I Like President Bush

When I got my Michigan driver's license and registered to vote, I registered as a Republican. Even though I don't wholly endorse the Republican Party platform, as I moderate conservative I still align myself more closely to the GOP than to any other established political organization. Being back on a college campus, I take something of a private glee in my dirty little secret of calling myself a Republican.

"Your guilty conscience may force you to vote Democratic, but deep down you yearn for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king!" ~ Sideshow Bob after losing the Springfield Mayoral election.

Anyway... the point is that President Bush's recent speech at the American Legion reemphasizes why I have continued to support him despite the ever increasing number of dirty commies around me. Maybe I'm just a jingoistic war-hawk at heart, or maybe my background in history and understanding of the past really does give me some insight. But I have never questioned the need for our intervention in Iraq, and unlike the rest of the armchair Generals and Military Planners I cannot claim to know of a better way to have outlined the current mission.

But if you ever want to know why I still support the mission in Iraq, and why the Bush/Cheney bumper sticker is still on my car, here's why.

"The war we fight today is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century.

"Despite their differences, these groups form the outline of a single movement, a worldwide network of radicals that use terror to kill those who stand in the way of their totalitarian ideology. And the unifying feature of this movement, the link that spans sectarian divisions and local grievances, is the rigid conviction that free societies are a threat to their twisted view of Islam.

"They are successors to fascists, to Nazis, to communists and other totalitarians of the 20th century. And history shows what the outcome will be... This war will be difficult. This war will be long. And this war will end in the defeat of the terrorists.

"Many of these folks are sincere and they're patriotic but they could not be more wrong. If America were to pull out before Iraq could defend itself, the consequences would be absolutely predictable, and absolutely disastrous. We would be handing Iraq over to our worst enemies -- Saddam's former henchmen, armed groups with ties to Iran, and al-Qaida terrorists from all over the world who would suddenly have a base of operations far more valuable than Afghanistan under the Taliban."

~ President Bush before the 88th Annual American Legion National Convention on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I'm Kind of a Big Deal

I didn't realize it's been a few weeks since I blogged... that's just the way August's been. Made it through training, then RA/MA training, and opening/move-in week is just about done. It's been long some days, but I'm still more content with things here than I ever was at any point in North Carolina. The only variable left to add to the equation is how things will be once classes start next week, though I'm not too worried about it.

Through the last month what has struck me more than anything else is the feeling that I am actually appreciated and valued by people from so many different levels here. I've had deans and directors of whole departments and offices here on campus come up to me and start a conversation knowing who I am, which is a complete departure from the shunning or mild sense of forced politeness I always received as a first year teacher.

The University seems to have a lot of faith in its graduate staff, and thus far I feel more confident that I know what I'm doing or how to handle things than I ever did at any point last year. The lingering sense of dread and foreboding has been replaced with genuine optimism and confidence, which is a welcome change of pace to say the least.

I'm excited for my job, excited for my classes, excited for the prospects of my internship next summer, and just generally excited to be back on campus.

The Land of Milk and Honey

I am on top of the mountain, and it is good.

It's been a few weeks since I last posted, but now I'm finally getting settled in to my new apartment and my new life as a graduate student.

Frickin' sweet.

The only thing I have to complain about is that fact that I'm sweating my balls off here. I went through 4 of my 5 years as an undergraduate before getting air conditioning at the apartment in Ypsi, but it's been a rough transition back to life without the glorious gift of central air. No amount of fans or windows can ever equal the unabashed delight of frosty humidity-free air.

That being said, everything else about my return to Michigan is great. I figured out how to get to 28th Street, Alpine Avenue, and Rivertown, so I'm pretty much set for all the modern conveniences I'll need. I found Buffalo Wild Wings on both 28th St. and Alpine, so I won't want should the craving for buffalo wings hit. Hopefully we'll get our meal accounts activated tomorrow so I can start getting free food on campus...

Back on campus. Living the dream.

We started training today, and it will continue for the next three weeks. Many hours filled with mission statements, policies and procedures, and all the administrative hoo-hah that one could expect from an academic institution. Good times.

It's been a little wired talking to people who are in their second year of the program, or other first year people who did their undergraduate here when they're under the assumption that I'm from North Carolina. They start explaining something about Grand Rapids or other local information, and I have to come up with new ways to politely say "Yeah, I know - I grew up 20 minutes from here." But so far they're good people, so it's all good.

On that note, it's time to go sweat through another night without air conditioning.

Birthday Shout-Outs

Just wanted to give a shout-out to Jon-Boy and The Captain for taking care of me on my birthday this weekend in Chi-Town.

Though I still have to yell at Jon one more time to get some freakin' furniture and food in his apartment. Just because you graduated from MSU doesn't mean you have to live a Spartan existence for the rest of your life. (For those who don't know about life in ancient Sparta and what the term a "Spartan existence" means - get some culture! Go look it up... now.)

Anyway... thanks for the view of the city, the drinks, Portillos, and showing me a good time for the old quarter-century mark.

I'm having one of those headaches with pictures...

"I'm no good at being a slave. I'm thinking about graduate school." ~ Philip J. Fry

Moving Out and Moving On

Well it's July now, which means I have to start the inevitable packing process. The problem is, most of the stuff I have that I don't regularly use is already packed away, never really unpacked from the move down here. Sure there's a few things in my office that can be put away and readied for transport, but right now the big focus is on what can be thrown away. Anything school related is automatically on the junk pile, but once again I did a pretty good purge this time last year.

As much as I may joke about it, my time spent in North Carolina was not a wasted year of my life. Nor do I feel like a failure for leaving after just one year. On the contrary - it's all proceeding as I had planned. The whole point of coming down here was to get a year of experience under my belt so that I would have a better chance at going somewhere and doing something I wanted to. I don't know if this year of teaching experience directly contributed to me getting my full-ride to graduate school or not, but it certainly didn't hurt.

And as I wrote a few weeks ago - I have that same sense of excitement for going to grad school as I did when going off to college for the first time as an undergraduate. Earlier this fall when I was realizing just how much teaching at my high school sucked, one of my older and wiser coworkers suggested I look in to working at the college level after the way I had talked about my experience working for U of M.

And really, it all goes back to the plan I had all those years ago before I had graduated from college. I always knew I'd go back to graduate school, but figured I'd wait and work for a few years before figuring out what I wanted to do. I knew I could always keep teaching, but that I also had other options more closely related to my psychology degree. As I've said before - I think getting into student services and academic advising may just be the perfect combination of those things.

In talking to the Captain about why he and Jon struggled so much with the first few years of college, and why so many students do, I actually got excited about the prospect of doing my final research project on something like that. I've never liked research, so the fact that I was actually interested in doing it with this subject matter seems like a good sign.

Of course, let's not forget the most important part of all this...

I get to go back to college, and get paid for doing so.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Tuesday was the last time I ever have to set foot in that high school again. With almost everything already finished the previous Friday, the only actual work I did was backing up all of my lessons/notes/worksheets/etc. onto a CD for the next poor bastard who takes my place. After that it was lunch at the Chinese buffet and a few games of Spades to pass the afternoon until 3:00.

So now what?

I pack out my trash and head back to civilization (Michigan) on July 21. Between now and then, here is the sum total of my goals:

1. Watch the entire Band of Brothers series.
- I went to the local Game Stop to see how much I could get for my X-Box. I haven't played it in months, and my X-Box live account expired. They offered my like $50 in cash or $85 in trade, so trade I did. They had a used copy of the entire series in its tin that looked like it was brand new for $50. So, I picked it up and have thus far made it through 6 of 10 episodes in the week I've had it.

2. Play video games.
- In addition to the DVD set, I also picked up a few used games to round out my trade-in credit. Got Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 and two James Bond games - the Pierce Brosnan modern Bond Everything or Nothing and the retro Sean Connery From Russia with Love. Running around in a white dinner jacket with an SMG is fun...

3. Lose 20 pounds.
- It's more than just wishful thinking... I'm trying to diet and I've been exercising. No more snacking, only drinking water, Special K for breakfast, and about 45 minutes a day in my apartment's fitness center.

4. Make money on eBay.
- In the last two weeks I've made about $550 dollars selling the contents of the boxes in my closet. Take out the shipping costs and eBay fees, and I've still got about $400 in profits so far. Also cuts down on the amount of boxes to move.

5. Packing and moving.
I've got the rental truck reservation. I've got an address in Michigan. Now I just need to get all of my worldly possessions from Point A to Point B.

Deja vu All Over Again

I feel like a high school senior all over again.

Tomorrow is my last day of exams with the students. I have my 2nd and 4th block classes for their exam, and then the rest of the week is dedicated to cleaning up and closing out the year.

And then it's off to college. Again.

I got my overrides to register for my fall classes, so here's how it looks.

EDG 647 - Theories of College Student Development
Credits: 3

This course examines the major student development theories used by college student affairs practitioners in the higher education environment.

EDG 651 - Higher Education and Student Affairs Functions
Credits: 3

Provides an overview of the historical development of American higher education and an introduction to the evolution of student affairs functions in the academy.

EDG 652 - The American College Student
Credits: 3

Examines the characteristics, values, expectations, and needs of contemporary college students in the context of student development theory.

So there's a description (if you can call it that) of what the classes are about. My schedule will look something like this:
M: EDG 647 6:00 - 8:50 PM
T: EDG 651 3:00 - 5:50 PM
Th: EDG 652 6:00 PM - 8:50 PM

Of course I'll be working in the residence hall during the day, but I guess I was expecting to be in class a bit more than that. Maybe there's more to it and I just haven't figured it out yet.

But hey - they're paying for it so no matter what I can't complain.

Living the dream...

Teaching the Laziest Generation About the Greatest Generation

I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, but I managed to cover all of World War II in a week. Sure it wasn't as in-depth as I would have liked, but even so I feel better about what I was able to teach this semester in 1 week than the 2 1/2 week unit I did last semester.

And all thanks to the glory of movie clips.

Day 1 - The Rise of Dictators
Talk about how Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin took power amidst the Great Depression and resentment of the Treaty of Versailles. Video clip: 10 minutes from The Great Dictator starring Charlie Chaplin. Priceless.

Day 2 - Hitler Takes Advantage of Appeasement
Just a short clip of archival footage with some Hitler speeches. The real gem is in reading "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" to the class and having them draw comparisons to Hitler's remilitarization of Germany and the annexation of surrounding territories.

Day 3 - World War II starts in Europe
I wasn't proud of it, but I managed to squeeze everything from the invasion of Poland in 1939 all the way through to the Battle of Stalingrad's end in 1943. Movie clips included:
- Archival German propaganda detailing the plans for the invasion Great Britain
- The opening of The Chronicles of Narnia which shows the city of London being bombed during the Battle of Britain
- A 10 minute clip from Enemy at the Gates which did a brilliant job of illustrating Soviet military tactics and mentalities during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Day 4 - United States Entry into the War
Start off with the 25 minute attack scene from Pearl Harbor. Fast forward a bit to the recreation of Roosevelt's declaration of war before congress. Then go back and retrace the steps leading to the attack - the ascension of Emperor Hirohito, the election of Tojo as Prime Minister, the invasion of Manchuria, the Japanese need for "Breathing Room" and natural resources. I tried to emphasize the point that Japan wanted to wipe out the United States' ability to make war n one fell swoop, and get the students to understand that Japan did not attack simply to get the US involved in the war. Who knows if they understood.

Day 5 - The Course of World War II in Europe
I should have found a clip from Patton to illustrate the war in North Africa, but alas I just had to talk about it for a bit. All leading in to the attack on Fortress Europa on the beaches of Normandy. And finally, after haggling and sending home permission slips, I was able to show the opening of Saving Private Ryan in class. I've wanted to do that ever since my student teaching. Once again I wish I could have squeezed in a clip from Band of Brothers detailing the German counter-attack in the Ardennes Forest, but instead I just had to plow through to VE Day through notes and discussion.

Day 6 - The Holocaust and The End of the War with Japan
When I taught US History during student teaching I showed Schindler's List in its entirety. The administration told me it was too graphic and whatever to show to my students here, so I didn't do anything with it first semester. This time around, I didn't show it all, but I did use about 30 minutes of clips from it. I started things off with a 10 minute scene from the 9th episode of Band of Brothers entitled "Why We Fight" which did an excellent job of showing Easy Company's discovery and liberation of a Concentration Camp. My class sat and watched in stunned silence, exactly as it should be when talking about the Holocaust. I then spent the rest of the time detailing how the Nazis were able to slowly move from the general complacency with anti-Semitism all the way through to the "Final Solution". I think they got this one.

Unfortunately, my focus on the Holocaust came at the cost of more focus on the Pacific Campaign. I talked about island hopping, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and then had to rush through the development of the Manhattan Project and Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb. I showed a brief clip of some archival footage of the Enola Gay and Hiroshima, but wished I could have had one more day to cover it properly.

But as it was, I had to devote all of yesterday's time to going through the final exam review guide in preparation for exams today and Monday.

2 exam days.
6 (ugh) teacher work days.
Done.

In Memorium

To all those who have given the last full measure of devotion to the defense of liberty and freedom, we salute you.

Take a moment on this Memorial Day to recognize those who sacrificed themselves to protect our way of life.

I Feel so Deliciously White Trash...

Well with less than two months to go before I am no longer a resident of the South, I did something particularly Southern today.

I went to a NASCAR race.

Now, I have always been critical of and just outright baffled by just how anyone could be a fan of NASCAR. People kept telling me that I didn't understand because I had never been to a race, and that if I went to one I would realize just how much fun they were.

Meh... not so much.

I am still thankful to Eric's buddy Chris for the free box tickets, so I won't say that I am sorry or ungrateful for having gone to the race. I mean, how can you say no to free food and drinks during the race?

I will say that I can understand why being at the race is exciting. For what it's worth, last year's American Idol Carrie Underwood did a concert before the race, and later sang the National Anthem. While I'm not a big fan of country music, I am a big fan of the fact that she's a very cute blonde... These races are obviously a big enough deal to get celebrities like that to come out, so it was kind of impressive.

As far as the race itself... man is watching 400 laps of left turns boring. I was told that if you pick out a particular car and driver to follow you enjoy it more because you're more invested in something, so I picked out Reed Sorenson who drives the #41 Target car. Why? Because I like shopping at Target.

Sorenson ended up finishing tenth out of 43 cars. Do I understand or appreciate NASCAR any more as a result of watching this? No.

I'll have no problem leaving North Carolina to the NASCAR fans.

X-Men: The Last Straw

Hey Brian Singer... Superman Returns better be the best comic book movie ever made, because things went to hell when you left the X-Men movie franchise. Brett Ratner needs to stick to crappy action movies that nobody cares about.

Was X3 really that bad? Yes and no... I mean, in comparison to The Hulk, The Punisher, Daredevil, and Batman and Robin it was still miles ahead in terms of making a comic book movie. But after how well executed X2 was, it was going to take a tremendous effort not to disappoint.

I think the biggest problem that started the downward slide is that fact that the movie was too short. Whereas X2 clocked in at over 2 hours, X3 doesn't even make the 2 hour mark. And I think that extra 25 or 30 minutes could have helped things out a lot. The benefit of a sequel is that you don't have to spend as much time in exposition and introduction, but you still need enough explanation of things so that the plot moves forward instead of just taking giant leaps.

The high points were in Kelsey Grammer's portrayal of Beast, getting Colossus a little more screen time, and Hugh Jackman's always solid performance as Wolverine. But the travesties in the way Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Professor X were treated basically negate these high points. I won't give anything away, but these characters just got screwed in this movie.

And again, I think it all comes down to the fact that Ratner was so eager to get to the action sequences that he forgot about narrative. What made the first two X-Men movies so good was the hard work that went in to making the audience believe the characters were real people that just happened to have extraordinary gifts. This time around the characters were just part of the scenery necessary to get the special effects of their powers on screen.

You should still go see it, but just don't expect it to be as good as X2.

Don't Feed the Bears

Sometimes while reading something else on a news pages, a gem like this catches your eye in the little sidebar of other stories.

Nature!

I'm sure it was an awful, sickening thing to watch... but at the same time it also sounds funny as hell.

Just the idea of a bear chasing a monkey...

What a load of horse shit...

And this, my friends, is why the United States is continually lagging behind the rest of the world in education.

Bad Idea Hyperlink!

It's not because of a lack of qualified teachers. It's not because American children are getting dumber. It's not because the rest of the world is getting that much smarter. It's all because of fucking Ivory Tower educational research ideas like this.

I'm sorry, but children need to learn rules and respect before they are allowed to explore their feelings and self-directed interests. If little Johnny is fidgety than he needs to learn some fucking self-control, not be allowed to jump up and down on a bouncy ball whenever he feels like it.

What made NC suck so much?

So, after talking to everyone this week I have recieved a number of questions and comments regarding my ghost-like status. I can't argue against it - this is the first time I have e-mailed, blogged, or been on instant messanger in months.

Aside from the Captain and my parents, I haven't really talked to anyone since I was home for Christmas. I called my brother and talked to him after GVSU called, and I think that's the first time I had talked with my own brother since the holidays.

The only thing that's kept me going through this school year has been the other 1st year teachers I work with. Just yesterday we were talking about the way things are at school, and what it really came down to is that we are all just so constantly angry because of our students that it's poisoning our souls. We have zero support from the administration, mentors that are only working on paper to get the extra pay, and a school full students that are doing everything they can to make our jobs that much harder.

What made NC suck so much? The students. All of my school of education classes, student teaching, and other ideas of what teaching would be were totally shattered by these kids. Their only aspirations are to turn 16 so they can drop out. Students are regularly absent 2 or 3 days a week, and when they are there they either sleep through class or cause disruptions like its a zoo. They never stop talking, which includes talking back to the teachers. All they want to do is talk with their friends or get up in the middle of class and start singing and dancing to the latest hip hop song full of graphic sexual implications.

These students don't deserve to be in high school. Out of the 230 odd students in the freshmen class we teach, at least 80 should not have left the 8th grade because they did not pass their classes. But the middle school was so desperate to get rid of them that they shipped them up to us anyway. And because they've been promoted to every higher grade up to this point, they still believe they will be sophomores next year even though they've failed all their classes. And of course failing those classes has nothing to do with never turning in homework, not studying, or talking through every lesson. It's all because our classes are boring and we're bad teachers.

Add on top of all that the fact that all of my friends and family are 800 miles away, the weather is always warm, and the lack of anything resembling culture down here, and I think that about tells the tale. Like I said, there's a group of us young teachers that have bonded together to help each other through. But if you look at that group, it's further proof that none of us belong here. I'm from Michigan, one guy's from Ohio, another from Massachusetts, 2 from Pennsylvania, another guy from Michigan... we're all displaced northerners who only ended up in North Carolina because nobody else wants to deal with these kids.

I just want to feel like myself again. This job has just drained me mentally, physically, and emotionally, and the only thing that it has given me to refill what it's taken is frustration, anger, and disappointment.

Whew... that was a hell of a rant.

I can barely articulate how much I am looking forward to going back to college, and moving back to Michigan. I never wanted to leave in the first place, but I had no other options. I think this graduate program is exactly what I am looking for, and it couldn't have come together more perfectly. I don't yet know when I'll be moving back to Michigan - that will depend on which residence hall I'm placed in at GVSU. I know it will be sometime before July 31, since that's the first day of our training.

I'll be coming home next year

No, your eyes don't deceive you... it actually is me blogging.

I don't think it's any surprise that I have hated my time here in North Carolina. My job and my general state of being during the past year have left me in a state of depression and apathy, and as a result I just never had the motivation to keep up with things like human contact.

But, all that will soon change...

This summer I too will take my place among that free-loading lot known as graduate students.

I have just been awarded a graduate assistantship for a master's program at Grand Valley in College Student Affairs and Leadership. "What the hell is that?" you ask. Basically, it's a program designed to prepare one for such positions as academic advisors, residence hall directors, and so on at a college or university.

Basically, it is the sweetest package ever. GVSU is going to pay my tuition, even given my current North Carolina residency. Since I'll be working in a residence hall, GVSU is also paying for my housing (a 1 bedroom apartment in the residence hall), a meal plan, and a stipend.

So, at some point this July, I will once again be a Michigan resident in either Allendale or Grand Rapids.

Shout Out to the Captain

I was just trying to get my sea legs back in the last post, that's why I didn't go into specifics about the events and misadventures of Christmas break.

More to come later...

The Blog Shall Not Perish From the Earth

Alright, time to get back on the wagon.

I waste so much of my precious free time just sitting around or checking and rechecking the same webpages for updates and news, and I've got no excuse for not keeping the blog up to date. This neglected space is sometimes the only way people know that I'm still alive and kicking, and I've let it flatline again and again.

CLEAR!

Christmas break wasn't long enough. The time spent back in Holland was a bittersweet reunion, with just enough time spent with people to have a good time but not enough to get rid of the feeling of missing everyone. The fact that I had to get in the car and drive 15 hours back to North Carolina put a bit of a damper on New Year's because I didn't have the luxury of a day to recover and thus had to restrain my celebration.

The other casualty of the break's brevity was that as soon as I got back to work all of the baggage and stress came right back at me. Our schedule was such that we left for Christmas and then came back for one week of classes before final exams. Last year the school finished exams before Christmas, but that's because they started the semester in the middle of August instead of the end. Which is best? Dunno.

But, any complaints notwithstanding, it was good to be home and good to see everyone that I got a chance to.

Come back again soon.

I'll be Home for Christmas

So once again, it's been a month and a half since my last post.

Suffice to say it's been a long month and a half.

There are scores of articles and essays and studies that people have cited for me that describe the life of a first year teacher as nothing but survival mode. So how an I doing? I'm surviving, and I can't claim much more than that. I'm ready for Christmas break.

Friday begins the crazy roadtrip adventure with The Captain. Somewhere there is a bank ledger that has a tally of everything I owe him, and I just hope the mafia's not involved when it comes time to repay him. It's going to be 15 hours of Red Bull, nicotine, caffeine, fast food, and enough mix CDs to keep us going.

It's All Your Fault Mom and Dad... :-)

I'm sitting here on Sunday morning with an undeniable need to make coffee and then go buy a newspaper and donuts. It just seems like the natural order of things, and I must obey.