In the heat
my body becomes
a traveled terrain.
Streams swell from
hidden underground
waterways carving
the crease where
hip makes way
to ribcage.
The other bodies
orb around me,
pulsing with the
swampiness of
new life.
In the end I tuck
and roll my mat,
like seaweed over
sticky rice-
a sure sign
of civilization.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Central Park, June 2011
How to describe
the way the light filters
through overlapping
trees?
The leaves collage
and shadow each other
Exposing four unique
shades of green.
the way the light filters
through overlapping
trees?
The leaves collage
and shadow each other
Exposing four unique
shades of green.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Buffalo Dusk
Carl Sandburg
My class is studying Manifest Destiny and the Mexican-American War and the Trail of Tears and one of my students brought this poem in.
As always, I am moved by repetition.
The buffaloes are gone.
And those who saw the buffaloes are gone.
Those who saw the buffaloes by thousands and
how they pawed the prairie sod into dust
with their hoofs, their great heads down
pawing on in a great pageant of dusk,
Those who saw the buffaloes are gone.
And the buffaloes are gone.
My class is studying Manifest Destiny and the Mexican-American War and the Trail of Tears and one of my students brought this poem in.
As always, I am moved by repetition.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
24 Years: A Retrospective
As I sit to write this it is the evening of my 24th birthday. It is remarkable that another year has come and gone, and it has made me think of the gift my dear friend Anna gives us each new year; a written reflection of the year that's passed.
I passed my 23rd birthday finishing my first year of teaching and celebrating with my incredible fifth grade class about the stunning growth they made.Feeling great confidence in my ability to teach I accepted a position at my school teaching 7th grade Language Arts and Social Studies, knowing I would be teaching with my dear friend Kevin, who teaches math and science.
Straight from my first year of teaching I shot across the Atlantic Ocean to meet David in England. He had just finished his Masters degree in History at Cambridge, and was graduating in July. We went on a fast and food-filled tour through Munich, Prague, Berlin, Stockholm, Paris, and Amsterdam before joining David's dear parents in Cambridge for the graduation. After watching the ancient-seeming graduation (all in Latin!) we went on a driving tour through England, to Stratford-Upon-Avon to visit Shakespeare, Bath to spy on Jane Austen, and to Stonehenge. We even found David's ancestral homeland, Priddy and enjoyed drinks with locals. Then, David and I went to meet his friend in Scotland, before returning to my second homeland, Ireland.
It was amazing to leave "Ms. Aplet" in Chicago, to rejoin David after a year of a trans-Atlantic relationship which, though filled with postcards, was really quite lonely. It was also amazing to see so many new things with the man who has truly become my best friend.
Chicago has been a mixed blessing for me, and I returned with a heavy heart. I didn't yet know I would be entering an incredible challenging year. I figured that my first year of teaching was over, and everything would get better.
On my last night in Dublin, I received an e-mail that the Director of my school had been forcibly removed by the head of the Charter School Network. With his dismissal, the rest of the leadership team left the school. The team that had promised to support me though the challenges of 7th grade were now gone and I was left with a brand new team that didn't know me.
After a tear filled censorship battle, hours of struggling and battling to maintain autonomy in my classroom while maintaining professionalism, hours and hours of planning and working and grading combined with the hormones, drama and smells that come with 7th grade, I am proud to say that I have (almost) survived 7th grade, again.
Another challenge hit me in the beginning of December at a Hanukkah party when I fell and tore a ligament in my right knee. Without knowing the full extend of it, I had torn my ligament very slightly in high school during a hip hop class. I had been walking with this injury for the past five years unbeknown to me. Friends rushed me to the emergency room for a painful bracing of my leg until I could have surgery two weeks later.
Gratefully, my parents rushed to my side to support me through the surgery and stayed with me in a very cold and snowy Chicago December. After the surgery I was returned to near infancy and my dear parents were forced to perform tasks they hadn't been responsible for 20 years.
I took this bit of "down time" to apply to graduate school at the University of Michigan School of Information.
I returned to work January 2 after spending a hobbly week in San Luis Obispo with David's family. For the first several weeks I had to teach sitting down with my leg in a full cast elevated on another chair. Although seventh graders are no where perfect behaviorally, they were incredibly supportive and helpful, and we were able to quickly make up for lost time in December.o
After a month of physical therapy, we realized that I was not recovering as planned. Scar tissue had grown around my knee and locked it in, preventing me from bending my leg more than 20 degrees. I therefore had to return to the surgery table, and during the worst blizzard in Chicago in the last 20 years (19 inches of snow in just 24 hours) I underwent a second surgery to break up the tissue.
I had a wonderful physical therapy team, who worked with me three times a week on late evenings after school, and I have continued to progress, finally losing crutches at the end of April. I joked that I might be unique in my mission to earn a Masters Degree (in Teaching, awarded in May) and learn how to walk at the same time.
Whew, what a year.
Tonight I attended my first Yoga class since the surgery, a Bikram Yoga class with my dear friend Traci and for the first time since surgery I feel hopeful that I will make a full recovery. It is frustrating not to be back to 100 percent after so many hours and weeks and months, but at least I know I will get there.
My mantra during Yoga was aimed at unblocking all of the stagnation in my life. I have been feeling so stagnated with movement, with relationships, with emotions, with goals and I am ready to release all of these things to get some fresh air and excitement in. I am ready to embrace the future.
And what a future! This fall I will leave the classroom to become a student once again at the University of Michigan. I am joining the School of Information to study Library Science and Archival Management, and I am thrilled. I will be moving to Ann Arbor to join David, who is busy earning his JD at the Michigan School of Law. I look forward to new friendships, new movements, new books, new contacts with old dear friends, new recipes, new experiences, and time to enjoy it all!
This weekend, my dearest friends joined me for a delicious birthday dinner. Over a toast I compared my last two years to Dorothy's journey on the Yellow Brick Road. I am so grateful for all of the people who have joined me a long the way, and grateful for the person that I have come to Chicago.
I passed my 23rd birthday finishing my first year of teaching and celebrating with my incredible fifth grade class about the stunning growth they made.Feeling great confidence in my ability to teach I accepted a position at my school teaching 7th grade Language Arts and Social Studies, knowing I would be teaching with my dear friend Kevin, who teaches math and science.
Straight from my first year of teaching I shot across the Atlantic Ocean to meet David in England. He had just finished his Masters degree in History at Cambridge, and was graduating in July. We went on a fast and food-filled tour through Munich, Prague, Berlin, Stockholm, Paris, and Amsterdam before joining David's dear parents in Cambridge for the graduation. After watching the ancient-seeming graduation (all in Latin!) we went on a driving tour through England, to Stratford-Upon-Avon to visit Shakespeare, Bath to spy on Jane Austen, and to Stonehenge. We even found David's ancestral homeland, Priddy and enjoyed drinks with locals. Then, David and I went to meet his friend in Scotland, before returning to my second homeland, Ireland.
It was amazing to leave "Ms. Aplet" in Chicago, to rejoin David after a year of a trans-Atlantic relationship which, though filled with postcards, was really quite lonely. It was also amazing to see so many new things with the man who has truly become my best friend.
Chicago has been a mixed blessing for me, and I returned with a heavy heart. I didn't yet know I would be entering an incredible challenging year. I figured that my first year of teaching was over, and everything would get better.
On my last night in Dublin, I received an e-mail that the Director of my school had been forcibly removed by the head of the Charter School Network. With his dismissal, the rest of the leadership team left the school. The team that had promised to support me though the challenges of 7th grade were now gone and I was left with a brand new team that didn't know me.
After a tear filled censorship battle, hours of struggling and battling to maintain autonomy in my classroom while maintaining professionalism, hours and hours of planning and working and grading combined with the hormones, drama and smells that come with 7th grade, I am proud to say that I have (almost) survived 7th grade, again.
Another challenge hit me in the beginning of December at a Hanukkah party when I fell and tore a ligament in my right knee. Without knowing the full extend of it, I had torn my ligament very slightly in high school during a hip hop class. I had been walking with this injury for the past five years unbeknown to me. Friends rushed me to the emergency room for a painful bracing of my leg until I could have surgery two weeks later.
Gratefully, my parents rushed to my side to support me through the surgery and stayed with me in a very cold and snowy Chicago December. After the surgery I was returned to near infancy and my dear parents were forced to perform tasks they hadn't been responsible for 20 years.
I took this bit of "down time" to apply to graduate school at the University of Michigan School of Information.
I returned to work January 2 after spending a hobbly week in San Luis Obispo with David's family. For the first several weeks I had to teach sitting down with my leg in a full cast elevated on another chair. Although seventh graders are no where perfect behaviorally, they were incredibly supportive and helpful, and we were able to quickly make up for lost time in December.o
After a month of physical therapy, we realized that I was not recovering as planned. Scar tissue had grown around my knee and locked it in, preventing me from bending my leg more than 20 degrees. I therefore had to return to the surgery table, and during the worst blizzard in Chicago in the last 20 years (19 inches of snow in just 24 hours) I underwent a second surgery to break up the tissue.
I had a wonderful physical therapy team, who worked with me three times a week on late evenings after school, and I have continued to progress, finally losing crutches at the end of April. I joked that I might be unique in my mission to earn a Masters Degree (in Teaching, awarded in May) and learn how to walk at the same time.
Whew, what a year.
Tonight I attended my first Yoga class since the surgery, a Bikram Yoga class with my dear friend Traci and for the first time since surgery I feel hopeful that I will make a full recovery. It is frustrating not to be back to 100 percent after so many hours and weeks and months, but at least I know I will get there.
My mantra during Yoga was aimed at unblocking all of the stagnation in my life. I have been feeling so stagnated with movement, with relationships, with emotions, with goals and I am ready to release all of these things to get some fresh air and excitement in. I am ready to embrace the future.
And what a future! This fall I will leave the classroom to become a student once again at the University of Michigan. I am joining the School of Information to study Library Science and Archival Management, and I am thrilled. I will be moving to Ann Arbor to join David, who is busy earning his JD at the Michigan School of Law. I look forward to new friendships, new movements, new books, new contacts with old dear friends, new recipes, new experiences, and time to enjoy it all!
This weekend, my dearest friends joined me for a delicious birthday dinner. Over a toast I compared my last two years to Dorothy's journey on the Yellow Brick Road. I am so grateful for all of the people who have joined me a long the way, and grateful for the person that I have come to Chicago.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Student Work
One teacher post. One of my students wrote an Ode to me for our poetry unit.
Ode to Ms. Applet
You are my
teacher but I
see you as a
friend.
You are sweet as
an apple.
When you teach
I feel like no
other teacher can
teach like you do.
When you teach us
Poems,
You sound like
the Queen of them.
Ms. Applet you are
Nice,
caring,
sweet,
and especially a
Great
Teacher.
Except for the fact that I obviously haven't taught them how to spell my name, I am truly touched.
Ode to Ms. Applet
You are my
teacher but I
see you as a
friend.
You are sweet as
an apple.
When you teach
I feel like no
other teacher can
teach like you do.
When you teach us
Poems,
You sound like
the Queen of them.
Ms. Applet you are
Nice,
caring,
sweet,
and especially a
Great
Teacher.
Except for the fact that I obviously haven't taught them how to spell my name, I am truly touched.
The Last Three Months
It seems fitting that this blog entry sandwiches my first post in Chicago. Fitting because looking back on the last two years I quite literally had no time to think, to reflect, to write. When I got into teaching everyone told me that the most important thing to do during my first years of teaching is to write. And even though the most important and successful aspect of my teaching "career" (mini-career) was my ability to reflect on my effectiveness, I spent all of my reflection on teaching, and none on me.
So here I am with four weeks left staring in the face of a vastly neglected blog.
Another force propelling me towards memorializing is that I turn 24 tomorrow. This number is a little scary and unfamiliar to me. I don't quite identify with it yet, though I suppose I don't need to until tomorrow. The mid-twenties mark does seem an appropriate time to return to blogging. Maybe my mid-twenties with them will bring with them more wisdom and wit.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Chicago, Week 1
Greetings Comrades!
My summer Institute in Chicago is a jolting and often overwhelming experience. 18 hour work days, steaming heat (I've often sweat through my clothes by 7:30 am), high demands, and strained personal relationships have left me in a veritable pile of mush come Friday afternoon. I will refrain from touching too much on these subjects, as they only exhaust me further and talk about the good things that have happened this week.
*I have been slowly making connections and even friendships here. Though my life seems mostly disjointed and fractured, some shining faces are starting to poke through, helping me grasp and remember the things I like about myself. Other relationships are frustrating and overwhelming, but I am constantly forced to assess my own pitfalls and am being challenged to work on the areas of myself which quite honestly need some work.
*I got a sneak-preview of the students I will begin working with on Monday. They are bright, intelligent, and good-humored. I am excited to get to know them over the next four weeks.
*I managed to sneak in a gorgeous graphic novel read this week, which I highly recommend. It's
called Portraits of Israelis and Palestinians for my Parents by Seth Tobocman. It felt good to access a higher level thought and empathy and to remind myself of the damaged world which I am slowly taking into my hands as I grow up.
*I found a group of fellow Corps Members to practice Yoga with. This morning we practiced for an hour in the grass outside our dorms at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The combination of the wind and the rushing L-Line helped me remember to hold concentration through adversity.
*I am constantly impressed with David. Our relationship continues to revive and energize me. I am amazed at how even short conversations refresh me from the worst moods and motivate me to keep working.
*My parents have been such an amazing support system. Their constant love and support, as well as their ability to remind and center me on my purpose in these five weeks and beyond.
*I have received the most amazing mail from the west coast!!! Keep it coming! The letters and postcards have been giving me that extra energy to push through every day!
Love,
Naomi
My summer Institute in Chicago is a jolting and often overwhelming experience. 18 hour work days, steaming heat (I've often sweat through my clothes by 7:30 am), high demands, and strained personal relationships have left me in a veritable pile of mush come Friday afternoon. I will refrain from touching too much on these subjects, as they only exhaust me further and talk about the good things that have happened this week.
*I have been slowly making connections and even friendships here. Though my life seems mostly disjointed and fractured, some shining faces are starting to poke through, helping me grasp and remember the things I like about myself. Other relationships are frustrating and overwhelming, but I am constantly forced to assess my own pitfalls and am being challenged to work on the areas of myself which quite honestly need some work.
*I got a sneak-preview of the students I will begin working with on Monday. They are bright, intelligent, and good-humored. I am excited to get to know them over the next four weeks.
*I managed to sneak in a gorgeous graphic novel read this week, which I highly recommend. It's
called Portraits of Israelis and Palestinians for my Parents by Seth Tobocman. It felt good to access a higher level thought and empathy and to remind myself of the damaged world which I am slowly taking into my hands as I grow up.*I found a group of fellow Corps Members to practice Yoga with. This morning we practiced for an hour in the grass outside our dorms at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The combination of the wind and the rushing L-Line helped me remember to hold concentration through adversity.
*I am constantly impressed with David. Our relationship continues to revive and energize me. I am amazed at how even short conversations refresh me from the worst moods and motivate me to keep working.
*My parents have been such an amazing support system. Their constant love and support, as well as their ability to remind and center me on my purpose in these five weeks and beyond.
*I have received the most amazing mail from the west coast!!! Keep it coming! The letters and postcards have been giving me that extra energy to push through every day!
Love,
Naomi
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