if i were obsessed with polls

i would check this obsessively. (Thanks Collinator!)

g-chat status updates

Johhny v: corporate absurdity #586: There is a security door on my floor that requires me to badge in to get to the closest restroom. Anyone can easily out-smart this door by going down one set of stairs, walk 10 feet, and then walk up a different set of stairs... and voila! you pop out on the other side of our stalwart security door. ugh.

Evs: "If one student chooses to do math problems instead of drugs, I have been a success."


K8: "my niece caught her first fish and insisted on kissing it before releasing it. hilarious."

and also:

"corn refiners: get your crappy misrepresented HFCS adds out of parenting magazine and off my tv."

i think my search for the perfect chai

has ended.

I found it yesterday, after deciding I wanted to continue a tradition I started in Baltimore - supporting local business and get good coffee every Friday morning. It's like getting a treat for going to work on Friday...Sometimes I would pick it up and sometimes my carpool buddy would pick it up...either way, it was delightful.

Sometimes it's the simple things.

So yesterday I walked to Katy's, where I've only had the mocha and a regular coffee, both of which were good. Katy's bright red and yellow surroundings, along with Megan Myers's paintings, are delightful. I ordered chai hesitantly, because so many places screw up my favorite drink.

But Katy's chai was like drinking heaven in a cup. The milk was steamed perfectly, there wasn't too much foam, it wasn't too sweet but also not too spicy. Perfection.

speaking of the revolution....

Miss Evans asked me the other day my feelings about the current state of politics in our country, and then proceeded to tell me why she's reading The Revolution and writing in Ron Paul. She might have sold me on him, actually. Well, I'm thinking about it anyway.

k8: "I wonder about his version of the story."

gretzky: "I wonder that about a lot of men."

I wouldn’t date a drummer, they’re too crazy....MWWTRA

MWWTRA*: …they’re a party waiting to happen, a little too much energy, you can't keep track of them.

Guitarists are way too into themselves, too self-focused…Same with vocalists.

Bass players, they’re funny. They kind of do their own thing, and they’re cool. Witty. Go for the bass player.

These are all totally stereotypical generalizations that could be untrue. It’s just most of the time, they’re true.

GRETZKY: What about keyboarders?

MWWTRA: Keyboarders are usually gay. But if they’re not, too much drama.

*musician who wishes to remain anonymous

if i were to get my tongue pierced,

this would happen to me.

please tax the millionaires

One more reason I'm voting for Obama.

"the revolution will not be right back after a message about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people..." - Gil Scott-Heron

Rhonda Thomason wrote a great piece in the new Teaching Tolerance mag, and I'm excerpting some here. But you can, and should, read the whole thing. I wish for all of us who are involved in growing children to keep our hearts open with imagination.



I want a revolution of hope....

Imagine such a revolution.

Imagine an educational system in which educators invoke standards of compassion, empathy, action and reason as they question the deep regularities that suppress achievement.

Imagine the power of educators valuing dissent and affirming what students can achieve rather than magnifying what they can't.

Imagine educators giving ourselves permission to be vulnerable learners acknowledging that our judgment might be biased. Imagine us inviting troubling, courageous conversations that have the power to move us beyond our confidence and challenge our own assumptions and biases.

Imagine listening deeply to parents and students willing to help us get to know the "inside" of their experiences. Imagine unveiling ingrained stereotypes in order to create communities of belonging, abundance and trust.

Imagine competent educators who deserve and command autonomy and respect — and then use it to create classrooms of equality and sharing where all students find their cultures reflected in the stories teachers tell, the languages they speak, and the facts textbooks reveal.

"i think his optometrist is funny" - Chad

Went to see Burn After Reading last night. ST didn’t think it was as good as other Coen brothers films (also note ST's hilarious "death of a kippah salesman" background), and I’d have to agree, but there were hilarious moments. Brad Pitt’s character alone was worth watching the movie for. Also, the guy who played in this amazing movie, The Visitor




about drums, immigration, and our screwed-up-systems, Richard Jenkins, is so in love with Frances McDormand that it’s sweet and painful and heartbreaking. It was very odd to watch George Clooney be a tramp, really kind of vomit-inducing, but I did laugh a great deal.

After the movie, though, I felt sad. Every relationship was screwed up....Was there even one good one? I don’t think there was. Not very hope-giving for a girl looking for a good kiss from a good guy this year. (I think that was my New Year's Resolution. If I had one.) And then everyone kept dying. Fun while it lasted, but very few redeeming factors - I wouldn't watch it with mom.

if I were a robber

I would definitely use spices and sausage in my stealing plans.

"This has been a complete waste of Monday morning" - Utahraptor

Furthering the dinosaur comics sent to me by K8 theme, Ryan North is hilarious. Check out his latest comic. Yet more incentive to move to Toronto. As if Sij and Dave weren't enough. I think my favorite part of the website is:

ABOUT INTERACTING SOCIALLY
This can be tricky! You want to be friendly, but you don't want to come on too strong. My best advice is to carefully observe others, and to relax!

How true, and also hilarious. I'm a fan.

"i'll love you that way they taught me" - christopher

yesterday I went to a wedding in the woods. in the cedar river watershed, more precisely. There are bears that live here, and the river, and lots of other creatures, and we had to drive up a 4 mile windy gravelly stretch of road, which doesn't sound like a lot, but actually is a long way to go when you are in the backseat of the car feeling nautious from going to sleep late after a jam-packed Friday and Saturday, making artichoke dip at midnight and then waking up early to get to said wedding in the middle of the forest and not eating breakfast because you are too busy detrmining what the fuck to wear to a wedding in the woods that you will have to hike to.

but all that fell away once we got there, because it was simply perfect to hike up the forest, listening to the water and the sound of our footsteps up the hill, with moss and sticks and leaves underfoot. And then Tiffany and Christopher sang a song they wrote, and welcomed us, and Emiko sang, and Clare, too, and Jake's dad offered a blessing and the vows were beautiful.

I'm generally against writing one's own vows, because I've heard too many "I will love you forever" lines and all that kind of crap that I guess is supposed to be poetic but really comes out mushy and meaningless. I mean, for real, what good is "I will love you forever" when cancer comes to call? I think the whole in sickness and in health is in there for a reason.

Anyway, their vows were perfect. Real, substantial, and I guess romantic too. It was a fitting way to end summer and start the fall, with new beginnings and new lives joined together.

And now it's sunny out my window. Hope's creeping back, chasing away some shadows of grief. The mosquito who planted himself outside on my window pane is saying good morning, and Big Mike limps across 23rd while an old woman leans on her cane down the sidewalk.

if I were a monk

this would happen to me.

"i think economists sometimes argue...." - carly fiorina

i can't believe carly fiorina just opened the RNC. Well, I can. But I thought she was so cool! And I still do think she is cool, I'm just sad she's supporting McCain.