We're Back!

Friday was the day all the teacher's in Walton County, FL reportred for the 2004-2005 school year. Yippee! I have a room of my own this year and spent the majority of the day helping the math teacher that had occupied it move to her new space at farthest point you can have a classroom at Walton High School. We joked toward evening that we had started out "Walking Club" back with the repeated trips to carry books and furniture and all else that teacher's manage to accumulate.
My classroom still needs som tinkering, but I'm sure that all will be in place when the students arrive next Thursday. It was good to see your friends at school and talk about your summer. GLORIOUS.

Spidey Fever

Will Stan Lee be the next Shakespeare? Will our grand childrten read Spiderman like we read Romeo & Juliet? If Sam Rami's screen adaptation has any say in the arguement, it just may happen. His conception of Spiderman is right on the mark.
Having read the original comics huddled in my tiny cot as a 13 year old kid growing up along Florida's Gulf coast in the late 60's, I cried as the images pumeled me in my stadium seat. Unlike Spiderman I that was one villan less than perfect. (I still can't get over that cheezy Green Goblin Mask) Alfred Molina's Dr. Otto Octopus is clearly brillant and believable. I loved this movie. I cried. I was entertained. My father and I always argured about the purpose of film. He said they were made to entertain. I said to teach. Both of us would win our argument with this flick. I hope you were watching this one dad!

Go Spidey, long live Marvel and Stan Lee.

The Week That Flew By

Understanably, the first three days of this week (Mon, Tues, & Wed) zipped by. Why? I was at the high School taking a computer technology course. I learned much and met some very nice people. Thursday, I stayed at home working on a variety of projects. The temperature hoverd around the 100 plus mark so most of the day I spent indoors moving stuff from one place to another. Getting organized. On Friday, I went back to the high school to work on my classroom. Two more weeks until school begins. If those weeks move as quickly as this one did, I'll be knee deep in 9th graders before I know it.

Fahrenheit 9/11: The Movie

Got up early, drove 80 miles, and watched a 10:40 early show.

I always liked Michael Moore. Number one, he is smart. Number two, he asks the question no one else will. Number three, he is a big guy. I am a big guy and big guys have to stick together. When my 20 year old son gave me "Bowling for Colunbine" to watch, I was blown away by the fact that the most insightful sound bite came from somewhere I would not have expected , the painted lips of none other than Marilyn Manson. I knew then, if I hadn't already figured it out, that Mike was a genius. A genius at upending your preconcieved ideas of the universe. That what documentries should do, but very few ever do.

Don't take my word for it, I'd already been duped once. I knew that even before Mike underlined it for me.

Genius? Sure ain't BUSH and company.

P.S. Wouldn't it be nice to imagine a world in which a movie could upend a presidential election?

Saturday becomes Sunday

Plans. Big plans. Lists and stacks of "things to do" . Almost one thirty and finally a shower, a shower I first contemplated at 6 am. What have I been doing? Reading James Lee Burke. Adding up the cash in my 5 or 6 bank accounts. Dreaming of a new lens for my camera.
Moving stacks of paper around on my desk. Accomplishments? My wife and I managed to drink two pots of coffee. Well all may not be lost . "What's next on the list?"
6:00 PM: We have finished nearly 4 pots of coffee.

UPDATE: After much discussion over who and what we were going to do for supper and what spaghetti recipe I would eat, we ordered take out from Mom & Dad's Italian on Hwy 90. "I want two orders of spaghetti with meat sauce and a side order of meat balls, house dressing on the salad, and one slice of Carolyn's Creame Cake." We have been eating at this place for over thirty years and i think this may be the first time we did take out. It was "just right" and given the ample portions, enough for lunch tomorrow.

All said and done, very little of the list got accomplished today. Tomorrow?