Every time I check blogs and cringe at the ever-widening period of time since my last update, I am more and more daunted by the prospect of a catch-up entry. So here's what I did today, because really that's all I am mentally capable of communicating at this moment:
10:00am: A viewing of "Waiting for 'Superman'" with teacher/social work friends.
The documentary explores the broken state of our schools and the various pressures and factors preventing the current public school system from effectively educating our children. I have been reading articles about the film for weeks--content aside, it is really wonderful how this movie is bringing education into the public forum! It is less biased toward charter schools than I imagined but still does not quite present the most well-rounded depiction of public schools... Audiences unfamiliar with the workings of the education system will likely walk away believing ANY charter school produces superior results to ANY public school, which is simply untrue (recent reports actually find public schools slightly ahead of charter schools on average in terms of achievement!). The personal stories were moving, though, and it was great to discuss the film and the education world in general with a group of knowledgeable professionals! And the group included church and teaching friends--worlds collide!
2:30pm: Planning meeting for an upcoming church young adults group service outing
I am super excited (and possibly starting to be spread too thin?) to be co-coordinating the newly minted service and outreach team through the young adults group at my church (ASYA, or All Souls Young Adults, from here on out). Today's meeting was in preparation for our kickoff event, an all-day service effort cleaning/painting/organizing a nearby church that hosts a slew of programs for the community, including Girl Scouts and various afterschool groups. The plan is to make these outings a monthly happening, each instance exploring a different need in the community. The prep is a lot of work--touring the building, compiling supplies/to-do lists, communicating with organizers, promoting to ASYA members--but already rewarding!
6:00pm: Bulletin board assembly
Oh, right, and I have a weekday job too. Between a steady social calendar of events, the service initiative, occasional babysitting, staying in touch with friends and family, choir, exercise (depressingly low on the priority list lately), and regular chores and errands, schoolwork sometimes feels like something I squeeze in when I can. Good thing concert season is approaching, that's not much work at all...
10:00pm: Completion of blog entry that probably should have been foregone in favor of sleep or lesson prep
When's Thanksgiving?
Love, Hugs, and Airborne to combat sleep-deprived immune system deterioration!
KP =)
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Recipe for a Perfect Weekend
-2 full days of blue skies after a week of rain and clouds (and before another similar week)
-1 perplexingly legit bar 6 blocks from my school in the Bronx that fills up with teachers on Friday afternoons for phenomenal happy hour and karaoke fun. Let sit for 6 hours with 4 other ETM music teachers (plus the 50 other ones already in the know about this place) and arrive home by 11pm.
-5 apples, 1 eggplant, 1 onion, 1 large bunch broccoli, and 1 carrot for $6 at the local Greenmarket. Cheap, healthy, and delicious is my favorite.
-3 hours of marathon apartment cleaning. Annoying, but always incredibly calming and mentally cleansing afterward.
-2 hours paid babysitting. Layer lesson planning and tasty ravioli over the top.
-1 long-awaited sermon on the necessity of outreach and service (and a commitment to new, real initiatives) from the pulpit of my regular church. Follow up with several conversations on the need to jump on board these initiatives and the general wave of intent. Finally!
-1 tall pumpkin spice latte and 1 multi-grain bagel, toasted, with cream cheese. Leisurely consume over the entry of 450 names into the gradebook.
-6 miles of energized (perhaps due to the aforementioned latte) running. Combine with crisp fall temperatures and a random Renaissance Faire. (What, Inwood?)
Et voila! It was quite the productive and enjoyable weekend. And then...
It was going to be a great Monday. I baked pumpkin bread for my new school. I had all my lesson plans and materials set the night before. It didn't even rain over my morning commute! Then my traveling teacher cart ran into a corner, projectile-flipping my water bottle onto the floor, the result of which materialized in said bottle leaking, unbeknownst to me, over my cart and phone which normally wouldn't have been there but I kept out to make sure my visiting field supervisor would find me in the school (she never came) and now the keypad is becoming increasingly temperamental so it's sitting in a tub of rice. Also, since the clouds held in their fury over my afternoon commute as well, I didn't notice when I left my umbrella bag, umbrella inside, on my first of two buses and failed to realize the oversight until I was off the second. I then learned that Target umbrellas are (unreasonably?) expensive but now I have an umbrella. Whatever. And my library said it had a book I planned lessons around this week but in fact did not so I had to go to the one in the next neighborhood which proved a longer and more frustrating and wetter excursion than I had anticipated. Then I got free pizza from my gym. That was handy.
I'm not sure to which side of karma the last three days have delivered me, but I would like to call it even. I would also like to call from my phone in the near future. C'mon, rice...
Love, Hugs, and a case of the Mondays,
KP =)
UPDATE: Phone is in full working order. Brown rice + vacuum = one less item off my plate. =)
-1 perplexingly legit bar 6 blocks from my school in the Bronx that fills up with teachers on Friday afternoons for phenomenal happy hour and karaoke fun. Let sit for 6 hours with 4 other ETM music teachers (plus the 50 other ones already in the know about this place) and arrive home by 11pm.
-5 apples, 1 eggplant, 1 onion, 1 large bunch broccoli, and 1 carrot for $6 at the local Greenmarket. Cheap, healthy, and delicious is my favorite.
-3 hours of marathon apartment cleaning. Annoying, but always incredibly calming and mentally cleansing afterward.
-2 hours paid babysitting. Layer lesson planning and tasty ravioli over the top.
-1 long-awaited sermon on the necessity of outreach and service (and a commitment to new, real initiatives) from the pulpit of my regular church. Follow up with several conversations on the need to jump on board these initiatives and the general wave of intent. Finally!
-1 tall pumpkin spice latte and 1 multi-grain bagel, toasted, with cream cheese. Leisurely consume over the entry of 450 names into the gradebook.
-6 miles of energized (perhaps due to the aforementioned latte) running. Combine with crisp fall temperatures and a random Renaissance Faire. (What, Inwood?)
Et voila! It was quite the productive and enjoyable weekend. And then...
It was going to be a great Monday. I baked pumpkin bread for my new school. I had all my lesson plans and materials set the night before. It didn't even rain over my morning commute! Then my traveling teacher cart ran into a corner, projectile-flipping my water bottle onto the floor, the result of which materialized in said bottle leaking, unbeknownst to me, over my cart and phone which normally wouldn't have been there but I kept out to make sure my visiting field supervisor would find me in the school (she never came) and now the keypad is becoming increasingly temperamental so it's sitting in a tub of rice. Also, since the clouds held in their fury over my afternoon commute as well, I didn't notice when I left my umbrella bag, umbrella inside, on my first of two buses and failed to realize the oversight until I was off the second. I then learned that Target umbrellas are (unreasonably?) expensive but now I have an umbrella. Whatever. And my library said it had a book I planned lessons around this week but in fact did not so I had to go to the one in the next neighborhood which proved a longer and more frustrating and wetter excursion than I had anticipated. Then I got free pizza from my gym. That was handy.
I'm not sure to which side of karma the last three days have delivered me, but I would like to call it even. I would also like to call from my phone in the near future. C'mon, rice...
Love, Hugs, and a case of the Mondays,
KP =)
UPDATE: Phone is in full working order. Brown rice + vacuum = one less item off my plate. =)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Just the Way I Left It, Part II
A few more for the file of the familiar...
I ran in Central Park for the first time in months on Saturday... I've developed such a routine with my glorious neighborhood parks that I forgot about the Park that started it all. The loop was fantastically calming and just as picturesque as I remember. Never mind that I wove in and out of a random 4K race for something... Fortunately the teeming masses only ran through part of my route... As a sidenote, I'm fairly confident competitive running is not for me. I run for leisure, not for a time or a t-shirt.
Later Saturday I pulled out my college vocal repertoire binders to recover a copy of a well-rehearsed aria for my upcoming choir audition. I sang through it (still memorized!) and then another piece as a backup... And then the entirety of my senior vocal recital. I could not believe how much muscle memory I've retained from last March's performance, particularly as I have sung NONE of it since then! Even the 7-page, diarrhea-of-the-mouth Russian piece it took months to memorize flowed more easily than I expected (unsurprisingly, however, this one did not prove as memorized).
As a parting gift, I will share a gorgeous panorama (several pictures cropped together, in fact) of my classroom last spring, just the way I left it... Before taking everything down and putting it in boxes. =) Click through for full size!
Love, Hugs, and Happy School Year!
KP
I ran in Central Park for the first time in months on Saturday... I've developed such a routine with my glorious neighborhood parks that I forgot about the Park that started it all. The loop was fantastically calming and just as picturesque as I remember. Never mind that I wove in and out of a random 4K race for something... Fortunately the teeming masses only ran through part of my route... As a sidenote, I'm fairly confident competitive running is not for me. I run for leisure, not for a time or a t-shirt.
Later Saturday I pulled out my college vocal repertoire binders to recover a copy of a well-rehearsed aria for my upcoming choir audition. I sang through it (still memorized!) and then another piece as a backup... And then the entirety of my senior vocal recital. I could not believe how much muscle memory I've retained from last March's performance, particularly as I have sung NONE of it since then! Even the 7-page, diarrhea-of-the-mouth Russian piece it took months to memorize flowed more easily than I expected (unsurprisingly, however, this one did not prove as memorized).
As a parting gift, I will share a gorgeous panorama (several pictures cropped together, in fact) of my classroom last spring, just the way I left it... Before taking everything down and putting it in boxes. =) Click through for full size!
Photo by Chris Marolf, ETM program staff member and picture-taker extraordinaire!
Love, Hugs, and Happy School Year!
KP
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Just the Way I Left It
When I was little I had a dollhouse in my room—the snazzy Playmobil Victorian home with rooms and furniture whose beauty were not nearly matched by its figures (seriously, a dollhouse with ugly dolls?). I meticulously arranged every room’s scene and I knew the house backward and forward. Every time Grandma visited she would alter one thing in the dollhouse and I would have to sleuth out the difference. From reshelved flatwear to bathroom towels to flower gardens, I was always able to return the house to its original state. There’s a comfort in the order of “the way things were”.
I’m happy to report post-vacation New York is largely the way it was pre-vacation, summer-city smells, Dominican music, and all. I had the opportunity to enjoy it in higher doses when my computer succumbed to the evils of malware and spent a stint with the Geek Squad. For the minor inconveniences five days without regular computer and Internet access bring, I quite appreciated the silence and imperative to fill my time with activities that don’t start with an inbox or a Netflix search.
Much money and concern later, I received my computer back, free of viruses AND completely reloaded with all of my files and settings. Considering I had spent the repair period collecting software CDs to reinstall and compiling settings and passwords I would have to reprogram, this came as welcome—downright glorious--news.
Last week brought the first ETM training day of the year, complete with smiling faces, friendly conversation, and a lovely rooftop barbecue. If the pay weren’t so lousy, I would work with them forever. Seriously.
Last week also brought me back into my classroom at PS 43. If you recall, my first glimpse of the same room last summer included roughly 20 extra desks, 50 extra chairs, and 4 broken iMacs. Oof. This year, I unlocked the door expecting a similar scene… And the room looked like this:
What. A. Difference. And they had not locked my instruments (or keyboards!) in storage. I had everything I needed and no more (even the 2 remaining dud iMacs were removed by this week!). Cleaning and furniture consolidation aside, the room was just the way I left it at the end of last year. I nearly cried tears of elation. Pictures of the reconstructed—and slightly redesigned—classroom to come!
In the short-lived spirit of restlessly empty late summer, I have decided to audition for that choir… The actual audition is next week but I participated in their first rehearsal last night. Sight-reading “real” (read: “intended for ages above 11”) choral music requires cognitive muscles that are a little stiff after a year and a half hiatus, but it was so great to SING again. And, truthfully, to use those “muscles” again. Like the first run after an elliptical winter, the technique is a little rusty but the energy is through the roof. Now I just have to dust off an old aria for the audition… Eep.
Lesson planning, a full week of training, then a new school year! Ah, the 5am alarm… Good to know that the view out my window at the crack of dawn is also just how I left it:
Love & Hugs!
Kate =)
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Timing
I finally (after a year of cursing the New York City skies and streets every rain) purchase a pair of rain boots on Saturday. On Sunday my errands are accompanied by torrential rainfall. Yay boots!
I carry wine and regular glasses aaaaaall the way from Brooklyn IKEA, through 2 hours of bus and train and aforementioned torrential rain. I place the boxes on my kitchen counter and one slips, resulting in 2 broken wine glasses. Boo irony. (4 survived, thankfully)
I spend a significant part of Saturday afternoon revisiting Wartburg Choir music along with a nostalgic tribute notebook reading. On Sunday the girl sitting next to me in church invites me to audition for a legit city choir. No member fees, Wednesday evening rehearsals, decent sound (pay no attention to the non-synced video)... I'm outsourcing this one--what do you think??
Also on the topic of timing but a little less specifically anecdotal, two weeks is the perfect length for a summer vacation, particularly when that time is split between two locations. South Carolina possessed all the calm and warmth (temperately and personally) and space I remembered, and I am very pleased with the copious friendship rejuvenations that took place back in the Midwest. It is so, SO comforting to reconnect beyond the limits of phone and Skype sessions. Additionally, the Anderson family (of ", Stephanie Pippi" fame) IS a wedding reception. Prepackaged. =)
And I suppose a well-timed sermon fits into this theme... Guest minister on the topic of salvation in the context of Unitarian Universalism. I'll post it when the link goes up, but it very adeptly frames the issue in a way that strongly aspires to reconcile "traditional" and "liberal" religion and/or faith, an aspiration that has been on my mind more than usual lately.
Last but not least, I replaced the battery in my kitchen clock so it keeps time as well as it did back in June. =)
KP
I carry wine and regular glasses aaaaaall the way from Brooklyn IKEA, through 2 hours of bus and train and aforementioned torrential rain. I place the boxes on my kitchen counter and one slips, resulting in 2 broken wine glasses. Boo irony. (4 survived, thankfully)
I spend a significant part of Saturday afternoon revisiting Wartburg Choir music along with a nostalgic tribute notebook reading. On Sunday the girl sitting next to me in church invites me to audition for a legit city choir. No member fees, Wednesday evening rehearsals, decent sound (pay no attention to the non-synced video)... I'm outsourcing this one--what do you think??
Also on the topic of timing but a little less specifically anecdotal, two weeks is the perfect length for a summer vacation, particularly when that time is split between two locations. South Carolina possessed all the calm and warmth (temperately and personally) and space I remembered, and I am very pleased with the copious friendship rejuvenations that took place back in the Midwest. It is so, SO comforting to reconnect beyond the limits of phone and Skype sessions. Additionally, the Anderson family (of ", Stephanie Pippi" fame) IS a wedding reception. Prepackaged. =)
And I suppose a well-timed sermon fits into this theme... Guest minister on the topic of salvation in the context of Unitarian Universalism. I'll post it when the link goes up, but it very adeptly frames the issue in a way that strongly aspires to reconcile "traditional" and "liberal" religion and/or faith, an aspiration that has been on my mind more than usual lately.
Last but not least, I replaced the battery in my kitchen clock so it keeps time as well as it did back in June. =)
KP
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Productivity
40 minutes to kill before I leave for vacation...
I wish I had mornings off all year--I get SO much done between 6 and 10! This week, for example, I used my mornings to exercise, clean the apartment, pack (TWO DAYS ahead of time--new record), lower my Internet bill, work out a 5th day job placement... and paint toenails. It's been a good week.
5 days in wooded, lakeside, isolated South Carolina country followed by 8 days in sparkly, standardized, homey North Shore? Yes, please. =) I am ready for a brief sojourn away from the relentless pace and density of my beloved city, and spending quality time with family and (COLLEGE) friends only sweetens the deal!
And you read correctly... I'll be working 5 days a week come fall--a first in my adult life! Tentatively, my additional day will be at P.S. 484 (Van Nest Academy) in Central Bronx. The gig may or may not require an hour-plus, multiple-bus commute and lacks a classroom (my very first cart!), but I'm nonetheless excited to step into a school with a "fresh start" as it were. It's K-2 so I'll be teaching my favorite (and easiest) ages--a definite plus. And I think a cart might be freeing in some ways... Although I'm grateful I'll only have to use it for 20% of my week. =)
Recommended Reading: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver)
Two years ago I would have tossed aside a book about the benefits of organic, local food culture, citing irrelevance and/or boredom. Not now--this book is a revelation. Between my newfound love of cooking and the copious farmers' markets in NYC, I can apply so much of the new information I'm absorbing directly to my purchasing and consuming habits... Homemade cheese, anyone?
Love, Hugs, and Summer Vacation!!!!
KP
I wish I had mornings off all year--I get SO much done between 6 and 10! This week, for example, I used my mornings to exercise, clean the apartment, pack (TWO DAYS ahead of time--new record), lower my Internet bill, work out a 5th day job placement... and paint toenails. It's been a good week.
5 days in wooded, lakeside, isolated South Carolina country followed by 8 days in sparkly, standardized, homey North Shore? Yes, please. =) I am ready for a brief sojourn away from the relentless pace and density of my beloved city, and spending quality time with family and (COLLEGE) friends only sweetens the deal!
And you read correctly... I'll be working 5 days a week come fall--a first in my adult life! Tentatively, my additional day will be at P.S. 484 (Van Nest Academy) in Central Bronx. The gig may or may not require an hour-plus, multiple-bus commute and lacks a classroom (my very first cart!), but I'm nonetheless excited to step into a school with a "fresh start" as it were. It's K-2 so I'll be teaching my favorite (and easiest) ages--a definite plus. And I think a cart might be freeing in some ways... Although I'm grateful I'll only have to use it for 20% of my week. =)
Recommended Reading: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver)
Two years ago I would have tossed aside a book about the benefits of organic, local food culture, citing irrelevance and/or boredom. Not now--this book is a revelation. Between my newfound love of cooking and the copious farmers' markets in NYC, I can apply so much of the new information I'm absorbing directly to my purchasing and consuming habits... Homemade cheese, anyone?
Love, Hugs, and Summer Vacation!!!!
KP
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Community
Has it really been over a year in New York City?? This Saturday will mark my one-year anniversary at 75 Thayer, 4F. Ironically and/or poetically, this Saturday will also mark the commencement of my a two-week vaction this Saturday--AWAY from the city to reconnect with family, friends, and open landscape. Skimming the trajectory of this blog from its inception last summer, I can outline trails of whimsy, stress, accomplishment, personal growth... and community.
Like any recent college graduate, I've struggled to build community. Though my locale has a few million people more than, say, rural Iowa, the challenges of fostering a network of genuine support remain the same. Maybe moreso--many of those who have lived here for a while already have extensive and sufficient networks of their own and aren't readily seeking new bonds. Yet somehow I can count relatively close relations I've established in the past year on more than one hand.
It's happened so gradually, but taking a step back in reflection I stand in awe of the satisfying community I have built in year one. In just the last month, I celebrated my birthday with friends from high school and college, visited a teaching friend at her apartment, hosted a young adult event at the church, and attended a really fabulous and laid-back house party of church people... Obviously there are always "next steps". I hope to expand and deepen these relationships and new ones. But I leave New York for the brief hiatus a much more personalized city than it was upon gaining my address a year ago.
In Libertyville August 12-20... With an epic wedding/college friendship experience the 13th-14th. Let me know if I should be seeing you!!!
Kate =)
Like any recent college graduate, I've struggled to build community. Though my locale has a few million people more than, say, rural Iowa, the challenges of fostering a network of genuine support remain the same. Maybe moreso--many of those who have lived here for a while already have extensive and sufficient networks of their own and aren't readily seeking new bonds. Yet somehow I can count relatively close relations I've established in the past year on more than one hand.
It's happened so gradually, but taking a step back in reflection I stand in awe of the satisfying community I have built in year one. In just the last month, I celebrated my birthday with friends from high school and college, visited a teaching friend at her apartment, hosted a young adult event at the church, and attended a really fabulous and laid-back house party of church people... Obviously there are always "next steps". I hope to expand and deepen these relationships and new ones. But I leave New York for the brief hiatus a much more personalized city than it was upon gaining my address a year ago.
In Libertyville August 12-20... With an epic wedding/college friendship experience the 13th-14th. Let me know if I should be seeing you!!!
Kate =)
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