The Ying and Yang of Teaching 11

Here are some of the highlights from the past few weeks:

• I had to tell two eighth-graders to stop throwing snowballs. It resulted in one of them calling me a cabron to my back. One of my fourth-grades ratted him out. I then called the principal and we approached the student. Let's just say this kid has major issues, and at one point he got angry for getting caught and got all banji and started punching his palms. It could have gotten ugly. 
• Last week, while cleaning up my room after my class party,  I gave a group of fourth-grade girls the last few bags of Doritos snack-size bags, as they passed my room. It was a random act of generosity. Today, one of the girls saw me coming in and she yelled, "You gave me a bag of Doritos! You rock!" I laughed and smiled most of the morning.
• Yesterday, one of my students told me he and his sister need coats for the winter weather, but their mother doesn't have the money to buy them. They have both been wearing hoodies during these chilly weeks. My amazing school keeps a supply of coats for students in this predicament. I got both students this morning, took them to the storage room and they walked away smiling with their new coats, gloves and hats. 
• I am seeing progress with comprehension in my reading groups when I preload comprehension questions, so that the students read with purpose, while emphasizing "pause and reflect" while we read together. 

Random Thoughts

• I have made some choices with my coins this month that has left me in a financial bind! I need to stop being lazy and focus on my bottom line. There was no need for me to be so broke that it choked. I am forgiving myself, applying the lesson learned and moving forward.
• Hey Mitt! Dude, mama bear Barbara Bush said, "People spoke. Move on, get on with it. I want to do other things and not to be ugly." Learn it and live it. 
• I am going back and forth on choosing country sausage or sweet Italian sausage, for my stuffing this year. Ahhh fuck! Now, chorizo came to mind. 
• I am thankful for RuPaul's Drag Race on Mondays. Drag Queens are proof that God wants us to be happy. 
• Any action and every thought that had fear, apathy, greed and/or dishonesty as its soil, will bear bitter fruit. 

Guy Gets Dissed!

The NYT printed one beat-down of a review for Guy Fieri's new restaurant in Times Square. Here is a sampling:

"Did you notice that the menu was an unreliable predictor of what actually came to the table?"

"How did nachos, one of the hardest dishes in the American canon to mess up, turn out so deeply unlovable?"

"Why did the toasted marshmallow taste like fish?

I gagged while reading this review. I thought Guy had a respect for food that has integrity; even if it is a pulled-pork sandwich. He seems to celebrate good-quality food on his show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. 

Well, the place has a gift shop and is in the right location for the tourists that think Red Lobster and Applebee's is fine dining. It will make some cute coin for about a year and close up shop. 

Hey, ya remember when Emeril Lagasse was the man? 

The Village Voice found some more shade thrown at the restaurant. I have to wonder if Guy was even there for the first few weeks.

Haiku In Honor of Pres. Obama's Re-election

I am so looking forward to seeing what Pres. Obama does during his second term. He is older and wiser.

He knows how the game is played and all the shady that goes down in D.C.

He better turn it out and get it done.

He doesn't need to make enemies, but he should leave some haters and blockers sucking their teeth and rolling their eyes. You know who they are Pres. Obama. I know you have your list.

And, now a Haiku!

the second time around

people said forward
give them the leader they need
trustworthy and brave

This Nuyorican Queer B-Boy Nerd Showed Up...Dassit!