The slow death of optimism under the crushing weight of huge class size

This is the time of year when the optimism of the summer about being able to stay on top of things comes to a crashing thud. Tonight was another night at school until 7pm. I was there that long, yet I'll only be able to do my lesson tomorrow if I'm able to grade 50 benchmarks in the fifty-minute period I have off from teaching between first and third.

My school years usually get off to mediocre starts and I start to feel better as the year goes on, probably because I have this pristine image of teaching when I'm off for the summer and when I return, I'm disappointed when things go wrong. I had such high hopes for this year about staying on top of things, but it's tough.

This year, I find myself angrier than usual about things I have no control over. I'm talking about the American Dream in class today. It was about the American Dream, and we listened to parts of "God Bless the USA" (patriotic, proud), Neil Diamond's "America" (immigrant dream), Tracy Chapman's "America" (angry, accusatory), and Tupac Shakur's "Panther Power" (angry, revolutionary) to depict different voices about the American Dream. We compared and evaluated them for tone, then pulled diction from the songs that emphasized the tone, then went on into introducing Of Mice and Men. (The lesson, by the way, was awesome, one of my strongest in recent memory.)

Anyhow, during the discussion about the American Dream and equality, I heard myself say, "And look at all of you. Here you all are, having worked your butts off in middle school to attend a great high school, and now you're working your butts off to stay here. You obviously - obviously - put value in education as your path to success - that's part of the American Dream. Yet, you're asked to learn in a classroom with 37 other students. You're asked to learn in a classroom without enough desks, where there aren't enough textbooks and you're asked to buy all your books. Is that fair? Is that right? Is the American Dream attainable to all? Do some people have to work a heck of a lot harder for it than others?"

This is something near and dear to me, because the ultimate reason I'm a teacher is because I do believe in the American Dream. I teach in an urban school because youth in cities have so many cards stacked against them that education is just about their only means of advancement and the only way to end social reproduction generation after generation. I believe in this, I believe in education as the path to success, and the fact that this is happening just makes me irate.

I want to incite people this year. The politicians think it's fine to put me in front of a classroom with 38 kids, the school board okays it, and the press ignores it. I'm fighting mad. I want every parent in Baltimore to go on strike until the class size issue is resolved. I want Martin O'Malley and Bob Ehrlich to talk about this, not about principal academies ($$) or teacher incentives for high test scores (there are so many things wrong with that...). I want to hear about why ~ten teachers were laid off at my school last year and now I'm teaching classes pushing forty (and many classes exceed this number). This is a state in which the #1 voter issue is allegedly Education, but this is allowed to happen. It's utterly ridiculous, almost criminal, and just so sad and so wrong that these kids are put through this.

I'll be at Brewer's Art when it opens tomorrow for the much-anticipated first-Friday-of-the-school-year Happy Hour. I'm sure it won't disappoint. I have worked roughly 60 hours in the last five days and Happy Hour couldn't come quick enough.

Tigers beat the Yankees, Monroe hits one of most memorable home runs of my life

The Tigers have been playing horribly for much of August, losing 14 of 20 and allowing the White Sox and Twins to get within five games back. They still have the best record in baseball, but I've been a little worried lately. I know slumps happen, but this one has been marked by (a) horrible hitting; and (b) horrible game decisions, like playing Neifi Perez over Omar Infante or not resting Magglio Ordonez, who is obviously tired and slumping badly.

Today, they played a day-night doubleheader with the Yankees. Their anemic offense showed up for game one, and they lost 2-0. For the second game, they scored just two runs in the first eight innings, and looked like they were going to lose yet again. Getting swept by the Yankees in a doubleheader would have been crushing, as there's a good chance the teams will meet again in the playoffs.

The season seemed to be hanging in the balance, and my computer was going on the fritz in the last inning. I closed out of Mozilla, then re-opened up all the programs I need to to watch mlbtv, and - as if the clouds parted - it flipped back on and I was able to see Curtis Granderson's nine-pitch walk in the bottom of the 9th with two outs. Then, Craig Monroe's three-run home run to win it on the first pitch.

It was one of the greatest regular season game endings I've ever seen. Definitely the biggest win of the season and just a great, great game. I felt like the umpires were being paid off by the Yankees and it felt so good to beat them. God, I hate the Yankees.

Memorable home runs of my life:

1. Cecil Fielder's 50th home run in 1990. It was on the last game of the season, and it was back when hitting 50 home runs meant something; Big Cecil was the first in a couple decades to get it (and there wasn't any steroid help). It wasn't televised, so I was listening to Ernie Harwell's call of the home run on the downstairs television, which played Tiger game broadcasts over community message boards. I was so excited that I ran upstairs, screaming, and hit my head on the basement ceiling on the way up the stairs. Later that night, Cecil hit another home run, just for the hell of it.

2. Larry Herndon hitting a home run to beat the Blue Jays in the final game of 1987, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 1-0 in a game that Frank Tanana pitched.

3. Alan Trammell, Johnny Grubb, and Matt Nokes hit back-to-back-to-back home runs to beat the Orioles in some game in 1987. It was the moment I thought they could win it all.

4. Robert Fick hits the last home run at Tiger Stadium - a very long one.

5. This Craig Monroe home run has to be #5. And it could rise in prominence if it gets the Tigers out of this funk.

Long hump day

How is it that I'm staying at school until 7:45 on just the third day of school?

I feel behind already. Two new preps is killing me.

That being said, I planned a bang-up lesson about the American Dream tomorrow, complete with Lee Greenwood, Wikipedia, Tracy Chapman, Tupac Shakur, Langston Hughes, and John Steinbeck. It will either change all their lives forever or crash and burn.

As for IB, uhh, I have no idea yet. I think I need to go to the gym and think it out on an eliptical machine.

The grind

I went into the second job with all intentions of finding the manager, and saying, "You know, Jon, I just don't think I can do this anymore - the two job thing. It's too much this year, with my schedule so tough and my graduate course and everything else. I think I better give you my notice now."

Alas, he was not there, and by the end of the shift, I think I'd talked myself into staying until my ultimate goal: when my car is paid off. I'm at about $1700 now, and once that monkey is off my back I'll feel so much better about everything financially related.

Still, my friend told me today - as I bemoaned my existence on just the second day of school, complaining about class size (I'm up to 31-32-29-38-37 with only 35 desks in the room) and/or grad school and/or working a second job - that I was like Willie Loman. By the time I feel secure in things, I'll have nothing to feel secure about. I'll have lived my life. I'm working too damn hard. I know this. On just the second day of the school year, I know this.

I was whining (hmmm, goal for the rest of the week - don't whine any more) about my grad class to a co-worker - talking about how 90% of the class is early elementary majors, how the professor seemed to talk down to us and actually read the syllabus aloud to us - and he said, "(Epiph), every class isn't wonderful. Sometimes you just have to grind through it."

"But I don't want it to be a grind."

"That's life - it's the grinding."

I explained that I loved my classes over the summer, how they made me step back from my teaching and think about my practice and that's what I was hoping for from the rest of the TU program.

He said, "Shit, that's not how it goes. Most of us take these classes to stay certified. We go to them, hear a bunch of other teachers complain for two hours a night for a semester, then get our A and go home. You grind through it. That's life. What's key is that you have other things besides the grind.

I mean, look at (coworker). She's planning her wedding, has lots of big things happening. Look at me. I just had my kid. Look at everyone. They've all got something else. That's why you and (my saucy co-worker) have to make a baby. That'll give you something."

He laughed at his joke, but his words just gave me another self-pity route.

He then tried to make me feel better: "Well, you have things. You like your job as much as anyone can like his job. You have a lot of friends. But make sure you have your mind beyond the daily grinding."

Yup. I guess I'll work on it.

Lichtman and Cardin and Mfume

Ben Cardin was in my school today, as were two other Congressmen who were also alumni. Pretty awesome. I wish I could have met him, and talked to him about class size, but it wasn't meant to be apparently. Cardin is by all accounts a great guy and a solid, moral politician. He voted against the war in Iraq, for example, so no backpedaling there.

However, I have an Mfume bumper sticker on my car. I've liked that guy ever since I heard him speak on MLK day in Michigan when I was a Junior in college. He's inspiring as a speaker and progressive as a thinker. You know that scene at the start of Farenheit 9/11 when all the black congressmen were begging any US Senator to block the confirmation of Bush as President, and no one had the guts to do it? Now, I don't even think I would have had the guts to do it, and am not sure if the country would have been better off if it had occurred. It couldn't have been much worse, though, could it have? And I think Mfume would have done it. We need a real progressive from the state in that spot.

But I like Cardin just as much, almost. He almost always votes right and probably is more of a consensus builder than Mfume. He's probably also a surer bet again Steele than Mfume is.

I also like Alan Lichtman a lot. I realize he doesn't have a chance to win, but the thought have having a teacher in the US Senate - he'd be the first - is really intriguing. And he's a great thinker and actually understands history and its future implications.

My point is that Maryland has put up three excellent candidates for the US Democratic Senate seat. So excellent, in fact, that I'm having a hard time deciding. It's not even a vote with my head versus vote with my heart argument - they've all got both my head and my heart, and that's what makes it tough.

I'm still leaning Mfume. But if Ben Cardin swoops in and saves me from my class size nightmare somehow, then I'll be for him for life - just like I'll always support O'Malley because he swooped in and saved my job and, arguably, the Baltimore City Public Schools as we know it, a few years ago when the budget crisis hit.

It's going to be an interesting election season.

Year Six, Day One

The glorious first day of school I had planned in my head didn't occur. Instead, I had very stressful day.

My two big classes of 35 have increased to 38 each. I didn't have enough desks, again.

This makes me so angry. We have such a philosophical deficiency at work here. These kids have worked their asses off throughout a career in Baltimore City Public Schools, got into an awesome program and are about to experience the type of curriculum that is rare not only in city schools, but any American high school (come on, have you ever heard of a high school course teaching Murakami, Capote, Morrison, Shelley, Ninh, Dorfman, and Allende all in one course?), and now have to take it in a class filled past the brim with 37 other kids.

Damn politicians.

And let me tell you, sitting in a room with tropical heat - it was unbelievably hot today, and I sweated buckets - with 76 new eyes staring at you is pretty darn stressful.

I wish there was something I could do about this, but I feel so powerless right now.

To top it off...

1. My grad class seems like it's going to suck. I don't like the teacher, who reads aloud to the class and uses babytalk. I don't like my classmates, who are 90% early elementary. I don't like what it looks like we'll be doing in the course.

2. I seem to have lost my wallet.

3. I could really use a massage. Ever since my cousin in law massaged me while in MIchigan and told me, "You know, you have so much tension up here in your shoulders, and really should be doing this once a month at the very least" I've been obsessed with it. I'm actually going to find one, just to see.

4. I didn't go to the gym and am thinking about it right now, but I'm fucking tired and don't want to.

First Day of School Eve

It was a very long day, with seven hours of waiting tables followed by a 75-minute workout at Bally's, a trip to a very busy Target, and a couple hours doing laundry at the laundromat. I made it back at 10pm, and I'm exhausted, which is good, because I'll actually be able to sleep on First Day of School Eve without the butterflies in my stomach keeping me awake.

Tomorrow will be a long day - I teach all day, of course, and it will take a little bit to get back into both physical and mental shape for that, and then I have my class at Towson from 5:00-7:30. Curriculum Development in Secondary Schools. I'm actually pretty excited about it. But not half as excited as I am about seeing all "my kids" again and being in front of a class telling them about all the great things they'll learn this year.

My current dilemma: My department head has been scheduled to teach three different preps, which is a contract violation. She's pressing them to hire an ad-hoc teacher to teach the one class, but has run into roadblocks. One possible option is another teacher in the department taking on one of the classes for her. They're offering $3,000 to do it for the year. It's a class I'm basically already teaching - English 2, though this one is Honors - and I taught about three-quarters of the kids last year. And they're good kids. But it would increase my student load from 155 to 181.

I'm tempted a little, only because it would let me quit my second job, and because it would add hardly any new prep time - and I know most of the kids (and like them). However, I probably shouldn't, because it would give me a hell of a lot of kids and increase my grading load a whole lot, and I've already got a tough year ahead of me. Plus, doing it would make me feel a little like a scab - they should be forced to hire more teachers, however they can, and if a guy needing some money like me just agrees to take on another class in violation of my contract for a few extra bucks, then that doesn't really help the cause much.

I have a hard time looking at the big picture, though, when there are 26 good kids waiting for a good teacher who will work hard for them, especially when they're offering enough money for me to pay off my car and still have more than a thousand bucks left over for a house downpayment.

Don't worry; I'm not going to do it. It's really not that much a dilemma.

Leap and a bridge will appear

The classroom is officially set up. Every single one of my 155 students has his or her name entered into Easy Grade Pro. Every one of my classes has a seating chart. All my syllabi are printed. My first day's assignments are sitting quietly in stacks on my desk. My Corner of Zen is complete with Harper Lee the betta, funky Ikea carpet, a classroom library, a Staples "That Was Easy" button, a coffee maker, and a cool chair I got from Target. The pale blue paint the covers the walls is virtually undetectable behind all the posters of authors, quotes, poems, classroom rules, and jazz pictures. The room is, I hope, inviting and a little bit different from any other room they'll be in this year. I want it to be a safe haven, a place away from the chaos.

The kids will begin arriving at school in almost exactly 36 hours. The buzz of the first day of school is beginning to get louder.

I'm excited.

I have a very clear idea of how my American Literature course is going to go. My year is mapped out with an outline that takes me from Anne Bradstreet all the way up through Lorraine Hansberry and beyond, with stops along the way with Nathaniel, Mark, Edgar, Willa, Zora, Arthur, and F. Scott. (The "beyond" isn't mapped out too closely as of yet.) I know almost exactly what I'm doing for at least the next six days of class, down to the minute. Friday is a little fuzzy, that's all.

As for my IB World Literature course, though, I'm feeling much less prepared. I have the eight texts we are reading picked out. I've already run into a stumbling block because the first book - Death and the Maiden - is unavailable through the book distributors for the small Baltimore independent bookstore that I'm planning on purchasing all my books through. I have thus ordered the seventy copies through Barnes and Noble, but am not sure when they are going to come. We will be spending a few days doing presentations on the summer reading, then move on to some short stories. Otherwise, though, I have no clear path in mind. I wish I did. I hope I don't end up feeling my way through that course because that's really stressful. I'm already stressed about it, but also working my butt off so that should change.

My mentor recently sent me this in an e-mail response to my worries about the upcoming year:

You are a very good teacher, one of the best I've ever known in 13+ years of teaching at 6 schools, in 2 countries, in 5 cities. I don't think you give yourself enough credit. Have confidence, (Epiph). It was an absolute pleasure to watch you work and to see how much you think about your teaching. That's one of the reasons I'm pushing NCTE (note: we're scheduled to present this year, and will, if we get funding) and I'm glad about the MAT and that you are planning on Nat'l Bd's. You deserve all that will come your way and people need to hear from you. You are one of the great ones, and I wish you could just know that and accept it because, well (sounding like a parent now), I said so! I will try it this way. I'd put (my daughter) in your class as many times as I could in her high school career. So no more tsunami dreams. When I opened the desk in the Eng. Dep't Head office, (the wonderful department head he replaced) had left me a card. It said, "Leap and a bridge will appear." It's still in my desk. I see it almost every day. I am usually reluctant to embrace things that can fit on a bumper sticker or a t-shirt but I think what this one says is true. You are leaping. We are our risks, aren't we? The chances we take. Confidence!

And that's what I keep thinking: Leap, a bridge will appear. It's made me feel a lot better - in fact, excited. It's a great group of 70 kids taking that class. I wish the classes were smaller, and I wish I knew more about how I should structure things, and I wish I wasn't the only one teaching it, but I can't control any of that. I can control that I'm going to work my heart out for these kids, all 155 of them.

Education cuts never heal

My class sizes: 28, 29, 28, 35, 35.

How is that shit allowed to happen? And that's not even the worst of it. I have 155 students; some of my colleagues have 170. These are high-stakes classes, and the two 35 classes are IB courses that involve a lot of audiotaping and discussion.

The Baltimore School Board voted to increase the student:teacher ratio from 28:1 to 32:1 this past June because of budgetary concerns, and that just sucks. Sucks sucks sucks.

American public education needs help - more teachers and more funding. I have nothing else to add, except that this year could be a tough one. Finding enough desks for my room today was rough.

Summer Reading

Imagine my happy surprise at looking at the newspaper today. The kid on the left has been my first baseman for the last three years, and I'm expecting big things from him this upcoming year as a senior. I also taught him as a 9th grader. His bus ride into school every day takes about 90 minutes. This was confirmed the first time I gave him a ride home after practice. He lives far away, even over the county line a little. Shhhh.

The kid on the right is another great kid. He took my class as a 9th grader and has continued to be a polite kid all through the following years at the school, so much so that I forgive him for being a Yankees fan.

The thought of these two kids sitting at their summer job at Mondawmin Mall reading The Farming of Bones - such a feminine book, and such a not-fun summer reading book (genocide! death!) - really makes me chuckle.

The article ends with some comments by a kid I'm teaching this year, about how he was too lazy to do his summer reading yet. Should I hold things said in the press against him? Hmmm.

I'm just kidding. He's a pretty great kid and I know he'll have it done.

Repeat brave

Hmmm. So, I thought the first entry was lost, so I tried re-writing it as closely as I could. I think I'll leave them both up for posterity's sake. I wonder which one is better?

What is the deal with Brave New World? Why do I hate it so much? I can barely slug through it. Summer reading for IB, it is, so I better have it read twice by Tuesday.

Expectations and obstacles

Working in a large urban school district, I expect a lot of red tape. I expect, often, to have to buy materials for my students and my classroom because we're provided none. I expect not to have enough books for the kids. I expect to have mediocre facilities and large class loads. I even expect to be bashed by people who don't know what they're talking about.

What I don't expect, though, is to have unnecessary obstacles placed in front of me by people who should be by my side. Two weeks ago, we stuffed envelopes full of the kids' schedules. They received them and know where they're going on Monday. However, teachers do not have class lists! They're putting it off as long as possible, probably to prevent an uprising, but it still hinders my ability to be ready on Monday. I don't know how many desks to get. I don't know how many books to pull from the book room. I can't create seating charts, which I prefer to have done before the kids walk in the door. I can't enter names in on Easy Grade Pro.

Rumors persist that class sizes are going to be astronomical, but I want to know for sure. I also want to know which kids I'm teaching that I had the previous year.

In addition, for the second day in a row today we were kicked out of the building at 4pm. Apparently there is no evening facilities person. That sucks. I know that I was craving this evening's time to spend perfecting and running off my syllabi and finishing up the last parts of my classroom, but I couldn't. It's almost as if hard work and thorough preparation are being discouraged.

I wonder if other teachers feel disheartened like this with only two days back. I still love the students and feel like this is the population I want to work with. I still feel like my department contains some of the best English teachers in the nation and what we do with the kids is remarkable. They raise the bar for me as an educator. Those are great feelings to have. But are higher-ups this frustrating everywhere? Is this American public education?

Monday the kids will be here. I'll forget all about this then.

Obstacles

I am a teacher in a large urban school district, and therefore I expect quite a bit of red tape. I expect, often, to have to buy materials for my students and classroom, totalling in the hundreds of dollars every year. I expect to have to buy my own computer. I don't expect there to be enough books for students, which there hasn't been since I started. I expect fairly large class loads and class sizes and mediocre, at best, facilities. I even expect bashing from people who don't know what they're talking about.

What I don't expect, though, is to have obstacles placed in front of me by folks that should be on my side. I still have no class lists, meaning I don't know how many desks to set up in my classroom or how many books to pull from the book rooms. I can't enter names into Easy Grade Pro. I can't create seating charts.

And, today, for the second day in a row, we were kicked out of the building at 4pm. 4pm! During a time of year when we should be able to stay as late as we want, and get as much stuff done as we want, we're told we can't go the extra mile because there isn't a night facilities person yet.

I'm already disappointed with how the year is starting. I wonder if teachers in other schools feel disheartened by higher-ups so soon into a school year? Is this the norm in American Public Education? I feel totally like teacher hard work and thorough preparation are being discouraged.

The kids come in on Monday. I still feel like my department contain some of the best English teachers in the country, who raise the bar for me as an educator. I just wish I felt the same way about how the school is run.

First day for teachers

I walked into the school today and found myself in a giant line to receive our faculty handbooks, our IEP kids' files, our room key, our phone list... everything except the thing I was most looking forward to, our class lists.

I think the numbers are going to be huge. I think they're being slow on giving them to us partly because they don't want an uprising. I'm expecting 35-40 in every class.

It was so great to see friends I haven't seen since June, though. We did the teachers' happy hour at Brewer's Art from 4-7, then headed to Pickled Parrot to watch the Tigers. Not a great game - so far - but it was definitely a great night.

I'm going to bed, though.

Twas the Night Before Teachers Returned

I hope I get my sleep schedule under control by Monday. Last night, I was tired, so went to bed at around 9pm - and promptly woke up at 2:48am. I laid there until nearly 4, then just decided to get up and get some work done. I wrote a letter to parents and e-mailed it to myself, then found some stuff for planning. Luckily, my alarm just went off so now I would have been up anyway, and I'm going to head to the gym and burn off this nervous energy that I have.

Today is the first day back. I'll see a lot of friends I haven't seen in months, as well as get class lists and a parking spot and my faculty guide. The year will start to feel "real." My classroom is more than halfway set up and I want to spend the bulk of the next few days planning lessons and units rather than putting up posters.

Now, I'm tired again.

By the way, the Tigers won their 81st game yesterday, guaranteeing their first .500 season since 1993. The last time the Tigers won 81 games, I was a Junior in high school. The infield was Cecil Fielder, Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell, and Travis Fryman, while Mickey Tettleton was our fulltime DH and Tony Phillips played everywhere. The only player still active from that team? Chris Gomez, who has played for the Orioles the last couple of years.

Copra baseball wine

Copra has half off bottles of wine on Tuesday nights, and I took full advantage of that tonight. The blankety buzz that comes from red wine is like being slowly submerged in a hot tub. I'd forgotten how fun it is to order a bottle and drink half of it with a good friend.

Now I'm back home, and watching Ozzie Guillen get thrown out of the Tigers/White Sox game. I'm loving baseball now. Did you know that the Tigers won their 80th game last night, giving them more wins than they've had in any year since the early nineties?

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Ready or not.

Today's plan:

1. Work out
2. Buy some shelves at Ikea.
3. Go to Wal-Mart or Target and buy a mini-fridge.
4. Head back home to see if my posters came.
5. Head to school and continue setting up the classroom.

IB World Literature Syllabus

IB English III: World Literature

Course Description
Welcome to IB English III. This is the first of two courses intended to prepare you for the IB English examinations. The objective of this course is to build upon your knowledge of literature while strengthening both your oral and written powers of expression. During the course of this year, we will examine a variety of world literature while exploring a diversity of discussion styles and techniques. The activities and assignments in this class are designed to guide you towards and prepare you for two IB assessments – the World Literature paper and the Oral Presentation. In the process of preparing for the exams, it should be our aim to push the limits of our boundaries to explore and embrace new ideas and philosophies.

Distinction between AP Language and IB English
As an IB English III student, you should also be enrolled in AP Language and Composition. These two classes, in combination, are designed to paper you for success on your future exams. The primary distinction between the two classes is the focus on oral vs. written training. While IB English III is focused primarily on literary analysis and oral communication, AP Language and Composition is focused on developing a wide variety of writing styles through the study of non-fiction pieces. Throughout the course of the year, your AP Language teacher and I will be working together to plan assignments and monitor your progress.

Course Readings
Because of the importance of referring to and marking your texts, you will be required to purchase the first semester books and highly encouraged to purchase the second semester works. You will need to keep these texts for use during the year and for reference next year. First semester books will be ordered and purchased at the beginning of the school year. You can expect to spend approximately $30 on first semester book purchases. Books will be available for list price from the teacher before the due date, but books may also be purchased independently. Used books stores and Amazon.com offer good deals on all of these texts should you choose to purchase elsewhere, which is encouraged.

First Semester
Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman (Chile, translated from Spanish)
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (Chile, translated from Spanish)
The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh (North Viet Nam, translated from Vietnamese)

Summer Reading
Siddartha by Herman Hesse (Germany, translated from German)
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (England)

First Semester Supplementary
How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas J. Foster

Second Semester
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (United States)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (England)
Song of Soloman by Toni Morrison (United States)
The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami (Japan, translated from Japanese)

We will also be reading various poetry and short stories throughout the year.

Course Policies
1. This is an IB course, and as such it will be demanding. Students are expected to be prepared every class period with necessary readings, homework, journal prompts, or other assignments completed. Classes will often be discussion based and your preparation is integral to your success, and your ideas will be useful springboards for other’s thoughts.
2. Plagiarism of any kid is not tolerated. Do not use the internet to gather your thoughts about a text, as not only will you be passing off someone else’s (possibly mediocre) thoughts as your own, but you will be robbing yourself of one of the most important parts of studying literature: how it expands your mind. This is especially an important part of an IB course, as IB emphasizes creativity and originality in responses to texts.
3. Communication with me is important. Shoot me an e-mail or stay for coach class if you are having problems. I will allow one extension per year on any major paper (except for your Link Essay), as long as it is communicated to me 48 hours before the due date. You will have to remain well-organized to balance this course with your other work this year.
4. On occasion, you will be asked to contribute to an online discussion. If you have computer problems, please use available computers in the school and classroom, and/or let me know as soon as possible.
5. This is a course of ideas, and it’s important to remain respectful of others’ ideas even if they do not mesh with your own. Please remain tactful in all discussions.
6. I adhere to all school policies, and please be sure to keep cell phones turned off, to consume only water in the classroom, and to follow the dress code.

My After-School Schedule
Mondays: Not available (Towson MAT program course)
Tuesdays: Coach Class for 10th grade (though can see IB 3 by appointment)
Wednesdays: Study Hall (add ½ of a percentage point onto your grade for staying for an hour)
Thursdays: Coach Class for 11th grade (though can see 10th grade by appointment)
Fridays: By appointment

About International Baccalaureate
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a rigorous pre-university course of studies, leading to examinations, that meets the needs of highly motivated secondary school students between the ages of 16 and 19 years. Designed as a comprehensive two-year curriculum that allows its graduates to fulfil requirements of various national education systems, the Diploma model is based on the pattern of no single country but incorporates the best elements of many. The programme is available in English, French and Spanish.

The curriculum is displayed in the shape of a hexagon with six academic areas surrounding the core. Subjects are studied concurrently and students are exposed to the two great traditions of learning: the humanities and the sciences.

About the Language A1 Programme
The Language A1 programme is primarily a pre-university course in literature. It is aimed at students who intend to pursue literature, or related studies, at university, as well as at students whose formal study of literature will not continue beyond this level. The former would normally follow the Higher Level (HL) programme and the latter the Standard Level (SL).

Literature is concerned with our conceptions, interpretations and experiences of the world. The study of literature, therefore, can be seen as a study of all the complex pursuits, anxieties, joys and fears that human beings are exposed to in the daily business of living. It enables an exploration of one of the more enduring fields of human creativity and artistic ingenuity, and provides immense opportunities for encouraging independent, original, critical and clear thinking. It also promotes a healthy respect for the imagination and a perceptive approach to the understanding and interpretation of literary works. The discussion of literature is itself an art which requires the clear expression of ideas both orally and in writing.

The Language A1 programme encourages students to see literary works as products of art and their authors as craftsmen whose methods of production can be analysed in a variety of ways and on a number of levels. This is achieved through the emphasis placed on exploring the means used by different authors to convey their subjects in the works studied. It is further reinforced by the comparative framework emphasized for the study of these works in all parts of the programme.

The flexibility of the programme allows teachers to choose challenging works from their own sources to suit the particular needs and interests of their students. It also allows teachers to participate significantly, through the internally assessed oral component, in the overall assessment of their students.

World Literature
‘One of the most effective and humanizing ways that people of different cultures can have access to each other’s experiences and concerns is through works of literary merit.’
(Salma Jayyusi, The Literature of Modern Arabia)

In view of the international nature of the IBO, the Language A1 programme does not limit the study of literature to the achievements of one culture or the cultures covered by any one language. The study of World Literature is important to IB students because of its global perspective. It can play a strong role in promoting a ‘world spirit’ through the unique opportunities it offers for the appreciation of the various ways in which cultures influence and shape the experiences of life common to all humanity.

The World Literature element of the Language A1 programme does not aim to cover the history of literature or the so-called ‘great works’ of humanity. It does not aim to equip students with a ‘mastery’ of other cultures. It is envisaged as having the potential to enrich the international awareness of IB students and to develop in them the attitudes of tolerance, empathy and a genuine respect for perspectives different from their own.

Aims
The aims of the Language A1 programme at both Higher and Standard Levels are to…
• encourage a personal appreciation of literature and develop an understanding of the techniques involved in literary criticism
• develop the students’ powers of expression, both in oral and written communication, and provide the opportunity of practising and developing the skills involved in writing and speaking in a variety of styles and situations
• introduce students to a range of literary works of different periods, genres, styles and contexts
• broaden the students’ perspective through the study of works from other cultures and languages
• introduce students to ways of approaching and studying literature, leading to the development of an understanding and appreciation of the relationships between different works
• develop the ability to engage in close, detailed analysis of written text
• promote in students an enjoyment of, and lifelong interest in, literature.

Objectives
Having followed the Language A1 programme at Higher Level (HL) candidates will be expected to demonstrate…
• an ability to engage in independent literary criticism in a manner which reveals a personal response to literature
• an ability to express ideas with clarity, coherence, conciseness, precision and fluency in both written and oral communication
• a command of the language appropriate for the study of literature and a discriminating appreciation of the need for an effective choice of register and style in both written and oral communication
• a sound approach to literature through consideration of the works studied
• a thorough knowledge both of the individual works studied and of the relationships between groups of works studied
• an appreciation of the similarities and differences between literary works from different ages and/or cultures
• an ability to engage in independent textual commentary on both familiar and unfamiliar pieces of writing
• a wide-ranging appreciation of structure, technique and style as employed by authors, and of their effects on the reader
• an ability to structure ideas and arguments, both orally and in writing, in a logical, sustained and persuasive way, and to support them with precise and relevant examples.

Syllabus outline
Higher Level
The Higher Level IB syllabus is divided into four compulsory parts.
Total number of works: 15
Part 1 World Literature 3 works
Three World Literature works studied as a group.
 Each work chosen from the IB Prescribed World Literature List (PWL) only.
 All works linked by one or more aspects such as culture, genre, theme, period, style, type of literary study, methodology.
 Each work originally written in a language different from the Language A1 studied.
 Each work written by a different author.

Part 2 Detailed Study 4 works
 Four Language A1 works studied in detail.
 Each work chosen from a different genre category on the IB Prescribed Book List (PBL) for the Language A1 studied.
 Each work written by a different author.

Part 3 Groups of Works 4 works
 Three Language A1 works and one World Literature work studied as a group.
 All four works chosen from the same genre category.
 All three Language A1 works chosen from the PBL for the Language A1 studied.
 World Literature work ‘chosen freely’ and linked at least by genre to Language A1 works.
 Each work written by a different author.


Part 4 School’s Free Choice 4 works
 Three Language A1 works and one World Literature work studied as a group.
 All four works ‘chosen freely’.
 World Literature work linked to Language A1 works by one or more aspects such as culture, genre, theme, period, style, type of literary study, methodology.
 Each work written by a different author.

American Literature Syllabus

English II: American Literature

What does it mean to be an American? English II is a college-preparatory course designed to help answer that question. The American Dream brings with it high hopes, high expectations, and rigid realities for many people. We cannot celebrate the glorious freedoms in America without examining its limitations. Although the literary pieces we shall read can stand alone as works of art, the focus of the course is to use the literature as a means of understanding our society in which we live.

Course Objectives:
• Think critically: Learn to analyze and interpret what we read, write and say.
• Improve writing skills: Learn better grammar, prewriting, drafting and editing techniques.
• Refine English language usage: Learn and use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation and vocabulary.
• Appreciate literature: Learn to enjoy and respect novels, poetry, short stories, plays and the creative process.
• Develop communication skills: Learn to use academic and social language strategies.
• Gain skills to pass the Maryland High School Assessment for English, which you will take near the end of the school year. You must pass the assessment to graduate high school.

Required Course Texts
 Elements of Literature, Fifth Course: Literature of the United States
 The Crucible by Arthur Miller
 Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
 Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie (summer reading)

The following are texts that students must purchase on their own throughout the course. I’ve included the approximate list price to give you and your parents an idea about how much you will be spending. Often, books are available much cheaper if purchased used, via bookstores or Amazon.com. The list of titles is tentative, and it is not recommended that all books to be bought at once. I will organize book buying approximately two weeks before we begin the study of each of these texts. If ever you have issues with buying a book required for class, please let me know and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure you are prepared.
 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck ($6)
 Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston ($13)
 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ($12)
 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain ($2)
 Great American Short Stories: from Hawthorne to Hemingway edited by Corinne Demas ($8)

Grammar and Vocabulary Package
Because of the emphasis on the Maryland HSA, and because we want our students to be excellent writers, we will be using two grammar texts and one vocabulary text this year. They will be available in the middle of September and must be purchased for $25. The three texts are as follows:
 Grammar in Practice: A Foundation by Lesli J. Favor
 Daily Grammar Practice by Dawn Burdette
 Vocabulary for Achievement

Required Materials
 Three-Ring Binder
 Planner (school will provide)
 Plenty of Paper
 A spiral notebook
 Pens, pencils, highlighers
 Notebook Dictionary for your binder


Expected Behavior and Attitude:
• Respect for the teacher, your fellow classmates, and yourself. The classroom is a place where everyone should feel safe and able to participate without fear or abuse of any kind.
• Be in your seat, working, when the bell rings.
• Come to class prepared to learn; this includes bringing all necessary materials.
• Participate in classroom activities and assignments.
• Have fun!!

Class Rules:
1. We shall all respect one another in the classroom.
2. No electronic devices. All cellphones and pagers MUST be turned off. In case of an emergency, your relatives must call the school, not you.
3. Sleep is reserved for one’s home. Students who sleep in class shall receive a grade of a zero for that day’s participation.
4. Students have 3 bathroom passes to use throughout the entire semester. It is suggested that students use the facilities prior to coming to class. Bathroom passes are excused only for a 5 minute maximum and shall result in referrals if time is exceeded.
5. No food or drink is allowed in the classroom. ONLY water.
6. Pick up after yourselves. Students who leave behind trash shall be required to clean the room upon the next school day.
7. No profanity. Students need to increase vocabulary skills, and therefore, use of profanity shall result in a dictionary exercise.
8. Students arriving to class late MUST have an excused pass or shall lose half the points for the beginning activity.

Class size

I just found out there are 37 kids in my 8th period class. I haven't heard other class sizes, but that right there scares the living shit out of me. I have heard rumors of astronomical class sizes this year and they seem to be coming to fruition.

Today, I spent fifty bucks at a store called "Learning How". It was my first time in a real teacher store in Maryland and I did pretty well.

Five more end of weekend things

1. Today, I went to the gym twice but did not work out. The first time, I decided I'd rather go home and read the books I had just bought for school. The second time, I decided instead to go to Thai One On up in Towson and eat a mountain of spicy pad thai. I have probably consumed 5,000 calories today, but tomorrow is Monday and I should be able to get back on track. I've got to get into shape for school or I will be miserable being on my feet so long.

2. Eating alone is kind of cool to do on occasion. I never did it before I waited tables but, waiting tables, I see it occurring quite often. Single diners are almost always pleasant people and good tippers. I was that today, as well.

3. I have gotten almost all the things I need for my classroom except for (a) magnetic poetry [I used to see this stuff all the time, but I don't remember where, and now I can't find it]; (b) a mini fridge [Target was just too damn busy today]; and (c) the grandfather's basement type of chair or a beanbag [still holding out for the former via Craig's List, but probably going with the latter since I know I can buy one at Target for $29.99]

4. I'm getting really excited to see all the kids again and all my colleagues again but, at the same time, have a pit-in-the-stomach dread about the opening of school. Will I be ready? Will things go okay? Why the hell am I so nervous?

5. The free-choice section of my curriculum (the rest of it outlined below) is as follows: Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Macbeth, Frankenstein, and Murakami's The Elephant Vanishes.

The World's Most Famous Schoolteacher

Ugh.

The Sorrow of War - maybe I've chosen that last book I needed!

International Baccalaureate is a program similar to AP, that gives kids the opportunity to study a rich curriculum and possibly get some college credits if they do well on the tests and assignments. IB English is divided into four parts - Translated Works Study, Study of a genre, Study from a list of books they give, and School Free Choice. In the course I'm teaching next year, I'm responsible for the first and the last portions of that - the works in translation and the school free choice.

Works in translation must be written in a language other than the student's original home country, and must be from a long list that IB provides. The list has probably 250 titles, and I've read probably ten of them. You'd think I was well-read, being an English major and all, but looking at this list, I'd swear I wasn't. The ones I've read are the classic types - Antigone, The Iliad and a few others in that ilk, and hardly anything else.

It's strange what's on the list and what's not, too. For example, Sarabago won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and he's from Portugal and his work is translated, but his superb novel Blindness isn't on the list. Some book he wrote that hasn't even been translated into English is on the list, though. The list is full of these inconsistencies; I'm not sure how the list is chosen or how it's updated, but Barnes and Noble had very few of them, and the library had none.

So, I have been picking out books at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com lately, trying to figure out the best match for the curriculum I'm choosing. I'm choosing books partially for their word of mouth and for their covers. It's sad, but I don't have much else to go on. Then, I read them and figure out if they're a match for my kids and my curriculum.

Last year, the three works the teacher chose were Kiss of the Spider Woman (Argentina), The House of the Spirits, (Chile) and The Metamorphosis (Czech Republic).

She passed down a lot of lesson plans to me, but Center Stage is showing Death and the Maiden, one of my favorite plays both now and in high school, this year, and that's on the list. It's also very topical, as it deals with torture of prisoners of war. So we could read it and go watch the play on a field trip. That's awesome, and something I've never really been able to do before.

I read and loved House of Spirits, and it's rich with characters and situations that are good to write about, so that's in, too.

That left me with a third work. Unfortunately, the first two works come from Chile, and since this is a world literature course, I needed to go outside of Latin America to choose. Unfortunately, all the books I was most interested in were from Latin America. So I had to really read up. I've been reading novels from India, Japan, Africa, and France, among others.

I narrowed it down to Kenzaburo Oe's A Personal Matter and Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War, and think today I decided on the latter. It's a North Vietnamese novel and I read it today almost all in one sitting. It's a page-turner, but it also plays around with time in a non-linear way so that the kids can really sink their teeth into something to write about for their link paper.

The pendulum about teaching this new course is slowly shifting from "freakout" mode to "excitement" mode. So much of my anxiety is because I can't make decisions very well, and the uncertainty makes me nervous. Now I think I might have it. We'll see. I still wish I had another few weeks to prepare. One week from tomorrow, I'll have 150 kids staring up at me, waiting for magic to happen. Or at least competence.

At least I'll have a fish in my classroom this year in case something goes wrong...

Back to it.

Don't chase

As my time working two jobs and waiting tables winds down - I'm expecting to resign sometime this fall (but, I know, I say that every year) - I care less what people think of me. Not to be too cocky, but I know I'm a good waiter. I like doing it, like talking to people, like the restaurant I work at, like the whole process - except the tipping. I enjoy tips, but it's always hard to figure out if someone tips you poorly because he or she is a cheap asshole, or whether there was something wrong. I usually go with the former, because I'm never rude and rarely screw up, and when I do I'm apologetic.

Last night, I got a table that I sort of guessed would be assholish about their tips early on. They didn't order an appetizer, which is usually a sign of cheapness, at least at the place I work (though, admittedly, it can sometimes just be a sign that they're not that hungry). They loved the food and wrote really nice comments in the guestbook about the service, but tipped me $6 on $44. I was expecting it, but it was still shitty.

But, a little bit later, a couple with two young kids came in. We have a high chair and a booster seat and don't mind kids in the restaurant, but it's still not that common. Well, these parents let their kids run around a bit, had really specific requests for food, had to referee arguments between the kids, had a lime-juice in the eye accident, and in general just made a mess. But they were really nice, and the kids were cute, so I was happy to wait on them. However, after they left, Nikki, the bawdy British broad I work with, was clearing my table and grabbed the check. "Shit," she said. "They only left you $3 on $64."

I did three times as much work on this table than any other, and I was really mad. So mad that I went out to the sidewalk and looked both ways so I could chase them down and ask if there was any problem with the service. They were gone, though. But I didn't care; in my closing months of waiting tables, I'm going to do my damndest and do a good job, but I'm not going to be shy.

However, come to find out a few minutes later that Nikki was just fucking with me. They left me a generous $13. So I put ice down her back and we were even. Taught me a bit of a lesson, though, and I'm sure glad those folks were gone when I went chasing them down.

Zack and I grabbed a post-drink beer at Ale Mary's. That place is quickly moving up the eschelon as favorite bars in Baltimore. Too bad their food menu is so ho-hum, because their beer list is great and their TVs and atmosphere are perfect. It's hard to be in a bad mood when Mary, usually beaming and always friendly, is waiting on you.

Writing Kane

Gregory Kane, local conservative cumudgeonly columnist, addresses the issue of the minimum passing grade in Baltimore City Public Schools today. I've been in contact with him before, and have enjoyed his grouchy writing more than any other writer in the Sun even before Olesker left, so I rattled off a letter to him as soon as I read the article.

It's odd that he calls his article "Argument For Minimum Passing Grade Doesn't Pass Muster" because he really fails to even address the argument for it, other than interview a guy who graduated from Poly in 1970. How about interview college admission officers? College advisors? Is Adrian Palozzi an expert at this? (By the way, Mr. Palozzi put a sump pump in my basement, and I thought he was a really nice guy. Not a college admissions expert, though.)

I've tried to edit it down as much as I could to protect my anonymity, although it wouldn't take Sherlock Holmes. In other news, I taught Mr. Kane's grandson these past two weeks and talked about him to him in the editorial; I've cut that part out.



Dear Mr. Kane:

I always enjoy reading your editorials when you discuss Baltimore City Public Schools, and I wanted to address some issues of today's editorial with you.

... So, in that sense of the importance of autonomy, I agree that the principal or faculty should be able to choose the minimum passing grade for the school, not the school board.

However, when I started ..., a 60 was a passing grade. This is the traditional A-B-C-D model that is used in most of the high schools in the nation. I know that you would argue that ... aren't like most of the high schools in the nation, and that would be true. However, there is a reason for the "D" grade that has been in place for the last several decades in American education: not everyone is average in every subject. Making sure everyone gets at least a "C" in a class in order to pass is vageuly socialist, don't you think? Some kids are "D" students in a subject area, or they deserve a "D" for a certain semester. Should they fail? I argue that they should not fail. What raising the passing grade to a 70 has done for me as a teacher is bunch so many kids right around a 70 and make a grade of a 70 (or a 75) not very meaningful. My classes are challenging, and a kid who gets a 75 should feel like he or she worked hard for that - raising the minimum passing score has just watered that grade down.

And the point that you fail to address, or at least just cite a quotation from a 1970 graduate of Poly, is the point of college admission. Why should a kid at (a city school) be penalized with a 0.0 on their transcript and GPA for a 68% while a kid from Baltimore County (which also boasts fine high schools) or Harford County (which also boasts fine high schools) or most high schools in the state and in the country gets a credit of a 1.0 for that class and grade? We have a lot of kids whose cards are already stacked against them in college admissions, and this uneven playing field just because one happens to go to a city school just wasn't fair. The BCPSS made a practical decision here, one having to do with college admissions. They've gone back to a traditional model of an A-B-C-D grading system, which will make every grade along that spectrum mean more. One can argue that it's lowering standards, but as someone who has strict, high standards in my classrooms, I feel that is an erroneous argument, or at least one that doesn't nearly tell the whole story.

...

Thanks for your time, and your continued commitment to education and writing about it,



The Sun called me about my Letter to the Editor yesterday and said they'd print it, but I didn't return their call until the afternoon, and it's not there. I guess I'll check tomorrow.

Classroom setup

I'm going nuts with my classroom setting up this year, complete with a "Corner of Zen," which currently features a funky piece of Ikea carpet, a couple of bookcases full of books the kids can check out from my "library," the Staples "That Was Easy!" button, and will soon include a betta in a goldfish bowl, a plant, and a beanbag chair or a garage sale chair I might find this weekend (anyone in Baltimore have a funky grandpa's basement type of chair they're looking to get rid of? Give me a shout out). I need to find some magnetic poetry and hopefully some of those bigger alphabet letters to put on the chalkboard - I think I'm actually going to call it the "Corner of Zen."

I think I'm going nuts so much because I'm appreciating having a classroom more than ever before after my horrible year floating last year. Or maybe it's because I'm overcompensating for how ill-prepared I'm feeling to teach the classes I've been assigned to teach this year. I also have this sense that kids are stressed out, and will be this year, and I want my classroom to be a little bit different - it's own little world. Nothing says "own little world" like a betta I'll name Harper Lee.

Maybe I'll remember to bring in my digital camera and post some classroom photos as I'm creating it.

Off to buy a miniature refrigerator. Yup, I'm really going all out. Plus, it sure is nice to have cold water throughout the day.

Grad school pontification

I started my classes at Towson in the middle of May and didn't pay for them until this week. The bill was due on June 21, but I didn't have enough money then, and I spent the rest of the summer scraping up some money to pay for the classes and finally tried to do it on Tuesday. I was going to pay cash for about 2/3 of my $2000 bill, and put the rest on a credit card that I have 0% interest for until December.

However, the system wouldn't let me do this, so I called the Bursar's Office. Well, not only did I have to pay my summer bill, but I also had to pay my fall bill - despite the fact that classes don't start until August 28. Oops. I figured I would be paying that bill in the middle of the semester, just like the summer bill. Nope. I told her that I couldn't do that, and explained that I don't get paid again until September, and she gave me an extension again and let me pay my summer bill. I probably could take out student loans, but don't want to - I'll already be paying off the $34,000 I have for the next decade or so. I get 75% reimbursement for the courses from the city, so hopefully that money will come back to me before the credit card starts bringing up interest.

Now, I have to decide whether to try to take two classes or drop one of them. I have a class called Secondary Curriculum Development, and I looked up the Professor, and she has an English Education background and has taught at the University of Maryland as well as Towson, so I think I really want to keep that one, which meets 4:30-7:00 on Mondays. The other one is Research in Education, which meets on Wednesdays from 5:00-7:30. It's my second research course, and the first one was not very time-consuming, so I might be able to do both.

It's going to be a challenging year, and I'm not sure if I should add a brutal class schedule to it. However, I have four more classes to take and am doubting the ability to take one in the spring while coaching, and really want that raise by next school year. That could leave me with one in the fall and three in the summer... not something I want to do, necessarily, especially because there's no guarantee at all that I'll be able to get into the classes I need in the summer.

I think I've decided to go to both classes during the first week and assess the work loads in each, and then probably drop one of them, and that one will probably be the Research course.

Memo to Bobby Smooth: Sometimes, a kid is just a D student

It's no secret that I dislike Bob Ehrlich a great deal, but his latest act just mystifies me. As was reported earlier this week, the City School Board voted to lower the minimum passing grade from a 70 to a 60 this past year.

Good move. As a teacher, it helps me because, frankly, not all kids are average at every subject. I end up with a ton of kids bunched up right in the 68-72 range, and have to juggle numbers sometimes to get kids to pass. The grade of a 70 as a minimum passing grade just watered down what a "C" really was. Sometimes, a kid works pretty hard and just gets a "D". It happens. The traditional A-B-C-D grading scale - which has been in effect for as long as American has had public schools - works to allow for a kid who deserves not to have to retake a class but still isn't up the the par of average.

The reason the school board made the change, however, is much more practical. Graduates of city public schools would be credited with a 0.0 on their 0-4.0 scale when applying to college if they received a grade between 60 and 69. Kids from the county would receive a credit of a 1.0 on the same scale for the same grade. Already disadvantaged city kids were being judged more harshly than kids from around the rest of the state when it came to college admissions. That just sucks.

My sources within North Avenue tell me that the city publics schools have tried for the last four years to communicate its grading scale to colleges, but, every year, it is at least partially ignored by colleges. Thus, graduates of city public schools are put at a disadvantage, simply because of the grading scale. Baltimore County Public Schools is on the traditional 60-100 scale, as are the majority of districts in the state - so why are city public schools being criticized for this move?

It doesn't lower standards; it just changes the scale to allow for a kid below average in a certain subject to still get the credit as long as they attain over 60% of the skills. What this will do is make all the grades more authentic, because there won't be a huge number of kids bunched up with a 70. I'm really looking forward to it.

To see Bob Ehrlich (who, when I was about to be laid off three years ago, called the financial crisis of the BCPSS "fascinating") use this as a political wedge just infuriates me. Especially considering that it was the school board that voted for this, and Ehrlich appointed half of the school board himself. O'Malley just learned about the vote this week and had just as much influence on it as Ehrlich did.

And to those of you who think that the Baltimore Sun is a liberally-biased newspaper, it is, but their coverage of this event has been incredibly conservative. In this article, I have to scroll all the way to the second page at the bottom to get any justification of why this move was made - it's all about giving Baltimore City kids a fair shake at college admissions, yet the article leads off with the lowering standards bullshit.

Compensating at Staples

I just totally overcompensated for my nervousness about the upcoming year by spending $148 at Staples on stuff for my classroom. That's just the first round; I'm sure there will be more things. I already realized I forgot to buy a stapler.

The one luxury item was a chair for myself for $39. It was half off. I'm tired of sitting on the hard plastic chairs that the students sit in, and the lumbar support sold me on it - my back hasn't felt right since I injured it weighlifting a few weeks ago. I'm going to start seeing an MT once school starts and money starts coming in.

Otherwise, it was two bookcases, three crates, an American flag display (I'm teaching American Literature and am going to create a poster tonight using the flags somehow), contact paper, construction paper, tacks, tape, and - totally spur of the moment - a Staples "That Was Easy" button. One thing I've heard about the IB program is that the kids get really stressed out from the workload. I figure that the button will be all they need to keep themselves sane. I'm just kidding of course, but it'll be at least funny. I hope I don't hear the mechanical voice saying "That was easy" over and over and over again.

If I owned a house, the fact that the $148 was tax-deductible would matter. As it is, though, the hundreds of dollars I generally spend on my classroom don't come close to exceeding standard deducation. Oh well.

Dreams

I rarely dream, or at least I rarely remember my dreams. It's usually only when I take an afternoon nap that a dream wakes me up or stays in my mind.

I just had two dreams.

The first involved my father's boat. I decided to take some friends out on Lake Michigan - as if my father would ever let me take out the boat without him - even though a storm seemed like it was approaching. Right when we hit the lake, we decided to go to a beach down the way. All of a sudden, I heard some shouts and screams, and looked back, and there was a tidal wave that looked just like the tsunami tidal wave in Thailand a year and a half ago. It rose out of the lake like a monster, and came at us. I grabbed my sister and clung on to a tree branch, but the water swept us away. The dream felt so real that even though part of my consiousness had to have known it was a dream, I still fought hard to wake myself up and wasn't quite sure if I could.

The second dream, which occurred right after first, involved the first day of school. Somehow I was placed in front of the worst group of students I have ever encountered. They started off really mean and talkative, and it just got worse. I sent out a kid for being beliggerant, and went out to talk to him to try to calm him, and he said something like, "Ain't no teacher going to tell me to calm down" and then he hit me. A girl decided to hurl insults at me for no apparent reason, laughing as she did. Kids kept talking, even after I had kicked out much of the class. Finally, the Assistant Principal came in, as well as a colleague, to tell me that this group had been especially problematic the rest of the dya and they were coming to check on me. I ended the class by having all the remaining kids write a reflection of their behavior. It was horrifying. I rarely send kids out of the room, and certainly never am treated that way.

Hmmm - a deadly tidal wave and a hellish first day of school. Think there's any connection? Think I'm feeling anxiety about this upcoming school year? Wow, that ain't the half of it.

I'm teaching two of our highest stakes classes with two curriculums brand new to me (even now, on August 16th, I have not chosen all my IB texts), as well as taking grad school courses and working a second job, and I guess I'm more nervous than I care to admit.

Classroom library

The birthday was nice. We took over the back area of Joe Squared, which again impressed me with its thin, tasty pizza and beer. A lot of my friends showed up, including some nice suprises, and we had a good time. Afterwards, we headed up to O'Donnell's Pub near my house, so I could walk home after a few more drinks. That's what happened, and my night ended up at a pretty healthy 11:30pm before I got really tired and headed home.

I woke up just fine this morning, and the kids made my day a pleasant one - all really nice and many with clever senses of humor. Yesterday, a teacher got a group of about 40 kids to sing me Happy Birthday, so the kids were all abuzz with questions about what I did. That I hung out at a pizza place on North Avenue impressed them - I'll take the street cred where I can get it - and one too-astute-for-her-own-good little girl noticed me wearing my glasses (which I wear rarely, only when my eyes are giving me problems or they're really dry) and drinking water like a camel and asked if it was a late night. It was fine, really, and I just said I missed breakfast and was extra thirsty.

This afternoon, I plan on spending the fifty bucks my parents sent me for birthday on a bookcase for my classroom. I've had a dream for a longtime of having a classroom library, and think I'm going to take the plunge. I'm actually thinking of bringing in a slab of Ikea carpet and setting up the back corner of the room as a reading lounge or something like that. Not exactly sure yet, but I'm hopeful it could be a cool thing. I'll probably be forced to get rid of it because of fire code violations or something silly like that, but I'm going to do my best.

May the roaring twenties go out with a bang

I rarely need an excuse for reflection on my life, as I'm a constant overthinker of everything I do. However, besides New Year's Day, a couple of things always give me pause and make me navel gaze: landing on an airplane and having a birthday. I begin writing this post just twenty-three minutes before I turn 29 years old, and at the end of a month that included four flights, the death of a grandmother, and the wedding of my two best friends in Baltimore as well as the wedding of a close friend from college. The weddings and the funeral are obvious moments where what has happened to others causes deep introspection in one's own life, and, if you need a reminder of that, take a look through the last month of entries.

However, it's flights I want to talk about. I've boarded an airplane four times in the last three weeks, and each time, as we're descending, I think to myself, "Would I be alright with how I lived my life if we end up crashing right now?" I'm not really scared of flying anymore than I am with any other reliquishing of control - I also hate being a passenger in a car just as much - but flying makes me ask the question. And each time I've asked myself in the last month that question, the answer has been "yes." And that feels pretty good. My life is feeling well-led right now.

Now, I'm about to enter the last year of my twenties. In many facets of my life, I'm behind where I wanted to be in the grand plan. I wanted to get married at around 28 and start a family. It didn't happen, and in fact really hasn't gotten that close, at least in the last four or five years. I'm more okay with that than I would have expected. Sometimes, I fear that I've become accustomed to being alone - you know, used to coming home to just a dog and a cat - but most of the time I still feel like my life is pretty rich and full. Yeah, a wife and kids would be nice still, someday, but my life hasn't been a failure because I'm not there yet and won't be a failure if it doesn't happen. I'd be a great dad, but I feel like I'm helping the future quite a bit as it is.

I'm also surrounded by mentoring folks who have waited way longer than I have so far to get married. My former department head got married at 33 and had her first kid at 35. My next former department head got married young - early twenties - but didn't have his first kid until 35. The best teacher in my department got married just a couple of years ago at age 32 or 33, and is just now pregnant with her first kid. See, waiting until you're past thirty is the new thing to do. It was also the old thing to do - my grandpa was 38 when he met my grandma, who was 24 at the time.

I wonder, though, why I'm listing all those people and comparing myself to others. It's silly, really. Am I happy with my life? That's the only benchmark there should be. And, really, I am. It's mostly the job and the friends that make me happy, but those two things are significant enough to make this life livable. I love my job enough so that even when I get embittered by it, I still like going in. The kids make me happy enough to want to do this teaching thing for the rest of my life, and I know that much of the satisfaction I have in life comes from the fact that I - without a touch of irony - feel like I'm changing the world for the better in my line of work.

Therefore, my goal for the next year is to become the best damn teacher I can possibly be. No more saying to myself that, oh, they can wait another day to get those essays back. I want to work my butt off this year. Part of this stems from the fact that I didn't feel like I had a great year last year, and I know that much of my life's worth comes from how well I can teach - so if I'm not doing that well, then what do I have? So I want to work my butt off this year. I also want to get my Master's, go to the NCTE convention, and be a really good baseball coach.

As for the second job, I'd really like to quit. I owe $1800 on my car, and should be able to pay it off in the next month or two. Then, it's officially going to be save-to-buy-a-house time. The car purchase, that albatross around my neck (great car, bad interest rate), has felt like I couldn't get well enough ahead this year. No more. I need to get in a place where I won't feel guilty about letting the second job go. It might be this year, as it's going to be a rough year - with the two new classes and the taking grad classes.

My social life feels pretty good right now. As usual, I need to spend less time at the computer and more time going to the movies or going on dates. I've had a few dates this past month, and things felt pretty good, and I'm hella excited about this beautiful girl who seemed interested in me (gave me her card, lots of contact) the other night at Brewer's Art. I will pretend she's not way out of my league and have asked her out.

I'd like to get more fit. I joined the Stadium Place YMCA today and plan on rejuvenating my morning workout plan next year. The location of the gym to my school is much closer than the Towson Bally's was, meaning I'll be much more likely to go there in the morning. Last year, I remember my goal was to go every day of the school year, allowing myself ten days without going. Well, it ended up that I only went 30 days in the morning and the rest of my workouts were just randomly placed throughout the day. This, of course, makes it more likely for me to skip them. Routine is important for my health, so this should help.

As for Baltimore, the epiphany is still here. I've had my share of peaks and valleys here, but right now feel like I'm on a steadily ascending peak. When I graduated from college, I wanted a change from Michigan after the year of student teaching, wanting a decent sized city in the south somewhere, and threw a dart at a map and ended up in Baltimore, MD. That was five years ago. And I love this city - its people, its culture, its kids. I feel like this is the place where I became a man, became an independent person on my own. I lost 120 lbs the year before and the year after I ended up in Baltimore, so I always felt like the person I presented to the world here was a different person than I presented back in Michigan. And that feels good. I ended up at a decent school in the city public school system that doesn't make me think I'm banging my head against a wall, where the kids want to learn and try their best. And I truly love my job, even the year I was worried about getting laid off everyday or even this past year when I don't even have a classroom, and live a pretty happy life.

I'm 29 now. May the roaring twenties go out with a bang.

School vandalism

The school was vandalized - badly - over the weekend, and today we had to send all the kids away and spend the day cleaning up broken glass, spent fire extinguisher gas powder, and strewn paper. It was a sad day, but apparently they've caught the kids and they're apparently not our students (yet - some might be rising 9th graders), which makes it better. Plus, while a lot of damage was done, it could have been much, much worse. A few computers were destroyed or taken, but not as many as could have been, and the English department was nearly untouched.

Problematic for me is that there was some speculation that the kids targeted teachers of Summer Bridge, as the jovial art teacher who got in a conflict with a student on Friday had his room ransacked - paint on computer screens, thousands of dollars in damage - and the classroom from which I teach was also badly ransacked. I wonder if I pissed some kid off that I didn't know about.

Better explanation is that it's all random. I was shaking in the morning, I was so mad and sad about it. After seeing how the community came together, though, with police, councilmen, alumni, workers, teachers, principals all cleaning up the mess, I'm left feeling proud again. We shielded the place from tv cameras and just went to work and, except for the multitude of broken windows, you couldn't even tell what happened as we left.

Birthday location decision

In one corner is Thirsty Dog Pub, which offers the best non-Resurrection beers in Baltimore for the price of 2/$3, and great pizzas and salads for under ten bucks. Unfortunately, it's down in Federal Hill, which besides being a bit too frat boy for me with poor parking, is just plain far. A $12 cab ride turns into a $20 cab ride just by going to the other side of the water.

In another corner is a new place, as yet undecided, which also offers good beer and drink and food at a good price, and can also accomondate a group of 15 or so people.

I thought Arcos, the Latin restaurant/bar at Broadway and Pratt, might be the place. I've never been there, but I stopped by on the way home from the restaurant today to check it out. Seems like it could work. However, they seem to only have three beers on tap and I haven't been in the mood for margaritas since that crazy night out at Gecko's a month and a half ago. Plus, the menu just looks a little bit iffy, and not very vegetarian friendly. Normally I wouldn't care and don't even mention it, but it is my birthday.

Later, I thought about Kiss Cafe, so we could sit outside, but they don't have beers on tap.

I'm considering DuClaw, but, eh, the food was just sort of standard bar fare, nothing special, and beer prices are a little expensive because it's right on Thames. Great outside atmosphere, though, and it might be nice and uncrowded on a Tuesday.

I'd like to consider places in Midtown, like Midtown Yacht Club, but that place isn't grabbing me right now (especially since the guy I used to frequent the place frequently with, Ryan, is out of town) and it's so dark and dingy.

Hmmmm. What a quandary. Suggestions welcome. What great place in Baltimore am I missing?

A few rules:

1. It must be able to accomondate 15 or so people.

2. I'm not into crabs. I could write a whole post about how they're way too much work for what you get, and all the carcasses left on the table are nasty, but I won't. Plus, I just had to go out for crabs on Thursday - luckily I ate beforehand.

3. The more central for north Baltimore, the better.

4. I'd love somwhere where I could sit outside.

5. Need cheap. I still haven't had a paycheck in two months.

Maybe Thirsty Dog is what I should do. I happen to remember two years ago, on my birthday, it was closed for some reason, so I've never actually spent a birthday there. But it's so expected coming from me. I don't like to be predictable, and I like new places.

The beheading of Alan Tramell (or, Dogsitting a naughty dog)

Every time I dogsit, I'm reminded how lucky I am to have Holden. Mostly, I like him because he's old and chill. I'm not sure why anyone would want a puppy. This dog I'm dogsitting for a week and a half, Luna the pug, isn't even a puppy anymore - she's over a year old - but I feel like I've got to watch her like she's an infant. Unless she's right there with me, I've got to assume the worst, whether that might be chewing up a role of toilet paper, pooping in my office, tormenting the cat, or finding a pack of chewing gum and leaving a mess all over the carpet.

Worst, she beheaded and amputated Alan Trammell. It's not bad enough that he was overlooked for the Hall of Fame in favor of Ozzie Smith, or that he was fired as Manager of the Detroit Tigers the year before they're about to win a hundred games, but now his likeness is in pieces:



Not only that, but the dog is already making itself way too much at home. Any possible problems with adjustment seem like they're already gone. Yup, that's the dog, on my bed, without invitation:



Good thing she's really cute:

Vacation photos

Almost all of my vacation photos are from the first weekend I was in Michigan. After that, my camera filled up before I could upload the photos, and my batteries died, and then my grandma died and I wasn't thinking about no pictures. But here are a few. I got a little picture happy at the Tiger games, like usual, but a few turned out nice.


Taken by an usher after the Tigers beat the A's on Sunday, July 22. That's Kevin, Chris, Pete, Gale, Nate, me, and Steph.


One of my favorite parts of Comerica Park is the statues out in left field that depict the greatest Tigers. This is Ty Cobb.


This is Hank Greenberg, the first Jewish baseball superstar.


Baltimore's own Al Kaline, who played baseball at Southern High School and went straight to the Tigers at age 18.


My dad and I had seats about ten feet to the left of the foul pole, in the first row. This is about an hour before gametime. Notice our great view of the bullpen.


View of the field.


Ernie Harwell, the greatest baseball announcer of all time.

The annual RA reunion at Spartans Sports Den. That's Jen, Chris, Heath, Erin, Alan, Steph, girl I don't know, myself, and Kevin.

Half Nelson

I'd like to see Little Miss Sunshine, but the movie I'm most excited about is Half Nelson. The trailer is here. I heard an interview with the filmmaker today on NPR and immediately went online to find the trailer. I've watched it about three times and nearly get choked up each time.

Relaxing

It was my first day off in Baltimore in a long time, and I spent it well - slept in a little, went to the gym, picked up 24 free books at The Book Thing, went to Target and bought a home phone, paid rent, mowed the lawn, finished two books. I almost went to the movies solo tonight, but decided against it, opting to clean the house and get some schoolwork done instead. I still don't have my cell phone back, and can't call any of my friends, but it was kind of nice to be quiet and solitary for the day. My vacation to Michigan wasn't relaxing at all, and since then I've been running around to weddings and goodbye parties and softball games.

Tonight was very relaxing, a night full of reading out on the porch in the beautiful evening weather. One of the good things about having a huge unsightly tree/bush in front of the porch (if I had bought this house, that tree would have been out of here as soon as humanly possible) is that I'm afforded a lot of privacy and shade on the front porch. This evening, I read for about an hour out there, using Holden as a footrest.

Bud Selig sucks

There's a certain shitty irony in the fact that the only Tiger games that I cannot watch are those that are nationally televised. My MajorLeagueTV package is blacked out on Saturday afternoons because of national broadcasts, and now I can't watch the big game this afternoon.

Instead of showing the Tigers/White Sox, who are embroiled in a bitter division race, they're showing the Orioles/Red Sox. For a national broadcast, this might have been appropriate to do in 1998, but not in 2006.

Baseball really is pretty clueless about its fans. Now, instead of watching baseball, I've got the TV turned off and am furiously uploading the game updates so I can follow the big game.

Reservations About Reservation Blues

If I never read another Sherman Alexie book, it will be too soon. I liked The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, which was a collection of short stories. Reservation Blues sort of felt disjointed like that, except it was a novel and not a collection.

About halfway through the book, I began to actively dislike it. It wasn't just because I was imagining all my poor little rising 10th graders trying to read the book over the summer, either. It's just a bad book. The characters are cardboard and the dialogue is stiff. The multi-genre stuff was as obvious as neon lights. I laughed a few times, but most attempts at humor were too broad and sitcomish. Lastly, I just don't think Alexie is a very good writer. He tries, but he tries too hard. He writes with a cockiness that the stuff he is writing about are things most people don't know, and thus he will be praised even if the stuff is crap. The political commentary was clumsy bumper sticking.

I really wanted to like this book. A teacher snuck it onto the summer reading list, and it's a reminder that I shouldn't let that happen because now that teacher isn't even at the school anymore and I'm going to be stuck teaching the class.

Pugsit

I'm dogsitting a pug for the next two weeks. It's the cutest little dog I've ever seen. Holden is not too pleased, though.

Seven up

1. Two of my closest friends are done with Baltimore as of this week, one off to Minnesota and the other to Costa Rica. I'm in total denial about it, and don't know when it will hit me.

2. We lost our championship softball game tonight. I made the final out of the season. It wasn't that big of a deal, though, as we were down 15-7.

3. I'm mulling over options for my big birthday extravaganza on Tuesday. I could do Thirsty Dog, and I'm leaning towards it, as I do love it, but I don't have much love for Federal Hill, nor do I want all my friends to have to go all the way down there. Brewer's Art is awesome, but I just went there tonight. Those are my two favorite Baltimore bars. But maybe I should choose somewhere I don't go that often, since it is a special occasion. A guy doesn't turn 29 every day.

4. Last year for my birthday, I was on the Outer Banks. Ah. A week on the beach would hit the spot right now. Instead, I'm teaching Summer Bridge, which means tomorrow morning I'll be teaching the lesson I planned for the 10th time. Yes, ten times. It's a bang-up lesson, but doing something ten times gets pretty boring.

5. Bobby showed up at the house tonight late. He came up to Baltimore because an extended family member promised him some spending money to get him through the month, but she forgot to go to the bank so he didn't get any. His train goes back to UMD at 6:40 tomorrow morning. Oh my gosh. 6:40. That's really freaking early that I'll be waking up to drive him there, then putting some cash in his hand. The only thing is, I haven't been paid since July 4 and the Amazon.com payment still hasn't come through yet. They let him get a job at the end of the month and he's looking forward to it.

6. Imagine being in your house, trying to fall asleep at 12:30 in the morning, and hearing an unexpected knock on your bedroom door. My heart is still racing.

Airport security whining

One of my current pet peeves is hearing people complain about airports and airport security. It's happening a lot today, as I've heard people on the news bitch and moan about the extra wait time or the fact that they can't bring a drink on the plane. It also happened a lot on my last couple of flights. On the way to Michigan, a flight attendant (!) complained that her open canned lunch had to go through the x-ray machine, which she didn't think it would do without spilling. She was a complete bitch to the airport security folks, and ended up just throwing away her lunch in a huff and walking away. You'd think that they would be on the same team.

On the way to Ohio last weekend, the flight was delayed while on the ground because a bracket fell off of some fuel gauge and the authorities needed to fill out a report and replace the bracket. We were only delayed about 45 minutes, but the man next to me decided to call someone on his cell phone and loudly complain that, "Soem bureacrat decided that he didn't want us to fly anytime soon." Even when the pilot came back to answer questions about it, he was rude.

Maybe it's just me, but I like all the red tape when going to an airport and taking a flight. It makes me feel safe. There have been no major plane crashes in this country for the last five years, since 9/11, and that's pretty darn good. Something about airport security is working. Quit your bitching.

Trifecta

1. The Tigers just lost a series 2-1 to the Twins, their first series loss since before the All-Star break. If the Tigers end up winning the division - and their ten game lead is looking nice right now - then I'm rooting for any team besides the Twins to get the Wild Card. In other words, Go Yankees! Or, even harder for me, Go White Sox! I just don't think there's a better 1-2-3 league in baseball than Liriano-Santana-Radke, and that's the kind of team that could really kill in a short series. This feeling is also probably the result of last time the Tigers made it to the Playoffs - 1987, what a great season - they lost to the Twins in five games. This Twins team reminds me of that one, a team full of great pitching and a lot of guys that would be fun to root for if I didn't hate the team so much. They're a team that I hate because I respect them so much, though, a team that has been a rival for nearly twenty years. I just don't want to see them in the postseason.

2. For the last few months, every now and then I've seen a guy at the gym who looked familiar. This happens a lot at the gym, though, as you see people there just once in a while, and you never really talk with them, so they become somewhat familiar faces just through repetition. However, I saw this guy today, and he was wearing a Michigan State shirt, and then it clicked that I probably knew him from back home. I went up to him and talked to him, and he said that he'd been thinking the same thing about me, and had wanted to ask me before if I had gone to MSU. Not only did we both go to Michigan State, but we both lived in the same dorm, and he DJ'd in the coffeehouse venue I started up in the basement of Akers Dorm. I just had dinner with his old RA the week before last up in Michigan. What a small world. We actually exchanged e-mails and said we should get together for Spartan games this fall and winter. We'll see if it happens. I'll admit a small fantasy of starting up a Baltimore MSU Alumni Chapter, as my buddy is an officer (maybe even President?) of the DC Alumni group, and he's always talking about the fun things they do. I've seen a couple games down there with the group, and it is a good time. I also happened to be in NYC last year during a Spartans Basketball game, and watched it with the MSU Alumni group there, and that was a lot of fun. Hmmm. I wonder how many Spartans live in Baltimore?

3. I really am not enjoying Sherman Alexie's Reservation Blues, which is summer reading for my tenth graders next year. I'm trying to figure out why, exactly, as there are some funny parts and parts where there is great writing. It just is all so scattershot, though. Too self-consciously clever. I don't much like the characters, and some have barely dileanated themselves apart from one another. A colleague tells me I should rent Smoke Signals, the movie based upon a book (The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, which I liked better since it was a collection of short stories, so it had reason to be disjointed), because then the characters become richer, but I've had three Netflix movies sitting for the longest time on my shelf and don't really want to add to my "To Watch" pile when I'm clearly not turning onthe TV or DVD player more than once a week anyway. Oh well. It was more tolerable today, and hopefully tomorrow I can be done with it and never think about it again until I have to write the summer reading quiz and then discuss it with students. Next on the list of my never-decreasing-books-I-need-to-read-before-school-starts-because-of-these-two-new-classes? Brave New World. I started that one a few years ago and never finished it, disinterested. I just felt like it was poor man's version of 1984, and actually reminded me of an X-Files episode. Then I got daydreaming about Gillian Anderson, and lost my focus, and put the book down, never picking it up again. I'm going into it with an open mind, though.

Dan Bern and Melissa Ferrick

I've been bemoaning the lack of live music in my life for some time now, and refused to pay $50+ to see Ray Lamontagne this summer at Pier Six to assuage it. Therefore, while reading City Paper today, imagine my happiness when I discovered that my two favorite singer/songwriters and two favorite live performers are performing at the 8X10 Club one week apart from each other in September.

Thursday, September 21: Dan Bern
Thursday, September 28: Melissa Ferrick

I haven't seen the Bob Dylan-esque Dan Bern in at least three years, and vividly remember the amazing live experiences I've had watching him at The Ark in Ann Arbor, MI. I haven't seen Melissa Ferrick since about a year ago, and have been hankering for some time to see the lesbian Bruce Springsteen again. I booked her a couple times at Michigan State - she even mentioned me in her blog at the time - and she hugged me a couple of summers ago in Baltimore when I re-introduced myself after a show at the Monument. This is going to be awesome.

Four years ago, in my dream concert, I got to see the two of them perform together at Fletcher's. This will be the next best thing. I'll be buying tickets as soon as they go on sale, and try to be the first one in line for each.

A list

1. I can't sleep.

2. Today I am 28 years and 359 days old. Yes, the big 2-9 is rapidly approaching. I think 28 was a good year - better than 27, and much better than 26.

3. I somehow have the weekend off. Mostly, I'm being punished for taking so much time off. That's okay. I do work Friday. I've been invited to NYC for the weekend, but would rather save some money and spend some time here in Baltimore.

4. I'm close to a second date with the date from last Thursday. However, arranging our schedules is challenging. I'm beginning to think she really isn't that into doing a second date. Losing one's cell phone is certainly not an attractive quality.

5. I'm dogsitting a pug for the next two weeks. This weekend, I might be adding an English Bulldog to the mix. My house will be a zoo if that happens.

6. All my sessions went well today. The kids are bright and cheery.

7. I'm going to try to go back to bed now.