Bummer

Today Ryan got some sushi at the grocery store. He chose the roll that had been drizzled with a benign looking brown sauce; the alternatives were all drizzled with some kind of pink mayo (Utahns love their pink mayo condiments; see here). When he got home he discovered that the brown sauce which was presumed to have been inspired by Asian cuisine was BARBEQUE sauce.

We need to move. STAT.

ironic

Read this today:

"The action orientation is particularly important in offsetting claims that
some feminist theories have become so esoteric, jargonistic and elitist
(Hemmings, 2007), that they are no longer relevant and may even be harmful if
applied in colonizing and patronizing ways (McEwan, 2001; Williams & Lykes,
2003)."

The action orientation may be offsetting these claims, but this sentence sure as H isn't. I think academia needs to take itself more seriously.

NOT!!!

The time has come

Ok, maybe it hasn't quite come, but if there is a more compelling reason to buy a TV than more of this, please let me know. I'm thinking about saving up my allowance to get more Jon Stewart into my life.

Everybody needs a hero

In college I had several professors who made an impact on my life, but one stands above as having been transformational. I still think she is terrific. I linked awhile back to her project, WomanStats, but thought I would also include a link here to an article about the project. It is fascinating.

Early morning meeting

I am a teacher. Before becoming a teacher I was not aware that people could be conscripted into professions outside the armed services, but I learned last fall that one of the rare exceptions is to ill-conceived teaching positions. I was hired without my permission and have been struggling to stay afloat ever since.

I like the students fine. And the curriculum I teach, it's ok. Nothing special. But I just can't seem to get my professional mojo working for me. When the kids ask a question, I tend to answer it rather than call my attorney. This has evidently been an error in judgment.

Coupla weeks ago I taught a lesson on nutrition. I stuck to the script for the most part, but I threw in an extra bit about eating lots of fruits and veggies, you know, for good measure. Lo and behold, a few days later my supervisor calls to tell me that two kids with eating disorders went home and promptly off the deep end. One threw away all the animal products in her house; the other announced she would henceforth be eating kidney beans. Only. Imagine my surprise. As you may suspect, even mojo-less I did not advocate either of these dietary strategies, and certainly not in class. I said eating plants was healthy, yes I did. But that was it. For once in my life I didn't say anything freaky (at least I thought I didn't; perhaps I need more regular consultation with non-freak to help me identify when I have headed off into freak-territory.)

Tomorrow morning I will meet with my supervisor, her supervisor, the vice-principal and principal, not to mention the health teacher with whom I am expected to co-teach. Each one of these individuals is at least twenty years my senior and has a graduate degree in education. I got nothin'. It doesn't look promising.

My strategy is to lay low and hope to get fired, which seems a much fairer alternative to continue teaching as a publicly-shamed pariah. If I can't manage to get canned right away, I may have to drop a few "well, those kids should have known better" or "Well, I'm not going to teach the curriculum--I'm a gonna teach the truth!" and see where they get me. I'm hoping for the unemployment office.

Turns out teaching isn't for me.

*Meeting over. Cried in front of everyone. Wasn't fired. Disappointed. Counting down until May.