On the coffeetable:

My daughter read “Beastly” and loved it. If I can, I’ll talk her into writing a review and I’ll post it later. Modernized version of “Beauty and the Beast,” sounds great. (Middle school and older.)

“Octavian Nothing” wins the prize of having the best, craziest title of all time. OK, now I will say this: M.T. Anderson’s stuff gets read a lot in middle school, but I’m going conservative on this one and saying high school and older. This book (and “Feed”) are both great. (I’ve heard the sequel to “Octavian Nothing” is not as outstanding as the first book, however.) But they scare me too much and I had to put them down.

The End.

— wm

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

— Holden Caulfield in “The Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger, Little, Brown and Company, Inc., 1951 (although Holden’s character first appeared in Salinger’s short story, “Last Day of the Last Furlough” in a 1944 issue of the Saturday Evening Post.) (just fyi. wm)

Why do I want to teach? Or (better question) why do I want to continue to teach? (Since I’ve already been teaching, just in a classified position, not certified, for almost three years now.) Yeah, good question. In the class I’m taking this semester, we’re exploring that. Because why bother, if you can’t pin down why you’re bothering? Also, if I would have known that graduate school was going to be such a mind-blower, so fun and intriguing and challenging, I would have gone right after I finished my undergrad degree, like I should have.

Not true — I didn’t know what I wanted to get my degree in, back then. Certainly didn’t want to teach. I tried some education classes, as an undergrad and could. not. stay. awake. eyes closing……… zzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

“Those who can, do. Those who can’t drop the class and go out to the clubs with their friends and dance all night. Alternately, they play cards and drink at home ’til all hours.”
— Wacky Mommy

“My girl wants to/
party all the time/
party all the time/
party all the tiiiiiiiime…”

— my friend JoJo, singing Eddie Murphy’s song to her sister and me

Oh, JoJo. Whenever old men would hit on us downtown she’d woof at ’em like a dog. Pretty girl, barking? Pretty funny. Then we’d run off.

So no, I wasn’t ready for this, then. Writing would have been the obvious choice, but why? So I could write? I was already writing. I write every day, even when it rains. Especially when it rains. Always have. So I guess… I wasn’t ready until now?

For my schtick for class, because I am “visuals impaired” (not to be confused with “visually impaired,” although I’m that, too), I decided to illustrate my path in life via books.

Wicked smart, no? I suggest that you share this idea with all your friends and family. Books are highly undervalued as a supporting player when it comes to presentations. PowerPoint gets all the credit.

Here is the list of the books I chose:

a primer from when my dad was a kid

a primer from when I was a kid

“Catcher in the Rye,” by my main man, J.D. Salinger

Santa Biblia/Holy Bible, Edicion Bilingue/Bilingual Edition (a gift from my husband)

the “Nancy Drew” books, by Carolyn Keene

“Little House in the Big Woods,” by Laura Ingalls Wilder

“The King, the Mice and the Cheese,” by Nancy and Eric Gurney

“Are You My Mother?” by P.D. Eastman

“Eloise: The Absolutely Essential Edition,” by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight (and a small digression: I am unable to weed the following books from any library in which I work: fairy tales/fables, 398.2; poetry, 811; and anything illustrated by Hilary Knight. Just one of those little “librarian quirks.”)

“Henry Huggins,” by Beverly Cleary

“Home Price,” by Robert McCloskey

“Harriet the Spy”

“From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler”

“That Crazy April,” by Lila Perl

“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” by Betty Smith

“The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Song of Solomon,” by Toni Morrison

“The Portland Review”

the “Harry Potter” series, by J.K. Rowling

“The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” by Brian Selznick

the “Oryx and Crake” series, by Margaret Atwood

And the piece de resistance… which I had just read to my first- and second-grade students that very day:

“Green Eggs and Ham,” by Dr. Seuss

“Thank you, thank you, Sam I am.”

As for the presentation? It went okay, I think. But I’m not sharing it here — too personal. Besides, you already know it all. hahahahaha. (That’s a little “blogger joke.”) I will tell you something, though — we all wrote out affirmations and feedback for each other. And while I, like Holden, hate all that kind of crap, it was excellent and made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Yes, that’s right. My cohort has broken me. I knew someone would, eventually.

One of them wrote me a note, with my name at the top followed by the words, “My life is an open book.” Underneath was a sketch of “Green Eggs and Ham,” and a C.S. Lewis quote: “We read to know that we are not alone,” followed by, “Great job.” All of the notes were cool like that. It’s enough to make a girl feel like she’s not flying solo through life. Oh, wait, Internets… I already knew that one ;) Thank you.

Even if you’re not “required” to do one of these, a LifeMap is pretty cool. I highly recommend that you do one. Break out the colored pens, the magazines to make a collage, the visuals and the written words. Sketch it, bake it, put it to music, whatever works for you. Tie in the political, the philosophical, the ethical. What about family? Friends? Teachers and others who influenced you?

Ask yourself: What brought me to where I am today? Where am I going from here?

You can swipe my books idea if you’d like. There! I just gave my first assignment.

— wm

I’m not reading much for fun and/or book reviews, nowadays, because i’m too busy giving presentations, teaching, studying, and paying attention to Steve & the kids… Argh. Maybe I’ll get a chance over the holiday breaks? (she says, wistfully.)

(i should start a category called, “Not Reviews,” eh?) And of course I almost missed out on posting about the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour (the real reason they sent me the books gratis). (Please see disclaimer, mercy bouquet.)

Ladies, rock on. I will read all of your books, eventually. And, dear readers, you can start with their blog and go from there!

Now. I just finished reading “The Hunger Games” about half an hour ago (the first book in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy). It scared me and I loved it. What more can you ask for on a rainy Saturday afternoon in Portland?

ttfn,

wm

Reading (and just looking at longingly):

“It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life. To be able to be caught up into the world of thought — that is to be educated.” — Edith Hamilton, educator and writer (1867-1963)

Yeah, you’re going to be getting a lot of these ;) Even if you’re not a education student, it’s interesting reading. I have class one night a week, plus weekend classes, too, plus about two hours of homework for every one hour of class. Last week, when we had orientation and our first class, they loaded us up with a tote of about a dozen books — reading for the semester. (Books are included with tuition, I was pretty thrilled about that. Charge me the extra, I do not care, but please don’t make me try to track down stuff that’s sold out, or that I can’t find anywhere, and please don’t give me the wrong edition on the book-buy list, and then say, Whoops! when the next class meets.) (Bad memories of undergrad school. This is a whole different deal.)

I’m really psyched about the titles, and I thought that keeping track of them on the blog would be a good way to remember everything I’ll be reading over the next couple of years.

Plus, plus, plus… Students at the school where I work are back next week. Had orientations at their schools for both of my own kids this week and…

We are settling into fall!

love,

wm

ps — The S.E. Hinton I’m reading just for fun. It’s been forty-three years since “The Outsiders” was first printed — it came out in 1967 — and you know what? My students still love that book, as do I. So it was a real treat to pick this one up. “Some of Tim’s Stories” really is some of her best yet. Susan Eloise, always my hero. Which reminds me, I need to send my former high school fifteen bucks to pay for that copy of “The Outsiders” that I swiped when I was a senior. That would be the right thing to do, don’t you think?

Have a lovely weekend.

Traveling with me everywhere I go:

On the coffeetable:

“My heart, my hope
My soul, my smile
My held and whole
Beloved child”

One of my librarian friends sent along this link.

A little round-up:

Reading/watching this week:

David Strathairn just knocks me out in this movie, based on the story of no-holds-barred CBS newscaster Edward R. Murrow and his producer and partner, Fred Friendly (played by George Clooney). It’s a toss-up really, whose performance is better in this, they’re all good, from the leads to the supporting cast. The film skillfully blends actual footage from the McCarthy hearings into Hollywood film and does it well. The ensemble cast — all splendid — include Ray Wise, Patricia Clarkson, Robert Downey Jr. and Frank Langella.

On to the books — yes, I’m tackling another Pollan book, that’s right. This time it’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” It’s good, it’s tough going to read — really intense and lots of facts, background, science, math, names and places. You know I enjoy a “lite” summer read. Woof. It will make you look at corn in a whole new jaded way. Also, I never want to eat beef ever again. I’m serious. Even if it’s grass-fed, I’m sick of this crap — literally — and can’t support it any more. Remember the whole mad cow thing? OK — it’s not all right to feed cows other cows’ brains any more. Oh, yes, that’s bad. Bad, bad, bad. But as far as feeding them other parts? Game on. Blech. Sorry for my language, but it’s all shit, shit, and more shit, and then it’s re-gurged shit and it’s fed to us and our babies. Why are we agreeing to this? (Oh, sweet! Just noticed the McDonald’s pop-up ad is running on my sidebar. OK, I think I need to stop whoring it out here.)

This is a nasty, nasty country we live in, as far as our agribusiness goes. And our politics. And our need to drop bombs hither and yon, according to our whims. And our refusal to pay for education, books, teachers, social services and health care. Other than that, America Rocks!

Argh.

“America: Love It or Give It Back.”

Something lighter, please? Any Young Adult books by any of the Sharons are good: Sharon Flake, Sharon Draper or Sharon Creech. Just finished “Ruby Holler”; “Walk Two Moons” is next on the list.

“Accepting a generous spoonful, Dallas said, ‘I suppose we should have told you we were going –‘

Florida licked the honey from her fingers. ‘Well, ma’am, that’s a mighty interesting way to think.'”

Reading this week:

Ooooooh, that Rizzo. (wiping tears from eyes.) I find that pep talk highly… peppy, whether it’s Herb Brooks giving it or Rizzo. And now, an update on grad school:

I’ve been meaning to do my grad work for… 21 years. Since I finished my undergrad work, if you want to get specific. Which I don’t, so let’s move along. I still don’t know if I have a job for next year, but I love working with kids, I love my library work, turns out teaching is a good fit for me. I like the order of it, the volatility and unpredictability of it, the way the kids blossom and grow and it’s like time-lapse photography or something, watching it. It is breath-taking. I don’t like to get into the specifics of it here because you know — it’s my students’ lives we are talking about, I’m just a bit player in their production.

But I will say this — when you can get an entire class of 7th grade boys reading, that is more than just a beautiful thing. That is exquisite, and it makes me feel like a superhero. Like a librarian superhero. And I can say, yes, this is why I’m here.

But I have been working as a classified employee (clerk) and that’s what I’ve done my whole life, pretty much. Gotten paid half as much as everyone else (except the other clerks, and man have we grumbled about it together) for doing the same work. Or sometimes for doing more work, when you run into people who want to lord it over you.

How clever, to wiggle out of work and dump it on someone who makes half as much money as you. What a smart, smart person you are to figure that one out. Yuck.

I finished my grad school application last week and mailed it Monday. Went to an information night at my institution of higher learning (as RSG, my little academic all-star friend, calls it) on Wednesday. Yesterday I took the first of many tests I will have to take on the road to becoming a certified language arts (English) teacher (for middle school/high school), a reading specialist (or English Language Learners specialist) and a media specialist (librarian). It will take me about three years to finish all of that, and I’ll be… (I don’t want to say how old) when I finish. (It’s like Dear Abby used to ask, How old are you going to be if you don’t do it?)

I passed my test. It made me feel like a huge success. This week I have my final interview, and the powers-that-be will decide if this cohort is a good fit for me, if they want me, basically. I think we’re all good, but it’s still a little nerve-wracking. Especially when I think of working part- or full-time, taking care of my own kids and my students, paying some attention to my husband (which I’m sure he would appreciate, occasionally, although he’s not a demanding type of guy), cleaning, cooking… oh, wait. I don’t do much of those last two things, anyway. I think it will be fine, but it does seem a little daunting.

But if I don’t do it? I know right now that I would regret it.

No regrets, they get in the way.

Wish me luck.

— wm