Family

I wonder if blogs will become the new letters/journal. So many people a) complain about blogs; and/or b) lament the loss of letter and diary writing in our culture. I think they should take a look online. An old friend of mine responded to an old blog entry I wrote, and it occurred to me that we often treat these online forums as private places, when they are indeed public. I know, I'm a genius, it's only been in the news media for the past three years. So I'm slow.

I went to my cousin J's wedding this weekend - it was a wonderful ceremony in Estes Park, Colorado. The amazing thing about the wedding was that it was more like a family reunion. My dad and his two siblings (well, he has three, but that's a story for another day) and their children/significant others were all gathered in one place for a brief but happy moment. The joy of my Aunt J, the oldest sister, was palpable!

Everyone has difficulties with their families, but for many reasons I think my mother and father had it just about as bad as it gets. The forgiveness and love that I experienced this weekend, however, between siblings who all grew up in the same difficult household and by varied and circuitous paths made it out not only alive but well, will not long be forgotten.

The Exhaustion of Team Building

Today and yesterday were team-building retreats for my team here at work, and I am EXHAUSTED. Just FYI. Not even capable of writing. However, I will say that it's an enormously useful activity, and part of the reason I'm exhausted is that I'm excited about what we might be able to accomplish. But I think I'm going to go home now. I'm sitting here waiting for my phone to ring with what might be another project for my students - I've been playing phone tag with this one client for over a week now.

Once I get back on track, I'm hoping to bring more about education and how it relates to my new job into the blog. But baby steps right now. I need to go home and put away my laundry. I'm only one person.

The Dodge Neon

In 2002, when I got back from Paris, my mom made me get rid of my 1995 Dodge Neon and gave me her 2000 Jeep. (I think it's funny that I've only owned Chrysler vehicles.) Lately I have been reminiscing about my little, black, two-door Neon, so sporty and yet so dorky. My best friend and I had fun times in Orlando cruising downtown listening to Montell Jordan's "This is How We Do It," over and over. (I could totally go for listening to that song right now...)

Anyway, I'd really love to find the original magazine ad for the car that I cut out and taped all over my bedroom. You know, the one with the front view of the car and it said, "Hi." Never did I think my parents would buy me the car for Christmas - but they did! It was a happy day, and I loved that car. Probably would still be driving it like a crazy person if I had it.

The Neon is no longer, apparently, according to this blog. It made me kind of sad - it's as if an era of my life ended and I didn't even know it.

"Looking Back: Dodge Neon." (Neff, J. Autoblog. 10/07/05)

Sleep, Death, Etc.

Oscar the Cat - you don't want him in your hospital room! Maybe this is why my cat wakes me up at 5:30am; he thinks I might be dead because I've stopped thrashing around the bed. Oh, that's about the aforementioned sleeping problem.

"A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat." (Dosa, D. M. New England Journal of Medicine. Vol. 357: 328-329. July 26, 2007)

Lunch

I just wanted someone to see how amazing my lunch is. Heirloom tomato from Pennsylvania, whole grain baguette, and sinful Camenbert from upstate New York. Wow. Mmmmm.

Pavement Pounding

Wow. So I haven't posted since March 13th, when would be when my internship started getting busy, I began looking for jobs, and my coursework became extra busy. In short, I'm focusing on getting enough sleep rather than blogging.

I do have some good leads on jobs, all in education of course, so I'll let you know when the next developments happen! Until then, sorry to say, but my blogging may be dark until after about May 15th.

Iran

This is amazing. I'm fascinated by Iran, and I think that we do need to stop the propaganda - and it's on both sides. My dream would be to have Iranians come to the United States for a few years, teach Farsi, and then go back to Iran and tell about how the U.S. really is. I'm actually thinking of developing my paper for Transcultural Education around this sort of idea... backed up with methodology, of course.

I've only watched the first few minutes... but look at the women in the video. They still mark that Iranian society is very different from our own.

"Rageh Inside Iran." (Google Video.)

Culture and War

This, from the Cato Institute, is interesting. I'd give you a review, but I'm up to my elbows right now in oral history and other reading.

"The American Way of War: Cultural Barriers to Successful Counterinsurgency." (Record, J. 9/1/2006).

Calling all Language Teachers!

I saw this on the OELA newsline - a place to come learn about best practices in foreign language teaching. If you can make it, I think it would be a great resource!!!

2007 Teacher Workshops (ed.gov)

Why I Quit Teaching French

Unfortunately, rumor or not... this is more and more becoming the case.

"A Phaseout of French? Sifting Fact and Rumor." (De Vise, D. The Washington Post. March 1, 2007.)