Tell me what to read. Do it.

I love book lists. I love lists in general. In fact, I love anything that neatly places an easy-to-peruse selection in front of my eyes so that I don't have to put in any of that dreaded effort into finding something suitable (this is why TJMAXX and Marshall's shopping doesn't work for me. All those hodge-podged racks!?!? *Shudder*).

So that's something we will be seeing a lot of here. Lists that hail from the internet.

Here is the first of many:

Shalom Auslander's top 10 comic tragedies

"'They give birth astride of a grave,' wrote Samuel Beckett, 'the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more.' He was only half-right; he left out the part about there being banana peels on the ground beside the grave, so that from the moment we are born, we slip, and drop our coffee, and everyone points at us and laughs, and then there's a Holocaust, and then, and only then, is it dark once more."

I always say, "There's so much horror in the world, if we can't find a way to laugh at it, we're doomed" (Or something like that, I promise I can be more eloquent). Looks like this guy agrees. I love his tone and now, consequently, I want to read his book. 

*Also, a slight shout out. I love The Guardian. Half of what I stumble across and enjoy on the internet ends up being within its frothy pages. Here's to The Guardian, and may they continue to entertain and inform me for the rest of my days... or at least until we all quit the internet because something cooler comes up.

A Reader's Question

How am I going to balance keeping up with Young Adult novels while also forging forward with all my personal, adult reading selections?

vs. 

It's hard enough at the moment to find the time to pleasure read the book I've been reading (A Storm of Swords - Book #3 in George R.R. Martin's series, A Song of Ice and Fire... so good!). Tips? Does finding reading time get easier after grad school?

How many identities?

I'm beginning to realize that through the eyes of my students, I will start to see myself in many different ways.

For example, when I was teaching ninth grade, one student dubbed me "Ms. Pretty." Who's going to complain about that!?

Now that I am teaching middle school, however, things are a little different. From one student I heard:

"Ms., you're goofy."
"Goofy?"
"Yea, you laugh too much."

Another semi-compliment. I don't see anything wrong with laughing too much. But that's nothing compared with what I heard from another student. My first day in the class, a student—let's call him Jerry—says to me:

"You know, miss, you remind me of.... you remind me of one of those little people."
"Excuse me?"
"You remind me of a little person."
"A little person?"
"Yea, you know, a midget."
"WHAT?! A midget? ... Jerry, how about you stand up and we'll see who's a midget (seventh graders are small)."
"Well, not in looks, obviously, but in personality."

Obviously.

I figured it was a fluke, until the next time I saw Jerry and he decided that since he already pinpointed my personality, it was time he took a stab at my looks:

"Miss, you know what you look like?"
"What?"
"You look like one of the gnomes from Gnomeo & Juliet. Doesn't she? Doesn't she guys!?"

You think so??

The surrounding students couldn't help but agree.

Clearly, according to Jerry and pals I am akin to some sort of whimsical creature. Not sure if I should be flattered or concerned.

I feel like Bill Cosby over here. Kids say the darnedest things!

To teach, perchance to dream.

Aye, there's the rub.

So I did it. After years of being scared to commit, I realized I wouldn't find anything that could possibly fit me better and I took the leap. I took the leap hard. I entered into a teacher education graduate program, because the most expensive way to do something is always the best, clearly.

Driving across the country mainly looks like this. 

This decision came with a lot of consequences. I moved across the country and I started a new life, in almost every conceivable way. I signed on for a significant amount of new debt. I met some amazing people, not the least of which were the students I ended up teaching. The kids I don't see anymore, I miss terribly; the kids I now see regularly, I adore getting to know. I feel this will be a trend that will continue for the entirety of my career. You see, the kids are why I do this. Every day is different, exciting, hilarious, challenging. There's no competing with it.

More than anything, I find that between my eye-opening experiences in the classroom and my immense frustrations as a consumer of an education where I don't always feel I'm getting my money's worth, I've got a lot to say. Not to mention concerning the life that's getting lived between the lines. Hopefully some of what I have to say will be valuable to aspiring teachers, aspiring students or aspiring life-livers. If not, then I guess I'll just talk to the wall.

In the meantime, here's a video I was introduced to by some high school seniors presenting a project on Hamlet. Pretty succinct, if you ask me (except, of course the slightly anti-semitic undertones).