Past Lives...

Have you ever been to a new place and swear that you’ve been there before - even though you know you haven’t? This past Sunday, I went out for a bike ride and ended up at the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, in Newbury.  Over the past year, I had ridden or driven by the farm dozens of times and never stopped by. The SPL Farm is a "230-acre site [which] includes a late seventeenth-century manor house that served as the country seat of wealthy Newburyport merchants and an attached farmhouse that was home to a Lithuanian farm family for most of the twentieth century." This site has been lovingly restored by Historic New England.  Walking through the restored manor house, one could feel 400 years of history imbued in the house. In fact, a woman on my tour swore that she had been there before, but couldn't remember when. While I didn’t experience that same feeling, I could see how someone might feel like that if they had lived in that house during a previous incarnation. But it started me thinking about the times that I have experienced a feeling of visiting a place before.

In May 2000, I traveled to Paris for the first time and I just fell in love with the City of Light. But odder still, I sensed that I had been there before and felt completely at home. I hadn't expected to feel welcome at all - mostly because the French are ... well, French and aren't a very welcoming people.  But it wasn't about the people of Paris but the city itself. Even though I knew nothing about Paris, I knew instinctively where I was at all times. I swear that I have lived there at some time in a past life. I experienced the same feeling in September 2001 when I traveled to England. Not while I was in London, which felt unfamiliar, but the minute I traveled to the English countryside - particularly Bath - I had that same feeling of having lived there before.  And that's not just the Anglophile in me talking.

Perhaps during the French revolution, I was a Parisian aristocrat who, with the assistance of a brave stranger, eluded 'la guillotine' by escaping to England and lived out the rest of that life in the English countryside. No, wait, that sounds familiar. I'm thinking of Baroness Orczy's novel, The Scarlet Pimpernel.  Sorry!  It's probably something much simpler. Perhaps I worked as a lady's maid or a governess to a wealthy family who lived in the English countryside and traveled occasionally to Paris. That's probably more likely.

For giggles, I googled "past lives" and came across a website in which you input your date of birth and it'll tell you who you were in your last life. I captured the results - below:

 

Now this 'diagnosis' was really funny, but I'm not entirely buying it. Anyone born on the same day as I was would get the exact same results - not a very personalized result. Truthfully, I would love to actually have someone do a past life regression on me, but I don't know anyone reputable enough to plunk down a chunk of money on something so frivolous. If anyone has a solid recommendation though, I'd consider having it done. I think we can learn a lot from our past lives - particularly about how not to repeat past mistakes. 

Career Change - Round Zero

Today, I started two weeks of what TFA is laughingly calling "professional development" time.  Erm.  Yeah, okay.  Whatever you say.  What is it really?  A complete waste of time, energy and money.  If I go by what the daily schedule is showing, it'll be two more weeks of sitting around and discussing our placements, the achievement gaps in our region, visions and goals for our placements, designing our classroom management plan, and "reflecting" on the visions and goals we're written.  Sound familiar?  Yeah, it's everything I just spent 5 weeks doing in Philadelphia, only now the focus is on our fall placements. Of course, the worse part of these two weeks is that I quite literally cannot do any of the work due to not having a fall placement at the moment. When I made my complaints known to staff, I was told that whatever I came up with could apply to any classroom.  What?!?!  <sigh>  It's going to be a long two weeks.  I suppose I'll pick up something important over these two weeks, but probably not enough to warrant the complete waste of time.  

On the upside, in the week I've been home, I lost 4 of 5 institute pounds I gained.  Now, only 31 more pounds to lose and I'll be at my target weight.  Ugh. 

Letting Anger Fuel My Workouts!

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I really hate working out and, even though I've been working out pretty steadily over the past two years, I still loathe it. But I have discovered a way to get a great workout - anger. Anger is a fantastic motivator. Friends keep telling me that I have to rid myself of anger over some past friendships but, due to my peculiar brand of OCD, I find that a difficult task. I tend to obsess over past hurts and wrongs and have a hard time letting go of those emotions. Currently, I have four ex-friends who screwed me over in a huge way and, if I even think about these backstabbers, my temperature rises to incredible heights. Yesterday, I was cleaning out some old emails and came across a message from one of these people and I thought my head was going to explode in anger. Just seeing her name and reading this old email brought back all that fury. Deciding I need to walk off some of my ire, I strapped on my sneakers and headed out for a walk. Arriving home an hour later, I was drenched in sweat and my anger had dissipated. Eureka!

There is actually some science behind this phenomenon: Paul A. Davis, a sports psychologist at the University of Wolverhampton in England, and colleagues from Bangor University in Wales discovered that people who are more easily angered exert the most energy while working out. Additionally, angry people can not only workout harder, they also workout longer than their calm, cool and collected peers. So I intend to use my soured relationships to fuel my future workouts and hope that I can expunge these feelings over time.  Meanwhile, I will use these emotions to my advantage. It should be noted that when my anger finally fizzled yesterday, I was a bit of a ways from home and it made for a sucky walk back.  I'll have to better plan my walking path in the future or hold onto my anger longer.  :-)

The next time you are having a bad day, instead of reaching for that pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, use that energy to workout your anger. If you need some anger inspiration to fuel your workouts, tune your television to any news report (particularly Fox News).  I find that usually does the trick for me. 

The Big O!

Every two years, I get the biggest thrills for two full weeks! Yes, I'm talking about the Olympics. I fully admit to being an Olympic whore - summer, winter, makes no difference to me. I first remember being enamored with the Olympics during the 1972 Munich summer games. That summer, it was all about Olga Korbutt and Mark Spitz. Between watching the two of them, I swore I was destined for Olympic greatness.  I had high hopes for myself at the tender age of 6.  I remember begging my mother for gymnastics lessons, but to no avail. With five children, there just wasn't enough money for me to be the next Olga.  Four years later (during the 1976 Montreal games), each time I watched Nadia Comăneci score a perfect 10 (seven in total), I seethed with jealousy.  Not that that could have been me.  At 10 years of age, I was still too young to compete, but it could have been me in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.  I might have given Mary Lou Retton some competition.  Okay, okay - delusions of grandeur, I know.

This summer's Olympics have been fantastic, so far.  I unfortunately missed the opening ceremonies due to being in Philly without a television but since arriving home, my television has been stuck on NBC. I've watched as much of the coverage as I can. The hardest part of these Olympics is avoiding hearing about the results before watching the prime time coverage - not easy. There have been so many thrilling moments, like watching the US women's gymnastics team winning the gold and Gabby Douglas becoming the first African-American to win the gymnastics all-round gold. Or Michael Phelps winning his 19th medal, becoming the most decorated Olympian in history. (He has gone on to win 2 more for a total of 21 with 1 more swim to go later today.)  How about Bradley Wiggins from Great Britain who wins gold in the cycling time trials less than 2 weeks after winning the Tour de France? I loved seeing him sit on the throne at Hampton Court Palace. Of course, having a Brit sitting on the throne makes sense, but an American?  Kristin Armstrong, at the ripe age of 38, won the gold in the cycling time trials and got to sit on the throne. Brilliant!

There are also the inspiring stories. There is the 35-year old rower from Niger, Hamadou Djibo Issaka, who only took up rowing 3 months ago in a country that is landlocked and 80 percent desert.  It took him nine minutes to finish his heat (a full 2 minutes after the leader), but that wasn't the point. He finished - that was the important part. His plans are to stay in the sport and compete in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. There is the female sprinter from Afghanistan, Tahmina Kohistani, who endured all sorts of verbal abuse while she was training to compete in a sprint which would take less than 15 seconds. She is the lone female on the Afghanistan team (a team of 6) and finished 31st out of 32 competitors. That doesn't matter. She has become a beacon of hope to all the women of Afghanistan. There's the sad story of the first female track and field participant from Qatar, Noor Hussain Al-Malki, who collapsed in pain after about 15 meters into the 100-meter dash, having pulled a hamstring. Qatar decided to include female athletes (four in total) in its delegation for the first time. Al-Malki was pushed out of the competition arena in a wheelchair, but she's still a trailblazer for other female athletes from the region.

Many people complain about the Olympics and eschew the games, but there are so many wonderful and inspiring moments. There is an indomitable spirit in the 10,000+ athletes who have spent so much time and energy training for the Olympics and I admire their fortitude. The games are only halfway through and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the games have to show.  I also say "Huzzah" to London for hosting these fantastic games. Well done, Britain! (BTW, if you want to know why Britain rarely wins gold medals, see the Eddie Izzard clip below.)

Step on a Crack, Break Your Mother's Back...

Anyone remember that old wives' tale? I started thinking about all those old superstitions today as I was eating an apple. Why? When I was about 10 years old, someone told me that you can learn the name of your true love as you remove the stem of an apple. As you turn the stem, you say the alphabet. The letter that you say as the stem falls off is the letter that your true love's name begins with. Now of course, I don't believe in this ridiculousness, but what's funny is that I still find myself saying the alphabet as I'm removing the stem. It's just a habit that I cannot stop doing. I started thinking about any other habits that I still do that have absolutely no basis for anything other than it's a habit, because I'm not at all superstitious.

I definitely don't worry about cracks in the sidewalk. "Find a penny, pick it up, all day long, you'll have good luck" - um, I'm not wasting my energy picking up a penny. I'm in the "Retire the Penny" side of the debate, so the last thing I want is another useless coin. The belief that it's unlucky to cross black cats, break mirrors, open umbrellas indoors, and walk under ladders is just foolish. The only reason I generally don't walk under a ladder is for safety reasons but I know that I've done it regardless. I will say that if I knock over a salt shaker, I will throw a pinch over my shoulder. Habit! I certainly don't think the devil is lurking over my left shoulder. There is another superstition that you should get out of the bed on the same side that you get in the bed or you will have bad luck. I do get out of the same side of the bed, BUT only because of the way my bedroom is set up. It just makes more sense, but I'm certainly not opposed to getting out on the other side. I don't put shoes on a table, but not because it's bad luck. For hygienic reasons - it would be pretty nasty to put shoes that have been walking the outside streets on a table in which I would then eat a meal on.  Eeeeuuuuuwwwwww!  And can someone explain why 13 is considered an unlucky number?

The theatre-world is rife with superstitions. For instance, you are not allowed to whistle backstage or in the dressing room. If somebody does it, they must go out of the dressing room, turn around three times and then knock on the door and ask for permission to be admitted. You never say the name of Shakespeare's Scottish play while in the theatre - it'll doom your production. And of course, you never, ever say "good luck" to a fellow performer before a performance - always "break a leg," "good show," "knock 'em dead," etc. I have done all of these things!  Maybe it explains my unlucky performing career or maybe it's just really hard to be a successful performer.

Is anyone else still doing some of these superstitions out of habit? Who is doing them out of superstition? There's one folktale that I hope is true - that you can find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I'm willing to continue to look for that one, just on the off-chance.

Music Doesn't Lie - Part 13 (Vivimi)

"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 awhile since I last posted as part of my Music Doesn't Lie series - last time was June 7 to be exact. But I have a new artist to feature...new to me, that is. My friend, Lauren who lives in Malta, posted on Facebook that she had attended the concert of a singer - someone that I had never heard of before - and then Lauren posted a video of the performer. After listening to the video, I become intrigued to learn more about this performer, Laura Pausini. Ms. Pausini is an Italian soul singer-songwriter who debuted in 1993. Wow, where the heck have I been for the past 20 years that I have been missing out on this gorgeous voice! Granted the extent of my knowledge of Italian singers is limited to Andrea Bocelli and Luciano Pavarotti (one singer that I love, one I don't - you figure out which). 

This talented performer has released 10 Italian-language studio albums, 9 Spanish-language albums and a greatest hits album. She has been nominated for 70 different music awards and has won 38 including three Latin Grammy Awards, five World Music Awards and three ASCAP Latin Music Awards. She has performed several times with the amazing Andrea Bocelli, including one of my favorite songs "Vivere" (whoops, I guess you can figure out the answer to my earlier statement). Although why these two Italian singers sang half of this song in English is beyond me. So much prettier in Italian. She has also duetted with Luciano Pavarotti, Michael Bublé, and James Blunt.

I am just starting to get to know her music and I am already incredibly impressed with her. Picking just one song is a tough decision for I really like all the music I've listened to so far.  I'll definitely give honorable mentions to "Troppo Tempo" and "Benvenuto" but I think I like "Vivimi" best (below).  So beautiful! I haven't looked for an English translation so I have no idea what this song is about but I can imagine. I can't wait to discover more of this brilliant performer's music.

Career Change: Tagxedo Your Students!

Ouch, that sounds painful.  

Yesterday, I stumbled across a pretty cool website - Tagxedo!  Tagxedo "turns words -- famous speeches, news articles, slogans and themes, even your love letters -- into a visually stunning word cloud, words individually sized appropriately to highlight the frequencies of occurrence within the body of text."  It's simple enough. You can either type the words directly, pick a text file on your computer, or choose a website, then choose your colors, your pattern and font, and voila - you have your Tagxedo!  The photo (right) is the Tagxedo of this very blog.  Pretty amazing.

This is a really neat website which I intend to use with my students' writings by creating their very own Tagxedo with their own words. My plan is to start with the "first day student survey" and create a Tagxedo with for each student with their name, favorite hobbies, books, sport, music, etc.  How fun will that be for my kids?!  There are lots of interesting shapes and colors to choose from so each student can have their own special individualized Tagxedo. I figure I can do this throughout the year with different assignments.

I decided to play around a bit and did a Tagxedo of a section of my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  The Tagxedo is of my favorite chapter - Chapter 59 (below). Yeah, I know I'm a sap using the heart shape. But I just adore this website and can't wait to use it with my kids in the fall. Fellow teachers, something to try with your kids!

On another note: it's official. I've been unhired from my placement in Revere.  Fingers crossed, everyone, that TFA actually finds me an ELA placement north of Boston.  That would be my ideal position.