It is the end of the weekend and I have written 8 pages of “material”. Three of it for my online education course, which is required to clear my teaching credential. In CA, you have to take two years of classes, and then once you start teaching, you basically have to retake those classes or else your credential expires and you have to start all over from scratch. Twice the fun and twice the money! I don’t think any other state has this “quirky system(!)” of credentialing. I’m in my fifth year of teaching and not yet in the clear. The problem with this is, of course, that requiring so much reflection and work doesn’t actually improve the quality of teaching. I’ve come to the conclusion that successful teachers possess the right combination of native intelligence, education, creativity and disposition. Classes can’t change the fundamental nature of a person.
Moving on, the other 5 pages is for a top secret project that may or may not lead to huge life changes. It was fun and creative, but still: FIVE PAGES! All in all, I spent my weekend working on things that have nothing to do with my actual day-to-day job, which kind of sucks. But since I was in the writing mood, I decided to mix it up, go for page 9 and update my blog!
Some exciting things of late: Today I sampled hot chocolate from two different sources, which felt like a fun experiment to mix in with working. Bagel Shop (1) vs. Starbucks (0), with the BS for the win!
Last week I finished the entirety of the series, “Friday Night Lights”. It ended in the most satisfying way I have ever seen a series end. The only thing missing was Minka Kelly reprising her role as Lyla Garrity. The last frame focused on Tim Riggins, which was a good call. I liked that series so much! There was such great character development and so many real experiences and emotional responses to those experiences. It also took such an optimistic look at human nature and every episode had sage advice on a variety of topics, starting with the very first episode during which coach Taylor dispenses the truest of true advice:
“Give all of us gathered here tonight the strength to remember that life is so very fragile. We are all vulnerable and we will all at some point in our lives fall; we will all fall. We must carry this in our hearts…that what we have is special. That it can be taken from us and that when it is taken from us we will be tested…we will be tested to our very souls. We will now all be tested. It is these times…it is this pain that allows us to look inside ourselves.”
I was suffering from some painful FNL withdrawal, so I bought the book on which the series is based. The book is so different and sad that I’m really glad I didn't read it before I saw the series. There are schools in Texas that were not desegregated until the 1980’s and there are people in Texas who literally see nothing wrong (like it wouldn’t even register as weird, it is so ingrained) to call black people the N-word. Living in the bay area means that I am probably out of touch with 98% of this country, which seems OK to me when I read books like this.
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