Balanced Act

Planned: a gray and muggy morning, an estimate on the damage from my unfortunate fender bender, car inspections and emissions tests, tax forms filled and submitted, prescriptions refilled.

Unplanned: the afternoon sun shining in a blue sky dotted with puffy clouds, a walk beneath the cherry blossoms lining the Tidal Basin, some double-time clapping and a standing ovation for six wee flamenco dancers on the festival stage, a bike share spin around Hains Point.

All in all? An excellent day!

Moment o'Mori

It's been a weird week.

I read/listened to Lincoln in the Bardo, the trippy new novel by George Saunders. Well acclaimed by, well, everyone, it tells the story of one night in the very real Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown where Abraham Lincoln's 11-year-old son Willie was temporarily interred following his death in 1862. Legend has it that Lincoln visited on several occasions and unlocked the crypt to hold his son again. Saunders' book takes up that tale from the perspective of the ghosts who haunt the place, confined by their own unresolved concerns to the Bardo, a Tibetan "intermediate state" of the dead. In some ways, the novel is kind of Spoon River Anthology meets Mad Magazine, But I found it ultimately to be a very moving meditation on life, and yes, of course, death.

(Oh? And did I mention? The audiobook has a cast of 120, with Saunders himself, David Sedaris, and Nick Offerman as the main ghosts, but also Susan Sarandon, Julianne Moore, Megan Mullally, Bradley Whitmore, Ben Stiller, and Don Cheadle to name a very few.)

Fresh off of that cheerful literary experience, we watched the movie Collateral Beauty where Will Smith portrays a dad not coping well at all with the loss of his young daughter. In that one, Helen Mirren, Kiera Knightly, and Jacob Latimore play Death, Love, and Time, respectively. With nice performances by Kate Winslet, Edward Norton, Michael Pena, and the amazing Naomi Harris that keep the schmaltz level low, this film exceeded my expectations and pushed me to mull [again?!] about life, and of course, death.

(The other movie we saw this weekend? Logan! Spoiler alert: The X-men are finished and Dr. X PLUS the 'immortal' Wolverine both die! Fans of the series-- you see the connection, right?)

And then today, in a lesson I have taught many times, where I give my students the chance to consider how, among the many Arlingtons there may be in the nation, our Arlington is special, one child raised his hand and said, "It's the only one where the dead outnumber the living!"

I had never thought of our most famous landmark in quite that respect, but I checked his calculation, and it's true: Arlington Cemetery has over 400,000 burials to our 207,000 citizens.

That is special, indeed.

Wish I Hadn't

I could have let it go.

When I got home from the grocery store this morning I found that one of the cans in the six pack I bought was leaking through the seal, and rather than toss that one and put the other five away, I put the whole carton in a bag with my receipt. And so, in a spare half-hour this afternoon, I headed back to the store for a replacement, where pulling into a parking space, I cut it a little wide and creamed the back-left bumper of the empty car next to me.

What was there to do but take pictures, leave a note, and report the incident to customer service at the store? Nothing, except file a claim for the damage to my own front bumper with as much information as I had about the other car. And that is what I did. Since I was clearly at fault, I will pay the deductible to have the repairs made.

And that, was one expensive can of beer.

You Should Go

Just a couple of months ago I wrote about enjoying the view across the Potomac from the rear portico of Mount Vernon. Today I found myself on the other shore looking up at the mansion on the hill. 

Founded in 1957 to protect the view from Mount Vernon across the Potomac River, the Accokeek Foundation, an educational nonprofit, became one of the nation's first land trusts. Today, the Foundation stewards 200 hundred acres of Piscataway National Park in Accokeek, MD, where visitors can hike a network of trails winding through wetlands, visit a native tree arboretum, and observe an award-winning forest restoration project. The newly reconstructed boat dock offers stunning views of Mount Vernon and allows visitors to arrive by passenger boat and kayakers to access the Potomac via newly installed kayak launches. The Foundation also runs the National Colonial Farm, a living history museum that depicts a Maryland middle-class family farm on the eve of the American Revolution. Through our heritage breed livestock and seed saving programs, nearly extinct heirloom crops and animals are preserved for future generations. The Foundation's organic Ecosystem Farm emphasizes the future of agriculture as farmers learn the tools of a new trade and practice sustainable use of natural resources. "Shares" of the farm's organic produce are sold to area households. The park's beautiful grounds, trails, and programs are open to the public year 'round  

(https://www.nps.gov/pisc/planyourvisit/ncf.htm)

I've been to Piscataway NP before, and it's just as cool as it sounds. Not many people know about the place, though. In fact, we practically had to ourselves this afternoon, unless you count the chickens, pigs, cattle, rabbits, geese, squirrels, and turkey vultures.

And unlike Mount Vernon, which I do love, PNP is free!

Ode to my Coat

My breath was invisible in the chill morning air, but I still turned the collar up on my winter jacket as I headed out for the day. The forecast of a warm afternoon prompted me to leave my scarf and mittens behind, and I was not wrong to do so. Spring is definitely on the way.

As the season changes we thoughtlessly shed the coats that have kept us warm all winter for more temperate gear. They have done their job well, but on a certain day we put them away, and they hang in the closet unused and forgotten until the weather turns cold again.

Was today that day? The last day for my coat? If the soft air coming in through the back door keeps its promise, then the answer is probably, Yes. 

Then and Now

I've done a memory map assignment with my reading students every quarter for the last 5 years. As part of the activity, we look at Newbury-award-winner Jack Gantos's answer to the question, "What tips or advice can you share with young students who hope to start writing?"

The first tip is to get a good journal or small notebook—not too big as you want to be able to slip it into your back pocket. Then get a decent pen. Then I want you to draw a map of your house, or a map of your neighborhood, or map of your school and I want you to draw where everything funny, serious, insane, unexpected, heroic, lousy, triumphant and tragic took place. And then I want you to think about your life as the best material in the world, and each one of your small drawings where something interesting happened will be the opening material for your story. Your discipline should start with ten minutes per day—start small and meet your goal. Then extend your goal as you wish. 

~Library of Congress,"Meet the Authors"(https://www.loc.gov/bookfest/kids-teachers/authors/jack_gantos)

Then I show the class a map that was included in the Gantos book Heads or Tails, from which we've read excerpts so they recognize some of the images, and I also share a map of my own that I made of the neighborhood I lived in from ages 4-10. Each icon has a little story attached to it, and usually the students' curiosity about those anecdotes is an effective springboard into creating their own map.

This morning when most of the class had started sketching their own memories, one student waved me over. As I approached to answer her question, she flipped her iPad over to reveal a familiar house. Using just the two street names on my map, she had used Google Earth to conjure up my childhood home, still recognizable 45 years after my family had moved...

Out?
On?
Away.

For a moment I was speechless. Then other kids came over to look. Where was your school? Where was the creek? they asked about features on my hand-drawn map. Is the peach tree gone? Was that where your mom built the igloo? Is your best friend's house still there?

I answered their questions and set them back to work. Can we use our iPads to search up our neighborhoods? someone asked, of course, because they were born into a world where memory and imagination collide with technology and convenience all the time.

"Start without it," I suggested, "and see where it goes."

A New Attitude

For my intervention group this rotation, I have 22 sixth graders who have been identified as having an aptitude for English, which is a 180 degree switch from the groups of reluctant readers I've worked with so far this year.

My plan? Some advanced word study based on Greek and Latin, along with an examination of Greek drama and mythology and a little playwriting.

I knew I was on the right track with these kids yesterday when I told them we were going to start the session with a spelling inventory. Their spirits were high as they sharpened their pencils and cheerfully numbered the papers in front of them.

"Is it hard?" asked one.

"Sort of," I answered.

"Bring it!" said another.

And then today?

All they wanted was to see how they did on the test and then to correct the words they misspelled.

My!
That
is 
different.