The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Things I Love About Phoenix 1. Mountains and palm trees 2. Lightning 3. My job 4. Rachel cooking me dinner 5. Watching True Blood with Rachel 6. Rachel and Mico's hot roommate 7. La Grande Orange 8. You can always find parking 9. Washer and dryer in-unit 10. Groupon always has spa coupons here, so I've got appointments almost every weekend 11. Trinity Mennonite Church Things I Don't Love About Phoenix 1. It's hot 2. It's brown 3. Most of my favorite people are not here

My team consists of 5 teachers- 3 men and 2 women. The other woman doesn't eat lunch with us, so it's just me and 3 boys. They are close to my age, although they are married and have kids. At first, they were polite and quiet around me. I was worried they didn't like me. But then last week, I made a stupid comment about how I've always had a secret crush on Eminem and kind of want to marry him. (He needs a nice girl after that awful girl, Kim.) No one seemed to hear me, and I was grateful because I couldn't believe that came out of my mouth. We had a staff meeting the next day. I was sitting there talking to someone when all of a sudden a bag of peanut M&Ms landed on the table in front of me. I looked up in confusion and saw Jacob, my teammate, standing there laughing. "I know how much you love them," he said. "I know you want to marry them." My face turned bright red as my coworkers gave me puzzled looks, and I knew I was in trou

It finally happened. I got homesick. I knew it had to happen sooner or later. I'm just embarrassed it happened so soon. I'm starting to really miss people. Yesterday I talked to my friend Kris and mentioned how I was feeling. She said, "You know if you ever need us, Whitney and I would be on the next plane." (Whitney, I hope you don't mind that Kris spoke for you. :)) And I desperately wanted to say, "Yes! Come here! Now!" But I didn't. Because I don't really need them, I just want them. Then I was bombarded by texts from family members and family friends all at the same time, wishing me luck on my first day of school. And I knew they were all hanging out, and I really wanted to be there. I went to Rachel's for our weekly viewing of True Blood (LOVING this season, by the way), and was better for a while. But as soon as I got in the car, I was sad again. On the drive home, I called Pete and was literally boo hooing about the fact that it was 1

I have always sucked at decorating my classroom. I don't know how teachers just seem to have this natural ability to decorate beautiful, kid-friendly spaces. My goal this year was to have a nice classroom, and my friend Nicole recommended a Hollywood theme. I fell in love with this idea. I worked really hard all week, and here's what I've done with the space. Looking at these pictures, it really doesn't look like much. The first one is my word wall with my classroom library below it. There aren't many books yet, but that will change when I finish bringing my books from home. The posters on the left are my metacognitive strategies, and the ones on the right are my classroom rules and consequences. I have big tables in my classroom, and in the middle of each table is a popcorn container with extra pencils, a sharpener, stapler, and 3 hole punch. There are also tissues at each table so the kids won't have to get up and disrupt class as much. I got posters and the

Dear Mr. President, So it’s Saturday night, and I’m not feeling well, so I stayed in. Independence Day was on TV, and I got sucked in. Watching it made me feel like I needed to write you a letter. I just wanted to tell you that I think you’re doing a good job. We all need to hear that sometimes. If we were ever attacked by aliens, I would totally trust you to get us through it, just like Bill Pullman does in the movie. Not that I believe in aliens or anything. I’m just saying, if there is a crisis, I’d want you in charge. Remember when the Dixie Chicks had all that drama because they said they were ashamed that the president was from Texas? Well, I’m from Chicago (grew up in Naperville, but lived at 18th & Halsted for the past several years), and I am always proud to say you are from Chicago. Thank you for all your hard work and sacrifice on our behalf. Hope Michelle and the girls had fun in Spain. Can’t wait to vote for you again! Sincerely, Erin

I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Except I guess the first shoe hasn't dropped yet, so I'm just waiting for any shoe to drop. I like everything about my district so far. Let me list all the wonderful things: 1. My principal is givine me $100 to spend at the teachers' store and said to let him know if I need more. 2. The administration loves that I'll be using Reader's Workshop and doesn't mind that I'll only be using the textbook occasionally. 3. The school is nice and new, and my classroom has a Smart Board. (Which actually kind of scares me, because I know nothing about it.) 4. I get a MacBook to use for the year. 5. My team is really nice and helpful. 6. I am in one of the worst neighborhoods in Phoenix. Apparently Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the world, and my neighborhood is where most of the kidnappings take place. Gangs are a huge issue, too. I don't think these are good things, but I'm excited to be teaching in this area. Li

I knew that moving to a new town alone would mean that I'd have to jump in and be as social as possible. So I took my friend's advice and tried a Meetup group. I'm so glad I did! We went to First Friday, which is a pretty big thing here in Phoenix. Lots of other cities have it, too (2nd Fridays in Chicago were in my own freakin neighborhood and I never managed to go), but Phoenix goes all-out. The streets are blocked off, there are street performers and bands and art galleries and bars. I was kind of nervous about the Meetup group. What if they weren't cool? What if they were too cool? But they were so great. There were a couple of kind of socially awkward people there, but they were nice, so it was fine. We went to some galleries, then to a bar, then out to eat, then back to someone's apartment. A very busy night. I had a great time and I'm hanging out with them again this Friday. But somehow, these two boys in my life managed to cause drama from 18

I have anxiety issues. I have for about 6 years, since my first year teaching. My ex and I would talk on the phone every morning, and he would ask how I'd slept the night before. This is when I began to notice that it frequently took me two hours to fall asleep because I couldn't stop thinking. This escalated into panic attacks. I don't panic in a stressful situation. It's a slow process where I'm stressed out for a long time, and all of a sudden I'll be driving to Wal-Mart one day, perfectly happy, and all of a sudden I feel my chest getting tight and a few minutes later I'm gasping for breath. It's stupid and I hate it and all I can say is, thank God for Xanax. I thought that moving would bring on multiple panic attacks because of the long-term stress involved in the situation- dealing with the movers, leaving my family and friends, starting a new job, figuring out a new city, etc. But I'm fine. And actually, I'm kind of freaked out that