Falling into Winter as BEHS's 1st Trimester Ends

That's right.  They have TRI-mesters.  That'll take some acclimating, but I'm adjusting.  What it means, is that this trimester is nearly over--on Thursday, to be exact, and grades are due.  So much to do, and winter seems impatient to crowd its way in. Snow fell for the better part of 2 days, and now the mountains are white.  Took this photo from my front window this morning.

Despite how long I've been in front of the computer, owing to the fact that I'm home with very little vocal capacity at the moment, I want to post somethings about this amazing school.  

IF there's any way you can make it to this performance of Les Miserables, do it.  I don't even LIKE this story in musical format, usually--not even the original Broadway version.  I LOVED this! The staging, scenery, vocals (particularly the choral numbers), acting...there are no words.  Not a static character on the stage at any time.  The child actors wowed everyone too!

BEHS's musical director, Melanie Day, is a genius!

Kate Olson was my favorite soloist.  With a rich, clear and controlled excellence, 

she stole the show every time she sang.  

Now for some clips from what my 10th and 11th graders have produced over the Tri.

After reading The Alchemist, the 10th graders were to write a narrative and produce a Dreamboard for their lives, tying in their goals and aspirations--what matters most to them--in with what they learned in this novel.  Here's one happy, bright-themed version.

Here's another--both of these, quite aptly fit the personalities and thinking patterns of each student.

In early Autumn, the 11th graders went outside to explore an excerpt from Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature, chose one sentence to use in a narrative essay.  To further aide in connecting with this author, they chose wallpaper and a leaf pattern, cut it out and wrote their sentence on it, placing it wherever suited them on the wall in the classroom.

"But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars."  

In response to this Emerson line, here's part of what Troy Sterner wrote, "If a man walks alone at night, he will look up at the darkened sky.  he will glance up at the white light that sprinkles over the earth...an ancient glow, a friend to man, that has aged unimaginably...he will lose himself in thought.  Glancing at the many dots will bring him a sense of peace and longing for company.  

He will stare at the night sky, and time itself will seem to stop."

"I am a lover of untamed and immortal beauty."  

McKell Halladay, feels a kindred connection with Emerson's statement that 

"All natural objects make a kindred impression, when illustrate mind is open to their influence."  She shared an experience from visiting a mountain canyon at sunset as it reflected on Willard Bay;

"The blues, oranges and pinks seemed to melt together in a beautifully painted scene...almost surreal, yet it felt like home.  To this day, I go to that spot for comfort and reflection...as the sunset fades into a glowing night sky, where the lights in the valley and the stars overhead are almost mirror images.

It is a comfort that cannot be provided by human hands.  It is simply natural."

The narratives were inspired.  

"'The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are always inaccessible." ...Emerson doesn't just mean stars, but nature in general...I spent many nights...watching the stars...always felt like there was something there with me...It was a very humbling feeling...in the woods and when I saw a deer, or a flower, a squirrel, or a leaf...this thought kept coming to me, "if only I could sit here and watch this forever...Maybe then, and only then, I might understand a millionth of all this."  I think that even though nature on earth is easier to reach than the stars, it still is just as inaccessible to us.  Though we can walk right up to most of it and touch it, we still can't even imagine the full beauty of nature." --Jaden Stevenson

Next we studied Edgar Allan Poe and the students chose and created 

one of many multi-media responses to his work.  

Landon, here, is Death in "The Masque of the Red Death."  

We had short silent films, amusing skits, power points and story boards presented over

the course of a week or so.

One young artist, Naomi Ross, successfully chose a different option.

She drew Poe with a gentler expression and then found images on line to add which

illustrate the dark stories which came out of a troubled mind, which,

she explained, were a form of catharsis. 

Another girl blew our minds with a poetic folk song she composed and sang--

a love song to Edgar.  It was exquisite.  (Yes, she's in Les Mis, too!)

Ok, tomorrow is the first day of the last week of this trimester, and I'm hoping I have a voice.

Most of all, though, I hope most of these students are in my next or 3rd trimester, too.  

I'm just getting to know them and want/need more time with them!

The made-up young lady on the left, Sadie Hyde, wrote and put together a delightful skit for class, told from the executioners' point of view in The Pit and the Pendelum.  She's incredibly talented!

On a more homey note, I've discovered a couple of fun facts:

My rabbit, Ginger, likes to chew on slippers just like a puppy!  He's always trying to chew on my socks while I'm wearing them, so I let him keep and take into his cage, 

this old slipper from Asiana Airlines.

However, I think it made him a little sick.  

He also LOVES to be petted, licks my hand and snuggles his soft face into my palm.

And finally, creating a guest room takes only minutes, blowing up a $50+ air mattress!  

There are definitely some advantages to modern ideas.  I love this!  So simple and much cheaper, as well as comfortable, than the old sleeper sofas!

Stay warm and have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Summer Welcomes Fall

We ended August at the cabin of some very dear friends up in the mountains.  

At that altitude, Autumn was already in the air,

so, the fireplace inside and warm company were very welcome!

Jim Bench designed and built this place, and both he and 

Marion have filled it to the brim with charm and gorgeous decor.  

A retired English school teacher, Marion has been my cheerleader and stand-in 

Mum, ever since I bought my place in Midvale.  The views from their cabin deck are breath-taking!

Jordan, Karli and I did our bit to help with dinner,

and hummingbirds, more friendly than I ever imagined, came to feed and perched on our fingers!!!

They know good company and Marion says they wait outside the window--hovering--waiting to be fed when she and Jim return to the cabin every summer!  Karli captured this moment in time, but all of us were delighted to experience the surreal touch of tiny birds landing, ever-so-briefly, on our hands as they fed.  Thank you, Jim and Marion, for a perfect day in every way!

The 3-4 yr olds in my Sunbeam class on Sundays gathered at my home in Midvale for a play date, and I discovered Jordan's old Legos are now considered retro, 

there's nothing like a huge white stuffed tiger to capture the heart of a little boy,

the cupcake you decorate yourself is the best,

and my bunny, Ginger, loves little ones petting him!

Before moving to Logan in order to shorten my commute to Box Elder High, I accepted 

a fun Saturday job of face painting for a Princess-themed party of a young girl.

I don't do a lot of these jobs, because time simply doesn't allow for it, 

but, that afternoon was such fun!

Meanwhile, teaching HS, particularly in Brigham City, has rewards which 

overshadow the exceptionally low pay.  The kids are so great!!!  They get super psyched at assemblies and attend town events like Peach Days.  A bunch of them hang out in my

classroom almost daily during lunch, as part of a club called "Days and Knights."

Jens Anderson, in the front on the right, started the club, and he just transferred here from Provo.  He's got serious leadership skills and a never-ending imagination for story writing.  He pulled together a group to do a short silent video for our multi-media Edgar Allan Poe project.  Here's the guy who played "Death" in the Masque of the Red Death:

His girlfriend did the pustules and shadowy make-up, and we draped a black hoodie over him for this shot.  We had some extremely creative approaches to Poe, including a skit from the Interrogators of The Pit and the Pendelum's point of view, and a comedy talk-show style interview with 

the guy who escaped from that Pit.  They used all the assigned vocabulary, and quotes from the 

short story, but had us laughing 'til we cried.  

Autumn is in full sway, spreading over the mountains in patches--

we did a section on はいく poetry, while studying Emerson and Dickinson.

Undoubtedly, this influenced my feelings toward the views:

Confettied mountains

oe’r windswept azure and white,

Summer welcomes Fall.

It's been just over a year since Jordan and Karli decided to make their friendship permanent in the Salt Lake City temple, as the prettiest couple (in my opinion) on the planet.  To celebrate, they went to Jordan's beloved city, Boston, Massachusetts, where he served his mission and graduated from B.U. with an MFA in Screen Writing.  Part of me is secretly pining to go back East too....

However, last week, my brothers, Tom and Mark, my nephew, Matthew, and my son, Jordan, helped me all day to pack up, clean, drive the truck, and unpack many of my belongings into my Logan TH.  

I bought (or rather, acquired the mortgage on) the place nearly 10 yrs. ago, but have rented it out ever since.  In pondering about why I own the place, I petitioned the Lord.  Perhaps, if I found a job up in that area, I could try living there....lo, Brigham City's Box Elder High hired me as one of the 11th grade English teachers (tentatively--I'm VERY new, with a LOT to learn).  Logan is still a 30 minute commute  to Brigham City, but it's a heck of a lot closer than before.  

Today, is the anniversary of the last day of my mission in Japan, btw--where I boiled water to bathe for nearly 2 months during the winter.  Again, I awoke and boiled water to clean up.  After trying all weekend, I STILL couldn't get the hot-water tank pilot to light.  So, I got to my new ward late, even though it's right across the street.  I brought my journal, so as not to feel "alone," if there was no one to talk to.  

The ward is HUGE, w/as many people sitting in the cultural hall, as in the chapel. Further, there's so much noise--half the ward seems to be in Primary or Nursery!  While waiting to go into Sunday School, I started chatting w/a lady next to me, Cathy.  She's single and recently divorced.  We chatted until it was time to start.  There were remarkably few people in Sunday School, and the teacher asked for a volunteer to pray.  I looked around, waited a bit, then volunteered.  Shortly after that, someone popped in, asking for a couple of helpers in the nursery.  Turns out there are THREE nurseries, w/a total of nearly 80 toddlers (if all of them came at once). Again, I looked around, waited, and then stood up to go help.   One other woman, Carrie Horsley, who's quickly becoming a new friend, stood up at the same time.  We both have one child--a son--and enjoy being around munchkins.  So, we clicked. She and her husband, like a lot of the people in my congregation, live in my development.  They drive a truck to Memphis together, twice weekly, delivering airbags, of all things!  Best of all, they've invited me to join them and some other friends once a month for game night; AND her husband came over to take a look at my hot-water heater's pilot light.  Who knows how he did it, bc. it looked like exactly what I've done for days, but, who cares, because....TA DA! 

Now I have water heating up as I type this!!!  Woooo Hoooo!  I jumped up and down, cheered and my new friend hugged me!  She said she doesn't know what she'll do if she's on her own someday, and I answered, "you'll do exactly the same thing I'm doing--make new friends to help you!"  

School Starts

While driving back to Utah from Maryland, and shortly after I unpacked, a few different school districts contacted me to set up interviews for teaching and assistant teaching assignments.  Since I'm new at this, and have only held one position, for half a year so far, 

I was delighted and surprised that anyone wanted to interview me.  

By Friday of last week, I signed on with this amazing charter school, as a "para professional."

While my background isn't in Special Ed, and of course, I wanted a full-time teaching position, working for Spectrum Academy was clearly a great opportunity.  It's a brand new campus in Pleasant Grove, Utah, the second of what I believe will be a chain of schools 

specifically designed for students with Autism.  The staff consists of some of the most dedicated, sincere, fun and loving people I've ever met.  

Steve Phelps will never be boring to any student, I'm certain, as he's teaching 

6-7th graders math.  I got some really fun ideas from him!

His class is next to Jackie Jeppson's, the amazing woman

I was privileged to work with all week.

We attended training meetings and put Jackie's class together.  

She's been teacher-of-the-year twice.  A combination of 

kind, driven and tolerant, she's put up repeatedly

with a malfunctioning elevator for most of the week 

and ongoing last minute construction and missing deliveries of supplies.

Classes begin for Spectrum on Tuesday.
Hopefully there will be chairs in the room!

Jackie's daughter, Sky, helped immensely as we created posters for the wall.  She's a runner and soccer player, as well as an artist and Honor's English student at her new school.  Jackie and her daughter moved here for this teaching opportunity.  A single mom, Jackie's 

teaching her children to be achievers just like she is!

Friday morning my cell phone rang, and I answered it in Spectrum Academy's parking lot.  When the principal of Box Elder High School offered me a full-time teaching assignment for 11th grade English Language Arts, I didn't know how to respond.  In my week of working with Spectrum's staff, I'd grown quite attached...and I was worried, having no desire to sever that connection irreparably.

On the other hand, secondary English is my certification subject, and English was my major at BYU.

Fortunately, the staff at Spectrum are as supportive of their staff's best interests
as they are of their students'.

So, starting tomorrow, exactly one week later, I begin a brand new adventure!

Tomorrow morning the sun will rise over a different horizon.  It's exciting.  And, it's terrifying.
Mostly, though, I'm looking forward to this new dawn!

Life Is Beautiful!

A friend asked how many states I haven't been to, and we realized that there are less than 1/2 a dozen I've not driven through.  This time around, I realized that from Tennessee on, one drives through an undulating green sea of trees, rolling meadows and farm lands.

The shot above is from along the I-81, driving North, through Virginia.  

The next one I took while leaving a rest stop in Tennessee.

There are also sprays of wild flowers which adorn the medians of highways, including Buttercups, Day Lilies, Queen Anne's Lace, Black-eyed Susans and Daisies, like these, 

from the city of Frederick, just before I left for Korea.

Flowers are as natural a part of Eastern US's landscape, as Asia's.  I'd not noticed the lack of them growing wild this time of year in Utah and Arizona until driving here.  

Trees grow right up to and even canopy over byways, 

as pictured here on a rural route in Shenandoah Junction, WV.  

Just took this photo this afternoon.

Architectural styles range from European and early American to eclectic and modern.  I never tire of the variety.  Just this afternoon, I noticed this unusual old manor, 

somewhere on top of a hill in Virginia, I believe.

Historic Harper's Ferry is too full of nooks, crannies, hidden stairways and sharp angled roads, fascinating old buildings and a gorgeous ancient Catholic Church to capture sufficiently in the time I had today (which was borrowed), 

but it should be on your "must see" list, if you love early American towns.

 With significant involvement in the Civil War, and nestled in between the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, Harper's Ferry has survived several floods and attacks.  It

attracts tourists far and wide, and loyal residents call it home year round.  

I still remember how awed by the place my son and I were when we first moved East from AZ.  

Gently lit up at night, it's truly like a fairy land.

Seeing the historic district and embassies of Washington, D. C. are worth a trip East, in my opinion.  I took this photo when I obtained my VISA to go to Korea a couple of years ago.  But, 

you haven't really seen Maryland, until you see the outskirts and rural areas, like where I'm staying.

Lake Linganore is a community built in and around ponds, woods and farmlands.

This community is what we left when I decided to move to Utah.  

Part of me has repeatedly wondered what possessed me to make such a move. 

On the other hand, the beauty of Arizona has never been so poignantly real to me, as when surveyed from the Superstitions with my brother Joe on Wednesday, following a rain storm the night before. 

And Utah's canyons are breath-taking, like this view of Provo Canyon.

Quite simply, there is beauty EVERYWHERE, if we take the time to notice.  This has definitely been a week to drive that fact home.  Hoping this summer does the same for you!

And We're Off--Summer Fun!

The month began with the best 4th of July and birthday lunch with CAKE, (prepared by my son's beautiful wife, Karli), followed by a BBQ and fireworks 

with her sister and new husband at Sugarhouse Park.  

Now I'm on the road, headed to Maryland, to do a bit of mural painting.  I pulled off of interstate 40 earlier to find out just exactly where I am.  Chatted with some folks around my age, who are biking from WV 

to the same areas in UT and AZ I just left!  

Visited with friends and my brothers for a couple of days before heading East on Interstate 40 (aka: Route 66).  Joe and I hiked around in the Superstitions for a few hours. 

He makes a fun hiking partner!

It was the morning after a rain storm, so there were lots of critters on the trails,

along with a wonderful scent of refreshed cacti and shrubbery.

There's nothing like the desert after a storm and seriously, there are some stunning views in Arizona, like Lake Powell.  It has a surreal, other-worldly look, doesn't it?

I stayed with and visited a couple of old friends and attended the temple in Gilbert, AZ for the first time--wow.  It's Gorgeous!

Oh yes, and my friend, Rae's daughter, Michelle (now Udall) is running for State Representative!  I'm so proud of her and would vote for her if I was in her district, because she'd be great!

During that quick 2 day visit to Arizona, I was able to visit with all 3 of my brothers who live in Arizona, and that hasn't happened in years, so, it's already been an awesome summer! 

Now, as it turns out, I'm in Brinkley (Love that name--think I'll have to name a pet after it), Arkansas.  Hot, humid, and very very green here.  So, here's where I quit for the day. It's warm, very humid, and very, very green here--outside there are oodles of little toads and frogs hopping around and I love the smell of things growing in the air!

http://www.city-data.com/city/Brinkley-Arkansas.html

I'd intended to do this drive in 3 days.  Oh well.  2300 miles is a bit more than a jaunt and spending time with family and friends, coupled with, well, life, means too little sleep and dozing off at the wheel.