The School

I don't like the picture being under my words. AT ALL! But that's how it's going to be this time. I hate it, but I have to move on. I have to blog and watch the PR Finale, so that's going to take some focus. Okay, let's see..... literacy. I was with some second grade peeps today that were writing about our new school. Everyone's writing about how great the new school's going to be. The 2nd gr. peeps kept writing about how they were going to join the football team or the basketball team or be a cheerleader! I couldn't really understand how they got these notions because we won't have any of these things at our new school, but we all know how rumors get started. It can often be through literacy.

The Poem

I've been sending links out about Poem In Your Pocket Day to the colleagues at the compound for a couple of weeks now. Time will only tell if we'll see any peeps pocketing poems on the 29th, but I'm starting to get an inkling that there's interest. Today our awesome assistant stopped me as I was rushing by and she was reading a computer screen. Lately people have been stopping me left and right as I try to do all my extremely important work. It can be frustrating. Today when she stopped me, I thought OMG I can't stop and talk right now. Instead I smiled and said, "What's up?"

"Some of these poems you sent in the last email are great."

"I read a few of them. Some were pretty funny."

She looked up and said, "This one's not funny, but it's wonderful."

In my mind I was thinking, "Pleasedon'treadapoempleasedon'treadapoempleasedon'treadapoem."

She started reading a poem to me and it was about a kid missing his brother who is in the army in Iraq. This assistant's son was in Iraq for a few years, but now he's home. As she read this poem about missing a soldier, she started crying and then I started crying. Then we both laughed and busied ourselves back to work.

Poem In Your Pocket Day is probably going to rock. Still haven't found my poem tho.

The Podcast

Well, I'll tell you what? Some literacy partners asked me to give them a little run through on how to make a podcast using garage band. So I made a podcast for our school about literacy at our school. I sound like a total dork in this podcast, but I'm willing to make sacrifices for literacy. That's how important literacy is to me. You can hear me sound like a dork right here if you want to.

The Actor

I was trying to sneak down the hall to my hovel this morning when I heard a brouhaha in a classroom where I knew a poor substitute teacher was being subjected to a unique kind of hell that only substitute teachers can know. I tried to slink by, but, as a former substitute teacher, I couldn't stand the guilt I was feeling so I ventured in with the rowdy little punkies and attempted to assist. I ended up reading a version of Goldilocks to this group and if I do say so myself, my little bear voice is pretty good---an annoying whine. After lunch I read with my third grade peep about Denali National Park in Alaska. At the end of the day, I read Horace and Morris, but mostly Delores to some K's during their free choice time.

This evening was the highlight of my literacy pleasure. I heard Martin Sheen speak on campus. We sat very close to the actor/activist and he was a charming and inspiring story teller. He recited poems by Tagore and Emma Lazarus and chatted about social activism, his love of acting, his alcoholism, his son, his faith. At the end the host gave him a Hoosier T-shirt and Mr. Sheen put it on. He looked great.

The Review

Let's get this literacy blogging out of the way early so I can be a productive member of society for the rest of the day. Husbandman has been making some negative comments about me lately, in terms of TSOL (time spent on line). I think I straightened him out this morning by reminding him, "Less critique. More compliments. Follow that rule and we'll both have a great day."

Here's what I got. I'm nearly done with my NYT reading and the review of a new book about Jane Austen will most likely result in a book purchase by the end of the today. (If I remember). I love Jane Austen's novels, but I've never been a Janeite. I know nothing about her. Maybe it's time to read a biography. The review makes this book sound perfect for me. It's not "aimed at specialists" and is basically "a repackaging of existing academic research."

"Harman's book doesn't contain much about Austen that hasn't been covered elsewhere, but it presents the story of Austen's self-fashioning and later popularity in a convincing, enjoyable way."

Count me in.

The Girl

After a lovely breakfast with some pals, I spent the day on the blue couch. Napping and reading. I read quite a few blogs. And I am also now reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And I read some NYT articles today too. It's pretty good to have lots of stuff to chat about on the literacy blogging challenge. For a literacy day, this day scores a 10.

The Aggravation

I'm in a flipping bad mood right now. I left my laptop in the car that Husbandman took to go play POOL! FLIP! Now I can't download my good fotos and I can't sit in bed reading blogs all evening. Damn it. Whatever. What did I read today? I read a book about ocean mammals with a 3rd grader. Then I read an idiotic book called At the Park with a Kinder who reads like a champ even tho he has a really odd speech impediment. On the good side, I did meet Alexander Bernstein today and he's a very pleasant person. The Artful Learning School model will be good for us next year.
Now, here at home, I'm reading Girl with Dragon Tattoo, but here's the thing. I'm just in the first 40 pages and I don't care a whit about financial fraud that involves corporations and
investors. I wish my education had prepared me better to read this kind of stuff but I can't look to the past. I've got to keep moving forward. Not sure if I'll be moving forward with this book, though. I'll keep youposted.

The Bloomers

I read Leo the Late Bloomer to the kinders today. I started off by telling them the story of how everyone in my family learned how to ride their bikes before I did. Then I read the book and then we put together construction paper flowers and wrote a little bit about our personal blooming. The kinders are wild little feral cats, but whenever I leave they have to run over for hugs, so I just have to love them.

The Point

I read a power point about my field trip to the Illinois artful learning school to a bunch of classes today. 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The kiddos seemed pretty excited about artful learning. I hope I get to meet the maestro's son on Friday when he visits.

The Maestro

The compound's going to be called a Leonard Bernstein ARTFUL LEARNING compound next year. I was pronouncing the maestro's name incorrectly, but I've learned if you just remember "Leonard Beer Stein," you'll do okay. Tomorrow I'm going to go into some classrooms to show kids a power point about Artful Learning because Leonard's son Alexander is going to visit us on Friday and we want all the peeps to know who he is and why he's visiting. Our local glossy magazine has the maestro on the cover this month because he spent a lot of time in our little town. I thought I'd weave some of the article into the power point. Here are some of the quotes that probably won't go into the power point.

"...when Mr. Bernstein showed up, the liquor flowed more freely than it normally did..."

"he behave(d) with impropriety, especially at parties where he often outlasted his welcome."

He "was charming, if a little inebriated."

The maestro's going to fit right in at the compound, where people like to work hard and play hard. Mostly play hard. He'll inspire us all.

The Review

Fairly pleased with myself today. Left work at 4:30 and shopped at Target, took a walk, picked up sticks in the backyard, chatted on the phone long distance with oldest friend, listened to Basil Rathbone read The Raven, and then found time to read a book review in the NYT, paper of record. I will now review the book review, by Garry Wills, of The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick. At first I thought it would be neat to write a "found poem" of words and phrases from the review that resonated somehow with me. And that would be a neat idea, but I'm not going to do that. I'll just focus on a few interesting comments. The reviewer does a good job of comparing bits from Barack's autobiography with contrasting pieces from Remnick's bio. Okay, I'm just going to focus on one interesting comment. The book sounds good. I may read it, but I'm not positive.