Saturday, April 30, 2005
Birthdays...
Did you know that if you have a room of 35 people, there is a greater probability that two of those people will share a birthday than not? It's easily provable ... to do so, you actually have to look at the probability that no two people in the room have the same birthday, and then subtract your answer from one. That's why I'm a mathematician. I love it!! :-)
When I was in the 6th grade, there was a group of five girls that were in the same class and we hung out together (whatever that means for 6th graders...) Of the 5 of us, three of us shared a birthday. Weird, huh?
Currently, one of my very best friends and I share our birthday. She also happens to be an adopted child. She was born in China and adopted by an American family. We like to tease people that we meet by telling them that we are twins who were separated at birth and adopted by different families. (Keep in mind that she is Chinese and I'm not.) AND, I also have a colleague who shares his birhtday with me. AND, it often happens that one of my students shares my birthday. EVEN Willie Nelson, Cloris Leachman and Kirsten Dunst share my birthday with me!
Isn't all of that a lot of fun?
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Kate...
Isn't Kate the coolest person you know!? I mean, most of you have known her a lot longer than I have, so you know even better than I do how cool she is. She even blogged about me. She is the one who taught me to put html tags for links and for images (is she regretting the latter?) And ... all sarcasm aside, she is one of the most wonderful friends I could hope to have. Here's to Kate and to her magnolia bud earrings. Isn't she cool!!?? :-D
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
When a child needs your love...
Now, you may know that I'm not a very fast reader ... so often, picking up a new book is intimidating for me. But you may notice that I finished my Jonathan Kellerman novel (my favorite murder-mystery writer), and have started reading a book called "We Need to talk about Kevin". This book is a novel - fiction - and is written as letters from a woman to her husband from whom she is separated. Their son is the killer in a high-school massacre.
I am always deeply moved by events in which children are hurt in school settings. For example, the recent school bus accident here in Arlington (I taught two older siblings of the girl who died) or the shootings at the reservation high school in Wisconsin or the shootings at Columbine. My feelings are that kids should go to school and come home and be entirely safe during the time they spend inbetween.
This book was recommended to me by a colleague who wants to discuss it when I'm finished (she might not realize that it will take me six months or so to get to the end). She says that it's terrifying and disturbing and very well-written. I can't say that I'm looking forward to reading it, but I really want a better understanding of what will drive a child to do such a thing. Maybe this understanding will help me be a better teacher to the kids who are difficult to understand (who are always my favorites).
I bring all of this up because you WILL be hearing about this book as I work my way through it. I'll end this post with a quote from Erma Bombeck (found in the front of the book):
"A child needs your love most when he deserves it least."
Sunday, April 10, 2005
The Cherry Blossoms
Yes, it's that time of year again. The time for the National Cherry Blossom Festival! One of the things that I enjoy about living in this part of the country is the multitude of blossoming trees!! They're simply gorgeous. I decided that I could avoid the crowds this morning (the weather is gorgeous ... mid 50's in the early a.m., and a completely clear sky!) and take some pictures downtown. Well, that would be okay if I could find a parking space. Even at 6:30 a.m. (yes, I said A.M.!!) it was very difficult to find a place to park. It seems as the whole country ends up in DC for the peak of the blossoms. Well, I finally found a spot to park, and took three rolls of film (including several of the monuments downtown, and several pictures of the gorgeous trees in the neighborhoods of South Arlington). What a wonderful way to start my day!! :-)
