It's How You Get There

I'm not a picture taker. It's nothing I've ever really been interested in and I often have friends give me grief about not taking pictures. Case in point, I've known my sister-in-law for almost five years. We have maybe three pictures of just the two of us together (maybe says a little about both of us). Korea is my opposite.  Everyone here is always taking a picture all the time and it's hard to miss. The shutter click of pictures being taken is heard everywhere you go, and couples are perpetually posing for selfies. Really none of this is my speed. But there is one thing I found I've can be persuaded to participate in.  Food pictures. I'll be honest, a lot of people take pictures of food because they love the food. My motives are nowhere near as pure. I take pictures to send to people on purpose. It's not spite, but it's a solid tease. Especially if they bailed last minute and didn't come to the party. My food was definitely better than their r...

Littles feel pain. Sometimes it's easy to forget that. They play so well, laugh hard, are good at acting like they can't hear thing. Sometimes it's easy to forget that. That they get dragged into big people problems that aren't their fault. That there are pains and struggles they have to pretend don't exist when they come to school. Their lives have to continue, and often at the beat of someone else's drum. Some of these emotions are shiny and new, terrifying in their size and intensity. Their very presence creating a overwhelming paralysis. Augmenting the terror.  Then they cry and are told they can't. They're told to use words they don't have. To express feelings they don't know exist. Is it a wonder then they turn to silence? That when they realize they can't be understood they pull away and stay within themselves? Because at least that's a constant. In this whirl of pain and confusion, at least they can trust themselves to not disappo...

For cleanness of body was ever esteemed to proceed from a due reverence to God, to society, and to ourselves.      Francis Bacon Saturday I cleaned, and I did it with a fury and passion that only comes to me when a) I'm being paid to do it or b) stress cleaning.  Cleaning isn't hard for me. Throughout college, every time I came home on breaks, and after graduation, I used housing cleaning to augment my income. It's actually what introduced me to my last boss who eventually hired me to come work in the office as a leasing agent. So while I'm not always the neatest person, I'm not afraid of some of the weird things can come up with a dirty house.  Stress cleaning though, I entirely attribute to a roommate from college who's sanity highly depended on the apartment being clean. She wasn't anal - the bathroom and back rooms could be in any condition we liked. But the living room and kitchen, where we lived and had visitors, had to be kept orderly. And about twice...

The basis of art is truth, both in matter and mode.                                              - Flannery O. We were at the end of our Social Studies unit and wrapping up our final week of talking about neighbors. Considering my Kindergarten class (Mars Class) is still pretty young, instilling the idea of "what is a neighbor" and "who are your neighbors" can be a little tricky. Much less asking them to give me defining characteristics about those neighbors that I can work with in our discussion.  Some of the questions got pretty specific, like "what kind of job does your neighbor have?" and "how many neighbors?". And let me tell you this now, unless this neighbor has a specific and strong connection with the family, my six yearold is not going to remember who they are. If only because they live in an apartment building that can house the entire population of my home ...

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” ― L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between 2020/7/26 Sometimes so much happens it's hard to know what to write about. A first week at work post? A first time at a karaoke room post? Or build on that and have a "first night on the town" post and include the samgyeupsal, the Irish Pub run by a Korean, and the broken umbrella all in one? Is it a post about the kids, how lovable and earnest they are. About teaching again after such a long break.  In the end often what gets written is what comes pouring from my fingers once I place them on the keyboard. And that is a mixed bag. It results in having 5 published posts, with 5 in progress...with only a few actually making it to becoming published drafts. It's convenient though, since it means I almost always have something in the works that I can have ready for my posting schedule. It also makes for out of order narratives, different storytelling styles, and sometimes inc...

“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”  -  Haim Ginott When I was younger I remember how excited I was when I would get that text notification from a friend. Before that it had been email, and I'd have to wait days between messages. When I first started texting I loved the faster responses, hearing from them within minutes. Gleaning every ounce from the 160 word count limits. This was a vast improvement it seemed to me from having to wait for the email or the chance to see them on Sunday at church. I loved my friends, and I loved...