September 10, 2008
Where were YOU eight years ago?
Despite my desperate ploy to land myself a spot on the show "The View" many months ago, I think it’s always been quite obvious that I am not a fan of Joy Behar. I’m not a Rosie fan either and I seriously think that Joy is becoming worse than Rosie could have ever been.
Last night, we made a brief stop on CNN and watched an interview portion where she, of all people, was talking politics. There is nothing that can increase my blood pressure more than watching Behar discuss politics. She made a bunch of statements about Sarah Palin, including stating that she thinks men like her more than women because "she’s attractive." I just love when women discount the abilities of another because they feel she rode the good looks train to success. It makes me proud to have ovaries.
Or not.
As a man, I would take offense to that statement too. Are men only made of hormones? Are they only capable of appreciating a woman for her looks? Would a man be swayed to vote for an important office simply because someone looks attractive?
I was also irritated when she stated that Sarah Palin does not represent what women are looking for in a leader/politician. I also love it when especially liberal women think that they speak for all women. They most certainly do not speak for me and the majority of my female friends. I wish they would stop pretending they do.
I was also irritated because she began saying that Americans are not better off than we were eight years ago. I looked at Mr. BBM and said, "Where were we eight years ago?"
Eight years ago, to this very date, we were both unemployed. Big I was months old and I had decided to stay home. Because of this family decision, Mr. BBM had left his teaching job. Our house was for sale and he was in the process of trying to get into a training session which would hopefully lead to a job in a new field, one that could support the three of us without having two incomes.
We sold our house and moved in with my parents. We had one car that had "issues."
Eight years later, Mr. BBM has worked his way up the clinical research chain of responsibility into a very good job. We are living with my parents again, but only because the people who bought our house needed it earlier than our new home would be ready. We are building our dream home. I work, not one, but three part time jobs with a fourth on the horizon. I don’t work these part time jobs because I need to; I do it because I want to. We have two cars and they are both paid off. We are markedly better off than we were eight years ago.
Sure, the gas pump prices hurt these days, but they don’t hurt enough to say that we’ve gone backwards on the scale of success as an entire nation. Once again, Behar thinks she’s speaking for everyone. She’s not speaking for us.
We then began talking about our friends and family members and where they were eight years ago. We couldn’t think of a single person we know who is not better off today than they were eight years ago. Not one.
I’m not discounting that we are experiencing some hard times. I’m not discounting that some people don’t have jobs right now. I understand this, and I can sympathize with those people. I know what those times are like. We’ve been there. Past tense.
That’s why grandiose statements about everyone being so much worse off don’t work for me. Where was Joy Behar eight years ago? I’ve venture a guess that she’s much more well off now as well.
While comments (whether they agree with me or not) are always welcome, comments that are insensitive, insulting, and malicious will be promptly deleted. I realize we’re in hot political times, and while this may be the United States of America where we have freedom of speech, on this blog, it’s Black Belt Mama’s way or the highway.
September 10, 2008
Shock and Awe
Today I collected 24 rough drafts. They were all typed and of the appropriate length. Did I mention I only have 24 students in this class? Do you get the significance of all 24 students handing in their paper on time?
In my speech course, all of my students who were scheduled to speak today showed up. They didn’t just show up though. They showed up dressed up and they actually seemed excited to speak. In fact, some of them were so excited to speak that they went way over their time limit and we ended up only hearing seven of the ten speeches that were to be given today.
These students blew me away today. Teaching college is different from high school, in that it doesn’t take long for them to get the importance of doing the required work and doing it well.
In other news, this week my house is being wired for electric and being chainsawed to make way for duct work. Yes chainsawed. It was rather loud. We met with the electrician today for about an hour. We went room to room and he wrote with a marker on all of our walls, detailing out where we want cable and phone jacks, electrical outlets and even the switched lights. It is completely overwhelming to have to pick the location of every single outlet in your house, so I only picked the important ones and left the rest up to the electrician. I’m going to trust that putting them all in the ceiling in one corner of the room would be rough on his arms.
He says he will be finished on Thursday which makes way for the insulation and drywall people. 40 days to go (and today we asked if they can move it up by three days). Keep your fingers crossed. Talk about "shock."
September 8, 2008
The Kickoff
Ah, fantasy football season. You start off with high expectations, and a roster that is hurricane force wind proof. You get excited because you realize that McNabb was a stellar draft pick. You get excited until you realize that you only have McNabb in one league and that your opponent in the other league is also experiencing ecstatic McNabb feelings.
Drat.
As it stands right now, I’ve lost miserably in my own league. In my other league, my only hope is that Jay Cutler hears my plea for him to get McNabb-like numbers. Otherwise, I will have suffered dual defeats.
With that in mind, I have some messages for my players:
Steven Jackson: What the. . .? No seriously. I didn’t draft you in the first round to watch you get washed up by the Eagles D. I mean, I realize they’re good and all, but you couldn’t break off just a couple longer runs or maybe one measly TD?
Willie Parker: I have nothing negative for you sweetheart. Everyone doubted you, but not me. Not ever. Thank you.
Michael Turner: Uh-huh, see Parker’s comment. You rock.
Braylon Edwards: Top 5 fantasy WR? I think not. You better bring it next week or you’ll find your hieney warming the bench.
Santonio Holmes: Did I miss the memo where you guys all decided that Ward was going to be the big deal this year? I would have appreciated some advance notice. Not at all COOL. It’s especially not cool because I own you and played you in both leagues. NOT COOL.
Heath Miller: I’ll let you slide. You’re a TE after all. Next week, I expect big things from you. . . at least bigger things anyway.
Giants D: You couldn’t manage to give me more than 5 points? You’re the Super Bowl D! Come on already!
Matt Forte: You should have told me you were going to be a stud. I’m so stupid for sitting you on my bench. Steven Jackson look out. Forte has put your starting status on official notice.
Housh: 4 points. No seriously! 4 points!!! Bring your seat cushion next week so your butt doesn’t get sore on my bench.
Chargers D: 2 points! 2 points! You should be ashamed of yourselves.
In other football related news, speculation is rampant that Tom Brady has torn his ACL. I got physically sick in my stomach when I watched that guy plow into his leg. The movement that his knee made. . . I could almost feel it. Although my leg went a different direction, that pop-inducing motion is the same. I may not be a NE fan, but I feel for you. Nintai.
September 7, 2008
Moving, Moving, Moving
No, I’m not actually moving yet. Wouldn’t that be nice? What’s moving is the progress on my house. They have officially kicked it into high gear.
This week they finished our roof. The plumber roughed in our basement bathroom and drilled all the holes for the water lines he’ll put in this week. We meet with the electrician on Tuesday. We picked all of our carpet and tile this weekend. Things are coming along. . .
The progress at the end of the week, minus our poured basement floor, garage floor and front porch.
The family room, complete with all the windows and skylights.
The entranceway. Yippee! We have a front door!
The arched entryway and front porch are done!
The view from the back with the finished roof.
By the end of this week, maybe we’ll have some siding and stone!
In other news, a friend of mine from the dojo has started her own business. If you’re a martial artist, you have to check out Bags of Character. She has set up shop on my site and accepts payments through paypal. I happen to own a beautiful blue nunchaku bag and you should own one or eight too. Just so everyone is clear, I have no financial interest in this endeavor, although clearly I wish I would have thought of it myself (oh, and also that I could sew).
September 4, 2008
A Great Day to Be a Teacher
When you are a teacher, you live for those days when you really reach your students. There is no feeling more energizing and more satisfying than knowing that they get you, they really get you, and that they are actually learning.
I spent the past two days grading paper and speech outlines. My expectations had been too high. I realized I had to go back and review some basics. I was also disappointed that not a single student in my speech class chose one of the more creative options for their personal speech next week.
I gave them several choices. They could write a general speech of introduction, write an awards acceptance speech (creating the award they "won") where they tell the audience how they got to this point in their lives, write their own eulogy and detail out what they want to be remembered for and the types of things they accomplished in their lives, or write a "Last Lecture" Randy Pausch style.
They all chose a general speech of introduction. I thought everyone would choose one of the more interesting topics. I was so disappointed.
Perhaps it was Sarah Palin’s incredible speech last night that energized me, but I found myself piecing together pictures (some serious and some fun) for my own speech today. When they arrived in class, the mood was solemn. I said nothing. I turned the projector on and began to give my own eulogy. As I gave my speech, I could tell that the students were interested. They were learning about their teacher, and they were also having fun.
I used a picture from the wax museum in NYC and put up a slide saying that I won American Idol. I posted my picture of Sebastian Junger and elaborated and told them that Junger was so impressed with me that we wrote several collaborative pieces together. I showed them a picture of my dream beach house, created a story about one of my girls being President of the United States and the other a famous Karate Master and author. I used the theme of fighter and kept it strong throughout. I even showed them a picture of me when I was only three-years old with a hockey stick in my hand and told them I learned to cross-check at a very young age.
When I was finished delivering my eulogy, I paused for several moments before crying out, "I can’t BELIEVE you all chose the easy way out!!!" I continued to tell them that I was shocked that none of them wanted to think outside the box and use their imaginations.
I next showed them an award acceptance speech that was funny and inspiring. The wheels were turning.
As I made my way around the classroom, giving advice on their speech outlines and checking to see if they had their note cards ready, at least half the class told me that they were completely changing their speech. "You gave me so many ideas today!" one of them said.
I inspired creativity today and effort, which is an amazing thing. One of my students said, "I’m going to work on this all weekend. It’s going to be the best speech you ever heard."
Awesome.
Not a single student in either of my classes received a perfect score on their outlines. Many received scores that they were deeply dissatisfied with, but it showed them that I’m serious about helping them learn. I ended class a little bit early today and told them I was going to stay to answer questions and help them. About half of the class stayed and asked for help.
I think today, that even beyond inspiring them to be creative, I inspired them to work harder. It could just be a fluke, but I think we’re going to have a good semester.
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