You may have discerned that my trademark drunk and disorderly behavior around town and Twitter has been noticeably scarce. Dear friends, this is happening:
That little blob is a KBO/OllyOllyO mashup, due February 2012. This ought to be interesting.
I started playing soccer relatively late: a awkward nine-year old lured to the sport more by the promise of Little Debbies and Hi-C juice boxes after games than any real draw to running and kicking. But in the early 90’s, especially in Iowa, it didn’t take much for a girl playing with boys to eventually get immersed in the game through club soccer. As my skills improved and my exposure to women’s soccer increased, I slowly fell in love with the beautiful game. How could you not, as an adolescent back them, be enthralled by the story of the founding mothers of US Women’s Soccer? How could you not want to be like Mia Hamm, a star so dominating, so prodigious, that she made the US Women’s National Team before she was old enough to drive a car? How could you not look up to Michelle Akers, dominating the midfield in the air, despite looking like she could be my mom? How could you not be inspired by Tiffany Milbrett, who gave hope to 5’2” girls everywhere that they could knock around the best defenders in the world? → continue reading
Hello there.
It’s been a while. I’ve been busy and when I have had time to sit down and write, somehow I find my mind drifting to other things with nothing left to trickle from my fingertips. But Thursday was the first really gorgeous day of the year, and it was a day that made me feel like just about anything was possible, so here I am. → continue reading
People have been asking me what is going on with the charter school. Things are moving along. We will be awarded our charter at the DESE board meeting today, which means we are the real deal, legit, and authentic. This also means we are going to start enrolling. Spread the word if you know of a family with current fourth and fifth graders in St Louis City who want a rigorous, college-prep education for their child. South City Prep wants ‘em. We are in lease negotiations on a temporary home (two years) in a great location, so I’m excited to announce that when we can. You can read our first bit of press in the St Louis Business Journal. We’ve also hired our Head of School and hope to continuing hiring in the next 2-3 months. If you are one of those people who graciously offered to volunteer for the school back when I didn’t have anything for you to do, here’s a heads up: hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife. I’mma coming for you soon.
Last week, a team from SCP, including myself, visited three high-performing charter schools in the New Orleans area. Because of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has a huge charter school populations. More than half of their public schools are charters. We saw some downright awe-inspiring schools getting incredible results, and I left feeling really inspired and motivated about what’s to do to get ready to educate kids.
I have learned so much through this process, particularly during our visits to high-performing schools. I’ve seen, over and over in our visits, programming implemented the right way, with all stakeholders intensely-committed to educating kids. I’d seen bits and pieces tried elsewhere, never with the dramatic results these schools are getting. I’m completely rethinking how I think we educate teachers. Before, I knew that we were doing it wrong, but I didn’t know exactly how I would train teachers differently. This is something I could expound on at length but I’ll still stand by what I’ve said before, which is that it should absolutely be harder to become a teacher. I’ll also say these schools weren’t perfect, but there’s a lot we can learn and play with when designing programming for our school.
While in New Orleans, also got to scout some eatin’, and I would highly recommend Cochon if you are in New Orleans. We had an outstanding meal that surpassed my expectations, and I would undoubtedly visit again when I return to the city. You should go there if you get the chance. It’s a great place for people really into food to take their less-adventurous friends and have a meal that satisfies everyone. Totally approachable food that was still exciting.
Unrelated to anything serious, I’m a finalist for the RFT’s Web Awards in the category of Best Personal Blog. I’m going to lose to up against my friend and fellow Church of Burger Priestess Stef Pollack of fantastic The Cupcake Project. So many of my friends are up for awards, which makes me a member of the cool nerds, I guess.
Thank you so much to whomever nominated me, unless this is some weird elaborate prank to humiliate me, like on Carrie. Because if it is, me and my dirty pillows will have no problem sourcing heritage-breed pig blood that I can and will telepathically hurl at my would-be humiliators. I also still have a pig head. So, basically, JUST TRY ME.
Check back next week to see if I “win” or not. I hope, like all situations I find myself in, it involves a giant check.
I hate winter. It’s mocking me, what with its spread to New Orleans while I was there. But there are a few simple pleasures I take during winter that, while they may not completely make up for the suckitude of the season, make things at least tolerable. These things are:
While Chris watched the weatherman warn us of New Year’s Eve tornadoes, I created a calendar for the month of January. Then I wept. Actually, I wept before all that happened. Now I’m just trying to calm the impending panic attack.
I’m taking a J-Term class, the second-to-last elective I have in my program. It’s on Paulo Freire, possibly the most important critical pedagogue who ever lived. My professor is an expert on him, and he’s incredibly intelligent. This means his classes are quite heavy on reading and theory–well over 800 pages for the month-long course. This also means I’ll be traveling north for two weekends this month.
We also have a grant application due at the end of the month for desperately-needed pre-operation money for the charter school, which we’ll need to have done well before that in order to revise after receiving appropriate feedback. We’re going to New Orleans for three days to visit high-performing charter schools.
I’m also writing five paid blogs posts per week and working at Kitchen Conservatory.
In short: I’m stressed.
I write this because this is my way of telling everyone I know “no”. I won’t be going out except for a very few pre-scheduled activities. I can’t do lunch. I can’t do coffee. I can’t grab a drink. If it’s not on my calendar as of right this second, it’s not happening. I’m not saying this to act self-important or snobby. I’m doing this because I have to put my head down and get shit done, and I can’t apologize for it. I just have to do it.
So I’ll probably be even more scarce around here than usual. I’ll be scarce everywhere except my couch, the library, and whatever coffee shop in which I’m working. But I still love you. I still love this space. But IS BIDNESS TIMEZ NAO. And I literally don’t have time to have a Jessie Spano-esque breakdown.
Send coffee. And cheese. See you in February.
Over at MamaPop, we’re all posting our “Best of” lists for 2010. Each person has their own criteria and theme for their lists. You can and should check them out, particularly the amazeballs TwoBusy’s Anti-Best of 2010: A List of Cultural Regrets. Mine, The Best of 2010: WTF? Edition, will be published Monday, so check it out then. In the meantime, I realized I had a whole list of pop culture casualties to pay tribute to, because we had some tough losses this year, so I thought I’d post them here. Pour one out for the homeys, y’all.
1. Lost. While I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the finale, and it’s demise was scheduled and appropriate, I still mourn the loss of one of the most talked-about, engaging shows ever produced on television. For six seasons, Thursday mornings were full of furious discussions, predictions, and, just as often, confusion, as viewers pondered the show and pored over the mysteries within. Several shows have unsuccessfully tried to replicate the intrigue of Lost; none have succeeded. While the show was ultimately a flawed one, I’d argue, like the producers, that the ride was more important than the destination.
2. Paste Magazine. While they’re continuing to produce online content, Paste stopped print production in August of this year, after over a year of financial difficulty. I discovered Paste in a train station in Zurich in 2003; not realizing the exchange rate at the time, I paid almost $20 for the issue. I don’t regret it. As soon as I returned to the States, I subscribed, drawn to the idea of a monthly culture magazine that included a mix CD each month full of new music to sample. But Paste was more than just a music sampler. It’s tagline, “Signs of Life in Music, Film, and Culture” was truth in advertising; Paste provided smart, critical analysis of the best of pop culture and gave me faith that not all of America was wrapped up in Toby Keith and NCIS.
3. Party Down. This show was preternaturally funny and produced maybe the most hilarious half-hours of television I’ve seen in years, the infamous “Steve Guttenburg’s Birthday Party” episode. Featuring hilarious writing, a can’t-miss premise (caterers in LA), and a superb cast, Party Down‘s premature demise was probably due to a strange combination of being too successful, yet not successful enough. Ratings weren’t great, largely due to original episodes airing on premium channel Starz on Friday nights while simultaneously provided on Netflix Streaming. But the cast was so damn good, Starz just couldn’t keep them around. Cast member Jane Lynch left after the first season to appear on Glee, where she won an Emmy for her role as Sue Sylvester. Adam Scott’s end-of-season guest stint on Season Two of NBC’s Parks and Recreation turned into a regular role for the upcoming Season Three, and Lizzy Caplan and Adam Scott both scored major network pilots for 2011. But the two seasons we did get of Party Down were damn near perfect, and I’ll probably watch them again and again.
4. Danielle Staub. While not dead, this Real Housewife of New Jersey did get the boot from the show, since no other cast member was willing to continue the franchise with her on board. While I’m glad she’s freed up to get the mental health care she desperately needs, she really did create a special brand of delusional crazy to Bravo. And that’s saying something. Farewell, PROSTITUTIONWHORE. Can’t wait for your next lesfaux slow ballad.
5. The vampire trend. Sure, True Blood will return in 2011, but the Twilight-fueled vampire obsession that pop culture has been obsessed with for the past few years was supplanted by the literal and figurative uprising of motherfucking ZOMBIES. Walking Dead ruled. Forget Robert Pattinson’s brooding ass; I want axes to skulls and raw survivalism. Vamps, you were fun while you lasted, but your gothiness comes across as snobby.
6. Summer music festivals. While I was glad that St Louis was able to host its own first-year festival (and do it right, I might add) 2010 saw the demise of several festivals I wish were still around. Rothbury, 10,000 Lakes, and All Points West were just a few festivals canceled in 2010 due to the abysmal economy. Hopefully, some will be resurrected in 2011.
7. Celebrity deaths. While anyone who watched the trainwreck reality show The Two Coreys could have predicted that Corey Haim was sadly on the fasttrack to an early demise. But Gary Coleman died. Rue McClanahan. Tom Bosley. FUCKING J.D. SALINGER! Double pour one out for that enigma.
8. The Hunger Games trilogy. Well, the highly-anticipated final book in Suzanne Collins’ popular young adult trilogy, Mockingjay came and went. I read it. I liked it. I didn’t love it, because I didn’t love the ending because I’m not a fucking libertarian. But Katniss Evergreen is an amazing character, and the fact is that she’s a teenage female and she kicks an entire dystopian nation’s collective ass, so I won’t dismiss three whole books because I didn’t like how the author wrapped up the overarching story.
What pop culture phenomenon that you will miss came to a close in 2010?
I’m in a great mood right now, which means it’s the perfect time to crank out this week’s Grace In Small Things post.
1. Getting out the winter clothes stash. I found my knitted arm warmers that I should have been wearing for a month. They’re cute and cozy.
2. The Baker Creek seed catalog came in the mail today. It’s a Missouri business that has one of the most extensive collections of heirloom seeds available. We order from them every year.
3. Warm potato chive bread with real butter and butternut squash soup with ginger.
4. Getting the syllabus for my J-Term class and realizing I already own two of the four books.
5. My dad calling and offering to buy me a new phone to replace the one Neko chewed up, just so they could make sure they could get ahold of me. I love my parents, even if they didn’t buy me a phone.
Saturday night, my friends and I had our annual Friendsgiving feast. We do the whole turkey dinner and sides, but with more beer and less passive-aggressive familial behavior. It was a great time, until the next day, when apparently half our friends got a 24 hour stomach virus. I didn’t even make out with anyone there, so this thing must have had some potency.
I am not a good sick person, because I am rarely sick. Twice a year, I get a cold. That’s it. I can’t remember the last time I was actually sick other than that. Consequently, I fall hard when I actually do pick something up, like this demon plague. I felt fine until I woke up Sunday night, sweating and nauseated. I spend the rest of the night vomiting and barely slept. I also discovered that there is a stain in our toilet bowl that looks like Jimmy Hoffa reading a newspaper, so if anyone wants to make me an offer on that, I’m open to your bids.
I spent most of Monday sleeping on the couch when I wasn’t dashing to the toilet to shit dookie water. This virus was brutal. My whole body ached and I was actively nauseated the entire time. I couldn’t even read or surf the ‘net. Even worse, Nico ate our DVR remote, so I couldn’t even spend my day on the couch zoning to My Dog Ate What? or I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant. I was either freezing cold or sweating the entire time. The dogs were surprisingly good; they were quiet and well-behaved, and both snuggled on the couch with me. Chris brought me apple juice and Gatorade and generic Pepto, which were the only things I ate all day.
Luckily, the carrier monkey, our friend Paul, let me know that this nasty bitch would be gone in a day. Sure enough, I woke up feeling much better today, save for a slightly-undulating sphincter and a weak stomach. Not 100%, but at least I showered and left the house, and I’ll be able to attend my meeting tonight and the Lucero show at Off Broadway.
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