My first article submission (OK, not the first first, but the first one in a long time) rolled out today, and I'm gonna throw up! Keep your fingers crossed for the next 4-12 weeks that Chick Lit.: Making a Feminist Statement finds a home. In reality I know it's highly unlikely that I'll get anything published until I make approximately 400 failed attempts. This is the first in a long line of requests for my readers to cross all crossable body parts.
I haven't worked on the book much for the last couple of weeks. I use my workout time every day to think about the plot, and I've decided that I'll probably have to scrap the four chapters I've worked up so far, keeping the better bits, and rework things. It gets off to a slow start, and that's the last thing that a first book can get off to. I've figured out a way to start off with more of a bang (there's a pun there, but you won't know until you read the book) and still work in the material I've already got. So, to make myself feel better, I'm really not scrapping my material...I'm redistributing. Ahh, yesh, much better. My ego is happier now.
On a totally unrelated note:
My mom was talking to our neighbor that lived across the street at our last house (the house at which the formerly beautiful Bradford pear tree now looks like a radioactive stalk of broccoli). Her grandson attends the junior college where I teach, after a year away at UT-Arlington, and he was asking what my last name was. She told him my name, blah blah, and he said he wanted to come introduce himself because he's "heard that I'm a great teacher and really fun." I told Mom to tell him to come by. I always love meeting admirers, and maybe he'll spread the word and my summer classes will make. Woot! Joking aside, it made my day much better and makes me think that maybe I'm doing some good. I've felt a bit slothful this semester, but maybe I did OK after all.
On another totally unrelated note:
I've rediscovered my complete obsession with David Gray (guitarish, folkish singer on Dave Matthews' ATO label). I went through a whole David Gray phase in college....sophomore year, I believe. I was an art student at the time, and I remember spending hours (meaning at least 7 at a time) in the studio working on still life drawings, paintings, weird pen/ink/coffee wash pieces. I ALWAYS had my headset with me to drown out the mutterings of the yuppie idiots that surrounded me (very rich school, remember...Hummers everywhere, and take that however you'd like). Most of the time there was a Dave Matthews, Shawn Colvin, Nickel Creek/Tracy Chapman/mix, or David Gray CD playing. They were just the right tempo to get me worked up but not so worked up that my hand would fly off. There was something (and still is) so seductive about getting completely enamored with a work of art in progress. I would lose track of time, I would listen to the CD 5 times without realizing it, I would exhaust myself completely, but it was the closest thing to ecstacy I've ever experienced. I still get something very closely akin to that feeling when I'm writing or doing a number of other intellectually challenging things, but nothing compares completely to art.
A piece of the song I've been listening to for the last several nights at bedtime:
Standing at the door of the pink flamingo
Crying in the rain
It was a kind of so so love,
And I’m gonna make sure it doesn’t happen again.
You and I had to be the standing joke of the year.
You were a run around,
A lost and found.
And not for me I feel.
Take your hands off me, please
I don’t belong to you, you see.
Take a look in my face, for the last time.
I never knew you., you never knew me.
Say hello, goodbye.
Say hello and wave goodbye.
TV: off
CD: Davey Gray
Book: Deal with It!, by Paula White
In my head: Ativan dreams and migrazone longings.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Sunday, April 03, 2005
It's a weener!
Another movie makes it to my all-time faves list! Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was....well...spotless! I've posted a short review at PR, and I'll be sharing more rampant thoughts here soon.
http://ProjectileReviews.blogspot.com
http://ProjectileReviews.blogspot.com
Friday, April 01, 2005
Factoids and Opinionoids
Snippets...compliments of me....
The sexiest voice on radio right now: Gavin Degraw singing I Don't Wanna Be
Song I hate to like and that gets stuck in my head for no reason: Get Right....Jennifer Lopez. It's the sax bit.
I'm reading: The Bible. I've never read it all, and I wanted something with religious overtones. Well, I found it!
Worst book I've read this year: Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown. Although, it did get me interested in some workings of the Catholic Church. Like the papal conclave, etc.
Movie I'm craving: Stigmata
I'm seeing a pattern here.
Most interesting interview I've seen lately: Lisa Marie Presley on Oprah. She had some interesting things to say about former hubby, Michael Jackson.
Topics on my mind to post about:
The Good Body, by Eve Ensler
Book review review sites
On TV: CNN
Music of choice: Seether and Amy Lee....Broken
In my head: snot
The sexiest voice on radio right now: Gavin Degraw singing I Don't Wanna Be
Song I hate to like and that gets stuck in my head for no reason: Get Right....Jennifer Lopez. It's the sax bit.
I'm reading: The Bible. I've never read it all, and I wanted something with religious overtones. Well, I found it!
Worst book I've read this year: Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown. Although, it did get me interested in some workings of the Catholic Church. Like the papal conclave, etc.
Movie I'm craving: Stigmata
I'm seeing a pattern here.
Most interesting interview I've seen lately: Lisa Marie Presley on Oprah. She had some interesting things to say about former hubby, Michael Jackson.
Topics on my mind to post about:
The Good Body, by Eve Ensler
Book review review sites
On TV: CNN
Music of choice: Seether and Amy Lee....Broken
In my head: snot
The Why's of Teacherliness.....
I just woke up from a delicious nap, so wish me luck posting this with any semblance of clarity.
Yesterday I was talking with a friend that I hadn't spoken to in quite some time. We were catching up on any and everything under the rainbow, when the question of my work situation came up.
"So...you're teaching now?"...lip beginning to curl...."Whyyyy?" Then he got this look on his face as if he'd smelled a rotten corpse somewhere in the building. Between the lip curl and the corpse look I was mildly taken aback.
"Umm, yeah. I teach at a junior college! I like it!" (as if to point out that I don't teach dogs how not to poop on the carpet...I teach people! Real ones!).
The more I pondered this little interlude the more irked I got. I've noticed a few categories of responses when you tell someone you're a teacher...whether it's high school, or middle school, or college.
1. Those who give you a genuine smile and say, "Wow, I can say shit in front of an English teacher!" and think it's cool that you're helpin' people. Those are my faves...*waving at Rachel*. Right after I got my high school gig she sent me a note with the previous quote in it. hehe That's one of my favorite stories.
2. Those who give you the curl and the snarl because anything to do with teaching is peon work and you're obviously a slave putting on a show, like dancing monkey, for a bunch of basket cases.
Now, there is one small addition to these categories once you start telling people you teach college...
3. "Wowwww!..*goggly eyes*" As if you're holding a magic golden dildo that you might use to smite them.
Teaching is one of the most noble professions, in my opinion. And I don't say that to toot my own horn because I still have trouble seeing myself as a grownup and, thus, as a teacher and something of a role model for some of my students. When I was teaching high school I really had to do the role model thing. Many of my kids (yes, they're students, but I called them my kids, kiddos, babies, etc.) were considered "at risk" and had shitty lives at home. It was a true challenge to wrangle their little heads into anything resembling an attentive state on a daily basis. We studied grrreat stuff, as I was teaching World Lit. to sophomores. Hormones raging, boyfriend troubles, girlfriend troubles, tryouts, sports egos, hunger, hyperactivity...LOTS of challenges. It was a whoooole different animal than what I'm doing now. I respect elementary-high school teachers for their pure will to teach and patience...not to mention their knowledge of their subject (although there are always one or two that don't have a damn clue), and their devotion to spreading knowledge and improving the lives of students. It was THE hardest job I've ever had. And, I can honestly say, I don't know that I ever wanna work that hard again!
Now I go into classrooms with much tougher audiences. High school kiddos love you if you truly love them, and they know if you're scammin'. College students come in with, "Hey teach, show me whatcha got!" And if you've got the goods they'll pass the word on to their friends and your classes will continue to make in the future. They also know if you care about them and care about your job, but some of them don't really give a crap...they're just there for the hours. Thus, the challenge is the same in most ways: engaging minds and filling them up with all the stuff you need to cram in there. You still have to come up with new and interesting ways to present material, meet the standards of numerous higher-ups (the state, your institution, etc.), and spend lots of hours outside of class planning and grading. You have to have a large bank of knowledge because those peeps can come up with some killer questions, and you've gotta plan your heart out or they'll find alllll the holes.
The perks of teaching college: Wearing jeans, working 2 days a week, the ability to let class out early if you feel like crap.
Teaching, in general, is a personally rewarding experience. While it's mostly thankless (as evidenced by the snarlies) there are some shining moments that remind you that you're doing some good. Sometimes it comes from an inspired student who realizes their ability has expanded, and sometimes it's from a parent, or sometimes it's even from a boss or co-worker. I get excited about teaching because I'm excited about English! I love to write, and I love to read, and I love sharing even just a little bit of that with my students. My job is funnnnn! Snarl at that.
Yesterday I was talking with a friend that I hadn't spoken to in quite some time. We were catching up on any and everything under the rainbow, when the question of my work situation came up.
"So...you're teaching now?"...lip beginning to curl...."Whyyyy?" Then he got this look on his face as if he'd smelled a rotten corpse somewhere in the building. Between the lip curl and the corpse look I was mildly taken aback.
"Umm, yeah. I teach at a junior college! I like it!" (as if to point out that I don't teach dogs how not to poop on the carpet...I teach people! Real ones!).
The more I pondered this little interlude the more irked I got. I've noticed a few categories of responses when you tell someone you're a teacher...whether it's high school, or middle school, or college.
1. Those who give you a genuine smile and say, "Wow, I can say shit in front of an English teacher!" and think it's cool that you're helpin' people. Those are my faves...*waving at Rachel*. Right after I got my high school gig she sent me a note with the previous quote in it. hehe That's one of my favorite stories.
2. Those who give you the curl and the snarl because anything to do with teaching is peon work and you're obviously a slave putting on a show, like dancing monkey, for a bunch of basket cases.
Now, there is one small addition to these categories once you start telling people you teach college...
3. "Wowwww!..*goggly eyes*" As if you're holding a magic golden dildo that you might use to smite them.
Teaching is one of the most noble professions, in my opinion. And I don't say that to toot my own horn because I still have trouble seeing myself as a grownup and, thus, as a teacher and something of a role model for some of my students. When I was teaching high school I really had to do the role model thing. Many of my kids (yes, they're students, but I called them my kids, kiddos, babies, etc.) were considered "at risk" and had shitty lives at home. It was a true challenge to wrangle their little heads into anything resembling an attentive state on a daily basis. We studied grrreat stuff, as I was teaching World Lit. to sophomores. Hormones raging, boyfriend troubles, girlfriend troubles, tryouts, sports egos, hunger, hyperactivity...LOTS of challenges. It was a whoooole different animal than what I'm doing now. I respect elementary-high school teachers for their pure will to teach and patience...not to mention their knowledge of their subject (although there are always one or two that don't have a damn clue), and their devotion to spreading knowledge and improving the lives of students. It was THE hardest job I've ever had. And, I can honestly say, I don't know that I ever wanna work that hard again!
Now I go into classrooms with much tougher audiences. High school kiddos love you if you truly love them, and they know if you're scammin'. College students come in with, "Hey teach, show me whatcha got!" And if you've got the goods they'll pass the word on to their friends and your classes will continue to make in the future. They also know if you care about them and care about your job, but some of them don't really give a crap...they're just there for the hours. Thus, the challenge is the same in most ways: engaging minds and filling them up with all the stuff you need to cram in there. You still have to come up with new and interesting ways to present material, meet the standards of numerous higher-ups (the state, your institution, etc.), and spend lots of hours outside of class planning and grading. You have to have a large bank of knowledge because those peeps can come up with some killer questions, and you've gotta plan your heart out or they'll find alllll the holes.
The perks of teaching college: Wearing jeans, working 2 days a week, the ability to let class out early if you feel like crap.
Teaching, in general, is a personally rewarding experience. While it's mostly thankless (as evidenced by the snarlies) there are some shining moments that remind you that you're doing some good. Sometimes it comes from an inspired student who realizes their ability has expanded, and sometimes it's from a parent, or sometimes it's even from a boss or co-worker. I get excited about teaching because I'm excited about English! I love to write, and I love to read, and I love sharing even just a little bit of that with my students. My job is funnnnn! Snarl at that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
