So, it's been over a year since the majority of my entries have been public. Lately, almost all have been for my eyes only. I'm of the philosophy that if you don't have something good to say, nobody else really wants to hear it, so it's best to keep it to yourself. I could cite example after example from my life when I've been forced to listen to ( Read more... )

My clock reads 12:07 AM at the moment. That gives me just a few hours more than a week before I'll be leaving the Livonia/Lansing area, and I won't be back anytime soon ( Read more... )

Next year, I will be teaching Spanish just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. I interviewed last week at two high schools and two middle schools around Baltimore. The last one, a high school that was undergoing restructuring for failing to meet Annual Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind and as a result was in the process of replacing half of ( Read more... )

my post student-teaching world has been delightfully full of visiting people, unfortunately full of applications for things, and fortunately containing at least a little substitute teaching. Some highlights:

- Kate and Bridget in Livonia, in which Kate and I went from Barnes and Noble to Noodles to Coldstone to a grassy knoll in a parking lot ( Read more... )

I'M GOING TO SEE OBAMA TOMORROW!!!!

The first thing Charlene (who I'm staying with) told me when I walked in the door was "Did you hear Obama's coming tomorrow? He'll be speaking just fifteen minutes away from here. Have you ever seen him before? No? But you want to? Of course you want to. Come on, we're going on a mission!"

So, as quickly as I came ( Read more... )

The day dawned threatening to rain. I got a couple more bagels and milk, and finally had a drama-free trip to the campaign office. The atmosphere was subdued and hurried there, mirroring the weather outside. Obama Swag had finally come in for the first time since I'd gotten in; there were people lined up outside waiting to sign up to volunteer in ( Read more... )

Jim gave me a key to his house, and the location of the nearest bagel shop on my way out the next morning. Walking in the crisp morning air, I realized how long it had been since I had really walked anywhere at my leisure. It took me back to happier times, walking down Denniston to Forbes, and seeing all the unfamiliar shops mixed with the more ( Read more... )

I woke up early on Monday, and packed and left Jeff's house before he or his mom woke up. I had left her some of the cookies my mom had brought me in three gigantic tupperware containers on Friday, in appreciation for having let me stay over so many times. I had gotten home the previous night to find that the dog had eaten the stash I had brought ( Read more... )

David Brooks wrote a pretty funny/withering article about the accelerating effects of memory-loss on people in the hyper-information age last week. The last bit was about how well educated upper middle class narcissists will be, as usual, the loudest group to protest this loss of memory, because they are losing part of the person they most adore - ( Read more... )

i am done with my lead teaching. I am now on Spring Break. I have this whole coming week off, then two weeks of teaching one class a day left before I get my teaching certificate. After seven months of almost uninterrupted day in and day out teaching, checking papers, and planning for the next day, I thought I was going to use this time to sleep, ( Read more... )