Our Nation's Capital

Patrick's spring break was last week, so I took off two days from school and we flew to Washington for a long weekend. We had a great time staying with friends Steve and Sanne, and we enjoyed all of the free museums, too.

Our first stop was the National Gallery of Art. We spent all day there. The permanent collection showcases lots of French Impressionists, Italians, Dutch, Rodin, that sort of thing. Special exhibitions that we saw included Audubon birds and Dada. When we finally got museumed out, we walked to the Library of Congress to look at the books. (Guess whose idea that was!) Then it was Metro back to meet up with Steve and Sanne for Ethiopian dinner in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.

The next day, we hit up the Botanic Gardens and gawked at their orchids for a while. The Museum of the American Indian (in the background in my photo) was looking crowded, so we walked on to the Hirshhorn and discovered Hiroshi Sugimoto, a very interesting photographer. We then spent an hour at the Sackler Gallery, which featured a gorgeous exhibit of Hokusai's prints and paintings. By then, our feet were getting tired, so we went to the natural history place and caught an IMAX movie about deep sea animals. In the documentary, teams of marine biologists and astrobiologists went hundreds of meters down, exploring what types of life might exist in the environments on other planets, which are sterile compared to a terrestrial rainforest but may be similar to the cold, dark waters deep in our oceans.

Besides walking around the monuments (White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, all more attractive at night), the other big tourist thing we did was go to the zoo. We saw the pandas, including the baby (who was trying to sleep and played an adorable game of peek-a-boo, covering and uncovering its eyes with its paw in an attempt to get comfortable). We saw the young elephant, too, and a video of its birth (probably one of the most dramatic moments ever captured on film: 325 pounds dropping in a wet mess from a distressed and flailing mother elephant). But the best part was probably the Bird House, where we walked through a room full of flapping, singing, uncaged birds. There was a similar set up in an outdoor enclosure, where I couldn't stop photographing the ducks. They were so beautiful. Whoever is in charge of duck design deserves a raise. On this blog, I'm only showing two of the half-dozen or so exquisite species that we saw. Their lines are so lovely; their colors are perfectly coordinated; they dabble and dive so sweetly.

Take me to your leader

In Humanities, the 7th graders are starting a unit on China. In this unit, they will learn that Chinese women had bound feet. I know because the 8th graders told me about it at the beginning of the year. They wanted to know if that ever happened to anyone in my family.

This year's 7th graders began yesterday by making a big chart on the board, listing things they already knew and things they wanted to learn. (This strategy is called KWL, and they will come back at the end of the unit and list what they have learned.) On the "already know" list:
1) Different decorations
2) They trade with the U.S.
3) Great Wall of China
4) China wanted boys instead of girls
5) Major cities have a Chinatown
6) Do carate
7) Eat very different food
8) Worship Buda
9) Known for wearing robes
10) Different calendar
11) Tounge cut off if you lie.

Good job, kids.

Want to know:
1) How long was the Wall of China around?
2) What gods do they worship?
3) Do they have a town for U.S.?
4) Why do Chinese people love cats?
5) Do they have responsibilities?
6) How do you make fortune cookies?
7) What's the aconamy?
8) Who is their king?
9) Was China made befor Asia?

I'm not sure what some of those questions mean.

Their other big idea is that since I got my hair cut, I look like Mulan. You be the judge.

We just planned Spirit Week (and I got the fun job of being faculty chair of the Spirit Committee. No, I'm not joking, it really is fun). Proposals for themes for each day included Jersey Day (but they tried that last year, and not enough people owned jerseys so it sucked), Pink and Purple Day (but not everyone likes pink and purple--thankfully), Backwards Day (rejected because "What if we have to go to the bathroom??"), Bum/Hobo Day (they had some other word, I forget what it was, but anyway I said no), and Favorite Rap Star Day (Brie came through, reminding everyone that they might "wear really big jeans and they might fall down and show our panties" or, alternatively, they might dress like a female pop star, which would be inappropriately hoochie for school, though I don't think she actually said hoochie). We ended up choosing Twin Day, International Day, Cartoon Character Day, and School Colors/Rally Day. I hope it turns out good ...

Problems

School is rolling along. I've really been appreciating the Middle School team lately. Shannell, who has been away for a long month on doctor's orders (the same vascular issue that Olympic skater Irina Slutskaya had), is finally back, and we've been having some good conversations. I'm learning more all the time about the school's functions and disfunctions, and how people on different levels are attempting to address both. I'm optimistic about the process.

Matthew from Mississippi had decided to go back, but now he's changed his mind. After getting laid off at the bank, he got another job at a public library closer to where he's living. He'll be making $9.50/hour, 6 hours/day, 5 days/week, and his rent is just $80/week, so he should be fine as long as he has this job. (I congratulated him and said, "So maybe you can start paying us back then, bit by bit?" He seemed happy to agree. We'll see what actually happens; I won't hold it against him if he doesn't.) He really doesn't want to go back to the South, he says; his people aren't there anymore, and it feels like a land full of strangers. Plus, he wants to pursue his GED, something he doesn't know how he would do back in Biloxi (again, the limitations of illiteracy).

He came over looking for some food to tide him over to his next paycheck. Patrick talked to him a bit, trying to clarify what happened after the hurricane, and expressing his frustration that there was no end to these donations of food and money in sight. Matthew was very understanding and told Patrick he was a good friend, and that he wouldn't be calling on us anymore except to say, "I'm still alive." Patrick also acknowledged that it must not be "fun" to have to call on us the way he has been. Then Patrick offered to take Matthew to the grocery store, since we don't have his kind of food in the house. At that, some red flags went up in my mind, and I put my foot down. I said something about how it wasn't an issue of generosity or some kind of personal thing, just of our needs at this point, and we could give from what we had at home at that was that. Patrick is working on his seminar paper right now, I'm working on my grades (due at midnight), we've already been to the grocery store today, and I just don't see accommodating someone every time they ask for something as a good way to show that you don't want them to ask you for stuff anymore. So I packed up some cans of corn, mac and cheese, cereal, fruit, kidney beans, and snack bars and sent Matthew on his way.

Patrick tells me that I was mean, but not to an unjustifiable degree. For my part, I feel like someone has to play the bad cop, and it's easier for me than for Patrick; also, my thinking has evolved to a point where I don't equate mean with cruel, and I think that sometimes a little bit of meanness, or hardass-ness might be a better term, goes a long way. Perhaps I'm also just fed up with being taken advantage of. Not always in deliberately manipulative ways, and not just by Matthew. But it seems like too many people think they can take a mile if you say you'll give an inch, and on some things, I'm not willing to give an inch anymore. Or I want to be really clear that an inch is an inch. I hope that makes sense. Thank you, Chicago Public Schools.

If that doesn't give you food for thought, chew on this: the most common misspelling of the word "problem" amongst my students is "promble." A handful of girls, in different grades and different sections, consistently spell it this way. I have no idea why.