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My daughters and I recorded this yesterday. She wrote it within the last year. We think you will enjoy it.

Go ahead! Push the play button!

I just finished my final exam in a graduate level course I’m taking called Brain Science and Learning. As I walked back to my dorm, passing the library, a coyote was twenty yards in front of me on the sidewalk. I had just passed a pile of doggie poo, and at first my brain registered the furry four legged animal ahead as “dog.” But something didn’t add up; it was leaner than most, its ears pointed and stuck up in hyper-alert mode; and it noticed me long before most dogs would have, and immediately startled, and deftly scaled the hill and was away, anxiously checking back to see that I wasn’t threatening it.

I immediately thought of the scene in the Tom Cruise/Jamie Foxx movie by Michael Mann called Collateral (2004). In the third act, as they drive to another of Cruise’s “assignments,” they come upon a lone coyote in the middle of LA. (I am attending La Sierra University, in Riverside, just east of LA). It’s a beautiful moment in the film, and relates directly to the emotional situation of Cruise’s character.

The fact that such a spontaneous serendipity with nature would cause me to think first, of all things, a movie, tells you something about me, and my relationship with the cinema.

It’s a deeply integrated part of me. Of all art forms, it comes closest to having the most simultaneously personal and universal impact, and the widest possible range of expression. I’m sure many would disagree, but I was raised on movies more than any other art form (but not to the exclusion of any), and so my view is biased (a lil bit).

What Teachers Make, or
Objection Overruled, or
If things don’t work out, you can always go to law school

By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com (on YouTube)

He says the problem with teachers is, “What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?”
He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true what they say about
teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests
that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite company.

“I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor,” he says.
“Be honest. What do you make?”

And I wish he hadn’t done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won’t I let you get a drink of water?
Because you’re not thirsty, you’re bored, that’s why.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven’t called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, “Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?”
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference! What about you?

Kim just made her first myspace page, and it’s fantastic and I’m so proud! If you care to check it out: Kim’s Myspace Page

The Onion.com makes me belly laugh every time I visit. Here are some favorite headlines gleaned from a recent stumble thru the site, to encourage you to visit, and laugh:

Bush Vows To Remove Toxic Petroleum From National Parks