It was 101 degrees when I got off the plane

Do you guys know how glad I was when this blog went bold on Google Reader?

Home's pretty okay-- nice to see the fam but I don't think I could spend more than a week here before I became REALLY bored.

My favorite moment so far was at Jonah's award ceremony the other night. He was receiving an award for participation in the special olympics. Of course, when they called his name, he was too scared to get up in front of everyone, so he threw himself on the floor and covered his ears. As his big sister, knowing what's best for him, I dragged him up to the edge of the crowd, pulled him to his feet, and pushed him out into the open.

Quickly, he realized how much he loved this attention. So many people standing and clapping, all just for HIM! So he walked as slowly as possible, pausing on occasion to cup his hand over his ear and urge the crowd on for more clapping with his other arm. If it died down, he would start it up again. He finally made it up to the front (to accept the award from our mother, btw, the head of the school board), when he took an ENORMOUS bow and spent at least one more full minute creeping away while applauding himself before I dragged him off. I thought I would die with laughter. He cannot NOT make a scene.

Hope you guys are having more eventful times than I am... Off to Oregon on Sunday though! Terrifying.

brawlmore

I mentioned this to a lot of people, but the Baltimore Freedom Academy is one of the coolest places in the world. I might work there after I graduate. It's a charter school, so they don't have to do standardized testing. There's about 400 students overall, chosen by lottery through the Baltimore City system. The curriculum is open. It's all project-based learning. So teaching geometry would involve, for example, planning and building a garden. Teaching government would involve doing research and interviews with city social workers.

My mom might teach English there next year. She just had an interview.

When she went in, she ran into Bill Zorzi.



Zorzi wrote for The Baltimore Sun for 20 years, and then was a writer for The Wire. He actually played himself in the 5th season, if anyone recognizes him. He is now the journalism teacher at the Freedom Academy.

According to wikipedia, "As a reporter Zorzi has been described as tough and cranky...He is an acerbic and profane presence." Kind of an understatement for anyone that has seen the show.

Post-Carleton, if I worked at a 400-student charter school with my mom and Bill Zorzi, I'd be pretty happy.

In other home news, I'm happy, busy and sweaty (it's miserably humid). I've gone to the zoo, 2 hangout roofs and 3 of my favorite restaurants in less than 24 hours.

I'm particularly excited about seeing these guys on Saturday:

Overheard in Charlottesville

Hey.

As I walked back to the lab from lunch today I overheard two really depressing conversations. Both occurred within the same 2 block span in designated smoking areas outside of the hospital. Both people speaking were older ladies. And both were weathered looking, low level hospital employees. The conversations are transcribed as best as I can remember, meaning nearly verbatim.

Conversation one:

"So then after my husband got laid off and tried to kill himself I decided that I should try to kill myself. After I got out of the hospital we were both put on anti-depressants and it's really strengthened our relationship."

Conversation two:

"That's the problem with marrying an alcoholic: they're either hittin' you 'cause they're drunk, or they're hittin' you 'cause you're tryin' to stop 'em from gettin' drunk."

Summer oh eight boys.

Oh, and here's the video we watched in the backyard the other day. Dan asked me to post it so here it is:



Xoxo