wow, I feel like I'm in hamsterdam, kind of...

the seattle police tried an experiment yesterday....

"he's on drugs? Wow, that is uptown..."

Grandpa asked me today if I had reconsidered Wallace's name, as Wallace is pretty high-class. I said no, and then pointed out Wallace's left eye, which was swollen almost shut yesterday after an unfortunate paper wasp incident...We've been giving him benadryl, which has almost restored his eye to normal capacity, and Grandpa still thinks I should change his name.

"What is the objective?" - Hitch

I should have played this clip from Hitch for my corps members:


Hitch: What is the objective?
Albert: Shock and awe.
Hitch:That was schockingly awful.

I lost 10 pounds this summer eating fritos every day for lunch

this is probably not something I should blog about lest I find myself running an ad campaign for fritos, which are awful and I hope never to eat again.

But for real, during institute one loses all track of time, and i'm pretty sure some days I never ate lunch at all, and when you're awake for 20 hours of every 24 hour period, I suppose everything blurs up regardless of one's food intake...I literally ate crap all summer long, and still lost weight.

Wow, the crap food/sleep deprivation diet really works.

I'm not advocating this. Don't do it. Please.

I am so excited about real food I've been dreaming of sugar snap peas and carrots have been dancing in my head, and NJ's got squash growing in the garden that I'm super excited about...

blessing the boats

Today I am flying home to Wallace, and to people I love and care about, and I am looking forward to sleeping for about 18 years this week.

My corps members flew off to their regions on Friday, and I was sad I will not be there with them this year, or be able to have them over for dinner, since they're all the way across the other side of the country...

Goodbyes are not my favorite thing . Mostly I would like everyone I love to be in the same place for always.

So I wasn't sure what I would end with, except that I've had a few conversations lately about how really what a lot of good teaching comes down to is loving our children...And I think the work of teaching is sacred work, and this is what I ended us with - that leading children in learning means you are standing on holy ground.

So I sent every one of them on their way with lucille clifton's blessing, one of my favorite poems:

may the tide that is entering even now the lip of our understanding carry you out beyond the face of fear may you kiss the wind then turn from it certain that it will love your back may you open your eyes to water water waving forever and may you in your innocence sail through this to that

This is what I hope for each of them - that they may sail through this summer into a classroom where kids feel welcomed and valued, and learn all they can every day.