Bat Dogs and Britney Spears

[Stage Notes:: Worn out]
[TV:: Home Improvement]

Normally I might type out an apology about not having written in a while, but lets face it, at this point it is just kinda obvious that change is most likely not going to happen. Truth is, I just haven't felt much like blogging. I do not even really know what to say.

My days tend to have the same basic structure to them. Get up, go to school, teach, each lunch, teach more, stay after school, come home, attempt to get things done, go to bed too late with not enough done, and repeat in the morning. I know that sounds rather bland and dull, and in truth the days are anything but when I am at school, but I do not know how best to convey everything that has been happening. At the end of next week, the first quarter will be over. Completely finished. 1/4 of my first year as a teacher will be done and I will have used 1/4 of the time that I have with the eighth grade. We actually thought one of the kids was going to be withdrawn this week, but fortunately he is still here. I think the best thing for him would be for him to stay the entire year, but his past and some of the drama that the girls are creating as a result of him have been making things difficult.

Outside of school, the last few weeks have been a blur of craziness with meeting new people and trying to get to know the area. I have been spending a lot of time with the JVCs, Dominican & Clarician volunteers. We have been to Stone Mountain for the laser show, worked at a fund raiser for the Sullivan Center, and gone to a couple Theology on Tap events.

Before I go, I thought I would share a couple of the more fun happenings:

One day when I was coming home from school, I was driving on the freeway and happened to notice a car ahead with a dog hanging its head out the window. Normally there would be absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about this except that in this case the dog was wearing goggles. Yup, that's right, goggles. They even looked custom made.

A few weeks ago I decided to get a haircut, and as per my usual, I chopped a bunch of hair off and cut it short (P.S. when I went to get my haircut, Kate and Elizabeth went as well. Between two hairdressers they had us all done in 20 minutes flat). Flash forward to the next day. When students come into the middle school, they come down a set of stairs that leads directly to my room, and when I looked up, there was a crowd surrounding my door. My haircut managed to set the whole middle school into a mild chaos. Kids would come to my door stare blankly, walk away to tell someone, and come back again. Mrs. D had to shoo the kids away. At the end of the day, I found out that some kids told Mrs. Abby that quote "Mr. Hepper went Britney Spears on us!"

Welcome to middle school!

Reporting Progress...

[Stage Notes:: Piles of papers strewn across the couches]
[TV:: Titanic]

Well, time has been flying by. As my friends and fellow teachers in Michigan await the start of their school years at the end of this Labor Day weekend, I am preparing progress report grades. That's right, I am almost half way through my first quarter. It still feels like I just started, though with each passing day, the summer at ND seems to be fading further and further into history. All in all, things are going fairly well.

The biggest surprise of this journey has been the people that I have met and the other volunteer organizations I have found out about. Yesterday I spent the day hanging out with my roommate, some people that are a part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corp and a Dominican Volunteer. Prior to yesterday, I really had never heard of either program. It is amazing to meet so many people that are so concerned with social justice. Our dinner conversation lasted for close to two hours discussing what each of us considers to be the biggest social justice issue of our generation. Of course then the night progressed into talking about being new to Atlanta and playing games of all sorts.

Well I just wanted to say hello because I have not been writing much. Now I must continue with my school work and prepare for the festivities of the next two days.

P.S. To all of my MDA family, I am sorry I cannot be there with you at all of the events going on today and tomorrow. Sadly I do not even get to see any of you on TV, but I will be watching the telethon and thinking of you :)