sorry about the typos!!!!!... but i have a zillion other things to do tonight!
Tomorrow is the annivesrary of Katrina, and in light of this, I will attempt to be brief. Things down here are moving so slowly, and with so little disregard for the citizens and survivors, it is a wonder someone hasn't blown something up.
So, just to keep everyone posted, I start school in one week. I will be spending my happy August 29 birthday in Literacy Instruction seminars from 8-4, and then I have grad school from 5-10.
After a long, stressful wait, I have been assigned to a school without a building: Landry HS, In its day, it was a great school, but the building is a total mess. In fact, despite my principal's promises that it will be under construction soon, there are rumors that it will be bulldozed thsi weekend. It has been condemned since FEMA and the National Guard left it, and it was squatted for a time.
We have been given 4 rooms at the end of a hallway in an elementary school. Despite community pressure to open it, only 18 students are currently enrolled - fortunately it is only going to be a 9th grade center until it gets off the ground. Despite the enrollment, there are 2 Englia h teacher assigned to the schoo, and it is unclear to me whenther I will be co-teaching, or even if I have a classroom.
Things are an absolute MESS down here right now, and very
little is getting done by the powers that be. We have a new
superintendant, and a whole new system, but when it comes down to it...
...most of the people making the decisions have lost sight of WHO the
decisions are being made about: the battered, emotionally scarred,
abused, poorly educated youth of New Orleans.
For example, instead of being an English teacher this year, I am teaching Read 180, a remedial
literacy program because 85% of 9th graders in NOLA are reading at a
6th grade level... or below... and lacking basic decoding skills and
vocabulary.
Great! It's a neat program! They will really succeed with it, I think!
Of course, I received no training in how to use it... I was scheduled to be in another mandatory meeting on the same day.
But.......
they still have to take the REGULAR ENGLISH I test to get out of
the 9th grade! And, because it is a state exam, I don't have access
to the test beforehand.
So basicaly, I have to tell my students....
"Wow! I am so proud of you this year! You have worked so hard and learned so
much! You have exceeded my wildest expectations and I care for you
all so much!
Now, take this test that you will fail totally because I
didn't prepare you for it, and don't let that affect your self-esteem
or your sense of helplessness about your position and situation in the
world."
I am FURIOUS about so many things here, I really want to quit beforeI
have even started. I also know though that the great things come out
of strife, and that the students are what is really important.
This is just a brush on the surface of what has been challenging down here, and in only one aspect. And I don't want to sound super-negative becasue I know when I get into school, things will be different.
So, if you have a moment, whistle a little chant/prayer/song for New Orelans, and the students of New Orleans. They need it... and so do their teachers!
i recently bought a bed from a woman on craigslist. trusting idiot that i am, i paid her and we agreed to meet up at the apartment when i got my moving truck, so i could pick the bed up then.
when i went to her place, she had moved out. i called her a million times, left messages, and then she turned off her phone, so i went straight to voicemail!
no one knew where she had gone. we called the university that she said she'd attended, and they said they had no record of her. we went to the police, who sent us to the city court, who said they had no legal authority to make her pay, even if we won a case against her!
so, i'm out 100 dollars when i could really use it. i call her occasionally now, but she won't pick up. i have cajolled, threatened, swore, bitched, and even cried.
now i just want the fat bitch troll dead.
then t thought about it... what better way to abuse her a bit than to throw her to the proverbial wolves a bit?
so everyone! if you feel like doing me a favor and calling her and telling her what a lowdown, shitty thing it is to steal from a poor person, then please go ahead!
her name is
REBECCA MASSEY
415-806-6604
beccamas@gmail.com
what a rotten thing to do. i am sleeping on a futon mattress on the floor. i hate becca massey!
ok, so i am down in new orleans right now. i have an interview with TeachNOLA tomorrow. I am tres nervous. please everyone, cross your toes and eyes and fingers aso that i get this job. i want it bad.
so, i have been doing this de-tox cleanse diet thing.
for 12 days, i have put absolutely nothing into my body except organic, vegan food.
no caffeine, cigarettes, alcohol, processed sugar, refined oils, medicine, weed... i have even been denied the pleasure of my drug of choice, ny-quil.
the first few days i was really sick. i had horrible no-coffee headaches, lost all desire to move, have sex, or breathe, and began sneezing every 3 seconds. i had a cough and my whole body ached. i even called in sick to work one night because i was crying uncontrollably about what a mess my life has been since i returned from japan.
i have been sleeping at least 10 hours a night, deep, dreamless sleep that is all-emcompassing and silent. i also have taken a bath for an hour before the sleep-coma, and have gone to my yoga class religiously.
day 12. i woke up today feeling like god licked me.
i mean, i feel amazing! it is 20 degrees here and sleeting, and i still feel great! im losing weight, my eyes are bright, and my body is saying thank you.
and i know i sound like a stinky hippie. so what? im going to have a smoothie.
other interesting things:
steven and i no longer talk. that makes me sad. i miss his friendship so much.
im applying for jobs in chicago, new orleans, chile, peru, thailand, and kenya.
i will be at mardi gras this year, for sure.
the boy i am seeing now is wonderful.
i got a rare nina simone record for christmas. i heart it.
i know i don't post so much anymore... i hope everyone here is really, really good! i missed the secret santa this year!
hey all..
i know this is late notice, and if no one contacts me its ok.
i am in chicago, and we have had a wonderful time. we were driving back from the city to our hotel near midway when my truck began to smoke.
it looks like the radiator is blown. we had to leave it at a diner a couple of miles away from midway, and take a cab to the hotel.
i have AAA Plus, so they can tow me anywhere i want to go, but a lot of the places are absolutely not open on sundays.
so heres what i need, if Anyone can help me out
1. possibly a place to stay sunday night if i cant get the truck fixed tomorrow.
2. any ideas on a mechanic open on sunday.
3. any other help
4. phonecalls for moral support
i am stranded here, and don't really know what to do. my friend leaves to go back to los angeles tomorrow, so after i take him to the sirport, it is going to be me and my suitcase and a pocket full of problems.
wish me luck.
i dont want to post my number but it seems that it is an emergency so its
504.344.3638
my first date in...wow, a long time, if you don't count that whole long relationship thing. i met a really nice boy who lives out in los angeles, where he is in school. we only hung out here for about a week, and then he left. but he has been calling me all the time and whispering the proverbial sweet nothings into my ears. it has been a good distraction, as a lot of other things here have been rather unpleasant. last night he surprises me with wanting to fly out to chicago for a long weekend in october so we can see each other.
he is constantly making lists, which i thought would be annoying, but isn't. last night's list was "the top 5 things i love about kaycee." ...and he really thoguht about it. i mean, it was a really damn good list! ...and maybe he's just trying to get into my pants but if he is, he is fucking adept at it.
so anyway, i have never been to chicago. i am tres excited about going! what should we do while we are there and, more importantly, can some reccomend a decent and so-so inexpensive hotel in a festive part of town?
any advice would be good, because i need to make some reservations and plans soon, if only because i am OCD about schedules, and am going to have enough on my plate getting my pick-up truck ready for the drive up there.
thanks everybody! i really, really appreciate it!
also, i want to come up to chicago again and meet the killoggs crop of you sometime, if thats ok...? i need to start taking advantage of this part of the world, instead of wanting to move so soon.
i just had a lovely conversation about light bondage and s&m with a friend of mine and i must have had some sort of brain click and i think machocism is now my new hobby because....
i just went and actually paid to see the new oliver stone movie.
yes, the 911 overhyped one with nick cage buried in rubble for most of it, moaning in the dark, while his provential wife vascillates between puppy-eyes weeping and stoicism.
i dont know if i cried because it was sad, or just fucking awful.
i think next time ill just stay home and whip myself some blisters.
so, i am seriously considering buying a moped/vespa/scooter type thingie to get myself around st. louis. i am compltely inexperienced in these matters, but have a feeling a few of you know a good deal about them.
can anyone suggest a good/not good at all scooter? i am trying to keep it at the 50cc mark, because otherwise i'd have to get a motorcycle liscence, etc...
i was looking at this site
http://www.gsmotorworks.com
bt they seem a little too good to be true....?
job hunting is the worst thing ever. i feel like the biggest loser in the hemisphere. and don't everyone agree with me, because i currently do not have the self esteem to handle it. i have been weeping myself to sleep for days. i can't even find a job as a fucking waitress. everything i am really qualified for, and really good at, is centrally located... in Asia.
short of getting teaching certification in missouri, i cannot teach anywhere except as a subsitute. and i remember vividly what we used to do to them.
no one needs a japanese tutor, and my hair seems t be scaring off all the childcare positions.
i think i am going to get very, very drunk tonight. on cheap shit. because that's all i can afford.
oh... i did get one call for an interview. my one joke-i-will-be-homeless-insance-and-starving before i work for you resume send.
starbucks wants me as a manager.
(insert howl of rage and shame.)
oh.. also, i found this anti-semitic cartoon, it was one of the ones submited for the contest.
absolutely brutal, eh?
howdy killoggs, and happy birthday. just wanted to say hello, and comment on a couple of things.
america is fucking noisy, and the news channels all say different things.
i will be in st. louis for a couple weeks, starting tomorrow. anybody know of anything fun to do besides go up the arch?
i get to go to a renassaince festival there. now THAT is wicked.
i will not ever participate in killoggs secret santa again. this is the second year in a row i have gotten jacked even as i sent out neat-o gifts. (but i love you anyway!)
i am moving to new orleans. the apartment i might get is CRUCIAL. you can come and play with me starting in june, but only if you will help me paint. not really. but please do come and play!!
my sister breckany is a big nerd.
mardi gras was kick ass. i was soooooo happy to see ben and his purty gal.
my hair is blue and tangly again.
i hope evan is not mad at me for disappearing for awhile. please tell the bike i am sorry.
i am not going to europe anymore... the trip has been postponed due to technical brain difficulties on my part.
i am sorry i have been such a bad friend since i got back from japan. i promise to regale you with all of my adventures as soon as i have time... and an internet connection that doesn't take 5 minutes to load a damn page.
for now, though, i need your help. i am, (cough, cough) in the market for a cell phone. yep, i am going to have to join the ranks... i am homeless and floating and tired of mooching off my friends.
i don't give a shit about a fancy phone or anything. i need advice on which company gives the best deals and has the best connection. thats all. no text stuff, crappy ring tone options, and i don't care if it can fly.
cheap and works good NATIONALLY. advice?
(please offer soon because i need one before april 1st!)
ok, so is this guy a bighearted, well-intenioned animal lover or a COMPLETE FUCKING MORON?
i just watched the grizzly man.
i have never felt so guilty for laughing. i mean, th eguy got eaten by bears; thats sad. but... hes just such a goofy moron!
“I may disapprove of what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it.” – Voltaire
my father has been all over national news lately, due to his decision to publish the controversial cartoons in his newspaper. he is getting a lot of shit over it, but i am so very proud of him and his reasoning. inclosed in this post his his newest editorial, explaining why he chose to do what he did, despite enormous resistance.
did you know less than a dozen newspapers have published the cartoons? and that the AP Press refused to release them?
what kind of country are we becoming when when begin to become politically correct about information about the world?
i am really shocked about all this, and really fucking impressed with my father for being such a hardliner about freedom of the press and peoples right to SEE AND READ ABOUT whats going on in the world.
i have had four birthdays, one boyfriend, oodles of drinking buddlies, ridiculous adventures, and too much sake. i look back over my life here and i am surprised it has all zipped by so quickly.
so, just to let everone know where i will generally be.
february 20
i fly in to new orleans just in time for mardi gras. i am reallly excited about this, because i havent been in so many years and i have so many good memories there. i am trying not to be sentimental, but i have a hangover, and i always get mushy when that happens.
march 7
i have to go see my mother in florida for 4 days. these will undoubtedly be the worst 4 days i will have in the next 5 years before i feel guilted and manipulated into going to see her again. was anyone around when she and her bofriend got wasted in the bayou and she danced on the pooltable and they threw beer bottles at each other? (shudder..) white fucking trash. anyway.
march 12,
i head out to cheyenne, wyoming. my father and stepmother are going on a cruise and i am going to take care of my 9 year old sister while they are gone. fuck! when did she turn 9??? i used to smoke weed in the backyard while she played in the babypool.
also, it gets well-fucking-boring in cheyenne, wyoming. if anyone is nearby and wants to go camping or shit-kicking or something, please let me know!
during april.
i am heading down to my grandparents ranch, outside of abiquiu, new mexico (where georgia o'keefe lived). all i do there is ride horses and take naps of the portel and listen to rush limbaugh pour from the speakers and roll around with the dogs and devour reading material. we bring our own beer to the restaurant in "town..." population 300.
first week of may.
i will be back in new orleans.
may 15th or 16th
i fly to barcelona, spain.
i come back from europe at the end of july.
this is where my plans come to a standstill. i might head up to NYC to play with evan and michelle, and then maybe into canada to visit some friends. then, i will probably head up to oregon to sleep on my sisters couch until i can figure out what i want to do with my life. if anyone had any suggections regarding that, let me know. also, if anyone wants to get together, im down.
steven wants me to move to st. louis. i don't know how i feel about that.
i am slightly concerned that no one will recognize me. i know i have changed and i know everyone else has, too. it is weird to think it has been so long. i have worked really hard over here, seen some incredible things, travelled to places i never would have believed if i hadn't seen them myself.
but i feel really tired now. i am tired of having to speak in a different language all the time. i want to be someplace where i don't stick out like a giant white thumb. i want to go to some shows, and talk to people in english, and feel normal again. i am so fucking excited to eat at louies again, take a walk around lsu, ride the streetcar in new orleans, get drunk on the median in front of erins house, , and see people like deanna, who moved over here with me but who i haven't seen in years.
when i packed everything up and sent it home a feew weeks ago, it amazed me that my whle life could fit into a few cardboard boxes and a suitcase. i guess we don't need that much, really, to make us feel that we are home.
i am a little worried about CULTURE SHOCK. steven said when he went home, he had trouble, because people in america are LOUD and FAT and RUDE. there ain't a whole lot of any of this in japan.
ok, so, just to let you know. im coming home.
thanks to everyone who sent me packages, wrote me letters, and generally made me feel better when i was grumpy and depressed over here. you have no idea what it meant to get a postcard on a bad day, or some toothpaste just when i was about to run out.
thanks a billion and two.
maybe i'll see you soon!
japanese babies are of the most expressive and adorable that i have ever seen.
this is my friends baby, i am in love with her and plan to pack her in my suitcase when i leave.
she also has a pissed off "why do i have to hang with the white girl with crappy japanese while my parents have alone time" face, but it hurts my feelings.
