The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

I am teaching a section of writing this year. When my students finish an assignment, they have to write- letters, journal entries, stories, comics… anything they want, as long as they’re writing. Today I received this letter: Dear Ms. B., Ever since I came to this school, I felt like automatically I was going to fail 6 th grade because there’s this kid named Ben. He’s from my old school and he’s always saying stuff to me. He’s always saying that I have no friends and that I’m lonely. I really hate him. This morning I was sitting on the back of the bus and he threw a paper to me. But you know what, I don’t care because I come to school to learn, to be someone special when I grow up. I’m not gonna let a kid stand in the way of my dreams. I will keep learning. Sincerely, Jesus This kid is breaking my heart. I’m going to write back to him and try to encourage him. And then find this little punk who’s bullying him and make him regret

What a weekend! I heard about these waterfalls on the Hassayampa River and wanted to find them. It was a complicated process involving multiple maps and references, but we did it! I felt very accomplished. And as a bonus, we found this old mine structure full of amazing graffiti; the perfect place to throw a party! We were also intrigued by the fact that there is an active mining claim here... People are looking for gold! Lots of pretty cascades along the "river" Laura was climbing around on the falls and saw this cute little frog. She went to touch it, and it leaped off the ledge into the water. She was marveling about its eyesight, depth perception, etc., and I was like, “But what if he didn’t know he was going to make it? Laura, what if the thought of you touching him was so repulsive, he was willing to jump to his possible death?” We laughed and laughed about this. Second waterfall One of the best parts of this day was escaping the heat- 115 in the Valley, 74 and ra

Just realized I never wrote about the rest of my trip to eastern AZ. On the way home, I stopped to see Fort Bowie National Historic Site. I liked that they made you work for this site; you had to hike a mile and a half to get to the fort. Along the way there were plenty of sites to see, like the civilian cemetery. Not much remains of the fort itself. Not gonna lie, it was pretty hot that day, so I didn't do a ton of hiking around in the fort.  But I did read about it, and the things I read were predictably upsetting. Indian wars are always upsetting. Something that particularly bothered me about this site was that, as soon as they had the Apaches subdued, they put in a pool and tennis courts and lived the good life. As I drove home on I-10, I noticed signs for The Thing. This was on my Pinterest board of Things to See in AZ! I had to stop. It was only $1, and I feel that I got my money's worth. If you want to read about The Thing, here is a link. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/

When school starts, I have a weekend routine.  Friday night- stay home and do nothing Saturday- explore AZ  Sunday- church, baking, and cleaning It's pretty great.  This weekend, Hannah and I decided to check out Montezuma's Castle National Monument up near Camp Verde. My favorite part of this was the diorama. After they took down the ladders and no longer allowed people in the ruins, someone built a diorama of what the inside looks like. You press a button for a narration that tells you what life was like for these people.  For some reason, this scene just cracked me up.    A blind man leading his wife around. Why did they need to include this?? There was also a little boy about to jump off a roof, and his mom throwing her hands up in consternation. I could not stop laughing. Also part of this monument is Montezuma's Well.  Over a million gallons of water flow into this pool each day from an underground spring. You would not want to swim in this water... It is carbonated,