THE PROMISED LAND?

First of all, my apologies to the many readers of Monkey Trials who haven't had much to read here of late. Secondly, thanks to the many other people who don't read my blog, but who haven't heard from me much of late and have been rather patient with me. Since my previous post, I:

• cancelled a scheduled choir rehearsal on Thursday

• missed Monday at my school site due to district-mandated CLAD training

• got a sub on Tuesday for my classes so that I could personally move a lot of materials into...

(Yeah!)

....my new classroom. I'd have pictures to share, but I'm now at home with aches and pains. Frankly, I overdid it. After working all day in moving on Tuesday, I played softball in the evening as part of my continuing road show as a desperate 46-year-old attempting to still doing something athletic. I hit the ball hard three times, ran the bases, dived for (and--sigh--missed) a sinking liner in the outfield, made two pretty decent over-the-shoulder catches on a pair of Texas Leaguers, and...pretty seriously bruised my heel, and am just pretty banged-up in general after that much exertion.

I did go into my site this morning to set up a lesson plan for my sub, but I came back home and spent the morning in bed and the afternoon with the political pundits. Tomorrow I'll be back in the saddle, getting serious with science ed, and as I get settled in my room, you can expect more regular commentary again on the blog. I'm excited about actually having a real science classroom, with multiple sinks, a data projector, a sound system and lots of storage. Lots of work needs to be done, but I'm not in a jury-rigged situation for the very first time in my teaching career. After more than eight years, I (and my students) are no longer being cheated by a sub-par facility that does not meet the minimal standards of my profession. I looked over Jordan, and what did I see, comin' for to carry me home?

IN LIMBO

The district has postponed our move out of the trailers for the second time in two weeks. To put it mildly, we science teachers are not happy.

I've previously posted about this, and you can read about the trials and tribulations of what is called 'modernization' by clicking on posts with the label 'The Classroom (Ugh)'. There's even a video in one of the posts which tries to humorously contrast the situation I'm in with a past of negligence and (hopefully) a better future. Next year, in Jerusalem!

MOM WEIGHS IN

My mom, responding to an earlier post, wants me to know she is still casting her lot with the Senator from Arizona, contra yours truly.

I love my Mom, and I want any readers to know I don't bear any animus to most Republicans, even the aggressive ones who are having conniption fits with reality. It's observably true that John McCain has found himself in a campaign that's at odds with his values, and it's also a shame that people on both sides of the aisles often forget that the values (as oppossed to the policies) of the opposition party are not necessarily at odds with our own values. In a perfect world, limited government would be better than a bloated, centralized bureaucracy for a host of reasons. I prefer to be around folk who accept responsibility for their actions, rather than leech off working people and taxpayers. As a Christian, I do believe that there are places in our society where a confession of faith is seen as an admission of guilt, and I don't care for that. So, I can sympathize with people who hold these values, and others that tend to be emphasized more by the GOP than Democrats.

Besides, if I had an adversarial frame of mind toward Republicans in general, I think I would succumb pretty quickly to a siege mentality. CSU Fresno and the schools are blue blemishes on Fresno County's rosy-red cheeks.