Same, different

Same, same, same, same, different, different, different.  (Can't remember what commercial that was from, but here are some things that fit - first things that are the same, then things that are (finally) different.)

• Track meet today.  It was hot.
• I became dehydrated.
• Kids did well for the most part.  Some really impressed me.  Some performances were not so hot.  I'm tired.
• I still felt the need to blog at the end of it all even though I am super tired.

• Some one finally wants to buy the house I'm living in.
• I have to move out of said house by the end of the month.
• I have to find another place to live in less than one month so the place is cleared out by the end of the month.  Also, I have to find time to place some applications and deliver them and find a moving company because I am totally over trying to move large pieces of furniture myself - not that I am lazy, but the cost is really not that much and it is so much easier.

I don't play that!

Sometimes I wonder about young people today.  Many of them seem to have some sort of a complex that leads them to believe that they are the ones that control any situation they encounter.

Yesterday, in track practice a normally calm and cool coach snapped at one of our athletes.  She approached him, stood right next to him, and proceeded to correct his directions to an athlete on how to properly take a relay handoff.  She even told the coach that he was wrong and that the way she explained it was the right way.  What she actually told the girl to do made no sense.

Today, in class, I had a student tell me that she just didn't feel like doing the assignment that was given.  She said that she would just do it after the weekend.  I told her that the assignment was for now, that we would be doing something different on Monday, and that she needed to suck it up and do the work that was in front of her.  She reluctantly filled in some of the information for the assignment.

I have several students who feel that they can just wander around the school wherever they want to.  I have had students who (before I let them know that this is not acceptable) will just walk out of class.  Others who are not in my class will sometimes just barge into class to talk with another student.

There are some teachers who must tolerate this behavior, otherwise, the students would not be doing it.

So, in their classrooms, I guess the kids run things and the students can do a lot of what they want.

I think this connects to the parenting style of some people.

There are a lot of parents who are very lenient with their children.  (My child is my best friend. WTF?!)  On several occasions I have had students receive a phone call from their parents.  In. The. Middle. Of. Class.  The student answers, because, for some reason I still think that there must be some sort of emergency for the parent to call during school hours, and the call turns out to be for some mundane thing. "No, Mom, I am staying after school today."  "Mom, I did fill in the job application." "Mom, the reason you can't get through on her phone is because her phone is cut off."  "Yes, Mom, I have my soccer socks."  And incidentals that are no reason to call your kid during school hours.

Today, I had a student tell me that since it was Ac Lab time (basically like a study hall) she could talk on her phone despite me letting her know that the rules say phones should only be out during passing periods.  She proceeded to walk into the hall and make a call to another person to talk about another girl they both seem to not like.

I proceeded to write a discipline referral.

I'm not a parent, and I can't completely judge parents, but I can say that I think it is best to be the parent and not the friend.  I think it is best to not be calling or texting your child during school hours.  Most people who are parents now did not have cell phones as much when we were younger.  Our parents survived without talking to us during school time.

I overhear these students talking about how they can do whatever they want at home.  Some of them talk about how their parents buy them alcohol, and others, smoke out with their parents (not cigarettes).  This is not an "inner-city", "minority" school.  We are in the suburbs.  We are surrounded by "affluent" homes and nice neighborhoods.

These parents seem to continue to enable their children to the point where their children become our students/athletes who think that they can manipulate their teachers and coaches the same way that they tend to do their parents.

And, I guess, it works with many of the faculty at the school.

I don't play that.

New month, keep writing?

I am still debating whether to keep writing each day in the month of April.  Right now, track meets and practices are kicking my butt and I feel that is affecting my writing.

I still have a lot of ideas in my head for posts, just not enough time to put them onto the screen.

There are some ideas I have seen besides NaBloPoMo that can open me to some prompts as well as a new audience.

I'll think about it over the next day or so and make a decision.

Part of me wants to try and go each day for another month.  Part of me wants a break.

At this point, I almost don't even know what I would do each day without posting each day.  This has really become a part of my daily activities.  But, if I don't have the time to write something meaningful, I don't know that I should be writing each day just to fulfill my monthly mission.

Wordless Wednesday: I'm killing them!

Before my green thumb:

After my killer green thumb:

We'll see how it continues to work on the weeds.

Hunger Games' fans reflect post racial society

I always find it interesting when I read a book and it becomes a film.  Sometimes the actors' portrayals of the characters is just like I imagined, sometimes it is a little off.

I have not read any of the Hunger Games books, but have heard that they are really good.

I was disturbed this morning when I heard that some fans who read the book and viewed the movie were completely disappointed (to put it nicely) that one of the characters is black in the movie.

They clearly must have skipped over the description of the character in the book as having dark skin.

Some of the Twitter comments are so disgusting and truly let people in to their inherently racist beliefs.
I know there are many people out there who think that good people are mostly white, that villains being black is the norm, that when a crime is committed in their society, it must have been a black or brown person committing the crime, etc.

Jezebel.com has an awesome post on this including some images and commentary on the tweets like the one I posted here:

What happened to the "post-racial society" people touted?  Not that I ever believed that when it was spoken about.  We live in a society where race (though a human construct) is so ingrained even in our everyday actions and everyday prejudices.

Walk down the street one day or step in an elevator and watch some people's reactions to a larger, non-smiling black man walking by or walking into the elevator.  Turn on YouTube and watch videos of little girls talking about their hatred for the black girls at their high school.

Listen in your car when you pull up to a corner and there is a black person standing there and you can hear car doors lock.  (I remember the first time I heard that when I was out for a jog in college.  Some people seriously locked the doors when I got to the corner.  As though I was going to car jack them with my running shorts, sports bra, and my only weapon - a single key to my car!)

Post-racial is becoming more and more post racial.  As in post your racist comments or push forward some racist law or do some sort of racist action.

Long day short writing

Not much to write today.  Long day of school and track that started when I left the house at 6:55am and lasted until after 7:30pm when I walked back in the door, showered, cooked and ate dinner, and, then, just was exhausted.

Image source

But, I feel I must write something to continue NaBloPoMo.

I received an email to day from Blogher inviting me to join the daily blogging for April.

Part of me wants to continue since I have already been doing it for almost a month.

Another part of me wants to pass since April is the heart of track season and I am exhausted on days we have meets - 2-3 times many weeks; 4 days this week.

But, I think that I will strive on; keep on writing and, hopefully, continue to find time to write more meaningful posts than this one.