A Good Read

A fellow TFA corps member is a great blogger. Her latest post is one to read. It made me think and that's always good. Love to you all!

This iPad is being wonky so copy and paste it is...http://www.feedingthesoil.com

Xoxo

Two Words

Oliver
Sacks

Read
Him

Right
Now

Xo
Xo

A Good Read

I read this when I woke up. A nice way to get my brain engaged.

Xoxo

Starbucks & Scores

I can't fall asleep. It's 11:36pm Chicago time and the house is quiet, but here I am - wide awake. Just thinking. First off, I wonder who's reading this?  And then I wonder if you got your AP scores today. I saw them. They're good but some of you didn't get the scores you wanted. And some of you did. And some of you got 5s and are just as wide eyed as me except your excitement has little to do with guzzling an iced coffee too late in the day. Wherever you landed in the linear land of 1-5, I hope you know that the 9 months we shared in class didn't come down to one number. But since we live in this world, congrats to you all for knowing that an exam result will not determine your fate.


Xoxo

P.S. Out of all the PLHS AP Lang test takers, only 7 earned the perfect score of 5.

P.P.S.  6 of those 7 scores were earned in the class where there was dancing, coloring and a boatload of stuff about stuff. Long live being outside the box.

Looking for a Good Movie?

I don't watch a lot of movies anymore but today we went to see Inside Out. Y'all know how I feel about Disney and princesses but I recommend seeing this new one. Check it out if you'd like and read this Time Magazine review.

Xoxo

Why College is the Best

Yesterday and today I received a gift. My best friend of 20 years came to visit. Instead of typing papers and eating grilled cheeses at Denny's at 2am, we wrangled kids, played tee ball, and discussed work. But in between all the grown up stuff, in that gap of quiet, she was still Ro - the first person I met as I lugged boxes into my dorm, the girl who held my hand when my heart was first broken, the one I called first when I met The One.

College is amazing for so many reasons - the academics, the diversity, the independence, but really, my most valuable takeaway? The community. The friendships.  The connection.

If you're reading this still and stressing out a little or a lot about college and questioning why? Why? Why?  The why is meeting people you'd never otherwise meet. The why is living with your closest friends. The why is doing laundry with your roomie at midnight. The why is watching your kids play together 20 years later and laughing.

Here's to college and to my girl Ro.

Xoxo

Baby, You're a Firework

Tonight I watched fireworks explode in the Midwestern sky. The six year old and the three year old were impatient for the show to begin. Once it did, they began asking when it would end. There's a profound lesson in there somewhere.

I miss you people and I love you still.

Xoxo

My Teacher

I've been lucky enough to have experienced the masterful teaching of many individuals. Vicky Murry in 6th and 7th grades, Professor Cox at Rice University, Valerie Stevenson from Patrick Henry HS and most recently, Sarah Clark - my beloved yoga teacher. I crossed paths with Sarah as a result of synchronicity. A former colleague had a student teacher. That student teacher happened to be training as a yoga teacher as well. She needed people to practice her teaching on so I was asked to join in on a backyard class. That was in August of 2012. By that September, I found myself on a yoga mat in La Jolla at Prana Yoga Center and there before me was a teacher named Sarah Clark. To say she changed my life is an understatement because after experiencing that first Vinyasa Flow class where I was humbled beyond belief, I began to study yoga. I won't bore you with what that means because some of you already know and those who don't will get there eventually but Sarah Clark is the kind of teacher who makes you believe again.  In fact, I told her after a year of study that I finally realized what some of my students meant when they complimented me with gracious words like "inspiring", "role model", "amazing". And more importantly, I understood the depth of their "thank you". For me Sarah is magic. Beautiful, strong, intelligent, kind - the me I want to be when I grow up.

Recently, Sarah has been writing daily entries on her blog and I wanted to share her most recent with you today. Indulge if you'd like and check out her other writing too.

 Maybe I'll even look over one day from my mat and see you there.

Xoxo