A NEW BLOG

Hey everybody. My at-risk English students have started a blog in order to get their writing out there for people to read. Each Friday,they will be posting their best work of the week (keep in mind everything is relative! lol). At this time, they are posting poetry. Last week was haiku, this week will be quatrains and cinquains. They have been very excited to get comments from Vinny and Travis. (thanks darlings)

Please, if you have a minute, check it out and leave comments. The kids are very encouraged by the feedback, and it makes them want to write more, which is a miracle in itself. I have even noticed an increase in the overall efforts in their writing, because they are conscious of the fact that someone else is going to be reading their stuff.

The blog address is: crhsenglishclass.blogspot.com and there is a link on my blog.

Hugs and many thanks, my sweet friends.

BLOGGER'S BLOCK

I've been suffering from bloggers block, or whatever you want to call it. It's the worst case I've ever had, and every time I come here to blog, I freeze. My brain seems to shut off.

I want to post music, but I can't figure it out any more. Pictures aren't catching my interest much, so there's no inspiration to be found there. Still can't figure out the video thing. I've been sick a lot lately, so there's nothing interesting going on in my life ... well ... there is this one thing, but I'm not sure how that's going to work out, so I'm keeping my mouth shut about it for now. In its own time, my friends ...

I can't seem to work up any great enthusiasm for anything, in fact, even though under normal circumstances, I'd have plenty to say about some of the stuff that's been happening around the world, but to my shame, I can't seem to build up a good head of steam. I don't even want to do any of those fun little memes that are usually so entertaining.

So this, in fact, is a blog about nothing. I have nothing to say, no thoughts on any important issues and no opinions or experiences to share. The "Seinfeld" of blogs ... and I don't even care about that ...

NEMERIF YXES

There's been a lot of hype lately on my Yahoo Group about a certain profession that shall remain nameless (mostly because I've never been banned from anything and I don't wish to be banned at this point in my life, either).
So today, I wanted to do something special for my friends of the SP, and acknowledge the ... attributes ... of the members of this select (and might I add, "delectable") profession. Hope you enjoy ...

For those of you who were wondering about this last picture,

yes, my Victor is now a nemerif yxes, as well ...

WEIRD WEDNESDAY

I kinda feel like this is a bit of a cop-out, but I found some interesting pictures over the past few months that might make you ask yourself "WTF?" Some of them, yu've seen before, but their very weirdness wins them a place on my Weird Wednesday post. So now I'm passing them along to you, with love and the hopes that they will bring a smile to your face.

Last year, it was all about the music ... this year, American Idol seems to have chosen a whole new focus ...

Is there any musician on this planet weirder than Ziggy Stardust? Other than Michael Jackson, of course ...

Ok, further proof of the inherent ugliness of cats is no longer needed ... in truth, I feel kinda sorry for this kitty ... how embarrassing ...

The great Canadian comic, Martin Short in the admittedly spastic role of Ed Grimley. How I adored this man on the SCTV show ... check him out at EdGrimley.com

Wish I could find this particular stuffed bunny ... I love a toy with attitude.

Aren't they cute? Unlike the real KISS members ...

Perhaps the most disturbing of my collection ...

TUESDAY BLUES DAY, vol. 1

Most people would agree that I am normally a pretty laid-back, easygoing kind of person. However, today, my pleasant outlook on the world was shattered when I came to the unpleasant realization that I needed to shut down the hard-won guitar program that I had worked so hard to build in my first 7 years at my school as music specialist.

The reason? After 5 years of fundraising and scrounging, I had accumulated 15 secondhand purchased or donated guitars. I had put in hundreds of hours of planning, fundraising, searching, bargain-hunting and repairing.

Today, I came back to my classroom after a week of sick-leave to find that 7 of these guitars were now broken beyond repair, 3 had been deliberately dismembered, leaving me with 5 aging, barely playable guitars.

I am sickened, because these instruments were not simply the result of long, unpaid hours of work on my part, but also a labour of love. If you've read my blog in the past, you know how much I care about my students. This is a small, rural school. I want my students to have the same advantages as a larger, urban school.

It seems that the students do not feel as I do. Tomorrow, I will make the announcement to my classes, along with the reasons why the program is being discontinued. The administration and I came to the same conclusion after examining the reamins of my stable of guitars. Most of the damage had been done deliberately. There is no purpose served by continuing to repair and outfit instruments that will not be treated with respect.

To say that I am devastated by this is an understatement. I feel betrayed, used, disrespected. I have no stomach for teaching these little vandals at this time. It's in the back of my mind that maybe, just maybe, this should be my last year as a classroom teacher.