To: for Tuesday, a day late

Sorry for the delay- just back from the New Mexico wedding. It was fun, but odd that our friends the devout Baptists didn't check to see that the Santa Fe Gay Pride celebration was the same weekend as their big day. Rob and I enjoyed bouncing back and forth between the two groups, but I don't think our experience was typical of the other wedding guests...

And here are the To:'s for Tuesday, from the trip.

To: proVision
From: Factory Upgraded Traveler

THANKS, proVision, for the spiffy new technology at the airport. This is the first time in three years that I didn't have to suffer the pat-down search because of my titanium knee. This is a VERY welcome change.

Of course, having to empty my pockets of EVERYTHING, and then hold my hands over my head , crossed, like I'm about to be trampled by Godzilla (or, possibly, supplication to a great power) is a little akward. And knowing the that the micro-technology that scans me and then stores my file and probably sends it up somwhere on the internet (oh, PLEASE not YouTube) showing off what a life of dissipation looks like; knowing that is a little spooky. But, like many, a few minutes saved is worth lots of embarrassment and a total forfeit of a few rights to privacy.

Now, my fear? If you do store these scans, will the system compare each scan with the new scan? Becuase frankly, if the system croaks out "getting a little wider around the belt line" or "lay off the nachos" each time I enter the scanner (designed to look a lot like a salad spinner) it might lose its charm. Especially if it scans at the start, and end, of the vacation. Spooky.

What about purchasing the scans? If I'm traqveling with my Journalism students to a conference, can I get a print out of who is carrying what? THAT might be useful. On second thought, that might provide WAY to much information.

So, thanks again for the technology and the speedy way it gets me through security.

To: Eske's Brew Pub (Taos), and Kelly's (Albuquerque) and Second Street Brew Pub (Santa Fe)
From: Better Living Through Beer

Thanks, for everything. No, two pints IS the new one pint. I swear.

To: The Two Ladies with their Four Foster Children
From: The Guys at the Other Table

LOVED getting to know you two. Thanks for proving that families come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Fostering four young boys is a challenge I can't imagine.

You have no idea how much I wanted to shoot the straw paper from MY straw, too. Maybe someday I'll grow up enough to be a kid again. When that day comes around, I'm going to enjoy myself as much as your sons. Until then, I'll be remembering them laughing and smiling and having a great time with thier moms, watching the folks from the Pride parade drifting by the big wide windows.

Thanks for giving of yourselves and doing something that I could never do. Lunch was our pleasure!

To: Michael Reynolds, of Earthship and the Greater World Community
From: Intrigued Architecture Buff

Thanks for the great experience, wandering through the Earthship just outside Taos. The building speaks for itself- WOW! Sustainable is great, but selling it through the idea of "no power bills, water bills, etc." THAT's pretty bright.

I might slap a big sticker on the whole thing that says "OK'd for the Middle Class!" or possible "you don't have to be a hippie to live here," but I digress.

Beautiful buildings, nicely presented. I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to a community that might not appreciate my leather tennis shoes, or my deep rooted need for a washing machine. But, maybe someday?

In the mean time, let's get to work on a solar clothes washer, solar dishwasher, and why not a solar AGA stove/oven? Just thinking here.

'To' for Tuesday

Welcome to 'To' for Tuesday-

Today (and all the other Tuesdays I can manage) will be a celebration of the letters we'd like to write if only people would read them, and take the well meaning, measured advice, to heart.

I mean, really, this is well thought out stuff!
-
To: The High School Staff
From: Your Yearbook Adviser

Welcome back to school!
It's going to be a GREAT YEAR! Forget all about last year, we have 180 days (well, a few less due to furlough days) to make things great! Let's commit TODAY to working together to make this years Yearbook, the 2011 Beige and Gray, the Best Book Ever!

Here are a few gentle reminders and guidelines for you to commit to memory and comply with. Our book is only as good as our content, and you and your students are part of our content, so we all share this responsibility!

Your classes:

1. If possible, please have interesting and engaging things happening during 4th period, the yearbook period. We frequently come into classes and the students are working away on some educational activity- BORING. We need excitement! We need color!
2. FIRE is always a big hit. Foods and Chemistry classes have an advantage here, but there is no reason to not include flames/fire into a math lesson, English essay, etc. Be creative, people. Flaming jump-ropes in PE? Flambe' in French II? That's the spirit!
3. Attractive students make for better images. Of course we all love all the students equally, but really, there are beauty winners and beauty losers. If possible, cluster the pretty students toward the front (a wide aperture will blur the less fortunate to a homey, homely, less shocking background)
4. Candids are gold! But, let's not get crazy here. Candids can look a little, well, disgusting. Unkempt hair, authentic facial expressions, unblended eye-shadow: these may be great on National Geographic television, but not for OUR book. Remember, we have no idea which classes we will pop in to, which would make it almost impossible to prepare. So, this year, we will send out a yearbook staffer (a drone; or in the vernacular, a 'freshman') 10 minutes before we 'pop' in unannounced. Take the time to spruce up yourself and your students (not YOU, Mr. Suave, you're always a dream). Check hair, teeth, blemishes, birth-defects, unattractive health-care equipment. This is a team effort, after all.

Clubs

1. Please have all of your students present every meeting. It's SO frustrating to swing by to that one meeting, on that one day, and have the club president absent for some emergency surgery. Encourage your students to stop thinking just of themselves, and think more about the yearbook. After all, which will look better in 20 years? You see my point.
2. For 2011, we are 'switching it up' a little. Festive, attractive clubs have earned a double page spread each. Time management is difficult; taking the extra time to get highlights and extensions, making the extra effort for killer abs and perky pecs, suffering perpetual teeth whitening for that dazzling smile needs to be rewarded. Therefore, all clubs that just sit around raising money for the poor, the unfortunate, the ill and the unpopular will be moved to the index.
3. Uniforms, Club T-shirts and spirit wear must be approved through our Director of Visuals and Apparel. Let's not repeat last year's "plaid-tastrophe"- you know who I'm talking about, Junior Statesmen.

Sports

1. Maybe we'll go to playoffs, maybe not. But we can still LOOK like champs! Twenty years from now, no one will remember if we won, or lost, or were disqualified for breaking antiquated pharmacology rules. Encourage your students to attend, and cheer, for every level, every sport and every game. Striking photos include tears, shrieks, conniptions and fits. A few high-caffeine and sugar 'energy' drinks might help.
2. Injuries are tragic, but visually stunning! Remember the compound fracture on the football field in 2008? Moments like that don't happen by accident. Coaches are encouraged to remove spikes from cleats, oil the gym floor for basketball and volleyball, raise those hurdles just a few millimeters higher than standard, etc. These kids are surprisingly resilient. What means more, a moment of bone-crushing, career-ending agony or being immortalized in the yearbook? Thought so.
3. The cheerleaders are a surprising problem. They are just too attractive (well, almost all of them). In a nod to our multi-culturalism, I have asked the cheer coach to clad the girls in burkas. It adds a hint of mystery, and sets the bar so much lower for the dance team, the hip-hop team, and the female members of the faculty.
4. The scoreboard operator has agreed to reset the boards at the end of each game to a winning score. Please have all the athletes who are still ambulatory cluster under the board, thumbs up, for the last shot of the game.

Faculty Portraits

1. Contrary to the rumors, we WILL be taking the faculty portraits. However, we won't be using them. Each teacher's portrait will be substituted with the image of a soap-opera actor or actress from an obscure country (Guatemala, Ukraine, Canada, Asia, Montana). PE teachers can substitute players from the WNBA or National Soccer Leagues.

Deadlines

1. This year, we hope to sweep the awards categories (see below). To accomplish this, we need to submit the book a little earlier to ensure high quality printing in the 3-D sections, adequate time to embed the Alma Mater song-microchip into the cover, and retouch all the unfortunate photos. So, we must submit the final of the book by the second week of school to Herf-walwOr-joST-TayLor (AKA HOSTL). Thus:
2. Week 1: Homecoming, Senior Ball, Fall and Winter Sports, Food Faire
3. Week 2: Spring Sports, Talent Show, Blood Drives I, II and III, Candids, Prom, Graduation

Distribution

1. Never to early to start planning! Students who have purchased a book will be corralled in the gym. When I shoot the starter's pistol, all students will then run to the cafeteria to claim their book. To save money, we will only print half of the number of books ordered.
2. Students who still have fines or fees, or unserved detentions, or parking violations, or unreturned textbooks, or costs at the cafeteria, or a dirty locker, or once parked over the line in the parking lot, or did not return a borrowed pencil, will have their yearbooks remotely detonated. This obliterates both the book and the problem.

Awards

Everyone likes to win; we strive to dominate. The yearbook is only as good as a far-away, obscure panel of judges decides it is.

Our favored categories for this year's ImplantedDefibrilator contest? Glad you asked!

1. Most Text on a Page
2. Still More Text on a Page
3. My Goodness Thats a Lot of Text on Only One Page
4. One Really Big Picture with Overprinted Text
5. Photoshop Filter Faux-Pas
6. Non-Sequitor Captioning
7. Putting the Ew in Lewd
8. Murky Lurkers in The Background
9. Popular With The Judges But Sold At A Loss
10. Typo Hawl of Faem
11. Giddy Grids & OCD Layouts: The Straight and Narrow
12. I Didn't Know Photos Came in Those Shapes
13. Every Font, Every Page, Every Time
14. Don't Rain on My Clip Art Parade
15. Obscure Club/Sports Coverage
16. Photoshopped to Phabulous
17. I Can See Your Wingding
18. Unflattering Angle/Lighting
19. Senior Superlatives Slander-Palooza
20. Whoops- Were You Eating?
21. Wrestling Pictures That Don't Make Us Feel Awkward
22. It's a Trend If We say It Is
23. Wait! Deadline was Today? (Procrastination-Nation)
24. Nightmare On Tenure Street: What Prior Review Didn't Catch
25. When Stock Covers are Good Enough for Us
26. Whatever: Freshmen Coverage
27. Lighten Up: The Kids Who Wear Black All Day Every Day

Thanks for reading to the end!

Remember, without you, the yearbook would just be a well-run, very organized collection of signature pages with a sprinkling of internet photos and an inaccurate index.

More Monday

My wonderful sister asked a few weeks ago how the blog was going. Oh, my silence was a little painful.

So, we're back.
Summer is here, the living is easy and cosy and nice and a little caffeinated. A great mix.

The year ended well- the yearbook was a success, made $5k in a down economy (yay!) and the paper was well received, even after the sex survey debacle (waiting to hear more on that, I suppose). the kids were very happy with their product, I am very proud of them, and it all came together. Even when it seemed like it may not, it did. Amazing.

And tomorrow I start with the first of my architecture classes at the community college. Exciting.

So, that's what has happened, but here's the crux of this whole thing. My sister recommended themes for the days. She's pretty bright, that one. Writing prompts. Like, I dunno, maybe as an English teacher I could have come up with these? Maybe. Sigh.

More Mondays- what would YOU like more of? what would I like more of?
I'd like a few more days like the last day of school, and graduation. It's a GREAT day for most. Smiles all around. The students stomp their way through the ceremony, I get to photograph the whole thing and make the photos available at the school website (VenturaHS.com). So, more of that, please.

I'd like more less neck. Odd? Well, I had neck surgery in December to reduce the swelling from the exploded lymph node years back, and it seems the neck swelling it back. Not as bad, but dang. It happens, I guess, but losing weight and having a size 19 neck, well. Not so fun. So more less neck please.

I'd love more sunny and overcast days. LOVE these summer days of doing very little, fog burning off in the mornings just as the caffeine kicks in. THAT's nice.

More jobs for new teachers, if possible. It's funny, this year for the first time in a while I realize I'm just as concerned for the new teachers in our district as I am for the graduating seniors. Talking to Robbie last night, it became ever more clear that I am in a great mid-point of my teaching career. I love what has brought me here, and am looking forward to the next 15 years until I retire. Thinking of all the things I can accomplish, all the things my students will be teaching me in the coming years- it's exciting.

However (but can be such an ugly word), I realized that because I spent the first 18 years of my life being ignored, I have spent the last 18 years of my life paying attention. I had little voice, so I have made it my priority to provide a voice to the students. For years, I had to listen to them, and give them the forum to speak out. I'm thinking maybe I couldn't help it.

Times change, and we change with them. At this point for me, I have spent so much time listening and forcing others to listen to students that it has become fundamental to my life. So, while I may not support student press for the same reasons, I think I'm entering a point in my life where I support it more vehemently for better reasons. Instead of having to because of my personal history, now I want to because of the value it provides. weird.

Doing the right thing for a personal reason leads to doing the right things for the right reason. A friend's comment floats through all of this- "fake it 'til you make it.'

One of the other advisers in the district commented on how much I trust the students to make the right decision. I realized the error in that. I don't trust the students too much, but I may trust the educators too little. More thinking on that, please.

Launching an investigation into Architecture gives me a little more distance. That'll be nice. Let's see where that goes.

Well, that's a lot for a Monday!

Oops

Kind of thought I was only a week late- not two weeks.
I can blame school, but...

May is beautiful here- sunny, a little foggy, and very nice when the East winds don't blow. Sinuses acting up when that happens, but otherwise dong great.

Well, I guess I'll let you be the judge of that.

Last week I sent a student to the office because he didn't have a pencil or any paper, and couldn't be bothered to ask for any. Really. Now, years ago I swore that when that day came, I would know it was over.

And then the day came.

But, well, I don't think it's all that crazy. The kid in question has issues (mildly stated) and if a 17 year old can't muster the energy to come minimally prepared? Seems to me, these days, that the kid needs help.

Otherwise;

My niece loved the quilt I made, the pens for my students are going well, and my sister made it home safe and sound. It's GREAT.

A Week Later, or not dropping the L bomb

Since the last episode:
The district may or may not have recovered the data.
Two colleagues and I presented to the school board about the problem (THEY we eloquent, me... not so much).
Classes chug along and now the district wants to talk about the advertising policy.
Yay?
Hmm.

Headache, a little tired, but still doing ok- hoping to smooth sail right out of the week and into a restful weekend. More stitching, less bitching. Possible?

We'll see.

More soon.

So I said to myself, Mabel I says,

Beware.
Just realizing that when I decided to take the plunge and start up a blog, I thought- what do I have to write about?
And about the same time, the server at school crashed. Hard.
And all the data is gone. Years of work. Student work. Disappeared.

The district explained that we don't back up the data. Ever. Other data, but not teacher or student or site data. Ok.

As a person who is somewhat technical (more in the past, less these days, soon a luddite with a kerosene lamp and a butter churn, but that's in the future), people have come to me and asked about the technical problems. In the middle of class, break, lunch, afterschool, texting me, etc. And for each, I get to explain, in comforting yet horrifying words, yes- all your data from the last five years is gone. And when the district personnel TOLD you it was BEING BACKED UP, and IT WAS SAFE, they were saying- well.

So I said to myself, Mabel I says, this is bad. Bad for teachers, students, admin, assistants. Awful.

But also this week my sister is off to Africa- UGANDA, to work with orphans and try to make the world a great place. She's like that, my sister. And I didn't tell her, but I am TERRIFIED for her. I looked up Uganda to get a read on the current situation, etc. and became a little short of breath.

This week, and next, I'm just humming a happy tune and trusting she'll be OK. She's in a more dire place than I am.

Also, a teacher on a listserve wrote to share about the death of a former student; gone at 23 from cancer. They're in a more dire place than I am.

Soldiering on- not my best skill, but one I'm going to try for the rest of this week (one day, OK...).

I do wonder- if I hadn't wondered what to write about, would I have so much to write about? I am living in interesting times...

Good news? Loving GoogleDocs for the Journo workload. THAT's cool. Wrote a page to upload the digital photography images, so the students can upload their photos from home. THAT's cool, too.

Ruthless Enthusiasm. Worth it.

Catastrophe; Day of Silence; NewSchool

Best of times, worst of times?

Good news:
The Day of Silence was a hit! 100 T-shirts (hand stencilled by tolerance loving students!) went quickly, the 500 red wrist bands were a hit, the balloon arch was wonderful and it went over great. Luckily, because this GSA advisor was down in San Diego doing a walk through of the NewSchool of Architecture and Design on the big day.

NewSchool is a wonderful little (600 student) architecture school in the heart of San Diego (the trolley splits the campus). The main building is the old "Hang Ten" warehouse building (if you remember Hang Ten- I do, loved my terrycloth shirt. Missing it right now!).

NewSchool wins awards and is known for their intense students and focus- now they are adding a Digital Media Arts program (just right for my Digital Photography kids, I think). I've always wanted to be an architect, so finding out about the masters program was cool, too.

Rob and I stayed at the Britt Scripps Inn- a B&B that was very affordable, wonderfully done, right in the big middle of everything, and a great choice if you're visiting San Diego. The breakfasts are excellent- Rob recommends the colossal delightful bathtub.

The Catastrophe?
Our common drive went down over Spring Break at the school. So, all the teacher (and student, and administrator, and office personnel) data is gone. It wasn't backed up.

It just wasn't. Our technology department has told the staff that the server was 'safe', but it turns out that they knew the drive wasn't backed up. There was 'too much data' on the server to back up. So, the more we used it, the more we came to rely on it, the less safe it was.

Our school uses 'thin clients'; basically terminals that have the processing done on the thin client server. The only way to save anything is on the common drive. And, you guessed it, that was the drive that disappeared.

Teacher's whole worlds were stored, and lost. Lessons, tests, finals, PowerPoint's, video and audio for classes, prep for state testing, letters of recommendations- and so much more. Gone. We did what was asked of us, trusted the technology department, and we are now lost.

Student work also disappeared- college essays, portfolios of work for the year or all four years, etc. Gone.

Admin is also lost. I could go on, but I get a little panicky when I think about it. And more than a little angry. I'm really trying to keep this from being a rant about what goes wrong. Sometimes that's more of a challenge- today we'll see how I do.

There seems to be very little value placed on teacher product. Or, to be fair, our Technology Department appears to be out of touch with the importance of teacher work. Those files, gathered through the years, are our tools. We can't do our best work without these files- these tools. Taking away the hammer from the carpenter (or the scalpel from the surgeon) and expecting them to be as effective would be ridiculous.

The network, and the data ARE the curriculum these days. Teaching our students in this contemporary world requires these tools- stable and available. Yet, our technology department appears to feel that, while their data (which IS backed up) is important, our (and the students) is not important, and therefore can be lost.

There are industry standards for data security and recovery; our district didn't follow them. Now, the work is lost; hours are lost. No one, as yet, has stepped up to take responsibility for the loss. Or to propose compensation.

This has brought to light a fundamental misunderstanding about what teachers do, why it might be important, and why it might be valuable.

I really do hope the data is recovered- the drive has been at a data recovery specialist for going on a week now. A new drive is on its way to school- to be installed at some point.

Lost forever, I'm afraid, is the trust for the technology department. Lost also is a little more respect for the district- if this is how much they respect the teachers, if this is how they safeguard our hard work, if this is the plan for ensuring a functioning work environment... Disappointing.

Thanks for reading- I'll keep you updated. Sigh.