Rookie Reflections

I am not someone who believes in the afterlife or transfer of energies or any of that. For some reason, the older I get, the more I don't buy it, and the more I don't feel like I have to in order to be a good person.

However, I am a dreamer. Not in the mysterious, John Lennon kind of way, but the actual I-have-dreams-most-nights-I-sleep way. And, it always seems that anytime I'm going through heavy personal issues that I dream about people in my life who have died. I don't know if this is a form of cosmic karma, but even after death, people close to me are present in my dreams and in my thoughts.

Anytime I dream about my grandmother on my dad's side (which is often), I am sitting in her living room. She is in "her chair," and I am on the loveseat beside her. Most of the time, I'm telling her about my problems or asking her advice on how to handle things. This is odd to me, because she died before I feel like I had any real adult problems.

In my dreams, she always does and says the same things. She always holds my hand and tells me everything is going to be fine. She eases my worries in a way that only a loving grandmother does. Is this my subconscious trying to convince myself that I will, in fact, be fine, or is this really her comforting me from beyond the grave? I don't know, and I guess I never will. Either way, it's a nice feeling being there with her, even for a minute.

Jesus Camp by Julia Scheeres

I read this book back during July, but I still think about it now. The story is a memoir written by a teenaged white girl growing up in 1970’s Indiana. Her parents are active in the church and forcefully practice their version of religion in their household. When Julia, the narrator (and author), was young, her parents adopted two very different African American boys. Although one skeezy brother gets himself in a bind early on, Julia becomes great friends with her other brother David.

Since Julia and David are different races, they get ridiculed/threatened on a daily basis by their peers and community members; they are forced to ignore each other at school in an attempt to lead normal lives.

Although Julia and David’s parents are hardcore Christian evangelists, they are abusive to the children in several ways. Julia and David do not live up to their standards (and never could have), and they are sent to the Dominican Republic to complete a program at a rigid Christian reform school. This is where most of the memoir takes place.

This book forces the reader to think about motives regarding religion, evangelism versus brainwashing, and the ins and outs of living a “Godly life.”

My only criticism: I thought the author may have come on too strong with topics of sexuality. Although the events may have been written just as they occurred, I felt uncomfortable most of the time during this read. Maybe that was her aim.


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Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

This book made me feel good about life. The story is told from the perspective of Jacob Jankowski, who finds himself joining the crew of Benzini Brothers Circus after a life-changing event. Jacob switches back and forth between his days serving as a veterinarian on the circus staff and his current conditions late in his life at a retirement home. It is saddening to hear his contrasts between his “glory days” and today, when the threat of dementia becomes greater day by day.

I had never read much about the circus and did not know the ins and outs, but when Jacob tells about the behind-the-scenes events, it is like you are there in the action. I fell in love with his character and rooted him and his friends on. There is also a romantic storyline which is anything but typical. Although it sounds cliché, I laughed, I cried, and I will definitely re-read this one when I need a pick-me-up.

P.S. I heard they are making a movie out of this one. I will be first in line!



On my radar to read soon...
The Magicians by Lev Grossman (I read it is the "Harry Potter for adults"!)
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (I WILL read this eventually.)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (recommended by one of my students - a must read before the movie comes out)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (recommended by Blaine)
The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III (LOVED House of Sand and Fog, and recommended by HCDub)

I just got finished grading the 9th grade autobiographies. Here are my favorite one-liners:

"I would like to grow up and drive a Ford Fusion."

"I was named Brittney. My dad wanted to name me Shenigua, but my mom saved me."

Verb Confusion: "Later on, my mom became my brother, and after 8 years we moved."

"What really makes me happy is getting what I want... a boyfriend who is SEXYFINE!" (sexyfine = all one word and my new favorite)

"When I marry my husband, he must be kind and sort of a Christian."

I died my hair reddish again to cover the gray hair takeover. This is why I'm going gray prematurely:

My tenth graders recently studied Puritanism and Arthur Miller's The Crucible. When they finished, we discussed paragraph formatting and organization, and they had to respond in correct format to prompts about the movie.

On a side but related note, we are having to be especially frugal with our resources this year. We have little to no funding left for copy machines, and the man is expected to pull the plug on them by the end of this month. Because of that, when I have been making copies of assignment sheets, I won't let the students write on them. I am hoping to keep as many class sets as I can for next semester when we don't have copy machines at all.

Back to The Crucible and formatting. When I handed out the assignment sheet, I tried to make the conversation light about them not writing on the paper.

Me: Please do not write on this paper. (Insert speech about copy machines and saving resources.) Do not write on this paper. Again, do not write on this paper. Amber, do you write on this paper?
Amber: No ma'am.
Me: Donnell, will you write on this paper?
Donnell: Absolutely not.

We all grinned and they got to work.

When I get the papers back, what do you know? Most of them had written on the paper. However, one student took it to a whole new ironic level:



SHE WROTE ON THE SHEET TO WRITE "DO NOT WRITE ON THIS SHEET"

:)