Innocence

Student who's reading a book about Abe Lincoln: Mister - in the United States, they had slavery, right?

Me: Yes.

Student: Why?

TOMS At My School

Ten Things I'm Thankful For Tuesday

It's 8pm, and my eyes are getting heavy. Guess I'll cut right to the chase:

1. Anthony Donovan's doctorate!

It's still technically in the works, but I'm thrilled that the process is underway for my friend. 

2. The "Live" album by Alison Krauss & Union Station. 

This one's on the list of important music recordings in my life. Why has it become rare to find folks who play instruments ridiculously well, sing like angels, and also perform exciting vocal harmonies? AKUS Live features all those things.

I have discovered that it's also the perfect soundtrack for laying in a hammock watching clouds roll by. 

3. Being a country boy at heart. 

I grew up mostly in the suburbs, but I was born in small town Alabama and spent my formative years there.

There are aspects of city living that I really love, but that didn't keep me from sensing the need to have time away from pavement and concrete surroundings so I can be out where plenty of green grass grows. At some point, I figured out that a little ways out in the country is probably where I'm meant to be.

It's amazing the way exposure to natural environments brings soul renewal.

4. Side hustles. 

Making a little money on the side sometimes helps you afford things you wouldn't have the cash for otherwise.

5. Those teaching moments with my students that end up teaching me.

6. The burritos they serve at school.

I can't eat just one without feeling like I let myself down.

7. Birds I see gliding along together in flocks in my new town.

I'm not a bird person at all, but let me give you one word for the flocks of birds I see flying here: stunning.

8. All the pleasant people in my work environment.

9. Amazon's Instant Video refund policy. 

They automatically refund money to your bank account if your video playback isn't smooth.

Translation: I just now got to watch Denzel Washington being awesome...for free.

10. Times I allow art to come out of my heart (rather than trying to force it).

Bueno/Menos

My day was good.

Bueno: I'm still deciding whether to say yes to another year here, but I just realized an important thing about all that. If I am to return after summer break, I'll need to book an airline ticket in the next few months...and this means I'm gonna need money for airfare!

So, I devised a quick plan for budgeting the (already meager) paychecks that remain for this academic year. And I'm one of those weirdos that gets a thrill from planning and executing strategies for squirreling away bits of monthly income over a period in order to raise the cash to buy what I want.

Valentine's Day-ing with some of the other foreigners living here this year. And yes, the girls of our group (not pictured) are the ones that suggested a Valentine's party.

Menos: When I walked out the door to go enjoy some weekend picture taking, drops of water began to fall from the sky. So, I put the camera back in my apartment and walked to town, at which time the rain, of course, ceased for the rest of the day.

Ten Things I'm Thankful For Tuesday

1. My access to clean drinking water.

2. Random thinking.

Ridiculous antics from my childhood come to mind sometimes, giving me good material to use for entertaining my students.

3. A simple life.

This is what I hope to have as a family man someday, but already I've been blessed to find a very simple, sweet life as a bachelor for now.

4. The memory of my granddaddy.

He died a couple years back, and I keep realizing/rediscovering things in my life that either came directly from him or remind me of him.

Two things he loved were guitars and watching television shows about the Wild West. And wouldn't you know it, cowboy movies and guitar pickin' tickle my fancy too.

5. Days when it rains just enough during school to make the afternoon perfectly sunny and breezy instead of hot as all get out.

6. Responsibility.

Two things - being responsible only for myself in my personal life, and being responsible for hundreds of students over the years - cause me to arrive at the conclusion that a person becomes more of who he has the capacity to be when he has others to look after.

7. A teaching job that's a pretty good way to spend a workday.

There have been previous classroom teaching gigs that were more like dying slowly week after week.

I still love weekends, but I don't have to live for them like I used to because there's so much to appreciate and make the most of at work nowadays.

8. The realization that I don't know everything about what I really want.

I used to live in a town I absolutely loved and wanted to be in forever...and now I live in a different town that strikes me similarly.

9. A good plan.

It's such a good feeling when you have one, execute it, and hit your mark.

10. Those courageous grad school and undergrad colleagues of mine, who packed up and left their homes in places like Romania and Jamaica to experience another part of the world. Knowing them helped embolden me to do the same.

Playing a Jobim duet years ago during graduate school.

Jazz piano provided by Akiko, my friend who was in the states from Japan to study at UGA. 

My Teens Work Hard

Not sure my students have ever been required to work as hard on their writing as this year. They make me feel very proud. In the next few months, I know it will be interesting to look back over their growth.

The power to be excellent was inside them all along. Any wins will be successes they themselves are to be credited for. 

Ten Things I'm Thankful For Tuesday

1. The ability to explore new territory.

The past five years have taught me that there are always new things to discover (not only through traveling but even at home) if we keep our sense of curiosity alive and get beyond what's familiar.

2. Teenage pupils who aren't very good at staying mad at their mean teacher for more than a day.

One of my teens even had me as a guest at his birthday party.

3. Apps that provide ambient noise as a sleep aid.

4. A painless root canal.
Thank heavens!

5. The feeling of seeing someone reach new heights as a reaction to your teaching and leadership.

6. Southerners.

I think everyone else is great too, but southerners will always have a special place in my heart. There's nothing like southern charm, language, beauty, traditions, hospitality, drawls and accents...and the list goes on.

7. Personal contentment.

By the grace of God, I have always felt sufficiently content and confident without thinking I need someone else to make me happy.

8. Books, blogs, articles, and quotes from folks whose financial lives inspire and empower everyday people.

9. People who give you their place in the checkout line when they see that you have far fewer cart items than they have.

10. Echoes of reassuring ideas from people in my past.
Have you had the experience of hearing/learning something at a time in life when you aren't ready to truly grasp it? For me, I love the way those things seem to stay with me until I've matured enough to embrace and apply them.

What It's Like To Have A Crush

For the Literature class lesson on simile, I had the students create their own sentences. This one was probably my favorite:

"Having a crush is like playing hockey without protection, because you will suffer without her."


And honorable mention has to go to this one:

"A crush is like a Ferrari -- I don't have a Ferrari."