It's a stroganoff party and EVERYONE'S invited!

It's a stroganoff party and EVERYONE'S invited!
STROGANOFF!
We're
all
gonna
eat
beef STROGANOFF!

riddle me this

What's up with all the gnats in Urbana? I need windshield wipers on my glasses.

oh yes

Lucky for me, students at my school go down to the auditorium to take their yearbook photos during their English classes once a year. Today was that day, and oh man is it awesome to watch people take their yearbook photos. Big, toothy, ridiculous grins. Weird, toothless, stretched-lip smiles that pose as real smiles but are just weird facial expressions. Kids who "don't smile for pictures." All of this stuff is great. And that's before you even consider the photographer's directions to "turn your head just a little that way," or "shoulders back."

You might be thinking that this doesn't sound funny, and if so, you might also be forgetting how cool the average fifteen-year-old is trying to look most of the time. And you might be the kind of person who, admirably, doesn't take just a little bit of pleasure in watching awkward but harmless self-consciousness.

I assure you; it's funny.

I even had one student who intentionally tried all these "model" poses (eg. fist under the chin, arms crossed and looking over one shoulder, lips pursed into a kissy face, etc.) while the increasingly frustrated photographer humorlessly repeated, "You can't do that... can't do that either... can't do that either..."


Every time I watch this, I laugh out loud at Bill's face at the end.

Can I just say

that I am so so so so so so so so so glad that I became a teacher. Really, it's so fun.

"I wish I knew."

Why is public transportation so intriguing?

Jealous. So jealous.

one of my favorite scenes ever

In a TV show, a movie, a book, in life, wherever, like, seriously, ever.

more socialist cult-recruiting dangerous people and penguins... WOOT!

Even Nascar is drinking the cyanide-laced red Kool-Aid!


---

Four posts in one day. Yeah.

just a guess

Starting sometime this past summer, I started noticing "ROTC DISCRIMINATES AGAINST GAY STUDENTS" chalked around the quad intermittently. And today I saw this:


Looks like someone blotted out the G, Y, and S so that it looks like it says "ROTC DISCRIMINATES AGAINST A STUDENT."

I really am not familiar with what's going on behind all this, but if I had to guess, I'd say that The Second Chalker (or rather, The Blotter), is trying to tell the story that one gay person was denied admission to the ROTC program and is now being a whiner about it. Again, just a guess, based on what I've seen and heard with somewhat similar stuff.

How wack. To assert that members of the LGBT community are not discriminated against in military (and many other) contexts -- yeah right. When Cornel West was here he said something about how scoffing at political correctness only trivializes the sufferings of other people. I'd say same goes for denying the existence of systemic inequity.

Let's be real: Senator Russell is a hater.

Now, the way I understand Obama's upcoming speech to American students is that it will be a talk "on the importance of [students] taking responsibility for their education, challenging them to set goals and do everything they can to succeed," as is indicated on whitehouse.gov.

And I don't claim to be unbiased. On the contrary, I'm crazy about President Obama. I'm pretty sure I've made that clear.

That said, I think I'm being fair and rational when I say that Oklahoma's Senator Steve Russell's incendiary comments about the speech as an attempt at the Obamian indoctrination of American school children are irresponsibly hyperbolic. I don't mean that I don't I hear what he's saying; I see how a speech to children during school hours could be interpreted in that way. I really do.

But it's spoken like someone who has no idea how education works. Students' brains are not empty vessels into which grown-ups ideas are poured. In my experience, for many students, and especially students of color, Obama's political success is inspiring. Many of my students even think he is cool, if their wearing of his face on their t-shirts and shoes is any indication of such a thing. Many, but not all. And for those who don't consider him an inspiring leader or a cool guy, I'd bet that his speech Tuesday morning will give them an opportunity to practice their critical analysis skills. Afterwards, they can practice argumentation with their Obama-worshiping peers. And if that happens, that's when the learning -- for both the "believers" and "non-believers" -- will take place, not while they're listening to Obama's lecture. They've heard that "School is Cool" thing a million times. Sure, they might find it interesting to be spoken to and not about by our nation's leader, but I assure you: students are not passive receivers of knowledge. It just doesn't work that way.

Russell complained that the planned speech, "gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality." Okay, so he gets some face-time on the TV sets in the classroom as he tries to send positive and encouraging messages to our kids. Again, I really do see what he's getting at. But, again. Come on now. Obama as a concept has been a major force in pop culture for a while now. For various reasons, he has been an impressive draw for young people. Part of it, for sure is the way he's been marketed. Absolutely, he's trendy; I've already admitted my kids think he's cool. But it's fairly insulting to my own intelligence as well as insulting my students' intelligence to suggest that all of us youngens have been hoodwinked by him and his people. Y'know, it's possible that we might genuinely agree that all people who are sick deserve to be able to go to the doctor and receive quality treatment.

And finally, his claim that the speech is "is akin to something you would see in North Korea or under Saddam Hussein's Iraq" is just plain-old outrageously off. He going to speak about the importance reducing the drop-out rate. Last time I checked, we didn't invade Iraq because too many students were staying in school.

making it up to Kasey

Here are five reasons why if Kasey had been here last Sunday, my morning would have been more awesome:


1. We could have had some good jokes about my White Liberal purchases from the Farmer's Market that I was eating for brunch.
2. We could have orchestrated a grand pie-ing of Jessica in the face even though the spur of the moment quick squirt with whipped cream was funny.
3. We could have read books.
4. We could have walked to the mall which we haven't done in a long time and should do soon before it gets too cold.
5. We could have found a really good Board-Shorts-Tacos recipe for Sunday night dinner instead of the boring recipe that I used.

mmhm

"Maaaan, we doin too much in here."

I like the sounds of that. I think we're doing just enough.