Michael Moore's Sicko

I saw my first movie since Oscar season last night, using my last two free passes to The Charles to attend opening night of Michael Moore's Sicko.

I know that he is a very controversial figure, but I'm someone who thinks Moore is a great American. I don't agree with him all the time, and don't always agree with his methods, but his combination of anger and humor to instill social change is something that I think will age well. I think that if noted satirists like Mark Twain were alive today, they would be doing something like Moore does. He is, of course, a Michigan native, and I've seen him speak several times, and I feel a sense of homestate pride whenever I see or hear him in the media (the ubiquitous Tigers or Spartans hat helps).

That being said, I sort of wish that someone else had made this movie. Not because I was disappointed with it, but because Moore is such a polarizing figure, half the country who doesn't like him will probably not see this movie. And that's too bad, because it's an eye-opening and heart-wrenching look at the issue of universal health care, which hopefully will become a major issue in the upcoming Presidential election. It's unbelievable that we're the only Western nation not to offer it to all of its citizens.

The film is best when it focuses on the stories of the everyday Americans who are denied health care despite being fully insured; the most affecting for me was the story of Tracy Pierce, who dies at 37 of kidney cancer after a bone marrow transplant is denied as "experimental," after his little brother proves a perfect match. And Moore's examination of how the country has come to this for-profit system of health care - going back to Nixon tapes - is insightful. My favorite parts after the personal stories probably centered around the interview of an old British guy talking about democracy, about how it works only because people are healthy and educated. I'd pay $50 to listen to that old British guy talk for two hours, actually.

I wished Moore had gone more into the other "socialistic" systems that America has - he mentions firefighters, police, education, sanitary workers - and talked about the failure that movements to, say, privatize education have brought. Privatizing medical care has also been a failure, as would privatizing any of the above-mentioned services.

For me, the film's flaws surface in the last quarter of film, when Moore goes too overboard on the France love. The film is about health care; why is it important that, in France, there is governmental assistance to mothers for doing laundry? These sort of utopian visions of society won't do much to convince middle-of-the-road Americans that universal health care is possible in the United States. I also didn't much care for the Cuba stunt, simply because it felt like a commercial for Cuba (a country that ranks #39, two slots behind the US, in health care for its citizens), although I admit to crying a bit during the firefighter scene.

Others will criticize the film for being one-sided, which, like all Moore's films, it is. He's not claiming to be an objective storyteller; he's trying to convince people of something, and educated audience members know this. One interesting thing to me is that most of the criticisms of the film involve his praise of the health care systems in other countries, and these folks plug the months-long wait for care in Canada and France as evidence of its falsehood. And I think this might be true in some situations there, but it's also certainly true here in our HMO system. When I had shoulder pain last year, it took me several months and several doctor visits to get the one cortizone shot that eliminated the pain.

So, overall, I felt like Sicko was typical Michael Moore - a sad, funny, and often brilliant mix of personal interviews, retro stock footage, and stunts. It was moving and frustrating at the same time, like all of his films. I still think his masterpiece is Bowling for Columbine, but even that had its moments I didn't care for (the Heston interview). I'll probably never be 100% satisfied with a Michael Moore film, but I'll always feel like I've learned something and leave the theater wanting to change the world.

And it helps that he wears a Michigan State Spartan hat or a Detroit Tigers hat through almost all of his films.

Sunroof closed

I woke up today to find the garbage bag I put over the hole in my roof barely worked at all, and the inside of my car was soaked. Oh, what a Charlie Brown existence I lead.

I headed to a dealership, and, four hours and $196 later, the sunroof is closed. It totally sucks that I had to spend a couple hundred on something that, a week ago, wasn't even in the realm of possibility. However, the diagnostic alone cost $90, and after an hour of working on it, they could not get it closed, and came over to tell me the bad news. I looked outside, saw that it was still raining, and the thought of getting back in the soaking wet vehicle and then going out in the rain depressed the hell out of me. I begged and pleaded them to keep at it, and I told them it didn't matter if it ever worked again, I just needed it shut. I asked them to force it, to do whatever it takes.

Well, they went back to working on it, and finally got it shut. They also turned off the switch, so I never have to worry about it.

I also got an estimate of how much the power steering will be to fix. The price is through the roof: $2125. Dumping a couple thousand dollars into a 6-year old car with over 100,000 miles on it probably isn't going to happen, and I asked them if it was a pressing problem. They said that, no, it wasn't, just to make sure I continue to add power steering fluid all the time to it.

I have an appointment on July 10 for a place a blogfriend recommended. We'll see if his estimate is any better, and if what else he says. I'm hoping this is something that can be accomplished in three digits, not four, and that I can get by until the fall.

Politics and baseball

1. What? Is this Hillary Clinton saying something ballsy?... "Let me just put this in perspective: If HIV-AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34 there would be an outraged, outcry in this country," said the New York senator. Yes, it was. And then I double-checked, and she was speaking at Howard University, a historically black college. I'll give her some credit when she actually goes out on a limb sometime. What a thermometer she is (a thermometer checks the temperature of a room and adjusts accordingly, whereas a thermostat sets the temperature of the room). One of my fears this election is that I'll be forced to vote for a retread like Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, or John Edwards.

2. The Supreme Court ruling to disallow diversity plans in school assignment is some scary shit. Our nation's schools are already more segregated than during the time of Brown vs. Board of Education, and these diversity plans were just attempting to combat this rampant segregation where it could be done. A bunch of white parents decided to fight it, saying they don't want a bunch of brown kids to go to their white school, and the Supreme Court just - shockingly and sadly - backed them up. As Barack Obama said yesterday, "Until we view them as our children, and not their children, we'll never see progress."

3. Fred Thompson scares the shit out of me. I waited on these nice people from New Mexico the other day, and I couldn't help but steer the conversation to politics. "So, what do you think about your governor running for President?", I asked them, and they proceeded to tell me why Bill Richardson was a heinous liar about many things, and then told me that they were going to Fred Thompson. "Oh, really? Why do you like him?," I asked nicely. "Oh, he just seems to honest and like a regular guy, and I liked him on that show." It's amazing how Republicans can denounce Hollywood types like Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon from being involved in the political process, but there are much more right-winged Hollywood types actually involved in real politics these days on that side. It's not about the Hollywood types; it's about who you agree with.

4. Was anyone else watching the Yankees/Orioles game yesterday? The umps suspended the game after Derek Jesus delivered the two run single in the 8th inning to give the Yank-Mes the lead. It was a ludicrous decision, as the chopper up the middle would have been fielded if the game was dry. The rain was pouring at that point, and it just should been called. Melvin Mora was hopping mad about it, and I don't blame him for a second; apparently he was tossed from the game. I have to believe the Yankees are paying off the umpires for those kinds of moves.

Silly busted sunroof

The whole "broken sunroof" thing is just silly. It hasn't worked since Tuesday, but somehow I thought I could just "get by" by putting a garbage bag over the hole in the roof.

Today, at the bar, though, I had done that, but a waitress ran over and asked, "Who own a blue Pontiac?" and, of course, it was me, and the garbage bag had blown off the roof somehow.

So, now, I'm left with the issue of having a car without a roof, because the sunroof doesn't close, and nowhere to put my car. This is only an issue that I would have in Baltmiore, because, anywhere else, or at least home in Michigan, I would have a garage to store it in. No luck here. I've got the garbage bag rigged up again, and, unfortunately, probably a trip to the dealer tomorrow, and perhaps a bill of several hundred dollars to fix it.

This is such a bizarre issue, because I couldn't care less about it if it weren't raining, but it's raining, so now this fancy thing that my car has is a serious issue keeping the interior of my car clean.

This sucks. As does our first softball loss today. However, the time at the bar afterwards was a lot of fun.

Summer vacation

I don't have that much interesting going on these days, though I am realizing that the summer vacation couldn't be going better.

First, I'm looking at fitness as my "job" this summer, and am spending a couple hours a day in the gym. I feel great and am starting to see results. I don't care too much about poundage - I just want to feel good and I want my clothes to fit well - but I made a point of stepping on the scale when I started this new fitness thrust and stepped on it yesterday and was happy to see that I'd lost seven pounds. I really let myself go in the last six months, munching on donuts a couple times a week at school, going to the gym only 2-3 times a week, etc, and it's nice to get back in gear. What will be key for me is maintenance when curveballs are thrown into my summer, like when I take my class in a couple of weeks, when my sister visits (she wants to go to Ocean City, where I've never been and don't particularly want to go), and when I sojourn back to Michigan.

I'm lifting every day, working on different parts of my body each day, and doing about an hour of cardio every day as well. The latter has been made easier by my mp3 player, which I'm loving and just makes the time slip by. I'm running every other day for my cardio, and have pushed myself up into the four-mile range already. It's slow, but I'm tossing around the idea of starting to register for a 5K race to push myself to get the running in faster.

Other good things are happening, too: lots of time to read, lots of time to organize my things (I really need a computer desk, though, and have been scouring craig's list for a cheap one that I can transport in my vehicle, which is a tough thing. Could use some shelves, too), lots of time to be social in different ways. I even went on a date last night. 41 is too old for me (I didn't know beforehand), though it was nice to get out there nonetheless.

I'm also undertaking some projects that are kind of fun - a vocabulary list for my freshmen and juniors next year, some transcribing of daily grammar practice into my own format, and, best of all, creating a list of the my 200 most important songs. See, for my 30th birthday on Wednesday, August 15, I'm planning on (hopefully) taking over a bar somewhere, setting up my I-Pod to play those 200 songs on random through the place's central music system (I've got two ideas of where it should be, and I'm going to check on them shortly), writing up the entire list, and giving out mixed CD as party favors. Very dorky, but it's totally me.

Today, I'm going to sit back and enjoy a midweek afternoon Tigers game on my majorleaguebaseball tv on my computer. Tonight, I'm playing softball in the sauntering heat with my school's co-ed softball team. Then, we'll probably head to Looney's for $1 beers. Tomorrow, I'm using my free passes to The Charles to see Michael Moore's Sicko, the first film I've wanted to see there in quite a while.

Baltimore Orioles 3, New York Yankees 2

What a game!

Tonight might have been the most fun I've ever had at Camden Yards in a non-Tigers game. We had shitty seats, but it didn't matter. The last few innings were intense. And winning on a bases-loaded walk... you don't see that everyday!

Great game, great time, all for under $13 ($8 for the ticket, $1.66 for the soda outside, and $2.75 for the pretzel inside, free parking on Cross Street). In addition, the weather just couldn't have been better.

Trash bags, workouts, and my e-mail crusade

1. My car now has a huge black trash bag over the top of it, held in place by being closed in by the car windows on both sides. It's covering the five-inch hole in the top of the roof, since my sunroof will not close all the way. It's weird, because it goes back and forth, but it just stops in that one position, five inches from the front. What a bummer that is. I don't want to bring it in for service for something that silly, and hope the it somehow fixes itself in the next few days. As it is, at least the garbage bag is protecting me from another storm.

2. Another great workout today, which makes ten days in a row. I'll admit to a pretty solid lower backache today, though, probably the result of pushing myself a little too hard during my run yesterday. I finished three miles for the first time. I think part of my earlier problems was not allowing myself enough warmup time. I'd still like to get new shoes, although that's probably several months away.

3. I'm trying to make it a practice that students e-mail me formally. In my everyday life, I hate the lower-case informality with which some people approach e-mail, and it just seems that if a student e-mails a teacher - especially one she doesn't know yet (she just got my e-mail address from the summer reading assignment) - that she should be extra careful. I'm not talking about typos, but I got an e-mail that read just this:

I am a little confuse on the assignment. When you ask for reactions toward the author's technique, do you want my journal to be the events that occur that had a reaction for example when Henry's parent became free they had to leave the land and their son behind.

Not only is it rife with typos, there is also no greeting, no introduction, and not even a mention of the relevant text. She may not know this, but my address is on two different summer reading assignments, on a sheet of paper that all rising sophomores and all rising juniors received - about 600 students. This is all I got from her, and it's a student I don't know. This was my reply:


Dear _________:

Just so you know, I recommend you proofread any e-mails sent to teachers. This is just something that I like to mention to students, so you don't do the same thing in college with your professors. E-mail might seem to be informal, but many don't see it this same way. You should also introduce yourself. If I didn't know the book well, I wouldn't know that you were a rising Junior, and I would have no idea how to answer your question. Luckily, I was able to figure it out because I know the Henry is a character from "The Known World."

For your assignment, please react to the author's technique, not the plot. Why did Edward P. Jones decide to have Henry's parents leave Henry behind for their freedom? What effect does it have on Henry's childhood and adulthood? This is a characterization technique, and thus an author's technique, and this is what you should write about. You might also consider looking at Jones' style and his use of plot structure.

I'm excited that you are starting the summer reading already, and hope that you enjoy the book. Thank you for your diligence!

Sincerely,
Mr. __________

I've noticed this year, more than ever, that students just don't know how to e-mail. They send me e-mails that look like AIM messages or Myspace shoutouts. I think that next year, it will be in my syllabus that I expect formal e-mails.

Worried about money

Today was one of those days in which it feels like the city is working against me and wanting me to leave. I'm very broke and not sure how I'm going to make it through the summer, because I've now had three unexpected things occur, and my savings only will help me get through the expected.

One of them is so stupid - my sunroof will not close. Last night, it rained inside my car. It will tonight, too, if it rains. It's only open about six inches, but it will not go any farther. It seems as though as soon as my car hit 100,000, little gnomes came out and started messing with it. The power steering issue is still bad, but I made an appointment for July 10 at a place recommended by the former (and missed) blogger Rachael. That, combined with the sunroof problem, could very well set me back several hundred dollars. And that's not even going into the additional issue that came up tonight, which could set me back several hundred dollars as well.

But, why should I worry? After all, I made $44 tonight. That, combined with the money I made Sunday ($21) and Saturday ($12), will almost be $100, or (almost) 1/6 of my rent.

I hate not being paid in the summers. It makes me so stressed out. I will never buy a house.

On the positive side, my boss at the restaurant has asked me to come in a couple times a week to do office work, which will be helpful to me; I'd actually been scouring craigslist a lot lately, looking for some small job I could take on this summer in between graduate school and a trip home to Michigan. Plus, I've applied for an educational loan from MECU, which hopefully I'll get, and 75% of my tuition cost is reimbursed in the fall, so I'm crossing my fingers that I can make it through. Those darn graduate school credits are expensive and one of my greatest sources of stress this summer.

The five best menu items in Baltimore

I don't make it out to the Thirsty Dog Pub too much anymore - indeed, they've changed their name to The Dog Pub, and I barely noticed - but still would place their Hearts of Palm salad among the best dishes that the city of Baltimore offers. Alongside it is the Rosemary Garlic Fries at Brewer's Art, and the hriby dip at Ze Mean Bean Cafe. But I'm ready to add a couple more:]

Crab Hash at Waterfront Hotel: I had this again yesterday, and it's just as good as the other two times I've had. A huge skillet of crab meat, potatoes, grilled vegetables, a couple of poached eggs, seasoned with Old Bay. It is superb. The Waterfront Hotel now is officially one of the best brunches in Baltimore, and will be much, much better once the smoking ban goes into effect on Jan. 1. Be careful, though - the all-you-can-drink mimosas and blood mary's stop at 3pm. After that, they become $5.50/each. I got there at 2:48 yesterday and ran up quite a bill without realizing it. That being said, they were the best mimosas I've ever had. (And probably the first mimosas, if you want to know the truth.)

Mushroom Reuben at Joe Squared: It's what I get every time I go there now. I think that in my decade of vegetarianism, there are just a couple of things that I miss: jerky and reubens. Joe has fixed the latter, though, with a sandwich that makes my mouth water. It's probably really simple - some cheese, some grilled mushrooms, saurkraut, that reuben sauce - but it's really good.

So, there you go, the five great dishes in Baltimore:

1. Hearts Afire at The Dog Pub

2. Rosemary Garlic Fries at Brewer's Art

3. Hriby Dip at Ze Mean Bean

4. Crab Hash at Waterfront Hotel

5. Mushroom Reuben at Joe Squared


And one caveat for each (I've ordered them all enough to know...):

1. Sometimes the palm is too crunchy, not ripe enough. Ask for more cheesesticks if this is the case.

2. Sometimes they can overcook it. The fries should be soft, not crunchy.

3. They've started using new crunchy toasty bread instead of the pita. Ask for the pita. The new crunchy bread isn't working.

4. Just skip the toast. You won't be able to eat it, anyway.

5. Sometimes the bread can be too greasy. You could ask them to go light on the butter.

YMCA Stadium Place: great gym

Just wanted to give a quick shout-out for the Stadium Place YMCA. I've frequented three gyms in my time here in the Baltimore area - the Towson Bally's, the White Marsh Bally's, and the YMCA. Comparing the three based on a variety of criteria, the Stadium Place YMCA wins almost with all hands down.

Cleanliness: The Stadium Place YMCA is much cleaner. Bally's, after I'd been part of it for five years, just added equipment wipes, but there aren't enough and no one uses them. The Y has spray and towels at nearly every piece of equipment, and everyone pretty much uses it. Plus, the White Marsh Bally's bathrooms almost always smell like excrement or urine. It's just too small for all its use. The Towson Bally's is considerably cleaner than the White Marsh Bally's, but not nearlya s clean as the YMCA, which sparkles.

Clientele: The Stadium Place YMCA has signs everywhere that ban the use of cell phone in the workout area, and this just seems to help so much. I never realized how much the use of cell phones at gyms bugged me before, but it really does. I'm not worried about people taking photos of me, but it just seems to rude. Plus, in general, beyond cell phone use, the people at the Stadium Place YMCA are just nicer than the Bally's crowd. Often, at Bally's, there will be a group of guys working out together, and one of them will sit on another - unused - piece of equipment while he waits. I shouldn't have to ask someone to get off a piece of equipment that he's not using. Plus, no one restacks their weights, so finding two 40-lb dumbbells is often a futile search.

Equipment: The Towson Bally's just got some great new equipment, and the White Marsh Bally's just got some new stuff as well (just not as good). For these reasons, these places might get the nod. But the Stadium Place YMCA has much better free weights. Not as much variety, perhaps, but solid, well-organized, and I rarely have to wait.

Cost: This is the only place where the Stadium Place YMCA lags behind. But for $43/month, it's cheaper than what I paid for the first three years of my Bally's membership ($48/month). I now realize I should have haggled, which makes me mad, because a person shouldn't have to haggle to get the best price available. As it is, I pay $12/month now there, which means I'm paying $55/month for these two gym places. I still go to the Bally's up in Towson fairly often, and even the one in White Marsh every now and then, but usually they're a function of wanting to visit the other places around it, like Trader Joe's, Barnes & Noble, or the White Marsh library.

So, to sum up, the Stadium Place YMCA rocks. Friendly, clean, and well-serviced.

One table, mayorial candidates, and shoes

Business has just about totally died at the restaurant. The owner printed up some "Buy an entree, get a free drink" coupons, and I was so desperate for tables tonight (actually, it was more because the weather was beautiful), that I took a lap around Fells Point and handed them out. This got a couple of people in, and hopefully it will get a couple of more people in tomorrow and over the next few weeks, because I had all of one table tonight, and made $16 before tipout. That really sucks. I think we got four tables all night, divided amongst three servers. Ugh.

On the positive side, the owners sat around tonight planning the rehab of the place, which is set to begin very soon; they even had paint samples for the walls. While I've heard for years about an expansion or a rehab, it's never gone this far. Here's hoping it happens. They're changing the bottom floor into a more casual space with a bar and a tap, and I think that could bring in a lot more money. I hope.

As it is, rent is due in a week and I was hoping not to dip into my meager summer savings just yet to pay for it. It looks like I'll have to, though.

*******

I was able to listen to Jill Carter and Keiffer Mitchell live on the Ed Norris show the other day. I have to admit that both candidates impressed me. I don't know much about them, but I have made up my mind that I will not be voting for Sheila Dixon. Besides the fact that she is part of the O'Malley administration that I just got totally sick of towards the end, she also just comes across as a major dingbat.

My love affair with Baltimore is on the rocks right now. The crime seems worse than ever and I no longer have that feeling I had for years that the people are working together towards something good. The city feels splintered, and needs a real leader to get us out of this baltimore murderland mindset, and that person isn't Dixon. Both Carter and Mitchell had impressive moments in the debate, and I look forward to casting my vote to one of them this September 11.

Though, to be honest, I wish those "Ed Norris running for mayor" rumors had turned out to be true.

*****************

Another great workout today, giving me seven days in a row. I changed into my other athletic shoes, and was able to pop off two miles without stopping, and that felt good.

Getting healthy

Now six days into my summer, and thus six days into my get-in-shape quest, I'm feeling pretty good about myself. I've worked out every day, and worked out hard, both cardio and lifting. I took yesterday off from lifting, which seemed like a good place, but still did cardio and felt stronger today.

Overall, I'm feeling a lot better already, but it's also interesting to chart the changes in my body as I get back in shape, and what my muscles feel like as I exercise. Am I tired because my muscles hurt, or because I'm out of breath? Noting that difference seems like it's important, but I'm not sure why. The one disappointment I've had this week is running. On Saturday, I ran a mile without stopping, then walked/ran for the next twenty minutes, completing a slow 2.2 miles in 30 minutes. On Monday, I ran for two miles without stopping, then took five minutes off to walk, then sprinted the last five minutes, completing 2.8 miles in 30 minutes. On Wednesday, though, I ran a mile and quit, opting for the non-pounding eliptical. Today, I managed just half a mile, then quit in favor of the eliptical. I'm just sore, and I'm trying to figure out if it's because I've added squats and deadlifts and calf rises to my workout regimen since Monday, or if I've just pounded my body too much. I'd like to get to the point where I'm running three miles fairly easily, with the option to push myself farther.

I'm also eating healthy - lots of vegetables - and my bathroom schedule is out of control; my stomach is also usually upset. This will pass.

Speaking of which, it's off to the bathroom.

Tigers/Nats series

I headed down with three friends last night to the Tigers/Nats game, where I also met up with old friends. We were a crowd of seven, watching the Tigers sweep the hapless Nationals.

Summer vacation could not have started any better. Lots of baseball, beer, exercise, reading, relaxing, softball, and more.

Today, I'm heading over to my school to meet with a new teacher about the curriculum for English 2 and English 3. I actually sort of love thinking about school during the summer, when it's abstract and you just remember the good and not the classes of 38 or the loads of paper.

Baseball notes

The ironic thing about the search for a new manager for the Orioles is that I'm not sure I'd want any established manager who would take the job. I mean, yeah, Joe Girardi might be a good fit, but why would he take the job? A poor team without much hope for the future, with an incompetent management team and an owner who doesn't know what he's doing? So if Girardi was hired, he'd become immediately undesireable as a candidate to me. And so it goes. Mike Flanagan and Dan Duquette should have been the first to go, but I expect Andy McPhail will get rid of them soon enough. Dombrowski gave Randy Smith a few months before showing him the door. Maybe...

Meanwhile, my Tigers are beating up on the Nats pretty good so far. I hope they can continue tomorrow, when I'll be there along with a group of MSU Alums.

Allison Bechdel's Fun Home

I've spent a lot of energy in the last few years planning what I'll read in the summer. I've even run - in our department - a survey asking my colleagues what they're planning on reading over the summer, and we all sort of compare our lists when we return in the fall.

With all this planning in mind, it's often the unplanned reads that are most rewarding. The roommate left a copy of Allison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic out, and I'd read about the book before (I remember Entertainment Weekly called it the best non-fiction book of the year a couple of years ago), and decided to pick it up and start reading it. Less than 24-hours and just two sittings later, the book is finished, and it was one of the most satisfying reads I've had in a long time - a wry, quiet, compassionate, and wise look back at the author's relationship with her distant, closeted gay father who dies as a result of a probable suicide. It was sad, but also funny, and filled with literary references that I loved (although I really wish I had read Ulysses before that last chapter...). It's also the second graphic novel I'd read in about two weeks, the first being Marjori Satrapi's Persepolis. While Persepolis was okay, Bechdel's work was transformative in the way that the best literature can be; the characters seemed real, the ironies insightful, and the ending wrapped things up - things that Satrapi's work didn't quite do.

Anyhow, now it's back to the regularly scheduled programming. Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses is only about halfway finished, and it's also pretty damn good.

Next up: Steppenwolf by Hesse (unless the roommate leaves something else cool out - though I read the first page of the Hesse book when I bought it and can't wait to start reading it, plus we're thinking of adding it to our English 3 IB curriculum next year.)

Tigers 9, Nats 8

Yesterday afternoon, I headed down with a friend to see the Detroit Tigers play the Washington Nationals. It was a great "First Day of Summer Vacation" activity, with the $5 tickets, the beautiful and hot weather, and the $5 seats. We met up with a couple folks from the Detroit Tigers Internet Forum where I spend way too much time, and drank beer and watched baseball. It wasn't until Todd Jones almost ruined it in the 9th that I had a care in the world.

Yesterday's run was two miles straight without stopping, done in 22 minutes. I then walked for 3 minutes, and sprinted (for me) at around 6.5 mph for the last five minutes. It felts like a great workout to me. I'm going to continue running every other day, and hope to get three miles without stopping tomorrow. Today, it will just be a lazy jaunt on the eliptical, which I do longer and don't quite get my heart rate up as high.

I especially enjoyed running at the Stadium Place YMCA. I belong to both the YMCA and Bally's, meaning I spend almost $60/month on two different gyms. I usually go to Bally's, though, because I like Trader Joe's and old habits die hard. But running at the Y was much better. They have the treadmills facing the open windows, and the bustle of the city is outside, and I just loved people and car watching while I sweated. I'm going back right now.

The scapegoatization of Sam Perlozzo

Perlozzo is just a scapegoat here. Yes, a few moves have been questionable, but the Flanagan-led GM team has been terrible for years now - failing to capitalize on the value of Tejada when it was highest, signing a bunch of mediocre players to big contracts (Jay Payton, Danny Baez). I don't even blame Angelos, who most of Baltimore seems to blame. This GM team had $60 million to spend this off-season on free agents, and they went out and got Walker, Baez, Payton, Chad Bradford, and Kevin Millar - a bunch of mediocre veterans. Their ilk could have been acquired for much less money, saving money for a real free agent signing or better minor league development.

I know that Baltimore is confined to the AL East, where the Red Sox and Yankees are able to eliminate bad decisions by throwing more money around, but that doesn't excuse the host of bad decisions that Baltimore has made in the last five years. This is like what the Tigers were from 1994-2005, but they were able to get out of it with good drafts, good trades, a few free agent signings (the first one, Ivan Rodriguez, almost signed with Baltimore, but Detroit knew where to invest correctly and signed him to less money than the three mediocre relivers Baltimore signed this off-season), and proper minor league development and scouting. But some of it came from giving in to a youth movement. Baltimore hasn't seemed willing to give a year up to the youth for development, like the Tigers did in 2003, when several key components of this year's team (Jeremy Bonderman, Brandon Inge, Mike Maroth, Nate Robertson, Omar Infante, Wil Ledezma) went on to lose 119 games. That year sucked, but it allowed these young players to grow. Instead, Baltimore signs mediocre veterans like Jay Payton and Kevin Millar and lets them block spaces for younger players, and seems unwilling to go after a big signing instead of five little ones.

New digs and fun home

Thank goodness the owner and her family come in on most Sunday nights to eat dinner at the restaurant, because they eat, drink, and tip a lot. Otherwise, last night would have been a lost night, but, as it was, I walked away from Father's Day dinner with over $100. I'm only working a couple shifts a week so far this summer, which kind of sucks, so I need to make some money at both of them.

Business has slowed down at the restaurant progressively for several years now. To hear them tell it, it's because when they opened ten years ago, there were half as many restaurants in the city, and the added competition simply means there's less of the dining pie to get. This is certainly part of the case, but there's more to it, too - the place hasn't changed at all in the four years since I've been there, and, in many cases, it's worse. However, excitement is flooding the place right now with the rumors of a bar being built within three weeks - tearing out the stage that hosts too-loud musicians, and building a bar with a couple beers on tap and more casual environment on one side, and maintaining the funky elegance on the other half. It's still a cool restaurant, but this would add an exciting new dimension to things that hopefully would drum up some business.

I still enjoy working there - I've made good friends that are still working there, the owners are very nice, the customers generally nice, and the money is ocassionally good - but there are things that I hate about it as well. I'd been maintaining for a while that I would quit when I paid off my car, but, when that happened in January, it just didn't make sense, as it would mean no second job going into the summer, and no way to help pay for MAT courses. Now, I might stick it out for much of the next school year, as I finish off the three classes I need for my MAT degree; having a bar on site would hopefully be a boon for business and keep me more interested than I am now.

****

Spent most of the morning reading Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Allison Bechdel. Wow, is it ever good. I read the first 120 pages without even thinking about, and look forward to finishing it at the gym on the machine. It's the perfect kind of book to do that with, as you just lose yourself in the author's world and not think about anything else.

Three things on a Sunday

1. The summer of getting back in shape started well yesterday. I think the best thing I can do is start a running program. In fact, it would be great if I could get myself in good enough shape to run some 5-K's or even a half-marathon by the fall. I went through a period of time when I really wanted to run a marathon, and it's still something I'd like to do sometime in my life, even though I'm a very long way off. Anyhow, I was happy to see yesterday that I could still run/jog a mile without stopping, albeit a slow one (11:30). Then, I alternated between running and walking until I had hit a half-hour on the treadmill. I went about 2.3 miles total in that time, which is very slow, but afterwards went to an eliptical machine and went another 30 minutes. Then, after the 60 minutes of cardio, I lifted for a half hour. I'm sore today, and it feels great. I'm heading back in today, and have to decide what the best way to continue without overdoing it is.

2. Even though I was given two of the prime shifts at the restaurant this weekend, I made just $35 last night. I had two tables, and my big money table of seven left just a 15% tip, proving that I should have automatically gratuitied them. The big money table had a 6:45 reservation, but their entire party didn't come until 8:00, and they were there until 10:00, so I worked for them for over three hours, running drinks and timing theirs courses perfectly, and they left me $30 on $200. Then, a couple of other small tables and that was it. I'm hoping tonight's Father's Day shift makes some bank, though.

3. I'm about a third of the way through All the Pretty Horses by McCarthy. It's a really good book, and surprisingly funny at times. I'm going to read The Road by him as well this summer. Both are my primary pleasure reads this summer, before I get into all the reading I have to do for school, which is amounting to a ton. I'm also planning on reading a ton more, but I've decided to just make it a goal of 100 pages a day and leave it at that. I don't want to get ahead of myself.

Orioles Duclawed

Tonight, a few of us headed over to Du Claw Brewery to celebrate our last school day. The weather was beautiful for sitting outside, and, actually, that place is pretty good - relaxed, great food, reasonable prices.

While we were sitting there, my boss at the restaurant called and offered me his choice seats to the Orioles game that night. He was right; the seats were great, and although the Orioles' bullpen blew the game in pretty sad fashion in the 8th and 9th inning, it was still an okay time. I've been to three games so far this year, and the Orioles are 0-3 in those games, and this is the second time I've seen a horrible bullpen meltdown - the first being Chris Ray's dealing of a grand slam to the Red Sox about a month ago.

Afterwards, we took advantage of the beautiful night by walking all the way back from Camden Yards to Fells Point to get our cars. The walk was a great way to end the day that ended the school year of 2006-2007.

The summer is officially here.

Drop those books and run like hell

Ah, the last day of school. No students for the last five days of it, and no pressure to get there on time nor to stay the entire day. Today, I'll attempt the scavenger hunt checkout process, which involves getting the signatures of people all throughout the building, and then I'll finish my filing, load up my computer, and bid the 2006-2007 school year adieu. It went quickly, it had plenty of valleys, but I'll try to remember the good parts.

First softball game

Tonight was the first game of our softball season. It's the sixth year I've organized and coached our non-competitive co-ed softball team, which is usually made up of teachers at our school and other friends. We won tonight, 17-4, and I'm not afraid to say that it was a lot of fun.

Afterwards, we headed to Looney's Pub, and, for some reason, the $1.50 Miller Lites and comraderies with friends new and old got me very nostalgic. I just got to thinking that I've been doing this - in this same bar - ever since I moved to Baltimore, when I was 24 and hardly knew anyone. Now, I'm an old man at nearly 30 years old, and I'm still kind of doing the same thing. I did a lot of looking around at the clientele at Looney's tonight, and seeing people who were in the place in their lives that I was when I first moved here, plus people that were more my age. It all made me think back to the last six years, of opportunities taken and opportunities lost, of good times and bad times. I had a few beers and left, content but still longing for more, and when I returned I had another drink and called my college roommate.

"Hey, Jason, this is your college roommate. I just wanted to call and say that it was so great to see you a couple of weeks ago, and I hope you made it back to Florida okay. I realize that this moment marks 2 months and an hour from my 30th birthday, and I wanted to call and let you know that you were an important part of those first 30 years, and I hope you don't hold it against me too much that we didn't do anything for your 30th birthday back in November. I mean, you were in Orlando, and I was here, but, still, I should have done something. So, with that in mind, I hope you're happy, and I hope you're well, and, you can probably tell I've been drinking a little bit, but I think we should take a trip somewhere soon together. It would be fun. After all, we only turn 30 once."

I wonder what he'll say tomorrow when he calls me back. Heh.

In other words, my current idea is to go to Thirsty Dog on my birthday and drink through all the beers on their menu. I'm hoping to bring an I-Pod containing my 200 favorite songs that they could play that night. I'm actually going to contact them and see if it's possible to do this. My birthday is on a Wednesday, after all.

We shall see. I'm getting excited.

I'm ready to say that the summer is officially here, although I do have a few hours of work to do tomorrow.

New Schedule for next year

I was more anxious than ever before this year about course selections for next year. The atmosphere of our department felt a little competitive in terms of what courses we would get, plus the atmosphere of course selections just seems so shrouded in mystery and seniority that it was impossible to get a handle on things. And, I really wanted to teach IB English 3 again, really bad - I felt like I had done some good work in it, but hadn't achieved everything I wanted to in a course I was handed on late notice.

So, I requested #1 to have IB English 3 again, and #2 to have whichever course I was needed in, especially English II or English I. I figured I would be given English II again, as it is the course with the high-stakes test in it, therefore the course with a lot of mandatory bullshit meetings and benchmarks in it. No one wants to deal with that, but I was willing to because I like teaching things a second time and thought there were some cool things in the curriculum. Plus, I think I did a pretty good job with the sophomores this year, and wanted to develop that some more. Lastly, I was going to revisit the curriculum a bit, focusing on skills instead of content and allowing myself to bring in other texts into American Literature that I think are just as important as, say, Huck Finn (which I don't much care for), like Song of Solomon or A Farewell to Arms. So, I figured I would be given English 2, and was looking forward to it.

Therefore, I was surprised to find out yesterday that I was moving back to the 9th grade. This was the first year in my six year career that I did not teach English I, so it will be a return home for me. It is also the year that our school switches over to the Middle Years Program, which will hopefully be a really great thing for the school. I think the International Baccalaureate is just a solid overall educational organization, and have enjoyed teaching in the IB program, so adding the MYP to the lower grade levels just seems like an exciting and worthy change for our students.

So, it's back to To Kill a Mockingbird, A Lesson Before Dying, The Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet, House On Mango Street, and Fences. I picked all those books in the first place, so I certainly cannot complain. There's also a lot of teacher choice beyond that, with a focus on internationalism. I'm excited.

And my second course? IB English 3, exactly what I asked for. I'm even excited that I have just one section of it, because it allows for more focus on the intense writing that this course does. I'm co-teaching the course with the friend, who is returning from the school after a year spent teaching in Costa Rica. Right now, we're hammering away at book choices, because we have to match up. It'll be good. We've exchanged probably 40 e-mails in the last twelve hours as we decide together.

It's going to be a busy summer, with all the reading I'm going to be doing for these courses. But, I'm at least excited about next year. If you had told me two weeks ago that this would be the case, I might have called you crazy.

New CEO of Baltimore City Publich Schools - Andres Alonso

So they hired a new CEO

One of my most vibrant memories of my first move to Baltimore was a huge gathering of new teachers in August of 2001. Fresh-faced Martin O'Malley came to the podium of this professional development building on Northern Parkway, and spoke of Baltimore as a changing, blossoming city, citing a decrease in emergency room visits for drug overdoses as evidence. Even with that, he was an inspiring speaker, and even though I don't have great feelings about the guy right now (endorsing Hillary? come on...), I still remember that first moment. He then introduced the school CEO. Her name was Carmen Russo, an all-business icy blonde who ended up running the school system into terrible debts, with extravagant expenditures like an $80,000 driver. She caused the budget crisis of 2003-2004, but, by that time, she was living high in Florida, replaced by Bonnie Copeland.

Copeland, a dowdy motherly type, had to lead the city schools through the horrible budget crisis, and she did it with a firm hand. However, despite the fact that she laid off several of my friends, I still felt like she hated to do it. Once, I saw her at Panera Bread, right around Christmas, just staring blankly out the window, alone and misty-eyed. Another time, she came to our school and spoke, and shed what seemed to be real tears. I do not think she was a great person, but it was nice to see that she seemed to feel bad about what was going on. I met her one-on-one once, and actually shook her hand and thanked her for not laying me off, as I was sure was going to happen.

Copeland was forced out by her board - very hush hush, though - and replaced by the interim Dr. Boston, who was a pretty weak CEO. I'm blaming her for the ridiculous benchmarks that came to our school throughout the year, especially the last ones, which came with memos about "by order of the CEO." I'm sure she's not totally to blame, but anyone who allowed that colossol waste of time and money to occur shouldn't be in that position. I'm happy she's not in the position permanently.

And so now we have New York's #2 guy. He's a graduate from Harvard's very selective PHD program in Urban Education. I like that it seems like we're getting someone really smart. Hopefully he'll be good, too.

Some google searches brought up some good things:

Titus Onenine profile

NYC Leadership Academy Profile

Tomorrow, he'll be on the Marc Steiner show. You know I'll be listening.
Andres Alonso on Marc Steiner show

Need a good mechanic

Several months ago, or even a year ago, my power steering started acting funny - just whining as I would make a big turn. I discovered that my car was using a great deal of power steering fluid, or just leaking it, and so I started putting it in about once a month to prevent the whining and make the wheel easier to turn. I didn't mind it, as I thought it was a small leak and nothing more. In fact, it still might just be that.

However, last week I went to put in more power steering fluid, and the compartment was almost all the way full, and filled with froth. Shit. Ever since, I've really struggled with the power steering, and in fact really don't have any until I start driving for a few blocks. I can still drive my car, but it's extremely hard to turn the wheel sharply until it gets warmed up. I couldn't, say, have my mom drive the car.

I just looked it up on cartalk.com, and it doesn't seem good. It could be something minor, but they mentioned that if the power steering needs to be rebuilt, then you should plan on taking a loan out on your home. Shit.

And, so, readers, I have a real question for you: Who can recommend a good mechanic, preferably in the North Baltimore area?

I've never had to bring this car in for service before, excepting the usual - oil, brakes, tires. The Electric Blue 2000 Pontiac Grand Am has been a great car for me, but it turned 100,000 miles last week, and I know that's the age when repairs will start occurring. It's also paid off, though, and I think it can last me another couple of years, and it's still beautiful, so I'm hoping this job is under $500 and then I can go along my day. Who knows of a good, honest mechanic? Has anyone had experience with power steering problems?

Time Robbers and No Hitters

The Time Robbers got me tonight. Instead of a quiet evening of going to the gym and watching the Tigers, and continuing myself in my path of regaining and refocusing my life on my health and happiness, I ended up going to the Educators Appreciation Night at Everyman Theatre. The play was just alright (two of the three leads were great, and the play finally clicked about halfway through, but the script had some falseness that I just didn't buy), and I spent money that I probably shouldn't have ($10 for the show, plus dinner and drinks at Joe Squared). [Also, not to be too cranky, but it's ironic that the special "Educators Appreciation" night at Everyman is the same price as the regular price for plays over at Center Stage, especially since I'd rank every play I saw at Center Stage this year as better than this production by Everyman. In their defense, I think the next season at Everyman looks more impressive than Center Stage's new season. Too bad Everyman's ticket package is $40 more than Center Stage's.]

Overall, it was an alright night, mostly because of the comraderie, though ultimately disappointing because the breaking of my string of consecutive gym visits prompted a notable lethargy late in the day, and, moreso, missing the first Detroit Tigers no-hitter in 23 years was a huge bummer. Oh well. At least with my majorleaguebaseball package, I could watch the replay when I returned. Sort of ironic that with all the Detroit Tigers baseball I watch, I've missed the two most historic moments of the last two decades - the playoff victory over the Oakland A's on Magglio's homerun, and now Verlander's no-hitter.

I feel like I've been on the go since March 1, when baseball season started. Since the season ended late a couple of weeks ago, my free time has been soaked up by year-end closing activities, graduations, weddings out of town, and goodbye parties. I'm ready to just have some unplanned days in the weeks ahead. To top it off, I've got to get myself healthy. I recently threw away three pairs of khakis because (a) the zipper was broken; (b) the button fell off; and (c) there was a hole in the ass, and in finding another pair of pants to wear tonight for the visit to the theater, I found that almost nothing fit. I haven't gained any weight this year, probably because I've reached my unhealthy plateau, but I've become noticeably differently shaped, and feel very, very unhealthy at the moment. The three consecutive days to the gym over the weekend and yesterday brought with it a sharp increase in endorphins and energy, but I sort of ruined my momentum tonight. Tomorrow, it's back to it.

The Summer of Mark

I'm ready to declare it: This is the Summer of Mark*.

I'll relax more. I'll see more movies. I'll exercise more. I'll read more. I'll travel more. I'll be more selfish than I usually am. Mostly, I'll stop making so many commitments. I need to hold onto my time a lot tighter this summer than I usually do, because time robbers have been on the prowl after me this year.

Thankfully, I have not filled my summer with much yet. I've just been given word that I'm set to work Summer Bridge starting on August 2, which means that my summer is just shy of six weeks long. For one of those weeks, I'll be taking a Towson MAT class from 9-4 all day. For another of those weeks, I'll be back in Michigan. My sister is visitng for a few days. But for the rest of the time, I'll just be chilling, for the most part. Of course I'll be waiting tables for some spending money - I have just about enough money saved for the essentials - but the 20-30 hours a week there will barely be a dent into my time compared to what I usually work. This summer is for me - to read Crime and Punishment, to take day trips to cool cities, to watch lots of movies, to start a running program, to play softball, and to do whatever else it is I want to do.

Therefore, the Summer of Mark* is now declared. After all, a guy doesn't turn 30 too many summers of his life.

* By the way, the name "Mark" was just randomly chosen for this entry. After all, we're anonymous here.

Freedom Writers

I love teacher movies, always have, but didn't expect to love Freedom Writers. But, wow, did I ever. It was sooo much better than I expected it to be, one of the most authentic films depicting education that I've ever seen. I mean, I compare it with The Wire - the blisteringly authentic Baltimore series - and the classroom scenes really bugged me this year (in the one episode I watched... I'll give it a fairer shot when the DVD is released) because they seemed so fake. The classroom scenes here didn't, though. Class sizes were big. Kids were loud and unruly. It felt real.

So, yeah, Freedom Writers was a lot better than I expected it to be. I expected to be moved, because I pretty much always am during teacher movies, but also expected that it would be pretty cheesy. And it was, at times. I don't think it's possible to make any sort of uplifting film about education without some cheesy moments. Especially in a 90-minute film that tries to condense two years... there simply have to be shortcuts. And there were, a few. I wished the villain wasn't so cartoonish. I wish some of the relationships of characters were better explained. But, because I read the book when I was in college, I know that the film glossed over a lot of the roadblocks that Gruwell had, and also kind of knew why - there just wasn't room for them.

But it also had moments of sheer authenticity that - literally - had me crying. The scene when she wanted the kids to make a "Toast for Change" really got me, for example. And other scenes, I just felt like the filmmakers got the details exactly right, like an early scene that showed Gruwell's classes of 40 dip to 20-25 a day, but a different 20-25; this totally reminded me of teaching in Lansing City Public Schools, as the school I taught at there was (much) rougher than the school I teach at here in Baltimore City.

Random fact: Did you know that Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank, is still alive? Yes, she was born in 1909.

There is a scene that features her in the film. The kids all raised money to bring her to the school after reading Anne Frank. And that was teh truth. And, then, she says this to them:

I am not a hero. No, I did what I had to do, because it was the right thing to do. That is all. You know, we are all ordinary people, but even an ordinary secrety... or a housewive... or a teenager can, within their own small way, turn on a small light in a dark room. Yeah. I have read your letters and your teacher has been telling me many things about your experiences. You are the heroes. You are heroes every day. Your faces are engraved in my heart.


Can you imagine being there for that moment? I think that's what got me the most. I've read the book, and I know it's a true story. It wasn't like this was a filmmaker making decisions about what a cliched inner city teacher should do. She just did them. And it worked, as does the film. Wow.

Saturday at the restaurant

I worked all day at the restaurant, my first shift in three weeks. I had to take Memorial Day Weekend off to attend the wedding in MIchigan, and last weekend was graduation, and I just wasn't scheduled for any other shifts. The manager knew I was overworked, and they're pretty good to me there, so I was given a couple of weeks off. It was good to have time off from job #2, but it was also nice - at least marginally - to be back. At least two of my regular tables came in, and I made about $70, interspersed with the reading of Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, which is just awesome.

I came home to see the Tigers on National TV (!) and watched them win a squeaker against the Mets, in a matchup that I hope might be the World Series matchup this year. After the game, I watched Mysterious Skin, which was a very powerful, pretty amazing film, and I'm about to put in the cheesy teacher movie The Freedom Writers, which I expect to love like I love every cheesy teacher's movie, from Dangerous Minds to Mr. Holland's Opus to Dead Poet's Society. I'll let you know, though. Hillary Swank is one of my least favorite actresses.

E-mail from student about next year... already...

I think that I've stated previously that one of my current anxieties is course assignment for next year. I've worked hard at both of the new courses I was assigned this year, and would just like the opportunity to teach them again now that I know what it's like.

I'm also excited about the summer reading assignment, which included How to Read Literature Like a Professor. It's sort of a controversial book in our department. A colleague recommended it, and it's a book that I read and enjoyed, then gave it to my Juniors as an option to read over winter break. They took to it well, to the point where some said, "Wow, I wish I had read this book a year ago, it would have helped so much." Still, some colleagues feel like it offers cliched analysis of texts, and others say it gives too much away of some novels. However, I'm willing to give them those, and say that my goal for the reading of it is (a) for them to realize that patterns exist, and what they could signify; and (b) for them to recognize cliched analysis. Much of the IB rubric stresses individuality and creativity, so I want them to see what links and symbols might not be very individual and creative.

Anyhow, on this Saturday night - a night that I just feel like spending at home, exercising and watching movies - I get an e-mail already from a student about it. See, kids love this book. I just had to share, because it got me excited about teaching the course, which I'm not even sure I'll be teaching.


Hey Mr. ________, it's me K_______. I've been reading
through How To Read Literature Like a Professor, and
writing down, kind of like summaries. I read over the
directions to "take notes on the main idea" over and
over. Jotting down incomplete thoughts like "look for
repeating patterns" or whatever isn't really my thing,
and I didn't think that was really a good way. I guess
if you're being really quick it's good to do something
like that. So, I was wondering, if it's alright what
I'm doing now. To give you a better idea, here's what
I wrote for chapter two.

Meals are more often, not just eating with others, as
Foster explains. Eating or drinking together is called
communion. It is an act of sharing anf peace if it
proceeds that way. If a meal goes on happily, it can
convey feelings of acceptance and friendship among
those eating. If not, this shows how characters are
not getting along with each other. Communion, because
it is so personal and done with those we usually like
and trust, can convey many things about those eating.
Sometimes, there may be sexual tension at the table
(like in Foster's example of Fielding's Tom Jones) or
of hostility. There is something intimate and unifying
about eating a meal together and that ideal can be
distrupted or upheld by the feelings characters have
for each other while eating the meal. Conclusively, if
an author goes to the trouble of having a communion
scene, there's always more to it.

Or, I guess i could have jotted down something like:
Communion = eating/drinking together
shows how characters interact or feel about each other
very personal
can be a bad/good dinner. good if the characters have
peace together, bad if they do not
always more to eating a meal, that just eating

I guess that's a lot easier, and says the same thing,
right? And I'd probably do that in the future, when I
have LESS time (but right now I have plenty). Whatever
you'd prefer me to do. I like having paragraphs that
summarize (feels more wholesome to me) but if you'd
prefer that I really do just jot down notes, just tell
me. I was just kind of worried that the WAY I put down
my notes would affect my grade. I'm also actually
writing it in a spiral - hope that's not bad either.

Btw, since I started reading that book, anytime I
watch a movie, I start to think, "Hmm..I bet the fact
that the red berries keep showing up means something"
or "They're all eating together like one big happy
family...guess that means they all reallyyyy feel
unified". Ehh, okay so I was watching The Village (if
you've evern seen it). =]

.

Stinky Rocky Run and Thiefs in "Stop Lying" t-shirts

Today was another day of marathon final exam presentations, and now I'm done, save for the two kids who didn't show up, who better have a valid reason. It was a horribly long day, again without even a lunch break, but it's over, and the school year is basically over. No kids next week, which I'll spend organizing, cleaning, and moving everything out of my classroom.

Afterwards, we headed to Rocky Run to bid a colleague adieu. She had been at the school for ten years, including the last six alongside me, and I'll miss her as she heads to a small startup Catholic school in the city.

Rocky Run stunk to high hell as usual; the stench of vomit and beer seemed even stronger in the 97-degree heat. I'm just about done there, although the pull of its proximity and video trivia (where else in Baltimore is that offered?) may bring me back eventually. I'm just sick and tired of that terrible smell, which started about a month ago when their drains exploded (or something) and hasn't gone away.

But the closing episode turned me off from the place even worse. On the way out, my friend - doubtlessly feeling the effects of her pina colada type drinks - forgot her pocketbook on the table. We were about a block away when she realized it, and we turned right back around. In the time it happened, the table had been bussed, and the bussers had seen the pocketbook, but continued bussing the table. In that interim time - apparently after the bussers had bussed the table, but before we returned - it was stolen by a tall man with dreadlocks and a "Stop Lying" t-shirt (a play off the "Stop Snitching" shirts). Worse, at least for me, is that the guy was there with his wife and baby. We're sure it's him, because as we re-entered the restaurant, my friend asked him if he'd seen it, and he (b)rushed past her, averted his eyes, and quickly scurried down the street.

We obviously did not know this yet, and spent the better part of 20 minutes looking through the restaurant's trash cans, thinking that it must have been bussed accidentally. We eventually found the pocketbook - emptied out of its cash and driver's license - in the trash in the men's bathroom. Thankfully, it was only about $50, and the driver's license can be replaced, but it still sucks. That's enough to leave a bad taste about Rocky Run in my mouth.

MLB Draft

Here is a link to the New York Yankees fan forum, where you'll see tens of poster cursing out the Detroit Tigers for their draft pick yesterday.

See, several media outlets - most notably the Yankees/Red Sox-loving ESPN, but also Baseball America - predicted that the top HS pitcher available in the draft, Rick Porcello, would be drafted by the Yankees in the 30th round, because every other team would be scared off by the price required to sign him. His agent is Scott Boras, who is a noted asshole, and the guy's projected draft dropped from #2 overall to deep in the 1st round after he signed with him.

However, the Tigers did take Porcello, despite his asking price. This is the third year in a row that they've taken a player who has slipped to later slots because of signability, and it feels so good to stick it to the Yankees, who were trying that same strategy. I loved reading through that fan forum.

Also, a rotation consisting of Jeremy Bonderman, Justin Verlander, Andrew Miller, and Rick Porcello is the kind of rotation that dynasties are made of.

Still, it's not like this is going to be that expensive, relatively. The Baltimore Orioles had the 5th pick, and they went with a conservative choice who will probably sign for a million or two. Yet, they signed Jay Payton in the off-season for a few million. Ditto the $40 million they threw at middle relievers. They couldn't afford to spend $5-$10 million on signing someone like Porcello? That's why teams like them don't get better. It's not about money, it's about budgeting.

Linking to my anger over inane over-testing

One of my posts was recently picked up by Teacher magazine's blog:

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/blogboard/archives/2007/05/headaches_over.html

I don't understand the third comment, though.

Scheduling for next year

Final exams ended today, but the final exams for my IB course are a 15-minute Oral Presentation. I've scheduled the presentations for throughout the week, meaning I've got to sit through about 70 of them. I'm now probably 70% done, but that means I've got about 20 of them to sit through tomorrow. In other words, it's going to be another very long day, just like today, while all the other students are finished and all my colleagues are relaxing, taking real lunches and grading.

It's alright, though, as I've enjoyed teaching the course and this is something that goes along with it. The scores will be sent off to the International Baccalaureate program headquarters (eventually), so I feel like I'm having a part in an international process, which feels pretty cool. Plus, these bright kids just come up with some great ideas in their presentations, and it's a joy to watch. Most of the time, at least. However, today was a very, very long day, from 8:30 until 4pm without even a lunch break.

I'm spending a lot of time right now thinking about how the course has gone this year. I was given the course in late July, when a colleague resigned. Someone else was slotted into her old slot, and I was slotted into that other person's slot, meaning I was teaching the first year of a two-year course. I hadn't been trained in IB in five years, and a lot had changed since even then, so I felt a bit clueless. But I worked hard over the month I had to prepare in the summer, and felt ready to go in the fall. Then, I found I was saddled with two huge (35+) classes, plus a big load of English 2 kids (92), giving me about 170 students taking two courses totally new to me. However, I think I did a good job with them. After I was sent away to training in November, and felt like I had much more of a clue about assessments by then. I enjoyed teaching the course and think I did a pretty good job, with some rocky moments here and there (particularly having to leave so much during 9th period to coach).

Still, there are lots of things I'd like to do differently next year. I have a solid idea now of what all six assessment are, and what skills I really need to be focusing on. I've led them once through the Link Paper, and know now what I need to do as we're reading the books so the kids have good topics. I can even problemetize book selections, which are totally up to me. This year, my three choices for the World Literature texts (must be a translated book from a long, long list of titles) were Death and the Maiden (Dorfman), The Sorrow of War (Ninh), and The House of the Spirits (Allende). The latter is staying (what a great book, so much there), the former is going (I chose it because it was being performed in Baltimore, but there just wasn't enough for the kids to write about), and The Sorrow of War I'm undecided about. I'm thinking of substituting The Elephant Vanishes for Dorfman's text, or, even, more bravely, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which might be too long. We'll see. I need to do some more reading over the summer and figure it out. I'm considering bringing back Kiss of the Spider Woman, which was taught in the slot before my time. I just didn't want it to be too Latin America heavy, so I moved The Sorrow of War in there. Now, I wouldn't necessarily have that problem. I just need to re-read it.

As for Free Choice, I chose Song of Solomon (Morrison), Frankenstein (Shelley) - both of which are staying - as well as Capote's In Cold Blood and Murakami's The Elephant Vanishes. We had to rush through In Cold Blood, and the kids didn't love it like I thought they would, and I'll probably switch that one out, particularly because I don't want to have more than two American texts in a World Lit class. And I'm thinking of The Elephant Vanishes for the first part of the class, so I think I've got two slots open there. I'm thinking about Joe Turner's Come and Gone for one of them, because it's being performed at Center Stage next season and because I like the connections it has with Song of Solomon. For the other one, I'm leaning towards the graphic novel Persepolis, which I think the kids would think was cool and fresh, and would offer different sort of literary analysis. A lot of IB schools are using it now, and it's a fun read (which is ironic, because it's about a pretty frightful childhood... it's sort of like Maus).

The summer reading assignment for the course ended up being How to Read Literature Like a Professor and The Known World (Jones) OR The Namesake (Lahiri). I think they're good choices.

With all that being said (and I know it's a lot), I don't even know if I'm going to teach the course next year. I've made it clear to our forgetful (but lovable) department head what I want to teach, and I hope the word gets passed along. I've also e-mailed the woman making the decision - a woman I actually respect a great deal - and she gave me a strange reply. In fact, I'll post my desperate e-mail to her, and then her reply:


Dear (Assistant Principal),

I'm writing to you about course selections for next year. I've already let (Dept head) know some of my thoughts, but Amy also suggested that I e-mail you about teaching English III IB again.

When I was given ENG III IB following (former colleague)'s resignation in July, I had reservations about teaching it, especially alongside another high-stakes new prep in English II CP. And it's been a challenging year, teaching seven new texts in English III and five new texts and the HSA in English II. However, it's also been a very rewarding year professionally. English III IB is a course that I've spent a lot of time learning as I taught it. Particularly since training in October, though, I've felt really good about it, but even more excited about teaching it a second time. I now have my head wrapped around assignments and expectations more than I did at the beginning of the year, from summer reading assignments to the world literature texts I want to do. While I think the course has been a strong one this year, I think it can be even stronger next year. The IB curriculum is something I think is a real academic gift for our students, and have enjoyed being a part of it and hope to continue.

I also think that (current colleague, who teaches the second half of the course) and I work particularly well together. We informally meet on most days to discuss things I can do to make her students' writing better next year - for example, students will have their World Lit second papers done by the end of the year as well as their link essay. Next year or the year after, we tentatively plan on doing National Boards together, and I look forward to continued working together with these two courses.

I hope there can still be room for me to continue teaching English III IB - I've never been so passionate about teaching something a second time. I know that you have to consider many factors when making a schedule, but wanted you to have it on record that I'd really like to teach this course again. 9th period planning for coaching would be great, too!

Thanks so much,
(Epiphany in Baltimore)



Desperate much? That was sent on April 3. My reply was immediate:


Hey (Epiphany in Baltimore)

Thanks for your comments. There is room for you to continue teaching the IB IIIs.

So, I guess that's it, eh? But, no, it doesn't really seem like it. I haven't heard anything else, and everyone seems to be acting weird, and I just don't know for sure. The schedule for next year is a state-guarded secret. I hope it works out in my favor, which I also think would be in the kids' favor, because I'm going to work my ass off (again, though this time I'll know more).

I will admit that I may be devastated a little bit if it doesn't come through. I mean, I just don't think I deserve an "A" for teaching the course this year. I just don't have it mastered. It would suck to have the course taken and feel like the job I did wasn't as good as it could have been. Next year, I can master it, I just know it.

Baltimore gets back on my good side

Just when I get frustrated with Baltimore, I end up at Brewer's Art for the evening, trading beers and breakup stories with my teacher friends. Now that Thirsty Dog has renamed itself the Dog Pub and stopped allowing dogs, it's easy to declare that Brewer's Art is officially the best bar in Baltimore. When a friend needed to have some drinks, it was the first place to choose. The night was good, the school year is almost over, and I'm happy. Not much more to ask for at this point in June.

In other good news, the 7-11 on 27th street called me today, and has had my wallet ever since I left it on the counter on Thursday. I'd been turning over my house and car looking for it, convinced it was wedged between seat cushions or under a pile of laundry. Nope. Today, they went through the wallet, and found my place of employment, and called them, and now I have it back. What nice people. This is twice in the last eight months that I've lost my wallet and that it was returned unscathed. Even the $5 bill that was in it was untouched.

Baltimore, I'm loving you again, at least for now.

As for our school, the year-end meeting was today. Lots of optimism for next year, with lots of changes being made. It seems us teachers have to take control of some things for them to be done, which I will gladly do if it's organized in some way and the consequences of our actions are meaningful. Maybe they will be. I'm allowing myself some optimism.

Cheesy bricks and endings

Went to grade final exam essays at the Evergreen Cafe after school, then went to Alonso's for dinner. The latter was overpriced and the unhealthy food I ate is sitting in the pit of my stomach like a brick. I don't know why the path to good health is so hard for me to follow. Tons of cheese melted over fried chips, and it wasn't even particularly good. I've been feeling like hell ever since.

I'm very proud of my final exam, which, thankfully, has not been sullied by the ridiculous benchmarks we have been inflicted with. I know I'm obsessed with these things, but I just feel like they're a metaphor for the colossol mismanagement of resources by North Avenue. My exam assessed the content and college-level skills that I hope the kids learned from my class - what a concept!

Favorite line from a final exam essay: Janie's journey began when she started "blossoming" against the pear tree in Nanny's back yard. Yes, my kids can take the motif of flowers and blossoming used in the book and make it a euphemism for Janie beating off, which we basically decided she was doing in that famous pear tree scene.

I should be pretty happy right now, having given a satisfying final exam that is already graded. However, the conversation at dinner with my friends has really brought me down, and, that, combined with the brick of oily cheese in my stomach, has made this an evening of listening to tortured music at my computer. I think it's that it's a time of transitions - the end of the school year, the end of a dear colleague's career, plus another's, the end of the class of 2007, the end of lots of things. I want the school year to end but can't muster up any enthusiasm for the summer. Not a happy place to be in, although I'm sure it will pass soon. The yearly fresh start that comes with a teaching career is something I hold onto as something grand, but this annual cleansing always germinates from an ending, which aren't necessarily happy (the ending on this crummy school year and crummy year for my personal life is welcome, but still sad - I could have done so much more!).

Retirement Party

Tonight was the retirement reception of the elder statesman of our department, a man who has given over thirty years of his life to Baltimore City Public Schools and eighteen years to our school. When I first moved to Baltimore, I didn't know anyone, but this man - also from the midwest, also from a Big-10 school - always made me feel at home. This was one of the things I said in my toast to him tonight, as we sat in our circle and helped him end his career.

The thing that struck me most was another colleague, who said - quite accurately - that this man was the "conscience of our school." And he is. As I've had several conflicts over the last two years, he was always the one I went to first. His cut-through-the-bullshit, put-the-kids-first advice always hit home in just the right way. Part of his ability to be our collective conscience came not only from his sage wisdom, but also from his balls-to-the-wall attitude. He was late into his career, he knew it, and he didn't care to be part of any of the bullshit that this school system, guided by an accursed hand (as he said tonight), seems to be so fond of. These benchmarks that came last week, the forced final exam that the school system is paying millions for to just recycle publically released questions? He told us we should throw it back in their faces. He could do that, because he was untouchable.

It was this combination of guts and wisdom that we'll miss the most.

As for me, though, I'm not untouchable. But I'm thinking of adopting a mindset for next year that, in at least a certain way, I am. I don't want to do anything at all that I think might be at odds with preparing these kids for college and for the world. This doesn't mean I'll ignore external assessments, even bullshit ones, but it does mean that I'll have the balls to do what's right, and not cater to the whims of the midguided minds at North Avenue. I will, for example, not give a benchmark to students that is designed to see if kids are being prepared for an assessment that they have already taken, complete with questions that they've already seen!

I'm not sure if I'll adopt this balls-to-the-wall attitude definitely, but it is an interesting proposition - one that could only be adopted if it truly was my last year teaching at this school. Which is a distinct possibility, still, unless things get better. I refuse to stay at this school because of inertia and fond memories, and if I leave, it will be doing what is right.

Graduation

Graduation Day was wonderful.

It was the sort of day that helped wash away the bad taste that had been in my mouth for the last several weeks, at least for a day. This, after all, is what it's all about - putting on a cap and gown and watching the young people who have been such an important part of your life for the last four years have their moment to shine.

This was an important class for me, too. The year they were all ninth graders was my third year of teaching, which was a pretty important transition for me. I felt like I had my shit together pretty good at that point in my career. I had carved out a niche as the 9th grade English teacher, and the year was going along well... and then some clouds started forming over my eyeballs and I learned that my retinas had detached. I had some major eye surgeries, but missed just a little bit of time, and came in to teach wearing my sunglasses. The kids still remind me of that. So, in a way, this was the group that saw me at my weakest, and offered me the most support.

I taught all ninth graders that year, so I taught about a third of the entire graduating class. That was also the year I was named head baseball coach, so I saw all the baseball players I coached for four years walk across the stage. A lot of great memories reside with this class, and I'll never forget them.

The ceremony was everything that I could have hoped for. My own tear ducts started working at the first moment of the ceremony, when faculty began processing through the room. The kids weren't in the room yet, and the teachers all started walking in wearing our caps and gowns, and then slowly the parents realized who we are. Someone started clapping, and then it welled into a full-throttled ovation. I got a wave of goosebumps and my eyes teared up.

The commencement speaker happened to be a pretty famous Congressman who also happens to be an alumni, and he was a masterful speaker. When he said that he was giving speeches at another high school and then at Harvard's commencement that evening, but that ours was the one that really mattered to him, I just shivered.

Finally, the kids got to walk the stage. Words can't do justice to the emotions this makes me feel. My eyes filled with tears and I struggled to catch my breath several times, as kids danced across the stage, as parents screamed out "That's my baby!", as the two severely autistic kids walked across and got a huge ovation, as kids I've really loved over the last few years got their diploma. Afterwards, it was photos and hugs and contratulations out front.

This is what it is all about.

I couldn't be happier.