College Happenings

Papers, papers. It is that time in the semester when all the first tests are handed out and the first papers assigned. The time when you have to learn exactly the professor is looking for.

Every professor has a different grading style. It seems they all look for something different. They all expect good writing skills, things like correct grammar and spelling. But they still all seem to have something specific they like or don’t like.

Some professors let their expectations be known. Those are the best professors, I think.

I have my first big history paper due. Five pages on “Black Boy” by Richard Wright. It is a good book, the paper shouldn’t be to bad. Five pages is not to bad either.

I have an “off the wall” editorial due next week for Opinion Writing. I have no idea what to write about. None, nothing, zip, nada, zero.

Any ideas, feel free to share.

I turned in my graduation application. That is a wonderful feeling. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally.

Today the teacher of my students called me. She explained what happened.
It seems that one of my students was upset because I didn’t let her come to group last time. She is very sweet and smart, but very disorganized. Two weeks in a row she didn’t have her book or assignment. So I said she couldn’t come if she was not prepared. This was not a suprise to her, I tell the kids all the time that if they are not prepared then they can’t come. It is unfair to the kids who are prepared.

She told her parents she wanted to quit. So her parents emailed the other kids parents and said I was taking the joy of reading away from the kids.

Fortunately the teacher does not think this is the case. She sat the kids down and told them that my expectations were her expectations. She told the girl she couldn’t quit and she talked to the girls parents. She told them that quitting wasn’t an option for their daughter.

Now those parents are supposed to meet with the gifted lady so she can teach them how to help their daughter be organized.

I also met with the gifted lady today. We talked about fun games I could play with the kids and different ways to get them to show what they have learned. Then she gave me money from the gifted program to buy the kids treats.

Both the gifted lady and my teacher told me how much they appreciated me and told me stories about parents getting mad at them. They made me feel so much better!

I am glad I told the gifted lady I would talk to her later, it gave me a chance to calm down and I didn’t walk away from something I enjoy.

This morning I woke up with a list of things to do on my mind. Thinking through my list I remembered that I needed to get new books for my third graders. I volunteer once a week as a literature and writing group leader for third graders. I really enjoy it. The kids always make me laugh and add something different to my week.

Thinking about what book I would pick for the month I also thought if I went back to school I would get an education certificate. I tucked that thought in the back of my head and headed off to class. After an hour of talking about Marcus Garvey, a West Indian Black who was influential to blacks in America in the 1920’s, I was headed to get some books for my kids.

Before I got to the school where I get my books I got a phone call from the gifted education lady. As soon as I heard the message I knew something was wrong. I thought back to last week and recalled one of my students crying. I thought back to weeks before when a student said he wanted to quit because we weren’t reading what he wanted to. I thought about one of my students who loses her assignments constantly.

With a feeling of dread in my stomach I called the gifted lady. Before she spoke I knew that something was wrong. “What had I done?� I asked myself.

She told me that not just one, but two parents had called her. Two! I was surprised, I had expected one, (the girl who cried), but not two. Naturally my feelings were immediately hurt and I wanted to cry. She could not tell me whose parents called and I did not ask. It didn’t really matter. I am pretty sure who called and why.

Perhaps the gifted lady suggested I was not used to the emotional needs of third graders. This is probably true. I treat them like adults. I let them know my expectations and expect them to follow through with their readings and assignments. I have told them that if they do not come to group prepared than they have to go back to the regular class and can’t participate. I don’t think this is too much. Not letting them come to group is the only thing I can use.

I told the gifted lady about the girl that cried and told her that the teacher and I had discussed it. She said that was good. I then told her that I was really upset and we should talk later. She agreed.

I am really upset. Pissed actually, but not at the kids, at the parents. What kind of a lesson is it when you tell your kids you can quit if it is too hard. The parent who said my kid will quit if they don’t get to read what they want.

To that I want to say, fine take your kid out and let him read only Harry Potter. Don’t expose him to “classic children’s literature.�

Seriously what is the lesson in quitting?

I want to quit now, I want to say, F-you, I am a freakin volunteer! I don’t get paid! I am doing your children a favor! That is what really pisses me off, is that I am VOLUNTEER! I am taking time to prepare a lesson and coming to the school every week to teach your children, to benefit your kids, and this is your thanks!

But here is the difference between me and the parents. I am not going to quit. I am going to go talk to the gifted lady and talk about ways that I can improve and better help the kids. I don’t really want to. It is hard to say, “I didn’t do it good enough, I need to improve.�

But fortunately for me, my parents never told me “If it is too hard you can quit.”

NEW YORK – Britney Spears defended photographs showing the pop star driving with her infant son on her lap, saying she was dodging the paparazzi.

Several photos published Tuesday showed Spears driving her SUV in Malibu, Calif., with son, Sean Preston, on her lap, rather than strapped into a car seat in the back. Spears said she did it because of a “horrifying, frightful encounter with the paparazzi.�

The photos show Spears holding the wheel of the car with one hand, and her 5-month-old baby in the other. A person is shown sitting in the passenger seat next to Spears.

“I was terrified that this time the physically aggressive paparazzi would put both me and my baby in danger,� Spears said in statement released late Monday.

“I instinctively took measures to get my baby and me out of harm’s way, but the paparazzi continued to stalk us,� she said. “I love my child and would do anything to protect him.�

The agency that snapped the photos, X17, had a different account.

“These pictures were taken in a very peaceful context, in which photographers exhibited no aggressive behavior,� the agency said in a statement released to “Access Hollywood.� “We believe that the pictures speak for themselves.�

Ahh Britney, why do we love you so. It is obviously not for your intelligence…and there has been a lot of talk about your lack of a hot body. It must be your music.

Some of you may wonder how I ended up with a blog, or how I even knew what blogging was.

The first time I heard the word blog was at the 2004 Pollner Lecture at the University of Montana. The speaker was from the Washington Post and she talked a bit about Wonkette.

That was the first blog I had ever heard of.

This past semester Chris Boese from CNN was the Pollner Proffesor. She is nuts about blogs. Passionate about the whole blog movement. I learned alot in her class.

She taught the history of blogs and we discussed the furture of blogs. She taught the class how to set up our own blogs and how to maintain them.

She asked lots of good questions. Like are blogs the savior of Journalism? I don’t think so, but they certainly are good at smoking out the truth. That, if anything will improve the state of journalism.

Often times I think blogs are just second hand news with witty or snarky comments added to it.

Below are links to some of my favorite blogs. They are all pretty original and not political. I do enjoy a few political blogs, but I’ll save those for another day.

Post Secret …this one is so different, I love it.

girlspoke …a bit naughty

everday goddess …she’s cool

this fish …New York cutie

dragon girl
cool aussie chick

That is how I feel. Ugh. I am sick of being sick. Sick of throwing up every frikin day!

I am behind in school and that totally sucks. I finally got my first editorial turned in. Yeah! It was about why Americans shouldn’t tip. I didn’t agree with a single word I wrote. I guess that is good practice for a journalist. Yah know the whole in the middle, don’t include your opinion.

Yesterday I got my books for my history class. African American Struggle for equality. There are like 8 books for one class! WHat the the heck? It cost me $180.00. Ridiculous!

I got an email from my mom today. She sent it on the 2nd, but I don’t check my mail everyday.

It said “the honey cat went to heaven last night”

She didn’t say how or anything.

Honey is a cat I brought home when I was in probably 8th grade. Maybe 9th. My brother Mark and I went to the gas station near my house. There was this beautiful fluffy white and gray cat. The station attendent said she had been there for two weeks and I should take her. So I did. We already had three cats, what was one more.

Pepper, a cat we had at the time hated honey. She about took her ear off when I first brought honey home.

I never thought she would live that long. Drummond animals seem to live forever. I got my grandmas cat when I was 5 and that cat lived forever. Till I was in highshcool I think. He was 23 years old when he died. Seriously. Jinxy and Flash had pertty long lives too. We must just know how to provide a loving and comfortable home for pets.

My parents where waiting for Honey to die though. She was pretty old and gross. Really skinny and threw up alot. (like me)
Everytime they went on vacation they thought (hoped) she would die. But each time they’d come home and there she would be. Screaming for food annoying my mom.

It was kind of like I left a little piece of me at home. I laugh at the thought of her screaming in the morning and my mom throwing stuff at her. She did have one of those high pitch nails on chalk bard kind of meows.

She was a good little cat all in all. I am sure she is in kitty heaven now.

Goodbye Honey Cat.

What do you say when someone goes off on an anti- (fill in the blank) rant?

For instance, last night I was at the gym working quietly. The radio was on and the TV’s were tuned to CNN. Something came up about Brokeback Mountain, the cowboy love story set in the Wyoming Mountains. Yes, I do believe it is about gay cowboys. I have not seen the movie yet, but I have heard only good things about it.

So, there is a guy who comes into the gym, he is very nice but really likes people to know he is a Christian.

When the Brokeback Mountain stuff came on TV he started going off.
“That’s just not right, you know there are like 8 sex scenes in that movie, and they don’t tell you that. They are just trying to push the gay agenda…blah blah blah�

My question is “what is the gay agenda?� to turn cowboys gay? I am confused on that.

My whole point though is what do you say to that? Do you tell him to shut up, keep his opinions to himself?

I was working, so I couldn’t say anything, he is a customer.

And I do believe he is entitled to his opinion, I just don’t want to hear it.

I don’t run around telling people they should all be thankful for their 1st Amendment and that is something I believe strongly. But, I don’t have to share that with everyone.

Only once in my life have I been able to tell someone nicely that I didn’t agree with his nasty point of view.

A guy frequents my restaurant a lot. He is basically cool. He is a bit eccentric, but he seems to know his shit, especially historically. But, he can’t stand blacks and Indians, probably people of the Latin descent also. He told me he moved away from the east coast to get away from blacks.

Well, we had this waitress who detested the man. She found him morally reprehensible. He didn’t like her either, he thought she was too sensitive and a pain in the butt.

One day he told her she was mean. (She was dealing with the church ladies and let me tell you those bitches can piss off anyone)

She told the man that he was offensive. They had a little round and it was over.

The next day the man asked me if I found him offensive. I couldn’t help but smile, knowing my waitress had gotten to him. Then I took a moment and thought.
“Well,� I said, “I don’t really care for your views on minorities.�

He looked at me, said ok and has not really ever talked bad about minorities since then.

Wouldn’t it be nice if it could always work out like that?

Sorry, I have been out of touch. I have been terribly sick. Those of you who know me, know why. The rest of you, too bad, you’ll have to wait and see. I might decide to talk about it here, but I am not sure yet.

Being sick sucks. The only good thing is getting to watch Oprah everyday. Friday it is Dave Chappelle, I am pumped. I have also gotten to watch some soaps. I can’t believe Passions is stil on the air. It is the worst soap ever. Will Teresa ever hook up with Ethan? Come on, it is the same story line that the show started with 5 or 6 years ago.

On campus today there were some college democrats talking about Senator Burns. You know the whole deal. He accepted $5000.00 from Abramoff and now he says he didn’t. He made this whole lie of a commercial trying to distance himself from the scene.

Anyway, here were the democrats getting ready for thier speech in the UC, when all of a sudden there is a roar from a chainsaw. Over and over and then here come the Forestry students in thier bibs and overalls chanting something and just being loud and obnoxious. It was sweet!

Apparantly there is the Foresters Ball this weekend. It is like the biggest event on campus all year. Of course I have never been to it, but I hear it rocks. The forestry students totally deck out Schriber Gym and make it look like a cabin or something inside. Then the forestry kids and Law School kids battle it out and steal each others mascots.

Forestry kids scare me, they are all forestry like and stinky.

Anyway, if you’re not scared, it sounds like a good time. I’m not sure if they serve booze or not, so you might want to BYOB.