The Golden Hour...

That hour before sunset as summer approaches and the skies are clear. It is nearly ten o'clock, and the sun is shining in my eyes. It won't be dark for another two hours. I am enjoying my favorite evening of the week-we have just gotten back from a walk in the brisk spring air, and it is time for reflection.

We are asked to do a lot of reflecting in this business, and that is something that I am still coming to grips with. I understand the need for some, but we reflect on nearly every aspect of the life of the school, and it seems a little silly sometimes.

We will begin packing this weekend, as we have prom and graduation coming up on the next two consecutive Fridays. Things will be busy. A head start will be a good idea. But for now, it is Friday, and the sun is lighting a beautiful evening...

Back In The Flow of Things...

Back in the classroom for the first time in a few days...kids are either busy or distracted. There are only a few weeks of school left to go, and I can't blame them all that much. I wish it weren't so, but that is kind of unrealistic. The weather is gray and rainy, which might mean that it is the perfect night to go walking around the village and calling on parents. Or not. Hard to tell. This weekend we will need to start packing this place up. There is lots to do, and we are not going to have much time after the school year ends. I would happily have waited longer, but the airfares get worse and worse the closer that one gets to Memorial Day. So, off we will go, most likely exhausted from the dash that it will take to get out of here. I still need to remember to get a rental car for the summer, and a hotel for the overnight in Anchorage. Many things to do...

Home Again, Home Again...

Back on this side of the river again after two days of training in a violence/substance abuse/bullying prevention program called Second Step. It seems worthwhile, and I plan on using it in my junior high classroom next year. I thought that the training, which was for trainers, was very effective, and I will try to do some training in our school in the fall.

I also managed to visit both grocery stores in Bethel, do a phone conference for AKT2, the remainder of my data class, fold laundry, wash dishes, and eat dinner, all by 10:00 pm. A lot crammed into a day that started at 4:50 am.

I hear rumors that my kids missed me. I could have stayed for another day's training for elementary students, but I felt the need to get back to them, because I missed them, too. Go figure. It's good to be back.

Betheling In April...

Just made the grueling flight across the river. Laundry is done, although I left a big bunch of dishes behind. I feel bad, but some people had other priorities. They were good priorities, but they kept me away from doing dishes yesterday. Then Joe called up, whispering the magic word "maqiq" in my ear. By the way, talk about a hot one. A couple of us are still smarting because the floor was so hot...we did, however have some good yuks about that situation.

I have two days of training starting tomorrow, so I am in the Long House at Bethel tonight. The two of us just seem to be coming and going lately...one returns, the other departs. I think this will represent the end of that for now, at least. I got to drop over to Shogun for delish shrimp fajitas...luxury in the Bush.

Schooling tomorrow, channel surfing tonight. I'm not sure how much I miss TV. Not so much in many ways.

Back At It...

At the end of a busy weekend and the start of a busy week. I got the Empress and the kids last night, which involved two runs up and down the river. Although the path to the river was less than desirable, the track on the river was amazing. It was flat and fast. We had to go downriver to go north, because the last word that I had was that the slough upstream was not good. I managed to scare the hell out of at least one student by jumping a pressure ridge with a sled in tow. Long story.

Today was time for lesson planning, dog walking and napping, and finally a maqiq this evening at Joe's. Hot. The damn floor was hot. I mean real hot. We were laughing as we winced and yelped. Sometimes when the pour is real hot, you need to get right down on the floor. That was an exercise in misery itself. Adam and I stood aside while the Yup'ik guys went in for a real boiler. They came out looking like lobsters. It was still major fun, and I was glad that I got the call. I will miss this stuff over the summer.

Tomorrow is a classroom day, then I have to figure out how to get to Bethel for two days of training. I also have to figure out where to stay. Of course, if my emails did any good, that issue may already have been addressed by then. Then it's back on Wednesday night, when I have both an AKT2 meeting and a class for three hours. This might be a challenge to juggle...

Less than four weeks to go. I am excited, but also sad at the prospect of leaving. I will miss my students. I will, however, enjoy seeing family and friends again. Not to mention the chance to ride my bike.

mmmm...Coffee Is Life...

...and that is why I am sitting here typing at 6:49 on a Saturday morning with sleeping dogs surrounding me, and a hot cup of coffee on the nightstand...if I had any eloquence whatever, I would write a prayer of thanks to the coffee gods. Because without coffee, life would be impossible. It is such a pleasant way to start out any day, even the bad ones. In fact, it is possible as I reflect that a cup of coffee may have been the only pleasant thing about one or two of the days in my life.

But let's not sound even remotely negative. Life is good. My baby is coming home, and I don't have to be a single guy anymore. I find that state to be vastly overrated. Some folks like it. It's just not for me, and I have had a long time in which to figure it out.

Time to get on with the day and prepare for the return of the Empress...

Friday and Waiting...

For my baby to come home...tomorrow night marks the welcome end of my bachelor week. It hasn't been bad or anything, I am just glad for it to be over.

We are done for the year four weeks from tomorrow. We did more development activities today. I sense a feeling of exhaustion on everybody's part. The end is nigh. Our dean of students and his wife are moving across the river to Oscarville, where he will be the site administrator. Both of them seem happy about the move, and I wish them the best in the new project. That opens up a position here, and much speculation. I suspect that most of the staff are wondering how the new changes will shape up.

I took my kids outside today, and they seemed to enjoy it. It is not as warm as it was a couple of days ago, and they thought it was funny that I showed up in insulated overalls. I thought it was funny when they started complaining about being cold. I told them to bring outside clothes yesterday, and offered them a rain check on the whole project until better weather showed up, but they wanted to go. It was really a beautiful sunny day by the time that we got outside, but just a little on the windy, nippy side. We did see some interesting sites around the village, like the old grave site, and the location of a former qasgiq, or men's house, as well as the location of the old airport.

My goal is to try to get them to see the village from the point of view of a stranger, as well as their own. I plan on having them write about it and hope that they can make that leap. We did some video practice as well, because we are going to try to make some short movies in the next few weeks. They may find that they like it.

Time for bed. I need to get on the bike and my homework in the morning...

More Ice Adventures to Come???

Friday is on the way! The favorite day of student and teacher alike!! The kids are doing fine-moving along steadily through their work, and wanting to get more done. There is still more than enough silliness to go around, but I think that we are all finally starting to get our stride and getting used to one another. In many ways, it is too bad that the school year is almost at an end. I think that year-round with nice long equally spaced vacations would make more sense. Of course, up here, summer is vitally important for families who live by means of sustenance hunting and gathering. This represents a large proportion of my students' families.

Chelsea and the Rose exchange kids are returning Saturday night, and it appears that the plan is to do the snowmachine thing to Bethel to pick them up. I am assured by experts that the river is safe for travel, and should remain so through the weekend. It does appear that the recent warm spell is at an end for a few days to come.

Tomorrow we have PD in the afternoon, and I plan on a little serious spinning activity afterwards, and a leisurely Friday night.

I got to introduce one of my students to a couple of family members through the wonders of skype today. I think that she really enjoyed it. I think they did, too. I would like them all to get the chance to meet...

Sitting In Class...

..on the computer from UAA. Life is good and busy. Spring seems to be serious about showing up, which is a good thing as long as we can keep the kids focused, although I think we all want to go outside. I need an outside lesson plan for reading or writing...or anything...I want to be out there, too.

The kids have come back moving better than might have been expected after a week of testing and a week of cultural week. They are more focused, and that is a great thing. But they want to be out, and I don't blame them. What to do...hmmm, I must think.

Sunshine and Lesson Plans

Monday was a day off, which gave us a nice three-day weekend. I spent the day attending to things that usually require attention, but without the pressure of working around the school day schedule. I am living Day 1 of bachelor life. The laundry is done, and the dishes are washed. "Done" with respect to laundry, by the way, means folded and put away. A debate apparently has been going on about the precise meaning of that term. I hope that this clarifies any misunderstanding that might exist.

I managed to get through lesson planning, and did some spinning on the bike, and a little weight training. It's time to get ready for the summer riding season, and I have managed to stay illness-free for an extended period of time. It felt good to get on the bike. I plan on spending a good chunk of the summer in the saddle.

Tomorrow is back to school day for all of us. My master plan is to get kids caught up on any unfinished projects, then embark on our movie-making scheme. I have sent out an email requesting help with iMovie, and I will start the kiddies on the task of brainstorming and writing a script. That will be mandatory before any shooting takes place. My expectation is that we will take up a good deal of the last four weeks of school with the enterprise. I hope that it goes well. If it does, I think that the next project could be something about village life or recorded history interviews with elders. It would be neat to see the kids respond to a tech project that stretches their boundaries. I will undoubtedly be posting on this topic in future weeks...

Fun On the Coast and on the River...

I wanted to do a better summary on the weekend's tournament at Goodnews Bay. First and foremost, many thanks to the people of the village of Goodnews Bay, who came out to support the competition, and also donated food items for the excellent meals that we enjoyed while we were there.

Second, I want to thank Chris Carmichael and his staff at the school for putting on a wonderful event. Every thing that we needed was attended to, down to providing transportation to the store for kids that wanted to go. We walked over as a group on Thursday after we got in, and there was a little bit of grousing from the flatlanders at all of the climbing that the trip involved. They were just jealous because they were having a hard time keeping up with an old man...The staff did an excellent job of coordinating departures, despite the confusion caused by the ground stop in Bethel for a big chunk of the morning. Many, many thanks to the school, staff, and village for their gracious company.

As it turned out, we only got back about three hours later than we were supposed to, which was not bad under the circumstances at all. I got to catch a couple hours of napping before it was time to hop on the trusty snowmachine for a trip to Bethel for some grocery shopping and dinner at Dimitri's with Eric, Sara, and our pal Erin Kavanaugh. The river is getting sloppier as the weather warms. I am writing this at a little after 6PM on Sunday night. It is 46 degrees, and the sun has been out all day long. Last night, there was a little snow/rain mix falling, but that did nothing to make the ice stronger or thicker. It is still good, but there are some serious puddles beginning to form on top.

For today's festivities, we convoyed up to Bethel to take kids for the Rose Urban/Rural exchange program. The kids from Fairbanks were here back in February, and now our kids from PKA are headed to Fairbanks Ben Eielson high school. We had three sno-gos, and three sleds behind. Some sleds held bags, and some held kids. We got 'em there, but I do think that some were drier than others. I was driving one of the machines (!), so I got to keep much drier than any of them. It was so warm today that I drove wearing a baseball cap and my foul weather jacket over a hoodie and some overalls. I was very thankful for my trusty Muck Boots, because it was real wet and real muddy at the river bank where we pulled up to drop off the travelers.

After the kids and Chelsea were safely away in two taxicabs, Eric, Adam and I walked over to Swanson's to do some more grocery shopping. Eric and I are bachelors for the week, and Adam is one on a more full-time basis. After shopping, I needed to make a gas run for the little beast. The snow has melted pretty thoroughly in Bethel, and I ended up hightailing it down a gravel road to get to the gas station. Adam's advice on my return was to hit every puddle that I could find in order to wash out the undercarriage. I did my best on the return trip to Napas to comply. Messy, high-speed fun. I really want my own machine now, but someone thinks that a boat is more important. Hmmm.

Tomorrow is the day off that we were going to have had after Easter. Tuesday will be the first day back after a week of testing and cultural week. It marks the first really serious lesson planning that I have done in a few weeks, and it will be an attempt to return to normal classes as the sun shines longer and the weather gets better. The last five weeks will be interesting...

More NYO/Goodnews Bay

Hail to the Victors:

Above: contemplating the action (photo credit Alyssa Evan); below: more Goodnews

Right: part of the village of Goodnews Bay. Below: the sinister Bering Sea.

Lucky 400-Pix From Goodnews Bay NYO Tournament

The same headlands as seen earlier, this time from the other side, in sunlight...

Below: the headland at the mouth of Goodnews Bay. Left: the gymnasium at Goodnews.

Our intrepid team prepares for competition...

NYO All Day All Night, Mary Anne....

Don't know what put that old song in my head...we started early and went late...all the events are done and this morning we are awaiting breakfast and the awards ceremony. The weather in Bethel is foggy right now, and I don't know what flight statuses will look like as the day goes on. We are supposed to get picked up at about noon, but that may be comfortably regarded as carved in Jello. One of our number is just confirming flight details for his flight. He is an itinerant social worker who sort of washed up here and got to enjoy his first NYO tournament. OK, he didn't exactly wash up...he sort of fell in by plane.

Some of the kids are starting to stir with their towels 'n' toothbrushes right now...they were very excited last night after the event, setting up an impromptu ten-on-ten (approximate numbers) half court game, with boys on one end and girls on the other. The girls game was on the entrance end of the gym, so that was the game into which I wandered. Rough and tumble, no fouls...it looked like fun, but I would have been afraid to step in with that bunch. In all seriousness, the kids were very well behaved. A lovely bunch.

Word is that Bethel flight operations are on hold this morning. No huge surprise there. The weather site indicates ice fog in the area. I have homework and 17 books on the Kindle. I will keep occupied somehow...

NYO More...

A fun evening. One of our kids came in second in the wrist carry. We are sleeping in the gym. Ah, the glorious life of the chaperone...the water here is delicious, by the way. Can't get enough. Lights out in about 1/2 hour, breakfast at 8 AM. More to follow....

NYO So Far...

The day dawned sunny and waterless...although I hear that service has been restored since I left. I was cruising through what I thought would be a slow morning when the word came that the NYO squad was leaving early, to avoid the worsening weather that was building up along the coast. We were all jumping pretty quick to get packed and moving in time. A quick trot down to the airport, and we were on the way south. The flight took a little over an hour, and took us over the Bering Sea at one point. In order to land here, we have to make a left hand turn around a big rock that towers over the sea at the entrance to the bay. Pretty impressive. Kind of a sideways landing, and next we knew, we were sitting on the trailer behind a 4-wheeler climbing the hill to the school here.

The weather has been going down hill since we arrived. There is a blizzard warning posted through 11 PM. The winds are getting stronger, and the snow is getting thicker. Dinner is at 6, and the events are supposed to start at around 7. More to follow. Pictures will have to wait until Saturday. I have a good bunch of kids with me here. Fun so far...

Oh, and By The Way...

I am really glad that I did this with my life. I am insanely happy with living in Alaska, and Napaskiak in particular, and I love what I am doing. Every day is not a bed of roses, and the water stopped running tonight because the sewage did not get pumped out on schedule, but it is great to be here, and I want to stay for many years to come, if the folks here will have me.

It Is 9:55 PM...

...and the sun is slowly sinking on the western horizon. Cool, huh? It is staying light longer and longer every day. We are up to something in excess of sixteen hours of visible light every day. It's not generally dark when we go to bed anymore. It does take some getting used to. Of course, by the time that the school year is over in six weeks, there will be even less darkness. I am told that everyone is a little loopy by that time due to lack of sleep.

The week has been going well. It is a fun week. I need to get some photos of kids working with some of the elders tomorrow. It is really cool to see how much they get into their work. If I was clever enough to figure out a way to make writing or math that exciting. I think that it can be done. I just need to get better at it.

I did find a funny little artifact in my classroom today. On a cardboard storage box, one of my students had written "Mr. Hicok is annoying." I had responded, "Yes, he is." There was is apparently a new voice in the debate now, because another student has written "No, he is the best!"with a smiley face drawn next to it. Hilarious...it is nice to have a little fan club, all the same.

The weather prospects continue to darken for our trip to the coast tomorrow. There is now a blizzard warning posted for tomorrow and tomorrow afternoon, mostly along the coast. It does not portend especially well for flying, but there is nothing to do but wait and see what actually does happen. I would like to see the kids get to go, and I have yet to see the coast, so there is a little self-interest involved. Time for dishes and packing...

Beading Going Well...

We are on the third day of cultural week, and so far, so good. There are supposed to be high winds tomorrow, which may complicate the NYO trip, but we will deal with that as it comes...

Ah, Madness...

We made it through testing nearly intact. The kids, who have become testing guinea pigs in my opinion, maintain a relatively good-natured patience with the procedure. They were spread all over the school in strange nooks and crannies, but pretty much went along with the whole thing. I had one student through all of it who simply refused to test, on two different days.

But on Friday, one of our more surly residents simply decided that he would sleep and nothing more. The whole confrontation ended with him in a headlock (not mine) shouting "whore!" at Chelsea. I was not real happy about leaving Friday night under the circumstances. This is the same leading light who stands charged with multiple counts of burglary for his alleged role in the break-ins in the teacher housing and the school over the holidays. My concerns were slightly misplaced, as it turned out.

Friday night, some enterprising felons broke into the local store. They apparently did some significant damage, and tried to haul off the ATM inside. You're not going to guess who was apparently found with drywall dust and insulation all over his clothing, and a fair amount of cash to boot....

We are all pretty confused.

The union meeting was interesting, and I got to meet some nice folks and grab a drink and dinner with them. I hope that I made a few connections that will be useful in the future. I also got the chance to get an old-fashioned haircut from an old-fashioned barber. Hot lather, straight razor to clean up the back of my neck and the whole thing. Way cool...

Today was oodles of fun. We are doing culture week, and I am helping in the beading room. I got to work with a bunch of new kids from the elementary side that I just usually see around the building, and I had a ball helping them out. The day went really well. I am looking forward to tomorrow. I hope to begin making some good connections with the youngsters that are coming up to the junior high in the future.

Late in the day, I was asked to help chaperone the NYO team when it goes out to Goodnews bay this weekend. I have never been there, and the pictures look beautiful. I will take my camera, and hope to get some good shots of scenery and the NYO competition, which will have to wait to be posted until I am out from under the thumb of our server and ATT. I will post nonetheless.

In The Basement...

Sitting in a leadership conference for the state NEA...Happy Birthday to my Dad and my sister Kathleen!!!

The Tests Are Nearly Over...

Tomorrow, the last group of students will take a science test in the morning, and then it is over. We are all looking a little bedraggled by now, but the kids are holding up nonetheless. We just need to figure out how to get through the morning, and then we will be on to the weekend and next week, which is culture week. Should be lots of fun...

I seem to be feeling better every day, which is better than spitting up blood. Whatever I still have is lingering on and seems to be stronger in the evenings, but I am cautiously optimistic that it will finally go away for good.

Tomorrow promises to be a busy day. I must be in Bethel by evening to catch my plane to Anchorage. Early to bed...

Testing Madness!!

We have successfully completed the second day of SBA testing and I am happy to say that the school and staff appear to be relatively intact. Maybe a little bedraggled, but intact. Everyone seems to be cooperating and helping one another to get things done. One of my students came in late today and the principal set with my students while I read her the directions to the test in a seperate location so that we did not disturb the other students. One of our eighth graders had diarrhea, so I accompanied him to the restroom on two occasions while the other teacher watched my kids. Stuff like that. Anyway, only two more days left to go. Then I am off, jet-setting to Anchorage for the weekend. Next week is culture week, and I will be taking more photos for the blog.

Now, my class has been cancelled for the evening, so I am going to work on resting up to try to get rid of this crud that has plagued me for the past week.

Out In The Vestibule...

Inside...

More From Easter

After we had proceeded around the outside of the church, we crowded into the vestibule to hear the priests proclaim that Christ had risen. The congregation responded that indeed he had risen. This exchange went on often during the next few hours. The church was beautifully decorated and the atmosphere was joyus and festive. From time to time, people would step back out to the unheated vestibule to cool off and shake off some of the sleepiness. Some went out into the ten degree air. The prayers were recited and sung, with the priests singing and the choir responding. I could hear people around me singing quietly with the choir. At one point, two of the priests and one of the lay persons began a reading from one of the Gospels, in English, Russian, and Yup'ik.

We finally began to lose some steam at about 3:30 am. At about 3:45, we decided to head for home to get some water and use the bathroom. Upon arrival, it became clear that we were in for the night. Both of us were very tired, and someone thinks that the lingering sore throat and swollen gland in my neck means that I have some sort of exotic condition. Mononucleosis. Don't ya love armchair diagnosis?

A few hours of sleep sort of helped, but I was pretty groggy and unfocused for most of the day. In the evening, I got an invitation to steam from Joe. He described parts of the service that went on after we left. Next year, I intend to get more sleep, and make it through the whole night.

Today was a confusing day. We started late, to accomodate the Pascha vigil. We let out early, to let people attend the funeral of an elder. Tomorrow begins testing week. It will be interesting.

Wow...

A truly beautiful and moving celebration. We went to the church for Pascha last night. An amazing sight. The church dark, save for a single votive candle hanging from a cross. The congregation in its Easter finery, men and boys in suits and ties, women and girls in beautiful dresses. The service actually began Saturday night at 11:30, so we continued in the near darkness until after midnight, when we proceeded around the church several times, to the accompaniment of bells and gunshots. The celebration had begun.

More with pictures tomorrow. We were up late last night and kind of listless today. Must finish lesson plans for testing week.

23 Loaves

...of Pascha bread got taken to the church, and Joe got some surprise wood for his steam. A good day so far. Now the alarm is about to go off at 11:00 pm, to awaken us for the 11:30 church service. Folks seemed very excited to see us show up, and now we will see how long we can stay up through the service. Pictures to follow...

Up To Date

My throat feels better, I got some sleep, and the power didn't go out all that long this morning. It has become an everyday occurrence, but it is just something to work around for about 10-30 minutes until the juice comes back on. Boo is snoring softly on the couch, my sweetie is on the computer in sunglasses, and we are going to get some stuff done today.

I need to send tax payments to Washington and Lansing, and I want to get some sort of lesson plan knocked together for the gaps in this week. I have also got to get my reading material organized for test proctoring this week. So far, it's a book called "Four Against the Arctic," which is turning into an interesting read, the magic Kindle, with "Nixonland" as the main focus, and "Infinite Jest," which is turning into one of those read-it-off-and-on-over-a-long-period-of-time books.

The house could use some cleaning, and I need to go to the post office to mail some stuff. Busy, busy. After being sick some more and just hanging around napping, busy sounds good.

Tonight is the beginning of the Pascha celebration. I will be at the church, and Father Vasily says that pictures are OK. I hope to try to convey a little of the feel for the service, which I have as yet to experience. Time and sleep permitting, I will have pictures (no videos) up tomorrow.

Oh By The Way...

The power went out yesterday during breakfast preparation. Five in a row. Just for perspective's sake, these events seldom last longer than half an hour, and they are not that long very often. The biggest inconvenience has been the alarm clock on a work day when do we have to get up thing. Not so horrible. I am told that these events tend to go in cycles. It will be interesting to see how long this one lasts.

More Pix From Cama-i

Sorry

...that I haven't been able to load videos from Cama-i last weekend, although I have tried several times. I think that it is because the district blocks Google video now. The reason that I believe that is that I went back to look at a couple of videos that I did load back in September, and they are now not available for me to see. I have some pictures, but I really think that video captures the amazing spirit of Cama-i, which is all about movement. I will put up the pix anyway.

That weekend was a great deal of fun, including our last new teacher inservice at the district office, where I got to see some familiar faces, and have some very pleasant conversations. The day itself was sunny and beautiful, and presented the perfect opportunity for a truck ride on the river. The photos of the sign in one of the previous posts was taken at the northern approach to the slough here, which looks amazingly like a freeway off-ramp to those of us that grew up with that sort of thing.

We came back for the purpose of picking up a couple of kids from the village and taking them back to Bethel for the evening's festivities. There was traditional Yup'ik dancing, break dancing, and a Taiko drumming group from Anchorage. Great stuff. On Sunday, we hopped on the snogo and went back for some more dancing and some shopping among the crafter's tables. Many true artists with fur, grass, and assorted other media. I finally got that pair of mittens that I had been promising myself for cold weather.

The district provided us rookies with a three day pass, for which I was thankful. I have been waiting for the chance to attend Cama-i since I first knew about it. I was definitely impressed and cannot wait until next year's festival.

Confused...

We will try this again tomorrow...Blogger seems to be having major issues tonight. I hope to get up some videos and text. Everything that I wrote tonight went into the black hole, and it's late. Maybe Easter weekend will be more propitious for posting.

Home Sweet Home, Napas...

P.S.

The power went out again early this morning. Four in a row. Cama-i movies will be up as soon as I learn how to edit on iMovie.

Dang, It Hurts To Swallow...

...and I am glad for the Good Friday Holiday tomorrow. I need some sleep, although my melatonin seems to have picked now to not work so well.

The dark days of testing are nearly upon us, and I find my blood pressure rising for various reasons. It becomes increasingly clear that our Secretary of Education has declared open season on teachers, finding that the solution to the perception of failure is to sack the staff. Maybe we could have witch trials and burnings at the stake. Meanwhile, I am in a data class at the University of Alaska in which the professor is discussing how inappropriate it is to attach high-stakes consequences to a test as narrowly based as the SBA. The idea of accountability has morphed into an obsession with test scores.

We will descend into that nether region next week, and it seems that all who enter should abandon hope. We collectively find ourselves imprisoned in the school for the entire day by the test regimen. No one may leave. All communications devices are confiscated. Maybe we need to be patted down for mirrors, lest we use them to signal the answers across the river to Oscarville. Paranoia abounds. Speaking of Oscarville, it sounds as if under their regimen, even the teachers are banned from computer use during the long hours of tedium. This crap goes on all week. I will not even begin to discuss the level of official panic about this whole thing. It turns us all into gremlins. Just awful.

For the last straw, the state department of education has mandated the imposition of an SBA "survey" on parents and students. (No, they aren't asking us what we think.) The language of the thing is impenetrable education jargon, the tone is patronizing, and the phrasing of the questions is wildly skewed towards support and approval of The Sacred Test. This is what scared adults look like, Johnny...

I have actually been asked to share the thing by a couple of people who were impressed by its potential as a comedic device. Welcome to education, kids.

On a more positive note, classes have actually been fun, for the most part, and the week is flying by. I have signed my contract for next year and have turned it in to the boss. We have been assigned our roles for the big test week, and I have been assigned my role for culture week, which follows testing week. I will be a beading maven. I was thinking about carving, but the knives are expensive, and my DIY skills are not great. I am looking forward to the simple relaxation of just doing something (as well as the fact that the semester is nearly over). My kids and I seem to be getting along better. It is probably because I am more relaxed. Maybe the nightmare of first year teacher is nearing a quiet end.

On that note, I am wondering about the continuation of this blog. I notice that my postings have fallen off in the last month, and it may be that I am just running out of things to say. I also note a decided lack of comments, and wonder if anyone still reads this thing. If no one is listening, maybe it is time for the road to come to an end...

Finally, it is April 1st, the birthday of the bestest puppy dog in the world. He has been my faithful companion for nearly eight years. Even though he snores like a small engine, I still love him. Happy birthday, Boo...