Dissatisfied Customer

I just wrote three decent paragraphs and lost them to the profoundly flawed wifi access that this cheap hotel provides. To be sure, I had a much more generous perspective on the place before their idiotic Internet access caused me to lose my writing. Now? I calls them like I sees them:

Run down, tacky, two-bit, tourist trap.

Yeah! Take that hotel!

Hi There Summer of 2011

657 miles
Torrential rain through South Carolina
Blood, Bones, & Butter
Oceanfront motel on Jekyll Island
Fried Shrimp for dinner
Next stop, Orlando

It's on!

World Cup Fever

Was it really twelve years ago that the US Women's team beat China (in a penalty shoot out, no less) to win the World Cup? Mia Hamm, Briana Scurry, Brandy Chastain, I remember that summer so clearly for a lot of reasons, but the FIFA Women's tournament was definitely one of them.

Today I saw the first round match-up between the US and North Korea, and watching the contest sparked all those old memories. There also may have been a certain vibe that was missing in the two German-dominated contests since '99. I'm usually not "that" nationalistic sports fan, but call me crazy: I have a good feeling for team USA in this one.

(And, yes, there's an app for it.)

There's an App for That

This summer I intend to go through a lot of my stuff and get rid of things I no longer use or need. I promised myself to dispose of at least one bag a week, but as of 6 PM this evening with a scheduled vacation departure of early morning the day after tomorrow, all my junk was securely gathering dust in its usual place.

On Wednesday, we are going to Universal Studios in Orlando to meet family. Before agreeing to this trip, I had no idea how complicated such a "classic" American vacation could be. Take for instance ticket levels and pricing. There are two separate parks, and a visitor has the choice of single park or multi-park access for one, two, three, or four days. Then there is the express pass; that will provide access to a separate, faster line for most rides (except the most popular). There are two types of those-- one will let you in the express line once per ride, but the other gives you unlimited times through. There are also meal plans and discounts on other area attractions that come with some tickets, but not others. Then, there's lodging...

It's hardly surprising that there are numerous websites devoted to how best to spend your time and money while visiting this particular part of Orlando, and what I also discovered tonight is that, yeah, there's an app for that. I have one that will give me a description and directions to any attraction in the park as well as the wait-time for the line there.

I think that will definitely come in handy, even beyond eliminating the need to refold those troublesome maps they always give you at the entrance of the park. In fact, it's mere existence has already helped me meet my summer cleaning goal. After downloading the "Universal Orlando" app, I turned to the bookshelf in our spare room and summarily tossed most of the travel guides and maps that I've been hanging on to for when we go back to Paris, the Badlands, San Diego, etc., because I realized I don't need them anymore... the most up-to-date info on my future destinations will be available on my phone.

Here Come the Veggies

Today for lunch we polished off that honking zucchini I picked from the garden yesterday, and tonight for dinner it's gumbo with homegrown okra. We spent a few hours this weekend trying to get the garden squared away for our week-long absence, and I can tell that, when we get back? There will be a lot of vegetables.

Hoo-Ray.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

A few weeks ago, I had a pretty intense conversation with the parent of a former student who is also very involved in the PTA at our school and in our district. She was concerned about some of the movies that the tolerance club had shown this year. Her objection was that we had not adequately helped the kids "process" the issues that they had been exposed to by viewing these films.

As an educator, I am wary of this idea of "helping" kids to think issues through. Many times it is reduced to getting the kids to say what they know we want to hear. This is part of the reason I became involved in the Tolerance Club. My experience has shown me that middle school children are very capable of parroting the "right" answers in discussions of, for example, bullying or discrimination, and yet their behavior when adults are not around belies their words. I wanted to find a way for the kids to come to the value of tolerance and acceptance on their own, so that they would be more likely to act on those values whether an adult was present or not.

I tried to explain my perspective to the parent. I told her that in my experience too much of education involved telling kids what to think rather than giving them the chance to think for themselves. She's a thoughtful person, and I received an email the next day thanking me for my time and assuring me that she values my experience and perspective, and asking if we can talk again.

Of course we will, and I'll welcome that conversation, because I thought of her today when I visited my garden for the first time in a week. There was a lot to do. The tomatoes were growing outside their cages, the strawberries desperately needed water, weeds were making steady progress, and the zucchini that had been no larger than my index finger had grown to almost 12 inches. I know I can't make my garden grow, but there's a lot I can do to help it do so.

No More Teacher's Dirty Looks

The last day of school is a necessary evil. Every year, the kids ask why we even have school and I always tell them the same thing-- if we weren't here today then we would have had this conversation yesterday; there has to be a last day. We do our best to maintain a regular schedule, or at least focus on academics in a fun way up until the bitter end, but it's really no better than glorified babysitting.

A few months ago, I read Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool, the Newbury winner this year. In 1938, the main character, Abilene, starts school in a new town on the last day. She meets her future classmates and even receives an assignment from the teacher, Sister Redempta. As for the other children, they collect their report cards, clean out their desks, and go home.

There's something to be said about going old school