Summer plans

I'm a total geek. I know this. That being said, getting the following email this morning TOTALLY made my day!

April 2, 2007

Dear Jessica:

Welcome to the Institute! We are happy to inform you that you have been selected to participate in the 2007 Summer Institute, entitled"Political and Constitutional Theory for Citizens," sponsored by theNational Endowment for the Humanities and offered by the Center forCivic Education. We hope that you will accept. We had a very large number of applications this year, and we are pleased to have been able to accept what appears to be a very strong group of Institute participants.

This NEH three-week Summer Institute (July 7 - July 28) has been designated one of the nation's "We the People" institutes this year. These institutes are especially focused on professional development for teaching in civic education and the fundamental values of the constitutional order of the United States. This program, however, has been developed and conducted as a three-week "We the People" National Academy of the Center for Civic Education for seven summers prior to this one, and for two previous four-week NEH Summer Institutes. In addition to teachers from all parts of the United States and from all types of schools in this country, the National Academies have also included educators from other countries.

Better late than...you know

Tomorrow my dad turns 62. Good thing I remembered this today and not, say, Wednesday. Birthdays at the beginning of the month are really just a little unfair. Guess I'll spend today browsing for a gift and a card to be sent this afternoon. Better late than never has started to become my mantra this year. I am not a fan.

ready...BREAK!

Spring break has sprung and I am thrilled about it. I just got home from my trip to New York and it was fantastic. Okay, so the drive up could have been better (it should NEVER take six hours to get from DC to NY...EVER), but that is a hazy memory now. It was wonderful to see my friends and celebrate their upcoming wedding. I'm glad I went up the night before. Not only was it less exhausting, but it gave me time to hang out with Christina and chat. Plus, I got to meet a bunch of people who'll be at the wedding and that's always nice. And...Scott's family is this crazy, loud Jewish clan who made me feel completely at home (and, okay, also made me miss my own crazy, loud Jewish family). Everyone was so nice and the shower was gorgeous, but I think the day these folks descend on small-town WI for the wedding is going to be fantastic. Seriously. (Oh, and the drive back was easy - a lot of rain, but also a lot of substantial phone conversations, which helped tons!)

Tomorrow I'm going to the DMV to re-register my car and finally get a new license (I only moved six and an half months ago, what do you want from me?!). After a lot of thought (and I'm not being sarcastic here; I did give this a lot of thought), I am biting the bullet and registering my car for two years. I mean, really, this is home now. One of Christina's soon-to-be-aunts asked me where home was today and I immediately thought, "DC." Weird, huh? But, and I think this is typical for a lot of people of our generation, Chicago is home too. Chicago will always be home and I will always be a Chicago girl (and White Sox fan) at heart. These are all things I thought about when the vehicle registration renewal came in the mail. And I decided that, keeping all of that in perspective, it's probably time for me to suck it up and commit to being here at least semi-long term.

I'm hoping I can do the DMV quickly tomorrow (I mean, it's a Monday morning, right?) and then the rest of the week will be filled with reading (Jesusland; Middlesex; The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears), baseball (Wednesday afternoon: Nats v. Marlins), tv show viewing (Arrested Development awaits me) and a lot of time outside. I also have some lesson planning to do and I really need to file my taxes (I may never be the girl who gets them done right when the W2s arrive), but let's focus on the positive. Speaking of, I'm flying home (see? I did it just there) on Saturday morning for Easter. I'll only be in town for about 50 hours, but I'm really excited to see my family and all that good stuff.

Tomorrow's supposed to be sunny and 79. I'm so excited!

oh man...

This morning, I made it out my front door before I noticed that I was wearing my adidas slides and NOT my black flats. Better than getting all the way to work, I suppose.

Is it the weekend yet? ::sigh:: Didn't think so.

Sunny days

It was supposed to rain today. Perhaps it still will. For now, though, it is eighty degrees and sunny out. On days like this it is hard not to smile and be positive about things. And that's a bit of a welcome change.

I'm sorry I haven't been posting more, but life was pretty much the same every day and that just doesn't seem fun to write about. I don't know who is in charge of marketing being a grown up, but they do a damn fine job of hiding the truth. I mean, no one tells you that it's pretty much the same routine every day. Not that I don't love it, just that sometimes, work; gym; apartment; sleep is not the most exciting lifestyle.

Now, for a completely random scattering of thoughts:

1. Not that I loved Katie Couric before, but the interview she did with John and Elizabeth Edwards made me really dislike her. I mean, she's supposed to be this hard hitting journalist or something, right? I just don't buy it. And I don't know who to blame: her; society; her producers; news corporations; commercial sponsors - this list goes on, I suppose. PLUS the questions were just dumb.
2. Speaking of John Edwards, I don't know how I feel about him as a potential president, but damn does he say really great stuff. Maybe it's all a front, but he consistently talks of his run as service and I can't help but love that.
3. I kid you not, there was an article on MSN today entitled Tips for dads who hate playing with kids. The title got me a little annoyed, but the article made me so angry! It was basically all about how you shouldn't feel bad that you don't like playing pretend or Candyland and that you shouldn't apologize for it. That it's okay to be a "man" and interact with your kids during home improvement projects and crap like that. I mean, whatever, I don't have kids and I'm certainly never going to be a dad, but give me a break! Just to be clear, my ovaries do not predispose me to a love of using pretend voices and playing hide and seek - I do it b/c kids like that stuff and if you care about the kids you'll do what they like. Ugh.
4. It'd been too long. I got to play student organizer last night. Last night D, a former student of mine, calls around 8:45p. He is a freshman at JMU this year and I have not answered his last two or three calls, so I picked up. I was expecting a "catch up" chat or a request for help on a paper. I was NOT expecting him to put me on speakerphone at the meeting of Students for Barack Obama to help them plan an education action for later this week. I think he wanted me to give them some insight on Obama but, ever the student organizer, I made them go over their action plan and then walked them through how to make it effective. If I could have figured out how to explain a GROW chart over the phone, I totally would have. It was hilarious. It was also great. The women in charge thanked me several times and it made me miss, just a little, when that was part of my job.
5. I'm really glad we got together. Wait! I'm not even lying! I suppose y'all are well aware of this, most of you being more successful in the relationship world than I, but I have recently rediscovered that it is possible to date someone and NOT have to convince yourself that it's worth the effort. There's an interesting development for you...for all of us, really. He is a friend of a friend who sat on my contact info for a few months before using it. We've been dating for about a month or so and it's nothing I feel the need to write volumes about (mainly b/c I'm feeling protective of it), but it is a very good thing in my life right now. And so that's...you know...good. Or something.

That's probably as good a place as any to stop writing. I have three days left until Spring Break, at which point I will join my roommate at an event called Chocolate Decadence (don't even TRY to pretend that you're not insanely jealous) and then take a trip up to NY for a good friend's wedding shower. I hear the drive is arduous, but I am so excited to see her that I don't even care. (Plus I don't mind driving and five hours is not so bad.) And then I have books to read and cancelled tv shows to watch and most rest and relaxation to enjoy. Hard to be too stressed, then, this week.

Long overdue

It’s been much too long since I last posted anything of substance, and now that I have a minute, I can’t ignore the urge to fill you all in on my life as of late (and, to be honest, I need to purge my mind a bit).

Work (this will be long; I’m lame, I know)
At the end of first semester, the other Civics teacher left. A long term (and amazing) sub was brought in, but I was put in charge of providing her with detailed lesson plans (the likes of which I haven’t written since undergrad), materials and support. I got paid an extra $85/week, which was nice, but maybe not quite comparable. We hired a new teacher and he started two weeks ago. It’s been good and I’m excited about him, but it is still an awful lot of work for me. I no longer have to provide detailed lesson plans, but I’m still giving him materials and weekly plans to follow. Plus I meet with him for at least a half hour every day to troubleshoot, etc. So, you know, it’s a lot.

We also started the annual Civics research project two weeks ago. For this project, students are assigned an influential, but not as well known, African American political figure to research. I gave out all of the assignments (112 students, thank you very much) by matching the students reading level to the difficulty of the resources we had available on each figure. Lower readers got assigned people like Shirley Chisholm and Ralph Abernathy while “advanced” (our advanced readers are really reading at or just above grade level, but everything’s relative) readers got folks like Angela Davis and John Lewis. We guide the students through a week of research and then through a week of writing. Rough drafts were turned in Friday and final drafts were due today. The final product? A five paragraph essay arguing that the assigned political figure deserves to be memorialized and a proposal of what the memorial should look like and why. It’s a kick ass project, but DAMN am I glad it is over.

Economics is pretty much rocking my world this year. I revamped the curriculum map so it is 2 weeks of intro stuff, 3 weeks of micro, 3 weeks of macro and 2 weeks of globalization/distributive justice. Today we were analyzing the impact of supply and demand on industry by looking into the 1996 drop in beef prices after Oprah’s show on mad cow disease and the kids totally got it! I introduced the lesson/concept with a discussion of Jay-Z’s boycott of Cristal champagne and not only was it the most engaged they have ever been, but, stepping outside of myself to watch the interaction, it was pretty entertaining. I mean, here I was, as white as can be (I was wearing a flouncy skirt, heels, a short sleeved sweater and a wide headband!), pacing around the front of the room, quoting obscure rap songs and talking about Jay-Z’s clubs and such. My kids think I’m nuts, but I’m good with that, especially if it keeps them from glazing over.

The AP Government exam is six weeks away, minus the week of spring break, and I am STRESSED OUT. We have to finish the judicial branch by next Friday and then I will have four weeks to teach a unit on Public Policy and one on Civil Rights & Liberties. And, G-d willing, I’ll have one week left for the world’s craziest review session. This is what happens when your exam goes from being one of the last one’s scheduled to the very first one given. But, hey, you know, pressure can be a positive motivator. Or something like that.

Life (sometimes it’s hard to remember this exists outside of work)
Spring has sprung in DC and my calendar has filled accordingly. It’s so much easier to be motivated to actually do things when it is nice outside. It’s supposed to get “cold” again this weekend, but even still, life is looking up.

Last night I went to see Janeane Garofalo (spell check’s REALLY upset by her name) do stand up in Virginia. She was hilarious and also very easy to relate to. Maybe that’s because I have a lot of mildly neurotic and/or anti-social tendencies so I could relate. For instance, when she was talking about how irrationally annoyed she gets when the phone rings, I was right there with her. Same goes for how sad she feels when no one calls. What can I say? We’re complex women, Janeane and I. J But seriously, if you’re smart (which all of you are) and political (which most of you are) and liberal (which, again, most, although not as many, of you are), you should check her out if you get a chance.

Last week I went to see The Roots and Lupe Fiasco perform in Baltimore. It was maybe the best concert that I have ever been to. Scratch that. It was the best concert that I have ever been to. Our seats were in the second row, which was sometimes disconcerting, but always pretty damn cool, and the show was just amazing. Lupe was good, although the squealing, screaming girl behind me was driving me nuts (yes, I’m sure that if you just yell “you’re hot” or “I love you” a little more desperately he will come down, seek you out and take you back with him ::sigh::). The Roots, though, they were nearly indescribable. They are performers and they are damn good at what they do. They played for nearly two hours and there were so many amazing moments. I usually get bored at concerts, but not this one (okay, maybe by the end I was a little distracted by my aching feet). If you’re into hip hop (or really, if you’re into good music), check them out when you get a chance. Especially if you get the chance to check them out live.

Summary (for those of you who like to skim/skip)
It was rough there for a while (I definitely had a major meltdown on Monday night), but things here in DC are going well. I am pretty much continually amazed by how good I can be at my job. I am just as often amazed by how much I have to learn, but I try to see that as a good thing. I don’t see as many of my friends out here as often as I’d like, but the improved weather should change that and it’s not like I never see them at all. My roommate and I are in the midst of an extended period of good times. My family’s doing well or holding steady. There are some things I need to get back under control – I haven’t had time to go grocery shopping in over a month, I haven’t gone to the gym in two months, I stay up too late and don’t drink enough water, but now is not the time to dwell on all of that. The sun is out. The temperature is up. And I am bound and determined to see the silver lining for a bit longer. Hope the same is true for you.

Request

Work has taken over my life and it's fine, honestly. I'm sorry that I haven't posted more often, but there hasn't been a lot to post about. Now there is something I am bringing to this community at large and I know y'all won't disappoint.

Most of you know that I baby sit for three amazing kids every weekend here in DC. The boys are 9 and almost 3 and the girl just turned 1. I adore them and the time I get to spend with them. Their parents are both wonderful (I have been truly blessed to work with the families that I have worked with) and dynamic people who are raising their children to be aware and generous and compassionate and I love it. Today I found out that their mom has cancer. The prognosis for recovery is EXCELLENT, but the road is long. Please send any good thoughts, prayers and/or vibes you can out into the world for them. Thanks!