Like Odysseus, we really just wanted to get back to our hometown. My sister and I picked up her husband and we left their Oak Park home at 6:40 pm – not optimal time to begin a westward journey through parts of four states, but my sister and her husband drive through the night more…
Category: Refelections
Thoughts about teaching
Untangled
I’m trying to unpack this metaphor. We had another amazing Thanksgiving with 28 at the tables (three – all in the dining room) on Thursday and 25 at my sister’s on Friday. I have the most amazing extended family that a woman could ask for. On Sunday my uncle’s flight back to South Dakota was…
Mandolines and Mandolins
Sunday we celebrated what I would argue was the last day of summery fall. The threatened rain held off and the day was golden, crisp and cool. I went to the garden to dump the kitchen compost bucket and realized that it had been a while since I had been out there. The second planting…
Love of Juxta-Position
Nothing makes washing dishes more pleasant than an appropriate beverage and a Frank Sinatra CD. Those dishes got washed with a smile. My husband wants to talk about the arrangements. I said, “Oh, those are all Nelson Riddle, I’m sure.” (Close, two were not.) I just want to imagine that I’m dancing with a tall,…
The Beckoning of Lovely
Last night we did something that others may think was silly. We joined a whole bunch of people at the Bean ( public art, Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate in Millennium Park) for a moment of something Lovely on 10/10/10 at 10:10 pm. Organized by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, this was the third moment at the Bean…
Clearing Out
Usually I wait until February recess or April break to do my closet purging, but yesterday I started in the cupboard in the kitchen that has all those bit of herbs and spices and bags of dried and dessicated star anise and chilies that will never be used and have lost any of their flavor…
Camping With the 7th Grade
We have returned from our three day camping trip with the 7th grade. Here is what I know: Seventh graders are fun to spend time with. Nothing beats a wood fire for hours of entertainment – building, stoking, cooking, toasting, poking, watching A grill basket may be a camping/teacher’s best friend Kids think that just…
Everybody’s Got A Hungry Heart
We feed so many good things in our lives: minds souls hearts bodies spirits And so many negative things: hatred resentment anger sadness This was an eventful week. I participated in the feeding of so many aspects of my world, and I hope the positive energy outweighs the negative that swirls around us. My girls…
Worcester College Library – Can I Stay?
By far the greatest geek pleasure afforded to me in Oxford was our field trip to the Worcester College Library. The Worcester library is not huge like the Bodleian but it has a treasures, real treasures. We we not allowed to take photos, but let me explain what we were able to see. Drawings After…
Very Old Yet Not Embalmed
I’ve just spent a week in Oxford at a teacher seminar studying Shakespeare. I’m sure that there will be thoughtful and extensive posts about my time here and the people that I spent time with, but as the bus to Heathrow has both WiFi and power, and honestly a highway looks like a highway no…
Fear – post 100
Well, it has taken me a while to get to my 100th post. And I am fortunate that I don’t have to wring my hands about what to write about because I recently I had a teaching epiphany while I was being a student. I have written about my yoga class before. Our teacher helps…
Days 1 and 2 – CMK
Geek spiral. I am at the most intimate conference on education that I have ever attended. I sometimes feel like I hear about a conference just after the conference has reached its point of bloated and oversubscribed. We sit for hours in ballrooms watching yet another PowerPoint presentation or the feverish exhortations of the keynote…
Living on the Lip of Insanity 