School Year's Eve

Another school year is only hours away, and like millions of school kids I am in a state of nervous excitement.  It occurs to me that while three whole blogs were written about some of the harder points of teaching, I haven’t devoted much time at all to writing about the things that I love about my job.  So now before all the meetings start, before my desk/bedroom/car gets filled with papers to grade, before the threat of under-performance clouds my dream state, I’m writing a little about the fun stuff (not just vacation time either) that comes with my job.  In a few months I’ll no doubt need to look back at my own words to remember how lucky I am to be in this profession.

#1 -- Teachers probably get complimented more than most people.  Young students especially can make even the plainest teacher feel beautiful and wise.  Even my older students with their sassier ways are quick to compliment teachers.  Hardly a day goes by without someone telling me that they like my earrings or my shoes or something.  It’s nice to know that even on the hardest days there are people around me trying to make me smile.  

#2 -- I get paid to read!  Everyone’s always telling me that they wish they read more for pleasure, whereas reading fiction is actually part of my job.  Every single day I get to read and be read to and when I go home and read for myself I have the satisfaction of knowing that I’m setting a good example for my students.  

#3 -- I am never, ever bored at work.  Everyday is different and every week is filled with such a variety of things.  I honestly cannot imagine sitting at a desk all day.  I never think about the things I could be doing instead, because I’m so busy working there is no time to think about other things.   It’s true that I leave work utterly exhausted on most days, but I think that’s probably better than being bored.  

#4 -- I can look and dress basically how I want to.  Being around peers is terrifying to most people, and really aides our adult self-consciousness.  I however, don’t interact with peers much.  I work with people who by nature are going to dress and look differently than me and who really couldn’t care less what kind of style I have.  It’s nice not having to shell out big bucks for make-up and suits (not to mention not having to wear a tacky uniform) and to basically be concerned more with comfort than beauty.  

#5 -- I know without a doubt that my job is important.  How many people really believe that about their work?  Even with the toughest kids during the toughest years I always get to witness growth.  It is the coolest thing to see former students with all their success and beauty and talent and know that I got to play a small part in that.  It’s this knowledge more than anything else (even those nice long breaks) that keep me and other teachers doing this year after year.  It hasn’t changed in hundreds of years and as long as teachers get to actually work with students, this partnership of mutual growth with continue.  

Have a great school year everyone!  

Sweet Sister Sarah

Sweet Sister Sarah was Named for a Song

August 6, 2013

My sister, Sarah, was married last week, giving me plenty of moments to reflect about our lives together and about the person she is now.  I’m sure if I wanted to spend the time looking, I could come up with dozens of pictures of Sarah for every stage of her life.  Instead, I’m just including pictures of her wedding because she looked so beautiful that it definitely ups the value of my blog. :)

I read a book once called “Enthusiasm” where the main character calls her friend an “enthusiast” because she gets really into things, but only for a short period of time.  For me, Sarah has always been an enthusiast.  She seemed to try almost everything growing up.  She started with team sports and did a season of soccer (where she preferred kissing boys on the sidelines) and of t-ball (where she couldn’t get her pretty uniform too dirty).  She tried individual sports too like swimming and running, but preferred practicing over the competitions.  She tried dance and gymnastics--but anyone who saw her spill as much milk as my family did, knew that would never last.  In high school she joined the Scholastic Decathlon team.  She was brainy and they did well, but when it came time to sign up again the following year she was already onto drama.  She acted in a few plays, but then decided tech work was more up her alley.  She got really into backstage work and would worry my dad with how many hours she spent building sets, writing cues down, etc.  When all of her drama friends graduated before her though, I think it lost some of the joy for her.  

Sarah’s perfect grades (she was Valedictorian) and near perfect SAT scores landed her in the physics program at Stanford.  Even that was a phase, I think, because I don’t think she plans to do anything with physics in her life.  While in college she did join the fencing team.  She even got to travel to some different countries playing with them.  She had never picked up a sword before then and I’m sure has never held one since.  After college she and my dad got really into triathlons and competed and trained fairly thoroughly  for a few years.  One day Sarah got hit by a car while on her bike (the guy didn’t even stop!!!) which left her with an injury that stopped those intense races.  She got really into hiking for a while, and had a stage where she contemplated writing books.  And then came dancing.  Now in law school at Berkeley, Sarah started taking all sorts of weird dance classes and even joined some enthusiasts for dance contests.  Here is where she met Terence, in an dance class, where evidently she had greatly improved since our living room performances twenty years prior.  And now with a permanent partner, dancing seems to be the hobby that will stick for a very, very long time.

I know that listing all of her temporary hobbies could make Sarah seem flaky, but anyone who knows her will testify that she is quite the opposite.  Sarah is a truly loyal and dedicated person.  She achieves the highest praises at whatever she tries and is the most fierce advocate for her friends and family.  I used to think that once Sarah stopped her various hobbies, she abandoned them altogether, but watching her last weekend I realize it’s the opposite.  Sarah has retained a little bit of each of her enthusiasms, making her a thoroughly engaging and interesting person.  Because she’s tried a little bit of everything she can hold all kinds of conversations ranging from sports, to theater, to dance, to travel, to nature, etc. And she’s kept some of the most important pieces of all those things.  She never stuck with a sport, for instance, but she knows the value of exercise (don’t you see how gorgeous she is?).  She doesn’t have the desire to yell out curtain calls anymore, but she appreciates a good show (and Terence is in theater, so that brings them together more, I’m sure).  She doesn’t participate in scholastic competitions, or in fencing, but she realizes that there are people who love and excel at all sorts of different things and thus has a wide variety of colorful, interesting friends.  And now with Terence, who is interesting and enthusiastic as well, she no doubt has many more adventures ahead.

Terence is originally from New York, though he has lived in the bay area for quite a while.  For their wedding, what the two of them wanted most was for their families and closest friends to spend quality time together.  So they created “Camp Wedding” at a conference center in the middle of a forest.  For three days 150 people lived, ate, and played together.  Sarah and Terence had every detail planned and their hard work really paid off.  It was a glorious weekend, one that I will always remember with fondness.  At the end of the weekend they had an outdoor ceremony at a ranch called Nicasio.  Their ceremony was a bit of a performance with singing, dancing, drums (check out Ethan leading the children in a Chinese dragon), cute cowboy kids, and heartfelt vows.  My mom and I cried a great deal, and there were even some funny parts.  During the reception Dad gave a brilliant speech, a big buffet was served, and there was plenty of dancing.  Sarah and Terence even sang a couple of songs (maybe her next hobby???).  It was all planned and executed beautifully.  Now, hopefully, without the stress of planning a big event Sarah can begin her next phase--whatever it may be.