I turn 42 tomorrow. Unlike some female stereotype, I do not hesitate to state my age. Over the years, students have often told me that I don't look my age. They have said this at 30 and at 40. I'm not too sure what one is supposed to look like at any given age.
I am surprised how many of my peers stopped celebrating their birthdays. Some have said that they don't want to be reminded of how old they are getting - as if ignoring the slow march will stop it. Personally, I've never been big on birthday parties for me, so celebrating has usually meant a special dinner. Hitting 40 has made me realize that there is still lots of time and that there are about a billion things I'd like to do or see. I have some of these events pegged to certain birthdays. I don't consider these things to be a bucket list, but I guess that it could be taken this way. Here are a five of the more appropriate things I've just got to do.
1. For birthday 45, I'm going to Wimbledon, for the fortnight. I have loved this tournament since I was a kid and I've decided to go. I have a couple of friend lined up and once I start collecting a paycheck in the fall, I'm going to start a little Wimbledon account.
2. Go to the Grand Canyon. Growing up, my family did not really travel. There were no summer cottages, no summer camp. We'd stayed at home. Because of that, I've missed out on this spectacular sight.
3. Publish my book. Dammit, if it's the last thing I do, I will get this thing finished and published and at least a handful of strangers will buy it.
4. Go back to China. I hope that one day, Andrew will want to go back to China. I want to see the country without feeling the exhaustion I felt on the first trip. I need to see Changzhou, the Andrew's actual hometown.
5. Get back to Paris and go to Florence. I can't imagine that I need to explain either of these. Was David a real guy?
What are those places you just have to visit?
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
A lull in the action
From the very beginning, I was determined not to allow this to be a mommy blog. Sure, my kid is the cutest, smartest boy ever, but I am a person outside of him.
Unfortunately, not a lot has been going on lately. We're pretty broke, so no vacation is planned for the summer. We did travel to Cleveland to visit the zoo and Laura - a very lovely day.
Lately, I've been consumed with trying to squeezing out as much writing time as I can. I am currently enrolled in a very short creative writing class, offered through the Detroit Opera House. I am the only person in the class writing prose, everyone else is writing poetry. I find my poems to be dreadful, so I haven't shared any of them. They are usually inspired by some brief image or event that fully captures my attention. I have, however, gotten a lot of positive feedback on my prose - in particular my use of dialogue. I usually feel pretty good coming out of class.
Currently a girlfriend and I are exploring the option of renting a work space in an industrial complex. She's a photographer/art teacher and she finds it near impossible to work at home - like me. We've checked out two spaces and we are investigating another spot in a week or so. I have found that just the thought of having a private work space is invigorating. I'm excited to make a decision in the next month or so.
At this moment, I am working on three different stories. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it did. If I'm not ADHD I'd be shocked. The one is the novel I started last fall. The second is a story about dumpster diving and the third is a story about a young-ish guy who is better at planning for his great thereafter than living in the great here and now. The last two stories arose out of assignments for my class and I'm very interested in pursuing both of them My classmates suggested that the dumpster diving story has novel potential and the funeral guy is short story material only. Both of the two latter stories require a fair amount of research, in particular the dumpster diving story. That one might go on the back burner for a while.
I did just enter my first writing contest for fast fiction. It's through NPR and it is called Three Minute Fiction. They've gotten tons of entries, so I'm sure that mine will land at the bottom of some trash heap, but at least I'm feeling confident enough to start putting my work out there for people to see. If I can complete this funeral story, I might actually try to submit it to real magazines. Wish me luck.
Unfortunately, not a lot has been going on lately. We're pretty broke, so no vacation is planned for the summer. We did travel to Cleveland to visit the zoo and Laura - a very lovely day.
Lately, I've been consumed with trying to squeezing out as much writing time as I can. I am currently enrolled in a very short creative writing class, offered through the Detroit Opera House. I am the only person in the class writing prose, everyone else is writing poetry. I find my poems to be dreadful, so I haven't shared any of them. They are usually inspired by some brief image or event that fully captures my attention. I have, however, gotten a lot of positive feedback on my prose - in particular my use of dialogue. I usually feel pretty good coming out of class.
Currently a girlfriend and I are exploring the option of renting a work space in an industrial complex. She's a photographer/art teacher and she finds it near impossible to work at home - like me. We've checked out two spaces and we are investigating another spot in a week or so. I have found that just the thought of having a private work space is invigorating. I'm excited to make a decision in the next month or so.
At this moment, I am working on three different stories. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it did. If I'm not ADHD I'd be shocked. The one is the novel I started last fall. The second is a story about dumpster diving and the third is a story about a young-ish guy who is better at planning for his great thereafter than living in the great here and now. The last two stories arose out of assignments for my class and I'm very interested in pursuing both of them My classmates suggested that the dumpster diving story has novel potential and the funeral guy is short story material only. Both of the two latter stories require a fair amount of research, in particular the dumpster diving story. That one might go on the back burner for a while.
I did just enter my first writing contest for fast fiction. It's through NPR and it is called Three Minute Fiction. They've gotten tons of entries, so I'm sure that mine will land at the bottom of some trash heap, but at least I'm feeling confident enough to start putting my work out there for people to see. If I can complete this funeral story, I might actually try to submit it to real magazines. Wish me luck.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Student Council - Cosmos style
I left my first teaching job after only two years. I arrived at my new school after a friend of mine helped me get an interview. She subsequently left me after a year. Anyway, my new school already had a Student Council Adviser. She was, however, a very busy young woman. She was, if I recall correctly, also the cheerleading coach, a softball coach, a class sponsor, and one of the sponsors for the engineering team. I offered to help her with Student Council and slowly but surely, by the end of the year, I was the sole sponsor.
I had made the vow at my previous school to fight hard for my students, and that's just what I did. I learned very quickly that my new school hadn't had a Homecoming pep rally or a non-Homecoming dance in several years. It seems that the biggest things this Student Council accomplished every year were the Homecoming Spirit Days and the parade - no small feat, I will tell you! Apathy on everyone's part had to be defeated or at least addressed head on. Unfortunately, the many of the seniors I inherited for my first full year as the only adviser weren't really interested in working for me. That first president, however, was great. I remember when she worked all day on an award that we had no chance of winning, but she wanted to prove that we could complete the task. She called me at home around 11 at night to tell me she was done and I rushed to her house to take her and the award package to the 24-hour post office. I paid, with my own money to overnight that binder. This is the precise moment where I can pinpoint how my life would be changed by my involvement with Student Council.
My third year at the school and my second year as THE adviser witnessed some amazing accomplishments. We hosted a conference for the Michigan Association of Student Councils, brought in an amazing speaker (Stu!), had dances, and our first Homecoming pep rally. The next year, we finally won that award and continued sponsoring more and more events. The my fifth year at the school would be the most eventful. We hosted a conference on the other side of the state (Grand Rapids area), won that award again, and sponsored our first Blood Drive. My students nominated me for the Adviser of the Year - which I won for the county. Each year, I found that my presidents got stronger and more capable of acting without me holding their hands. That is exactly what I hoped would happen. I regularly stayed at school until 6, getting things ready for activities. Over the years, I have spent hundreds of my own dollars for whatever we have needed.
We have hit many rough patches. The first leave I took and then this most recent one seemed to cause a bit of a vacuum in leadership, at least among the general members. Students have become a little less dedicated to putting in time and effort. I probably lost a little focus when I became a mother. I want that edge back. Student Council is what has kept me teaching. I love the camaraderie with the kids and sense of pride we all feel when we have pulled off a big task.
I just met with my new officers this morning and I am so excited to start on the new year. We might not hit the lofty highs of past years, but we will accomplish far more than any of them believe.
I had made the vow at my previous school to fight hard for my students, and that's just what I did. I learned very quickly that my new school hadn't had a Homecoming pep rally or a non-Homecoming dance in several years. It seems that the biggest things this Student Council accomplished every year were the Homecoming Spirit Days and the parade - no small feat, I will tell you! Apathy on everyone's part had to be defeated or at least addressed head on. Unfortunately, the many of the seniors I inherited for my first full year as the only adviser weren't really interested in working for me. That first president, however, was great. I remember when she worked all day on an award that we had no chance of winning, but she wanted to prove that we could complete the task. She called me at home around 11 at night to tell me she was done and I rushed to her house to take her and the award package to the 24-hour post office. I paid, with my own money to overnight that binder. This is the precise moment where I can pinpoint how my life would be changed by my involvement with Student Council.
My third year at the school and my second year as THE adviser witnessed some amazing accomplishments. We hosted a conference for the Michigan Association of Student Councils, brought in an amazing speaker (Stu!), had dances, and our first Homecoming pep rally. The next year, we finally won that award and continued sponsoring more and more events. The my fifth year at the school would be the most eventful. We hosted a conference on the other side of the state (Grand Rapids area), won that award again, and sponsored our first Blood Drive. My students nominated me for the Adviser of the Year - which I won for the county. Each year, I found that my presidents got stronger and more capable of acting without me holding their hands. That is exactly what I hoped would happen. I regularly stayed at school until 6, getting things ready for activities. Over the years, I have spent hundreds of my own dollars for whatever we have needed.
We have hit many rough patches. The first leave I took and then this most recent one seemed to cause a bit of a vacuum in leadership, at least among the general members. Students have become a little less dedicated to putting in time and effort. I probably lost a little focus when I became a mother. I want that edge back. Student Council is what has kept me teaching. I love the camaraderie with the kids and sense of pride we all feel when we have pulled off a big task.
I just met with my new officers this morning and I am so excited to start on the new year. We might not hit the lofty highs of past years, but we will accomplish far more than any of them believe.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Student Council - Part 1
I started teaching in the fall of 1995. That is also when I first became a Student Council Adviser. I got tricked into the job. I was the new teacher (and the only white woman in the building) and the kids swore up and down that they ran themselves. At my first school, the position was unpaid, I was teaching five completely different classes, and I did not want an extracurricular activity interfering with my single social life. I agreed, knowing that I was getting suckered. That first school had very few student run activities. Adults held onto control of most activities, including Homecoming. I think this gave them the false sense that they were in charge and the the chaos that existed was an illusion. Of course, the daily smell of weed in the hall was not an illusion.
As a Student Council, we did very little. We did manage to sponsor the first Valentine's Dance in years. For me, the best part was the fact that I became acquainted with an organization called Michigan Association of Student Council (MASC). This organization gave students lots of room to create and be leaders. I was impressed as were my students. Everytime we attended an MASC conference, my students would ask "why can't we do that?" That might include over night lock-ins, more dances, or goofy spirit days. I didn't have an answer; I was too new.
I left that school after only two years. I had trained a new president and then left her. I felt tremendously guilty, but I knew that I had to move on. I did vow to myself that if I had a chance to be the Student Council Adviser at my new school, I would take it and not allow stodgy old ideas to block my students true leadership potential. Little did I know how much my life would change at the next (and current school).
More in a day or two.
As a Student Council, we did very little. We did manage to sponsor the first Valentine's Dance in years. For me, the best part was the fact that I became acquainted with an organization called Michigan Association of Student Council (MASC). This organization gave students lots of room to create and be leaders. I was impressed as were my students. Everytime we attended an MASC conference, my students would ask "why can't we do that?" That might include over night lock-ins, more dances, or goofy spirit days. I didn't have an answer; I was too new.
I left that school after only two years. I had trained a new president and then left her. I felt tremendously guilty, but I knew that I had to move on. I did vow to myself that if I had a chance to be the Student Council Adviser at my new school, I would take it and not allow stodgy old ideas to block my students true leadership potential. Little did I know how much my life would change at the next (and current school).
More in a day or two.
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