Every so often I come around yet again to this: the “Relationship Rant”. The post I do about… oh… once a year (more often if I’m in a particularly down part of my life) where I decide the best thing to do is to write a blog post about how: No one gets me. I don’t have a boyfriend. Past boyfriends have been total bums. I would really like to be treated if I were to have a boyfriend. Sometimes these posts have been oddly prophetic – which is probably the only reason I am […]
Sergeant Domitan of Masbolle, or Falling in Love with Fictional Characters
I know all about your standards. And if you don’t mind my saying so There’s not a man alive That could hope to measure up to that Blend of Paul Bunyon, St. Pat, and Noah Webster You’ve concocted for yourself Out of your Irish imagination, Iowa stubbornness, And your library full of books. ~Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man Here’s the problem with fictional men: someone made them up. And as a result, we have to seriously look for their faults. And while characters like Dom surely have faults, because we see so little of those faults […]
The New Body Shaming of the Thin
I remember being maybe nine or ten years old and going into the doctor’s office for my annual physical. It was probably about the first or second time I had an annual physical with the nurse practitioner instead of my actual pediatrician. It would also be the first time I would hear this question. “How do you feel about your body?” “Good.” I answered, before I’m sure a slightly puzzled expression would cross my face. I don’t remember what she said next, but it was clear that she thought there would be a possibility of […]
The Secret Sisterhood of Tortall & Tamora Pierce
There is one book series that most women in my generation – the older end of the millennial generation – have read. It’s the secret book language that we can all speak, and know inside out. And they’re books that we keep pushing the younger millennials to read, too. These are the books by Tamora Pierce. All of them a extremely empowering, particularly to women. However, my love has always come back to her Tortall stories. “At the end of the road – we’ll see. We’re bound for the capital of Tortall-“ The girl’s face […]
Middle Grades Institute: Organization Strand
This week has been tremendously helpful as far as furthering my understanding of education and knowing not just where my students are coming from, but giving me ideas of how these things might be carried forward into high school.There’s a lot that is going to have to happen from within an existing system. As an education student I don’t have much sway with the organization as a whole, but that doesn’t mean I can’t keep notes and track ideas that I have and how they might correspond to improving what we can so that the […]
EDU-5026: Partnering with the Adolescent Learner
Guiding Question: What is the role of a teacher in a secondary learning-centered environment? In a word, I would say that the purpose of a teacher is to be a guide. You are quite literally guiding students through their year(s) in your classroom. You have all the necessary tools and research to back them up and push them to explore the world around them. The real trick is that as a guide, you are pushing them to take an interest. You have to be careful that you don’t over push to the point of teenage […]
EDU-6630: Critical Practitioner
Education is the basis for creating a society that knows how to advocate for itself. In order to do that, we have to push our students to think outside the box, to know what their own limits are, and to have the resources to push for a better tomorrow. Of course, when I put it that way, it sounds a wee bit like I’m pushing the June Rebellion of 1832. “Do you hear the people sing” indeed. But I digress. If this course has given me anything, it would be background knowledge that allows for […]
The Full “Among Others” Book List – By Page Number
Shortly after I began this post – a job I undertook when I decided I’d “run out” of books to read while housesitting and realized I’d brought the needed book with me – I was inspired to buy two books I had yet to read. Farthing by Jo Walton and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. You know you’ve picked up a good book when the bookseller talks your ear off when he sees you holding it. I’ve been wanting to make this list for awhile, and if you’ve ever read Among Others, you […]
100 Happy Days: The Final Installment
100 Happy Days, Part 1 100 Happy Days, Part 2 100 Happy Days, Part 3 Last time on 100 Happy Days: Day 75) March 27 Knowing I have friends who can keep me in good humor even if I’m so tired I’m practically falling off my chair at work is amazing. Thank goodness for friends. (I’m sorry… A secret hiding spot for a car is so very James Bond that anyone could have made that mistake.) Day 76) March 28 Friday! Running all over the place, but it was the last day in the costume […]
“I Wonder How It Got On…”
I was introduced to Sunshine on Leith not that long ago, and instantaneously fell in love. Scotland, Proclaimers, Edinburgh, singing, musical… I mean, there was a lot to fall in love with. And unlike Mamma Mia, another “jukebox musical”, this one had a feasible story line. But every time I listen to the soundtrack, “Letter From America” is the song that hits home. It may be a commentary on Scotland itself, but when you’re a descendant from someone who left Scotland, it has an entirely different meaning. It begs the question of where you are, […]