at Starbuck's. $40 for coffee? Whatever. Just give me that mocha goodness.

12:10pm On the bus to Newburyport. It's nearly as warm in New England as it was on the Gulf Coast! Kids sit by themselves, so Wifeness and I get to sit together. Airsick bag (stolen from plane) is located, but not required.

1:20pm Arrival in Newburyport. Switch to minivan. Just a little farther to go.

1:45pm Arrival at MomnDad's. Will decompress here for the day and leave for Wayfarer House tomorrow. A wise choice. That airsick bag was starting to look awfully inviting.

2:30pm Zzzzzzz....

How I spent our trip to Alabama...

2011-11-25T14:08:00.002-05:00

Engaging in long discussions with my father over pipe and coffee.

Watching him build a table with plywood, dowels, glue, paper, resin, bondo and a log from a nearby tree (when asked years ago why he did things like that, he simply said, "Well, nobody else is doing it.")

Listening to my mother talk about how wonderful my children are, and how Wifeness and I are such great parents. I think she is genuinely in awe of this, and that she could have somehow contributed to this is a source of constant surprise to her. I don't know why. My folks may not have been the paragon of exceptional parents, but they did an excellent job of modeling for their children what a loving house should strive to be. Their example, and the fact that my youth was notably devoid of drama, neglect or abuse, gave me a good sense for what the ideal of parenthood is supposed to be -- and that it is not the same for everyone.

Watching both of my parents rediscover their grandchildren. They see them so rarely that the kids have changed completely between visits, and are entirely different people each time. I'm sure they'd like to be a greater part of their lives, they enjoy seeing how much they've grown each time.

Appreciating that, as older people, they do not have the endurance for the busy, always-on-the-go lifestyle we lead. Although I think it's good (especially for my mom) to be more active, the level of energy in our world is much higher than it is in theirs, and they don't maintain the higher level well for long. Even their dog takes more naps when we're around!

Trying not to roll my eyes while my father tries to convince me that buying a double-wide mobile home is the smartest financial decision one could make.

Arguing with my mother about the amount of (unnecessary) cleaning she's doing, just because we're here.

Realizing that my parents are getting older, and wondering how many more times their grandchildren will get to see them before they die.

Hoping that, as I hug them good-bye, that it will be at least one more.

A Day for Recognition and Thanks

2010-11-25T10:08:00.002-05:00

The fourth principle of Shen Gung is simply to say, “thank you”. It is a reminder to recognize that our place in the universe is not entirely (or even in large part) of our making. Rather, we are here as we are because of countless blessings and help of myriad parts of the universe. To be sure, our choices matter; without them the universe cannot act on our behalf. Yet, it is important to acknowledge that our karma (what we are here to do) cannot properly be achieved single-handedly.

Today is the day in American culture when we take time to appreciate that which we might otherwise take for granted. In no particular order, I offer the following:

My family, both given and chosen. The distinction between the family we are born to and the family we create is a subtle one in my world. That the latter should take a place of honor equal to the former is a concept that many people either do not truly understand, or else reject out of hand as detrimental to the survival of traditional ideas like blood lineage and property ownership. I understand this concern, but since I place a higher value on relationships than I do either ancestry or property, it is appropriate that I should honor the relationships that have made my life so rich, healthy and content.

My profession. I knew from a very early age that I wanted to teach, and I am blessed to have found so quickly a job that allows me to challenge myself to do the things that I value most -- to build quality relationships, to think critically about how people achieve their best and to develop a unique style of sharing what I know that helps people to find purpose, contentment and motivation to discover who they are.

My health. I am not the picture of perfect health. My waistline continues to be broader than it should be. My thyroid is dying, and my gallbladder is already dead and (thankfully) gone. I have plantar faciitis that is taking its good, sweet time clearing up. But last year I biked 250 miles up the middle of the Green Mountains. The two years before that I competed in intermediate distance triathlons (a hobby I very much look forward to continuing for many years). The year before that I biked 400 miles. That I am able to do these things even in my imperfect state of health is a blessing, and I am grateful (and a little amazed) that I have so much that I can do -- and even improve at.

My nationality. I am not often proud of the way my government represents me, but I am very much aware that I am a citizen of one of the richest, most technologically advanced nations in the world and that such membership, to quote American Express, has its privileges. I have the freedom to say so when my government embarrasses me and the right to vote my convictions. I have the resources to do amazing things with my life and I am protected by dedicated military and civilian forces in the process of pursuing those things. I have power and prestige as an American and, although I don’t value these things terribly, it is undeniable that they make my life much more comfortable than it would be otherwise.

Technology, and my access to it. I have a laptop. So does my wife. In fact, Wayfarer House has within its walls a computer for every individual who lives there. I have a blog and a Facebook page. We have WiFi. We have the ability to watch more TV on our computers than we do on the actual TV (I’m pretty sure we do this). We have access to a projector and good, loud speakers, and we can use these things to host drive-in style movie nights during the warmer months. We have, among us, more than one digital music player per person (I have the two smallest, oldest ones). Everyone over 16 has a car. I have a snowblower. I have power tools. There is a washer and dryer, and a dishwasher. These are all marvels that did not exist 100 years ago. Hell, the Internet didn’t properly exist 20 years ago! That I enjoy these things today is nothing less than astounding, and I am grateful for them and their contribution to a life of comfort and convenience.

My mad ninja-like skills. I can cook. I can write fairly well. I can pull a J-turn. I can fix damn near anything. I can do a crossword just by hearing it. I can speak six different languages and imitate accents from at least another dozen. I can tell you pretty much anything about you after sitting down with you for an hour of conversation. I can light a fire without matches. I can whistle a decent jazz improv piece. I can bike a loooong way. I can teach you how to solve an algebraic equation with your body. I can track a variety of wildlife. I can bend a corner kick into the net past a goalie. OK. Maybe some of these aren’t what you might call widely applicable, but they’ve all helped me out at some point in my life and so I am thankful for them.

The wisdom that has come from my experience. I was talking to a colleague and we were reflecting on just how much we have come to know that our students -- even our most gifted and motivated -- simply haven’t come to. We have learned so much just by being on the planet for 40 years! It makes me wonder what I’ll have learned in the next 40!

I hope that, whatever it is you are thankful for, you take the time today to honor it. Then go to bed early.. Black Friday sales start early, people!

Dear Bessie...

2010-11-05T19:07:00.000-04:00

I've tried calling you, like, 4,812,906 times and no one answers. This means:

a) You're dead.
b) You're hiding.
c) You're so goddamn busy that you don't have time to answer the phone.
d) You've moved and haven't unpacked the phone.
e) You've moved and decided that you really didn't like having a phone.
f) You've suffered a head trauma and have forgotten how to answer the phone.
g) You've changed your number.
h) I've been dialing the wrong damn number the last 4,812,906 times.
i) You've perpetrated violence against your daughter, but in the process wounded yourself, so you're not able to reach the phone to answer it because you're bleeding out slowly on your new living room carpet.
j) The phone company is accidentally routing your calls to Czechoslovakia, where it's too late at night for any reasonable person to answer the phone when I call.

Please select any/all that apply and return to sender.

Sincerely,

Wayfarer

Halftime Huddle

2010-10-27T21:08:00.006-04:00

Ain't we a motley looking crew?

Photo Credit: Jill (from her Facebook album)

10 Things Tuesday: Lines Unbidden

2010-10-26T19:38:00.003-04:00

I was reading something from a student yesterday that contained the phrase, “...then he did something unexpected...” No sooner did I read that line than, into my head, unbidden, came the phrase, “...and then something happened the Ring did not expect.”

Have you ever had that happen to you?

I mean, there I was just minding my own business and -- Pow! Right out of nowhere it came and, once it was in there, it was all I could think about. It got so bad that I was nearly to the point of loading up The Fellowship of the Ring just to watch that part so I could get it out of my head.

This got me to thinking of other such lines or quotes from movies that come into my brain like that. Once I started thinking about it, I realized there were quite a few. I've picked 10 from among them to share. Some of them are from movies you probably know. Others, maybe not. Test yourself! I’ll give a prize to someone who gets them all (don’t ask me what, though).

1. This pops into my head every single time my wife starts the blender for her smoothie in the morning.

“Oh, yeah. You blend.”

2. How many times do you tell kids to watch what they’re doing? Very often, this line follows such an admonition on my part. (and it comes with a particular Chicagoan accent)

“You’re being careful, aren’t you.”

3. It doesn’t happen often that I lose my keys anymore, but every time I go looking for them this plays in my head. Maybe it’s an unconscious incentive to find them quickly.

“Haven't you ever lost your keys, Dr. Bronx?

4. Although not strictly from movies, this quote often comes into my brain with the image of pointy ears and a raised eyebrow.

“Fascinating.”

5. No one from the generation of my students recognizes this quote when we’re playing games like Pictionary, but I’m reminded of it a lot.

“Baby fish mouth! Baby fish mouth!”

6. I don’t know why, but I hear this in my head a lot whenever my students come into the classroom sniveling about their weekly exam. Perhaps it’s because it’s said in a snivelly voice.

“But I was going into Toshi Station to pick up some power converters!”

7. This quote follows any song by the Rolling Stones, but also any time someone says something unintelligible to me twice in a row.

“Speak English, Mick!”

8. Related to #7, this pops up whenever I can’t hear someone well, even after they’ve repeated themselves. It’s best repeated with an Hispanic accent.

“Ah, Jonathan! You sound so far away!”

9. Back when I had Max on my soccer team, this quote came to mind every time I yelled to him from across the soccer field. I don’t have Max now, but it still comes regularly when I’m trying to get someone’s attention during a game, especially (and for no particular reason) during corner kicks.

“Max! Follow that frog.” [Car zooms off ...] “Max!” [Brakes screech. Car reverses...] “Follow that frog, with me in the car!”

10. Finally, before many endeavors runs perhaps the most famous lines ever uttered from Billy Crystal and Carol Kane.

“Bye bye, boys!”
“Have fun storming the castle!”
[whispering] “Do you think it’ll work?”
[whispering] “It would take a miracle.”
“Buh bye!”

Monday Meme: Stolen from Stolen

2010-10-25T11:09:00.005-04:00

Judd, over at Sunday Stealing contacted me a while back to say that he’d “stolen” my Monday Meme from a couple of weeks ago. I checked out his site and found lots of other memes with lots of other bloggers’ responses, which is great because I’m always interested to read what other people have to say. What you’ll read below was originally(?) stolen by Judd from Emily Barton’s blog Telecommuter Talk. I’m stealing it from her, through Judd, to use today.

TIME TRAVELLER MEME

Emily's rules state the following to get you started:
-- Depending on your age, go back 10, 15, 20, or even more years.
-- Tell how many years back you have traveled and why.
-- Pretend you have met yourself during that era, and tell us where you are.
-- You only have one "date" with this former self.
-- Answer the questions below.

0. Okay, as we start, what year is it and how old are you? My younger self is 21, and it is the same date twenty years ago (or as near to it as I can recall clearly). My younger self is living in New Hampshire and working at a budget hotel chain near the seacoast. He is newly married, recently graduated and feeling much like he's starting out on an adventure. Ironically, this is not far from the truth, but his adventure--like many adventures--will take him places he would never have imagined. I think the best place for us to meet would be a little breakfast place right in downtown Portsmouth. It's no longer there but, twenty years ago, it was a wonderful place to sit and converse over eggs and coffee. He would know it well.

1. Would your younger self (YYS, from here) recognize you when you first meet? Well, I have shorter hair and a beard now, but I’m about the same body type (though I’m much fitter now than my younger self would be). My eyes are, I think, as distinctive a feature as they were then (this was pointed out to me this past weekend when, not once but twice, people looked at me with recognition after having not seen me in several years). I'd probably look a lot like my dad to his eyes.

2. Would YYS be surprised to discover what you are doing job wise? No, but I think my younger self would be very surprised by the route I took to get there. He would undoubtedly wonder why it took so long, and why the hell I’d moved to Las Vegas. To explain to him that I fell into a short-lived career in graphic arts in Sin City before finally becoming a teacher would require some time to do well, and to do it without telling him things he shouldn't know about his near future would be challenging.

3. What piece of fashion advice would you give YYS? Fashion advice?? From ME?? He’d know better than to accept it, I think. He'd already know that he could wear more colors than black, white, blue and grey (something my 16 year old self was afraid to explore), but since my wardrobe now is much like it was then, I'd have little to offer. I only thing I can even come up with to go with footie (below-the-ankle) socks sooner. He'd appreciate that. Oh, and I'd tell him to stock up on Champion® 90/10 sweatshirts whenever he can. They get harder to find.

4. What do you think YYS is most going to want to know? Is there a Community School yet?

5. How would you answer YYS's question? With a sigh. I'd explain that it's moving forward, if at a glacial pace. I'd explain that, even though it's not established yet, more and more building blocks are in place. I'd explain that there's a lot to learn first because no one else has done such a thing before (he would not believe this), but that I'm feeling more and more confident of late that, when it's off and running, it will succeed well. That's truly what both of us want.

6. What would probably be the best thing to tell YYS? Start studying Buddhism now. It’ll make a lot of sense to you and will put you in the right mind to do life well as you get older. Don't be afraid to do what you need to in order to realize the the potential of your life. Your fear will cost you valuable time and make things much more complicated.

7. What is something that you probably wouldn't tell YYS? What’s going to happen in the next few months. It’s important that it happens, but, even though it will be painful, it’s important that he not know it’s coming. He'd try to change it, and that would just make it that much more frustrating. It's supposed to happen. It needs to happen for all that follows to come to pass.

8. What do you think will most surprise YYS about you? That I’m married to my wife now and not my wife then. That story would be most interesting to tell my younger self, but only after he’s a little older. Lots of people have heard the story of that time of my life, but only he would understand and appreciate all the nuances. There's just a lot about that story that can't properly be shared.

9. What do you think will least surprise YYS? That our kids are the wonderful brand of weird that they are. Seriously, he knew that train was coming back around to the station sooner or later.

10. At this point in your life, would YYS like to run into "you" from the future? It is my hope that I'm modeling well the people in my world whose way of being is patient, compassionate, wise, strong and centered. I know that I have always appreciated those qualities in people. I’d be very interested to hear from my younger self (and any of you) if I’m modeling those qualities well.

Happy Monday! Thanks, Emily for a wonderful meme (I really enjoyed thinking about how this meeting might have gone), and thanks again, Judd, for bringing me into your circle!

The Week in Quotes (if nothing else)

2010-10-17T08:17:00.002-04:00

It was a busy, hectic week. Far too busy to find the time to post anything of substance. For the record, it wasn't a bad week; it was just really full. I was, however, able to collect enough quotage for a post today (in the interest of full disclosure, many of this week's gems came from Karla's birthday party Saturday. I will have just enough time to post before I have to get up and make pancakes. Happy Sunday!

“I embrace my weirdness.” Arry.

“Yes, ma’am...er...” Jake, to me.

“How many people got the midget card?” Molly, recounting the statement of a student in her class.

“But I’m having a constructive conversation in Spanish!” Max, interrupting my French class.

"Ow! That hurts!" Juju, after saying, "Como se escribe quelquefois en francés?"

“I ran for 3 and a half minutes! No, they were not all at once.” Suzanne.

“So, I’m like a squirrel in six different ways.” NiNi, in what easily ranked as the most random comment of that particular day.

“Don’t try to make sense of it. It’s a, it’s a... It’s GOLD!” Dennis Gardman, from an NPR story on what draws people to buy gold. (you can listen to it [HERE]).

“I just had a vibe.” Lexi, who looked up just as I was in the act of throwing something at her because she wasn’t paying attention.

“Don’t talk about brownies while I’m cleaning the toilet.” Eric.
“Was I reading it from a text or something??” Ruth, who never swears, attempting to explain why I might have heard her do just that at one time.

“Well, at least it wasn’t as bad as ‘skateboard’.” Wheeler, on Ruth’s now legendary choice of card in Apples to Apples®.

“Your mother’s absurd...” My wife, attempting to use a “your mom” retort during the same Apples to Apples® game.

“Having all the people in the house brought the temperature up 5 degrees!” Karla, looking at the thermostat in the dining room. It registered 65°F.

Monday Meditation: An Excellent Life

2010-10-11T12:14:00.002-04:00

How can a person create an excellent life? This is the meditation I’m carrying around as I take care of the myriad domestic duties that fill my to-do list on this Monday.

What makes an excellent life? Certainly one part of the answer involves understanding what we, as humans, can experience. We are, to be sure, constrained by the limits of what we can do and feel, and to ignore these limits inevitably leads to frustration, denial and, eventually, to feelings of failure and helplessness. Yet, out of fear of experiencing these things, we often turn away from the process of exploration that helps us discover concretely just exactly what those limits are. In many ancient myths, someone who wanted to find happiness, love or enlightenment had to travel first through some version of hell. Dante did it most literally, I suppose. Before he was allowed to contemplate the splendors of heaven, Dante had to wander through the horrors of hell so he could understand what kept humanity from passing through the pearly gates. Frodo Baggins’ journey also illustrates this point, even if the hell he experienced was somewhat more metaphorical. I think there’s more to be said on this, but I save it for later. I have laundry to do today.

My point, I guess, is that we can and should be active in our efforts to understand what our own limits (that is, our own definitions of what makes an excellent life) really are. Although we are wise to accept that some of the main parameters of life are fixed--we can’t truly avoid sleeping, eating, interacting with one another and doing, on occasion, at least some work we find distasteful--there is a great deal of room for variety in the way we approach our lives. I believe that this flexibility allows enough room for people to take initiative and make choices to make a real difference in their lives. One of the greatest things we can do as people, I think, is to reflect on, and then act in, ways that make our lives excellent.

Paul Graham (2006) offers this statement, “‘Always produce’ is ... a heuristic for finding the work you love. If you subject yourself to this constraint it will automatically push you away from things you think you’re supposed to work on, toward things you actually like. (It will help you) discover your life’s work the way water, with the aid of gravity, finds the hole in your roof.” I am continually dismayed by how little time we devote in our society to trying to connect with the work we love. Consider the three major activities that make up how most of us spend our free time: Watching television, conversation and hobbies. Of these three, the one that takes up most of our time and, ironically, most of our psychic energy, is the one that is the most passive and, for many of us, the most addictive. That we are not taught to look at our lives through a lens of doing is made clear to me every year by the blank stares I receive when I ask my students if they have any hobbies. I once received a response from a girl in my class, “Is watching American Idol a hobby?”

In holding Graham’s statement up as one of wisdom, I don’t mean to say that life must be all work and no play. Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I believe quite strongly in the value of play. Play is a great way to get to know yourself and, through that, your vision of an excellent life. “Always produce” is not meant to remove play and leisure from our lives; it’s meant to give it some sense of purpose. By making our leisure active, we continually zero in on the understanding of what makes us happy.

In what ways is your leisure time active? How does it connect to your vision of an excellent life?

Quotes of the Week: It's 10-10-10!

2010-10-10T19:51:00.007-04:00

This week saw the candle I'd been burning at both ends completely extinguish. And just in time for a 3-day weekend! I'm going to enjoy sleeping in at some point! I hope you get some down time, too, if you need it. In the meantime, enjoy this week's quotes...

“Wow, you’re acting kinda saucy today.” Arry, after an exchange that started with, “Can I go to the bathroom?” and ended with, “I don’t know, can you?”

“I love that you laughed the instant you said that.” Jake, in response to Ella’s comment, “I think it’s sexist that only women get to be mothers.”

“I am bereft of sure.” Joanne. (I’m right there with you, Joanne!)

“He’s a king. His name is Duke.” SiSi, of a clay figure she made.

“I got exsanguinated by a giant tick!” Victoria, of her first roleplayed character’s death.

“It was love at first sight!” Dennise, after I noticed that she’d taken the following incriminating photo with Flor, one of my muppets.

“Do you swear in your classes?” Chili. (On the grounds that it might incriminate me...)

“You smell good! Like that restaurant we ate at.” NiNi who, in making this comment, fully refuted her earlier protestation that she did not like Mexican food.

“I’m glad you hadn’t picked it up yet,” Nana, of the very heavy air conditioner I was about to lift when she squealed and jumped, causing my heart to stop beating. She explained that she’d squealed because she’d seen a mouse.

"It feels good to get this one...” Detroit Lions center Dominic Raiola, after their 44-6 thrashing of the St. Louis Rams, which represented their first win in 11 games. The Lions, who had the NFL's first 0-16 season two years ago, had won just three of their previous 44 games before today’s victory.

"What's my score?" SiSi, after her first full round of disc golf ever. She threw for 128, but she did it from the pro tees. Her papa was so proud.

Thursday, in verse?

2010-10-07T20:17:00.001-04:00

I stumbled home at 7:30,
No want to eat had I.
From soccer practice wet and dirty,
To bathe no will to try.

My children off to bed I sent.
We read, then off the light,
I cleaned up, then to bed I went,
My energy for schoolwork spent,
and didn’t stir all night.

Awash...

2010-10-06T23:16:00.001-04:00

I took the day off from school. I did not take the day off from school work, however. I reviewed exams and futzed around with how to best offer feedback on them that also made for easy recording in the spreadsheet that is my gradebook. I am still not happy with how it works.

The exams are showing me that the students are generally where they should be. I have a couple who are excelling wonderfully and a few who need to get up off their butts, but there’s not a wide range like has been the case in years past. I’m not sure yet if that’s because of the system I’m piloting or the students I have. Time will tell.

Some alumni from my soccer team will be by tomorrow for practice. They’ve offered to help run drills with the veterans of this year’s team so I can work with the newer bunch. Then, they want to scrimmage and show the younglings what soccer really looks like. I’m looking forward to lacing my cleats up and joining them. I do so enjoy taking it to my team from time to time! I may look old, but I can still regularly pwn them with a soccer ball.

My brain is awash with lesson plans, home stuff, letters half written, research have conducted and lesson plans half complete. I’m going to go to bed and hope that most of it sorts itself out by the morning.

Ten Things Tuesday: Unique Teaching

2010-10-05T22:53:00.001-04:00

I am an unusual teacher, and I teach in an unusual school. Here are ten (and not the only ten) things that set me apart from the mainstream members of my profession:

1. I go by my first name. Although some of my earliest alumni from my time in traditional public school still refer to me as “Mr. Wayfarer”, I am much happier being able to go by my first name. It matches my informal and disinvolto professional style, and encourages students to get to know me as a person, not just as a teacher.

2. I get, and give, a lot of hugs. This is a celebrated element of the rather bohemian culture of my school, and I very much enjoy the closeness it creates between individuals. Particularly at the high school level where everyone is hypersensitive to physical touch, to see someone in the hall, say, “Hi!” and exchange a friendly embrace just makes everyone's day go a little better. High fives are also incredibly common.

3. I don’t grade homework. This is one of the elements of the system I’m piloting this year. The decision to do this came from an epiphany I had during the summer. In a nutshell, it started from the question of what a grade is supposed to quantify. For teachers, it usually measures a student’s ability to do and know, but often there’s a whole lot of other stuff that ends up part of the equation--timeliness, class participation and neatness of work, to name some. Most people who aren’t teachers, though, look at a grade much more simply. Is the student doing well? What do they know? What can they do? Synthesizing lots of things into a single grade really muddies the water when trying to communicate clearly about a student’s progress and performance, so I started looking for ways to make it clearer. One of the things I realized was that I was counting homework as part of their overall grade, when I really only assign homework to be practice. What is the value in doing that? At best, it forces work on a student who is overloaded and who needs different support. At worst, it hides a demonstration of perfectly good skills behind a failure to do “busy work”. Once I realized I might be able to help students better by looking at their grade as a function of skills instead of assignments, it made sense to let go the grading of anything that wasn’t a summative assessment of what they knew or could do. I’ll let you know how this change in philosophy pans out, but the early returns seem positive.

4. I tell my students to solve their own problems. You don’t have a pencil? Your notebook? A clue? Don’t ask me. I’m in charge of the cosmic, celestial parts of what goes on in the classroom, and that takes up a lot of my life. I don’t have time or energy to worry about, let alone address, your own material inadequacies. Someone, somewhere has a pencil, a copy of your worksheet for you to use, some sense of what’s going on. Ask them. Use your proletarian resources to the fullest before seeking the ethereal ones. Now, if you have a problem that is celestial in nature, you should bring that to me first. Do not suffer in silence on matters of importance. Just take a minute to think about what is and is not something that needs my attention.

5. I have an “official sniveling stance”. I will have someone pose for it later this week, so you can see it. If you want to snivel in my space, you are required to adopt the official sniveling stance. No snivels will be entertained if you are not adopting the stance. This rule accounts for a near 90% reduction in sniveling and related complaints in my classroom.

6. I use muppets and personalities in my classes. Mbungo, Isabela, Flora, Rita, Eldrin and Jesus are all part of a cast of characters in an ever-growing collection of skits and stories that relate to what I teach. I’m realizing as I write this that I don’t have pics of them all to share right now, but I’ll work on it. Not all my students respond to them in person (it’s interesting to see who will interact with a muppet and who won’t), but once they’ve learned a little about each of them, reading and hearing about them in stories seems to help them engage better.

7. I let my students listen to music when they’re studying or taking tests. There are certain people who simply focus better by having music playing. I am not one of them, really, but my classes are chock full of students who are. If it produces better learning, I’m all for it. Related to this, if they’re kinesthetic learners and need to move around to study, I tell them to take a walk and come back in a few minutes and show me that they’ve learned what they need to (this works well for vocab memorization).

8. I give my home number to my students. Believe it or not, I’ve never had this abused in 12 years of teaching. Most of my students are actually afraid to call me! Maybe it’s because I make them do it as part of one of their exams?

9. I wear jeans and sweatshirts to school. In my first year of teaching high school, I wore shirts and ties and good pants. Then I realized that nobody cared if I didn’t. I wear such things now only twice a year: Open House and graduation. This year, I didn’t even wear them for Open House because we had a soccer game that afternoon and I didn’t have time. I apologized to the parents. They were forgiving. We won the game, after all.

10. I keep in touch with my students long (in many cases, years) after they leave my classroom. The alumni from my early years are in their mid to late twenties now. Several are married and have children. Some are off on adventures. Others are quite happy to never have left home. I love all of them so much, and I am honored that they come by as often as they do to share their happenings with me and my family. For me, teaching is first about forming quality relationships. High school is so forgotten about once it’s done and, with it, any connection to the mentors that helped us through that turbulent time. Those are important relationships, and learning how to nurture important relationships is so much more valuable than anything else I can teach. It makes me smile that so many of my students know this, and pass it on to others. Thanks, y’all! You make me so proud!

Monday Meme: Questions for Autumn

2010-10-04T08:03:00.002-04:00

Many of these questions presuppose living in New England (or some other place that has a distinct autumnal culture), but I’d be curious to hear answers from people who live outside the northeast.

Have you turned the heat on in your house yet this fall? Nope. It’s only just begun to get cold enough to bring the plants in, and it’ll be several weeks before frost really settles in the valley. We have time--and plenty of blankets!

Do you allow your pets on the furniture? She can’t get up on anything but the couch now, but our cat has always been welcome on anything that people sit on.

What were your final words for September? Man, you went by fast!

What are your first words for October? Please be gentle. There’s a lot going on and I'm working right on the edge of burnout.

Do you think you’ve ever seen a ghost? Seen? I don’t think so. Felt? Perhaps.

What is the one color that represents this time of year? I’ll say orange, since it’s the one I can see best. It’s the color of pumpkins and candy corns!

Which of your senses do you think is most sensitive this time of year? My sense of smell is awash this time of year with the scents of apple cider, pumpkin muffins, wool sweaters, dried grass, decaying leaves and the enigmatic yet immediately recognizable smell of approaching winter.

What is your favorite thing to do at the county fair? I love the food. There’s a booth at the local event that does the most amazing corn chowder! And then there’s the obligatory dog dish of French fries, followed by local peach cobbler for dessert. After that, I really like to watch the horse pull competition. Something about it evokes wonderful memories of farm life for me.

What do you like when you have a cold? I’m blessed that I don’t get sick like that often anymore (although this year I did manage to pick up a bug for a couple of days). I supposed I like best just to curl up under several layers of blanket and vegetate to mindless video entertainment. It takes my mind away from the feeling of miserable.

Are you willing to spend over $100 for a piece of winter clothing, like boots or a coat? I think $100 doesn’t go as far as it used to a couple of years ago, but I’ll spend what I must to feel the right kind of comfortable. Having said that, my favorite winter coat is a simple affair that Wifeness bought me several years ago for less than $50. That coat and a wool sweater underneath will do me just fine in sub-zero weather. It’s like magic!

What do you have too much of in your kitchen? Our kitchen is a resting area for many things. It was apples a couple of weeks ago, and Mason jars yesterday. It will be laundry tomorrow. Today is sort of an in-between day and there’s a decent balance of everything. There’s fresh bread cooling on the island, but not more than we’ll eat this week. There’s chicken being cooked down for broth, but that’s not really in the way. There are rather too many raincoats on the coat pegs right now, but those will make their way soon to the coat rack the front hall.

What gripes do you have about this time of year? That it can be simultaneously hot and cold drives me nuts! I need it to be one or the other, so I can dress properly!

Other than yourself, are you responsible for getting anyone ready in the morning? Wifeness and I tagteam the readiness duties for the two elementary schoolers in the house. In most other ways, the members of the house do for themselves.

When was the last time you cleaned your gutters? Pfft! That’s what a good, strong rain is for!

So, it’s after Labor Day. Will you still be wearing white? The only white I routinely wear is on my socks and my t-shirts. I’m still wearing socks. The t-shirts are being herded to the bin for the Great Clothes Switch.

What shows are you most looking forward to this Fall? I only really follow 3: How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory and Nova (including its spinoffs Science Now and Secrets of the Dead). I just don’t have time for the rest of what’s on.

What three things have you just not gotten around to from the summer, but probably should do before snow flies? I really need to finish painting the bulkhead doors, I need to finish cleaning in the basement and (although this is mostly Wifeness’ project), I’d like to see the dining room painted. I don’t like doing home improvement projects in the winter. Winter is a time for small projects that can be done in front of the (metaphorical) wood stove, not ripping wallpaper off the walls and refinishing floors.

The (so busy) Week in Quotes (that I didn't write them all down):

2010-10-03T11:20:00.000-04:00

It was a great week for quotes in my world, but it was also really busy and, for all that I tried to carry them all in my head between moments at the computer, I ended up losing far more than I could retain. Maybe I should just carry a little notebook around. Here's what managed to make it this far:

“Because he’s not Spanish.” Meredith, during French, in reply to the question, “Why is there no “e” in “grand” for Harold?”

“So, if I were to die right in the middle of a sentence, they’d only know that I am NOT?!” Brittany, in exasperation over the fact that the “no” in Spanish comes before the verb.

“If everyone expected to get caught, no one would ever commit a crime.” Wilbur Rido, convicted felon and author of the memoir In the Place of Justice.

When you're surrounded by critics it can be hard to remember your own goals and expectations, (and) you start to judge yourself by what other people are saying.” Abby Sunderland, shortly after she abandoned her attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world.

“What’re you doing on the phone in my class?! Get off the phone!” Me, before realizing the student I was chastising was actually using one of my prop phones to practice for his exam.

“I wonder why they make women's cologne to smell like flowers. To attract men, I think you should smell like maple syrup or bacon.” Trudy.

“This is a clear case of arson!” “Arson??” “Yeah, Arsin’ around!” From Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit

“There are just muffins everywhere!” Alex, during a soccer team meeting, as he picked a half-eaten muffin up off the shelf in the room and began to eat it. He later admitted, after I nearly vomited, that it was his own.

“If it makes you feel any better, Thursday is no longer cruciferous vegetable night!” Sheldon Cooper (with many thanks to Anonymous, who posted the link to the show I missed) .

“We could rent you a 14-passenger boat instead, if you’d like. It comes with oars. Lots of oars.” The rental agent at the place where I rent the vans to take my team to soccer games, when I called to cancel the reservation because of torrential rain.

“His name’s not Dave?? I thought it was Dave.” Shayla, after being corrected for misnaming this supposedly popular animated character:

Thoughts of October

2010-10-02T21:02:00.002-04:00

Geese make their way south,
Plants come in, pumpkins come out.
Winter is coming.

[photo source]

Rain and Breathing.

2010-10-01T19:48:00.002-04:00

It’s raining, like, a lot. I appreciate the fact that we’re getting it; we haven’t had any in a long time (months) and the local flora is beginning to suffer. The thing is, getting 4 inches of rain all at once doesn’t quite make up for the deficit. All it does is run off, cause the drains to back up and make traffic a pain in the tuckus. One positive of the weather, though, is that it cancelled the soccer game that was scheduled for this afternoon. Don’t get me wrong. I look forward to every game I coach, but I’ve been burning the candle at all three ends the last couple of weeks and I could use just a little breather.

Since I ended up being at school all afternoon, I took some time to do a little housekeeping and organizing of the mountain of paperwork I need to grade while my students were taking their weekly exams. I’ll dig into the pile a little bit this weekend, but I’m thinking it’s about time for a personal day to really make a proper dent in it. I usually have to take one in early October to catch up on things because, between soccer and all the other little projects that are part of my early fall semester routine, it’s very easy for me to fall behind in my grading.

Fortunately, the pile of stuff isn’t as bad this year as it’s been in years past. Mostly that’s because I’m piloting some new routines in my courses this year that have lessened greatly the amount of paper I see in my in-box. I’ll share more about this later. Even though there’s less paper to grade, there’s still enough work to keep me busy. The trick is to find a good time to take away from my classes to do it.

Next week presents just such a time. By fortunate happenstance, I have just one soccer game on the schedule (today’s game could be rescheduled then, but that’s not likely.). Also, I have relatively few meetings during school that week and a field trip (not mine) will take students from my afternoon classes one of the days. It seems like a good time.

I just have to figure out what to have my students do that day. I want them to have something substantive (I hate when teachers just throw a video at their classes to pass the time). They’re working on describing things, but next week is scheduled to have lots of oral practice. Maybe a recorded something for them to listen to? A dialog, perhaps? I’ll have to talk to my TAs about those options. Right now I just need to find a quiet place so I can take several slow, deep breaths and listen to the sound of the rain falling. The sound of rain often brings peace to my mind.

[photo source]

You know the day was busy...

2010-09-30T21:24:00.004-04:00

...when you forget to watch the only show during the week you care about--and it’s not one that’s broadcast online!

Sigh.

[source]

More than just French...

2010-09-29T14:37:00.003-04:00

My school is in the middle of its rechartering review. There are people here from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) attending meetings, holding focus groups, interviewing people and sitting in on classes. If you're in the building, you can see them coming and going, here and there, trying to take in all the weirdness that is my school's average way of being. I don't see them all that much, though. It's rare that my classes are observed during these reviews. I think this must be because Introductory French or Spanish is assumed to be bland, basic or uninteresting. I guess, if you took language from anyone else, anywhere else, that would be a fair assumption, but this is my school and I am me. Let me assure you that my classes are far from the average.

One brave member of the review committee figured this out today. He stopped in during my long block class just as they were about to put on their interpretive dance of adjectives (they’ve been learning all about describing words this week, as well as how to use non-verbal language to support the words they use). My visitor, dressed all official-like in a suit and tie, came into the classroom as my first group was setting up. I welcomed him--the first such visitor I’ve seen in several years--and I explained what the class was up to. It needed an explanation because my students were spread all over the room and out into the hallway, and it must have looked quite the sight to see them blocking out their movements everywhere.

He took a seat out of the way and my class settled in as well to watch the first performance. The first group’s interpretive dance, which was accompanied by the music from the Sherlock Holmes movie, incorporated the French words for cocky, strong, intelligent, unique, obnoxious, brave and happy, as well as a word they looked up, afraid. None of the students in this group was a dancer, but all together they created a thoroughly engaging, detailed and well-prepared presentation of their understanding of what we’ve been learning. The applause was enthusiastic (as is usually the case), and we moved right into a review of these words and how the group communicated them without words.

My observer left at that point, I'm sure to go to yet another meeting. I think he left a bit shell-shocked, but absolutely impressed by what he saw. He could come into pretty much any class on pretty much any day and leave pretty much the same way.

I'm sorry I don't get more visitors in my classes. My students to such amazing things all the time, and it's a little sad that the only person who gets to see it most of the time is I. If you're ever in the neighborhood, stop on by. Come watch my class. Seriously, you will leave just like the DESE will tomorrow--a little shell-shocked, but absolutely impressed!

10 Things Tuesday: Great Words (not in English)

2010-09-28T22:17:00.006-04:00

I once found a website (now defunct) that used to share words from other languages that had no exact equivalent in English. It got me thinking about words I knew in other languages that I found beauty or value in because of the thoughts they communicated. I speak six languages with varying degrees of proficiency, but to come up with ten words I knew that really had a depth of meaning unmatched by my native tongue was a real challenge. This post has taken me a while to put together.

1. Ganas (Spanish). Ganas can be translated as “feel like” to express a general inclination, but as a cultural gestalt, ganas carries so much more meaning than that. It is desire, heart. It is to be singular of purpose and intent. It represents a kind of conviction that “want” simply doesn’t communicate. I heard this word used to best effect by Edward James Olmos, who played Jaime Escalante in the movie Stand and Deliver.

“You're going to work harder here than you've ever worked anywhere else. And the only thing I ask from you is ganas. Desire. If you don't have the ganas, I will give it to you because I'm an expert.”

I preach that to my students every day in the classroom, and I work hard to be the same inspiration to my students Escalante was to his.

2. Disinvolto (Italian). To be disinvolto is to be relaxed, casual, easygoing, self-confident and a little cheeky--all at the same time. I love this word because it represents all I strive to be in my best moments!

3a/3b. Celibe/Nubile (Italian). I find it amusing that these two cognates (words similar in both languages) apply to males and females respectively, but in English they both mean the same thing. They describe someone who is “single”.

4. Flâner (French). This verb, which nowadays means simply to stroll, has its origins in the rather curious tradition of walking turtles down the street in Paris. The turtles set the speed of travel, so observationism (that’s not really a word) was almost forced. The world became a feast for the senses! A flâneur is perfectly well aware of their slow, leisurely behavior, but isn’t concerned; it’s all about the journey, especially if it’s unhurried.

5. Schwangerschaftverhütungsmittel (German). The German language is, to say the least, very comfortable with compound words. They look frightening if you’re not used to seeing them, don’t they? My college German professor told me, though, that most longer German words are made up of several shorter words put together, which makes them easy to figure out--if you understand where the smaller words are, that is. Here’s the breakdown: Schwangerschaft (pregnancy) + verhütung (prevention) + mittel (remedy). In other words, a contraceptive. Of course, with a word that long, by the time you actually get through it to ask someone to use one, it might be too late.

6. Tao (Chinese). A popular word in English, many books have been written with the opening words, “The Tao of...” At its most rudimentary, it means “way” or “path” but, as a term of philosophy it is used to describe (as closely as any word can) the authentic and true nature of things. The thing about tao, though, is that it can’t properly be expressed. Taoism would purport that we can know it, that its principles can be followed, but there is an inherent futility in trying to understand or control it outright. This seeming contradiction is one reason I enjoy studying--and practicing--Buddhism and Taoism.

7. Nunchi (Korean). This is a simple word for the ability to sense what would be the wrong thing to say in a situation--and, by extension, the ability to resist saying it. It goes beyond tact or simple manners; it is the ability to read an audience and instinctively, immediately know what’s appropriate. Nunchi is a great thing to have, especially at parties. I wish I had more of it.

8. Desenrascanço (Portuguese). There is, in Portuguese culture, a great deal of value placed upon the ability to solve a problem without the right tools, training or know-how. To spontaneously draw on your imagination and whatever resources you have at hand to figure out what’s “good enough” is a quality many Portuguese believe is essential to living in their world. It is even taught in colleges! Desenrascanço (literally, disentangling) is the sweet spot of workable that exists between what works perfectly and what will blow up in your face. I heard this described somewhere as “to pull a MacGyver”. That seems appropriate.

9. Schlimazl (Yiddish). I only recently learned that this word meant “someone who is unlucky”. I heard it used first in the theme to the show Laverne and Shirley along with the word “schlemeil”, which refers to a person who is clumsy. Robert Kuttner put the two terms in context for me with the following: “A schlemiel is the traveler who spills his coffee on a fellow passenger. A schlimazel is the fellow he spills it on.” With that explanation, a mystery of many years was instantly made clear. Now I have to go find the theme to Laverne and Shirley and listen to it!

10a and 10b. Tatemae and Honne (Japanese). These two related terms refer respectively to what you pretend to believe and what you actually believe. I love that Japanese culture, with its high degree of reserve, recognizes that there is a difference between what we actually believe and what we're allowed to admit we believe. The closest we have to this is the term “political correctness”, but this term carries a certain distain that simply doesn’t exist in the equivalent in Japanese. From what I know of it, Japanese culture seems not to view the dichotomy as a source of angst or stress. Neither is more true or honest than the other. Rather, they are simply two sides of the same reality. It is, it seems, just the way the world works. I like that view of it.

Monday Meditation: Aspiration and Introspection

2010-09-27T20:02:00.000-04:00

I had a wonderful conversation with my father this past weekend about the nature of happiness. We often talk about things like that over the phone; it’s one of my dad’s favorite things to do. We sit at either end of the phone, each with a cup of coffee, and we just chew away on the problems of the universe. Over all, a perfectly pleasurable way to pass the better part of an hour.

Anyway, one of the things we both agreed on about happiness was that, as a condition of realizing it, we cannot understate the importance of aspirations and the daily work of trying to discover and nurture our authentic selves. As we were mulling this point, I began to wonder how many people even have aspirations. This brought me immediately to a conversation from the week before with a student, a senior, who was in the process of applying for colleges. It was a beautiful fall day, and Maureen was sitting at a picnic table outside by the door I use to enter the building. She was scratching her head, clearly wrestling with something she was writing. When I asked what she was working on, she said that one of the questions on the college application she was completing asked her to describe a moment of introspection she’d had. She asked for some help, so I offered suggestions about where to look in her past experience, but as we talked I began to discover that Maureen simply didn’t have any to draw on.

I have to be honest here; this surprised me greatly. I mean, I’ll admit that I spend rather a great deal of time in the practice of introspection, so it’s not so out of place that Maureen would not engage in the practice to quite the same degree. I also recognize that it’s not common to find teenagers to do it because they are only just beginning to reach a stage of development that allows for such things. I guess it just caught me that, after nearly 18 years of existence on this planet, it wasn’t possible for her to recall even a single moment on which we looked back and think about what she’d just experienced. Is it possible, I think now as I write this, that she just doesn’t know how?

There is a connection between introspection and aspiration. They each, in their own way, connect our inner selves to the outer world. When we work to move our internal selves closer to our aspirations through introspection, we are changing external reality, bringing together that potential we see in ourselves and the world of which we are a part. There is not supposed to be a distinction between “self” and “other” (yes, I know that sounds incongruous). Some of the most important work we can do as participants in the human experience is to lessen the gap between the two. I like Sonia Johnson’s take on this:

“When we seize power in our own world, the outer world will have to change.” (1987)

I offer, then, the opportunity to take a moment and engage in introspection. Sit and think about a moment in your life for a few minutes. It doesn’t matter when the moment occurred, or how important it was at the time. Just let your mind rest on one and allow it to sit there in the center of your awareness. Not too long, mind you. We have lives, after all. When distraction starts to take over, get up and, if you have time, find a piece of paper. If you like to write, write about your thoughts. If you like to draw, do that. If you’d rather move and do something that puts into action your thoughts, then so be it. For a few moments, just do with the moment still at center. When you’ve done, however long you’ve taken, set it aside. Sometime later this week, go back and look at what you did. What do you think?

I’m all about providing exemplars for stuff like this, so I’ll work on it over the next day or two and share what comes.

Happy Monday!

The Week in Quotes, to ease back into the habit

2010-09-26T08:58:00.002-04:00

Things in my world are settling into a routine finally. Classes are rolling along as they should, Wayfarer House is fully engaged in the routines of the school year. The soccer season is kicking along without any major issues. I've been looking forward for some time to picking this back up, but there always seems to be something bumping it down on the list of things my day must see accomplished. I'm sorry it's taken so long.

Since it's Sunday, I thought I'd reinstate the wildly popular Sunday quotes post. This week's collection comes from all over, and represents only a few of the many worthy things I've heard from my students since the school year started. This year's group is going to be great for material! Enjoy.

“To work for one. *I* work for one.” Mark, in discussion how someone’s day could not get worse than being attacked by dementors.

“There’s no u, the two s’s are together, and there’s an o and an i. I was close!” Karly, verifying her spelling of the word “croissant”.

“Haha, I got your problem!! *whiplash noise*” Brian. Added to the list surreptitiously by my TA while sitting at my desk during class.

“Brian explained French grammar to me in English, using Spanish examples. It hurt.” Julia, in a note left on my laptop.

“Quiet up there! I need to get to sleep. I have phys ed tomorrow.” Pearl, age 5.

“They were just so hairy!” Sydney, after her first game against a high school boys soccer team.

“She almost gave it to me for lunch!” NiNi, of Mama’s inadvertent, yet fully prepared mayonnaise and honey sandwich.

‎"There's no dryer sheets. Now my clothes are gonna smell like dry!" Shayla.

“I know your sister kicked you three times trying to take the ball from you, but you can’t just kick her back. Soccer is about kicking the ball, my love, not about kicking the people.” Coach Papa, to Taylor at the end of a friendly, but contentious game of U10 town league footy.

“They’d better start fundraising now.” Wifeness, about students expressing an interest in Wayfarer House leading a student trip to Europe in 2012.

“Wow! I’m not a teenager anymore.” Karla, whose birthday is today. Happy birthday, love!

I’m back. Trip was great!

2010-08-11T11:51:00.001-04:00

I’ll post pics soon. The WiFi at the house is dead (I think the humidity killed the router while I was gone), so I have to sit near the modem with an Ethernet cable to send and receive (I’m doing email and such in batches). Hopefully, we’ll be back to warp speed in a couple of days.

I have a list of stuff to do that must be 1½ pages. I’m going to shorten it some, then come back here.

Until then, let me introduce you to someone I met along the way. I never did get his name. He was quite friendly, though. I think he wanted to eat my gloves.

Stage 4: Stowe to Enosburg Falls, VT.

2010-08-07T08:51:00.000-04:00

The highlight of this leg of my journey is the climb to Smuggler’s Notch. In the early 1800s, the US Congress placed an embargo on the imports of all English goods in an attempt to avoid becoming involved in the wars declared against the French Empire under Napoleon. The British circumvented the embargoby simply shipping their food, clothing and medical supplies to Canada and smuggling the materials down the Long Trail and through what is now called Smugglers’ Notch Pass. The geology of the pass is, apparently, well suited for smuggling because of its remoteness and the fact that it is laced with many caves and caverns which served as hideaways and could be used to store goods and supplies. For well over 100 years, Smugglers’ Notch was used to transport illegal goods into and out of the United States -- from cattle to slaves to alcohol, during the Prohibition Era. The caves are good for storing illegal alcoholic beverages at near room temperature, or so I’ve read.

After I’ve climbed the Notch, I have just 30 miles to ride before I arrive at Carol and Pete’s. They’re hosting the Morrison Family Reunion this year and have, for the second time, offered lodging to our family at this event. Their property is 1/10 mile from the Canadian border (the last time we were up there, we snuck across through the woods for just long enough that the helicopters came out looking for us -- it was very exciting). By that time, I will have crossed over covered bridges, coasted past cornfields and grazing cows, taken in a landscape dotted by churches with tall steeples and 18th-century brick houses behind white picket fences. I will probably race at least one farmer on a tractor and more than a few old timers will stare at me from their dilapidated porches. I will ride quietly though more than one quaint village, but I will also see more than my share of metropolitan New England. Although I will miss several sites of historic interest because they are not on my direct path, I feel like I will finally get to know the state where I spent 5 years of my life--a period of time not nearly long enough to shed the term “flatlander,” as Vermonters call everyone who hails from across state lines.

Stage 3: Rutland to Stowe, VT.

2010-08-06T08:34:00.001-04:00

This ride is entirely along SR 100, which is widely recognized to be among the best routes in New England for viewing fall foliage (there won’t be any on my ride, not that I’d notice much of it anyway). It cuts right through the backbone of Vermont, and is said to have spectacular mountain views along its entire length. A string of picturesque little lakes runs along the road, and Moss Glen Falls, just north of Granville, is said to be home to one of the prettiest waterfalls in Vermont. Route 100 grew organically from the many miles of dirt roads that connected villages dating back to the 1700s. Vermont has about 8,000 miles of unpaved roads (only about 6,000 miles of roadway are paved in the state). To a lot of Vermonters, an unpaved road is still a better road. I think this must be because people go more slowly and are more courteous on a dirt road an, in rural Vermont, that's what life wants to be. It probably also matters that dirt roads are far cheaper to maintain than their more modern counterparts. I enjoy dirt roads, to be sure, but I won't be riding any on this trip, if I can avoid it. As primarily a road cyclist, I must confess that I'm grateful for pavement. It is smoother to ride on, less taxing to my body and less destructive to my bike.

As SR 100 transformed into a single byway in the 1800s, the quintessential wooden covered bridge many associate with Vermont country roads began to appear. The primary purpose of the cover on a bridge was to provide added durability; uncovered bridges made of wood would get wet from rain and snow, and this would attract insects and fungus which would cause the wood to rot away quickly. Most, in fact, would have to be replaced every five years. Covered bridges offered other benefits, as well, though. The interiors of covered bridges apparently doubled as a local bulletin board of sorts, and travellers could read advertisements, notices and announcements as they waited out rainstorms or gave their teams of horses a rest in the shade.

This is the longest stage of the ride at just over 72 miles, and the elevation change is subtly demanding. I’ll be looking forward to passing through Waterford (63 miles along) so I can keep my eyes out for the Ben & Jerry’s Factory Store. I will have earned a very large cone of something fattening by that point. If I’m lucky, I’ll also be meeting Wifeness & Co. on their way up. We haven’t worked the details out yet, but it would be a lot of fun to see them there!

Stage 2: Bellows Falls to Rutland, VT.

2010-08-05T08:21:00.000-04:00

Most of this part of the trip is along SR 103, which varies in quality somewhat, but represents some wonderful scenery. One landmark of particular note along this route is The Old Rockingham Meeting House, the oldest public building in original condition in Vermont. It recalls days of old in New England, when town meetings and church services were held in the same building and there were only homesteads, not concentrated towns and villages like we’re used to today. The late 18th century structure is a rare standing example of Georgian architecture, and it comes complete with its original box pews and ornate woodwork. Like all early New England meeting houses, the Old Rockingham building served both the religious and the governmental life of a widespread community, much like an assembly hall. It was visible for miles because of its hillside location, and provided an important social monument in early town life in Vermont.

I’m hotelling it from here on, but I’m excited that I’ll get to see Erica for dinner in the evening. Erica is an alumna of mine and a veteran of my 2002 trip leading students to France. She lives near Rutland and works at Castleton State College. With so many of my students in their twenties now, it’s a rare treat to be able to connect with them in person unless they happen to live nearby. I’m very much looking forward to spending some quality time with a student I’ve not seen in entirely too long.

I expect I'll get to see some of Rutland before dinner. The original Rutland was chartered in 1761 as part of New Hampshire land grants given by Provincial Governor Benning Wentworth. Almost immediately, however, a controversy arose with New York, who claimed the same land grants under the name of Socialborough. This dispute ultimately led to settlers of the territory to form the Republic of Vermont (statehood would follow). I find this interesting because we have talked tongue-in-cheek for some time about encouraging western Massachusetts to secede from the state and join with Vermont, with whom we share a great deal of culture and social values than we do with our more urban brethren to the east. Vive la Republique!

Stage 1: Wayfarer House to Bellows Falls, VT.

2010-08-04T08:10:00.001-04:00

Through Northfield, MA and Hinsdale, NH, this part of the ride follows the Connecticut River for long stretches. This part of New England was settled by the English in the late 17th century, but the territory was fiercely defended by Native Americans for some 80 years after that. English settlements were constantly at risk of raids by “savages”, and colonists were regularly killed or taken north to Quebec (to be held as hostages by the French). This caused settlements such as Northfield to revert to American Indian control on more than one occasion.

In April, 1747, during the French and Indian War, a party of French and Mohawk, having been turned back after a three-day attack on the fort at Charlestown, NH, made their way toward Northfield. A number of their group, lying in ambush at the north part of the town, set upon and killed Nathaniel Dickinson and Asahel Burt, who were driving cows up from the common meadows. This violent and tragic event is marked by a granite monument on the side of routes 5/10, about a mile north of the center of Northfield Village. On one side of the stone is the inscription, "Nathaniel Dickinson was killed and scalped by the Indians at this place, April 15, 1747, aet. 48." On the other it reads, "Asahel, son of Joseph Burt, companion of Dickinson and sharer of his fate, aged about 40." I have ridden by this small monument many times, but only recently stopped to read, and think about, what it said.

It is worth noting that much of the Morrison family, whose reunion I am riding to, is based in the area through which I will be riding on this day. Many live in and around Walpole, NH and across the Connecticut River in Saxtons River, VT. The Kurn Hattin School, in Putney, VT, has been an important part of the lives of several of the Morrison family.

I’ll be staying with Tom and Leanne for the evening at their home in Westminster, VT. Tom is Wifeness’ uncle, and is a master general contractor. He helped me install our dishwasher several years ago, and has graciously offered his expertise in wiring to me when I’ve had to add, remove or change outlets in the house over the years. He’s led a difficult life, but he is a good, good man. I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend time with them.

Just When You Thought...

2010-08-03T09:22:00.003-04:00

...it was safe to go back into the water:

[WEATHER CHANNEL NEWS STORY]

I think I’ll watch Jaws today on Netflix. I'm too far inland to have nightmares about such things.

Of course, then this could happen [HERE].

Vermont 2010: An Overview in Four Stages

2010-08-02T21:42:00.006-04:00

Because I’ll be gone for the next several days, I thought it might be good to stack up some posts for while I’m on the road. The content of these posts represent a synthesis of some background reading I’ve done in preparation for this ride. The posts are fairly short, but I hope they give some flavor to the experience I hope to have. I also spent some time reading about the area covered in the ride I took yesterday. Consider this a prologue to the longer event.

Prologue: Wayfarer House to Deerfield, Haydenville, Goshen, Ashfield, Conway, Deerfield to Wayfarer House.

Deerfield has been in my mind for a while now, since I’d read The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America (Demos, 1994). This work recounts the story of Eunice Williams, an English colonist taken captive as a child by French and Mohawk warriors from Deerfield during a raid in 1704. Her mother, also named Eunice, was killed not far from Wayfarer House (a plaque marks the spot, and there is a covered bridge bearing her name nearby). The elder Eunice, wife of Deerfield’s famous reverend John Williams, had given birth just hours before, and was slain and thrown in the Green River by her captors because she was unable to keep pace with the march north through the frozen, snowy forest.

This story really brings to life what it must have been like to be here during those very difficult times. Another tragedy, which I only became aware of on this ride and only because I stopped to adjust my pack, is chronicled in Haydenville. On May 16, 1874, the Williamsburg reservoir dam broke, sending an avalanche of water over five of the villages that lined the Mill River Valley. When the flood reached Haydenville, the water was moving with such force that it picked up a house and slammed it into a brick factory with enough force to cause it to collapse like a cardboard box. The heaps of debris were so dense and tangled that people searching for survivors had to use crowbars to pry things apart. One hundred thirty-nine people were killed in that event, 27 of them from Haydenville.

I didn’t take a picture of the river itself, but it’s hard to imagine that it ever had enough force to cause such devastation. The village today is shown here.

The town of Conway was the victim of an earlier dam break, in 1869. Home of one of the few covered bridges left in Massachusetts, Conway has always had an abundant water supply. In its early years, this water provided power for grist and saw mills, as well as a number of tanneries. In the 19th century, a dam was created to provide a reservoir for the several woolen and broadcloth mills along the South River. These mills, the largest industries in town at the time, were all completely washed away when the dam burst. Conway has since returned to its roots as an agricultural community, and sports a number of maple sugar houses.

Not Far from the Tree...

2010-07-31T13:17:00.004-04:00

This effort by my oldest is a comic strip, called Foop and Notch.

This is the sequel, Foop and Notch 2: Ultimate Laffs**.

I show you this not to highlight my daughters creative accomplishments, but to share with you a secret:

I did exactly the same thing when I was her age.

I don’t have copies of them (nothing like that survived the frequent relocations that occurred during my childhood), but I remember that the main characters were geometric shapes. There was a triangle, a square, the slightly nerdy rectangle and a teardrop shape that represented the female protagonist. My inspiration was Charles M Schulz’ Peanuts strip. I found out that SiSi’s muse is Calvin and Hobbs (she keeps one of the anthologies in her bed, to read as she goes to sleep).

She asked me to read her comic strips, and afterward we talked about them.

“Wow, they’re really great, SiSi! I’m curious, though. They seem rather violent. Why is that?”

She shrugged. “Kids like me think that stuff is funny, I guess.”

I remember saying the same thing to my dad.

Eerie, is what I’m saying.

** SiSi made a point of telling me that she knew this was not the correct spelling of the word, but that she decided to use it for effect. I was quietly stunned.

A Straightforward Day

2010-07-30T08:28:00.000-04:00

This wasn’t going to be a rest day, but I’m taking the girls up to a sleepover, and I won’t get back in time to do the training ride I need to do to tweak all the settings on my bike before the long test ride this weekend. That’s ok because I get to go out on a date with my wife! Nothing exciting; a little shopping, some dinner, a movie. We might even sleep in on Saturday, since there will be no small children about.

Instead of riding, I’ll be with the girls and doing some cleanup around the house (I’ve realized I can’t find the floor on my side of the bed). I’ll feed them elevenses and the drive them up to their sleepover party at Bessie’s, get my hair cut and get back just in time to meet Wifeness down by the small mall (not to be confused with the Darth Mall) after she gets out of work. That’s the day. It’s pretty straightforward, really.

Except that it’s my birthday. Yay me!

Making Preparations...

2010-07-29T09:47:00.004-04:00

Today is the recovery portion of the Stress and Recovery cycle, so we’ll be taking care of trip planning.

I have some equipment to buy for my ride, most notably a new front rim (the current one has a kink in it that I can’t massage out, and it wobbles a little too much at high speeds). I’m also hoping to find some new cycling shorts. The ones I use now, while perfectly effective for local daily riding, are really old and I’m worried they’re not going to survive the trip. It would not do to have one’s (only) pair of bike shorts fail halfway on a long trip!

After that, I need to put together the maps and trip notes I need into a document I can print out and take with me. I use the AAA website to plan my trips. Their tool gives me good information on where I can get food and water en route, as well as where there might be construction or other road hazards. It also creates maps that are more easily converted to what I need, although Google or MapQuest can do much the same thing.

Once I know what roads I'm taking, I’ll input the route information into mapmyride.com, which has an elevation calculator so I can see where the challenging parts of each day’s ride are. This is really helpful in terms of planning how to approach the ride on any given day. I’ll take all those notes, the maps, contact information for hotels, etc. and make a single PDF document out of it. Wifeness will get a copy for emergency purposes, and mine will live in a ziplock baggie that attaches to my aero bars, so I can get to it easily.

Then comes the packing. This trip doesn’t require camping out, so there’s no heavy gear like a tent to worry about. I can fit everything on this bag:

It really just holds the basics: glasses, compact street clothes and shoes, camera, phone, ointments (sunscreen, etc), basic toiletries -- including tp -- and pills (Ibuprofen, thyroid stuff, vitamins). I’ll carry the stuff I need to get at quickly (food, handkerchief, mp3 player) in the back pockets of my jersey, so I don’t have to stop the bike except to reapply ointments or take the occasional potty break. Trust me, the more often you get off the bike, the harder it is to get back on it.

Each trip is different, so the packing takes a little bit of experimenting to get just right. The trick is to get stuff positioned in just the right places so it’s comfortable. The pack should sit a little high on the waist as I ride, so it doesn’t pull on my lower back if I’m bent over on the drops of the handlebars. On my Lock Haven trip, this proved difficult to do because of the stuff I was carrying, so I developed a way to move the pack onto my aerobars when I need to give my body a rest from carrying it. It’s an interim sort of solution only because putting weight on the front of the bike like that changes the way it steers and gives it a sluggish feel that, when going down hills, can be unnerving. And it also takes away one of the four riding positions -- and the one that gives my body the most rest -- because I can’t lean on the aerobars while the pack is there.

I have a couple of repairs and adjustments to make before I leave. I’ll tweak the seat just a touch to accommodate for the pack, and my left shoe needs to be taken apart so I can refasten the cleat (it’s worked itself just a bit loose, so it moves when I use it to pull the pedal up from the bottom). I need to rewrap my handlebars because the tape has shifted and makes the tops all slippery now, and I need to adjust the tension on the rear derailleur cable. It sometimes shifts on its own, and that can be really annoying when you’re trying to get into a rhythm to climb a steep hill. After that, there’s some final cleaning and lubricating of parts, and then we’re ready to roll!

I have a 60-mile ride scheduled for this weekend to test everything out “on the road”. That’ll be the last real mileage I put on before I leave on Wednesday. Assuming there are no major issues, I should only have to pump the tires up on Wednesday morning before I’m ready to start off! My goal is to leave around 7:30. It's a much more pleasant thing to ride before it gets hellish hot!

Somebody's in a Hurry...

2010-07-27T23:15:00.000-04:00

I was out on a training ride this evening when this flew by me at 80+ mph [HERE]. I was grateful to have been going the other direction. I really didn’t need to get caught up in a high-speed chase on a bicycle.

Ouch!

2010-07-25T21:43:00.007-04:00

My tenders are tender. Chaffed. Made raw in ways such parts should not be. Thank goodness there’s a cream for that.

Those saddle calluses need to harden up; I have a bike trip to ride in a week and a half. My first since my 400 ride to Lock Haven in 2006, and I’m really looking forward to it.

I’m riding 220 miles from Wayfarer House to the tippy top of Vermont. The route is designed to take advantage of several scenic roads before culminating in a climb of Smuggler’s Notch, near Stowe, and easing my way to the Morrison Family reunion.

I was concerned I might not be able to do this ride because of my ankle, but two recent outings (20 flat miles at time trial pace and 30 miles of hills) have shown it will handle the strain. My ass, clearly, still needs some convincing.

I’ve been working out the details for lodging today, which has been an annoying challenge. The trick in planning trips like these is to find places to stay that are on the direct route, in a sweet spot of mileage (in this case, around 60 miles), but don’t cost an outrageous amount. The problem in Vermont is that lodging is...

1) rarely on the direct route,
2) rarely about 60 miles apart,
3) totally outrageously priced.

To that end, I’m looking for couches to sleep on. I’ve got in-laws in Bellows Falls who have graciously offered to let me stay with them, and I’m reaching out to an alumna of mine near Rutland for some help, but the area around Stowe is proving impossible. Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions/friends with couches?

Tomorrow, I’m taking the van in to get a new starter. While that work is being done, I’ll be riding. Then I expect I’ll be looking for some more cream. And maybe some chamois. Is that too much information?

Smuggler's Notch

Freedom?

2010-07-24T08:08:00.000-04:00

Everyone else in the house is gone. It’s just I (which never sounds right, even though that’s the correct way to say it). I’ll be alone until Sunday afternoon. You’d think this represents a time of complete freedom, and it is in the sense that there’s no responsibility to make dinner, do dishes, chivvy kids in/out of the shower. But when it comes right down to it (on this occasion, anyway), things won’t play out all that differently from normal day. I suppose I could let everything slide, put on my Hawaiian shirt and go find a place to party, but that’s never really been my style.

Plus, I’ve got stuff to do. There’s a dump run to be made, visits to the bank, library and BJs (the garbage bags they have now just don’t stay in the can right since they “improved” them). There are repairs to be made upstairs in the apartment. I need to get out on my bike again to work my ankle. I need to do some sheets.

My day will be full, and that brings peace to me.

Am I sad, or what?

To catch you up...

2010-07-23T08:45:00.001-04:00

I apologize for the lengthy absence. I’m finally feeling like I’m getting a handle on my summer.

While I’ve been off-blogosphere, several things of note have happened:

I sprained my ankle a week ago. The effects of this are several: There will be no triathlons this summer; there may be no cycling to VT (more on that in a sec); many home-improvement projects will get done, albeit at a much slower pace, and with much pausing; I will have more time to spend retooling course and curriculum for the fall; I am learning to be at peace with things as they are, and not as I had planned them to be. That last one is still a work in progress.

I will be returning to soccer. Over a year ago, I walked away from athletics at my school--a program I started--to put an end to the conflict and discord that was becoming constant between myself and our school’s curricular director. The situation is complicated to explain but, in essence, it wasn’t worth putting a full-time teaching job on the line to constantly go head-to-head with this woman over a seasonal stipended position, however much it meant to me, personally. Last year, the curricular director announced that she was leaving the school and, after some lengthy discussions among people about the althetics program, its mission and its direction, I offered to come back to coaching--just coaching, no admin. This seemed to meet with a positive response from the players.

I am planning a 4-day bike trip through VT scheduled for the first week in August. My ankle has put this trip in jeopardy, but I’m making preparations to do it all the same. Today, in fact, I have the first real test of fitness and strength since the sprain--a 20-mile time trial scenario. If it goes well, we move forward. If my ankle reacts badly... The trip runs from Wayfarer House to Enosburg Falls, VT, where the annual Morrison Family reunion will take place (this reunion is for Wifeness’ family, and has been held every year for something like 60 years).

I’ve committed to be part of a trial of a new grading and reporting system for my school. We don’t use letter grades at my school; instead, we have a system that is based on levels of credit. For example, Full Credit (which equates roughly to a B in the letter system most of us recognize) is designed to basically communicate that the student knows or can do something with confidence, and without a lot of errors. We like (and there is an ever-growing body of research to support) the idea of grading in this way, but there are issues we’ve uncovered in terms of its universal application and its conversion to something colleges and universities will deign to interpret.** There are still some bugs to be worked out among the group involved in the trial, but in its basic form it won’t work all that differently from what we use now (we will still require the equivalent of FCR for students to move on), but it will be quite different in terms of how we approach grading and assessment (what goes into the actual “grade”, what the kids and parents see, how we have conversations about student work and progress). I’m blogging about this work and the retooling of my own materials and grading systems, but right now it’s a closed blog just for the teachers at my school. If I get their permission to open it up for everyone to read, I’ll post the link.

My thyroid is failing. I’ve been having problems with fatigue, weight gain, depression and muscle issues for a good while now, and I’d been to my doctor about it. We drew blood. We checked lots of things, and came up with the very likely possibility that all this was due to an erratic thyroid. Solutions? Cut it out, go on drugs, do radiation treatment.

None of those appealed so we left things be, but I committed to regular blood tests to see what was actually happening with my thyroid. Was it just being temperamental or was it actually failing? It turns out the latter, as a result of some form of autoimmune function. Solutions? See above, but really drugs become necessary. I resisted this at first because I don’t tolerate drugs well and I suck at taking pills of any kind religiously (please notice the vitamins on top of the refrigerator). The symptoms were getting really hard to work around, so last week I went back to the doctor and got a prescription for synthetic thyroid hormone which, if it proves effective, I’ll likely be taking in one form or another for the rest of my life--every day at 6am.

That’s it for now. I’m going to finish this cup of coffee and go put on some lycra. My bike has been waiting patiently for me for a while. Too long. She’s ready for a workout.

** I find it no end of ironic that the very universities doing the research that has confirmed the inefficacy of traditional grading also require it for admission to their programs.

World Cup Update...

2010-07-03T18:03:00.002-04:00

Go, USA England Mexico Paraguay Uruguay!

Nods to Ghana for their heartbreaking loss in the quarterfinals. Seriously, if you didn't see the game, you missed some of the most epic drama ever seen in sport!

Quick Hit: World Cup

2010-06-27T11:58:00.003-04:00

Go, USA England Mexico!

Edited 90 minutes later:

Go, USA England Mexico Paraguay!

Quick Hit: NDR 1 JPN 0 (73 min)

2010-06-19T09:30:00.000-04:00

I’ve got a few minutes while the World Cup game is finishing (yes, I’ve watched every single one) and everyone is getting ready to head out the door to touch base with the blogosphere. I’m still here. I’m very tired. Physically tired. Emotionally tired. Spiritually tired. It’s the end of the school year, and it’s just like that for me. I have one week to go.

Next week starts with Judgement Day -- the day my books close and the students who are working either show me that they’re ready to move on or have the conversation with me about trying again. There’s professional development for 3 days next week, and then we meet as a staff to talk about what needs to be done for the fall. I’ll be able to totally separate from school on June 29th.

I’ve entered talks to return to coaching. I walked away from athletics at my school last year as a result of chronic conflict with my administration, but the entire administrative picture has changed, and the climate stands to be much more supportive of athletics. I won’t reprise my work as Athletic Director no matter what happens; the discussions we’re having only revolve around coaching. That’s just fine with me. It’s what I love most!

I’m biking 35 miles to NH tomorrow, the first real work I’ve done in three weeks. It’s going to hurt. I need it to hurt a little, to remind me that it is time to focus on training again. I have a triathlon in six weeks and a 250 mile ride just a week after. My body is going to have to gear up quickly.

OK. Everyone is leaving for a fair, so it’s time to get started with the to-do list. I’m looking forward to a quiet day of domestica. And the World Cup.

To my school's Board to Trustees

2010-06-08T09:25:00.002-04:00

I came to this meeting at the cost of a babysitter to speak about the upcoming vote on the Governance Committee’s recommendation. I’ll sell something on eBay to get the babysitter to come back next Tuesday, but since I’ve paid for it, I don’t want to waste the chance to share the essence of some conversations I’ve been part of the last little while. I’ve been writing this during the meeting, so some of what follows has already been said by members of the Board, and it was wonderful to hear. That I’ve written this largely in the first person, then, does not mean that these thoughts are mine alone.

The Governance Committee, after some prodding, sat down with the individuals involved as potential members of its proposed interim leadership team, and they’re now seeking broader participation in the process. This is exciting news, and it is my hope that it represents an understanding of all the members of the Board about the importance of discussion in the community’s decision-making process.

I’ve been a member of this community for 8 years and I have seen that the process of soliciting the voice of our students, staff, parents and administration before a decision is made is time-consuming, and can lead to a messy brand of democracy. But for as long as I’ve been here, it has been part of the cultural fabric of the school for decision-makers to encourage those voices, to listen to them and act on the trends that come out of such dialog. One of the quiet complaints the staff in my presence in the last couple of years is that, in an effort to improve the efficiency and efficacy of decision-making, the longstanding attitude of collaboration is giving way to a hierarchical model that leaves the rank-and-file community to give voice only after the fact.

I’m excited that there has been some restoration of dialog to the decision-making process. In particular, the efforts of Jay and the many others who moderated the recent listening sessions have given the community a breath of fresh air. There are other examples, as well. I’m here to say thank you for taking the time to allow those voices to be heard, and to communicate to you that, however haphazard and boisterous such protocols may seem, they are not just the key to the best governance the Board can provide, but they serve as a comforting example for the community as a whole that the Board is truly acting on its general consensus, not simply seeking its approval for unilateral verdicts.

It is clearly understood by all of you on the Board that within this community there is a vast amount of collective wisdom and experience. Its members, together, hold a deep understanding of the unwritten rules, routines and values of this place. That we all do not all sit at these meetings should not be construed as a sign of either ignorance or indifference, and it should not lead to governance that ignores our insight. (My school) was founded on a principle of inclusion, including in its governance. We are unique in the way we have traditionally included everyone in the great conversations. It is, believe it or not, one of our strengths as an institution. When we voice our discontent, we are not complaining. We are not, as was written in the previously-discussed public minutes, simply giving the Board--problems. We are reminding you of what we recognize to be a fundamental tenet of the way (my school) should be governed. Please take the time to listen to us, not just as a group, but as individuals. And don’t just listen to us, use our voices to guide your decisions. Don’t rely on us to come to you. We’re busy doing all the little things for the school, and babysitters are expensive. Simply saying, “anyone can be part of a committee,” is not enough. Ways must be found to actively invite participation. Lao Tzu wrote once that leaders are best when people barely know they exist, when their work is done, their aims fulfilled, the people will say: we did it ourselves. This is what we, as a community, are hoping of you.

Phasing out...

2010-06-07T11:09:00.001-04:00

My classes have what I refer to as a “phased withdrawal” at the end of each term. Essentially, this means that assignments for the class are not due all at once. Instead, they have a series of deadlines for when particular work needs to be completed and to credit standard (earlier work is due earlier, later work is due later, for example). This is so that the end-of-year routine is manageable for the students, many of whom are balancing the needs of many classes all at once, and for their beloved teacher, who has learned that it lessens the stress of the students who aren’t going to make it if I can talk to them earlier rather than later about their need to repeat the course.

We passed the first of the deadlines last Friday. Currently (and with two weeks remaining), 18% of my current enrollment will not earn credit. This is an astonishing number compared to years past, when the average was under 15% at the end of the term. The number of students who are not ready to move on could, quite reasonably, top 25% in what time is left. That is truly alarming to me, especially given the amount of support I give my students.

I have to be honest in saying I’m not entirely certain what the problem is. Some of the total is a standard number of students who simply didn’t put the time, effort and attention into the course that they knew they needed to, but this is not a sizeable percentage -- roughly only a third of those not advancing. The other 2/3, I discovered today, is composed in large part of students who gave good effort in class, but did not have the foundational skills to support daily practice outside the classroom. Simply put, they didn’t have the study habits, time management skills or organizational routines they needed to do what I was asking them to do.

Is this year’s situation an aberration? In its sheer volume, perhaps, but not in terms of the basic underlying problem -- a problem that many high school teachers are faced with. We expect students to come into our classes with certain fundamental skills in place and, when they don’t, often the only thing we can do is say, “they don’t know what they need to,” and fail them. I am convinced of the need to support students of all levels in my classes, but the matter of fundamental skills remains one that is not easily resolved by in-class differentiation.

I decided today that, in retooling for next year, I’m going to invest some time in researching how to solve this problem. It just seems like one that is thoroughly preventable, and I cannot help but believe that a solution is there to be found. Before the end of the school year, I’m going to talk to my students to get their thoughts; they are often wonderfully astute and insightful about such things. I also hope to get some time to sit with my colleagues, who understand the particular flavor of the problem as it exists in my school. Finally, I’m curious to know what you, the blogging public, think. How can teachers better support students who need the basics, but not sacrifice the other stuff? I’d love to hear what you have to say!

And after this, the laundry...

2010-06-06T10:58:00.000-04:00

For the next ten minutes, I’m in an eddy in the otherwise swiftly moving current of my weekend, and I wanted to just say that, although there is much going on in my world, all is well and things are generally doing as they should.

The end of the school year is always a frenetic time professionally: Students panicking about whether they’ll pass, graduation rehearsals (I may not have told you this but, at my school, the graduating class puts on a show as part of the event -- it’s the kick-assin’est graduation going), meetings to deconstruct the current year, meetings to set up for the upcoming year and, in all of that, time to give some closure to my classes so there’s that nice sense of completion about what they’ve accomplished -- and they have accomplished so very much.

All this leaves the not-school parts of my world rather in limbo. I have done absolutely frick-all for training in the last three weeks (tree removal notwithstanding), the list of home maintenance projects grows daily and, in the category of things I reserve for leisure time, I have some 3,216 blog posts waiting for me to finish. In short, I have a lot that I would like to be doing, and most of it will just have to wait until school is out.

I haven’t even been keeping up on my quotes! Even so, I can leave you one that illustrates just how everyone’s brains are working at school of late:

¿Cómo se dice “now” en français? Maeve, who is destined to be my padawan learner in multilingual studies.

Happy weekend!

This Is Me...

2010-05-20T21:37:00.001-04:00

How'd your week go?

Dumbass??

2010-05-19T17:12:00.003-04:00

Chili posted on Tuesday about this story about a teacher in Alabama. Click on the link [HERE] to read the story.

I added a short reply to Chili’s blog, but I’m posting this response to the story and certain of the public’s reaction in this space because I have only enough time to write about this once, and I want to get it out there.

I present the following quotes from the most recent version of the story from Alabama Live:

“A student in Harrison's class said the incident has been ‘blown out of proportion.’"

‘We were going over a test and getting reviewed for our finals and were going over tangency,’ sophomore Malia Drummond said. ‘A student walked in and said, “Well, if you shoot the president...” and the teacher picked up on it and said, “OK, if you shoot off his ear, that is a point of tangency."’

This story alarms me because of how viral the opinionation* of it has become. It seems as though the masses are ready to crucify this guy (literally, as well as figuratively), despite the fact that those who have investigated the facts of the matter have confirmed Malia’s take -- that it was a moment between a teacher and his students that was hyperbolized and politicized by a segment of the public entirely too willing to overreact on issues it deems anathema.

May I suggest that it is not improper to trust the people who looked into the situation, who said this is a non-issue? May I further suggest that it is not improper to resist the urge to impose our sensitivities and our outrage on a situation we are not connected to, especially when the effect of doing so can only lead to decisions made on the basis of politic or fear, not wisdom and dialog? I would look on it as a travesty if this teacher were fired because of political fallout from this event. It only shows how immature we are as a nation if we can't talk about such things without risking insult, degradation or threats to our person.

Surely we can be better than that.

* I totally made that word up just then.

I've got two minutes...

2010-05-15T08:03:00.003-04:00

...to tell you that all is well, but too damn busy to sit down and really put together anything bloggable. Maybe soon. In the meantime, I offer you a cool video of one of my school's math classes. This is the kind of stuff we do there, and it's one of the things that makes working there so fun.

Ignore the fact that it's a little off beat. This was the first time they'd done it!

4 carloads and $73...

2010-05-01T13:15:00.001-04:00

That's what it took to purge the basement.

Now I just have to run the dry vac for, like, 3 days.

But not today.

It's too nice out!

A Tale of Two Phonecalls

2010-04-30T22:36:00.004-04:00

The phone rings...

Hello, this is Wayfarer.

Uh, hola. Soy (student calling for his exam on phone calling).

¡Hola, Student! ¿Cómo estás?

Uh, ok...er, bueno...er, bien. Sí, bien. ¿Y tú?

Less nervous than you, I’m thinking... Bien.

[continuing in Spanish...]

Heh. Uh, ok. (shuffles papers) Uh. Is Mbungo there ?

No, I’m sorry. He’s not here right now. He’s in another class.

Oh. That sucks. (lengthy pause as more papers are shuffled) Can I... Wait. May I take a... No, wait. Can I leave a message?

Sure. What’s the message?

What?

What’s...the...message?

Oh, um...(gives message but at a volume that one would need superhearing to decipher).

I’m sorry, but I don’t understand you. Can you repeat that?

What?

I...don’t...understand...you.

Can you (indecipherable)?

I’m sorry. What?

What? (shuffles papers)

You need to call me back.

[sigh] What?

I’m hanging up now. Bye!

Oh, OK. Bye!
----------------------------------------------

The phone rings...

Hello, this is Wayfarer.

[in French] Hi, Wayfarer! It’s (another exam-taking student) on the phone. How are you doing?

I’m well. You?

Fine, thanks. Is Mbungo there?

No, sorry. He’s busy.

Oh, that sucks. Can you take a message?

Sure. What’s the message?

It’s important. Please tell him that Anne’s lost at the airport and can’t find her tickets. She says Mbungo has them in his backback. (Disclosure: The student came up with this unconventional dispatch entirely of her own accord, using random bits of vocabulary from several units.)

Wow! OK. I’ll tell him. Do you have a number?

Oh, yes! It’s [gives number]. Can you repeat the number to me?

Now I’m really impressed! Sure. It’s [repeats number, but gives one digit wrong intentionally].

No, it’s [gives correct number]. Do you have it?

Yes. I have it. Is there anything else?

No. That’s it. Thank you!

You are VERY welcome!

Don't stop thinking about...

2010-04-27T23:37:00.001-04:00

I went for a 22-mile bike ride today. It was 45°F, wet (but not rainy) and the wind was blowing at some 20 mph. I finished the hilly route in 1 hr 22 mins. By the time I got off the bike, my hands were so cold I could not make a firm fist.

The biggest problem, though, was that I had to pee so bad by the end of the ride my kidneys were hurting!

I should explain. You see, there's a lot involved in pulling the bike over.

First of all, one has to find a place. It needs to be secluded (no peeing on anyone's front lawn) yet near enough to the road that I can drag the bike off. It would not do to have someone stop, throw your bike into the back of their truck and drive off while you're, well, indisposed. The path to one's place of seclusion needs to be not muddy or gravely, or too grassy, because that stuff gets into the cleats of the cycling shoes and then I can't click back into the pedals.

Assuming that a place can be found that meets these rather stringent requirements, one has to deal next with the actual act of voiding the bladder. This is easier said than done when one's parts have been pressed on a bike seat for the last hour. I don't want to set off a TMI alert here, but there are times when it takes some help to get things moving in such situations.

Fast forward past all those details. Now one has to get back to the road, mount up and get started again. On a ride where I'm not pushing for a time, this is straightforward. When my legs have been working at their limit for an hour, though, they do not take well to stopping and starting. Hell, even getting on the bike risks a certain amount of cramping if not done just so.

In the end, I decided that the risk of kidney failure outweighed the hassle of stopping. I'm a guy; I can hold it that long. I'm just grateful the road was mostly smooth and that it wasn't raining. I did my best not to think of running water or babbling brooks. It would have complicated things.

2010-04-25T09:34:00.000-04:00

I’ve been offline for the last several days on purpose. I’m sorry I didn’t announce it. It was a sort of spontaneous decision to unplug so I could focus on the things on my to-do list during vacation. To answer your question, yes. I did, in fact, accomplish rather a lot this week. I even managed to pull together a few quotes.

“That’s right. We’re a bank, and we said, ‘Damn.’” (Danvers Bank, from their recent radio ad).

“This is much more important work than raking.” (NiNi, on moving plants around in Nana’s garden this week).

"Do not be so quick to deal out death and judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends." (Gandalf, from The Fellowship of the Ring).

“I'm happy and sad all at the same time.” (Ruth, on coming home from college and having to take a semester off because she can’t afford to go back).

“I gave him an appreciative pat every time I read a really good section.” (Jinx, about reading Brecht while sitting at his gravestone).

"I felt them shatter, right away," (Washington Capitals center Eric Belanger, after losing a half-dozen or so teeth in a run-in with an opponent's stick during Game 5 of their playoff series Friday night).

"I knew I was in trouble, but what are you going to do? It's the playoffs," (Belanger, remarking on his third period return to the game in which he lost the aforementioned teeth).

“I prefer not to poop in the neighbor’s yard, if I can help it.” (Missy, a triathlete, on addressing the effects of distance running on one’s digestive system).

“It’s a nice TV!” Wifeness, as she lovely caressed the remote to our new flat screen).

“It had better make a damn good cup of coffee.” (Wifeness, remarking about the cost of my new coffee maker).

“Mmm. That's good joe.” (Michael "Goob" Yagoobian, from the film Meet the Robinsons, echoing my sentiments).

If I had any money...

2010-04-24T19:28:00.004-04:00

...I would open an account at this bank because they’re so cool!

From the bank’s website:

“We thank our agency, Fort Franklin, for their creativity, and for ruling in general. If you like what you see below, forget we mentioned them; they’re spoken for.”

Marathon, By Surprise

2010-04-19T20:53:00.001-04:00

In 490 BC, the Greek messenger Pheidippides was said to have run from the battlefield of Marathon (where he had just been fighting) to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated. The story goes that Pheidippides ran the entire distance without stopping (he had to run around Mount Penteli, which stands between Marathon and Athens). Upon arriving in Athens, he burst into the assembly, exclaimed “We have won!” and then collapsed and died.

The grand and popular tradition of abusing one’s body by running obscene distances was born.

the Boston Marathon was inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition during the 1896 Summer Olympics, Continuously run since 1897, it is the world's oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world's best-known road racing events. This year, the event attracted more than about 23,000 registered participants.

Including our own Uncle Mahk.

Mahk has run the Boston Marathon before. In fact, his father used to go stand at Newton Town Hall to stoically cheer him on. It was a tradition that meant a lot to Mahk and, when his father passed away last year, the rest of the community began the whispered conversation of how to continue this tradition. It was to be a surprise, which meant that Lisa needed to figure out the details of where his dad used to stand, when Mahk would likely pass by that spot and coordinate how to get in and out of Newton on Patriot’s Day. She was emailing us last night the final details and wrote, “It's like pulling teeth.”

Two vehicles left Wayfarer House this morning to drive to Newton, complete with cow bells, posters, snacks and 80’s music (that was for us). We arrived and found parking not too far away from the race route, and were cheering racers on at the 19-mile marker by 11:45 -- in plenty of time to surprise him when he went by at 12:15 or so. At just after noon, I walked upstream a ¼ mile or so in order to alert the rest of the group that he was coming (the little ones’ attention spans would only hold for that moment of excitement). At that point, the elite runners had passed and the early batch of regulars had started coming in. By the bib numbers, Mahk was still a way off, so I settled in against a tree and tried to look for his face in the stream. At 12:20, the stream thickened considerably. If you’ve never been to a marathon, imagine a two-way street full all the way across with people running. Like, a lot of people. Like, so many people going by so fast that your eyes can’t catch them all. I hoped I wouldn’t miss him.

I did.

By 12:40, I knew he had to have gone by. I called down to the group. Nope, they said, they hadn’t seen him either.

I walked back down to the group and we gathered the kids and posters and cow bells. We asked someone nearby to take a picture of us so we could send it to Mahk’s phone. At least he’d know we were there after the fact. Then we waited for the stream of runners to thin out so we could get back across the street. Did I mention there were 23,000 runners? You can spread out 23,000 runners a long way.

We found a pizza joint not far from where we’d parked. Mahk checked in with Lisa while we were gnoshing to say he’d finished, and he was genuinely surprised when we all cheered him over the phone! He was also genuinely honored we’d come and disappointed he’d missed us (apparently, we were on the wrong side of the road anyway). Sorry, Mahk! We’ll get it right next time!

And since it won’t be a surprise next time, we can actually tell you we’ll be there! That’ll probably help.

The credit for this photo belongs to Blaise, a friend of Mahk’s who DID happen to see him and who, as it happened, was right near where we were. I’ll post the pic we sent to Mahk’s phone as soon as someone can get it to me.

The Week in Quotes, but not from Buttercup

2010-04-18T09:55:00.004-04:00

There was a rash of quotes from The Princess Bride on Facebook and in person this past week, but I chose to leave those out. That would have just invited more, and we could have gone on for days. Here's what's left:

“You get the underneath and I’ll get the overneath.” NiNi.

“At least with Barbie, you can bend her legs to get it in her pants!” Bessie, who did not even bother to complain that I was going to post this quote completely out of context.

“He’ll pay me 5$ if I’m quiet till lunch.” Gia, about participating in the National Day of Silence.

“Bunny!” Monica, randomly quoting Lisa.

“Would you like some epic with that fail?” Lisa.

“So we were planning this party, and it’s not gonna happen really, so I guess it’s ok to tell you...we were gonna have soda.” SiSi.

“Why would anyone put a hot tub in the middle of an orchard? That’s ridiculous!” Rebeccah, about a problem in her geometry homework.

“They listen to the Firefly song in France?” Julia.

“No way! I’ll never do that!” SiSi, when I suggested that she might be able to see better while playing catch if she tied her hair back or put it in a braid -- sigh.

“I've heard of T-shirts, plaques, plates, cups, bowls, crowns, flowers, and sashes, but BLANKETS?” Graham, on Julia’s prize for winning the Miss Teen Western Mass pageant.

“SAY IT!” Mahk, Matt and I, urging Liam Neeson to say ‘Release the Kraken!’, the only decent line in the movie Clash of the Titans.

“They waited until the end for that because everyone would have walked out if they’d put it any earlier” Matt, on Liam Neesons’s line.

“There's no going back now!” Erika, on having turned in her thesis.

No going back, indeed. Happy week, everyone!

All I Ever Wanted

2010-04-17T21:17:00.000-04:00

Vacation starts today. I’m not going anywhere. In fact, I am deliberately staying near the house. I have a list of things I have committed to doing, things that have been bugging me for a long time, things that need to get done so I can have some peace of mind and so I can do other things that need to get done. Here are the high points:

Purge the basement. This multi-day project has been on my list for a long time, and it will be tops on my list until it is done. Everything is coming out. Some stuff is going back in. The rest? Come on by and take it! Except the barber chair; that’s Bessie’s.

Do some reading. I have several books on my list. Most of them are education related, but I’m reading one on abortion and I’m looking forward to delving into Wilhelm’s translation of the Book of Changes. This is stuff that, when school is busy, I often set aside out of mental exhaustion. School has been busy of late, and I’ve been exhausted a lot.

Work on the Community School. I have things to read, but I want to put down on paper some guiding thoughts for the work that must come next. Maybe I’ll post about this during the week. Right now, it’s just too daunting to think about without my coffee.

Post something to the community’s DnD adventure. My nerdy side needs some love, and I’ve owed it to the players to move their adventure along for quite some time.

Training, goddammit! Between exhaustion that I now recognize to be symptomatic of hypothyroidism and the business of school, I have done nothing -- NOTHING -- for the last two weeks. It’s time to get back on the wagon. Or the bike, as the case may be.

The kids are going to Nana’s for most of the week, so I’ll be able to focus on the list exclusively until Thursday. If I get the basement done and the other things started, I will consider my time away from the classroom well spent.

What’re you doing this week?

Voice and Silence

2010-04-16T23:49:00.000-04:00

Today many of our students have chosen to observe the National Day of Silence, a national youth-run movement that uses silence to protest harassment, bias and abuse in schools, particularly of the kind that targets gay, lesbian and transgender individuals. I, myself, will not observe this silent protest, although I have made it clear that I absolutely support the right of my students to do so without consequence. My classes all have exams today (I did not include an oral component), so there is not a great need on my part to accommodate instruction, but communicating about the several bits and pieces of their work still has to take place. We will do this in several ways:

Email. Many do this as a primary mode of communication already.

White board and marker. I cleaned my boards to make space for them to write, so they could leave me notes, ask questions and share stuff about the day that was important. I didn’t make this invitation explicit by telling them why the boards were clean; I don’t really have to do that. At my school, any clean white board is assumed to be simply waiting for them to write or draw on it.

Post-it and index card. The post-its go on the work they’re handing in. The index cards (which I substituted with regular pieces of paper this year to save money) sit out on my podium for them to take around the school with them, when they need to talk to each other.

Sign language. Many of my students also know a bit of ASL or can at least fingerspell. I can follow it pretty well, so they use that to talk about some of the formulaic things. We also have certain kinds of signs for common things like going to the bathroom, getting a drink, looking for paper and pencil (these exist to minimize disruption during class).

The question that is asked as part of the event this year is, “What are you going to do to end the silence?” My answer to this as twofold. First I will, as I do every day, work to end the need for silence by using my voice to speak out against harassment and abuse of all forms and to encourage others to speak out in whatever way they feel they can. Second, I will continue to create a space of safety and security that promotes acceptance and inclusion, and treat everyone in my world with the love and compassion they deserve. I hope that by providing an example of the kind of behavior I value, my students will understand that judicious use of voice as well as silence can be a force for change.

An Unintentional Poem

2010-04-15T22:40:00.002-04:00

Two of my Spanish II students asked me if they could see me after class today. I raised my eyebrows, for they are two of my top students, but I said sure. As the rest of the crew filed out, I sat down with them and asked, "What's up?"

"We want to read you a poem," they said. "Actually, it's a poem YOU wrote."

"Really??" I said, surprised (I do wax poetic in my classes from time to time, but hadn't done so recently that I could recall), "*I* wrote a poem?"

"Yes," they nodded, and proceeded to read. It began thusly...

At least
Maybe
It’s not my fault
This is how we are
People
Like I was saying, ...

A long time ago
Once upon a time
A terrible cold
So,...
It turns out that...
And what’s more...
He wasn’t too bright
So to speak
Who with half a brain...

Of course, ...
As soon as...
I knocked at the door
Go into

I was about to...
My nose began to itch
I felt like
I let loose a sneeze

Do you know what happened?
The darned house
Dead as a doornail
It seemed a shame
.
.
.

What they were reading to me was the list of idiomatic vocab I was asking them to find in the story they were reading! The spacing you see is actually the paragraph spacing in the story, so they could more easily find the expressions in context. They read it with beautiful poetic voice and inflection, and I was cracking up at how well it read the way it was written. After I got done laughing I think I said something about how I must not be doing my job well if they've got time to figure out how to make poems out of my vocab lists, but I was very, very impressed.

Can you tell what story the vocab is from? I'll give you a hint: Think common fairy tale.

Talking Parents Back From the Edge

2010-04-14T22:36:00.000-04:00

Today is Parent/Teacher conference day. I’ve posted about this before [HERE] and [HERE], but this year I’d like to look at the event from the point of view of “talking parents back from the edge”.

I have several students whose parents, to be polite, ride their kids hard. They have high expectations for their children and a sometimes rigid belief that, without constant vigilance, their children will not do their job well as students. There are times when such diligence is necessary, to be sure, but I often see examples when parents who are too watchful do more harm than good.

One of my conferences involved a mom whose daughter is a good student. She earns credit in my class, her exams show that she understands what she’s seeing and her participation is consistently good. The one issue I have is that she doesn’t always keep up on her homework. It comes in, but not always in the week that it’s due. This does not bother me because my course is structured to allow students the flexibility to take the time they need to do such work. Mom, however, heard that her daughter owed me homework and... well, let’s say she came in ready to rake her kid over hot coals.

I welcomed mom into my (freshly cleaned and swept) space and she started right in on how she was disappointed in her daughter’s performance and that she wanted me to know that she found it unacceptable. I said that I appreciated the fact that she took her daughter’s education seriously and how refreshing it was to see a parent genuinely concerned for the welfare of her child. I then painted the picture of her daughter’s performance in my class -- she asks questions and offers answers, even at the risk of being wrong; she helps other students to understand; she does very creative work and she takes the time to review and revise her work to improve it. That she is a chatty cathy is part of her personality, and it is only a problem if it gets in the way of what I’m doing in the classroom. If I tell her to rein it in, she does. That her homework is behind schedule is something we’ve talked about, and I’m confident she’ll get it done. If I am ever worried about her, I will reach out immediately, but the narrative says she’s doing fine. Trust me to tell you the truth.

By the time mom left, she had cooled off considerably. The kid whispered “thank you” as she hugged me good-bye.

You’re welcome!

Now go do your homework.

Hypo-pain-in-my-ism

2010-04-13T19:55:00.003-04:00

I got blood test results back today. They match almost exactly results from tests in December, and together they present pretty compelling evidence of hypothyroidism.

That I might have hypothyroidism is not that shocking or surprising to me really. I’ve had symptoms of Graves Ophthalmopathy for more than 10 years, and my doctor and I have been talking regularly about what how the condition might represent a symptom of a bigger problem on the horizon.

Apparently, I’ve found the horizon.

It certainly explains a lot. As my wife said today when I told her, “...when you look at hypothyroidism, the classic symptoms are your favorites -- fatigue and sensitivity to cold, along with mild depression (not that you are clinically depressed, just that you get down, particularly when it's cold out). She didn’t mention the other things that I’ve been fighting strongly the last couple of weeks: Weight gain (despite eating less), muscle soreness and difficulty concentrating (at a time when I can hardly afford it). This list of symptoms together with the blood work makes it pretty clear what the cause is.

The question is what’s causing it? As I’ve been learning, there are a few reasons apart from the basic “your thyroid is failing”. One that attracted my attention was iodine deficiency. I’ve asked my doctor to look into this because, even though it’s practically nonexistent in the U.S. as a cause for hypothyroidism, there are two reasons why it might be possible in my case. First, we don’t use iodized salt at home, which is the biggest reason why Americans don’t suffer from iodine deficiency. Second, we don’t eat a lot of processed foods, which are often made with iodized salt.

If iodine deficiency proves to be the root cause, the solution is simple: Eat things with iodine. If it’s not, the likelihood of needing synthetic thyroid hormone to regulate my system increases to “nearly certain”. I am exceedingly nervous about this. Dosing with synthetic hormone to regulate the endocrine system is a delicate balancing act, and carries the risk of doing things to my eyes that will force some very difficult and irreversible treatment to avoid optic nerve damage. Potentially, it is a very slippery slope. I’ll also admit I’m not a fan of having to be engaged in this balancing act for the rest of my life. I’m only forty years old, for crissakes! If my father’s side of the family (which I take after quite a bit) is any indication, I’m gonna see ninety with no problem. That’s 50 damn years of having to adjust meds and take trips to the doctor for blood tests and dealing with the worry that I might go blind! This is not appealing.

Of course, that’s a couple of blood tests down the road. In the meantime, I will continue to find ways to work around the fatigue and other things so I can live my life. I’ve got stuff to do, after all! Nobody living my life has time to be tired all the time!

Monday Meditation: The Freedom of Interdependence

2010-04-12T18:50:00.002-04:00

Today I’m thinking about these two quotes:

“Interdependence is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings who, without any religion, law, or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an innate recognition of their interconnectedness. The most subtle level of material phenomena is also governed by interdependence. All phenomena, from the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests, and flowers that surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without their proper interaction, they dissolve and decay." --Dalai Lama

"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affectation for a few people near us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." --Albert Einstein

To truly recognize that “I” am not really here, independent and separate of anything else, is a scary concept when looked at in a certain light. And yet, I’m finding a wonderful comfort in considering that I am not just here, but that I affect and am affected by everything else in the cosmos. I need not, therefore, seek reality outside myself because I am reality. True, I do not exist by way of my own character. For all that I can make choices, I am not self-powered or autonomous. Ultimately, all things -- including me -- exist in dependence upon causes and conditions. And yet, this is not a limiting or exclusive concept to my mind. In fact, I find it helps me to see with more clarity the universe and my place in it (such an oxymoronic phrasing that).

What does this mean to you? Is this a scary concept? Is it empowering? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Recovery Mode

2010-04-11T09:31:00.001-04:00

I apologize for taking the week off from this space, but I’ve been having trouble getting out of a busy, hectic, draining funk, and I just needed to focus on doing that. I feel better, but I’m still awfully tired. I feel like I could sleep for days.

I’m trying not to get annoyed at the fact that I’m in this place; it just gives the negativity power, but I’ve missed the time to go to the gym or ride my bike or chill with people I love -- or do anything except grade papers, wring my hands over school stuff and try to stay ahead of the laundry and the dishes. To be fair, it isn’t a matter of physical time so much as the ability to find a mental and spiritual harmony in all that’s going on. I don’t multitask well and when there are too many balls in the air, like has been the case during the last week, it becomes a challenge to keep everything feeling like it’s working together. Sometimes, I can go into Emergency Mode for a short while to keep things from crashing to earth. Sometimes it happens that it all comes crashing down anyway, and Recovery Mode kicks in. That was last week.

I feel a little better about it all but I’m still in Emergency Mode, at least as far as school goes. Even though I have a week to go before April Break, I’ve got a lot of teacher work to do before then. Parent conferences are Wednesday and, while I actually look forward to talking with parents about their kids, there is much prep work to do beforehand if I’m to talk objectively about their performance, as well as compassionately about how to support them through the rest of the year. I have a unit on translation software for my Spanish II class that I realized late last week needs to be rebuilt and my first-year students have just handed me the outlines for their research papers -- all of which need to be reviewed by Wednesday so they can get their papers written by the time they get back from vacation.

I truly do not mind this work. It is part of a job I love deep in my heart (and yes, Mia, I really do love this stuff). When it competes with other parts of my world -- training, play time with my family, big picture thinking, the Community School -- the effort required to keep a harmony in all these endeavors can just prove too much even for Emergency Mode.

And so we will continue with Recovery Mode for a while. The good news is that eventually everything that was being juggled before will fall to the ground and I can start again.

8 Words.

2010-04-08T19:00:00.002-04:00

Grading. Laundry. Heavy reading. Email. Car repairs.

Tired.

The Weekend in Quotes

2010-04-04T20:21:00.001-04:00

“I know.” (NiNi, after Papa said, “You’re pretty.”)

“¡Cada vez!” (A Latino disc golfer, after hitting a tree -- apparently not for the first time)

“I’m first in my division!” (An older man, running along the beach today as I was passing him -- not as quickly as I might have wanted).

“Can I have some of my Easter candy?” (Both children, repeatedly, during the day until they were told what would happen if they asked again).

“Can we go into the hot tub?” (Both children, repeatedly, during the weekend while at Nana’s, until they were told what would happen if they asked again).

“Can we watch Harry Potter?” (Both children, repeatedly -- you get the idea).

“Will you do the thing with the thing when we get the thing?” (Mackenzie, who said enough in one class Friday to fill this post, but of which I can only remember this one quote.)

“Oh, we’d better just end this conversation right now!” (Rick, after I said that Boondock Saints was just not that good a movie).

“Do boxers try to hurt each other?” (SiSi)

“If you promise to stop making the [chat window] popping up, I will do all my make up work. Well, most of it. Maybe.” (Maeve, while accusing me of being responsible for Facebook’s idiosyncracies).

“Next year, the Easter Bunny should make a map.” (The Easter Bunny, after yet another year when not all the eggs were found).

A Poem for an Idyllic Saturday

2010-04-03T18:36:00.005-04:00

I stand at the tee, disc in hand.
The park around me full
of life and warmth
cheerful in observance
of a holiday
without duty or obligation

Excited squeals
Of children frolicking
Finding frogs, chasing geese
Clangs of baseballs on aluminum bats
“Hey batta, batta! Swing batta!”
Lovers for many years walking, holding hands
Lovers of just a season luxuriating in each other
Under the gentle, welcoming sun

I close my eyes.
Deep breath in, deep breath out.
Three steps, uncoiling,

And I let the disc fly.

What do you do on Friday...

2010-04-02T17:06:00.003-04:00

...when your students have finished their exams and it’s a glorious sunny spring day with temps around 75°F?

Send them outside for recess!

Happy Friday!