Today I was a lucky teacher. A very fine fellow Nicholas Santella came to give a demonstration to my classes. Nicholas is an armorer. He brought armor that he started when he was in high school.

My students were in awe. They saw a suit of armor and couldn't believe that someone their age started such a project. Nicholas demonstrated several metalsmithing techniques which was a good thing for my jewelry kids to see. Mr. Ray brought his sculpture kids, Mr. Derdeyn brought his drawing kids and Ms. Buzzzy brought her theater kids to see the fun.

What blows my mind more than anything is the open chain mail technique that Nicholas showed us. I've built any number of things with open chain mail and I did it the slow hard way. I'm astonished and enlightened to see a really easy short easier way that will build chain mail. I'm inspired and I want to build some chain mail pieces that are new and wonderful.

Thank you Nicholas for the demonstration. Thanks for engaging my students. Thanks for teaching me a new wonderful thing.

WOW. Today was a WOW.

We went to DFW to pick up Rachael. She'd been in Italy for six weeks. As we were driving into the airport we see a huge storm cell right over the airport.

Anyway we get to the terminal and find out that she can't land because of the storm. THEN we hear that they were about to run out of fuel so they rerouted to OKC to refuel. She was delayed about 3 hours.

We sat there by the exit of the International terminal and we talked to a lot of other folks waiting on the same flight. There was a family with two daughter and a boyfriend. Their girl was also coming back from several weeks in Italy and they were very anxious. There were Asian folks waiting on a huge group. We saw huge groups of African and Indian and Asian people going through with massive luggage. They must have packed every mobile thing they owned. It didn't look like vacation, it looked like moving to a new country. You should have seen the stretch vehicles that picked them up.

There was a group of about twenty. All dressed in Red White and Blue. This was on July 1. There were old people and medium people and young people and babies. They all had flags and banners and Old Navy 4th of July T shirts.

I don't know if you've ever had to clear customs but it takes a while....We knew Rachael's flight had landed and we went to the end of the walkway to wait for her and talked to more people. There was a very nice Swiss man who had been working for a month. His daughter was joining him to travel in the US for 3 weeks. Mark and he had a very nice conversation.

Folks would come out of the tunnel and the crowd got smaller.

The Red White and Blue crowd was getting agitated. The small children were restless. The big people were trying to entertain them and keep them calm.

A military Lieutenant or Captain comes through the gate. A little Red White and Blue girl screamed DADDY and took off running. She was followed closely by about a 3 year old boy. Dad scooped them both up and his whole crowd was holding up their banners and cheering. Mom made it to him and somehow he picked her up too and swung two children and a momma around. Mom lands and runs back to the crowd and takes an infant from another relation. She very reverently shows the baby to Dad who has never seen his new daughter before. He puts the other children down sweetly and takes his new daughter up in his arms and he breaks into tears.

At this point, everyone watching breaks into tears. I see him tell Mom that he will NEVER go away again. The crowd cheers.

Rachael is the next one through the gate. She's the prettiest thing I've ever seen. We hold her and love her and then she asks why we are crying. We tell her we love her. We share our happy tears with her.

A very moving moment.

We're here in Texas where the gubernatorial race is a freaking dog and pony show. In my spirit, in my soul, I hear what Kinky Friedman is saying. I've not seen him get past a one-liner though. It doesn't help when your "secretary of energy" gets busted for weed and mushrooms. I don't know, I know Willie and all his faults and I'd give the dude credit for trying to do something worthwhile. . . I'm SICK of Rick Perry. He's such a hypocrite. I can't go "Grandma Strayhorn" because she's really a republican who is calling the kettle black.

I watched the debates and as a result, I'm gonna have to throw in with Chris Bell. He's real vanilla. He seems to be squeaky clean so that gives one the fond hope that he's really in the deal to do a good thing for the world. He's young enough that maybe he has some idealism. He sounds strong for education. He could possibly win if the independents throw in with him.

Okay, the weird thing. My son is working for Borden. He lives here and doesn't have a car. So his shift is 4-12. Me hubby does the taxi service. I was asleep before Mark left to get James the other night and around 12:15 Mark comes in and (how do I moderate this?) states with emphasis "What did you do?"

"uh, I was asleep"

"Well WHAT about the sign?"

"uh, sign?"

"The SIGN in the front yard."

"mmm, I was asleep."

Between the time that Mark left to get James and the time that they got home, someone had planted a "Democrats for change" sign in our yard. Huh?

I had asked for kinky yard signs several months ago. There is a handpainted one down the street that says "Kinky Friedman for Governor" It has a star of david and under that it says "Why the hell not?"

So this alien democrat sign appeared in our yard. It's kind of crooked. I can't decide if I want to go straighten it out or leave it crooked or take it out, or paint something else over it. I wonder if I could copy Munch's The Scream on it.

It seems that several of those signs appeared in the neighborhood that night. Maybe it was random. Maybe it is a strange mind control trick.

SQ

What I Saw Today

Well it happened this way. I was almost asleep as it was midnight. Rachael comes in and says "Mom, you need to come here."

She and James are hovering near the front door. They look very concerned. I'm tired, so I want to know what the heck is going on. So I ask what the heck is going on.

Rachael points toward the front door. I open the door and find a box on the doorstep. There is a note placed on top asking us to care for "darling Susan" as her mommy can no longer care for her in the way that she deserves. I'm thinking "oh crap, we've been gifted with another cat." The box is stuffed full of random stuff--shop rags, a t-shirt, a nice Italian wool sweater, a baby bib that says "I love my daddy."

I get Mark up and he unloads the box. He gets to the bottom and says "Well I'll be goddamned."

Cautiously, the kids and I peek around the big man and LO--in the bottom of the box on a pack of ice is a live lobster.

It's a big whopping lobster and she looks pissed.

WHO leaves a live lobster on someone's doorstep. I turn to the kids and ask what's going on. They look bemused and say that the phone rang and someone told them to open the front door. They had been afraid to dig in the box (hence getting Mom out of bed.)

A young blue jay and a young cardinal were in the bush right outside my window having a conversation. They were cute, both of them showed juvenile feathers. The jay was much bigger than the cardinal.

I think the conversation boiled down to which one of them had the rights to these particular bushes. I've seen the jay get bigger over the spring.

I put some bread crumbs and some dead cereal out in the bushes and I've seen any number of feathered friends come by. They are funny.

The cardinal must live close. I have seen him several times in the past few days. I think he waits until the jay is somewhere else. I don't blame him, the jay is still bigger.

My garden gnome Augustus supervises the interactions in the bushes. I'm going to have to learn more about the other visitors. Jays and Cardinals are easy to tell for any elementary schooler. I'm going to have to branch out!

I'll try to get some photos.

I went to a party at the McGahan's last night and it was strange and wonderful. As we walked up, a person in the dark started exclaiming my name and telling his companion that I was a teacher at his school. He seemed astonished that I was invited to the same party that he was. He hugged me, so I guess it was okay.

Inside I saw many people who are very dear to me, and then it got really strange as I realized all the ways that these folks are connected.My oldest girl's ex-boyfriend (who now dates one of my former students who is studying to be an arabic linguist in the air force) and his brother (who is my son's friend). Also the brother of another boy (formerly my student) she associated with was there. The other boy (formerly my student) dates my second daughter's best friend.

My second girl's assorted formal dance dates (2 different ones) were there, along with aforementioned second daughter. There was a boy there that she had associated with along the way. He is the student of the father of one of her ex-boyfriends. The girl who is currently the lover of the ex-boyfriend was there, and she is my former student.

The former student also used to date my youngest daughter's boyfriend's (also a former student of mine) brother. My youngest girl and the boyfriend were there, as well as several of her friends from school (the gasping student in the front yard, the boyfriend of #2's best friend, and the boyfriend of a girl (my former student) who my daughter #2 tutors, both boyfriends also being my former students.

Oh, and then there are Fergus and Zach. They defy description as they are connected to everyone in some way. I just wish Zach would keep his clothes on, he's going to get into trouble.

This was the funnest game of 2 degrees of separation I ever witnessed. I guess if you know the same bunch of folks for a while this kind of thing happens. I suppose if you teach high school over the same time period that you have four teenagers this can happen also. Some of it is really random though.

This is a ramble, but totally kind of blew my mind.

This is a very late edit, but I want to link to a lot of previous posts. Before blogger there was livejournal!

OOOPS This is from July 29, 2002

I've been on the road, having adventures as I normally do.

That's what I call experiencing life--having adventures. It sure seems to perk things up anyway.

My particular recent adventure involved going to California. For those who live there, I sure hope they appreciate the view, because here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metropolitan area, views are in very short supply. Perhaps it is a case of micro view versus macro view. Here, one can find scenic spots that are very small and contained. There one can see BIG views for miles and miles.

I really appreciate the big view variety as I get to see them so rarely. There were plenty of the smaller variety there as well. It seems like EVERYTHING is scenic in the areas that I wandered to.

I talk to people that I know around here and they talk of moving away, just because they want some massive beauty to feed their souls. I can dig it.

My little view, my most constant view is the scene outside the window here by my computer. Through the mini-blinds I can see my Camry, and three mailboxes, 3 large live oak trees, a fruitless mulberry and parts of three houses across the street. OH, bushes, I can see the bushes in front of the window also. I think they are holly, but I've never seen berries so I'm not sure. The folks across the street have a concrete birdbath, with monkey grass around the base. I never see any birds in it. Sometimes I see squirrels, but they are pretty boring unless they are doing a suicide run under one's moving car.

Wednesday night, I had dinner at Mission Ranch in Carmel. It's owned by Clint Eastwood. We actually thought we saw Clint himself, but it was just a very good lookalike. Then I thought I saw Paul Newman, but I was just hallucinating at that point.

The view was just amazing. The veranda looks out over a long field that goes all the way to the ocean. I saw six hawks flying, actually they seemed bigger than hawks, which is scary for me. There were sheep in the field in a picturesque little flock, and mountains rose and fell as one's point of view shifts. The sun went down as we sat there and it was just a lovely sight. The prime rib was pretty tasty as well, although the folks who ate the scallops said they were pretty grim.

I stayed in Monterey which is more food for the soul. I went to the Monterey Aquarium
which is the most amazing one I've ever seen. I like that it is not the least pretentious, it only displays sea life from that area, but it is on such a grand scale and so well done.

More Later...

Ahem.

Funny how the topic of a blog would come up today, it's been almost exactly a year since I started one. I sure haven't written in it very much. Once again I'm going to my AP Art History conference in Ft. Worth. Today I went to the new Ft. Worth Modern Museum.

It made me want to dance and write poetry and be one with the art.

I think I will!

Manners--A Rant


Princess manners or Goat manners, one does have a choice. Many Europeans find Americans to be quite rude and without decent manners. How can that be? When one enters a shop in France, one always says hello first before saying "Gimme whatever" In fact, if you are speaking the language you would say "I would like ----, please?" Things seem different here. You walk into a 7-11 and grunt at the checker. You slap your item down on the counter and fork over the cash, and often don't have to say anything. I am guilty of this. I get into non-verbal modes.


I've tried to be more concious lately. I walk into the Murphy gas station to get some cigarettes. The girl behind the counter ignores me. She happens to be a different ethnicity than I am. She waits on 3 people of her own ethnicity and then looks at me with a hard eye and says "What do you want?" It's not playful banter, it borders on surly. I say, "hello, how are you today?" She looks at me, one eyebrow lifts in a querilous manner. "I'm okay," she says, "What can I get for you?" I tell her my selection, she serves me adequately, and I look her in the eye, and say "thank you very much" with a smile. I also say, "That's a cute shirt you have on." She looks very surprised, but pleased.


I go in a couple of days later. This gal is still cool, but she doesn't wait on other folks before me. She looks suspicious though. I tell her hello and inquire how she is. Today she is "fine." That could be better than okay. She pulls down my smokes and I pay and when I thank her again, she looks at me and watches me all the way to the door.


I don't know her name, but she's there 3 out of four times that I go by. I went in yesterday and when I walked in she SMILED and said "hello ma'am" before I got to the counter. I say "hello" and ask her how she's doing. Now she tells me if she's having a good day or a bad day or if she's tired or if she's about to get off and she's going to a party. She knows what I smoke now, but she's always careful to ask if I want the soft pack or the box. If she's working alone and it's busy, I'm always sure to comment that she must be working hard and they are being mean to her to leave her all alone. She seems to appreciate that. Yesterday I asked for a lighter and she picked out a powder blue one for me from behind the counter. "Nice color" I say. She grins and says "thank you." Yesterday when I left she said, "come back real soon ma'am." I need to ask her what her name is. It humanizes the situation even more.


......


I was out at one of those big family dinners for some occasion with all the in-laws...We often have 20 folks present. We're at El Fenix this time which I love because they are always so prompt with the fresh chips and hot sauce. I can't tell you how many times I've been full by the time my meal got there. The waiter placed a fresh basket of chips in front of me and I thanked him. My sister-in-law said "You don't have to thank him, he's just the waiter." I looked at her with incredulity and said, "My mother taught me to be polite and I intend to teach my children to be polite." Her mother witnessed this exchange and looked positively embarrassed. I never fail to tell the wait person or busperson thank you for a service rendered. I don't care if it is their job, good manners and politeness are never wrong. I had a five year old tell me once, "Good manners are never out of style." No kidding!!!!!!! I guess some folks think if they are the customer then they don't have to show common courtesy. That's probably why Colorado ski resorts hate Texans so much. I know Texans who go up there and are demanding and callous and feel that if they are spending all this money that the folks working their should kiss their ass. I've seen bumperstickers in Colorado that say "If god had meant for Texans to ski, he'd have given them mountains and snow," and "Texans GO Home."


I segue into the hallowed halls of Hillcrest. Things are loud this year. It likely has to do with too many bodies in too small a space. It's apparent that many of the kids really belong somewhere else. It's a problem to find that there are many kids lying about their address to go there. If I was going to lie about my address in order to go to a better school, I sure wouldn't act like a jackass while I was there to draw negative attention to myself. I've had more kids be downright nasty rude to me this year than ever before. I'm not paid enough to take abuse, and when I was coming up, we didn't say "boo" to teachers. I'm walking down the hall and the girl walking next to me is YELLING at her friend who is next to her. I ask her to please not yell. In a surly way she says "I wasn't yelling." I tell her that she was, and that it was my ear she was yelling in. She mouths off some more. I'm walking down the hallway and a girl walking toward me is talking back over her shoulder runs right into me. I tell her that she needs to watch where she is going and she says to me "YOU didn't say excuse me." I say "Excuse me, but YOU ran into me." She mouths off some more still walking down the hallway not looking as she hollers back at me. I can't say how many times I've had to dodge to keep some kid from just mowing me down. I think I'm gonna just stop and give them the option of walking around me or knocking me down. If they knock me down, I'll write them up for assault (that's if they are actually looking in the direction that they are walking and I know they see me.)


I do not see this behaviour as a "cultural thing" unless there is an American culture that demands rudeness from its members. I'm not aware of one outside of the ghetto. I don't go to the ghetto and I don't appreciate it coming to me. I saw a girl whack a guy on the back yesterday and told her to keep her hands to herself. There was a survey done at school and the biggest complaint was people hitting each other in the hallway. Five minutes later I saw the same girl do it again, and I corrected her again. She responded in a most disrespectful manner. Part of my job (as my superiors tell me) is to correct the students for unacceptable behavior. For the most part, the students know what is or is not acceptable, yet when corrected they act like I'm being some kind of bitch for even saying anything. It's frustrating.


........


My daughter was going somewhere last week and I told her to behave while she was gone. She said, "I know mom, use my princess manners," and laughed. I don't remember using that term for a while, but apparently she remembers all the times I invoked it. I hope that one will travel another generation.

What I saw Today

I was listening to NPR and there was some discussion about primary sources, and I thought about what I could be a primary source for today.

I am quite easily amused by what I observe and I suppose I've seen some things today that were interesting to me. It's certainly possible that not another living human would give a rat's derriere. That's okay too!

Today was the last day of a week long AP conference. For those who haven't had teenagers in the last ten years or so, or those of you outside the education community, that stands for Advanced Placement. I teach AP Art History, and gathered together this week with other art history teachers to share ideas and suggestions for shoving the entire visual history of the world down the throats of semi-willing high school kids in ways that will remain in their short term memory long enough to regurgitate for an exam in early May.

It's really a lot more fun that that for those of us who have taught it before and aren't shaking in our shoes at the sheer daunting thought of the task. For the newbies though....(wicked giggle).

This morning, as we were closing the conference, one of the newbies got up (with accompanying percussionist on the tambourine) and sang the AP Art History Blues. This is one of those times that I wished I was some kind of compulsive film geek who never goes anywhere without a video camera in tow. Does video count as a primary source if you catch someone in the act?

We were lucky enough to get out mid day which is a good thing because I think my brain is full. I'm looking forward to the month of "summer vacation" that is left for me (although I'm gonna be working like a Trojan for most of it).

I get in my car to drive the 45 miles from Ft. Worth to where I live in Dallas and I turn on the radio to NPR, and there is this very interesting discussion going on about blogs. Never having heard the term, and after a number of interesting images came to mind, I continued to listen. The speaker was Rebecca Blood http://www.rebeccablood.com/ who has recently written a book about creating a WebLog. She suggested this site for a rank beginner and here I find myself trying out another new web thingy.

Shortly after I started listening, I almost ran up the butt of the green pick up in front of me because the moron has no working break lights. Since we came to a standstill, I whipped out my trusty sketchbook and Industrial Sharpie and wrote "YOU -- NO BRAKE LIGHTS" and positioned myself so that I could let this guy know he was dangerous. It apparently pissed him off because he took off like a shot and was weaving in and out of traffic doing about 85. Then I see a little red car start doing the same thing and (I do not believe these complementary vehicles were related in any way) and get behind the aforementioned moron. Not just behind, but right up on his backside. I get over two lanes and slow down because I'm thinking that (in the words of my father) every SOB on the road is out to kill me, and I don't want to be part of the crunch that ensues with moron and moronette.

They got away I suppose, or took a different fork in the road because I didn't see them again (thank heaven).

As I continue my journey home, I regard the billboard that has a set of blonde twins sporting very bodacious ta-tas. I wonder why. It doesn't really do anything for me, but alas I'm not run by testosterone, merely caffeine.

I sit here and look out my window, and I see a lovely summer day. We are so fortunate here in North Texas to be having a COOL summer. Don't remember the last time that happened, but I think in later years, I'll fondly look back on the summer of '02, and remember the things that I've seen with my own eyes.