Teachers of America, Unite!

I, too, could use Grandmother's "evil eye," Pacie! And possibly some help for what to do when a student responds to a unit test question about Du Bois's conception of the "veil" with a reference to "baby cow meat." Sigh. I feel like a failure some days.

Meanwhile, I decided to try eHarmony.com and have been laughing ever since! These people are psycho! One of the guys, on his "introductory profile," claimed that his top three favorite things were -- eating a gourmet meal, cooked by you; watching t.v.; and making love on the sofa. Nice. How do these loonies survive? THAT'S your introduction to new people?? Maybe I don't belong on eHarmony. I realize that I am loony, but not advertiser-of-sofa-porn loony. Also have been dating some guys who actually exist (and, apparently, do not require a gourmet slave cook or routine couch sex), and that has been interesting, too. I'm tired of being told I'm "intriguing". I KNOW that that is just another word for crazy.

In other news, this weekend, Kiere and I are puppy-sitting for a friend who is going out of town. I realized how far I still have to go in life when Kim gave me the orientation to her washer and drier. These things are like spaceships -- alive with all these penetrating blue lights and a million different options that blink at you like alien code, and when Kim pushed the "play" button on the washer, I swear I thought it was going to lift off to Mars. Yeah. I am still walking down apartment complex stairs past my drunken neighbor across the way (who always leaves her door open just to torment Kiere who can't get to her) to get to a communal washer that requires a pre-paid laundry card before it will pretend to clean your clothes. Meanwhile, I told Kim that house-sitting for her was going to be a big freakin' vacation for me -- like going to a bed and breakfast or a chateau or something. They have a solar-powered fountain in their backyard. Kim chilled some expensive wine for me to drink while I stay over there (because they don't drink white wine . . .) Yes. And I have $1.00 apiece t.v. dinners, and dead plants in my balcony flower box.

(laughing)

I do have some photographs up on the walls, and I do like my new place, though it doesn't compare to some of my friends' set-ups. The neighborhood is lovely, and I'm close enough to the big arroyo that runs through Santa Fe to walk Kiere there -- it's my favorite place to be. It's worth a million drunk neighbors and a hundred trips to the lousy washing machine room downstairs. Last week, a coyote crossed the arroyo right in front of us. We also see quail and other strange birds, and squirrels that live in holes in the ground. The train goes across it if we go just as the sun is setting, and it's so lonely and beautiful and whole there. It makes me feel that everything in life must be connected.

I guess I really am starting over . . . except for school, which seems to have been going on for YEARS -- how many weeks have we really been working, anyway?

Take care everyone -- I'll be on holiday at Kim's house until Sun.

love,
em