Day of Silence = quieter classes

Several students are either walking around with the following message taped to their chest or have handed it to me at the beginning of class. Apparently 4/26 is the Day of Silence:

"Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harrassment, prejudice and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is the first step towards fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO END THE SILENCE?"

Ummmmmm, nothing, it's been a bit quieter in my classes today.....tasteless, I know. Do I think that GLBT people should be harrassed, nope. Do I think this day of silence is wrong, nope, I'm indifferent really. I may be Republican but as far as all this goes, I really don't care who loves who...just be happy. I get a little sketchy when it comes the marriage and the perks that come with it and have a few concens about adoption, but I'm not nuts about it.

BRETT IS BACK

BRETT FAVRE WILL BE BACK....SUPERBOWL XLI 2007 HERE WE COME

Things that are annoying me

#1 PARENTS!!!!! Not mine, my student's parents...specifically ones that with 3 weeks left are emailing me "my child's grade isn't good. what can they do? can they make up work they didn't do before. is there any extra credit they can do? why is my child failing? Seriously, it would be a good idea to track your child's progress before the last minute. And I'm sorry but if your child has missed school 28 times, excused or unexcused, they aren't going to be getting an A!!!!! I'm getting a crapload of emails and phone calls and they make me want to kill puppies.

#2 MY STUDENT'S SLUTTY CLOTHING!!!! Seriously, can these jean skirts get any shorter? It's up to the butt pockets. Teachers get arrested for seeing teenagers private parts.....I feel like I have to close my eyes while walking up the stairs! Oh and apparently the 80's are back. There are tons of girls wearing "leggings" with lace on the bottom, with plastic earrings and shirts hanging off the shoulder Flashdance style. I even saw one girl with a "T-shirt clip!" Seriously kids, it was an awful trend the first time, please keep it dead. Too bad I tossed my Hypercolor shirt, I would have fit right in!!!

#3 IEP's (aka Individualized Education Program)!!! This is for special ed kids. It's a list of limitations and accomdations to help facilitate their learning. Every other kid has an IEP and it's getting ridiculous. Try studying some of you. Sure there are kids that have learning disabilities, are emotionally disturbed or have a behavioral disorder but it's getting out of hand. For one kid, who just isn't a good test taker, I have to take my test, chop off 1 of the 4 multiple choice answers for each question, then take the staple out and give him page by page so it's less intimidating looking. He has to come up to my desk, drop one sheet off and pick up the next one. COME ON.

#4 LOST!!! That show is just annoying the hell out of me. There is no logical way to explain everything that has happened. I think I might stop watching.

#5 AUDREY RAINES!!! The coolest thing I have seen all season on 24 was when Christopher Henderson sliced Audrey's brachial artery to get Jack Bauer to give him the evidence. Too bad Jack has such a big heart and couldn't let her bleed out and now the evidence is gone.

#6 IMMIGRANTS THAT PROTEST IMMIGRATION LAWS!!! YOU CAME HERE ILLEGALLY, THATS RIGHT, ILLEGALLY. How can you bitch and complain about how you are getting the shaft when you shouldn't be here in the first place? You are sucking off the American teet, flooding my school and paying JACK. And how hypocritical is it that Mexico has such strong penalties for illegals trying to come into THEIR country??? I know our country rules and who wouldn't want to live in America but come here the right way or stay the hell out, that's all I ask. Put the military on the border with a shoot-to-kill order (or my brother and dad) and illegal immigration will stop real fast. Is that a PC response, heck no, will it work, heck yes.

#7 DEMOCRATS.....enough said. Thank the dear lord I'm dating a Republican who's entire family is Republican as well.

I'm not sure why I'm in a crabby mood today but at least I get to eat lunch with my boyfriend in the faculty cafeteria next period so that should help :)

The Ridges

In health class today we were talking about mental institutions, lobotomys and I started telling my students about "The Ridges" at my alma mater, Ohio University. It was a mental health center to treat patients with severe psychiatric disorders until it finally closed in 1993 and currently is being used by the University.

Click here and you will be able to read all about it...it's fascinating, trust me.

In 2000, when I was a Senior, the school set up a haunted tour. It was a full moon on Friday the 13th....just too good to pass up, you know? We went there and there were thousands of people there so they cancelled it. Did that stop us? NOPE. We went to one of the only abandoned buildings....."The Tuberculosis Ward". If you click on that link it shows the exact places we saw too! I still get goosebumps when thinking about how a few of us bunched up together with one flashlight and creeped around it. In the children's TB ward part there were these tiny rooms with tiny doors with shackles on the walls...terrifying. The stickers on the windows you'll see in the pics had the eyes either ripped out or colored in black. The piano had all the black keys removed. One of the classrooms had a chalkboard with nailmarks sliding all the way down it!

If you have some spare time, just surf about that whole site, whoever that was did a great job with it. There is a true story, found here, about a patient who died and her body rotted into the floor. Now my students are all creeped out and want to go to Ohio University!!!

ick

I have been M.I.A for the past few days b/c I was stricken with strep throat and a fever.....not fun. Apparently it's going around so take your vitamins everyone!

Deep in the heart of Texas

Well, back to the daily grind here at school. I had a great spring break and am ready for the school year to be over! A fellow teacher and I went to Ft. Worth, TX to visit my sister Ranting Republican for a few days.

We drank a decent amount (did you know you can get a public intox ticket IN a bar in Texas?)...not that any of us did, but our sobriety was questioned. We went to Austin for a night and went to the Dizzy Rooster....the bar the Real World Austin cast frequently visited. 6th street is a blast, full of great rooftop bars, music, restaurants and they even close the street off to cars to give it that Mardi Gras feel. No, you cannot drink in the street as far as I know.

(Pictures from left to right: Austin sign at Dizzy Rooster, "Coyotes" at Coyote Ugly, and my hand in Johnny Cash's handprint at Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth.)

We also went to see Willie Nelson at Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth...well, only saw a couple songs b/c we wanted to bar hop. I did two step with a guy but he creeped me out. I spent a lot of time text messaging and calling my new boyfriend.....and yes, I was that girl for a bit of the trip!

The trip home was a real biatch. We were first delayed 2 hours at DFW airport b/c of bad inclimate weather at O'Hare, then once we did get up they closed O'Hare so we had to circle Omaha, Nebraska for a while....but couldn't land there to refuel for a while b/c there were storms at that airport as well. We finally landed and sat in a hot un-airconditioned plane for a while until a gate opened up and they let us off for a while. I breached security to get some food for us and then, luckily, our plane took off and we got home over 8 hours late! To top it off I had some jackass in front of me who had the seat reclined before we even left the runway. When a flight attendant walked by he put it up until she passed....to make matters worse, my seat was broken and I couldn't recline at all!! I even stated that fact loudly so he would hear but apparently he didn't care. Whatever, I'm just happy we got home in one piece!

My friend said she was at a Chicago country bar we all go to with him and some other people on Thursday night. He told me he was at another bar so I was confused. I called him and he said she ruined the surprise for me. He went to take lessons that night so he could suprise me and dance the two step and other couple dances so we didn't suck out there. How cute is that? I'm such a smitten kitten!

Well today is our one month anniversary! Feels like MUCH longer and I think that's the case because we see each other every day. My last boyfriend lived 35 miles away from me and with my crazy work shedule, it made it difficult to see him more than once a week. This guy works with me, lives with my best guy friends, and its only 10 miles away. I can tell this is a good, healthy relationship b/c we do cute little things for each other. I know that he likes tomato juice, so I keep that in my house and I Tivo shows he might enjoy like "Flip That House", "Kitchen Renovation" and anything soccer-related. Since he's a St. Louis Cardinals fan I don't allow him to use my Cubs blanket, so I'm making him either a soccer one (played college soccer and coaches at our high school) or a Bears one (and I'm a Packer fan!). He knows how much I hate the bright light in my bathroom so he brought over a dimmer switch and put it in. He took out my garbage yesterday, burned me a country cd full of great songs and we leave notes for each other in random places. Today I arranged it so I will be the one providing medical coverage for his game today so I can watch him coach :) I know, Ranting Republican is probably puking right now b/c she doesn't like all this kind of stuff!

He asked me to go to his grandpa's birthday party on Sunday to meet his parents and entire extended family! It's a good thing I'm so damn charming and parents love me otherwise I'd be totally freaked out...but instead I'm totally excited!!! I have to figure out what to wear that says "I'm cute and trendy but nice and Catholic" b/c I am being looked at as "possible daughter-in-law" material, as any family would do when a significant other is brought into a family occasion. So far I've gotten the okay from his 2 sisters and their husbands so I'm doing alright so far!

Now if only I can get rid of these swollen tonsils of mine, I'd be good to go!