On this day

A list of events that happened on this, the day before the day we celebrate our independence:

1. Jim Morrison died.
2. Idaho became a state (Happy Birthday!)
3. George M Cohen (who wrote "You're a Grand Ole Flag" and "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy") was born.
4. Quebec was founded (Bon Anniversaire!)
5. AND the Battle of Gettysburg ended today, considered by many a turning point in the war.

Happy 3rd of July

School's out for summer

And now a list of the trips I'll be taking:
1. Rantoul to see my mom and dad. (and my dad's new job)
2. Springfield to celebrate engagements in my close group of friends
3. SanFran to see a couple of my closest MechE friends
4. Nicaragua to see Lindsay!!!!!!

Don't go into teaching if...

1. You are anti-intellectual. You can't expect your students to do more (like go to college) if you can't even cut it.
2. You are willing to wait for the worst kids to drop out. There are some kids that are difficult to get motivated etc. but they have their reasons and you waiting for them to just drop out is a disservice to the time they do spend in school.
3. You think that age is equal to experience. Students have experience, many of them very different than the experience you probably have but a lot of experience none the less and every experience (or even apparent lack thereof) is an experience.

Ups and Downs

Teaching has a lot of ups and downs. Today:
1. I had to deal with a teacher I had a confrontation with yesterday.
2. I had classrooms full of kids working on these awesome projects for the end of the year.
3. I thought I was going to miss tomorrow, our last day before finals, which rushed many things and created a sense of panic in me.
4. My students pulled through and I'm going to have some amazing skits on tape of some very powerful subject matter.
5. I got a letter in response to my complaint of having to miss school saying I didn't have to go AND that I was single handedly bringing down productive collaboration and teacher progress.
6. I had a student who has complained non-stop about his project that I've been bending over backwards to make sure it was complete and today he didn't complain once!
7. I found out that the letter saying I was a terrible asset to the teaching was also sent to one of my colleagues (who does understand my e-mail and not the response that came with it)
8. At the film festival, when they showed my drama students' trailer for the play their doing caused the people nearby to say "Now I want to see the whole thing"
AND
9. My SLC surprised me by giving me an award at the end of the evening. I was a blubbering mess at this point embarrassingly enough but it was very touching.

Similes better to describe the LAUSD cuts.

California just failed at passing 6 measures that could have helped to save the budget crisis. Today on the coverage, many lawmakers (our governor included) described this as the people haven spoken (less than 25% of the people but you know). What are the people saying? Apparently that "People don't cut their food during these times, they cut their HBO" or "While people are selling their motorcycles, boats and second homes, California needs to do the same." As an employee of the hardest hit area in this budget crisis- education- I feel like I could make some better comparisons for the budget cuts coming.
1. These budget cuts will be like trying to feed a family of 1000 with food for 10.
2. These budget cuts are like having to make the choice between medicine to live or food to live.
3. The California budget is down to cutting all meat and dairy from the budget. Luckily produce grows year round here or it would be a long winter.
4. California has as much money as it has water.
5. California's education system will look like a jail by the time the new cuts come in- overcrowded and useless.
6. This round of cuts is like cutting the crotch out of your shorts.

Yeah, stop thinking that money is boundless California and realize you've truly screwed yourselves over.

Highlights from proms

A list of the highlights of every prom I went to:
1. My mom and I made my dress Junior year. It was beautiful. Some of my favorite memories of that year actually come from trying to make that dress.
2. I got a date Junior year- I was completely caught off guard.
3. Senior year prom ended. Yup that was the best thing about it.
4. I had the most elegant decorations for last night's prom even if the other decorations were tacky.
5. Prom Court was full of amazing students, all of whom could have won and been well deserving.
6. Hanging out as a "chaperon" is boring but I had good people to hang out with.

So much to blog about

There are some things I could be blogging about BUT I have reasons that none of them are happening. Here is a list of what I could have blogged about:
1. Things that were annoying/upsetting/maddening about the meeting I went to today.
2. My journey through the stages of grief over my job.
3. The heroes my students are going to be writing research papers about (Anyone real or imaginary that they know or not from 1950 or later)
4. Potential job sites in my very near future
5. Best forms of chocolate to be found in CA.
6. List of graduates I have to celebrate next weekend.

Instead you just get a list of my thoughts.