Thanks again to all that donated to Zach and his Dad.

In more frivolous news, I am so glad that Jennipher was kicked off of America's...Next....Top Model. I hated that she spelled her name with a ph. And she also seemed asleep half the time. Boring.

Predictions for next week? I think that Kelle has got to go. Either her or Nicole, because even though the website describes Nicole as "full of controversal thoughts and opinions", I can't remember her every saying anything. Again, boring.

Tonight is the fair, again. But nighttime fair is different from daytime fair. More young people lurking in the dark to find places to make out. The carnies take on a (even more) sinister look. You can actually ride the rides because you can't see how loose the nuts and bolts look on their hinges. I can't wait.  ¶ 11:51 AM

  Yesterday a parent requested a conference with all of his teachers-- me being one of them. We were surprised because the student of this parent is an excellent kid...his only real problem being that he keeps passing gas in my class. But most of my eighth grade boys do that.

When we went into the conference room, the boy's father immediately began to sob. We were, of course, totally shocked and let him take a minute to collect himself. He was a big guy, looked like a lumberjack, and I think we were all pretty uncomfortable.

He then told us that he had just been diagnosed with Lupus and that the doctor had given him less than a year to live. His son, Zach, had seemed a little off lately. We found out that because his father had been too ill to work he had been fired. He is raising Zach all by himself because Zach's mom left them when he was only a baby.

Because his father can't work anymore, they have lost their home. As of today, they live in their truck. Yesterday Zach's dad told us that he had run out of food and was trying to get into a free shelter to feed his son.

I have never done this before, but my heart is just breaking over this situation. I am going to help out anyway I can, at least to get Zach lunch and whatnot, but they need more. I thought I might ask for your help.

If you are able to help Zach and his dad at all with a donation, I would be happy to send it along to them. If you can donate even five dollars, please go to Paypal.com and request to send money to grrlsprout@hotmail.com. It is a very user friendly site and it shouldn't be hard to sign up for an account to do this. I know the family would really appreciate it. Thank you.  ¶ 11:50 AM

  I'm going into my lesson today kind of unprepared. And it is totally the kind of lesson that I should have over-prepared for.

I have this awesome unit about Anne Frank that I am doing. Yesterday I was really proud of myself because I took my kids to the library and they researched different topics in teams. I had chosen their teams thoughtfully, keeping in mind levels and whatnot and made it a scavenger hunt so that they wouldn't know they were researching. It went so unbelievable well that the school librarian and I kept winking at each other from across the library. It rocked.

However. I put so much energy into that, I kind of forgot that I was bringing in laptops today. The thought is that they will now research electronically. Good skill, right? Only, I didn't really plan very well for how. So now I know that they are maybe going to run out of things to research and then they may just go wild in a room filled with thousands of dollars worth of equipment. I am picturing hundreds of copies of Sponge Bob and 50 Cent flying out of the printer no matter how much I have forbidden it. I am imagining twenty-two kids all trying to discover porn at once. Madness.

But it is all okay because tonight is America's Top Model. And I missed it last week. No stinky presidential debate to ruin my fun this time. Stinky, stinky president and presidential contender. I mean, really. Run for leader of our nation or whatever-- but don't suck up good T.V. time.

Respectfully,

A Concerned Citizen  ¶ 7:06 AM

  I went to the North Carolina State Fair this weekend and was horrified and amused by many things. When I first get to the fair, I am always so excited by the smells, the sights, and the people. Then, by the end, I am always so nauseated by the smells, the sights and the people. Watching the common folk consume giant turkey legs without using napkins is interesting at first, but quickly becomes disgusting.

The other thing I was appalled at was the number of Bush/Cheney stickers I saw on people. I have never seen such a solid Republican presence in my life. I kept trying to calm myself by remembering that the State Fair attracts a lot of people from more rural areas and that I shouldn't be surprised, but it was hard, anyway. I finally bought a visor and had them airbrush "I heart Kerry" on it. Walking around wearing it felt slightly dangerous, but powerful, too.

My students are oddly subdued today. This new system that I am using for disclipline (called 123 Magic-- it is a book) is really working. It is this system where you just give the kids a five minute time-out after they have been counted for three offenses. They have to draw or write the whole time in a book on the time-out desk, then they come back. They like it because it doesn't hold any heavy punishment and I like it because I just have to count to three and then set a timer for five minutes. I wouldn't have thought it would work, but it totally does. Thank goodness.  ¶ 10:52 AM