School Daze

Last night, I had an experience I never want to forget. One of my students- a guy in his 30's with at least one kid that I have met, came to me and said he wanted to be a psychologist.

This is a guy who just got his GED three months ago and since then has made Honor Roll in my class and was Student of the Month in June.

Why the late start?

Because, when he was younger people told him he was not "college material".
What the heck?

Where do people get off saying things like that?

That is what I love about my students at this particular school.
They not only beat the odds- they are doing it with full time jobs, families and coming to class four nights a week sometimes until 10:30.
Me?
I am just along for the ride.
I impart whatever knowledge they need for this journey and correct their quizzes.
I am in awe of every last one of them.

Bullet-In

Through no fault of my own, I have to teach my criminal justice students how to shoot.
This brings up several problems.


One: I cannot shoot a gun- this by the way is a cultivated ignorance as stopping someone's life by inserting a bullet in to the interior of their body and thereby destroying vital organs has never been a goal of mine.

Two: I do not like guns. This is not a moral decision. I do not like golf clubs, weedeaters or electric razors either. I am an equal opportunity "don't liker".

Three: This is supposed to be a course in Criminal Justice and, unless we have reverted to the Wild West...I do not get it. But the students get a kick out of it- and that worries me even more!

But, those who write curriculum for my school felt the need to invest vast quantities of cash in a life size video game that is supposed to teach students how to decide when to shoot- so there you have it

When the Rangemaster from a local police department came in to train me, and I saw him virtually gun down the first fifteen year old who was holding other kids hostage, my first reaction was: Wait! I want to talk to him! I want to find our why he is so angry.

This is going to be interesting....bang bang.

Forever Blowing Bubbles

There is something not missing in my life and it is troubling

What is not missing is bubble bath

On the contrary- the bottles of foamy fragrance seem frozen at their present level

This is not good for obvious reasons- the most basic of which is that I am not taking time for a bubble bath.



The bubble bath has a particular place in my life and a perfected ritual.
It includes some favorite books that I do not mind marring with a bit of water, a plastic faux wine glass filled with faux wine and twenty minutes or so of uninterrupted peace when I am not teacher, wife, pet owner- you get the picture.

I eyed those filled accumulating bottles of bubble bath this morning (they tend to accumulate because I tend to collect them) and committed to their demise via drowning in tubs of soothing water.

Bubbles be gone- you are about to meet your Waterloo.

Breaking Away

I think you will understand this, My Friends,
even if I do not explain it very well,
so I am going to try and put it in to words.

This morning, as Lady Daisy and I were walking just after dawn, I looked up and saw a white bird
- a gull perhaps-
I am not sure.

It was flying all alone.


Its wings were moving with purpose.


It was heading Northwest.

What was it looking for?
Was it fearful of all that open sky ahead or exhilarated?
Was its heart beating resolutely, or were there second thoughts?|

Flying to or flying from? I do not know.

All alone in that endless sky...moving...moving....moving forward and never looking back

and never looking down.

All I could do was watch
Feet firmly planted as though in cement
and wonder if I could ever be that brave.

All Boxed Up

I had a meltdown (almost literally) at work yesterday.

Because of lack of space, they have squeezed the faculty in to an office about the size of a booth at the Yard House. There is no ventilation and a copy machine that runs constantly giving off heat and fumes.

My final round of complaints was met with something akin to "that's just the way it is- this is a designated workspace."

What is that all about?

I remember the good old days when people complained about Dilbert-esque environments



Now, this is how I spend my days
In this little sweat box, I am supposed to dream up academic brilliance, grade papers, and meet with students. And I do it with 9 other people in the room.

Well, they can stick me in a box, but they cannot keep my mind there!
They don't know it, but I have a penthouse view.....in my mind.

Cheaters never prosper.....

I spent the morning correcting papers for one of the online classes that I teach.
I was appalled at the plagiarism.
Appalled, but not surprised.

There are sites out there where you can buy papers.
Should that be?

There are students out there who are taking care of families, working two jobs and trying to go to school.

Is that a recipe for disaster?

I did what I had to do and rejected their copied work; but I did feel sorry for them.

I know that their heart is going to sink when they see the zero on their papers.

I know that they rationalized the whole thing.

But they have known about this assignment for 8 weeks!

Cheating is not new and in this fast paced world, in may seem like the only way.

But I can very defensive about academia.
I mean, there has to be a place somewhere in the world where people are not lying and there is no subterfuge, right?

These students are seeing news stories every day about how politicians and financiers lie, cheat and steal and have risen pretty far doing so.
Can you blame them for trying?

Unfortunately, I have to.
But I do feel sorry for them.

Where to put my thoughts....

Daisy the Wonder Dog is waiting for me to take her for a walk, so this is going to be short.

Lately, my husband and I have been doing a lot of talking about slowing things down- not slowing down- just slowing things down.

You now, smell the roses...

It all started actually when this economic tsunami hit and it became so incredibly obvious just how discounted we all are as human being by those in power.

Now, it is their sandbox, so I assume they can make the rules.
But we do not have to play the game.

So, we are taking our ball and finding another playground
And we will just play with friends
We will grab every moment we can with our family
We will make sure that our grandkids know us and the generations that went before us
And we will not keep score with dollar signs
And we will let the kids play that no one else wants on their team
And when we have done all of that- we have already won!