“I touch the future. I teach.“– Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986)

I received that quote on a little card along with a pin from my district’s HR office when I began my teaching career, and it still is tacked prominently on the bulletin board behind my desk.

McAuliffe, slated to become the first teacher in space, died 25 years ago today along with six other U.S. astronauts in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, on the same day my friend Jen was born.

Life truly is a circle.

I missed two days doesn’t mean my plan has derailed. I knew an every-single-day streak was unsustainable, but I went for lucky 13 to start the new year. I’m not destined to be the Cal Ripken of Xanga– and besides, baseball has off days, and an offseason for that matter. Which brings me to the matter of sports. So far as I’ve ever seen, there’s just never been much sports talk on Xanga, and I’ve always wondered why. Yes, I know there are dozens of other large sports network websites where people can post and discuss, but you’d think that of the millions* of Xanga users, someone would have had a sports-devoted blog large enough to get noticed. Anyhow, my Falcons were beat– badly– in their NFL playoff game this weekend. It’s so hard in football because you get so excited for your team in the postseason, especially when they earn the #1 seed in the conference, but then it’s all over in just one game, unlike other sports that play best-of-x series in their playoffs.

I could go on, and on, but as I said, I don’t know that there’s much audience for sports blogs here. Maybe I’ll test the waters later.

Tomorrow is MLK Day, which unfortunately is treated as nothing more than a three-day weekend– with no mind to why we’re commemorating the day– to most who get Monday off; and those who have to work mainly just resent those who don’t. There are few people among us who are truly ready to sacrifice everything, including their own lives, for a worthy cause and to promote “liberty and justice for all” through their actions and not just empty words.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Brings the end of our first full week of 2011… and basketball… and then a three-day weekend. I’m good. Hope you are too.

It’s really rather pathetic when I descend into my office, sit at my desk (a table, really) and attempt to grade… and by about the third paper (nothing really serious here either… worksheets on using punctuation) I am nodding off. Sit upright but head drooping like a withering flower on a hot day. No wonder it takes me so long. I do love teaching in general, but ask me what parts of the job I really dislike, and it will never be dealing with kids… it’s sitting far away from the kids, with a stack of papers in front of me. The “G” word. Me no likey.

I do not like to see a weather forecast with a minus sign.

I like walking outside at such times even less.

These are blog posts that could be tweets– if I did such things.

Happy 1/11/11.

Was hoping for one, but no. Certainly they had plenty back where I come from in Atlanta. We did go out to Old Chicago to watch the Avalanche vs. Red Wings game, although it was hard to see since all the TVs were tuned to the BCS championship, which I could pretty much care less about.

Monday’s over. Be happy.

Sadly, I think it did. With all the vitriolic rhetoric in American political discourse this past decade, something like what happened in Tucson yesterday may have been inevitable. But that doesn’t make it any better.

I hope someone sees the symbolism in the fact that the youngest victim of the shooting was born on September 11, 2001.

Sometimes I just click around and I stumble across someone talking about one of the “popular” Xangans, especially if said person has abandoned their site. Sometimes I can’t help but share my perspective, but this was one of my better extended metaphors, I think (left as a comment here):

Except that I’ve been here for TEN years. But this person nailed it when s/he said “so-called legends.” The Xangalaxy is like any other, full of many different types of stars. This guy must have been one of those blue supergiants, that burn extremely brightly but briefly, and end their existence in a supernova. In time, all that remains of them is a black hole. The Xangalaxy has many such black holes, once uber-popular bloggers who got all the attention for a brief stint. Who now remembers those who flamed out in 2001? 2002? Only those of us who have endured so long– and the vast majority of us are dwarf stars, yellow or even dimmer red, who matter only to the few planets in their orbit, or some simply solitary in the void. But while we’re hard to see, we continue to burn for far, far longer than the giant stars. As for those who actually care about popularity here, remember that no matter how bright you are, over 99% of the universe is simply empty space. There’s a whole lot more of nothing than there is of something. And the Xangalaxy, important as it may be to its inhabitants, is infinitesimally small and unknown in the universe of the Web.

Happy Saturday!

I just wanted to announce that. 

No changes at our school for the next 4-5 years… or that’s what they say for now.

I love playing basketball on Friday afternoons, even if I’m the worst player on the court. 

I love coming home to my wife and kids even more.

And I love my dog, even when she gets us up several times a night. 

We’re reading a book that I picked out– the student in class are, that is. First time in five years that I proposed a new book to buy and read. If you’re curious, it’s Three Cups of Tea (Young Readers Edition). Every seventh grader in our school will read it, most of them starting tomorrow. I’m pretty stoked about this. It’s a true and amazing story about one man who really is changing the world.

Also tomorrow morning, we have a staff meeting at 7:45 a.m. to find out what changes the district has in plan after the board meeting last night. If our building is affected at all, it will likely be to add 6th grade (we’re currently a 7/8 middle school). That would definitely change a lot, if it came to pass.

Happy Friday everyone!