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I should be doing schoolwork...

Jan 3, 2010
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But instead I will post the results of my 2009 book reading list.

I decided for fun (seriously! it's fun to me!) to keep a list of all the books I read in 2009. I wanted to make an effort to read more. In total, I read 66 books! I am very proud of this total because I also had quite a busy real life, teaching and whatnot. Vacation was a help, but I didn't read the whole time.

A breakdown of the reading results:

# of Adult books: 22 (32%)

# of Young Adult books: 29 (42%)

# of Graphic Novels: 18 (26%)

Within that:

# of Fiction books (all categories): 52

# of Non-Fiction books (all categories): 14

Top 5 Favorite Adult books read this year:

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Barrows

2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

3. Stealing Buddha's Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen

4. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

5. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

* my judge of what was "favorite" was how often I told people about the book and/or forced the book on others

Top 5 Favorite YA books read this year:

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

2. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

3. I Am The Messenger by Marcus Zusak

4. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

5. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

*Runners up that I desperately wish I could put on the list: Graceling. The Outsiders, The Chosen, Coraline, The Wanderer, The Wednesday Wars, and Ash.

Top 5 Favorite Graphic Novel books read this year:

1. The Elephant and PIggie books by Mo Willems :-)

2. Stitches: A Memoir by David Small

3. The Beats: A Graphic History by Harvey Pekar, Nancy J. Peters, et al

4. Pedro and Me by Judd Winick

5. The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Russo

Books read broken down by month:

January: 3

February: 4

March: 5

April: 4

May: 6

June: 10

July: 14

August: 5

September: 1

October: 2

November: 4

December: 4

I think we all see the benefit of having a summer off. And where the school year stress began.

Sorry if this was terribly boring, but I really must stop this so I can go plan for this week.

This tornado loves you...

Dec 1, 2009
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Great blending of old and new: Listening to "Gravity" by Sara Barellies and reading The Great Gatsby.

Having never read Gatsby before, I was surprised to find it so engrossing. I crave reading it periodically throughout the day and look forward to learning more about Gatsby and his life/love story. Having been forced to read James Joyce's Dubliners, and the weird coincidence of looking very similar to F. Scott Fitzgerald, I assumed their works would be very similar, but I happily find I am wrong. I really don't care too much for Joyce- too dark and obscure for me. Not that Fitzgerald is fluffy, but for some reason this Irish man is more my style.

Perhaps its the simultaneous fascination with, and disdain of, the rich and bored lifestyle that I enjoy- I too am fascinated and yet disgusted by the celebrity scene that still exists today to a much greater extent than in the 20s when it was just beginning to take hold of our imaginations. And it also might be Gatsby's pining. I'm a sucker for romance.

118 pages into the book, I'm not going to say that it is the Great American Novel, but it is definitely very good and I'm glad I'm reading it. Which I'm not sure I could say for a lot of books readers consider classics. However, I totally didnt get the whole Doctor. T. J. Eckleburg huge blue eye thing at the beginning of chapter 2. Maybe because I haven't been out to Long Island or Queens, whereupon West and East Egg were based, but I didn't get Fitzgerald's imagery. Thoughts?

Music tips

Nov 29, 2009
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Apparently I was on a music tear on the internet today. Here are some free/cheap music ideas:

Free song: "Horchata" by Vampire Weekend will be off their newest album to be released in January 12th, 2010. If you haven't heard of Vampire Weekend, shame, shame. They're fabulous.

Amazon.com is having a big "Black Friday/Cyber Monday" sale on its mp3 downloads. $5.00 albums. Recommended by me, these can be great gift ideas:

*For teens and dance fans of any age: Lady Gaga- The Fame Monster and Britney Spears- Circus

*Radiohead- I Might Be Wrong: perfect for people in their 20s and 30s

*Neko Case- Middle Cyclone (Only $1.99!!) perfect for people who have indie/unique taste

*Sara Barellies- Little Voice: perfect for people who like pop music, Norah Jones, and Kelly Clarkson. Speaking of Kelly Clarkson, you can get her newest album All I Ever Wanted, too.

*The Avett Brothers- there are three good ones for those who like indie folk music such as Fleet Foxes or even people who like singer-songwriters like John Mayer or James Taylor.

*Regina Spektor- Far great songs by a wonderful quirky indie artist. If you liked the movie (500) Days of Summer, or you know someone who did, you'll love these songs.

*Wolfmother- Cosmic Egg Recommended for anyone who likes vintage 70s rock music. Also, The Clash- From Here to Eternity Live is great to relive thrashing concert memories.

*A Charlie Brown Christmas- perfect for the holiday season :-)

*Flight of the Conchords- perfect for people with a good sense of humor.

*For parents or other Baby Boomers- The Best of the Sun Years by Johnny Cash or Genius: The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection.

*For Frank Sinatra/Nat King Cole fans: Michael Buble's album It's Time is a wonderful callback to those greats.

There are many more albums in these genres to choose from, as well as great jazz music, which I don't know a whole lot about.

Just things.. totally random

Oct 25, 2009
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*I have a crush on the guy who plays Puck on Glee. I've thought he was cute previously but his performance of "Sweet Caroline" did the trick this past week. Especially when he hit the low note on "strong." It is definitely not his hair I'm attracted to.

It cracks me up that I like bad boys in movies and on tv shows (Puck, Jess on GG, etc), but in real life I'm not usually attracted to them at all. Maybe because I see what they are like in the movies and on tv. Or maybe because I don't usually meet the bad-but-totally-cute-because-they're-into-a-girl type of guys in real life. They tend to like hot girls, and I have never been described as hot.

*Did anyone else not receive self esteem until their mid-twenties? I'm not sure if its because my body is filling itself out slightly (emphasize the slightly part because I'm not "filled out" at all) or that my brain has changed what my eyes see in the mirror and for some reason I like it more. Or am more comfortable in it. I can't decide. Don't get me wrong, I'm still pretty insecure but I feel more like wearing things that show off my body shape, rather than hiding it under ill-fitting, slightly baggy clothing.

*Went to the opera tonight. It only cost $25! Because students get day-of tickets for half off! Its great looking like a student. Sometimes. Mostly, though, I have to explain that I teach, I'm not still going to school anymore. The opera was Cosi fan Tutte, an opera by Mozart. It was pretty good. The sets were great, the singing was great, the costumes were off. It said that the opera was supposed to be set in 1745, but the costumes were DEFINITELY a mix between 1860s Civil War and Victorian. Whoops.

*It currently takes me about a month to get through a book right now. Because I'm so consumed in getting stuff ready for school. I have a big project to get ready this weekend: Getting ready for Letter of the Day stuff and making Toolboxes for my students.

*I can barely see through my contacts right now (suuuuper blurry). Gotta go.

Saturday morning music

Oct 10, 2009
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This music might actually be better for Saturday afternoons. Anyway...

If you've watched any tv recently, you've probably seen the commercials for iPod nanos with the capabilities of video recording now. If you're like me you thought, "boy that song is catchy and great." And then when you found out who sang the song online one day, you took note. And maybe you even bought the cd it was on one Saturday morning off iTunes.

Well, maybe you didn't, but I did.

The artist is from Sweden (woo!) and her name is Miss Li. Or, her stage name is Miss Li. And she sings very quirky, catchy songs. I'm really enjoying the music I bought approximately 30 minutes ago. Some of the songs sound like something from a Tim Burton film (Stupid Girl for example). I'm not the biggest fan of Tim Burton, but I respect his song choices. She has a great voice as well- nice and on pitch for music snobs like myself, but with a unique quality that reminds me a bit of Anya Marina or Bjork (in a way. She's Bjork-esque.)

It's recommended for all people, in my opnion. And especially for indie music snobs.

National Parks

Sep 27, 2009
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The National Parks: America's Greatest Idea is playing on PBS this whole week. My family is really excited to watch it. And I became curious- how many national parks have I actually been to? At first I thought only one, The Grand Canyon. But here's the whole list:

DC:

Ford's Theater

FDR Memorial

Korean

Lincoln

Meridian Hill Park

National Mall

Memorial Parks

World War II

Old Post Office

Pennsylvania Avenue

President's Park (White House)

Jefferson Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

Washington Monument

Massachusetts:

Adams National Historical Park

Boston National Historical Park

Cape Cod National Seashore

Minute Man National Historical Park

Salem Maritime National HIstorical Site

New Mexico:

Bandelier National Monument

New York:

Ellis Island National Monument

Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Niagara Falls National Heritage Site

Statue of Liberty National Monument

North Carolina:

Great Smoky Mountains National Park*

Oklahoma:

Oklahoma City National Memorial

South Carolina:

Fort Sumter*

Virginia:

Arlington House, Robert E. Lee Memorial

*seen it from afar but was close enough to count in my opinion.

Apparently I've been to more than I think.

My classroom

Sep 26, 2009
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My Kindergarten classroom. There's lots of things I'd like to change/make better (mostly things around my desk, but whatever). However, I think it's pretty good. What do you think?

Today

Aug 29, 2009
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Today I was sick. Last night, I registered a fever of 99.1. So I got out of helping my sister move apartments in Chicago. Not that I wouldn't mind not being sick right now. I've watched movies all day long.

I also watched much of the Ted Kennedy funeral. My father is a huge Kennedy fan- a fan of pretty much the whole Kennedy clan. He idolized Bobby and even has his funeral record from 1968. I've listened to it before when I was a kid. He told me that my grandmother (his mother) was incapacitated for two days when JFK died in 1963. The Ward family has always been a huge fan of the liberal democrats. My great-grandmother (my father's mother's mother) had basically a shrine to FDR in her home in Cadillac in the 40s. I can only imagine how she took his death in 1945.

He got choked up watching the funeral today and had me tape portions of it. I'm not really sure how much information I should reveal about that... just in case. Anyway, I did too, when Teddy Kennedy Jr spoke.

I always admired Kennedy, partly because it was a family requirement and partly because he was a great man. I've always believed in what he believed in- helping the working, the poor, the downtrodden, the ones that others in power tend to ignore/forget. I admire his tenacity in working toward what he believed in. Many of the things that have been said, were said today, and will be said about Ted Kennedy make him admirable. Sure, he had his faults, but don't we all? I'm sad he's gone, and I'm sad he didn't get his health care bill finally passed in his lifetime.

In case you can't tell, I'd like the health care bill to pass as well. We are the only major industrialized country that does NOT have health care for all its citizens. I have seen kids come to school with a mouthful of half sized black teeth. Or kids who have never been to get a checkup. It's horribly sad. Anyway, off my soapbox.

Teacher meetings start Monday at school. Open House is Tuesday, first day of school for kids is the following Tuesday, the 8th. I'm getting progressively more nervous. I want to be ready. I don't think I'm going to feel ready.

I hope to feel more ready soon. Like maybe October.

Why I Love Summer: a photo essay

Aug 23, 2009
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From left to right:

*The Crossword.

During the school year I don't normally have time to do the crossword, but in the summer I do! I love that. I'm glad I haven't lost the crossword touch. And in the example above, I had to fill in my own black boxes and all! It was a very exciting moment for me.

*The road to Silver Lake from my cottage. My favorite thing about Michigan summers is going up to my cottage by Silver Lake. I can read, do crosswords, jet ski, hang on the dunes, swim in a choice of two different lakes, and leave my normal world for a while. This is the view down the street in front of my cottage looking toward Silver Lake.

*Hamburgers on the grill.

I also like hot dogs on the grill, but these burgers were readily available for photographing. Basically I like grilling in the summer. We should do more chicken on the grill, though. That will be my recommendation for next summer.

*My computer.

I know, I know, it's not a summer thing, it's an all-year thing, but still. Up at the cottage this year I was able to pirate someone's wireless internet signal. Thanks silverlakecottage! And summer is the best time for me to catch up on some of my favorite cable tv shows online.

*Books.

In the summer I can read!!! It's one of my favorite things ever. Seriously. I love to go up to the cottage with two or three books and spend my days reading on the beach and my nights staying up late and reading in bed. This summer I read 29 books! That's more than half of the books I've read this year.

*Brownies.

I love dessert. Abby and I have made lots of brownies this summer. They are always amazing.

*The sunset as seen from the sand dunes at Silver Lake.

I love sunsets in general. But on the dunes it's one of my favorite things ever and is associated with summer because that's usually when we take off our shoes, hike up the dunes at 8:30 and watch the sun go down over Lake Michigan. I also love the sunset at Little Point Sable on the Lake Michigan beach, which I also have tons of pictures of, but the sunset on the dunes is usually what I think of.

Other things that are my favorite things about summer:

*peaches (Red Havens...)

*late nights

*warm weather

*t-shirts

Life in July

Jul 21, 2009
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I was so sorry to hear that Frank McCourt had died yesterday. I read it on the nytimes website while eating lunch at school. I have read parts of Teacher Man and enjoyed his sense of humor and his perspective. And I'm not biased being a teacher myself and a lover of all that is Irish.

It's been a tough month- Frank, Walter Cronkite, Michael Jackson... I'd mention Farrah Fawcett but frankly she's never been on my radar, ever.

Been in my classroom a lot lately, getting things ready for next year. It's insanity right now- a big mess. But soon there will be some order out of the chaos, I promise. I just wish I could tidy it up as well as Dumbledore in the new HP movie.

SPEAKING OF... I loved it. It FINALLY brought in some of the humor that is prevalent in the books but somehow never made it to screen. J.K. Rowling can be howlingly funny in her writing and yet somehow the screenwriters missed that when putting together a movie. It was really a sacrilige (sp?). I'm glad they finally found a good balance in this movie. And I also really liked the special effects of when they go into a Pensieve for a memory- the way that the drops of ink become places and things was really spectacular. Well done.

And Ron. Good lord, I love Ron in this movie. Rupert does a fantastic job the entire movie. Well done there. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that FINALLY it doesn't seem like Daniel Radcliffe was awkwardly acting in this movie. He seems to own the role as he finally should. I really enjoyed it, in case you hadn't noticed already.

I've decided that before the last two movies air in the fall of next year (2010) and summer of year following (2011), I want to read all 7 books again. I'd wanted to start the series from the beginning and read them through for some time. but I think that's a fairly reasonable goal. I think it will be fun to revisit some of my favorite literary places.