Recall: No longer Alaska-bound...

Hi again,

Not thirty minutes after I proclaimed my news in an effort to bolster my spirits and calm my fears about my new Alaska adventure, I finally heard back from a school in Santa Ana offering me a position teaching at their school. I began pursuing this position when a Santa Ana city councilman who also coaches southern California's largest speech and debate team at Fullerton Union High School asked me to help him start a new program at this new high school in Santa Ana, wanting to change the lives of Latino youth in this community and the negative perception of Santa Ana schools in general. It sounds like a tall order, but anyone who knows Sal Tinajero personally, knows he can do it if anyone can. And I'm honored that he wants me to help him do it. (And for you Fullerton folk, don't worry. Sal isn't abandoning FUHS; we will be working as partner campuses).

When I didn't hear back from the school last Thursday, I assumed the rumors that they would need to fill the positions with teachers who had been displaced from other schools in the district were true and proceeded with my Alaska plans, hoping to find a position long-distance with Sal's help as new grade levels opened up next year (the school is starting out with only freshmen and sophomores this year, slowly phasing in more classes until the entering sophomores graduate as seniors in 2010). Godinez High School will begin its first year of operation this coming fall and I will work in a small English department comprised of five English teachers to get things started for the entering freshmen and sophomores. Working in a small department at a brand new school offers me unique opportunities to provide input in curriculum decisions. I'll also probably have more chances to use my Spanish minor here than in a Yupik village!

Can you hear me trying to convince myself that this is the better option? Needless to say, I'm still coming down from yesterday's romantic projections of my Alaska future, but the practical voices of my mother and pragmatic friends and family have convinced me that I have more of a future here...and that running away from our woes isn't really possible, not even in the wilds of Alaska, since, as a wise person once said, "Wherever you go, there you are." So, I'm sending this more than anything to prevent the pain of more incoming congratulatory remarks on an adventure that I've decided to save for summer vacations. Go ahead, say it. It's the big elephant in the room: SELL-OUT! Here are some previews of the landscape, wildlife, and adventures I will continue to find here.

Still begrudgingly,

Your California Girl

An announcement

Dear Friends,

As some of you know, I am moving on from my brief stint in California, where I have finally finished up coursework to attain my California teaching credential. So, where will life take me next? I have been employed by the Bering Strait School District in Alaska! I will be the only 6-12 English teacher in a school in Elim, teaching approximately 85 Yupik Indians. I'm already finding a lot of healthy distraction from current woes and worries by working with the social studies teacher there to create a cross-curricular unit on the Iditarod, which passes through my future village just days before the mushers cross the finishing line in Nome, the nearest "big city" (population 3000), seventy miles north of Elim. My future colleagues tell me there is plenty to keep me occupied in Elim, though, from salmon and crab fishing, to hiking to the hot springs ten miles away.

Anyone who has had to listen to me moan and groan about this year's dramas and heartaches knows that this is just the change I'm needing. In the meantime, here are some sneak previews of how life will look for me next year, courtesy some photos taken by the kindergarten teacher from my school.So, no, I haven't lost my mind entirely...not yet. But yes, I will need to hear from you a little more regularly to keep me from falling full-fledge into insanity! :) I will be leaving in time to arrive in Elim by the 8th of August, stopping over in Anchorage for a day or two to get outfitted in my snow gear and to try to stock up on as much food as possible before I have to start getting it shipped to "the bush." Wish me luck! I know it's not going to be the romantic tale of discovery and enchantment I'm sometimes tempted to weave, but I'm not cutting myself off to the possibility of a little magic either! I can't wait to tell you all about it.

Your Arctic Monkey,

Nicole