Ready for Finals

I am so ready for this semester to be over. I don't know what it is, but aside from my Children's Literature class, this semester of class has been pretty boo! In my experience, every semester I have one class that I don't particularly care for. Usually that class just happens to be made of a mixture of students who don't participate much, are major slackers, don't write well, etc. But this semester, I had three classes like that, and that makes for a long semester. In turn, I have probably not been as good a teacher because their lack of desire to be there has rubbed off on me. For Modesto, I only have one more week of classes left! And for Folsom, I only have two more. I will be so happy to be out, and I hope for better classes in January.

On a different note, yesterday I was doing grocery shopping for our housewarming party at the Raleys in Folsom (they have a nice Raleys there). I was going in circles around the deli section because I was being indecisive about pite chips and salami. The guy behind the deli counter had already offered me help a couple times, and I finally took him up on the offer when I was at a loss for buying quality salami (to put with cheese and crackers). He offered to let me try several kinds, "but only because you were such a great English teacher." I was taken by surprise. It turns out that several semester ago he had been in one of my English classes. I felt bed because, while his face was vaguely familiar, I didn't remember him. But we talked for several minutes about my current semester and what he was planning to take next year. As a lot of college students work part time at grocery stores, I am surprised I haven't run into one of my students before. But it was nice to think I was a memorable teacher. I often have to temper wanting them to like me with being tough enough to get them to work. I hope I have more memorable classes (more so than this semester) in the future.

Twilight

Brook and I went and saw the movie "Twilight" last night. (side note: I don't understand why this blog site has bold and italics options but no underline) We had both read the book, and while I was not planning to see the movie the opening weekend, when Brook invited me, I accepted. However, leading up to the day, I wasn't really looking forward to it for multiple reasons. Quite honestly, although I have completed the first two books in the series, I don't think they are very good. I decided to read them because my Children's Literature students were shocked that I had not read "Twilight", so I decided to appease them by reading. They are romance novels aimed at the teen set. The vocabulary is basic, much of the diologue insipid and melo-dramatic, anf the heroine, Bella, is constantly moody and whiney, and I cannot, for the life of me, discover a redeeming quality in her that would make multiple guys fall for her. I have continued reading the series purely out of curiosity, but I spend much of that time reading being baffled at why "Twilight" has become of the phenomenon it has. Some people might not understand the "Harry Potter" phenomenon, but it can't be denied that the female character in "Harry Potter" are much stronger and interesting, and the writing of the books is pretty damn fantastic.

Okay, with all that said, I was also concerned about the movie because I knew it would be jam-packed with teeny-boppers - who tend to be very annoying at movies - and the critics' reviews were pretty bad. They said it was sappy, melo-dramatic, that the diologue was cheesy, the it dragged, etc. Pretty much all of my complaints about the book. So here is my take on the movie...

It was VERY entertaining. Never once, once it began, was I bored or wished I hadn't come. I totally enjoyed it, but here is the reason why: the audience, despite most of them being rabid "Twilight" fans, didn't take it seriously. The whole audience laughed at a lot of the sappy scenes and lengthy close-ups. But I don't think that is what the movie makers intended. I think they intended for it all the be taken very seriously, and as the critics probably did just that, they thought the movie was terrible. I can see where that could happen if you took it too seriously. But our audience laughed at the cheesiness and painfully drawn-out first kiss scene. This audience totally had fun with it, and as a result, I had a great time watching it.

Probably, if I hadn't gone to that opening night show, the audience reaction and, in turn, my reaction to the movie could have been vastly different. So, I must thank Brook for convincing me to go; plus, I had a great time just hanging out with her :o)

P.S. I don't know how the movie will be for someone who hasn'rt read the book. The movie won't be confusing at all - if anything, the story is not a deep, much-thought-required one - but you may not be able to enjoy those scenes and moments that come straight from the book and are depicted with such dedication to accuracy.

"Is Our Children Learning?"

The title of this blog is a direct quote from our illustrious leader, George W. Bush. It highlights a growing problem that I face everyday in my classroom, and I don't know why...ARE children getting dumber?

I know that is a harsh way to put it, but I encounter, everyday, students who graduated from Folsom High School and other high schools who can't pick out the noun in a sentence. They can't understand why I label "While I was outside." as a fragment sentence. One just wrote a paragraph, after we had read an excerpt from "The Diary of Anne Frank", about the black woman named Anne Frank who tried to ride the bus back in the days when all white people owned black people. Where is this coming from, and why is it happening?

While I forsee a future of students failed by the "No Child Left Behind" policies, the students I have now shouldn't yet be products of that terrible program. So what has happened? I would like to be able to, in this blog, pin-point the reason, but I don't know quite what it is. I know some people want to blame families in which both parents work, but that isn't fair. My parents both worked, but they made it a priority to help me with my homework. I do think that the lack of parent support for many kids is a major contributing factor, but there has to be more. The "No Child Left Behind" policy has established a trend of appealing to the lowest common denominator. If we set our standards low, then more kids will reach them. Therefore, lower standards lead to lower students. I think that is a big contributing factor.

But my biggest concern is the way America treats education - it just doesn't make it a priority the way Asian and European countries do. When I was in high school, many students were encouraged to do well in school only in order to maintain their status on a sports team. All through school, the students who were smart and answered questions in class were ostercized. I see that still amongst my college students. Even in politics, if a politician is intelligent, he/she is considered "elitest." Intelligence is considered pretentious and those with it are snobs or think they are better than everyone else. When did intelligence become a flaw to be avoided? As actor John Cleese recently said in an interview about choosing a country's leader, "I don't want someone I want to drink a beer with; I want someone I know is smarter than me." I couldn't agree more.

But what do you think? Do you think that with each passing generation, American children (and eventually American adults) are becoming dumber? Granted, I am making generalizations, but they are based on observations I, and my fellow college instructors, make everyday.

My Dream Job

Believe it or not, one day a week, I have my dream job. Very few people have their dream job, and as much as I enjoy teaching ingeneral, I wouldn't necessarily say it is my dream job - at least, not teaching composition. But one day a week, on Wednesdays to be exact, I actually get to work my dream job. That is the day of the week when I teach Children's Literature at Modesto Junior College. I have been teaching this class for two semesters now, and it was only today, as I was photocopying the study questions for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", that I realized that this is such an awesome gig. Today I am being paid about $60 an hour to talk about the book "Holes" and then watch the movie. Next week I will be payed the same amount to gush over my love of Harry Potter...it doesn't get much better than that.

Last semester I did this class diferently, so I don't think it was quite my dream job yet. I used a anthology called "Classics of Children's Literature." While the readings in it were interesting (a lot of fairy tales and folktales, "Peter Pan," :Alice in Wonderland," "Wind in the Willows," etc.), they weren't really the works that kids are reading the the modern classroom. They were, indeed, the "classics"; and while there is a place to appreciate the classics, I think it is more beneficial to my students to expose themselves to what kids are reading and enjoying now. That's why I scrapped the anthology and chose 7 chapter books instead. By the end of the semester, we will have read:

"Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell
"Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White
"Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis
"Esperanza Rising" by Pam Munoz Ryan
"Tiger Rising" by Kate DiCamillo
"Holes" by Louis Sachar
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling.

I also photocopied them some other readings, like some fairy tales and folktales and some Beatrix Potter stuff, but overall, these children's novels have been a delight to read and discuss in class, and my students have really enjoyed them. I mean, honestly, I am being paid to talk about "Harry Potter"! How frickin' cool is that! So now I can honestly say that I am working jmy dream job - discussing great books and sharing my passion for children's literature. I just wish I could teach this class everyday or, even, every semester. I'll have to survive without it next semester, but hopefully in the Fall of 2009...

On a side, related, note: if you have never read "Esperanza Rising", I encourage you to do so. It's about migrant workers from Mexico, working in California, around the 1930's. It's a great book for adults as well as children!

The Scott Thing

My heart is breaking. I have gone through such a gammot of emotions regarding the donation to Prop 8 that Scott Eckern, artistic director of California Musical Theatre, made and his subsequent resignation. On the one hand, I find it horrible that he could work for a musical theatre company, an organization that relies so heavily on gay performers, directors, patrons, etc., and yet he donates to a cause that will strip them of their rights. For that I say that sometimes descrimination comes with a price, and he is paying that price. For most people, their descrimination goes unpunished, but it caught up with Scott.

On the other hand, we claim this is a free country. Despite me thinking that voting or donating to Yes on 8 is sickening, a private citizen has the right to vote and donate the way they like. Granted, Scott should have taken a moment to realize that given his position and his company, such a donation would have its consequences when it came to light, but he should still have that freedom. Instead, he has been made an example of because people wanted a scapegoat.

But what really upsets me through all this is the damage it has done to California Musical Theatre. This is a precious company in my life. My love for musical theatre was born in Music Circus when my parents would take me summer after summer. I saw my first Broadway-quality shows put on by CMT at the Community Center Theatre - specifically, my Nana took me to "Chorus Line" as part of CMT's Broadway Series. I have worked for the company, off and on, for the past 8 years. I love CMT. I love the shows, I love the good CMT does in the community, and I love Richard Lewis (the executive producer), whose family created the company and maintains it to this day, 57 years later. It breaks my heart that people on both sides - those against Scott who called for boycotts only to now be apologizing for their hastey words, and those for Scott who have decided to make his resignation an act in vain - for making CMT an innocent victim. CMT didn't donate money, but it is CMT that is being attacked and punished. I think the people on both sides who are doing this are just as bad as those who voted Yes on Prop 8 in the first place. Shame on all of them.

And, while some may disagree with me, I am sorry that Scott had to resign. At first, quite honestly, I was happy because I felt like he was being punished for his descrimination. And still, I am not sorry he was punished for his descrimination - I think descrimination of any kind is unacceptable, regardless of whatever religion you want to support it with. I am sorry because CMT has lost a man who was extremely passionate about the company, he gave his all to make sure the shows were as wonderful as they could be. Again, CMT must suffer something in this whole process.

Of course I voted No on Prop 8, and of course I think that voting or donating to Yes was wrong, but I am heartbroken that it has come to all this. And if you think I am wrong, that's okay because you don't have the same feelings for this company that I do. But if you did, you might be heartbroken too.

Life as a Homeowner

Cliff and I are thoroughly enjoying owning our own home. It is so much nicer knowing that when I put that big ol' check in the mail every month, at least I am paying off something that belongs to me. I can paint how I want, add and subtract what I want, hell, I can even knock down a wall if the mood possessed me (the modd and the money). For so long I was throwing my money away on renting. I might as well have set it all on fire for the good it did for me. Sure, I had a roof over my head, but when I add up how much I spent on rent over the years, it saddens me to think I could have my house partially paid off right now, or I could have bought like 3 cars (new cars, at that). Granted, I totally recognize that during that time I was renting, I wasn't in a position, financially, to buy. But now I can feel better for my pathetic bank account - at least I have something to show for it.

We like our little house, but there have been a lot of little things that we have had to tackle one at a time. There is always something, and it never seems to be as easy as it should be. Whether it be a new light, a new oven, a bush to be removed, or a window sill to paint, eveything seems to come with a little additional problem. Nothing can just be fixed, quick and easy. I guess that is to be expected since we bought a 40 year old house, and I am not complaining about my house. I am just making the observation that being a hoimeowner is a lot of work. But at the end of the day, when you finally pull up the tarp and put the table back in the finished dining area, there are few things less satisfying (jn my opinion). In particular, I look at my kitchen, which was once easily considered the ugliest kitchen on the face of the planet, and I gaze at the pretty green walls and the clean white cabinets, and I feel really good about myself and what Cliff and I have ventured into. Now that we are planning for our Housewarming party on November 29th, we are trying to put finishing touches on rooms that we feel strongest about. I can't wait for that feeling of pride as we invite our friends and family throught the door to see our new home and our wonderful life together. Being a homeowner may be expensive and, occasionally, stressfull, but it is worth every moment.

Who wants to eat?

On Saturday, Cliff and I met with the caterer at the Sacramento Zoo. I can not say enough about how nice the event people at the Zoo are. As part of the rental fee, we have an event coordinator named Edie. It's like getting a wedding planner without paying an additional fee. She has made suggestions of DJ's, flowers, lighting, cakes, photographers, etc. for us. We haven't used everyone she suggested, but we have gone with some of her vendors. It's so helpful because while the internet is a treasure trove of information, there is just way too much out there to be able to easily know who to choose. It's so nice having someone who can advise us on elements that we are not knowledgable about. Edie has also let us come and see a wedding at the Zoo last month. She's great!

The other Zoo person I really like is the caterer, Fred. The Zoo does its own in-house catering, which took one less stress of finding a vendor from us. He's a really nice and easy-going guy. On Saturday, Cliff and I met him at the Zoo to go over the options for food for our wedding. We weren't tasting yet - we'll do that in February, sometime. On Saturday we were just discussing what sorts of things we like and what we would want to try. We are planning to have 4 appetizers, 2 entrees, 2 salads, and 1 side dish. Therefore, Fred is having us try 6 appetizers, 3 entrees, and 2 side dishes (we already know what salads we want) so we can make selections. I am excited to taste in February because it makes me think of shows like "Top Chef" when the chefs make tasting menus for the guest judges. Come February, Cliff will be just like Tom Colliccio and I will be, of course, just like Padma Lakshmi.

Three Times Happy, One Time Pissed

WARNING: Stong, emotional opinions ahead

This will be my last political blog for a while, but I felt I couldn't rest until I had my final say.

As of Wednesday morning, I was three times happy and one time pissed. Let's start with my three times happy, shall we? I was not surprised, but nevertheless excited, that Barack Obama won the presidency. I was at a results party in Downtown Sacramento at the home of one of Cliff's co-workers. There were about 12 of us there, and as his office has been calling people to support Barack Obama, we were all very passionate about our candidate. It was also fun to be around people who know a lot more about politics than me - it was interesting and educational. We yelled at the TV, we cheered, we talked shit about Sarah Palin, but we were pleased to hear McCain's excellent concession speech. Where was that McCain during the whole campaign? That was old McCain - the McCain that even democrats used to like, the McCain that Jon Stewart had on his show, like, 20 times. It was the McCain that should have been campaigning against Barack Obama, but instead, during the last year or two, it was an ugly McCain, a mud-slinging, uber-negative, Bush-loving McCain. Think if the concession speech McCain had run against Barack Obama...now, that would have been an exciting contest to watch. Instead, Obama blew the nasty McCain out of the water. See ya!

My happy number two was about Proposition 2. It passed! Yes! Granted, it doesn't go into effect until 2015, which is kinda bogus, but at least it will go into effect. I don't understand why cruelty to animals is necessary to pay a few less pennies at the grocery store. I have seen enough programs (Oprah, Morgan Spurlack's "30 Days"), and read enough books ("Skinny Bitch") to know and understand the horrors that go on at factory farms. As much as I think it is important for those who voted "No" on Proposition 2 to know what they were, essentailly, voting in favor of, I cannot bring myself to relate that information. It brings tears to my eyes just to think about it. Am I happy that I will eventually pay a little more at the grocery store? When I consider the alternative, you bet I am. I think the owners of factory farms should be shot, but at least, now, I hope they will be out of business, though I would love to see them suffer what they put their animals through.

Happy number three: Proposition 4 failed! Another, Yes! I don't really care what people feel about abortion, but the parental notification law would have been very dangerous. In an ideal world, girls would feel comfortable and safe enough to go to their parents about an unplanned pregnancy and their plans for abortion. But unless you are delusional, you may have noticed that we do not live in an ideal world. What about the girl whose parents will beat the shit out of her for getting pregnant? What about the girl who got pregnant because her dad, brother, or uncle raped her? Would parental notification be beneficial for them? No way! Plus, it's not like that law would keep girls from getting abortions, it would just keep them from going to safe, professional medical facilities to do it. We'd be back to the back alley abortions of the 1950's and 60's, where the mothers often died along with their unwanted fetuses. Of course, I know there are people out there who would say that the death of the mother would be deserved for them getting an abortion, but those are also, probably, the same people who voted Yes on Proposition 8.

That brings me to my issue of being completely and utterly disappointed in California and pissed at the bigots of this state. I am now talking, again, about Proposition 8. The bigots won. The people who relish discrimination and prejudice won. The people who are so filled with hate that they think than can derive power from making a minority group suffer won. It disgusts me. I thought California was better than that, that our one-glorious state would not allow hate-mongering bigots to make discrimination a law. However, there are two lights at the end of this tunnel. One is that the California Supreme Court previously ruled that marriage was a fundamental right. Therefore, to refuse a fundamental right to a minority group, a simple amendment can't be added to the Constitution. An actual revision of the Constitution must be made, which requires a majority vote from the California House of Respresentative and eventually the Governor. Fortunately, most California politicians, especially Arnold, were (and are) very against the passing of Proposition 8, so they may be able to overturn the decision since it is unconstitutional. The second point, though much farther off, is that just like the end of segregation and votes for women, this too will eventually happen. It is just a shame that the people of the state have failed to learn anything from history, and instead of doing what is right, they will simply force us to relive our ugly prejudices from the past before the right thing can be done. I imagine that if the people who voted Yes on 8 were alive in the 1950's and 60's, they would have been thrilled with segregation and would have told Rosa Parks to get her ass to the back of the bus. Though, the ironice truth is that the majority of people who voted Yes on 8 were African Americans. Perhaps they forget they once were not allowed to marry in this country. Though, that would require a knowledge of history and an ounce of compassion, which the Yes voters of 8 lack entirely.

So there are my three happy's and one pissed. Now I can go back to watching a variety of TV shows in the evenings instead of the channel being fixed to MSNBC. Though, I can't totally give up Keith Olbermann...that guy's a hoot!

Santa Paws

No, I didn't spell it wrong. Every year the SPCA holds their Santa Paws event when people can bring their animals to sit with Santa and have their picture taken. We are taking Shaggy today and Cliff and I will be in the photo as well. Depending on how much it all costs, we are hoping to include these photos with this year's Christmas card.

Last night I went to a scrapbooking night with friends of my friend (and boss) Eleanor. All the women are in theor late 30's or early 40's, so I am the youngen in the group. In fact, they all laughed at me when I proudly announced that I was not born in the 80's (as if), but had squeaked by in 1978. Anywho, these women spend a lot of time talking about their kids, of which I have none, but I do have my Shaggy dog and Pumpkin cat. When they would mention something "cute" that their son or daughter had done, I found my brain seeking out stories of Shaggy's recent escapades and Pumpkin's elegant adorableness. Alas, I don't think they want to hear stories of my pets. I can understand that - some people think kids are superior to pets, or that (and I can't fathom why) babies are preferrable to puppies. But I got to thinking about how my love for my dog and my urge to tell people stories about him will probably, someday, evolve into telling stories about my kids (little Dylan Thomas and little Priya Claudine - our proposed names). I suppose that is just the way of life.

But for now, I think Shaggy will be the cutest doggy on Santa's lap today and I hope he enjoys the family outing.