Politics and My Home State

See this article in Slate on the presidential election and who might win NH. Funny to me is the commentary at the beginning on the politics of the state, the fact that the state was taken over by Democrats in 2004, that it has a strange executive group under the governor called the Executive Council, and the fact that it was the only state that the Current Occupant didn't repeat in 2004.

And this too:

New Hampshire's license plates have made its "Live free or die" motto famous, but it's not just a motto. This is a state with no sales tax and no income tax on wages. It's the only state in the union without an adult seat-belt law. It's a state that grants its citizens an explicit "right of revolution"—see Article 10 of the state constitution—should the people's liberty ever become endangered.

More Convergence

So, there's an article from the NYT about the fact that Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashana and the Muslim holiday of Ramadan are coinciding this year. It's a pretty fascinating article, but the best line ever is this:

"The result has been a kind of monotheistic traffic jam in September along the paths of the tiny walled Old City, especially as dawn approaches each day."

Convergence

So, I saw the exhibit on Jim Henson last weekend at the Smithsonian, which was awesome. (Weirdly, I ran into one of my cousin's ex-girlfriends at the exhibit.) In a total convergence of stuff, there's an article on the Muppets in the NYT.

College Days...

Actually, more like summer job days. Here's an article from the NYT that describes a street version of the game that I played with my summer teaching job colleagues during the summer of 1999. A game I wouldn't want to play anymore, but it's certainly fun to read about!

Grumpy

Today started well, but the grading is getting intense and starting to aggravate. A friend guessed that I may be having post-Mountain Day blues, so I choose to blame that rather than losing my Zen due to grading. Somehow, that's a better reason than work being slightly overwhelming. I'll get it all under control tomorrow and feel better before the weekend, hopefully. With any luck, I'll also be able to go car shopping on Saturday to look for something snazzy to replace the 20 year old car... Methinks it's time. At any rate, since I can think of nothing else, here's a song lyric and a poem that have resonated in recent days:

-----
"...it's a dirty trick I play on myself, imagining [he] might call, just because I've waited patiently..." --We're About 9, "Telephone Booth"
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Summer Nocturne

Let us love this distance, since those
who do not love each other are
not separated. --Simone Weil

Night without you, and the dog barking at the silence,
no doubt at what's in the silence,
a deer perhaps pruning the rhododendron
or that raccoon with its brilliant fingers
testing the garbage can lid by the shed.

Night I've chosen a book to help me thing
about the long that's in longing, "the space across
which desire reaches." Night that finally needs music
to quiet the dog and whatever enormous animal
night itself is, appetite without limit.

Since I seem to want to be hurt a little,
it's Stan Getz and "It Never Entered My Mind,"
and to back him up Johnnie Walker Black
coming down now from the cabinet to sing
of its twelve lonely years in the dark.

Night of small revelations, night of odd comfort.
Starting to love this distance.
Starting to feel how present you are in it.
-----
Stephen Dunn, from Everything Else in the World. New York: Norton, 2006.

Science and Education...

though not at the same time. First, a little moping about Monday -- if I don't believe in them anymore, does that mean they won't exist? The same goes for the fall and the fact that we're past the equinox. I didn't vote for that!

And now, on to the show:
- From the NYT, an article about a glacial pothole that has been found under the site of the World Trade Center construction site. Very fascinating for the geologists among us. And for me too.
- From the Christian Science Monitor, an article about people who might want to become teachers.
- Also from the NYT, something about the call for less emphasis on SAT tests. Dude, that debate is SO 10+ years ago!

Treading Water

I feel swamped but not overwhelmed with schoolwork at the moment. I think I would be overwhelmed if not for the summer work I put in. Thank goodness I did. I'm relatively caught up on grading, relatively on top of what I'm doing at any given moment. Of course, I'm already "behind" in the freshman class, but that's ok, I think. It'll all work out the right way, even if we don't read all of the last book. Fortunately, the last one that we're scheduled to read this year is a series of short pieces, really, so we can skip around if needed.

Wednesday, more than halfway through the week, yay!

Politics depresses me right now, as I'm desperately scared that the wrong people will win the Presidential election in November. On the other hand, I'm always up for talking about the state of education, so here are a few things of note:

- from the NYT, something on a public prep school in Yonkers
- in addition from the NYT, their blog on teaching