My last blog entry was super bleak. Give me this opportunity to start the summer on, dare I say, a happy foot. School is out, though I am obligated to come to school each day of this week to help clean up and restore order.
Joseph and I are developing Project Anti-Anxiety Summer 2010. Those of you who know me at all will understand what an undertaking this could prove to be. With determination and the stubbornness of a forest fire, I will prove you wrong. I expect a t-shirt or a medal if I pull this off.
Friday is my last day upstate for a while (forever?). This coming weekend marks my Brooklyn homecoming. It will be sad to leave the country life, particularly for Nukah, who is currently living in doggy heaven. On the other hand, Joseph and I will be in the same place. We are making our way, demanding the right to be together, insisting upon an “us”.
This year, I continued to learn:
It’s okay to let other people hold me up, hold my hand, share my life.
It’s okay to need people and to let people need me.
It’s okay to be good at some things and not as good at others.
I can see things all the way through.
I am not a failure at life.
I am not a team player.
Seriousness must be balanced with silliness.
I don’t need the seasons; in fact, I’d prefer fewer seasonal type things like, let's say, winter.
Life is less lonely when you share it with people with the same sense of humor.
(This is what I meant in an earlier blog post when I said I would thank my family and friends later. Thank you, family and friends.)
My last blog entry was super bleak. Give me this opportunity to start the summer on, dare I say, a happy foot. School is out, though I am obligated to come to school each day of this week to help clean up and restore order.
It's the end of the year and my classes are wrapping up. We're watching Edward Scissorhands in Mythology, Meaning, and Metaphor and my students squealed with disgust and confusion when Edward is fed ambrosia salad. Of course I protested and insisted that ambrosia salad is a supreme cuisine. Some of them have never tried it before. Tonight, I made some for our final class tomorrow. They'll see the light:
Last night, Joe and I attended a youth production of Henry V because some of my students were in it. The play was excruciatingly acted and as I sat there cringing, once again I began to think about how out of context I feel in this small, retirement community, where hippies come to burn out, die, and pretend to not live in suburbia. There isn't a happy ending to this anecdote.
I'm mourning the end of my glorious break, filled with big city adventures, familiar faces, art museums, cinema saturation, and puppy excursions. Summer, hurry up!
The students would learn math, science, and English through an artistic lens and the academics would be specific to which exhibitions and artists were available. Each parent and student would receive a big binder of lesson plans and homework assignments, so that they could follow along at home. I envision that this program would be like a magnet school, where students apply and based on their ability to be self-motivated, driven by learning, and passionate about the arts, they would be accepted. This project would take an enormous amount of financial backing and time to launch, but I imagine that I could really be invested in working on this.
