Then and Now

Me and my little sister!! Such 80's hair, our mom did this to us :)

Found Poetry Project

My words were: tradition, runners, pasta, tea, shame, sobriety
I got this from an article from people magazine. Apparently, Katie Cruise was preparing to run a marathon, but before it, instead of only training and eating pasta, she was throwing a tea party for baby Suri.

My Thanksgiving tradition
Racing, running, competing
All before dinner
Weeks of only pasta
Such a shame I can't feast just yet
Racing post biggest bar night of the year
Keeps me sober
No wine, sangrias, draft beer
maybe tea

Winter

Oh, no! It is coming. Scraping off my windshiled, bundling up, staticy hair, and chapped lips. Dreaded winter. There are really only two positive things that I can think of for this particular season--the anticipation of a snow day and my birthday. But really just the thought of a snow day has in fact saved me. Here's to the hours of local news watching during the early morning hours that have kept me sane. Waiting for Kalamazoo County's turn to scroll across the bottom of the screen, hoping that a commercial break does not bring it back to the "A's". Here it comes...Western Michigan University is no where to be found. Did I miss it? Oh, well. So I go back to bed--there's always tommorrow.

Release the Fury...

There are so many things that outrages me; people who don't use blinkers, how Gaby and Carlos are still not back together on Desperate Housewives, but lately I have been struggling with much larger issues. The fact that there is even a vote for whether or not gay marriage should be allowed really pisses me off. Who am I to say if two people of the same sex can get married? We are in an era where more people vote for American Idol than for the President of the United States and you are gonna tell me that two people who love each other cannot be legally bound? It isn't like heterosexual marriages are so great--half end up divorced! I am one of them! A lot of the people who are against gay marriage are against it for religious reasons, which I find really ironic. Aren't we not suppose to be judging? I thought that was God's job--if they were so religious then they would leave this to Him.

Me, Myself, and I...

Well, most everyone knows that I am a physical education major, not English. But it really is for good reason. I originally planned on going to Michigan and into the medical field. Heart problems run in my family; a male has never lived over the age of fifty on my dad's side of the family. We also have weight issues. So I thought that going into pre-med made sense, until I decided that I would rather try to prevent the problems than treat people after they have been diagnosed. I also decided during this time that I would rather be around kids for most of my day. Physical education is so important to me and really hits a little too close to home. I am definitely the anti-dodge ball, fitness oriented person now. It's been tough though, most people think that it is a useless major that I picked to skim by. But I could tell you every muscle and bone in the body, what they do, and their relationship to the most relative joint. So Ha! :)

Some stuff people may not know about me is that I am a neat freak. Most people don't think so until they live with me because of the way I present myself most times; sweats and a hoodie. But I am always cleaning up. I also LOVE holidays--I decorate like months in advance. And despite what Michelle has said, I actually do love animals. I will admit that I am no dog whisperer though. Personally, I am divorced. I know, crazy, right? But now that I am single, I go to the bar....A LOT. Tonight, Wild Bull and every Thursday Monaco Bay, etc. I am really addicted to Harry Potter. Seriously, I could reference almost anything anyone says back to Harry Potter. It is sad, but after I read it, I had like hours of conversation about the political messages in it with my boyfriend. So there's just a little bit about me that maybe people didn't know before.

Indy Teach!

I am done! I am so happy that this is out of the way, mostly because I was so nervous. I just really wanted to say thank you to everyone in the class for participating so much in the group discussions and really providing helpful comments. I also loved how people really disclosed so much about themselves and their own experiences--it really made it easier for me. So thank you, and great job to Michelle too! :)

Group #3...

I really loved this teach! Everyone was really prepared and made effective comments to the discussion, but the material was really great too! A lot of what we talked about the first day I will use in my classroom. I had never really thought about making stereotypes a topic in my classroom until i realized how obviously apparent they are in high schools. I think that by identifying the stereotypes that the students may or may not be aware of could maybe help them think about their own beliefs. It is definitely a topic that any student could do some form of writing on. I also really appreciated the how group 3 transitioned into stereotypes in the media and kind of gave an explanation as to why and where students get their stereotypes from. It isn't like students are directly taught about the different stereotypes, particularly the negative ones, but rather through many different types of media. Both activities, the commercials and the Disney clips, were really good ways to get students to think about how stereotypes are in our everyday lives. I liked the commercial activity because we were not told to pick a commercial that portrayed stereotypes, but almost everyones did. The Disney one was helpful too because the horribly negative stereotypes were so evident yet this is what children are introduced to at a very early age! I really enjoyed this group teach--there wasn't anything I would have changed about it! Great Job!