October Photos: Week 4

Last week of October Photo-A-Day Challenge with prompts brought to us all by Fat Mum Slim.

October 24 - Weather

24. On this cloudy weather day, I had a student pull out this book to read after taking a test in my class.  I've never read the book(s), but have heard that they are not-so-soft porn.  The student was in 8th grade.  She was, of course, bragging about the book to other students.  A few students in class told her that the book was not for their age, another student quickly took it out of her hands so she could find some scenes to read.  I took the book from her and told the student that I would hold on to the book until I could confirm with her parents that it was ok for her to read.  She said her father had given it to her to read, that it was ok for her to be reading the book.  Three days later, the parents came to the school and my cloudy thoughts about her and the book were brightened.  The mother had read the book and said it was NOT ok for the girl to read it.  The father said that he had not read it and just passed it on to the daughter after one of his cousins said it was a good book - glad he wants his daughter to be an avid reader, just hope this helps him preview the books before passing them on.  They were happy I did what I did, I was happy the father did not intentionally give his 12 year old daughter a sexually graphic book.

October 25 - People

25. I find it amazing that some people spend so much money on their pets.  I was in The Shake Shack and saw this on their menu - food for the dog.  You can get it for them to eat there, or get a bag o' bones goodies to go.  Amazing.  I didn't see anyone buying these items, but some one must, or else it would not be on the menu.

October 26 - Listening to

October 26 - Listening to

26. The school where I work has a connection with several businesses in the city.  One of them is the Rush Arts Gallery - a gallery that is connected with Russell Simmons and his brothers, including Run from Run DMC.  Students of ours are taking classes and making beautiful art pieces.  They met with some of us on Friday and we were able to listen to information about their current show, Word, and about what they can and want to do with our students and us, the teachers.  I love art.  I used to do some drawing and sketching when I was in middle and high school and wish I had time to get back into it.  The art was really inspiring.  So much so, that I took more than one picture for this day.  Each piece was connected to the concept of words.  The image of the girl and the ball was from an artist who is tri-lingual.  She picked images that represent words that sound the same in Spanish, Chinese, and English. The "step right up" style image is one that a woman made that is similar to the ones she made that can be seen on the way to Coney Island - this one is clearly much smaller than the ones she made for the carnival area.  This artist, Ms Roberts, was there during our time at the gallery and was even sketching one of my colleagues while we listened.  It was in her private notebook, so I don't know if she wanted us to realize that she was doing it, but one teacher sitting near her saw it and told us.  I gained a few ideas for projects I want to incorporate into my classes in the future to help meet the needs of my visual learners.

October 27 - Morning

27. There was a really great homemade donut shop right by my old place of work in StL.  It was so good; they also had great breakfast sandwiches.  It was so good that I had to put myself on an intentional fast from them after my pants started to not fit as well and I noticed that I was spending so much money on breakfast.  NYC has some decent breakfast places, but I had not seen a place with fresh donuts until this week - I see a lot of people with Dunkin Donuts but they are no good to me since they don't focus on donuts, more on the coffee they sell.  Nothing beats freshly made donuts.  This place is called Dough.  It had some huge donuts and really hit the spot.

October 28 - Looking back

28. As I walked on 7th Avenue in Harlem close to 137th Street on Sunday, I saw this huge line.  I had to look back and take a photo.  Turns out, it was a huge number of (mostly European) tourists waiting to step inside the Abyssinian Baptist Church on 138th Street.  The line was really long, and this picture really doesn't show the enormity of it.  I had to look up the church to find out why so many people line up each week to see the inside of the church.  Turns out is is a pretty big deal.  Please click here and read a bit about its history.  Looking back in history, there have been so many African American churches that have helped our society in so many ways, from the acceptance of unions, to the acceptance of public school education, to the use of medical insurance to ease the cost of care.

October 29 - Moon

29. Of course, with Sandy lurking over NYC all day, there was no way to see the moon.  With me stuck inside all day, I didn't even get to take photos of any kind of Halloween decoration moon.  Instead, I imagined the light of the moon as I sat in the bed (yep, still don't have living room furniture) and listened to the pounding of the wind against the window.  The wind was so strong (and windows so bad) that the wind was actually moving my curtains.  Kind of creepy.  Mental note to get something to insulate them before winter arrives.  They say the gusts were up to 70+mph and I believe it after hearing all of that noise and seeing the way the lone tree in front was bowing.

October 30 - Clothes

30. I was happy to venture into the outside after days of Sandy.  I put on my scarf, my raincoat (which is also serving as my winter coat since I don't have one - it's all about the layers), my new Payless boots (that I bought from a male checker who said that he had just returned them in exchange for the black pair - I can't hate on him, they are super comfortable) and my jeans and stepped out to Duane Reade to get some cold medicine.  Fortunately, it was only drizzling slightly, but was still super-windy.  I only went out long enough to get some snacks and meds from the drugstore and get a sandwich from a local shop then I got back into some yoga pants and a t-shirt and took some Nyquill (generic, of course) and slept for two hours.  Yes, in the middle of the day.  I feel sleep is the best solution when I am starting to feel sick.

October 31 - Whatever you please

31. For Halloween, it is normal for children to go from store to store and ask the owners for candy.  That is their trick-or-treating.  There was no school due to Sandy, so kids started earlier than normal - though we were scheduled to release kids around 11:30 or 1 (can't remember) so they could be home early before any violence or anything started.  I saw a lot of cute costumes and some crazy adult costumes.  I wanted to take pictures of them, but thought they might be offended.  Instead, I found this product in Duane Reade.  It was in the section that had a lot of products that were all in Spanish. This is hair gel.  I love that it says "Snott Gorila Gel" - and that the gorilla is having some issues with his nose.

You can see my previous October photos by clicking the week links.  Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3.

I am back in the habit of writing each day.  I have written all but 14 days so far this year.  The 14 days off were in August and September when I was in the midst of moving and getting adjusted to the new city.

I'm pretty proud.  I'll try and keep at it.

Only 60 more days and it will basically be a full year.  I may go 14 days into January to make up for the missed days.  Or I may take a year off from blogging like I had done prior to the start of this year.  JK.  I love the blogging buddies I have and don't think I can stay away for more than a few days, now.

We'll see what happens.