Apprentice: learner, prentice, works for an expert to learn a trade

I have a lot of things rushing through my head right now. I’m tired. Being a teacher is hard. Being an apprentice is not as hard but, it’s still hard. I am being convinced, more and more, without a doubt teaching makes a difference. Teaching is probably one of the jobs that make the biggest difference in people’s lives. It may also be one of the most difficult jobs out there.

My education was so random and varied I don’t think I realized until the past couple of years that teaching is what I have been wanting to do all this time. I have wanted to be involved in helping develop stronger communities and giving people the opportunity and reasons to dream and create. All of that is hopelessly idealistic and I intend to stick to it. What it looks like in reality is much less lovely and much more incredible. The obstacles are bigger than you could imagine and the rewards are much more subtle --students learning that they like to eat vegetables, parents getting their students to the doctor, and other non-“standard based” accomplishments.

I have been working with such dedicated and excellent teachers. I admire them so much. I feel so honored and inspired working with them. Our students are actually reaching their “grade level” standards. I am exhausted but, I intend to learn all that I can so that I will also one day be as good of a teacher as the ones I’m working with right now. Their unwavering dedication to children and their learning is incredible, patience, so much patience, work, so much work, and commitment. It’s fantastic. It’s hard.

I left work feeling so disappointed. How are we supposed to teach children whose parents are caught up in their own emotional messes? If they are not nurturing their children and giving them safe homes with relationships that are secure? Some of our children are so distracted by their relational poverty that they have a very, very hard time learning. It’s difficult, but it’s still so important what we do, in spite of all the odds being against them and us, they are STILL learning. It’s hard but, it’s unbelievably rewarding.

Compliments from Strangers

The other day I got complimented on my posture by a stranger, that was strange. Compliments from strangers or new acquaintances are an interesting thing, because they are the moments when you have the honest opinion of someone who's just met you. Sometimes, they say, those first impressions are more accurate than the perspective that people have that have known you for a very long time.

I've received two interesting compliments in the past couple of days. One was the best compliment ever. I had been chatting with one of my co-workers and she asked me if I liked the show "This American Life" and I said, "YES, of course!!! I LOVE This American Life." She went on to tell me about the last show that she had listened to and THEN she told me, "I thought about it because as you were talking to me I though that your style of story-telling is very much like the one on This American Life, you could be a story-teller on This American Life".

That was the best compliment ever. I would LOVE to be a story-teller on This American Life. That would be incredible. The other compliment that I received was that I have "a literature student vibe". I often have wondered why I didn't study literature and day dream about studying literature and being a literature professor. So, today, when my other co-worker said that to me, I felt really happy and thought that maybe it's true and I shouldn't give up on that idea.

Music + Brazil = Love. Love. Love.

Recently, I have fallen in love with Brazilian music.

el sentido de la novela

"Una novela, después de todo, no es un documento histórico,
sino una manera de viajar por el corazón humano."
Julia Alvarez

enchanted by the Word

First, I fell in love with the Word, and then the spirit in it --the Inspiration-- and then (was it inevitable?) I fell in love with the Author who cannot be separated from the words and the spirit of the words because they are all mixed up and yet, they are all separate. "In the beginning was the Word."

It all started with the words that I read and loved. At first, I thought I loved the words but then I realized that it was the spirit of the words that captured me and filled me with wonder. Later, much, much later I saw that the words had an Author and that the Spirit came from and filled the Author who carefully chose the words. Without the Author the Words would not have been filled with the Inspiration that moved me.

Tonight, I had such a lovely experience. I went to see a documentary film called PALAVRA (EN)CANTADA (The Enchanted Word). In Portuguese the title is much more powerful because the word "enchanted" so obviously has the word "sung" in it. The film was lovely, an experience filled with music and nostalgic reflections on the power of story, poetry, and music. I loved the tensions felt about drawing from the richness of history and literature and the beauty of the colloquial, improvised music that is filled with rhythm, and makes you want to live, to dance.

I hope that I will always be as easily "enchanted" as I was tonight. I often feel captivated by the unusual things around me. I am particularly interested in what it is that gives people inspiration to create. The desert can be a source of inspiration, literature, a city, the masses of people, solitude... all of them can give you something wonderful. A glance, a spoken word, music played softly... the come filled with Inspiration from the Author.

I'm in love with the Word and the words...

the maddening capriciousness of the creative process

Ok, I promise that I won't keep just posting videos but, this is also SO good!

A rose by any other name...

would smell just as sweet? This [Shakespeare Had Roses All Wrong] is a super interesting story that was aired on NPR Morning Edition. The story is about the influence that the language we speak has on the way that we interact with and perceive the world. I love language and I think that this is fascinating.

Alfabetización

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk to someone who immediately encouraged me with his sense of compassion and willingness to help those around him. He made a point of saying "if you see a problem, why don't you try to figure out a way to fix it as opposed to just complaining about it".

He runs a voluntary literacy program for Spanish speaking people in this community. It is surprising how many people (even today) don't know how to read and write. It breaks my heart. Reading and writing are two of my favorite things to do. Books can be like comforting, good friends.

Anyway, I was learning about the literacy program, how it started, how many classes they have now, and how I might be able to participate and help.

I've been thinking a lot recently about how much I enjoy both the work of researching/writing and the work that involves practically serving/teaching people. I hope that those two things are always a part of my life.

Bom Dia!

I'm trying to learn Portuguese. I think that it is interesting how much I LOVE going to class. I enjoy the learning process. I even enjoy how incredibly funny I sound when I'm trying to say normal and simple things in Portuguese like, "This is my aunt, she has brown hair and blue eyes."

I won't lie, knowing Spanish makes it so much easier to understand Portuguese than if you didn't speak Spanish first but, at the same time you have to be that much more aware of your accent and how speaking Spanish is NOT the same thing as speaking Portuguese, there are enough differences that you need to be careful.

Anyway, I love learning languages and I think I should keep this in mind as I try to figure out what direction I should head next with my life.