The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.

-G.K. Chesterton

Building My Future Teacher Self

I just subscribed to this. This publication does not come out frequently enough.

Also, I have already started collecting books for my classroom library, here is some of what I have collected so far:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
The Complete Persepolis
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale
Best of Blume (Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; Blubber; Iggie's House; and Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself)
Fallen Angels
Sunrise Over Fallujah
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
The First Part Last
After Tupac & D Foster
There's a Girl in My Hammerlock
Star Girl
Speak
Chains
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
Jellicoe Road
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place
The Book Thief
Stitches
Bronx Masquerade

Very much into recommendations of good YAL.

Need to get People's History of American Empire for my classroom library. [Update: Got it!]

To acquire for my teacher library:

City Kids, City Schools: More Reports from the Front Row (Ayers, William)
Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity (Wise, Tim)
Color Mute: Race Talk Dilemmas in an American School (Pollock, Mica)


IN OTHER NEWS, today I decided I do not like sun dried tomatoes.

An E-mail From My Third Grade Teacher

Erin,

When you teach, you will find that some students stay with you. You are one of those for me. I always appreciated your good mind and strong will. I know they have both served you well. I remember many little things about you. One, is how observant you were. I remember you noticing my fingernail polish and telling me how well it went with my skin tone! Not the usual comment of a 3^rd grader.

You also made me an Erin Day scrapbook dedicated to “the best teacher in the world!” I still have it. There are lots of cute pictures of you, Kevin and other family members and friends. I wonder if you remember making it?

I am delighted that you are going to be a teacher. You will be wonderful; smart, strong, compassionate and fun. Your students will learn a lot from you.

I do love teaching. It is a very rewarding profession. We have the opportunity ”to do good” every day. If I can be of help to you, let me know.

I hope your mother and brother are doing well. Tell them ‘hello” for me. And, please keep in touch. Your email today was a real gift to me.

Mrs. Huber

W A X | D R E E M Z: list of the records i desire to acquire

The Breeders- Title TK
Talking Heads- Speaking in Tongues
Beth Orton- Comfort of Strangers

PJ Harvey- Rid of Me; Dry
Brute Heart- Brass Beads
Black Eyes- S/T
Sonic Youth- Washing Machine
The Beatles- Revolver
Explode Into Colors- Quilts
Wild Nothing - Gemini
Megafaun - Heretofore
Aloe Blacc - Good Things
Paleo - A View of the Sky
Fences - (I think it is self-titled? Out 9/28!)
All of the GOOD GBV records!

*Bolded items are rare

Acid Terrorism Against Women in Pakistan

"Saira Liaqat, 26, poses for the camera as she holds a portrait of herself before being burned, at her home in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 9, 2008. When she was fifteen, Saira was married to a relative who would later attack her with acid after insistently demanding her to live with him, although the families had agreed she wouldn't join him until she finished school. Saira has undergone plastic surgery 9 times to try to recover from her scars."

WORD UP, ALLAN NAIRN, WORD UP.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about what we’ve been seeing over the last few days, I mean, what happened with the jetliner, now President Obama coming out yesterday talking about other attempts that were thwarted, like even on Inauguration Day, and that was actually Somali. And what are the approaches you think that President Obama should take?

ALLAN NAIRN: Right. Well, you know, the issue is not the safety of Americans. The issue is the safety of people. All people. You have to count not just the American deaths and potential American deaths, but the deaths everywhere, since—you know, since everyone counts. And the best solution is the one that protects the maximum number of people. And if you happen to be the party that is committing the largest number of killings in the world, as the US is now, then the solution is easy: stop committing the killings.