Warning, Rant alert!

I typed this entry while on my plan period.  After this, my day got better, thanks to the magic of learning.

I wanted to take this opportunity to vent a few of my frustrations.  Weighing most heavily upon my mind right now is a conversation I had today with another teacher regarding the outcomes of this week’s school board meeting.  The board voted “no confidence” in our superintendent.  Out of eight votes on the board, we only had one person who lived in the city (or ever even really came to this city for any reason), and presumably in outrage, resigned his post this week too.  There have previously been closings of many other local schools, and it seems that ours is the next target of the bureaucratic tape cutters, which means that our school will probably not last long enough for me to fulfill my personal 5-year goal.  This was kind of central to the unfolding of my family plans in this early stage, and now my future in many areas has become uncertain-at best.

This really makes any other concerns seem petty and trifling, but here they are anyway: our students are issued their own laptops, and our district is proud of this 1-to-1 initiative, yet access to the internet is so strictly controlled that I can hardly even depend on the availability of resources that would be helpful, crucial, integral (?) to my technology plans.  Youtube is banned.  Google image search is banned.  Blogs are banned – yet at my special request, edublogs.org has been allowed.  So I was planning on having my seniors give powerpoint presentations on the world religions we are currently studying, and I was hoping to include images as a part of the requirements (because who would honestly enjoy a presentation consisting entirely of text?), yet my request to enable google images was met with the porno defense (you know, kind of like the “they can find anything on there” kind of excuse which could realistically be used to block ANY kind of site, because that is the NATURE of the internet).  I was miffed; and before I sent my rude high-and-mighty email relating my desire to teach accountability to my students and responsible use of the internet, I sought the advice of one of the older teachers, through which I came to the conclusion that this is not a battle that is worth my time and effort, especially since I don’t have tenure at this point.  This was quite the bitter pill, and honestly I am finding it incredibly difficult to bounce back from, which is the point of this ranting blog post.

The third thing that is really bothering me has to do with the way my students speak to each other.  How rude these kids are!  I honestly have no idea where they learned that it is ok to call a girl a “skank” even if “it’s true.”  I mean, we all know the type (of girl), but it is completely inappropriate to use that language even if you are joking, and especially if it is true.  But on the other hand, these girls don’t exactly act like ladies, either, so it feels like I am a very small island in an ocean of … well, you get the point.  I’m feeling quite isolated these days, and since I left last weekend, I have felt totally behind on my work, and that is frustrating.

I finished this little rant with some time to spare, so i looked around KS, CO, and MO for another job, how depressing!  I was feeling a little vulnerable, therefore, going into my 11th grade class, and for a while, it went horribly.  They were extremely chatty, and seemed unwilling to participate in discussion.  “Oh, great!” I thought to myself.  “This was supposed to be the fun, groundbreaking, mind-bending unit, and they were uninterested, apathetic, lost.  After a few minutes in which my internal pressure kept getting higher and higher, I decided “Fine!  Fuck it.”  I told them “Turn to the end, and do ALL the questions for after the reading.”  They took one look at that list of questions and freaked out.  Then I asked, “Do you guys want to talk about this piece now?”  My answer was an emphatic, unanimous YES!  So I begin just reading them the piece.  I read sentences over and over again, emphasizing different words, so as to break up the thoughts into manageable chunks, stopping to paraphrase when the language got a bit lofty.  (I didn’t realize as I read, that this was in fact quite the wordy selection)  But they got it, and better yet, they were excited!  The sparks were flying, and I was really breaking through to them!  It’s kind of hard for me to relate to their ideologies for obvious reasons, but once i got over the idea that they didn’t care too much for our president and started using examples that meant something to them, they really became engaged.  We didn’t get through the whole thing today, and I had planned on moving on to something NEW today, but it’s ok.  I’m just going to slow down, and it’s a good thing anyway, because i have multiple students who have to be gone at least a day per week for sports or field trips or whatever.  It’s incredibly annoying, but I guess them’s the breaks.  I’m slowing down.  My pace isn’t important, it’s the teaching and learning that are important.  And it’s worth slowing down to see them experiencing the same excitement I felt with this piece.  It’s powerful stuff.

One good thing about music: when it hits you feel no pain

So hit me with music

HooAhh!

George Clinton here i come!

That’s right, folks.  All I gotta do is finish three papers before Friday, and then I am going to play all weekend!

Frizbee golf friday, George Clinton on saturday, hopefully followed  by an awesome house party!

Get on your feet and do the Funky Alphonso!

So I was totally prepared for today to suck. I have been wallowing beneath a million final projects that are currently pending in the very near future, and was not looking forward to spending this beautiful day cloistered at the library composing. Also, it feels like it’s been ages since spring was last here, and it feels like spring. So I spent some time jacking around before i got to work sketching out my next research paper, and when I got to the end, i had written 4 pages! That’s like 40% of that work–done! Next I have to go through and apply all my source material to the references I made, and hopefully by then I’ll be at 10 pages. otherwise it could turn ugly. I hate completing a paper and having to stretch it out to meet a length requirement, I feel like I am only detracting from the glory of this finished work by adding “stuff” merely for the sake of lengthening it.

But enough of that. I just need to get home and finish this damn paper. Anyway, right now I’m totally euphoric. It is sunny, and totally warm. The tires on my bike are adequately pressurized, so I’m not totally winded when i get to the top of the hill. And the research paper I spoke of used to be due today, but now it’s not due until Monday, which means I can actually write a solid paper without having to beat myself up about it, because it took me until today to recover from the research paper I wrote last week. And I can’t wait for Sunday, it’s going to be a “good” time.

I am also dying to start a new beer. Dear God, please influence Rick to buy a new beer kit. Tell him I’ll pay.

Also Frank Zappa’s Apostrophe always cheers me.

Errant Feces, much?

Sometimes i have to scoop the cigarette butts out of the ashtray at work. We use a kitty litter scoop that has been burnt and melted from being carelessly left in the pot while there were smokers about.

So I was thinking, “Here I am, scooping the errant feces of society. It’s not like people don’t know what littering is, i think, it’s more that they don’t see it as a big deal, just like animals pooping in the wilderness.” Okay, maybe I’m the only one who would think of the poop analogy, but it’s made all the more poignant by the fact that they use actual cat litter in the ashtray instead of sand. I’ve told them about how it always turns into a brick when it rains, and that they should use sand instead, but I digress.

Judging Debate

I don’t mind doing it, but I really loathe it (as an activity). In a best-case scenario, you see a well-structured debate where the teams pay attention and make reasonable, well-informed judgments about the resolution. In reality, large numbers of debaters are apathetic–either to the topic or to debate in general. Additionally, if one or more debaters do not take the debate seriously, it is a quick, sharp decline from a structured discussion to an episode from the peanut gallery.

Public Forum Debate (PFD, aka Ted Turner Debate), to put it bluntly, FUCKIN SUCKS! None of the speeches are long enough to really make any strong case. Sides (affirmative/positive) are decided by a coin flip, and cross-examination is replaced by “cross-fire.” This, to me, makes debate more of a fox news event. The choosing of sides is reminiscent of a football game, and crossfire is like one of those “fair and balanced” “no-spin” news shows on the fox network. I thought judging policy debate was the worst, i was wrong.

Judging LD debate makes me feel important, relevant, and smart. Judging PFD (which reminds me of personal floatation devices from boy scout camp) makes me feel irrelevant, inconsequential, and dumb. The only factors keeping me here are respect for Naylor and my wife, and the fact that i’m getting paid for this. And, I guess, the fact that i’m not the type of person to just walk out of a tough or unfulfilling situation. Generally, my philosophy includes the avoidance of these types of activities, but if i am unlucky or unwise enough to find myself in just such a situation, I’m going to stick it out because that’s why I’m here. I just wish for it to be over soon.

Networking

It’d really be nice if “networking sites” like facebook and myspace really fostered meaningful networks.  Maybe I’m missing it (it could be there), but it seems to me like these sites really only make it more convenient for advertisers.

Whatever.  That really wasn’t the point i was trying to make, anyway.

The real point is, I met another Lawrence homebrewer!  And it seems like our minds are tuned to the same frequency.  First, he hangs out at my coffeeshop, so clearly we have convergent tastes in coffee, he likes making his own beer, and is full of big ideas (creating a brew supply co-op, or like a Lawrence Brewer’s Guild or homebrew club).  We had some good brainstorming time this morning, having a receptive, open-minded person to bounce ideas off of really helped me conceptualize the types of infrastructure necessary to realize my vision of a Lawrence Homebrew Society.

Homebrew club:  (you can’t technically sell homebrew) payment of club dues generates an invite to the bi-weekly meeting where lawrence brewers offer a free sampling of their intoxicating imbiberies.  brewers are also invited, and can substitute a contribution of homebrew for the cost of the dues.  the idea is to eventually have enough participants that i, as the organizer of this event, could primarily serve in an executive function (manging lists, securing receptive locations, counting money)

These events could easily be expanded to more than just a drinking party.  Art could be displayed, music could be played, it could easily become a whole to-do!  If anyone has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

Crazy crazy tons of work

Man, i’ve been having at least four or five good blog ideas per day, but don’t have enough time to post them because i’m so bogged down with compositions for school.  I just (almost) finished the one that’s due for my night class tomorrow, I just have to edit/revise it and hand it in.  that’s pretty gratifying, especially when i turn it in along with the two papers that i am (was) currently (recently) behind on.  That makes one class down (for this round), and then all i have to do is continue to keep up on my daily reading & writing, as well as compose another research paper for next wednesday, and another critical essay for the following wednesday.  That same week, I need to present my sample lesson plans for my advanced comp class, lesson plan modifications for my exceptional learners class, a book report and research paper for foundations of Ed, and my technology final, and i’m good to go!  (All this in roughly a month–don’t tell me about busy.)

Championship!

Well, KU is off to face the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night. As for UNC, I knew it was going to be big from the tip. I had previously watched the Memphis/UCLA game, and it took Memphis a couple tries to get the first points, but KU was rainin on them from the beginning. That 18-0 run really sealed the deal, when our players kept stealing the ball, and they kept missing long-3’s…we scored 18 points before they were able to answer back.

Mass street was a mob scene. It was like a mini-festival of drunkenness, and someone actually fired up a joint on the stairs waiting to get upstairs after the game. What a time we live in. I ended up making $85 in tips, which really saves my ass, because i spent the last of my cash on steaks for grillin today–Oh man it was good. First let me point out that round steaks were on sale for $3 a pound if you bought the economy packs. So for 8 bucks I got a shit ton of steak. We diced up some onions, peppers, fresh pineapple, and chicken, and marinated our kabobs, and they were the shiznit! And there was so much, that we ended up grilling a second time, in between games.

This was the first KU game i have watched all season. It’s fun watching a clearly superior team kick ass every week, but I’m from Kansas City. We have the Royals and the Chiefs, neither of which has been good for a long time. Plus we don’t have cable, so we just don’t watch tv. The only real reason i watched today was (a) it was the Final Four and (b) for lack of a better thing to do. Maybe I’d be more into KU sports if I was more content with “pounding beers” and being a jackass, but I consider myself above that, I’d prefer to have a drink or two at home with my wife. It’s just a matter of priorities.

Tonight we were very busy for a long time. I had a line for over an hour, and that is unheard of. I was holding a pee the whole time, but I didn’t want to leave and have a line waiting, plus I really wanted the money. Everyone said they were sorry that i had to work, i even had someone thank me for working when i was sweeping the porch, whatever, i said. i like being busy, even if i’m just giving out free water. I got lots of tips for just water. plus there were some drunkys who would feel generous or not realize what they’re doing, etc. It was like money was just appearing out of nowhere.

Awesome.

Look out for S****ucks!

So they’ve devised a way to use a mass spectrometer to anticipate the sensory profile of an espresso shot.  At first I was intrigued, learning that each individual flavor tone present in the bouquet of espresso was due to the presence and relative proportion of certain chemical compounds found in the coffee.  And with the spectrometer, the measurement of these chem’s was compared with the consensus of a panel of extreme coffee snobs (probably from italy), and a striking correlation was discovered.

This is all from an article I read back in February, and I was excited and interested, until just now, when i realized the possible outcomes if Starbucks got their hands on this technology.  Currently, aside from political concerns, the main factor keeping local coffeeshops alive is the fact that, although Starbucks is on every corner and college campus, literally everyplace YOU are, they serve shit for coffee.  In a pinch, i will sometimes be brave enough to get some drip coffee, but that sucks, too.  If they were to integrate the machine that measures the quality of coffee into their current mechanized, automatic espresso “dispensers,” then our competitive edge will be eliminated!  At least we can still undercut their prices and still have the reputation of being the hot cultural nexus of town.  I just hope that’s enough to keep food on the table!