The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Things got even crazier today. The boy who made all the crazy threats showed up with his mom today. We had a meeting with the principal, and the boy received absolutely no consequences other than a lecture about how serious it was. Then, at the end of the day, a boy came up to me and quietly told me that there was a knife in someone's bag. Sure enough, there was. And not just a regular table knife, either. So now he can't come back to school until after the next board meeting, which is December 20. And he will most likely be expelled, which makes me sad because I've been working so hard with this boy. His dad is in prison, and it looks like he's on that path, too. I hoped I could change that, but now I won't even be seeing him anymore.

Oh wait, that's not me, that's my new student. He's crazy. Seriously. Last week was his first full week, if you can even call it that, since we only had two and a half days of school. He was the only one in the class to not get Fun Friday because he had three strikes on his behavior chart. He already had to have his seat moved because he kept making fun of the girl next to him. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, at the end of the day (very convenient timing, since there wasn't much I could do at that point), he told a girl he was going to stab her in the throat with scissors. Yesterday, he got caught using his cell phone in class. He was very angry (because the consequence is that I take it away and he can't get it back unless a parent comes in for it). So he told the girl who told on him that he is going to bring a gun to school tomorrow and shoot her. I just found out about this today. (By the way, isn't it kind of weird that he said he was going

I wasn't going to write about this, but this past week I've been thinking that I really am thankful for so many things. Although this isn't very original, I'm thankful for my family. I was thinking the other day about how a lot of my friends are under lots of pressure from their parents. Their parents pressure them to go into certain professions that will make them lots of money, to get married, to have kids, and all kinds of other things. I have never experienced that kind of pressure from my parents. In high school, the only expectations were that I go to church and get good grades. They never tried to push me into going to a certain college, or to hang out with certain people, or to be popular, or play sports. They were just completely supportive of the choices I made. I don't think they ever missed a choir concert, even when I was in college (except when I was on tour, of course). When I was in college, my parents never said anything to me about my major

Tonight I went to dinner at J. Alexander's. It was all right, but there was a definite lack of vegetarian options, so I didn't have much to choose from. Anyway, I was meeting a big group of people, so I walked in and said to the host, "Hi, I'm here for Hannah's birthday dinner." And he said her last name and gave me directions to where they were seated. And this very well-dressed middle aged lady standing nearby said, "That was just perfect." At first I thought she was talking to the host, but she was looking at me. I asked what she meant, and she said, "The way you just said that. You were so sweet. You just couldn't have said it nicer." And the host agreed. I was kind of flustered, so I said thank you and headed towards my friends' table. And as I walked away, the lady continued her review of my greeting- "The way she smiled.... and her tone of voice... just so sweet!" Okay, what kind of people does she usual

He's definitely a future Hawkeye.

I think he's the cutest Harry Potter ever. But I guess I'm a little biased.

I was reluctant to blog because now I think the Jesus video won't be on the main page of my blog anymore, and that makes me sad. I want everyone to see it! I went to see Fred Claus on Saturday with Faye. I liked it, but I didn't love it. But I did love Vince Vaughn; I want to marry him. The movie definitely got me in a Christams-y mood, which I feel guilty about. I don't want to just skip over Thanksgiving, but I'm so excited for Christmas! Nina was off work on Saturday night, so we decided to go out and celebrate our fabulousness. We got all dressed up and went to this amazing Italian restaurant called Gioco in South Loop. It was such a nice place, but most people were there on dates, so everyone probably thought we were lesbians. Oh well. Then we went to a martini bar, but we were definitely the youngest ones in there and felt out of place. So we headed over to this dessert bar called Carolina Caramel and had some delicious cake. Then we went to Lalo'

Remember in The Music Man when the ladies are all saying that Marian advocates dirty books? I am afraid I've put myself in the same position as Marian the Librarian, except with paintings. I'm taking my students to the Art Institute in a few weeks because I think they need to be exposed to culture and art. In preparation for this trip, they are researching Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists (because those are the tours we're going on). Tonight was parent-teacher conferences, and a mom was telling me about her son's research on Gaugin. I forgot that he painted lots of nudes, and her son keeps finding these pictures on the internet and getting all upset. He covers his eyes and makes his mom scroll down so he doesn't have to see naked women. (By the way, this is the student who I think is gay. Another student called him "cupcake" one day, and his reply was, "That's right; with frosting AND sprinkles!") Luckily, his mom is awes

Things have been just fabulous lately! On Friday night I just stayed in and read a romance novel. It was wonderful to read something just for fun! Saturday I cleaned and did homework and went to the mall. Then, that night, I went to a little get-together at Whitney's for her birthday! It was really nice; her friends are so much like my friends. Sunday I went to church and it was a beautiful service for All Saint's Day. I found out I'm officially becoming a member this Sunday. Then Sarah and I went to see Phantom of the Opera, and it was amazing!!!! I did not expect it to be that good. The girl who played Christine was phenomenal. Her name is Sarah Jean Ford. It was so great that I'm planning on going again with my mom over Christmas break. After Phantom, I had a house warming party to go to, which was also nice. Monday was busy busy busy. My kids were crazy, and I had a stupid meeting after school for the mentoring program I have to repeat. But then I met s

So this video keeps appearing on Facebook. I enjoy it because my students do this dance all the time. The other day, I got a performance at recess. They say they are going to teach me, which will be fun. But my question is, does anyone actually do this dance in public? Like, if I go out to a club and hear this song, will everyone start doing this dance? Last year my students taught me how to pop, lock and drop it. But when that song came on at the bar, I didn't see everyone dropping it. The only time I've seen that was at our 6th grade celebration (when my kids made a circle around me and I did the dance) and at Charity's wedding when we did it together. I also wonder where these dances come from and how everyone knows how to do them. My kids are always in the know about music and dances, but I didn't realize that even white suburban kids knew the Soulja Boy dance. Is it the rappers that come up with these dances? How do they spread so quickly? I have to sa