After staying at work until 5 to prepare my classroom for tomorrow's Back to School Night, I ran to Costco to buy sodas for our Speech & Debate pizza/soda sales, at which point I realized that I don't have a big ice chest. So, I called Bernard to ask him if he had one he could bring. The conversation cracked me up, and I have to share.
As preparation for tomorrow's Bell Jar presentation in our AP class, I have the class reading an article by Stephen Jay Gould about the history of how science has used biological discussions of the female brain to justify misogyny in the past.
Ring...
Bernard: Yes?
Me: How's it going?
B: Good, I'm just reading this article about women's brains that you assigned.
Me: Oh, yeah? Good. Whaddya think?
B: [Like a toddler repeating something an adult has said, as if he knows he's going to make other adults mad if he says it himself] Women's brains are smaller than men's.
Me: Bernard!!
B: Hey, don't get mad at me. That's what YOUR article says.
I had a trio of students from last year helping me in my classroom until I left so late tonight. I love these kids so much.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Feeling Better
I just realized how negative my last post was and wanted to write while I'm feeling better. The financial resource I needed finally came through in the form of a nice check from UC Irvine and I'm feeling better in general. Teaching is proving to be the continued inspiration I found it to be last year, even despite some uncomfortable adjustment to the AP Language curriculum. My ninth graders are beautiful, even a potentially rowdy sixth period.
I also had a wonderfully restful weekend, beginning with a train ride into Los Angeles, where Amy and Jane picked me up for many fantastic meals, an afternoon at the Huntington, where we looked on Duchess Georgiana of Devonshire among many other masterpieces, before wandering through the gardens and a later viewing of "The Duchess," based on the aforementioned duchess's life. She was another reminder of how grateful I am to live in an era where I can find so much joy outside the realm of what was once such a restricted scope of activity for women, married or not.
Anyway, not feeling too coherent, but rest assured that I AM feeling happier and more content...
I also had a wonderfully restful weekend, beginning with a train ride into Los Angeles, where Amy and Jane picked me up for many fantastic meals, an afternoon at the Huntington, where we looked on Duchess Georgiana of Devonshire among many other masterpieces, before wandering through the gardens and a later viewing of "The Duchess," based on the aforementioned duchess's life. She was another reminder of how grateful I am to live in an era where I can find so much joy outside the realm of what was once such a restricted scope of activity for women, married or not.
Anyway, not feeling too coherent, but rest assured that I AM feeling happier and more content...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Tired...
...of parents who don't answer the phone.
...of high gas prices.
...of an inadequacy to offer emotional support.
...of my ever-shedding living room rug.
...of feeling bad for speaking up for my hurting heart.
...of budgetary chicken casserole.
...of ignored phone calls that are supposed to connect me to a financial resource that I need to survive this month.
...of feeling exploited by people who, knowing I want to help wherever I can, withdraw without awareness of its effects on me until I have to get nasty to redraw boundaries, completely negating the original kind intentions.
...of watching my country go to shit because of a bunch of idiots who thought they could vote in God rather than someone equipped to govern...and watching them get close to doing it all fucking over again.
...of wishing I could just move to Canada.
...of high gas prices.
...of an inadequacy to offer emotional support.
...of my ever-shedding living room rug.
...of feeling bad for speaking up for my hurting heart.
...of budgetary chicken casserole.
...of ignored phone calls that are supposed to connect me to a financial resource that I need to survive this month.
...of feeling exploited by people who, knowing I want to help wherever I can, withdraw without awareness of its effects on me until I have to get nasty to redraw boundaries, completely negating the original kind intentions.
...of watching my country go to shit because of a bunch of idiots who thought they could vote in God rather than someone equipped to govern...and watching them get close to doing it all fucking over again.
...of wishing I could just move to Canada.
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