Curtain call

There are few pleasures as deeply satisfying as seeing someone use a gift that you have given to him or her. Months after the birthday, holiday, or the occasion that called for a celebration has passed, to see the person take out your gift, now worn with use and love, fills the heart with a sense of meaning.

I love giving useful gifts that blend seamlessly into life's routines to remind the person of your love for them in the most mundane moments. It is perhaps this love of useful gifts that makes teaching so attractive to me.

It's a dream of mine to have students come back to me in the future and to say that they've learned something useful to their lives. And this fantasy seems acutely out of reach in years such as this past one, where the 9 month school year journey seemed long and weary. But as I made the announcement, "Ok, take your warm up notebook home today, because that was the very last English warm up we'll do", I felt a wave of sadness and premature nostalgia for times gone by.

A year can be hard, easy, heart-wrenching, or unemotional. But it goes by quickly, a blip in the road of life. I wish that I had shown more empathy, compassion, and love to those 150 hooligans. But most of all, I hope that I've given them the gift of knowledge to use forever.

Because you loved me

There are some things that will never go out of style...

Chanel,

Caviar,

Compassion,

and Celine Dion.

From my mom who can barely speak English but belts out "The Power of love" verbatim to the teen phenomenon Charice Pempengco, everyone seems to melt for Celine.


It is the last week of school and I'm planning to teach my very last lesson using Celine's "Because you loved me". Chock full of idioms and metaphors, this song lends itself perfectly to the thank you card project I've assigned. Students must write a card to whomever has helped them academically their tumultuous journey called "The Seventh Grade" using figurative language in their writing.


I'm hoping that Celine inspires them to eloquently express their gratitude. And that they enjoy this KOST FM classic as much as I do.


Because you loved me


You gave me wings and made me fly
You touched my hand I could touch the sky
I lost my faith, you gave it back to me
You said no star was out of reach

You stood by me and I stood tall
I had your love, I had it all
I'm grateful for each day you gave me

Maybe, I don't know that much
But I know this much is true
I was blessed because
I was loved by you

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me

Menu du jour: Perspective

A day off of work.

Waking up at 10:30 am

Breakfast- pain au chocolat and a cappuccino

Right as 4th period is ending.

Attending a friend's birthday party,

Watching the curling smoke of a blown out wick,

and just like that,

Time disappears before my very eyes.

Only 8 hours in a school day,

A window of opportunity to build greatness

or brew a pot of percolating stress.

Ending the day by writing an essay in the hopes of scoring a trip to Paris & London

because I am, after all, in the business of hope.