Carbon Copy

Intermission

Probably won't have Internet for a while because of moving and evacuating for the storm, so any updates will be done via twitter.

The good news: school is canceled until at least next Thursday. It was weird to close up my classroom today not knowing if I'll be returning. I had just spent so much time putting it all together and today I had my students raise all the books off the ground, put the computers up on some shelves, and I had to wrap up the Promethean board in preparation. It felt like the last day of school. Many of my kids had already evacuated and a lot of teachers/staff are already talking about not coming back. I guess we'll see, though. For now, the focus is moving.

Expecting Gustav

I've been watching and waiting all night for them to cancel classes tomorrow, but no luck. I mean, if the threat of a hurricane doesn't at least get you out of your job, what good is it?

Jokes (even only half-jokes) aside, it felt eerie this morning driving to work and not know whether or not we'd be evacuating soon. When I left my classroom tonight, I wondered if I would be returning. There's a palpable electricity in the air about Gustav. It's all my students want to talk about. Two of them showed up early this morning and I conversed with them about their experiences during Katrina. No one, except those of us who didn't live through Katrina, are taking any chances with Gustav. As for us, we're holding off a bit. We're supposed to move this weekend, so we're hoping to get situated before we take off and leave everything to the looters.

Fight!

A fight broke out in my classroom today. Fists swinging, desks getting moved aside, people yelling and yes, someone screamed "Fight!" and other students rushed in to witness. I was in shock and called for security while the AP and some girl students helped split the boys up. They were expelled, and I'm sorry to say that my first thought was "At least that's two less I have to worry about."

Sorry for the lack of posts, emails, and phone calls. Hopefully things will get into more of a routine and I'll actually be able to find time for myself. Or at least clear off my bed so I'm not sleeping on the sofa anymore.

Worst Week Ever

Sure school was challenging, my laptop died on me, and I still haven't had the check engine light in my car checked out, but what really makes this the worst week ever is that I just found out that Passions ended its nine-year run a couple of weeks ago.

I know, believe me I know, how horrible of a show it was, but that's why I loved it so much! It was campy and over-the-top and everything a soap opera should be. I hope another show hires whoever played Theresa because she is born to be a soap star. That girl knows how to cry and she is the queen of monologues. And what other soap opera has story lines where the he/she character, Vincent/Vikki, finds out that he's the son and grandson of his father and gives birth to a child? Not to mention a side story where (and this is a little... um... crude) Vincent/Vikki cuts off his father's penis and then convinces his mother, Dr. Eve Russel, to replace it upside down. Luckily, and if you watch the following video (and I highly recommend that you do!) Kate is able to use her good witch powers to put everything aright again.

Oh Passions, I admit, I got a little teary-eyed when I heard the theme song for the last time at the end of the finale. It reminds me of that summer right after high school graduation when I didn't have much going on, but almost every afternoon, I would watch Passions while drinking a Diet Pepsi and cleaning the kitchen. It was the basis for my farewell talk before leaving on my mission, and it provided lots of entertainment while in college (see here). I hope something even better comes along to replace it, but it will be hard.

First Day Report.

Crap. I have to go back tomorrow.

No, it wasn't that bad. And it definitely had its moments that were really great, but mostly my feet hurt, I didn't get to eat lunch, my voice is hoarse and I have a headache. And I have no idea what we're doing tomorrow. And I really don't want to go try and figure it out. What happened to the days of lounging around after work?

But in happier news, the next episode of Project Runway Australia, which I've started watching on YouTube, airs in Australia tonight, so hopefully tomorrow I will have some backbiting design to come home to. For those who want to enjoy:

First Day of School

It's weird to think of tomorrow as a beginning and not an end. It's a day I've been working towards for the past two months and thinking, planning, prepping, stressing about it has taken up much of my brain capacity the past two weeks, especially. I keep thinking that I just have to get through tomorrow, but the truth of it is that tomorrow is just the first day. There is still Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. There's still next week. The hard work just keeps coming. But I'm hopeful that it will be satisfying hard work. Even though I feel much more prepared about going into this whole new career than I did two months ago when I left Utah, I still feel just as terrified.

At least my room is pretty much ready. Here's the front of the room:

Please note my hand-cut expectations posted above the chalk/promethean board. I was very proud of some of those letters that I cut completely freestyle. Others don't look quite as good. I'm a little anxious that when I get to school tomorrow morning, everything in the room will be on the ground because I've been having trouble getting things to stick.

The computer station. Originally, the computer monitors sit below the desk covered by glass. I'm sure someone thought that was a very clever use of space, but it would make it impossible to monitor what the students were looking at, so I handily raised the monitors up and stored the glass out of sight. And I know that wall is completely blank, but it will soon be filled with the brilliant work of my students.

And finally the little reading area. It looks so cute, but it's the trickiest station of all. Stuck behind the huge air conditioner, it will be hard to see what's going on back there from my vantage point in the small group at the front of the class. I tried installing a mirror in the back, but that didn't give me the view I wanted. So expectations of how to use the reading area will have to be made very clear.

The reason for the three stations is that I'll be teaching three periods of a program called Read180 put out by scholastic. It requires students to rotate between computer software, independent reading, and small group discussions, along with whole group instruction. I've had mixed feelings about the program because it's so laid out for me. Every day is planned, and while I know how beneficial that will be for me as a new teacher, it feels kind of stifling. I fight against it the same way I fight against wedding registries. Even though wedding registries make it easy to give the gift a couple will want, I always worry that the couple will think I'm uncreative for following it. Luckily (maybe), I have one regular 9th grade English class to call my own. And I'm already beginning to think that freedom for creativity is less desirable because it equals more work. I've never really been known for my work ethic.

This long entry is really just a way to put off writing my inspiring and tone-setting first day speech that I've been putting off all weekend. It's the last thing to do to prepare for tomorrow. And let's face it, I'll probably think of something on my drive over.

Cities of the Dead

I think I've mentioned on here that I've been dying to visit St. Luis Cemetery that is just up the road from my school, but when I've mentioned it to people they always warn me not to go alone. Even in the afternoon. So yesterday as I was driving home from preparing my classroom, I noticed a tour bus parked outside and clumps of people clicking away, so I made a U-turn (not so easy to do) and took advantage of the company. It was a gray day and drizzling, which was refreshingly cool, and set the mood perfectly.

I liked this sculpture of Mother Teresa. It was so petite.

It sat above this inscription, which I also liked:

If you pray, you will have faith. And if you have faith, you will love. And if you love, you will serve. And if you serve, you will have peace.

I'm pretty sure these are his and hers tombs. I guess I could have verified by looking at the inscriptions, but I thought the columns (masculine and feminine) spoke for themselves.

This guy's got a great view from his deck.

When I first walked by this one, I really thought that was a dollar sign on the cross.

Part of what I love about the cemetery is the wrought iron.

Photos beyond the cemetery. One of the amazing trees lining the streets here .

I still can't believe I live somewhere with palm trees.

And I really don't think this car wash will be successful in a geographic location with torrential rain every afternoon. Especially a $10 car wash. But I like the sign.

Home Alone

Mike, Amanda, and Peter all took off for Salt Lake early this morning. I'm all alone for the next 10 days. It's really quiet and very sad to think about my family reunited and having fun without me. Bah Humbug.

Good thing I always have TV. Now if only there were something other than the Olympics on. I can't stand that Michael Phelps.

Silhouettes

I have mentioned swissmiss on here at least half a dozen times. As I continue to narrow down the design blogs I get tired of reading, this is one that I always look forward to because she consistently posts truly interesting and inspiring things. For instance, Frank Chimero's silhouettes. About the project, Frank writes:

I thought it'd be fun to make a small book comparing my silhouette to a bunch of other famous ones. Once I had chosen some famous silhouettes, I realized, "Oh geez, all these guys are geniuses. I'm just an idiot." So that's what the book became about. It puts me in bouts against Dylan, Duchamp and Hitchcock, and contrasts our profiles through diagrams. I never really stood a chance, did I?

It's a Tag!

My good friend and former mission companion, Kimberley, honored me with a tag today. I'm rather capricious with these tags. I sometimes do them, and I sometimes don't, and I sometimes think that maybe I should come up with a clear and steadfast rule about either doing all tags or doing no tags, but for right now I feel like answering this tag. Probably because I'm putting off the talk I'm supposed to write for church tomorrow. So here goes:

5 Things I'm Passionate About:

According to Kimmie's tag, this should be 8 things, but I'm narrowing it down a little. Here's the thing about being "passionate" about something. To me that implies putting forth effort and that's never been my strong point (which is why I dropped out of my PhD program). So I'll modify this just a little again.

5 Things I'm Moderately Enthused About:

1. Literature (but sometimes I'd rather watch TV.)
2. TV (but I always feel guilty for liking it as much as I do.)
3. Taking Pictures (but I can't call it photography because I don't know anything about it.)
4. Art and Architecture (but I never feel like I know enough about it and after a while, museums get tiresome)
5. Music (but lately I haven't been interested in finding out the latest bands. Too much work.)

5 Books I Love:

This is always a hard one for a lit major. I will just point out that the heading is five books I love, not my favorite five books or anything like that. Even still, it's hard to narrow it down and hard to determine what qualifies as love. And yes, I know I'm thinking too much about it.

1. Franny and Zooey
2. Howard's End
3. Lolita
4. Jane Eyre (Can I just use this as a placemarker for all Bronte and Austen?)
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

That was hard.

5 Words of Phrases I Say Often:

1. I know right. (I actually forced myself into the habit of this one. I liked how people at Purdue would say it. I'm a total copycat.)
2. Total (as in "a total copycat," or "totally awesome." It's part of my valley girl vocab!)
3. One time (I only know this one because inevitably Erica would finish it with "at band camp.")
4. Geesh.
5. Stooop! (that's a long, drawn-out stop, not stoop)

5 Things I've Learned This Past Year

1. Turns out I don't want a mindless job.
2. Meh, I'm skipping the rest of this one. Takes too much self-reflection for a Saturday night.

5 Places I'd Like to See:

1. The Corn Palace and Mt. Rushmore
2. The Precious Moments Chapel (I am dead serious.)
3. That one cemetery near London that I forgot to visit.
4. Notre Dame du Haut
5. Neuschwanstein (I can't believe I was only a couple of hours from this four five months and never saw it.)

5 Things I Currently Want:

1. Lots and lots of color-coded folders for my students
2. A wireless remote/clicker-thingy for my laptop
3. An iPhone
4. Furniture
5. A nice, long trip abroad.

This Week

I went out for the most delectable roast beef po'boys at Parkway Bakery.

{Photo by Jason Perlow and found on the Interwebs}

Admired the sunlight on a typical row of houses in mid-city.

Enjoyed Peter playing with tupperware lids as though they were symbols.

Watched the finale if So You Think You Can Dance. Pete liked it too. I wish I had taken video of him from the night before. He was bowing and everything.

And I finally got a chance to start working on my classroom after sitting through horribly boring and unhelpful professional development meetings all week. This is what it looked like when I first walked in:

All of those shelves and cupboards were full of old papers, binders, books, and softball and basketball equipment. After the three hours I had to spend today, it looked like this:

There's still a lot to do, but they kicked me out at 3 this afternoon because apparently people have things other than school to think about this weekend.

The Kids! - Part III

I discovered when I first moved in that Amanda had named some of Peter's toys after my brothers and me. There's a fellow with dark curls for Matt, a bearded pirate that looks amazingly like Mikey. Amanda told me the construction worker girl was me because she has short hair and curly glasses, and the panda represents Amanda because her nickname growing up was "Panda Perfect." I think a side by side comparison with two earlier posts (here and here) will show you how well this works.

Sneak Peek...

... at what my life will be like in two weeks, although you'd have to multiply the students by at least 3 and then tack on three more class periods. I finished my summer practice teaching about a week ago. I'm hoping it's a good indication of what it will really be like because my students were incredibly well-behaved and often engaged. Even though I was teaching an economics course (without ever having taken an economics course), I loved teaching (other than the late night lesson-planning).

But I'm sure the reality check will happen on the first day. I've heard some horror stories and every time I tell people what/where I'm teaching, they get this compassionate look on their face and say either "oh, how brave" or "you're not going to last a month." The other day, I got a woman who said, "I just feel for my white brothers and sisters coming here to teach. Those kids will eat you alive." Can't wait.