high school memories

Last time we visited my parents in Indiana, my mom asked me to look through some of my old clothes hanging in the closet. Each time I go in that closet, I peruse boxes of old stuff from my childhood that my mom has collected and stored.

I used to take great pride in my trophy collection. I'd arrange and rearrange them on my dresser. They're mostly from music competitions, a few from 4-H and the most unique for 2nd place in a fire-prevention poster contest in 2nd grade.

Going the the old clothes is a nice reminder that I'm not overweight anymore. It was nice to be able to tell her to purge the closet of oversized coats and shirts. I wore larges in everything in high school and now I usually won't buy a shirt or sweater unless I fit into a small.

But this little diddy, pictured below, was definitely a large. I made this in 'home arts' or whatever it was called. I was a star each year of middle school when we took a quarter of sewing class. We got to pick the colors and design for this kit out of a catalog and then cut and sewed it. HOT MESS!

My face is all goofy cause I was dying of laughter. Ahhh, the memories.

Threadless Halloween T-Shirt $10 Sale! (and musings on Halloween)

From 10 am today until 10 am tomorrow (Tuesday), you can snag a sweet Halloween Tee for only 10 bucks. Use THIS LINK if you're going to buy and you'll earn me some points towards free Threadless stuff.

I kind of get satisfaction out of telling people that I've never ONCE in my life dressed up for Halloween. I doubt it will happen this year either. My parents didn't really want us to do it growing up--they weren't big on celebrating a kind of creepy holiday. And I've just never been into it since.

I did, however, get some cheap walgreens decorations to hang up in my classroom last year and I brought those out on October 1st a few weeks ago. Also, I made a collection of vocal warm-ups and exercises for my choir, including little crappily drawn cartoons and quotes about how scaaarrry we sound when we don't practice on our own outside of class. And each day, I start class by telling them to get out their "October Warm-up Packet: oooooooh!" (And I make a really cheesy ghost/goblin noise.) They hate and and secretly love it when I act really strange like that. And then I make them oooooh with me cause it's good for their head voice placement...lol.

Anyways. On with October.

heat pours out!

After living in our condo for more than a year, we realized this past Spring that we had never changed the filter on the blower for our furnace and AC. Yikes. I knew vaguely about filters and such things; I remember my dad changing them religiously. But alas, we were unaware.

This explains why we shivered all winter last year, even though our furnace seemed to run constantly.

I now have a alert on my google calendar that sends me an email when it's time to change the filter. The heat has been kicking on a bit lately, and I'm amazed at how the heat literally flows from the vents in the ceiling!

Maybe we'll actually stay warm this winter...

latest obsession: my new uggs

No, they're not the traditional uggs you see girls tromping around in, although I tried some of those on, too. My friend Allison has worn Uggs for a while and always talks about she doesn't take them off all winter. Turns out, Ugg makes all kinds of boots and shoes. I got these last weekend and really can't believe how comfortable they are. I just tried wearing them today without socks, which apparently works since they are lined completely with wool, which keeps your feet warm but totally dry. SUPER comfy. I'm a little concerned with them eventually smelling, but we'll see how that works out. For now, I'm loving them.

Yea, I totally just blogged about some shoes.

Things that went wrong today.

boo on Monday. No matter how prepared I think I am, Mondays just rarely go well. Today was worse that usual though.

1. High winds blew someone's deck umbrella into our alley. In an attempt to navigate past it as I backed out of our parking lot, I barely touched the fence alongside our neighbor's back yard, thus (tiny) scratching my beautiful white bumper. I was sad and mad and a little nauseated. Luckily, we have a protection plan and I think they'll fix it up next time we take the car in for service.

2. A series of fights broke out during/after lunch among our students. The resultant excitement/anxiety pretty much ruled out any level of focus among students for the rest of the day.

3. My students' listening skills are just shy of non-existent. It wears me out.

4. I left my macbook on my desk at school. It should be safe, but I needed to continue working on some stuff that I only have saved on there. I was highly annoyed. I just signed up on SugarSync.com which offers 2GB of free online storage and allows you to sync specified files on two computers. I'll set it up for my school desktop computer and my macbook. That way I can work on files that will automatically sync between the two, and then also access those files from any computer via the internet. Sounds like a plan.

Highlight of the day: My girls choir is loving "What is this feeling?" from Wicked. ("loathing, unadulterated loathing, for your face, your voice, your clothing, etc.") And I am, too.

consumption obsession

About a month ago, David earned a promotion at his job which meant a new commute to a northern suburb. Therefore we needed another car and after weighing the options, we decided on a Prius. We snatched the first one we could find. The dealer warned us (good salesman) that this one might be the last base model they'd see for a while and there were no others in the Chicago area. I never really thought of myself as a white car person (I had been driving a black VW Rabbit and my high school and college love was a 1989 black Honda Accord.) But I absolutely love it.

It's absolutely a joy to drive. The hybrid system includes constant feedback on the dash--mpg or "consumption" info can be organized in a minute-by-minute or 5-minute chart. And real-time diagrams show when the car is using only battery power, gas engine power or a combination. According to the display, I've been getting about 57 or 58 mpg, although when I figure it after filling up at the pump, it's more like 53 or 54. Either way, the Prius gets twice as many miles per gallon than I was getting in the Rabbit.

Yesterday, we went to MI with church folk to pick apples and have a potluck dinner at a cabin in the woods. I snapped this picture of the Prius sitting in the beautiful woods.

Come out! (straight people, too!) on October 11th.

(originally posted on the PinkMenno discussion surrounding our Pink Action Sunday on October 11th. Join that discussion here...you'll have to sign-up if you're not already a member.)

In addition to October 11th being our PinkMenno "Pink Action Sunday", it also happens to be National Coming Out Day. Normally, "coming out" is the term applied to a GLBTQ person's decision to be explicitly open about their sexuality to someone, often first to a close friend, then perhaps to family, co-workers, and so on. This process can be (in my experience) fearful, anxiety-filled, joyful and liberating all at once. Most importantly, the decision to come out is often a huge turning point for someone who has felt it necessary to hide a very true and good part of themselves for their entire life. And no one's coming out story is the same.

It's important for those of us who have come out as GLBTQ to tell our stories, but it strikes me that it's almost more important these days for us to open the experience of "coming out" to our ally friends. It's time, in so many ways, for straight people to COME OUT as supporters of GLBTQ people. It's time for parents, siblings, friends, co-workers, classmates, teammates and neighbors to speak up when they hear homophobic remarks. It's time for them (you?) to openly question heterosexist traditions and structures in the communities in which we live, work and worship. It's time to go beyond being quietly sympathetic. We should be uncomfortable in our witness to those around us, just as we are to be pushed out of our comfort zone to share our witness to the love of Christ in the world. Part of what's been so powerful about PinkMenno is the opening up of eyes to the sheer number of Mennonite folk who ARE already coming out--unashamed to wear a very bold shade of support for GLBTQ sisters and brothers in the Mennonite church.

Who will you come out to on October 11th? Challenge yourself.

As someone who agonized over coming out to my family and friends (and who still doesn't always find the process easy), I can say that it's never as bad as you might imagine. It might be uncomfortable, awkward, even a bit painful, but the liberation of sharing your own truth with someone you care about makes is SO worth it.

The Art of Sound (Cymatics)

Pretty Sweet...
Hoping to do a joint project with our physics teacher this year. (I teach music.)

"Heart of Stone" Trailer

Allison pointed me to this trailer for what looks to be an excellent documentary. The stories told by the alumni about how the high school in the film used to be such a "good" school remind me of the school where I teach. When I first started there, I found an envelope full of photos from the 60's and 70's--students sitting nicely in their rowed desks, dressed professionally, full attention on the teacher. It's kind of crazy to see them sitting in the exact room where I teach now, in a very different time, with students living very different lives.

Rowan Atkinson - 'The Piano Player'

Karena shared this on facebook and I couldn't resist passing it on. My brother, me and dad used to laugh our heads off at Mr. Bean movies!

Snow Leopard

Apple is so clever. The upgrade from the current "Leopard" operating system version to "Snow Leopard" will be available on Friday, just a week after I received my new macbook pro. Luckily, the upgrade only costs $10 for recently purchased macs (only $29 for older macs with Leopard).

But when I tried to purchase the discounted version, the apple website failed using both safari and firefox. I found this to be a common problem after googling to see if others had the same issue. The solution? -- it works on the iphone. ironic, huh?

I'm loving my macbook. The structure has come a LONG way since my old, white, plastic ibook which dirtied and hairline cracked and rubbed it's screen on the keyboard. My favorite feature is the incredibly spacious and multi-functional trackpad. The entire pad serves as one giant button, but clicking isn't even really necessarily once you figure out all the tap, double-tap and multiple-touch combinations. Touching with two fingers allows you to drag and scroll, or tapping with two is the same as right-clicking. Dragging to the right or left with three fingers moves you back or forward in your web browser history. Swiping four fingers up clears your windows to reveal the desktop and sweeping four fingers down arranges all of your windows neatly for you to choose from. I'm blown away.

Battery life is decent, although to get the 6 or 7 hours they advertise, you have to turn the screen contrast to minimal and turn off the wifi. But it's still a solid four hours with typical use.

Love it, love it, love it.

And I promise myself that I'll keep it tidy and organized. And I've already set it up to backup via our wifi network to the external drive attached to our imac using time machine, which I'm also pretty impressed by.

Sweet Video - "Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear

Found this beautiful video on www.towleroad.com, a gay-news-pop-culture blog David and I read regularly.

Enjoy!

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

"That's so Gay..."

I don't remember clearly, but I'm pretty sure I said it just as much as the next kid when I was in middle and high school. We called anything and anyone gay. It became a synonym for "bad, lame, stupid, dumb, undesirable, weird, etc."-- Without ever explicitly discussing it, we all understood. And for a word that was used SO much, the possibility of actual gay people in our midst was never seriously considered.

It's time for straight and gay folk alike to just call out these stupid comments when we hear them. That means you.

I plan on making a bigger deal this year when I hear kids call things gay, or when they call each other faggots or queers. The same goes for b*tch and the rest of the long list. These words all reflect deep-down understandings of who and what is valued and who and what is deemed hate-worthy. Basically, it all boils down to a sick misogyny that is so woven throughout our society. Think of the worst ways to insult a man--they all involved suggesting that he is somehow more like a woman that a man.

The resource that triggered this post is www.thinkb4youspeak.com, a program by GLSEN. They have posters you can download and an educator resource packet, too. It's a clever yet powerful campaign. Below are some examples--visit the website for more. Also, a teacher at my classes this week was wearing a sweet shirt today that pointed me to the "Get Busy. Get Equal" campaign at www.aclu.com/getequal. Also a great campaign and resource.

Belize Pics (in case you missed them)

It's been over a week since we got back from Belize and all my pictures are up on facebook and flickr, but I thought I'd post a final blog to sum up thee most relaxing vacation of my entire life (not that I've had many vacations meant to be totally relaxing).

We returned to the paradise peninsula Placencia where we stayed in the same little hotel David and I stayed in two summers ago. The beach was practically ours. Totally peaceful and severely sunny. Tasara and I got pretty burnt the first day, which limited my ability to tan for the rest of the week, which is fine since I grow more and more paranoid about skin cancer with each passing summer.

The huge surprise for me was how amazing it was to travel by boat to the the little island of St. George's Caye. David's friends Melissa and Kristen (actually their parents) own a vacation house there. I'm not sure what I was imagining, but I was blown away as we docked the boat on a skinny little dock that led right up to the beach in front of their house. The view from the balcony of this house was incredible. We spent lazy hours napping and reading in hammocks, sipping rum drinks and eating, a lot. Sunday morning, David went with them all to go fishing and he was only one to make a catch--a nasty looking baracuda. Tasara and I stayed behind to read and nap. This picture is taken by the water in front of the house. I just have a thing for the amazing texture of palm trees.

On the last day before leaving, we drove for an hour and a half very close the border of Guatamala where the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich. The huge stone temples are somewhat surreal. We hired a local licensed guide to show us around and explain the history. This picture was taken on our decent down the back side of the largest temple. Kinda scary. No guard rails, etc.



There are many more pictures in my flickr set which you can reach here. (a taste below) And stick around at the bottom of this post for an Animoto slideshow if you want to see the best pictures set to music.

back to school (sort of)

I'm not going back to college, exactly. But I am starting the Nurturing Teacher Leadership program tomorrow, a support program offered by the Chicago Teachers Union for teachers who want to go through the intensive process of applying for National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification. This seems to be the next logical step in my development as a teacher since the process is highly self-reflective and requires major self-assessment and critical thinking about how one can teach better. I'm aware that it will be a major time/energy commitment, but I'm hoping that it will keep me a bit more focused and motivated this year. I'm particularly excited about networking with teachers outside of my school and spending more time with friends Allison and Tera who are also in the program.

One perk of this program is that I've enrolled as a grad student at Roosevelt University in the masters of teacher leadership program. I will get credits for half of this degree just by attending the program classes throughout this school year. Then I'll complete the remainder of the course credits through online courses during the following year.

So in about two years, I'll be National Board certified and have a master degree. Smack that on my resume and I'm good to go...not that I'm going anywhere, necessarily. (like how vague that was?)

So I think this endeavor along with having worked at school this summer justifies a mac purchase. Hence, the gorgeous photo of the Macbook Pro which I ordered last night. I decided to go for the base model and just upgraded the RAM and hard drive size.

I'm pumped. No longer will I tote the years-old HP laptop home from work. And on top of it all, I qualify for the free ipod deal since I'm a K-12 teacher. We don't really have a use for an ipod touch, so we'll most likely sell it on ebay or something, especially since Adam told me today that Apple is likely going to introduce a new ipod touch later this fall.

I'm also aware of rumors that they'll introduce a touch-screen, tablet-style laptop this fall. Hopefully, they won't update the macbook pros real soon; I doubt they will since this line is fairly recently new.

Back to school!

St. George's Caye

Check out this panoramic shot I stitched together using www.magtoo.com (only works on Internet Explorer). I took overlapping pictures standing on the dock of the Quan's (David's friends growing up) house on St. George's Caye. This website stitches them all up and offers this viewer to embed wherever you please.

Just imagine spending about 30 hours at this house, barely aware of what time it is, sitting around eating, napping, reading in hammocks...

Goodbye, Belize!

David's friend Melissa is picking us up soon to take us to the
airport. We have a long layover in Miami and then we'll be back to
Chicago later tonight. Allison and Dave have have been watching
Franklin all week (bless them) and Allison is dropping him off tonight
so he'll be waiting for us. I have summer institute meetings at school
for the rest of the week starting tomorrow. And then NTL (Nurturing
Teacher Leadership--support program for national board certification
process) summer institute all next week and part of the following
week. And then I'll have one final week free before teacher days
leading up to the start of school.

I'll miss Fanta. It's better here--real cane sugar, glass bottles.

Time Flies

It's already Saturday in Belize (elsewhere, too, I suppose).

Today, assuming the weather stays nice, we'll head out on one of David's friend's boat to St. George's Caye (island) where they have a "caye house." We'll take snacks and meat to grill and drinks and just hang out for the weekend. Sounds fabulous.

Then we'll return here tomorrow sometime and chill some more at David's parents house. We had a scare when we first arrived on Tuesday and saw the state of the pool, which is pretty much the main attraction at this house. It was NASTY green, full of algae. We were bummed. Apparently the pump had stopped working a few weeks ago. (David's family is in Ohio for the summer, as they do every summer. So they people who look in on their house occasionally, but the pool isn't a high priority.) But we had hope. David dumped a ton of chlorine in and messed with the pump. And someone must have finished fixing the pump while we were gone in Placencia, because when we returned, it was back to beautiful blue, although just a bit cloudy.

So swimming is back in the picture. I wasn't even going to share about the pool sadness if it didn't get better. It was that depressing.

I can't help but keep myself updated on things back home. The internet is a powerful thing. Wi-fiwas even available in the remote corners of Placencia, as you noticed from my facebook picture uploads and such from my iphone.

I got word on Thursday that another of my donorschoose projects was funded! This one is for a whole long list of rattles, shakers, and bells that will add variety to my drum circle sessions in class this year. I'm pumped.

If you still want to help out or know someone else who could (even $5 or $10 is so awesome), visit my donor page (right here) and read up on funded projects and the one project that still needs funding: flip cameras for audio/video projects! I want these REAL bad!!

3 podcasts so nice

During flights and car trips this week, I've been catching up on podcasts I subscribe to which are downloaded to my iPhone when I sync with my computer.  Since I drive to work and have never gotten one of those car adapter things (working on it), I'm always behind on podcasts.

Three of the ones I subscribe to are excellent and you should try them out if you haven't already.

1. "This American Life" with Ira Glass. Honestly, Ira's voice and manner of speaking kind of annoys me--really smug, really "look at me, my npr radio show pretty much rocks". But I guess he deserves to talk like that, cause his show does rock. It's usually composed of three short stories which he unites with narration and a central theme. They are often either very inspiring, depressing, hilarious and/or educational. And the stories are editted so well. They've actually inspired me to try doing radio/audio interview projects with my students.  There's something so powerful about a story told from the owner's perspective and captured through a one on one interview. And then editted down to the most essential bits, in the right order and with the right music. I love it.

2. "Definitely Not the Opera" from CBC Radio (Canadian Broadcasting Company?) is sort of like a lighter version of This American Life. Each episode is organized around a central theme but includes mix of impromptu street interviews and more formal interviews with experts and such. Regardless of the content, it always lifts my spirits and reminds me that even if I feel crazy inside my head sometimes, I'm pretty normal, very human and mostly ok.

3. The third one isn't for everyone, although maybe it should be. Dan Savage's "Savage Love" podcast is an in your face, "sex positive" show during which he answers phone messages of people with comments or questions about relationships and sex. Whether or not you agree with his sexual philosophy or advice, I think we can all agree that as a sex-crazed society, we're pretty terrible about talking about sex openly in nearly all contexts. And Dan talks so openly and comfortably about such a wide and intimate range of topics, we kind of forget that we're supposed to be feeling uncomfortable.

In general, parents are uncomfortable talking with their kids about sex and teachers in schools aren't given the freedom or space to give students the info they want and need--at least I don't feel that personally. Actually, I guess I've never been told explicitly how to or not to address it. Maybe I just bring my own discomfort. But I can testify that adolescent youth in the neighborhood where I work are woefully uninformed when it comes to facts about sex and sexually tranmitted infections. This reminds me that I bookmarked a new sex-ed series by Howard Brown for use in schools. I need to follow up on that.

Meanwhile, download an episode or two of each of these poscasts to give them a try. They're bound to make you feel better, happier, more emotionally connected and proud to be human.

(I'm typing this on my iPhone as we drive back from the peninsula paradise known as "Plecencia" to Belize City, where David's family's house is. It will send and post when we get back to wireless interent there later this afternoon.  We'll hang with his childhood friends for the evening and if the weather is good tomorrow, a friend will take us out on his dad's boat to one of the island cayes to stay the night in their island house. Fingers crossed for good weather.)

Lazy as can be

We arrived in Placencia yesterday and have been lazy as can be since.
Eating lots of rice and beans. Tasara is obsessed with fried plantain.
David and I had fresh lobster tail last night. We've taken more naps
than we can count and gotten as much sun ad Tasara and my pale bodies
will allow today. Two years ago before coming to Belize, I
methodically tanned all summer with Allison at the beach. Minding the
minutes of direct sun before appying sunscreen. But this time I'm
started from scratch.

I just snapped this photo below. I've finally started the Harry Potter
series and Am thoroughly enjoying it.

David Says...

"It's McDonald's Big Breakfast. This reminds me of my childhood."

Belize, here we come!

We're mostly done packing. We dropped Franklin off to stay with Allison, Dave and Stella (their french bulldog). Stella and Franklin have a feisty, fight-for-dominance, humping, chase-each-other-around-until-they-collapse kind of relationship. I hope for Dave and Allison's sake that they chill out a bit over the weeklong co-habitation. I get tired just thinking about it.

I leave feeling very unsettled about a few things internet-related. My gmail inbox is out of control. I've read and marked "unread" some of these emails so many times and still haven't dealt with them! Some of them are emails I send to myself to remind me to do stuff. This blog is another thing I feel anxious about. (seriously, I can feel anxious about anything. It's kind of my thing.) I've been trying to post daily as I get closer to my (trumpets fanfare in the distance) 1,000th post! And I have so many things I've been meaning to blog about. Hows about I make a list and you can hold me accountable by making nasty comments when I fail to follow up.

Things I meant to blog about or still mean to blog about.

-the upcoming debut of the AMAZING tv series "Glee". I'm loving it, obsessively. And if you don't already love it, I WILL convert you!

-the fact that Melissa and Ade got cut last week on So You Think You Can Dance and the disgusting injustice of EVAN making into the finale! Are you KIDDING me? I NEVER write in all caps! It's SO annoying--but not as ANNOYING as this situation! We'll be in Belize during the finale episodes. I think we'll watch them with Martha and Adam when we return. So no spoilers please. I'm rooting for Kayla or Brandon. Just please, please not Evan. (shivers)

-I took some pictures of a few high school mementos when I was at my parents house for a family reunion. Good story starters.

-DonorsChoose! Donations have dwindled a bit--perhaps I'm not pushing it enough! http://bit.ly/kendall (Ross knows this by heart) DonorsChoose works on a point system. When you get projects funded, you get points for completing the feedback process in which you have students write thank you notes, send a thank you letter as the teacher and take pictures of the students using the materials. For each of 3 steps, you get a point. It then takes 1 point to post a project costing less than $400, 2 points for a $400-$800 project, etc. I currently have 2 projects posted (check them out!) that still need funding. But I have 7 points waiting to be used to write more proposals! I need to get writing! (and promoting....http://bit.ly/kendall)

-I really want to lose 3 pounds. (anyone get that movie reference?) But seriously, ever since moving from Lakeview to Edgewater, my exercise habits have suffered. We joined a gym up here but I've hardly been all summer. So wasteful (says David every time we drive by). I miss the classes at our old gym. Hour long, intense and motivating! And by the end of holiday time, I had gained 15 lbs over my goal weight which I had reached by our last Belize trip. Obsessive, I know.

-Funny things David says.
"There's a lot of polyester in this room."
"I'm really into Martha and Adam lately."
"Let me hear that boom, boom, pow" (all the time in the last 24 hours)

-Goings on in Chicago Public Schools. Good Lord. It's a mess up in here. I've got gripes about payroll and central office big time, as well as gripes about how much we teachers gripe. And you've probably heard about the selective enrollment schools investigation. And the report that says nothing really improved during Arne Duncan's tenure. I'll provide links to all this stuff later. Google it. Ugh. I'm tired.

-PinkMenno.org! I don't know how I've made it this long without writing about PinkMenno at the Mennonite Church USA conference in Columbus. It was amazingly positive and SO affirming. I'll get to this, I promise.

Ok, that's a good start. I'm sure I'll have some time in Belize to write. The only air conditioned part of David's parents' house is the office where the computers are. And we tended to spend a decent amount of time there last time. Of course, we'll only be in that house a few nights in between our little trips.

Shout out to Tasara who we'll meet in Miami tomorrow morning before flying on to Belize City, Belize! Cheap rum drinks! High humidity! Beaches practically to ourselves because no tourists in their right mind would come during the summer cause it's so hot! Street food! Palm trees!

nervous!

This morning during church (not during your meditation, Megan, I promise...sharing time, I think), I checked the weather forecast for Belize this week. Looks scary, right?

I emailed this screen capture to David who was on his way to the airport returning from Arizona where he's been at a work conference since Thursday. He assures me that thunderstorms are ok--it's showers that we should worry about. It's the "rainy season" right now, which means hot and humid and lots of rain. But thunderstorms come and pass quickly. Let's hope so.

Tasara will be joining us for our Belize getaway this time. We leave this Tuesday and return the following Tuesday.

More details to come... For now you could read about our Belize trip two years ago: Here. Or just type "belize" in the search box up in the corner for lots of references to David's place of origin.

paint job

I'm at school today working in my classroom. I'm determined this year to be organized and keep my room looking neat, trendy and overall fabulous. I want to take enough pride in how things look to be able to stand up for myself and flip out on kids who eat when they're not supposed to or mess with my stuff without thinking. And frankly, I'm tired of everyone complaining about how "poor" our school is, so I want my classroom to look like one in a tv show or inspirational movie. Part of me feels like it's a mistake to think that painting over the ugly, dirty cream/off-white paint will change things. But if nothing else, it will make me feel a bit better about being in this classroom all day, every day, which can begin to feel like a prison.

I'm also considering taking the first few weeks to have each class collaborate on a section of wall in my classroom to create some sort of mural. I'd have to figure out a balance between me designing/dictating every stroke and letting them go wild with their (joyfully sloppy) creativity. I want them to take pride in this room, too. I've also been saving cardboard boxes for about a year, piling them on top of my cabinets, telling students I'm going to build a fort around my desk this year. They laugh, but are never quite sure whether or not I'm serious. Neither am I. But a student reminded me over the summer how cool it would be to have a little recording studio in our classroom. I have a nook in one corner of the room that would work perfectly. I could write an Oppenheimer grant to get some materials, or just use the cardboard over a basic 2by4 frame. And I also saved a whole bunch of styrofoam wrapping/packing material which would be great for sound-proofing. We'll see

Just to give you an idea of the level of care for our physical building--here's a snapshot (below) of the painting job that was done in the hallway outside of my classroom. Keep in mind that it was done by a student crew, who just didn't know any better. But this would never happen at a selective enrollment school. Someone would be outraged and would order it fixed. Or it would have been done professionally the first time.

Notice that they taped around my room number sign and all around the really nice, newer brown wood trim that surrounds the door. Then they just painted over that nice wood trim, preserving only the wood under the tape. Really cool effect. And also notice that apparently, it was necessary to tape over the entire plastic room number sign. Also a neat effect, I suppose. I sigh every time I enter my room now.


Meanwhile, inside, things are looking up. A few years ago, I got some mistake gallons of paint at Home Depot for $5.00. That dark green has been up in part of the room since then--"happy camper". I had some students help finish that whole window wall in that color a few weeks ago. Then I went to home depot to find coordinating colors and and now working on painting another section in a slightly lighter but still very saturated green. It's hot. (I'm letting the first coat dry as I write this.)

I also bought some simple light cord sets from Ikea along with big bulbs to hang either above my desk area or the computer center. Simple but really sweet.

I'll take more pictures once it's all done. I'll probably work on it a few days here and there until school starts.

new philidendron banner: montreal metro

Another recently added "philidendron" banner that you might see up top (hit reload until you see it for full effect) features the Montreal Metro. Clean, expansive, and each stop featuring some form of visual art that once again makes Chicago look kind of crappy in comparison.

Just an observation

I just posted this on our Chicago Public Schools teacher message board that's a part of our (terrible) FirstClass email client. The majority of posts on there are about payroll issues, needing a different job, complaining about stuff. If I could just hold on to my idealism throughout the year, I would like myself a lot more, I'd be a better teacher and I wouldn't end up staring into the deep, dark abyss that is CPS quite so often.

Just an observation-- It's too bad that so much of our energy as CPS teachers is taken up by wading through beaurocracy, payroll issues, human resources issues, communication issues, etc. In my classroom, I struggle constantly to establish trusting relationships with my students, knowing that they can't/won't learn from an adult they don't trust. And I also experience the same lack of trust on the school and city-wide levels between adults, whether it be between teachers and other teachers, teachers and administrators, admins and AIO's, employees and "downtown." It's draining and distracts us from our real work. If open communication were a reality in CPS, working relationships could be energizing rather than draining. Students would sense that and maybe trust adults a bit more when they see them working together and communicating rather than gossiping and complaining. It has to start on the institutional level, but it can also start with those of us who are teachers in our classrooms.

New Imogen Heap Song/Video

From her new album "Ellipse" due out in August.


Reminds me of Imogen Heap songs used on So You Think You Can Dance. You can't really find many of the cliips on youtube from past seasons--they are taken down for copyright violations. But there are tons of low quality clips from the SYTYCD tour to watch.This one is from two seasons ago--"The Moment I Said It", choreography by Mia Michaels.

And of course, the now famous "Hide and Seek"--a song I've listened to probably 100's of times.

a disturbing scene

I came upon this scene a few weeks ago in the gutter alongside the sidewalk where Franklin and I were walking. I couldn't resist taking pictures.

What happened here?! A joke? A cruel act of toy violence?

Seriously--I'm surprised I haven't had nightmares about this...

Franklin is home from the vet...

...well, most of him anyway. Today was his big day--neuter day. Perhaps now his week long streak of humping everything/everyone in sight will end. We hope this won't change his personality at all. I don't think it will. As you can see he's still pretty out of it. But he'll be back to his snooty, cute self soon enough.

The Closet

A short film that reminds us how far we've come. But we still have a long way to go...

the CLOSET
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