Letter to the Editor

It's 5:23 am and I am preparing for another long day. I get to school by 6:00 to gear up to teach 7th grade social studies, stay for after school tutoring, then rush to my second job as canvass manager for the Campaign for Change.

I see these two positions as absolutely linked, especially in light of the tone and character of vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin's latest rally, where supporters were worked up into a racially charged frenzy climaxing with a reveler's call to kill Senator Obama; a suggestion that was not condemned by Gov. Palin. The fact that the McCain campaign is stooping this low, playing on the ugliest of human tendencies, shows their desperation and intentions for this country. At a time when the entire country is suffering in so many ways, they attempt distract and divide us with racist innuendo. So that fear of the other rather than hope for the future will inform our decision on November 4th.

I am choosing to believe that we have come farther than that. That the unchecked sentiment chanted at that rally represents a minority of the country. I have to. I teach 100 middle school students who had a very difficult time wrapping their head around racial segregation, perplexed by the idea that there would ever be a time that their co-existence in the classroom would not be possible. This innocence is the future. And it is for them that I am working these long, taxing days – to lose this election is to embrace the ugliness, the hatred and fear that has separated us. It would take us a thousand steps back from the distance this nation has come in dissolving the racial divisions that have plagued our history. We cannot afford that.

Sincerely,
Maura

My New Life

I rolled over this Sunday morning to read 8:30 on my alarm clock - this is a full three hours of decadent sleeping in as I usually rise at 5:30 to mopishly scramble to my outstretch yoga mat before I shower, eat, and drive to school.

When I worked any one of my office jobs, I'd hardly dream of coming in early and certainly if I did it was with the intention of leaving early as well. Now getting in on time makes me a bit nervous and leaving at the end of my contract hours has happened a total of one times.

There is a lot to complain about when you are a teacher and the fact that I put in these 10 to 12 hour days could certainly be at the top of the list. But it is remarkable to have a job that makes you want to work that hard. I know that I'll be eating those words in a month or so - when the whole state is test-crazy and I am recramming information into 100 fatigued little brains. When spring has blanketed the 7th grade with a fresh dusting of hormones and attitude and when all I want to do at 3 pm is clad myself in tank tops and sunglasses and be outside for hours. But, right now, with this new life - I am busy and over-extended - but happy.

Hobbling Along

I have abandoned and reclaimed this blog so many times, it's a pretty sure bet that no one is reading it anymore. I wish I was one of those people who commit to daily posts - but I really do want to have a commitment to writing each (or nearly each) day.

So here it is, promise number 476: I WILL WRITE. I will be happy to take bets on how long this will last.

Here are some highlights from the three and a half months since I last wrote:

• Christmas was lovely, thanks for asking - Matt and I continue to split the holiday, which is becoming more of an emotional challenge
• My nephew turned one - he continues to be the move talented and delightful baby to ever exist
• A student put hand-sanitizer in my tea - I was devastated that this child disliked me that much - but, she's twelve and mean - I'm over it.
• I applied to a teaching workshop in South Korea. It's two weeks in the summer, all expenses paid and totally exciting - I won't know until April if I've made the cut.
• Like a million people I know are engaged - I am not one of them.
• My boyfriend has bought me dozens of flowers.
• I've donated to and volunteered to help Barack Obama's campaign
• I bought a MacBook
• I got new clear plastic rim glasses
• I am well aware of the fact that the previous three admissions place me in the smug self-righteous hipster category
• I've baked lots of pies

xo! m

I Live and Am Alive

Teaching's been kind of hard lately - mostly because I don't feel much like putting more than ten hours in each day. And while I feel entirely confident about my teaching abilities, I recognize that my lessons could be a whole lot more exciting and engaging if I could just work really hard for a couple more hours everyday. But, I might go crazy then, so semi-boring it is!

It breaks my heart a little because when this unit started ("The Campaign Trail") I was full of project-based ideas that would require tons of work on my part, but an undoubtedly more meaningful unit for my daringly little 13 year olds. But, then my dad had major surgery and I drove back and forth to D.C. five times in a week and a half and I just couldn't stomach all those extra hours anymore. I just wanted to drink wine in the evening and feel soft while watching comedies and being cuddled.

Oh, and the chiller broke at school last week. I teach in a windowless second floor stale-aired box - the air of which maintain a balmy 85+ degrees for the majority of last week. Uh,you might not know this about me but I am a real bitch when I get hot. I slammed my first door on Thursday. I felt kind of bad about that. Trying to teach cranky, toasty 7th graders is like trying to cram toothpaste back into the tube - made even more impossible by a crushing sense of "who the hell cares! I am hot" overriding everything. I gave up that afternoon and read them a children's book. They curled up at my feet and almost looked cute.

We're in the throws of one of our toughest years together - there is just so much heaped onto our collective plate and we are constantly talking the other through one crisis or another. But, we've committed ourselves to having a life - to living and being alive...and that is what will keep us sane.

Life Support

I think this blog is dying and that I might just pull the plug. I check Justin’s blog pretty frequently and was annoyed that he hasn’t posted since the 2^nd of May until I realized that I’ve only got 5 days on him. Also, I am totally sick of people hearting things, which makes this url somewhat problematic.

In the news…we’ve decided not to move to Richmond for various reasonable reasons - the time wasn’t right and our motivation wasn’t either. So we are staying in the area for at least the next year and throwing ourselves into efforts to get the most out of the community – so far we’re progressing pretty nicely. We’ve been little social butterflies and soon we’ll be butterflies with kickin’ abs as we’ve become gymaholics since joining American Family Fitness – which was necessary because I developed a daily cashew eating habit with practicable results.

I am also immersed in the job search – getting lots of immediate and glowing responses to my portfolio but no real job offers thus far.

In an effort to get more out of life and the area where I am currently living it, I am tentatively starting work on a NEW! blog all about things to do in Fredericksburg, Va – because there’s got to be things and I am going to find them and then, as a public service, share them with the internet.

Bleh

I am an absolute mess today - allergies are making me want to claw my eyes out, my quarter-life crisis from the days of yore is threatening a heady resurgence, and my return to 9-5 office life has not failed to disappoint in the soul-crushing department.

Listen to my whine!!

I think I'll go read Harry Potter and eat chocolate bars.

Update: I Am Alive

Despite your potential assumptions, I am still alive. My double life as middle school teacher extraordinaire/pale office drone has seriously limited the amount of time I have to do anything other than make and eat dinner, read about former presidents (oh, Mr. Truman, how I love you), drink beer, and beg my bedfellow for head/neck massages to sooth away headaches induced by drinking too much coffee and talking really loud for 6 hours every day.

While I have indeed disappeared from the world of the intertron - I have been busy attending to my meatspace life and have many exciting new developments in the works. Firstly, I endeared myself to my exceedingly agreeable 3-month-old nephew last weekend. His aunt is so hilarious that he's perpetually plagued with hiccups every time he sees me (pictures to follow).

The trip was half a family thing, half a romantic getaway but it was totally more of the previous. Poor Matt suffered through a really brutal Easter dinner with my sister-in-law's family. They are the kind of people who shock you with their ability to talk for three hours without ever engaging in conversation or saying anything interesting. Also, they are really loud. He got me back by taking me to see 300. I crocheted in the dark and thought about how Xerxes was kind of the poor man's RuPaul.

I am nearing the end of my indentured servitude as a student teacher. It has been awesome and I've wowed supervisors with my amazing abilities to educate. I told the kids I'd be leaving soon and when they whined about it I reminded them that a girl's got to eat! Some of them offered to take up a collection - each of my students would contribute a dollar to keep me there for the rest of the year. I could make 102 sweet dollars if I sign on for 7 additional weeks of work. I've been offered a few jobs and am excitedly looking forward to full time employment as a teacher. No more of this moonlighting crap.

Matt and I are also in the early stages of house hunting. We are tentatively planning a move to Richmond in the summer. I hang on to that word "tentative" because it makes me feel less nervous about making big changes. I am looking forward to a new home in a place where there are more that two things to do on the weekend, where friends abound, and where there are glorious paved sidewalks! But I am still a bit disappointed that we don't have the balls to pack up and move to California. Also, selling a house it probably the least appealing task I've ever encountered.

So, I live on. God knows when I will post again - god knows if anyone is still checking anyway. XO if you are!

Christmas Came Early

I went out to my car last night to meet some friends in DC for merriment - a woman approached me and told me her son had just hit my teeny little (brand new) Scion with his monster truck. He was sorry and I was way more conciliatory that I should have been. We exchanged information and then I spent an hour on the phone with insurance companies.

Geez, it sucks - when his insurance representative asked me if there was any previous damage to the car I said (in a kind of loud voice, maybe?) "no, it's BRAND NEW."

It's a real Christmas Stinker, but whatev. Alright, I need to go make some charitable donations to compensate for my unnecessary whining.

Officially DONE

Well, it happened, I am a MASTER. Though I have not get been conferred a degree (that only happens annually in May at a MANDATORY commencement exercise), I consider the title officially acquired. Why else would I hold an awesome graduation celebration on Saturday? Grades are still out (but rest assured I pwn'd) and I don't have that degree to hang on my wall (and look out of place since it will be the only one in the house not in LATIN), but I am totally done with graduate school. Since this really snuck up on me I have to keep telling myself:D-O-N-E.

My graduation party was fantastic. Want to feel like the luckiest girl in the world? Just get about 25-30 of the most wonderful people in your life into a room - your heart will swell, you will smile like it is your job, and the day will melt away before you realize it.

Thank you, guys who came - especially those who have been especially supportive in the past year and a half (you know who you are). I LOVE YOU.