fifteen - i love my job

I am one of the lucky ones.  I have a job I love.  I know so many people who work just to work, just for the paycheck, just because it is related to their college degree.  But, I get to do what I love.  I get to laugh every day.  I get to interact with teenagers, the best people on the planet.  I get to work with intelligent, thoughtful, and caring colleagues who are just as passionate about what they do as I am.  And, my job is never repetitive; every day is new and different and exciting. 

For the past three years, I have been one of the Class of 2011's advisors.  It has been great to work with the various class officers, planning class meetings and helping out with class events.  This year, however, now that they are seniors, it is a much bigger job and is a lot more fun.  This past week was the Senior Coffeehouse - a cabaret-style show put on by the senior class to raise money for senior week events and the graduation speaker.  I'm not going to lie; early last week, I was doubtful that the show would come together.  We were concerned that we wouldn't have enough acts and that the acts we had might not be of the highest quality.  But, the dress rehearsal on Wednesday went wonderfully, and the show started coming together.  By Friday afternoon, just hours before curtain, the show was set.  And, it was good!  Actually, it was great!  Watching the students put the finishing touches on their various acts - ranging from a dance-off to a boy band documentary to a glowsticking performance - was just so much fun.  It was an amazing night. 

The best part for me, however, was being reminded of the incredible students at my school.  Not only were the performers outstanding, but so were the rest of the students in the senior class - the tech crew, the class officers, the students who worked the front of house and intermission.  They pulled together to help set up and clean up the dinner beforehand and to clean up the theater space.  No one complained, no one tried to duck out early, and everyone chipped in.  Their energy and spirits were high all night, and about halfway through the show, I realized that I was beaming with pride.  The students with whom I work never cease to amaze me.

They are also among the most thoughtful, self-reflective, and grateful teenagers that I have known.  In fact, I have recently received several notes from past students.  One student said, "I had some trouble in your class, but I think I learned for the first time how to really work hard in a science class…Thanks for helping me learn how to study effectively and never getting frustrated when I couldn’t get my head around something…Your unflappable positive attitude continually saved me from getting discouraged."

Another student wrote, "I don't think I could have handled the material with nearly as much enthusiasm if class wasn't constantly interrupted by laughter, and I don't think I would have been able to approach the class with such light-hearted humor if the material was any less challenging.  Pushing myself to my academic limit allowed me to reevaluate why I love learning in the first place; you inspired me (both with your own humor and with several sub-par grades) to start focusing on finding joy in struggling through problems, and laughing, instead of panicking, when I didn’t immediately understand something.  When I got a C on the second test, I remember that I was actually happy, because I was so proud of the fact that I wasn't very upset.  Learning that I can fail without feeling like a failure and that I can be imperfect and still be respected as a student, were by far the more important things I learned junior year, and I learned both of them in your class."

Yes, I am truly one of the lucky ones.  Thank you, CA students.  You are amazing in so many ways - from your self-reflection and gratitude to your limitless artistic talents.  You make me constantly grateful to be part of this community. 

And, to the seniors:  Thank you for surprising me in the best of ways.  Here's to another fantastic six months together!

fourteen - fall fun

Becky and I absolutely love fall.  And, over the course of the past few weeks, she and I have been taking in the changing season in all its New England glory.

We began by apple picking - twice.  First, we went to Cider Hill Farm in Amesbury, MA where we picked up fresh farm produce, picked apples, and ate warm apple cider donuts.  



A few weeks later, we went to Carlson Orchards in Harvard, MA where we picked a bushel of apples; that's about 60 apples!!  

That night, we made homemade apple butter and southern style biscuits, using recipes from my favorite breakfast place in Atlanta, GA - The Flying Biscuit Cafe.    

Last Sunday, we decided to drive up to the White Mountain National Forest for the day.  We took the aerial tramway to the top of Cannon Mountain, hoping to take some great foliage shots.  Were we surprised to find rime ice in place of leaves!  Rime ice is "a white ice that forms when the water droplets in fog freeze to the outer surfaces of objects. It is often seen on trees atop mountains and ridges in winter, when low-hanging clouds cause freezing fog. This fog freezes to the windward (wind-facing) side of tree branches, buildings, or any other solid objects, usually with high wind velocities and air temperatures between −2 °C (28 °F) and −8 °C (18 °F)." (source: Wikipedia)  It was some of the coolest (pun intended) stuff we've ever seen!  I think the most amazing photo we have is this one.  You can see the fall foliage in the distance with rime ice covered trees in the forefront. 

Here are a few more!

We took lots of great shots, so check out some additional photos here.

Yesterday, Becky and I biked from our house down to Harvard Square to watch some of the Head of the Charles regatta.  It was a gorgeous fall day - sunny and in the 50's.  You really can't get more quintessential Boston than the Head of Charles.

For all of you not currently in New England for this gorgeous season, I'm sorry.  Hopefully, you'll be here next year!

thirteen - teach like a champion?

Education in the United States has suddenly become a hotter topic than usual in recent weeks.  With the premiers of Waiting for Superman and Teach: Tony Danza, it seems that everyone is buzzing about teachers. 

During a recent professional development workshop that I attended, Steve Clem from AISNE said that teachers make 600 teaching decisions every day.  We are constantly reassessing and evaluating what we do, how we do it, and how we can do it better.  And, we don't always get to asses our teaching before or after the fact.  We are usually assessing and making adjustments minute by minute as we teach.  We need to adjust based on the vibe in the classroom, what time of day it is, how hard or easy the previous night's homework turned out to be, how the latest quiz or test went, the questions students ask, the questions students don't ask, how well or poorly the students are participating, and an endless number of other factors.  Teachers need to have the ability to walk into a room and instantly gauge what is going on.  To say that it can be challenging is an understatement.  And, it's something that in my seventh year as a teacher, I am still working on. 

"This is not an easy job.  You know, there are so many people out there who think they can do this.  And that's unfortunate.  You know, people believe they can wake up and say, 'Oh, I think I'll teach today.'" - Linda Carroll, Principal of Northeast High School in Philadelphia

Now, I would never pretend to understand the various trials and tribulations specific to an inner city public school teacher, for example, but do I understand what it is like to be a teacher at any school.  It is exhilarating and humbling and fulfilling and exhausting and the best job I could ever imagine having all at once.  It is also daunting.  We, as teachers, are charged with educating children.  Think about that for a second.  We are charged with helping youth not only learn the academic subjects that we teach, but also teaching them skills that enable them to learn for a lifetime, helping them to be engaged and productive members of their communities, and being their for them as a support system in many ways.  This is an awesome responsibility.  Mr. Clem also said during that workshop, "We have a moral obligation to get better at what we do because we work with children."  A moral obligation.  When it's described this way, the task of teaching children seems scary, even.  As Ms. Carroll also said, "This is serious work…You don't get the tag of teacher until your students are learning."

But this serious work - this awesome responsibility - is something that I wouldn't trade for the world. 

twelve - national coming out day, Oct 11th

A message from Becky:

Dear friends, colleagues, and family.

Many of you know that as a teenager I attended Johns Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth summer program at Franklin and Marshall College at the Lancaster site.  My time there was some of the most formative of my life to date.  The positive experience that I still remember so vividly today was due to team of educators and residential life staff that worked every day to create a safe space for all of us to learn and grow.  When I returned as a staff member, it was in large part to pay back a dept of gratitude that I felt to those staff members, especially to those who continued to be role models and mentors for me long after I left Lancaster.  My effort to fill their shoes began with the words “My name is Becky.  I grew up in New York.  I am Jewish.  And I am a lesbian.”     

Those words were part of an opening presentation created around CTY’s “Zero Tolerance” policy for bullying.  By outing ourselves in a variety of ways (sexual orientation, religion, cultural heritage), we hoped to demonstrate to the CTY community that CTY was a safe place to be whomever it is you are.  Here I was outing myself in front of 500 people, including 15 young women who would be living on my hall for the next three weeks.   I was terrified.  

Since coming out almost ten years ago, I have come out over and over and over again.  The feeling of terror I felt on stage has slowly moved into anxious uncertainty.  Each time I meet a new person I wonder if they will use the wrong pronoun and if they will be embarrassed if I correct them.  Each time I enter a new community I wonder if I will be the only person who identifies as queer, or if my voice will somehow be dismissed because I speak from a place of minority.  When I was hired to work for a community during the Jewish High Holidays, I felt compelled to make sure they knew my girlfriend would be joining me at services before I committed to working with them.  As secure as I am in myself, I know I can not control others. 

How blessed I am to be able to write this email without that feeling of anxiety.  Today is National Coming Out Day.  I feel so lucky that today, I can come out to you and not worry what you will think – except maybe “duh” or “tell me something I don’t already know.” 

Today I am hoping to continue what I began nine summers ago at CTY.  Our world does not have a zero tolerance policy, but that doesn’t mean we can’t each have one.  Today, I am coming out as someone who recognizes the potential I have to affect another person’s life, the potential I have to help someone realize that they are important and feel safe growing into who they are simply by being present, by being who I am, and by saying outloud “I support you.”  Today, I am asking you to come out as a role model and an ally with me.  I am asking you to refuse to stand by and watch as teenagers kill themselves because of senseless bullying and hatred.  I am asking you to refuse to stand by and watch as young people choose a life on the streets because they have no where else to go.  I am coming out because I will not let you sit silently by either. 

I am writing to ask each of you to take a moment and consider what you and your organizations currently do to support GLBTQ youth, and all youth – as they begin to discern and grow into their own identities.    All teenagers (really, all people) deserve love and support.  Everybody deserves to look up at school, temple, church, on the playing field, or at the movies and see someone like them.   

Just as GLBTQ youth can’t change who they are, neither can you.  I recognize that not all of you work directly with youth, nor do all of you identify as GLBTQ.  This is a good thing.  Support comes in many different ways and should come from many different directions.  Changing your facebook status to indicate your support is a good start, but it is not enough.  If you need ideas, follow this link to Keshet’s “Ten Things You Can Do Today to Strengthen Our Community.”  Feel free to substitute “pastor” for “rabbi” and “Unitarian," “Christian,” or another faith tradition for “Jew.”  Write or call your high school principal and ask what they are doing at your high school to support GLBTQ youth – even if you graduated 30 or 40 years ago.  Want more ideas?  Check out the GLSEN website, support HRC, or ask me.     

GLBTQ youth and adults are part of your community – wherever you are.  Your community needs you.  How will you respond?

With love and hope,

     Becky

P.S. Have you seen this video on YouTube?  It’s part of the “It Gets Better” campaign.  Don’t know what that is?  Google: “Dan Savage It Gets Better.”  

eleven - Rosh Hashanah menu

Here is our Rosh Hashanah menu for eleven people this year:

Apples and Honey
Beet & Apple Salad
Brisket with Yukon Gold potatoes
Peas with Sautéed Leeks
Moroccan Carrot Salad
Sweet Potato Kugel
Wild Rice Stuffing with Mushrooms
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cupcakes
Apple Crisp

We would make everything again except for the Moroccan Carrot Salad. We used Joan Nathan's recipe in her Holiday Cookbook, but we just weren't big fans. I'm thinking of doing ginger candied carrots next year instead.

The Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cupcakes are a GREAT pareve dessert. We'll definitely be making those in the future as they were a huge hit!

Hope your Rosh Hashanah meals were as sweet and delicious as ours!

ten - the brisket that almost wasn't and other ruminations on the new year

We were hosting eleven people for Rosh Hashanah dinner on Thursday night, and there were several dishes on our menu that all demanded oven space. We decided, therefore, to cook the brisket on Wednesday, particularly because it was an eight and a half pound brisket that would take between six and seven hours to cook. Becky put it in the oven at 325°F at 9:30am. At around 2:30pm, I was in the kitchen chopping onions, prepping another dish, and Becky was in the living room working on her sermon. Suddenly, I heard a loud electrical surge noise and a pop. I looked over to the oven on my left and the back right corner of the electrical heating element was glowing white hot and throwing sparks. I ran over to the oven and turned it off while yelling for Becky. She came in to take a look, and we watched as the white glow slowly started to migrate up the heating element towards the front of the oven, still throwing sparks.

Fortunately, our state senator had just sent us a mailing with some political information for the upcoming elections and included a list of important town and state numbers. We had placed this card on our refrigerator just two days prior, and so we called the fire department. I explained what was going on and that I just wasn't sure what to do. We didn't want to open the oven door because of the sparks, and it was still glowing and sparking everywhere even though we turned the oven off. So, the fire department dispatched a truck to our house. It rolled up our street, sirens blaring with a police car just a few minutes behind it. The very nice firemen came into the house and said, "It smells good in here." :) They pulled the oven away from the wall and unplugged it for us. The glowing and sparking stopped, and our $50 brisket was saved! But, we were now without an oven for our dinner preparations. Fortunately, our landlords (who have to replace our oven) allowed us to go downstairs and use their oven for the rest of Wednesday and for a substantial part of Thursday. We could still use the burners on the stove in our apartment, too.

Dinner was delicious (the menu will be in a separate post), and we owe a big thank you to the Watertown Fire Department!

--------------
I feel that humans are obsessed with starting anew. We celebrate the new school year, New Years Eve on December 31st, make New Years resolutions on January 1st, and now, for me, participate in my first "real" Jewish new year - Rosh Hashanah. Many people have their own rituals regarding starting fresh. For example, we celebrate most life-cycle events as a way to begin again. Jews visit the mikveh to mark the start of a new period in their lives. There is just a lot of talk in general about new years and fresh starts.

So, where did the human preoccupation with starting over come from?

On Rosh Hashanah morning, Becky gave her first High Holiday sermon at Brandeis. In it, she explained two things. First, she talked about the creation myth in Lurianic Kabbalah. She explained that it teaches that "in order to create the world God sent forth vessels of light. However, these vessels proved to be too fragile to contain God’s light, and they shattered, sending shards of divine light into the world. Humans were then created to pick up those shards of light."

Becky also explained that the midrash that states God created and destroyed several worlds before he created the one in which we inhabit was interpreted further by Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto. "The destroyed vessels from each world are reused when God creates the next world. Our world is a patchwork of new creation and reused materials – perhaps lessons learned in previous worlds or just spare iron."

So, God may have created many worlds before ours. And, after looking at his creations, He decided to start over and destroyed them before settling on our current world.

I guess I can blame God for our obsession with new years and fresh starts.

So … Happy new year, everyone, and l'Shana tova.

nine - a lesson on slope-intercept form

I had a really good class last week. It just clicked. It was our second meeting of the school year, and yet it was as if they had been my students for months.

At the end of each semester, I give my students an evaluation form on which they evaluate the course and me as their teacher. Two pieces of feedback that I received last year from my math students was that they wanted more group work and wanted me to better integrate word problems into the course on a day to day basis. So, I'm trying out ways of doing these two things this semester.

It was a simple lesson on slope-intercept form of linear equations. I didn't have high hopes for this class to be a stellar one. The material can be boring because it is review for every single student in the room as they have all taken Algebra 1 before. It's not ground-breaking and quite frankly, linear equations just aren't that interesting. I mean, who likes to be linear? :)

I began class by creating six groups of two or three students; they remained with these partners for the rest of the seventy-five minute class period. First, they went over the homework assignment with their group members. They compared answers and tried to account for and correct any discrepancies. As they did this, I circulated around the room, making certain that every student had fully completed the homework, and I engaged each student in a conversation about what they found easy and difficult. Once the groups had all finished, I answered a few general questions on the board that several students asked. Then, I started reviewing how to write equations in slope-intercept form from a variety of given information.

(For those of you reading who need a bit of a refresher, slope-intercept form looks like this: y = mx + b where m is the slope of the line, b is the point at which the graph intersects the y-axis, and (x,y) represents any coordinate point on the line.)

For each example problem that I put on the board, I had the students work with their partners to solve the problem and then I would call on a group to either come up to the SmartBoard to write their solution or to provide the solution verbally as I wrote the steps. I also included five word problems spaced throughout the lesson for the class to work on in their groups. I did not walk them through any example problems first. I just gave them the problem and let them figure it out together. If there was a problem on which the whole class was stuck after a few minutes, I would talk them through it step by step.

I got really lucky on this day. For one, the groups that I randomly created the night before worked together extremely well - so well, in fact, that I think I will have them keep these groups for at least the next one to two weeks before I switch them up again. I was able to pace the class such that I had about 10-15 minutes of extra material in case I needed it, but I still was able to cover each point that I intended to during my planning without using my extra material. I felt that the students were engaged with the material even though it was review, and I felt that each student left the class having learned something new - whether it was about how to work with a classmate, how to pull information out of a word problem, how to read function notation, or how to write an equation in slope-intercept form.

Although this may seem like a straightforward and very simple lesson, there are so many things that could have gone wrong. I could have run out of time and not been able to cover all the material I had planned. I could have not prepared enough material and then had extra time to fill at the end of the class. I could have given a homework assignment that was either too easy or too hard the previous class, thus resulting in students that complained about the homework or asked too many or too few questions about it. I could have put students into groups that failed completely - students who were introverted and preferred to work alone, students who were too chatty to focus on their work, students whose math level was too disparate so that one student completely dominated the discussion while the other sat passively. I could have written word problems that were too easy or too difficult, leaving the students bored or frustrated. I could have failed to teach them about slope-intercept form. I could have failed to teach them anything at all.

Yep, I got lucky. I hit on a class in which the kids and I were clicking, and I felt that we were all engaged with both the material and each other. Of course, after six years of teaching, I know that I shouldn't get used to this. Contentment and laurel resting are dangerous things. Plus, the unpredictability of teenagers leaves no room for such self-indulgences.

However, leaving school on Thursday with the feeling of "wow…that was a really good class" was a great way to start the new school year.

eight - sweet pea and rum don't mix

I love my car. Sweet Pea is a black 2007 Mazda 3 hatchback. She was the first brand new car that I ever bought, and I try to take care of her as best I can. I take her to the dealer for all her checkups and oil changes, and she gets washed on a regular basis.

Becky and I were headed to a friend's house for a Labor Day bbq on this evening. For my birthday party several weeks ago, we made a lemonade, rum, and mint punch that was a huge hit, and we promised to bring some to the bbq. We made 4 quarts of the punch in our extra large pitcher and climbed into Sweet Pea for the short ride to Newton. I was driving and Becky was holding the punch on the floor between her legs so it wouldn't spill. Less than a block from our house, a squirrel ran into the road, and I slammed on the breaks so I wouldn't hit it. The next thing I know, Becky is swearing and the floor of the passenger side of the car is filled - yes, filled - with a few inches of rum punch. I threw the car into reverse and backed up down the street to our house while the punch sloshed back and forth on the floor, sprigs of mint leaves floating on top. Becky bailed the car out as best she could, but the rest seeped into the carpeted floor of my car.

We used towels and paper towels to soak up as much of the rum punch as we could for now and left the car windows open for the night, but it is still pretty damp. That, and it smells like a bar. Becky is hopefully going to take the car to a car wash to use the wet-dry vac and get the carpet shampooed tomorrow. Hopefully, that will fix it.

Let's just hope she doesn't get pulled over for anything. The cop will definitely think she's been drinking once she rolls down the window!

seven - finding the extraordinary in the ordinary

My sister started blogging again last week. She has blogged in the past but hasn't for several months, and I've been nagging her to start again. She is back living in India, and her writing is always riveting and poignant.

Yesterday, she wrote in part, "I've been struggling to write recently. It used to be so easy, because this place was so new and, even after so many months spent in Mumbai, so different that most days and habits and simple situations were a revelation. Now, it is just another home and I can no longer see with open eyes … it is much harder to be reflective and see differently what has become routine, mundane."

I agree with her completely. I made the decision to start blogging to think more, be more reflective about my everyday life, and to write more. However, I have realized that it is not easy to see the extraordinary in the ordinary…or to make the ordinary into the extraordinary. Perhaps I should focus more on the simple and everyday and not feel like it needs to be remarkable or surprising or unusual in any particular way.

six - another great dinner

Another winner for dinner tonight!  This time, it was Becky's turn and she made another new recipe from Cooking Light.  We highly recommend trying it!

Curried Quinoa Salad with Cucumber-Mint Raita

 - Cooking Light

 Ingredients

    * 1 teaspoon olive oil

    * 2 teaspoons curry powder

    * 1 garlic clove, crushed

    * 1 cup uncooked quinoa

    * 2 cups water

    * 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

    * 1 diced peeled ripe mango

    * 1/2 cup finely diced celery

    * 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

    * 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

    * 3 tablespoons currants

    * 1/4 cup finely diced peeled English cucumber

    * 2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint

    * 1 (6-ounce) carton plain fat-free yogurt

    * 1 (5-ounce) package fresh baby spinach

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add curry and garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add quinoa and 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 16 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat; stir in salt. Cool completely.
2. Add mango, diced celery, thinly sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, and currants to cooled quinoa; toss gently.
3. Combine 1/4 cup cucumber, 2 teaspoons mint, and yogurt in a small bowl, and stir well.
4. Serve quinoa atop a bed of spinach and topped with raita.

five - summer's bounty

Mmmmm … I love the fresh vegetables of the summer.  Lately the corn and tomatoes have been amazing!

Last night, I made dinner for Becky and me.  I tried a new recipe from the recent issue of Cooking Light magazine, and it was delicious - corn fritters. 

I served the fritters with slow roasted tomatoes and a salad of baby arugula and shaved parmesan with a lemon juice and olive oil vinaigrette.

Corn Fritters

Ingredients

    * 2.25 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1/2 cup)

    * 1 teaspoon baking powder

    * 1/3 cup fat-free milk

    * 1 egg, beaten

    * 1.5 cups fresh corn kernels (~3 ears)

    * 1/3 cup finely chopped green onions

    * 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add milk and egg; stir until smooth. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, corn, green onions, and salt.
2. Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Drop batter by level tablespoonfuls into pan to make 6 fritters; cook 2 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges are golden. Carefully turn fritters over; cook 2 minutes or until golden. Repeat procedure with remaining 1/2 teaspoon oil and remaining batter.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

Ingredients

    * 4 ripe tomatoes, halved (about 1 pound)

    * 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided

    * 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Arrange tomato halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Drizzle tomatoes with 1 teaspoon oil; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bake at 375° for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and have lost a lot of their moisture.

four - first day of school

borrowed from here

Today was the first day of school. Aside from the fact that my classroom was sweltering in today's 96+ degree heat, it was a good day.

I love the first day of school. First, it always reminds me of that line that Tom Hanks says in You've Got Mail. "Don't you love … the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils..." Although the grammar of the title has always bothered me, I absolutely love that movie. I also love my yearly trips to Staples to buy school supplies. What is it about 3-ring binders, dividers, folders, fun colored grading pens, notebooks, and bouquets of sharpened pencils that is so exciting?

The best part of the first days of school, aside from the supplies, is the students. I love seeing them sitting in their seats, eager to learn - some of them I'm just meeting and some I've known previously. The highlight for me today came in one of the math classes. As he walked out of the room, one student said, "Have a good day, Amy. Thanks. Really good class." My job truly doesn't get much better than that.

Here's to another great year.

three - Isn't it romantic?

It's the beginning of the school year.  And, for the first time since I started teaching seven years ago, I've been reminiscing about what it's like to be a student.  In fact, I've realized that I'm a bit jealous of my own students and my various friends who are currently engaged in graduate studies of some sort. 

Do you remember what it's like to be student?  To be able to sit in a classroom and just learn?  Yes, I remember the studying, the late nights, the research papers, the exams.  But, there is something almost romantic about being a student.  As a student, you are free to just sit and think about new ideas being presented to you.  You can challenge the status quo, be wowed by an amazing teacher, and you are able to learn something for no other reason than that you actually want to learn what is being taught in that classroom.  You get to choose your own course of study and just soak it all in while walking around academic quads of green grass surrounded by ivy covered brick buildings.  See?  Doesn't that sound romantic?

My point is that this has made me contemplate the possibility of going back to school.  Sure, I've always dreamed about culinary school, but at this stage of my life, it just doesn't seem super practical.  So, I've put that idea aside, and I've started to research masters of education programs … probably a bit more useful in my current occupation.  I've decided to explore a few M.Ed. in School Leadership programs in the Boston area and also at UPenn and Columbia.  It's a bit daunting - not in the least because I will need to take the GREs again!  Evidently the ones I took in the fall of 2000 are outdated.  In addition, I'm looking at perhaps starting in the fall of 2012 and by then I'll be 33 years old.  The idea of going back to grad school at the age of 33 is a bit scary, too.  We'll see what happens.

So, if anyone has either gotten an M.Ed or has a friend who has, let me know.  I'd like to enter this endeavor, if I choose to follow through, with as much information as I can.  It's a big decision and a bigger financial investment!

Until then, I'll just keep dreaming of being a wide-eyed, impressionable, and eager student sitting on a campus green, discussing current trends in education with groups of intelligent fellow educators.  Doesn't that sound nice?

two - Grafton Street

Several weeks ago, Becky and I went to dinner at Grafton Street in Harvard Square with some friends.  I really like the restaurant.  It has a decent atmosphere, food that is reliably well prepared, and solid beer and wine lists.  The service is usually quite good, as well. 

Everyone knows that it can be a pain to park in Harvard Square, but Grafton Street has a deal with the church across the street so that patrons of the restaurant can park after hours in the church's lot for no charge.  I knew vaguely of this from Becky's sister who had done it once before, but as I pulled my black Mazda 3 into the church parking lot, the large towing signs made me nervous.  So, I decided to call Grafton Street to double check.  The hostess who answered the phone wasn't super helpful but confirmed that we could, in fact, park in the church lot and assured me that it would not be a problem.  We walked to the restaurant, were seated right away, and had a delicious meal. 

In case you're curious, I had the baked lobster macaroni and cheese without the lobster and Becky had the gorgonzola, prosciutto, and fig jam rustic pizza without the prosciutto.  (Ah, the trials and tribulations of keeping kosher!) 

After dinner we stopped at JP Licks (for some delicious kosher ice cream) and then headed to the car.  Lo and behold … My Mazda 3 was nowhere to be found!  I called Grafton Street from the parking lot and confirmed - again - that I could park there and then asked the hostess (a different woman from before) why my car was no longer in the lot if we could park there.  She then said, "Oh, well, you need to get a pass from the hostess station and put it on your dash."  Huh.  It would have been nice if the hostess from earlier in the evening had mentioned that to me!  I was livid.  I explained to the hostess that no one at the restaurant had informed me of this crucial fact when I called about this and asked to speak to the manager.  The manager got on the phone and told me that she would right this wrong and asked me to walk back to the restaurant.  Meanwhile, Becky called the tow truck company to confirm that they had Sweet Pea.

We walked back to Grafton Street, and I met with the manager.  She was incredibly apologetic and promised to take care of everything.  She handed me the cash for the tow charge and had one of the bar's "bouncers" (I'm using the term bouncer liberally here … I mean, it's Grafton Street) drive all four of us to the tow yard in her car to rescue Sweet Pea.  Considering it could have been a really crappy night, I was most impressed with the restaurant manager and I remain a loyal customer of her restaurant. 

If you haven't been and need a good bite to eat in Harvard Square, visit Grafton Street!

Update: Two days later, I drove into downtown Watertown to run some errands.  I had recently refilled my stash of quarters for parking meters and dug through my center console to find my coin purse.  I realized then that whoever towed my car that night in Harvard had stolen the little money I keep in the car - about four one dollar bills and all but two of my quarters!  Grrrrr!  Unfortunately, there wasn't too much I could do about it at that point, as it was about $7, that was all that was missing from the car, and I had no proof that it was in my car in the first place.  Good thing I keep my iPod in my purse!!!

one - introduction

Each summer, Concord Academy "assigns" its faculty and staff summer reading. This summer, we all read Better by Atul Gawande. Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and a staff writer for the New Yorker. Better is a collection of essays containing anecdotes and observations regarding various aspects of the practice of medicine, including the collection of data to insure specific or improved outcomes, the importance of habitual practices such as washing hands, and ethical dilemmas between doctors and patients or between doctors and society at large. Although Better is written from the perspective of a surgeon and the topics it deals with are rooted in the medical field, its core messages are applicable to anyone of any profession.

The last chapter talks about how to become what Gawande calls a positive deviant - five behaviors to help you be "better" at what you do. He suggests the following: ask an unscripted question; don't complain; count something; write something; and change. I have decided to act on these as best I can. And, so, I created this blog. I have decided to write something, and I hope you enjoy what I write.

As for the title … This blog will probably be a conglomeration of a variety of thoughts, observations, and stories of my everyday life: perhaps some anecdotes from my classrooms, some random stories of everyday occurrences in my life, and definitely some recipes and discussions of food. So, this blog doesn't have a specific theme other than the fact that it's about me and what I think. For those of you who know me, you probably are aware that I was a "rocket scientist" - at least that's what some people like to say. I'm not entirely sure that a masters of science in aerospace engineering automatically makes one a rocket scientist, but I think my friends and family like saying it. And, so a title was born.

I mean, really … it's not like this blog - or my life - is rocket science.