Best Blogs of 2012!

I was bumbling around the internet today and came across Time Magazine's 25 Best Blogs of 2012 and wanted to share a few of my favorites from their list.

1.  Awesome People Hanging Out Together is pretty self-explanatory. Ever wonder what Lucile Ball and Eleanor Roosevelt might chat about if they were in a room together?  Or how about Mohammed Ali and The Beatles? I'm not sure where people are finding some of the photos that have been posted, but they are just fantastic.  Who wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall when Shaq and Dr. Ruth are hanging out? Or how about Betty White and Slash? Now that's got to be an interesting conversation! Stranger still - Lady Diana and Michael Jackson! Those two icons shouldn't even be in the same city, let alone the same room! There's a truly amazing photo of a laughing Martin Luther King, Jr. with a very young and handsome Harry Belafonte.  It's not often we see photos of MLK laughing, so this photo alone is worth the visit to the site! APHOT is definitely on my top 10 list of blogs!

2.  Awkward Family Photos is always good for a laugh or two. "Childhood friends Mike and Doug began the blog after Mike saw an awkward vacation photo hung in his parents’ house. Realizing there were probably plenty of other people out there with their own awkward family images, the two friends decided to create a friendly place where everyone could come together and share their uncomfortable family moments. Thus, Awkward Family Photos was born." I'm sure I have dozens of photos from my youth that could be on this website, but I still have my dignity left.  But I certainly don't mind chuckling at someone else's photos.

3.  Another favorite of mine is Bookshelf Porn.  If you love books as much as I do, these photos are amazing! "Bookshelf Porn is a photoblog created to allow people to indulge their love of books, libraries, bookstores and bookcases by showcasing the best bookshelf photos from around the world." For me, this is definitely the kind of porn I can wrap my brain around. Ahhhhhhh, so many books, so little time!!  I found a TARDIS bookshelf that I would love to have!  Talk about two nerd worlds of mine colliding!

An honorable mention which did not make Time's top 25, but I love, is Underground New York Public Library, which is "is a visual library featuring the Reading-Riders of the NYC subways". What an interesting assortment of readers and books. A truly fun photoblog for book lovers. Perhaps if I still lived in New York, I would have finally gotten my 15 minutes of fame as I was always reading on the subway.  Pooh, a missed opportunity.   

I've listed my top three from Time's list, but feel free to check out the rest of Time's list of 25 Best Blogs for 2012.  There are some excellent blogs out there!

Oh yyyyeah! That's the good stuff!

Shut Up, "Bridget Jones"!

Having extra time on my hands, during this much needed vacation, has allowed me to indulge in my favorite pastime: reading for pleasure!  So far I've managed to read 6 books for fun! Yay!  Today, I was yet again trying to slog through Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) to no avail. I have attempted to read this novel a few times (before and after the movie's release), but I always wind up throwing it across the room in disgust!  Let me just say that I adore the movie and not just because it stars one of my imaginary boyfriends (Colin Firth). I think the movie is witty and charming, but the book is the complete opposite.  So why do I keep trying to read the book?  Because I'm a glutton for punishment.  No, that's not it.  I'm trying to figure out why so many people like the book. It boggles the mind!

Synopsis: "Written in the form of a personal diary, the novel chronicles a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a thirty-something single working woman living in London. She writes about her career, self-image, vices, family, friends, and romantic relationships."

Review:  As a not-so-veiled homage to Pride and Prejudice, I will state that there are some mildly amusing passages in this novel and I particularly enjoyed learning a new British colloquialism ("f***wittage") that Jane Austen fails to use in her writing. Otherwise, this is a poorly written book when you look beyond the 'cleverness' of the diary theme. It has a major flaw: the most unattractive female 'heroine' in history - and not just because she thinks she's overweight, drinks and smokes too much. She is BORING!!! Sure, you can laugh throughout the story, but then you could laugh at someone falling down an escalator, or someone with a mental or physical disability. The characters are shallow and the 'story' is patchy. How anyone could find this woman attractive - mentally, physically or philosophically is a mystery to me. She is bland, self-indulgent, inconsiderate and - quite simply - unbelievably boring. We've all done things in our lives that make us cringe with embarrassment, but somewhere (hopefully) we've excelled at something, and given something to someone else. Bridget does nothing! 

This is a rarity for me to make the following suggestion: forget the book and watch the movie instead.  Bridget has far more redeeming qualities in the movie, plus there is the added bonus of eye candy - Colin Firth.  <sigh>

Review: 1 out of 5 stars 

Only Colin Firth can look adorable
in a ridiculous Christmas jumper!

"Speak" Speaks to Me!

Last week, I was reviewing the idiom "page turner" with my students and jokingly asked if any of them had stayed up all night to finish a book.  I did not expect anyone to say "yes" as none of them read anything I ask them to read.  But, surprisingly a couple of hands were raised.  A few students said that the book Speak (1999) had been a page turner for them.  Realizing that perhaps if I read books that are of interest to my students, I can find a way to reach them in class, so I picked up Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson from the local library to read during the holiday break. My students are correct - this novel is a page turner.  I started reading the novel at 9am this morning and by 3pm I had finished. I would say reading a book in 5.5 hours can be construed as a page turner (9-3 is 6 hours, but I took a short trip to the drug store).

Synopsis:  "Melinda Sordino, a student with good grades and great friends, has made some mistakes. At the end of a summer party she calls the cops, yet when they arrive she doesn't tell them anything. Back at school the next year, her friends won't speak to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her as the fink who wrecked everybody's party, and her grades start dropping. Her relationship with her parents deteriorates quickly. She becomes sullen, and withdrawn. However this picture is not the whole story.  Her parents know something is wrong but cannot get her to open up. Her only hope is her art teacher; he realizes something is very wrong and through the assignments he gives her tries to draw her out. This is a story of a girl who is abused, and who doesn't know how to talk about it, but in keeping it inside she is self-destructing. Can Melinda find her voice and speak of her sorrow, or will her silence destroy her?"

Review: All teenagers (and adults) should read this book. As a high school teacher, I can attest to the fact that peer pressure is insidious. It is particularly good at convincing victims to feel like they have done something wrong, which is the message at the heart of this novel.  Speak is a fast-paced read that involves the reader emotionally from the very start and is an accurate portrayal of high school cruelty and peer pressure - a very common occurrence. This novel is entirely relatable. Anyone who went to high school should identify with most of what happens in this novel, no matter what their age. Anderson doesn't merely tell a story, she lets the reader inside the mind of the heroine. Descriptive language and an active monologue allows the reader to actually feel the torment and confusion of a victim of abuse.  Well written and engrossing!  If you have a teenager in your life, buy this book for them to read. 

Apparently there is a movie which is based on the book.  I have not seen the movie, but I would prefer to encourage people to open up a book which will open up their minds. (Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a book snob.)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Career Change: The One I Want to Take Care Of...

The other day I was having a conversation with a guidance counselor at my school who asked me if I had found the one student that I wanted to bundle up, take home and care for.  And much as I adore so many of my students, I hadn't come across that one students. That all changed yesterday. One of my favorite, best and brightest students came to me because she was freaking out that should couldn't complete an assignment. The assignment was a straight-forward one: create a poster about themselves (favorite tv show, movies, books, etc.). This student told me a heartbreaking story of what was going on in her life and I just wanted to bundle this bright, lovely, amazing girl and take her home so that she could get out of her extremely messed up life. But alas I can't do that, so I did the best I could.  I listened to her, let her cry on my shoulder, and gave her solutions on what we could do to get the project completed.  As a result, today she presented her project, got a perfect grade, currently has a A+ in my class, and left for the two week holiday with a lighter heart and a bright smile.

Below is the holiday card that this student gave me yesterday! I wept when I read this card! I have to remember moments like these when I have those days when I wonder if it was all worth it. Trust me, it's worth it! I love my new career!

Click on the photo to read it

On another note, today was probably one of the best days so far and not just because it was the last day before a two vacation.  I got two stunning compliments from the principal.  The first had to do with a student who was pulled out of my class by the assistant principal for refusing to remove his hoodie (wearing hoodies is against the school rules).  The AP took the student down to in-house detention, but the student promptly returned 5 minutes later sans hoodie.  Later, my principal told me that this student quickly gave up his hoodie and begged to go back to my class.  So what makes this story a fantastic one? Most students prefer to hang out in in-house detention because they can chat with other students and not do any work.  The principal said that it says something about me as a teacher.  BTW, this is a student who is currently failing my class, does no work, and almost never participates.  Then later in the day, the principal stopped by my final class of the day to observe (who does that on the day before the winter break?), but I lucked out - my students were actually doing something academic (sort of) - performing an in-class production of A Christmas Carol.  The principal later told me that I made her day and wanted to know how I got my students to do it.  In all fairness, it was a student who came up with the idea and I just ran with it. Funnily enough, every time the principal stopped to talk to me today, I thought for sure I had done something wrong, but joyfully, twas not so.  A truly fantastic day! Of course, much as I love my job, I am grateful for the two week vacation which starts today. Even though I'll be lesson planning for a good portion of my vacation, it'll be good to recharge my batteries.

I Carry Your Heart With Me...

I stumbled across this poem by E.E. Cummings and thought that I'd share it.  It's just soooooooooooooo beautiful that I needed to post it.  I wish I had come across this poem while I was doing poetry with my Freshmen!  I think they would have liked to read this verse.  I suppose it's not too late to introduce it to them. Enjoy!!

                                    i carry your heart with me

     i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
     my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
     i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
     by only me is your doing,my darling)
                                                           i fear
     no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
     no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
     and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
     and whatever a sun will always sing is you

     here is the deepest secret nobody knows
     (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
     and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
     higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
     and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

     i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

                      -- e.e. cummings

I can only imagine who he might have written this poem about!  So moving! I'm kind of jealous of whomever he wrote this poem for.  :-)

I Don't Miss New York City, But...

...this morning as I was scraping ice off my windshield and slipping and sliding my way to school, I realized that I was missing the New York City Subway system just a little bit. "What?  Miss the subway?  Say it ain't so!"  Oh, yes, it is so!

Yeah, the NYC subway is dirty, disgusting, crowded, almost always smells like urine, and is rat infested, but, on bad weather days like today, I miss being able to walk to the nearest subway station and take a train. Plus when I last lived there, I had the added benefit of having a rather long commute of 50-60 minutes between home and work, so I had plenty of time to read, do work, etc.! I miss those productive commutes.

I do love driving, but over the past year and half, I've discovered something about Massachusetts drivers... they suck! There's a reason why they're called "Massholes!" I would gladly go back to using mass transit if I had the opportunity. Between the cost of being a car owner and the aggravation of dealing with Massholes, mass transit seems like a sane and rational option... rats the size of ponies notwithstanding!

Alas, there is no mass transit between Newburyport and Lawrence so I'll just have to suck it up and deal with the horrible drive during the inclement weather.  It's actually a pretty decent commute when the weather is fair, but in foul weather, it's horrendous!

Violence in a Place Which Should be a Haven...

Okay, I know there is something that I have never understood... nor will ever understand - that is man's capacity to do violence to others. I admit it - I'm a pacifist.  Even an über-pacifist, if that's a word. Understandably then, I'm pretty freaked out over the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. When I was growing up, school was a safe haven and it disturbs me that it no longer is. Friday's shooting came on the heels of an incident on Thursday in my school in which we ended up in a lockdown situation. This incident was due to two students who got into a fist fight, sending one student to the hospital. The hospitalized student is one of my seniors that I adore and it disturbs me that this young man resorted to fisticuffs to settle a ridiculous dispute. I know that I am hypersensitive to violence and that it affects me deeply.  I kept thinking all day Thursday and Friday that I was working in the wrong school district for someone with my sensibilities and then I heard about the shooting in Newtown and I thought "Well, nowhere is safe."  

I think that's pretty true in the United States due to our antiquated and barbaric gun laws which allows any disturbed individual with a credit card the ability to get a legally registered weapon of destruction. If lawmakers don't understand the need for harsher gun control laws after this recent shooting, then maybe it is time for me to leave this country. The U.S has three gun homicides per 100,000 people. That’s four times as many as Switzerland, ten times as many as India, 20 times as many as Australia and England. Another reason why I keep saying I going to move to England the minute I get the opportunity!

Gun owners: don't give me that old lecture about how "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." I think the guns help.  If lawmakers are unwilling to outlaw guns in this country, then let's at least have a compromise. Let gun owners keep their filthy guns. Outlaw the bullets! I acknowledge that a disturbed person who has the capacity to do violence will wreak their destruction no matter what, but without semi-automatic weapons available, the destruction is severely lessened.  Without these weapons, right now we would not be mourning the death of 20 innocent children, not to mention the 6 brave educators! Wake up, America! The Right to Bear Arms was a necessity back during the Revolutionary Period, but no longer.  We are long overdue for changing the gun laws in this country!

In honor of those lost in Newtown!

Career Change: The First Year 15!

Anyone who has gone away to college will understand the old expression - The Freshman 15. For those who don't understand this concept, this statement refers to the weight gain (a rather arbitrary 15 pounds) that a college Freshman will gain in their first year of college.  I'm starting to think that there is a first year teacher equivalent!  Dismayingly, I just hit the 9 pound mark. What's causing this? Simply, too much stress leading to poor food choices/overeating and lack of energy, time and/or interest in exercise! It's getting so I can't fit into my clothes comfortably and need to start making some drastic changes to my eating/exercise habits again. 

Oddly enough, I was actually warned about this phenomenon over the summer while at TFA's summer institute. One of our TFA advisers mentioned that one day she was so stressed that she stopped by a grocery store, picked up a rotisserie chicken and ate the entire chicken in her car in the parking lot!  Okay, I haven't gotten that stressed... yet! Although yesterday was such a bad day that I came home and ate 2 slices of pizza and a snack-sized package of Oreos, so yeah, a few more weeks and I'll be at the "rotisserie chicken" stage. So I can completely understand why she did that! I figure if I keep up this pace, I'll gain a redonkulous amount of weight by June and I just cannot afford to do that either physically or financially. New clothing costs WAY too much money. Just a little warning for anyone who decides to career change to teaching - be careful of the First Year 15... 20... 25... 

This is where
I'm heading!

Career Change: More Students Say the Darndest Things!

Awhile back I wrote an entry about some of the funny things my students say.  I thought I'd write a follow up piece because teenagers who have no filter do say some really funny stuff! 

1.  I am one of the faculty advisers for the Senior-Freshman Peer Mentoring Group and the two Seniors who head up this group were in my classroom putting together a "free breakfast" banner.  The one student wanted to add that students could sign up for it in my classroom.  She was trying to ask me if I go by Mrs. or Miss, but didn't quite word it that way.  What she asked was "Miss, are you or have you recently been married?" (which made me chuckle). So I responded "no, I've never been married." With genuine shock and surprise, she responded "Miss! Why not?!?!"  To which I responded that I had never been lucky or perhaps unlucky enough to be asked. Her response: "Men are stupid."  Of course, this student happens to be gay so she probably feels that way no matter what!

2.  Now this next tidbit was told to me from a colleague about one of her students, but it made me laugh so hard, I needed to share it.  This student was writing an argumentative essay on "why teachers should have to wear uniforms like the students do".  Her three supporting reasons were: (i) teachers get to sit in comfortable chairs, (ii) teachers get to eat all day long, and (iii) they get paid a lot of money. HAHAHAHAHA!!  If only any of that was true!

3.  Today, my seniors were writing an in-class essay on Shakespeare's Othello and the following tidbit was written by one of my seniors:  "Othello was wrong in his marriage to Desdemona because he treated her like sh*t."  Okay, not at all academic language, but pretty funny and actually quite accurate. I did have this student change the language and explained how that was unacceptable although I appreciated his honesty. 

That's all I have these days.  The kids are a bit cranky because they just want to go on winter break so they're not nearly as funny.  Actually, they're pretty whiny right now.  I'm getting a lot of "that's not fair" and "I don't want to do this work."  Blah, blah, blah.  Whatever! Suck it up!

"Not Until we are 'Lost'..."

"...do we begin to understand ourselves."  -- Henry David Thoreau

I have a really bad habit. I tend to watch really great shows either way after the show has concluded or well into the run of the show. For instance, I didn't start watching Rescue Me until right before the start of Season 6. The Sopranos was well into its 4th season before I started watching. I've just started watching The Big Bang Theory which is in its 6th season, and fortunately can catch up on past seasons with the copious amounts of reruns on nightly. The West Wing was long over (something like 5 years) before I even thought to watch the program. How I could have missed the sheer genius of The West Wing for so many years I will never know.

Currently, I've been catching up on the Emmy award winning, sci-fi/supernatural show Lost. Nope, I never saw even one episode while this show was in its original run from 2004-2010. I'm not entirely sure why I never seem to watch these shows when they're in the original incarnation.  Maybe it's the hype that surrounds these shows. I tend to think that the show will never hold up to stellar reviews that they get, but then when I finally get around to watching them, I'm blown away. Lost  falls into exactly that category. Now, I've heard from a couple of sources that this show 'jumped the shark' part way through the series and 'lost' a lot of viewers (bad pun intended). I'm just now wrapping up watching Season 1, and am loving this show. The cast is just amazing and the writing superb. I suppose, it's better late than never! It's interesting how much Thoreau's quote (above) has much to do with the show. Each character understands themselves a little more every moment they're stuck on the island - what they're capable of and what they're not. I guess that's true of all of us when put to the test. I keeping thinking: "what would I bring to the table if I were 'lost' on a deserted island.  Would I be more like Jack and Kate - capable and a leader or more like the Bristish one-hit wonder rock musician (minus the heroin addiction) who's pretty useless?"

I can't wait to see what Season 2 brings!  No spoilers, please!  I know almost nothing about this show.  I wonder how many other fantastic shows I've missed out on. I never watched ER. Maybe I should try that one next.

I just love Jack and Kate!

"Strangers" - A Favorite Modern Novel!

It's been well established that I am a book addict!  Of all the addictions, this one is pretty innocuous.  I won't be standing on a street corner trying to score a copy of Madame Bovary, although I don't want to think about the amount of money I've put into my library! It's also been well established that I am a freak about 19th century British literature.  I can curl up and read Austen, Bronte, Hardy, Dickens, Thackeray, Trollope, etc. at any given moment, but I do love many of the modern novelists.  Now, for the modern novelists I tend to appreciate the pop fiction writers just as much as the "literary" giants. Some literature snobs scoff at modern pop fiction writers claiming that their writing is subpar, but I disagree. As long as they tell a great story and entertain me, then I'm a hap-hap-happy girl, which more than I can say for some of the contemporary "literary" giants.  

Lately, I've been re-reading a novel that I first read back in 1987 when it was released.  I just love this novel and I read it every year or two because it is one of my favorites - Strangers by Dean Koontz.  Let me start out by saying that Dean Koontz is one of my favorite writers.  He has penned over 100 books and I have read nearly every one and own 60 of them. I would own all of them but he has not re-released some of his earlier novels. Yep, he's that good! He would be considered a cross-genre author: suspense, horror fiction, science fiction, thriller. In the mid-80s, I was in search of new authors to read and came across the novel, Strangers and the summary sounded interesting enough to give it a try.  After reading that one book, I devoured the rest of the books he had published at the time (approximately 20 books) and to this day, eagerly await his new releases every year or so.  But when I don't have a new book to read but want to read something by Mr. Koontz, I go back to some of my favorites: Watchers (probably my 2nd favorite after Strangers), Whispers, Lightning, Strangers, etc.

I think Strangers is my favorite because it was my first and you never forget your first! Synopsis: "The "strangers" are thousands of miles apart when they begin to suffer inexplicable terrors. In California, Dom Corvaisis sleepwalks, fleeing from an unseen menace. In Massachusetts, gifted young Dr. Ginger Weiss's panic attacks threaten her career. A priest in the Midwest loses his faith suddenly, then finds he can heal fatally injured people. And, in Elko, Nevada, the owner of a motel, a tough ex-Marine becomes paralyzed by fears of the dark. Mysterious clues bring these characters and others, similarly afflicted, to the motel, where apparently they had met long before. As they compare experiences, the victims realize they've been brainwashed and determine to find out why. That means facing death at the hands of a maniac." (Amazon.com)

I've read this novel so many times that I'm currently on my 4th copy of the book! People often question why I re-read books because "you already know the ending."  To which I counter, "you re-watch movies, don't you?  You know the ending to them." Most people don't have a response after that!  :-)  If you are looking for a great read with interesting characters and a fun, funny and entrancing story, give Strangers a go.  If you are not hooked within the first 3 chapters, then send me the book and I will reimburse you!  Also if you end up reading this book, it was written in the 1980s so try not to get frustrated by the low level technology.  There actually was a time before cell phones!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

A Message to Enablers: Just Stop!

Awhile back, I made a complaint about people's lack of personal responsibility.  I'd like to add a new complaint which is in the same vein.  In fact, I think it's even worse: People who are enablers of the ones with no personal responsibility! What exactly is an enabler? As I see it, it’s someone who is trying to help another person, but is actually doing more harm than good. Why? Because they are seeing to it that the person they are trying to help becomes more entrenched in their problems by not forcing them to help themselves. Enablers actually mean well and they care a lot, yet they are making it not only possible, but even easy for the person to continue their problematic behavior.  

So what's my beef about this time?  I keep seeing examples of enabling all the time these days between school and TFA. In school, I have parents enabling their children by excusing their behavior for a multitude of reasons.  Most recently, I had a parent tell me that I have to allow for his son sleeping through my class or not doing any work because he's bipolar.  Wow, big time enabling -- that's an excuse and a poor one at that. I have a few friends who are bipolar and function quite well in this world.  Get him some medication and stop making excuses.

Don't get me started on TFA, which is just rife with enablers.  They excuse every bad behavior on the part of students and parents - blaming the education system for everything.  Now while I agree that the education system is not the most well functioning of systems, you cannot possibly blame everything on the education system.  How is it the system's fault if parents are disengaged with their children's education?  I was speaking with a parent the other morning who had noticed that out of 400+ students, only about 7 or 8 parents showed up for an 7:30am breakfast meeting with the principal and teachers.  She was so eloquent about the lack of parental responsibility in overseeing their child's education.  It also explains why her child is in my honors class and is doing quite well.  She takes the time to be involved in her son's education. 

So a word of advice for the enablers out there: you are not doing your loved ones any good by making excuses.  At some point you have to stop helping people so that they can start helping themselves. While I may occasionally have to kick my student's butts and let them sink or swim, it's not because I don't care.  I do!!  But they need to learn to do things for themselves.

Oh!  And... stop giving everyone a trophy for every little accomplishment. That drives me completely insane! "Here little Bobby or Suzie, your team came in last place - here's a trophy!"  Gah!

A Two Voice Poem

Today I was teaching my Freshman honors class about two voice poems, which are poems that are written for two people to perform. The poetry usually has two columns - one for each person who is reading the poem. Each person reading the poem reads the text in one of the columns. These poems often sound like a dialogue for two people.  My Freshmen had a lot of fun with this exercise.

One specific poem just blew me away so I thought I'd share it with you - after getting my student's permission to share it.  A little background on the student who wrote it: she's 14, a very talented writer/poet and a week ago she started dating another student in the class. They broke up after dating for ONE DAY and she is "devastated" over the break.  LOL! Ahhhhh to be 14 again... No thanks!  Many of her recent creative works are over this breakup and the one posted below is no exception.  But I really think it's a fantastic poem and should be shared:

      Voice 1                                                           Voice 2

     Things get old

                                                                           and things get new

     All my memories

                                                                            I owe then to you

     You've made me laugh

                                                                           You've made me cry

     Feelings aren't always easy to hide

                                                                           Being friends isn't a choice

     Let's just start over

                                                                           And rejoice.

What do you think??  Not bad for a 14 year old girl.  Guess her heartbreak is healing.  :-D  I wish I had her creativity. 

The Warm Place on the Couch!

"That's my spot you're sitting in, cat!"

Today I realized that it's been well over a year since I've written about Lotta, the Wonder Cat.  My little furry companion is still my pride and joy.  But there's one thing she does that drives me completely insane. 

She steals my place on the couch!

<grrr> The minute I get up to do something: get water from the kitchen, a visit to the loo, etc., she feels it's well within her rights as my boss to plunk her butt down in my seat.  I fully understand that made it nice and warm for her, but still and all, I do own this couch. It's completely irrelevant to her that I'm much larger and it's through my opposable thumbs that she gets fed!  Nope, as the only member of her staff, she feels she has the right to boss me around and I suppose she does. The minute I shove her off, she gives me an indignant look.  I almost feel guilty... almost!

Ah, the joys of cat ownership. Between the seat stealing and the running around like a lunatic at 3 in the morning, she's lucky she's lived as long as she has. Good thing she's as cute and cuddly as she is!

Her "normal" spot on the couch.

"Sacré Bleu"!!! This Book is Tedious!

It's been ages since I've done a book review - April 22 to be exact. Mostly this is because I have almost no time to read for pleasure anymore.  The long Thanksgiving weekend gave me a chance to curl up on the couch and read. The book I decided to turn to was Sacré Bleu, written by an absurdist writer, Christopher Moore.  Even though Mr. Moore had 12 books published before Sacré Bleu, I had never heard of or read any of them, but a co-worker highly recommended this author - even though he had not yet read Sacré Bleu. 

I was eagerly anticipating reading this novel based on the following book description:  "Vincent Van Gogh killed himself in a cornfield. Or did he? Why seek out a doctor afterwards? Why claim a mysterious little “color man” is chasing him across France? Why speak in terrified tones of a shade of blue the color of the Virgin Mary’s cloak—a hue known as Sacré Bleu?" I couldn't imagine a better plot than a murder mystery based around the Impressionist/Post-Impressionist painters!  And then I read the novel.

Here's the basic premise: Set mostly in Paris, two of Van Gogh's friends, Toulouse-Lautrec and a lovesick Parisian baker/painter, a fictional character named Lucien Lessard, attempt to unravel the mystery of Van Gogh's apparent suicide.  The story follows these two characters through evenings of debauchery, mystery, and mayhem.

Again, the premise sounds promising but the delivery is less than satisfactory. Don't get me wrong there are a couple of good things about this novel.  Mr. Moore is definitely a talented writer. This novel is clearly well-researched and features many interesting historical facts which weave in and out of the fiction. Copies of some of the most famous paintings from that period are presented along with the story which makes a very nice touch. Additionally, being a huge aficionado of the Impressionist/Post-Impressionist movement, I appreciated all the artists who made appearances throughout the book, which included: Van Gogh (naturally), Renoir, Monet, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Cezanne, Seurat, and others. But the story got bogged down in bizarre mysticism, which I found improbable and uninteresting, and low-brow 'penis' and 'booby' jokes, which unfortunately became unamusing and tedious. After slogging through 375 pages of a 400-page book, I had to quit reading.  I know I should have pushed through the last 25 pages, but I was just totally disinterested in anything that was happening. I think if this book had stayed as a murder mystery and not gotten off track into mysticism I probably would have enjoyed it a bit better.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Because I can tell that Mr. Moore is a talented writer, I would be willing to try reading some of his other novels.  Certainly, a book entitled Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal sounds completely irreverent and right up my alley. 

One of Van Gogh's final paintings before his suicide...
or was it murder?? 

Nobody - Shel Silverstein

I'm still doing poetry with my Freshman class and I came across one of my favorite poems from when I was growing up from the works of Shel Silvestein.  Shel Silverstein was an extraordinary poet, singer-songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter and children's author! And I just love his poetry.  I had to introduce my students to him.  A couple of them had already heard of him but overall he was new to them.  I'm posting one of my favorite poems from Shel.  Enjoy!

                               Nobody

Nobody loves me,
Nobody cares,
Nobody picks me peaches and pears.
Nobody offers me candy and Cokes,
Nobody listens and laughs at my jokes.
Nobody helps when I get in a fight,
Nobody does all my homework at night.
Nobody misses me,
Nobody cries,
Nobody thinks I'm a wonderful guy.
So if you ask me who's my best friend, in a whiz,
I'll stand up and tell you that Nobody is.
But yesterday night I got quite a scare,
I woke up and Nobody just wasn't there.
I called out and reached out for Nobody's hand,
In the darkness where Nobody usually stands.
Then I poked through the house, in each cranny and nook,
But I found somebody each place that I looked.
I searched till I'm tired, and now with the dawn,
There's no doubt about it-
Nobody's gone!

                         -Shel Silverstein (1930-1999)

Thank you, Shel, for giving me such amazing stories and poems which were such an important part of my childhood.  Rest in peace!

Chivalry is NOT Dead!

My faith in humankind has been restored!  Okay, that's an exaggeration, because it's not fully restored, but it is vastly improved.

Last night on my way home from Boston, my car decided to stall in the middle of bumper to bumper traffic on the Tobin Bridge at 9:30 at night.  <sigh>  Good timing!!  After a half dozen or so cars drove by me, with several upraised middle fingers [nice!], an amazing thing happened!  A lovely Jamaican man pulled up next to me and asked what had happened.  After I told him that my car stalled and I couldn't get it restarted, he immediately pulled in front of me and jumped out of his car in order to assist me.  He checked out my oil and battery (all fine), pushed my car (along with a couple of other do-gooders) to the right hand lane so I'd be out the way of the traffic, and kept me company - all the while trying to get my car started.  I think if it had gotten to the point where I needed to call AAA, he probably would have kept me company until they showed! How sweet is that?? Fortunately, 5 minutes later, the old girl started up.  I'm still not sure what he did to get it to start, but this lovely young man performed some incredible magic on the car and got me back on the road safe and sound.  Turns out, the cause of the car problem was a faulty starter.  Today as I attempted to escape from work, my car wouldn't start again. Long story short - 2 hours in a repair shop, $300 poorer and I now have a new starter.

So I give a great big THANK YOU to my knight in shining armor, Jermaine.  He was flying off to Jamaica today and I wish him the best and am so grateful that there are still kind people in the world.  I'm not entirely sure what I would have done last night if Sir Jermaine had not stopped to assist me!  Thank you again, Sir Knight! You are an amazing human being!

The Butter Wars!

Okay, I have a question: do you refrigerate your butter??  

I know, I know... it's a weird question, but I have a reason for this query.  I grew up in a household where we refrigerated our butter, but I have friends who grew up in houses where they didn't. To this day, those friends keep their butter out on the counter top and seem to suffer no ill effects over unrefrigerated butter. Now I personally would prefer to keep my butter on the counter as refrigerated butter is really hard to spread. But I'm worried about butter turning rancid... I don't use butter very often.  

I've looked this subject up on the internet and the opinions are all over the place on whether or not to refrigerate butter. The unrefrigerated butter lovers say you just need to purchase a butter bell (see photo above) and all your worries will be gone. Additionally, they say that the pasteurized milk and salt content keep the butter from going bad and, as long as your kitchen is not ridiculously hot, the butter should be fine when left out. The refrigeration side of the argument says that it's risky and the butter will turn rancid. Interestingly enough, the USDA is on the refrigerated side and recommends that people "freeze butter not intended for use within 2 or 3 days and for 'ready spreadability' keep a few days’ supply in the regular portion of the refrigerator - remove 10 to 15 minutes before use." Seriously? 10-15 minutes?? More like 10-15 hours before butter softens.  Okay, that's an exaggeration but still...

So what's your take on the butter wars? Did you grow up with refrigerated or unrefrigerated butter? Do you have a recommendation on the best way to store butter? I really am interested in people's experiences with butter storage solutions.

This is a pretty butter dish!

Career Change: The Daily Reset...

There are so many amazing things about teaching but being able to hit reset button on a daily basis is probably the best feature of them all. Anyone who teaches will recognize this facet.

One of the fantastic aspects about kids ... particularly teenagers ... is their resiliency.  It's most likely because teenagers are completely self-involved (as we all were at that age). Although as we know - some people grow of that, some do not. But this adolescent self-absorption does have an up side. When teaching teenagers, and you either: make a mistake, tell them something that you didn't mean to, or yell at them, by the next time you see them, they've forgotten all about it! How incredible is that?? After years of working with adults who hold onto grudges until the cows come home, it's a pleasant change to be able to hit that reset button every day. It seems like no matter how many mistakes I make during the day, by the next morning, I get a clean slate and can start all over again!

Pretty amazing, huh??  If only adults remembered a little bit of what it was like to be a teenager - not the narcissism part, but the forgetfulness and forgiveness aspect. The world would be a much happier place in which to work and live!

The Best and Worst Smells in the World...

As a follow up to my previous post (Best and Worst Sounds), I thought I'd post the best and worst smells - at least for me. I was thinking about this today as I was baking two pies in preparation for Turkey Day (apple and pumpkin). My entire apartment smells heavenly!! Don't you just wish you could smell it? I can say definitively: "homemade apple pie is one fantastic smell!!"  But it is my favorite??  Hmmm...

10 Best Smells in the World:

1. Old books... new books... okay, just BOOKS!
2. Freshly baked cookies
3. Freshly laundered clothes
4. Chocolate
5. Baking bread
6. Freshly brewed coffee (I hate the taste, but love the smell)
7. Burning wood - firepits, bonfires, fireplaces, etc.
8. Homemade spaghetti sauce
9. Freshly cut grass
10. Vanilla

10 Worst Smells in the World:

1. Poo
2. Sewage
3. Cigarettes/cigars
4. Wet dog
5. Bad breath
6. Used diapers
7. Skunk
8. Vomit
9. Rotting food
10. Roses (yeah, oddly I hate roses on so many levels - the smell being just one!)

I would imagine that decomposing flesh is probably the top of the worst smells list, but I don't believe I've had the "pleasure" of getting a whiff of that!  And I hope it remains that way.

What are some of your favorite smells??? Here's wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving - one that is filled with nothing but wonderful smells!

The Best and Worst Sounds in the World...

As I was heading home from a much needed Starbucks run this afternoon, I heard a toddler screaming at the top of its lungs and it set my hair on end!  I thought to myself, "that just might be the worst sound EVER!" I congratulate any parent who doesn't punch a child when they make that sound.  I guess it's a good thing kids are cute otherwise they wouldn't live through puberty.  :-)  As a result of that thought though, I decided to list the top 5 best and worst sounds for me.  I'm sure people will completely disagree with my list but here goes:

Best 5 Sounds in the World:

1. Certain types of music (I would blanketly say all music but I can't stand the sound of rap, hip hop, and heavy metal)
2. Non-American Accents - especially British, Australian, Irish, Italian, and French (in that order).
3. A thunderstorm/rainstorm
4. A baby laughing/giggling
5. The sound of the ocean

Worst 5 Sounds in the World:

1. A baby/toddler screaming/crying
2. Someone throwing up
3. Any scraping sound
4. Glass breaking
5. A really high pitched dog bark

I can just imagine: sitting on the porch near the ocean during a rainstorm, listening to my favorite music while chatting with Kenneth Branagh or Hugh Jackman.  Whew! We're talking heaven on earth!  

Of course, a baby crying at a high pitched dog bark while a glass breaks might cause my ears to bleed and head to explode! 

Music Doesn't Lie - Part 14 (Boston)

"Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world,

then it can only happen through music." – Jimi Hendrix

It's been way too long since I posted about any new music or bands I've discovered. Today, I learned about another new (for me) band through a rather unique way - watching a rerun from the first season of The Big Bang Theory. (Yes, BBT is my latest television obsession.)  In the episode, Leonard, pining over next door neighbor Penny, is wallowing in self misery and enters the apartment singing a song that I had never heard before.  It sounded like a great song. So I did a little research and found out the song is called "Boston" by the band, Augustana, an American rock band from San Diego. 

"Boston" is from the band's 2005 album, All the Stars and Boulevards. The album "was released September 6, 2005 and reached #1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and #96 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. The first single from the album, 'Boston', was released in 2005...The album was made available exclusively at Best Buy stores, and the Best Buy website, where it was sold out by the following day. Their most recognizable song is 'Boston' which made it all the way to 34 on the Billboard top 100, as well as appearing on television shows Scrubs, Smallville and One Tree Hill. A cover version by Leonard also appeared on The Big Bang Theory." 

The entire album is fantastic and well worth the $10 I plunked down.  Posted below is the official video of "Boston."  Enjoy!

Wanted: Ghostwriter

I've been thinking a lot about the past 5 years of my life and I sincerely believe that within those years there is an amazing story which should be written. The problem is -- I'm an awful creative writer. "Creative?" you might ask. Yes, the story has to be presented as a work of fiction. Due to the complete ridiculousness of the past 5 years, no one would ever believe it was a true story. Therefore...

Wanted: Ghostwriter 

who can write amazing fiction!

Don't believe me? Well, look at the empirical data and decide for yourself. The past five years have all the earmarks of a great novel: survival of physical and mental diseases, love and loss, trust and betrayal, abject despair followed by rebirth and renewal, overcoming adversity, manipulation, ludicrous characters, and so much more. The only two items missing from making it a perfect story are: revenge and a 'happily ever after' ending. But then again, bucking the trend and making it an 'unhappily ever after' ending would be an interesting and realistic choice.

Seriously, this book will be a best seller -- providing I can find a qualified author to pen it. I can't write it myself because I stink at dialogue. Believe me, I've tried. Perhaps you think I am kidding. I'm not. I've already written the first three paragraph but then I got stuck. Bloody dialogue! Funnily enough, I know the perfect person to write it, but he is a large part of the story and not in my life anymore, which makes for a bit of a hindrance in authoring the story! Soooooo... Any out of work writers out there want to team up and write The Next Great American novel? We can split the proceeds and retire!

"I Do Not Love You Except..."

As I mentioned a few blogs ago, I'm presenting poetry to my Freshman class this quarter and have been coming across some amazing poems that I had never heard or seen before. I've never been much of a poetry fan, so for me to enjoy a poem enough to want post it, it has got to be pretty amazing.  Here's a poem I came across today when I was looking for love poems to present to my students.  This is pretty self explanatory:

                                             I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You

          I do not love you except because I love you;
          I go from loving to not loving you,
          From waiting to not waiting for you
          My heart moves from cold to fire.

         I love you only because it's you the one I love;
         I hate you deeply, and hating you
         Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
         Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.

         Maybe January light will consume
         My heart with its cruel
         Ray, stealing my key to true calm.

         In this part of the story I am the one who
         Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,
         Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.

                         -- Pablo Neruda
                            Chilean poet, diplomat and politician (1904-1973)

Um... Wow!  That's all I can say.  Wow!  Just such a powerful and emotional poem that strikes at the heart of anyone who has been in this particularly situation! Just amazing!  

Romance Novels Have a Place...

Okay, I admit it - I sometimes wish I lived the life of a leading female character in a romance novel. I'm not particularly proud of this pronouncement but it's a fact I have to embrace instead of running away from it. Now, I'm not talking about the really trashy, kitschy romance novels, like the Twilight series, Shades of Grey series or Harlequin Romance novels. No, I mean the novels that are slightly more elevated than that, for example: Nora Roberts, Helen Fielding, Sophie Kinsella, Margaret Mitchell, and yes, Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë (I do love my classic romance novels). These stories have a particular pattern that I would not mind if reality mirrored them - at least a little bit:  boy meets girl, boys loses girl, boys finds girl again, and boy and girl live happily ever after. Yes, it's an archetypal trope, and as an English teacher/literature fanatic, I should have higher aspirations, but alas, the hopeless romantic in me won't be satisfied with anything less. And even though I know that this pattern does not resemble real life ... well, at least not MY life, I can't help but wishing that I could crawl into the pages of a book and take on the role of ... well ... Elizabeth Bennet, Elinor Dashwood, Bridget Jones, Jane Eyre, Scarlett O'Hara, etc. No, instead my life more closely resembles Miss Bates from Jane Austen's Emma. (Miss Bates is a middle-aged spinster without beauty or prospects, who is a sweet, generous, kind, and thoughtful woman who lead a rather unimpressive and unnecessary existence.) Well, at least I'm represented.

Career Change: I Nearly Quit Today...

I admit it - today I was completely at my wit's ends and thought "there is no way I can continue to do this career change!"  I spent a good portion of my lunch and two free periods in tears, wondering why I decided to change careers. I know the impetus was that I loathed my corporate job and honestly thought that I'd be perfect for a career in teaching. I don't deny my heart is in the right place, but I'm not sure I'm cut out for the realities of inner city teaching.

What brought this crisis on?  My students.  For 73 days (or 1752 hours, or 105,120 minutes, or 6,307,200 seconds), I've been dealing with certain issues that appear to be getting worse as the days march on. My students have behaviors that I cannot seem to come to grips with:  mostly they're lazy, whiny slackers who apparently could care less about their academics. Okay, that's not entirely fair. Out of 80+ students, I have about 15 or 16 students who are generally engaged in the material being taught, interested in their academics, and legitimately want to be in school. To sum up, 17% of my students are amazing!  The other 83% are the whiny complainers.  Today, I actually  had a student in my English 3 Honors class ask if we could watch the movie, The Green Mile in class. Ummmm... NO!  WTF?  Well, last year another English teacher let them watch the movie.  Yeah, as a comparison to a work of literature that they were reading!  Yes - this is my "honors" class.  I spent the past two days of that class reading the short story, "Rip Van Winkle" because if I assign it for homework, they won't read it. They complain that the stories that we read are boring and perhaps we could read 50 Shades of Gray.  Oh, yes, have I mentioned the chutzpah of these kids?  They actually tell teachers to their faces that: the classes are boring, the books/texts are boring, they have zero intention on doing any work, etc. One student told me today that she was content with the D+ that she currently has in my class.

This is definitely not what I signed up for when I wanted a career change.  I honestly thought that the 17% would be the slackers. Yeah, I am that delusional.  I stupidly thought that the students I would be teaching would not be all that different from the way I was in high school.  I'm not saying I loved every class in high school.  Ugh... chemistry and algebra.  But I would never have had the nerve to tell a teacher to their face that the class was boring and I wouldn't be doing any work.  No, I did my work because it was what was expected of me.  <sigh>  I honestly am wondering about the wisdom of my career change.  But I've made my bed, now I have to lie in it.  I can only hope that these next two years move quickly, and then hopefully I'll be able to find a school in which the 83% are the engaged, academically inclined students that I so would love to teach!  In the meantime, I get to try to teach Shakespeare's Othello and Macbeth to my English 4 classes -- if I don't blow my brains out first.