I just want to bite John Steinbeck’s writing

It’s true.  I just finished Of Mice and Men, after hearing so many English teachers talk about it like it was old hat in the teacher’s lounge.  I cannot believe high school freshmen traditionally read this book… no one should read it until they are at least 21.  Not for explicit adult stuff, no, but not until you have lived on your own, got away from mom and dad, been in a place where you had no “fambly” like George Milton and Lennie, where you know that you come out winning when somone gives a “hoot” for you. That writing, when you can tell what time of day it is by the lines and squares and cracks of sunlight, when the stage was set after the first 3 chapters like that “rat trap” George points out, when everything is strung tight and you just sit back and watch it all happen… that writing was solid.

back to work

*taken from abeautifulrevolution.com

Winter fun

Our first Christmas tree.  We’re a little bit short on the lights, but Merry Christmas anyways!

This was epic.

But we finally found some dry rock!

Batty Mrs. Harris

Today marks a significant moment in my new career. I, being of sound mind and body, fell out of my chair during the last 2 minutes of an 11th grade class that I teach. I usually do not sit in my chair during class, but at this particular moment I was. And I found that my butt was on the floor, and my students were looking very confused.

A stick-figure picture depicting this incident showed up on my door later in the day

“If we held rocks in our hands instead of cameras…”

“we’d look like revolutionaries.” I don’t think anyone would ever put me in the hipster category, but this author challenged my own self-absorption and inability to create powerful art anyways. It’s a good, short read.

Hipsters=The death of Western civilization?

the race card

This article is totally worth checking out.

Do McCain’s ads contain racism?

Team America

Well, it was a really terrible movie, but the theme song came into my head at regular intervals while I was out of the US, like when I flashed my US passport at train stations or listened to an American professor spout off to the European students about the ideals of American democracy. I learned a lot about the differences between the US and the EU. Race vs. ethnicity (does either actually exist?), educational systems, energy-consumption rates, the appeal of hip-hop, the (non)tradition of church-going, ketchup vs. mayonnaise on fries…

There are things I like about my country, and things I would like to change. I think this picture best embodies the wide Atlantic separating the EU and the US:

If you stare at it really hard, you can see the ice just starting to melt…

julie andrews altitude sickness

My beau and I finished our time in Europe with a visit to the Juras and Mount Blanc (around 14,000 ft.) in the French Alps with two really cool people we know in Geneva. Needless to say, it was incredible, and now I have this intense craving for some ice picks…

Ruthie!

future alpinists?

Waterfiesten

Far more classier than urban kayaking…

In Brugge

A lot of churchy stuff went down in this place. The Beguins started here (if you’re into Middle Ages women’s lit), Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child is here, one cathedral claims that a vial of Jesus’ blood is here…

For me, though, Brugge will also mean a bunch of Europeans singing “Born in the U.S.A.” at the top of their lungs and heckling my friend for wearing a Turkey scarf after Portugal beat Turkey…. and Oma, with a single tooth sticking out of her mouth like a half-smoked cigarette.