Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

UffishThought wrote:Yayyy, I just got a new job. Well, the same job (substitute) with a new district. But it's good because it means I get to do another longterm gig.

Woooo!

One of the girls I subbed for in my last longterm job died this morning. Turns out she was fighting cancer, but didn't want to tell anyone, so neither I, nor the regular teacher, nor other children knew. Dang. And she was so friendly and smart and just 15, and I know cancer is no respecter of persons, but it makes it even more jarring, somehow.

UffishThought wrote:One of the girls I subbed for in my last longterm job died this morning. Turns out she was fighting cancer, but didn't want to tell anyone, so neither I, nor the regular teacher, nor other children knew. Dang. And she was so friendly and smart and just 15, and I know cancer is no respecter of persons, but it makes it even more jarring, somehow.

Wow. That is rough.

UffishThought wrote:One of the girls I subbed for in my last longterm job died this morning. Turns out she was fighting cancer, but didn't want to tell anyone, so neither I, nor the regular teacher, nor other children knew. Dang. And she was so friendly and smart and just 15, and I know cancer is no respecter of persons, but it makes it even more jarring, somehow.

What a sad situation. Hugs to you and the other teachers and students.

Tuesday night Random and I learned that we had about a month to leave our current house or pay $1000 in rent. Tonight we signed a year-long contract for a nice apartment at a decent rental rate and with ALL of the $350+ (per person) signing fees waived. I can't believe it was this easy!

bobtheenchantedone wrote:Tuesday night Random and I learned that we had about a month to leave our current house or pay $1000 in rent. Tonight we signed a year-long contract for a nice apartment at a decent rental rate and with ALL of the $350+ (per person) signing fees waived. I can't believe it was this easy!

$350 per person?!?!?! (Am I correct in assuming that none of those fees applied to things like deposit or first/last month's rent?) Were the fees that high because you had to sign all the paperwork in gold ink or something? I've rented a lot of apartments and those signing fees are outrageous.

No, that would've included a deposit. $250 deposit, $100 cleaning fee, $35 application fee. And no first or last months, just the partial amount for half of March.

Now I wonder - with no deposit to dangle like a carrot, how do they ensure we be nice to the apartment?

bobtheenchantedone wrote:Now I wonder - with no deposit to dangle like a carrot, how do they ensure we be nice to the apartment?

Cleaning check fines?

My brother is happy, well-adjusted, and eating with me at Parisian bistros (in Utah, granted ...). If there are ever questions on the Board about "is life possible after a mission cut short?" send 'em my way! :)

Ponette is showing at the International Cinema at 5:00 PM tonight. Someone go as my proxy! I love that movie!

Portia wrote:My brother is happy, well-adjusted, and eating with me at Parisian bistros (in Utah, granted ...). If there are ever questions on the Board about "is life possible after a mission cut short?" send 'em my way!

Yay! I'm glad he's doing okay.

Looks like I'm going to be teaching Speak again! New things since the last time: Steubenville. Maybe I can work it in, somehow. Also I just saw this, but it might be a bit much for the kids. Also they probably don't love Indian movie stars like I do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hC0Ng_ajpY

Also going to teach Things Fall Apart and Cry, the Beloved Country. It's been a while since I read either. Guess I better get started!

Oh, also, please enjoy this excerpt from the sub manual.

"Controversial issues are not intended to be part of the regular school curriculum. Controversial issues include religion, race, politics and gender. DO NOT DISCUSS. "

Uh, pretty sure with those three books, I cover all the controversial issues it mentions. And then some. Hopefully no one gets offended and complains about me to the school, because there's no way I can cover those books WITHOUT discussing their controversial issues. It's like the Garden of Eden all up in here! Would you rather I multiply and reproduce, or would you rather I not eat the fruit? Because I can't do both at the same time.

I understand that video is satirical (especially when they showed the picture of someone in an astronaut suit), but it was still kind of hard to watch.

UffishThought wrote:"Controversial issues are not intended to be part of the regular school curriculum. Controversial issues include religion, race, politics and gender. DO NOT DISCUSS."

If you pretend race and gender don't exist, they don't. ;-)

I get so excited when Mormons are mentioned in my annotation work: "apw200102:In addition, Mormons tend to have large families, making day care expensive and providing further impetus for mothers to avoid the office, said Tim Heaton, a sociologist at Brigham Young University." An article from 2001.

mic0 wrote:I get so excited when Mormons are mentioned in my annotation work: "apw200102:In addition, Mormons tend to have large families, making day care expensive and providing further impetus for mothers to avoid the office, said Tim Heaton, a sociologist at Brigham Young University." An article from 2001.

This Ensign article from 1990 exhausted me. (Although considering this TNR article, some of its concerns are probably not unfounded.) I was really jealous of the kids who got to stay in Extended Care in elementary school.

Portia wrote:

UffishThought wrote:"Controversial issues are not intended to be part of the regular school curriculum. Controversial issues include religion, race, politics and gender. DO NOT DISCUSS."

If you pretend race and gender don't exist, they don't.

Last week in Ms. Emiliana's English III class we had a Socratic seminar on feminist issues in literature. Now we're spending 3+ weeks on the Harlem Renaissance. I <3 my job.

Emiliana wrote:

Portia wrote:

UffishThought wrote:"Controversial issues are not intended to be part of the regular school curriculum. Controversial issues include religion, race, politics and gender. DO NOT DISCUSS."

If you pretend race and gender don't exist, they don't. ;-)

Last week in Ms. Emiliana's English III class we had a Socratic seminar on feminist issues in literature. Now we're spending 3+ weeks on the Harlem Renaissance. I <3 my job.

If you wanted to share a reading list, I'd be interested.