one battered idealist

04:14 pm: threes (via gareth)
A. Three names I go by:

1. Samantha
2. Ms. C...
3. Sammy. (Only rarely though. I never invite anyone to call me Sammy, but a few have just decided to, and mostly it fits. reminds me of my mom. there are plenty of people from whom it would grate, but they have not presumed.)

B. Three places I have lived:

1. Staten Island NYC
2. Manhattan NYC
3. Brooklyn NYC

C. Three places I have worked

1. NYC DOE
2. Edison Schools
3. Seligman Data (as a summer temp)

D. Three things I love to watch on TV:
(Hard to pick, I like a lot of shows, but love very few.)
1. daily show
2. bones
3. amazing race

E. Three places I have been:

1. Mykonos
2. Montreal (why do you have to make a scene, everywhere we go?!)
3. Mystic, CT (as a small child this was just as exciting as the other two, and was still quite enjoyable as an adult.)

F. Three people that email me regularly:
1. scott
2. lisa, from work (without whom i might not have survived teaching ap calc)
3. umm, facebook?

G. Three things I love to eat

1. chocolate
2. goldfish crackers
3. in season, local strawberries

H. Three people I think will respond:

1. maybe kthrin, in a delightfully mocking tone
2.
3.

I. Three things I am looking forward to:

1. summer, as defined by the rutgers academic calendar
2. summer, as defined by the nyc doe academic calendar
3. summer, as defined by me jumping in the ocean (no surgery this year, woohoo!)

J. Three places you would love to go:
oh, so many
1. Italy
2. Galapagos
3. up the california coast line in a convertible, with magically no traffic

07:56 pm: unobservant
I find it remarkable that at multiple times in my life I've been almost on the verge of tears, or 2 comments away from stabbing someone with my keys, and people have commented on how happy or cheerful I am.
It just occured to me that maybe they can see the underlying turmoil but can't deal with dealing with it at the moment so they seek to diffuse it with confusion.
That is probably too convoluted to be the actual explaination.

07:54 am: major life events
1. Moved. If you want new home phone or address then email me. Cell is same.

2. New knee. Oww oww oww, yay morphine.

09:51 pm: kids today
Today I told one of my classes I was straight from the slums of shaolin. They had no idea what I was talking about.

11:49 pm: they read my email on the call yesterday.

i said this:

The person who said that merit pay would inspire teachers to be more committed is delusional. Teaching is one of the hardest and most under compensated jobs around; why would anyone do it if they were not already committed?
(I took a break from writing a test to write this email. Yes, I am still working past 9pm.)

11:33 am: SNOW DAY!!!
Woo Hoo!!1!1

11:17 am: quote of the thursday
re: twilight

"we shouldn't have been in the theater because we aren't 15 year old girls"

said by ....


wait for it


....


Rigel.

10:36 am: 16
Directions:
Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a note with 16 random things, shortcomings, facts, habits or goals about you (if you want to). At the end choose 16 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them (if you want). Tag the person who tagged you.


1. I am currently using the free wi-fi in the central jury room.

2. With the recent onset of cold weather, I have started year three of the same pair of earmuffs. They are very spiffy burberry earmuffs, obviously, i think, worth the price since i've never had a pair of earmuffs last more than a season before. I know this is year three because scott had his cousin buy them in manhattan and mail them to brooklyn during the transit strike. take that, attempted thwarters of capitalism ;P

3. Last Wednesday was my last day of physical therapy, at least for this round. It is probably perverse that i celebrated my impending decrease in activity by consuming chocolate.

4. Next year i'll be teaching AP calc. I am flattered, excited and a little scared.

5. sometimes, it seems like everyone in the world has a facebook except me. i might get one, but figured i should actually post here a little more before branching out.

6. After last year's surgery my legs were pretty much even in length, but after this year's they are again different - though not as different as they were originally. this is somewhat disappointing, but i have another one to go, so...

7. relatedly, i bought a pair of sneakers to get modified, it's got to be about a month ago, and they sit, unmodified, in their box, atop a pile of books.

8. semi-relatedly, last night i got down on the floor, crawled under the table to retrieve a book and got back up all by myself. incase it doesn't seem like it to you, this is super exciting.

9. I believe that not only does titanium weigh more than bone, but that over time it gradually increases in weight, you know, something related to half-lifes. It would not be respectful of you to question this belief.

10. I have a student teacher this semester. He is currently dealing with kids all by himself for the first time (with a licensed sub in the room). I'm sure everything is fine.

11. The TVs in central jury are tuned to msnbc. probably not a political statement.

12. I like the word empaneling. penultimate is also a good one. I have, on occasion, gone to look up a word and would up reading several pages of the dictionary.

13. Scott is using book cataloging as procrastination again, and last night we found my grandfather's ancient physics and chemistry reference book. we discussed how when civilization falls and there is no more electricity people who know how to read log tables will eventually be in demand again.

14. i am a many faceted geek/nerd (see 12, 13, possibly others.)

15. connecting 13 and 2, i actually taught kids how to use log tables when there were like 6 of them in my math b class during the transit strike. i had to find them first, in a rather old textbook, and then re-teach myself how to use them. i also showed them the slide rule i inherited from my grandfather, but i have very little idea how to use that.

16. around my birthday / the beginning of the school year / the jewish holidays - which i consider a newyearsy time - in light of the fact that so much had passed without much comment, i was considering doing a sort of year in review post. of course it's been a while since then. maybe this post will get me back in the habit, and that will be forthcoming. maybe.


I find it very unlikely that i could come up with 16 people who haven't been tagged already, so if you are reading this and haven't been tagged yet, and want to be, consider yourself tagged.

09:00 pm: OH-BAMA! to you too
So I get to tell my grandchildren that I voted for our first black president (elect, no jinxes from me).
(A pretty uneventful tale in and of itself - after mildly worrying about my inability to stand on line for hours it turned out, around 2:30pm in the Brooklyn Museum, there was absolutely no line at all. Everyone in the polling place, and on the way in and out, was very smiley.)

The thought made me smile last night, as did the cheers and honking from outside. But I didn't really feel any excitement until I got to school.
I don't know how long it will last but Obama's name has become a greeting of sorts. Kids were proclaiming it at each other in the hallways all day. Like a cadence, almost. Palpable energy, but also calm (this is a very rare thing for teenagers).

There has been talk about the youth of america transcending race. For me, in relation to this election anyway, and even though i'm to old for the category, it's true. I would have picked Obama if all the information i got prior to the election was a personality-free written summary of the candidates' positions. My only concern about race was hoping that other people would not be too racist to vote against their own best interests.
That's white, private liberal arts college alumna, well above median income (as disturbing as that is), raised by hippies, me. Black kids in Brooklyn, not so much. I am happy for them.




also, I feel the current irc topic needs a wider audience:
< cd > now that america's gone black ... I fear it may never go back

06:08 pm: some words i found
"Those of us who are both very wounded and very competent sometimes have the gift of appearing well when we are not. ... Seek joy in beauty and in experiences that stay fresh and sharp in memory; fill your memory with art and music and light, to compete with those other memories that perch like ravens, eyeing your carcass, waiting for you to slip. Take an averaging approach; seek to increase the joy in your life in as many ways as you know how."

- Cary Tennis, Salon's "advice" columnist