Maybe the youth aren't the ones gone wild (a Tuesday).
I set my alarm for 5.45 and definitely do not hit snooze.
A short while later: driving
We discuss capital punishment and the J6ers, as seems to be the jolly colloquialism assigned to the group of domestic terrorists and/or Constitution-loathing faux patriots who attacked and injured law enforcement as they entered the Capitol to try and stop the lawful, and up to 2021, peaceful transfer of power; an effort supported aggressively and enthusiastically by the losing incumbent. In a playground at a certain age, these people would be known as sore losers, bad sports, cheaters, and would be emblematic of the type of behavior we discourage of our students and children.
At this time in history, there are a long list of exceptions, asterisks, explanations, and interpretations given, as a certain ex-President’s enablers and supporters perform the mental, spiritual, and ethical contortions required to reframe these figures as heroes and the former President as heroic leader. So yeah, those are conversations we have driving. May they someday live in the rear view mirror as historians, psychologists, and sociologists dissect this era for decades to come.
And may this country endure this time. There is a threat, I believe, from more than one side. But all both sides are not equal, to paraphrase an infamous proclamation regarding the then-President in 2017 about white supremacists. The threat is greater, much greater, I firmly am convicted, from those on the far right willing to use violence first of words, then of actions, first political, then physical, to distort the truth and move our country toward an authoritarian version that is not so transparently the driving vision of a certain former President.
May God grant us wisdom - and may we choose wisdom, truth, and compassion - in navigating this country toward a future that holds hope and an unscorched earth for our children and grandchildren.
Conversations 1
I spoke with my brother Jonny about his new mobile fortress van. It is incredible, and to fully put it to good use, we are of similar inclination that we should drive it out the wilds for a weekend, park it with a full supply of junk food and a computer full of movies and…yeah, that’s pretty much it. Camp out in it with a bunch of food and movies. But you know…in a pretty place out in the wild. Sounds like heaven. Take that, Jon Krakauer.
Mobile laboratory
Thank you, Howard Schultz, for the vision you brought forth to provide bottomless coffee refills and somewhat comfortable seating to work and write on the rare occasions I’m able to do so these days. Appreciate it.
Conversations 2
I spoke with L——-, a member of the nicest front office school staff you’ll find in Southwest Washington. We talked about her love of Disney and visiting Disneyland on a regular basis - even with kids out of the house now.
Block 3 : ELA
We studied and discussed literary terms. Special focus: personification and anthropomorphism.
The former is is when something nonhuman is described with human characteristics.
The latter is when a nonhuman entity behaves like a person.
Intermission
I read E.M. Forster at lunch.
2.30
I met with A— A——, who heads the program we’re hoping/planning for our 2nd grader-to-be to participate in a day a week next year. She is one of those people who always brings enthusiasm and excitement at your presence. It’s a gift that some people have - and it makes me want to bring good energy to my greetings as well.
Conversations 3
I had a pleasant dialogue with S—— S——, theater teach, about books. She has high praise for Kristin Hannah and specifically Home Front (2012).
Books and reading are such beautiful topics to build bridges with.
Three things in an 8th grade ELA class
I did not discuss Forster or Alcott. But I did make copies. And even better, I was asked to help organize the library. Delicious.
I did observe a student, during silent reading, working her way through a Sherlock Holmes collection. Unabridged. She had a little stack of books in the corner, the topmost of which was Macbeth. Later, I inquired as to her motivation for the choices she had curated, and my heart was encouraged immensely by her response that they were ones she heard were good and thought she should read.
I did not did do tend to be more and more judgmental about adults who are present, but are engaged in almost no measurable or helpful way. Generally this means sitting on the sidelines, not with a book, which would be perhaps not the best use of their own time within a 7/8 classroom, but would be understandable - and would be a model for our precious angel children to soak up. No, almost one hundred percent of the time it is those phones. The phones we complain about youth using and having no boundaries with, yet show, time and time again, how woefully inadequate our impulse control and levels of addiction are in being unable to set those little machines away for any length of time. Am I proud of being judgmental? No. Am I trying not to be? Yes. Am I a hypocrite sometimes? Absolutely. But I also wonder: why be there if you’re just going to camp out on a phone in a classroom, ostensibly in support, but also where the teacher you’re supposed to be supporting is having to remind students herself, regularly, to put their phones away?
What’s in a ?
I’ve been working hard to memorize students’ names. Still working on it. But we can give up. Or we can keep trying.
Miscellaneous and assorted
At home: a 4-year old doing a giant puzzle sans pants.
The market.
Starbucks at 87. How is it languishing this badly? Going to rally.
Apple at 169.
Ethereum at 3500.
To summarize:
Driving and conversing.
Writing and drinking (coffee).
Reading and eating.
Copying and organizing.
Talking and listening.
Stocks and options.
Homemade pizza and ice cream, in honor of two beloved figure’s birthday, with my parents-in-law and nephew.
A walk to look at baby cows with big horns.
A 7-yo practicing reading with his BOB books after supper.
A 14-yo teaching his younger brothers how to correctly do pushups.
Boys - not the 14-yo - cutting pictures out of People magazine to take to bed with them. Don’t ask.
Go to sleep. Get ready to repeat, in some form.
