Random

1)The most fabulous thing anyone has ever said about your eyes?

I have a giant smile. No one notices my eyes.

2) What's on your keychain?

I still have the first key chain that I bought after getting my license too many years ago to say. The Key chain is a pewter cherub peeking out from a heart, so worn that the pert naked bottom has receded into the soft metal, barely recognizable and getting more decent every day.

3)How do you like your coffee?

This is the story of my first cup of coffee ever in London… (Yep. That one.)

Plumes of steam expelled explosively from the loins of the iron caterpillar as they grumble to a stop on the well worn path. I contemplate our debarkation, approach a stall and attempt to interpret the foreign names of unfamiliar beverage, letters embellished well beyond recognition of beans and milk.He turns with the ultimate product of his creativity and salutes me.

“Bella!”.

I Cradle the warm paper vessel, and commit this moment to memory, a secret ingredient that will morph the future flavor of each cup that I imbibe.

Oh, and it was a cappuccino.

4)What drink would he make for you? A Russellrita (raspberry margarita). I love tequila.

5) Do you dream? Yes. They are all here to read.

6)What do you have for Saturday morning breakfast?

Bagel and lox.

Now it's your turn. Go ahead.

A Literary Affair

Worship at the altar of words
Live the diphthongs and digraphs transmuted
Becoming sensation, memory, tears
Lounge in the sweet ruffled bed of terminology
Lexile lover stroke paragraphs
Into the dreams fingers transcribe

What is Success?

Here is what to put on my epitaph;


To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patchor a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sole Mates

You know life sometimes brings you people who just make your life better. You can smile just because you know they are walking on the planet beside you. I have a bunch of those people. I saw one of them at one of the other one's homes last night where I was celebrating my Irish DNA with gelatin. Thanks Gram! I'm gonna send you a bag of "BEDadas".

Any way, I was telling my bright eyed friend about my job search and the awesome reference letter my friend Louise wrote for me (Thelma). Now this letter verges on the rhapsodic, which is how we are together, and I may well not ever be hired for any job I submit this to, because it's clear it was written my lovah. However, it is a master’s class on how to get remembered, or at least entertain beleaguered human resource managers. Bright Eyes said "You have got to post that thing on the blog!". So here it goes…Credit to Louise for the comic material and to Bright Eyes for the bright idea. Names changed to protect the giggling.

Mwa! to you both…




March 10, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to give my highest possible recommendation for Thelma. I first met Thelma when she became a paraprofessional in the Autism Program at Utopia High School in 2004, a program in which I co-taught. In this position, she became an important asset to our program and when a full-time teaching position in this program became available, she was a natural candidate.

Thelma proved to be exceptional in the administration of her duties as resource “teacher” for these challenging students. However, her true passion resided in the emotional and social development of these adolescents. Students, even students with disabilities, could sense the instinctive “counselor” in her. I can remember many days when our students (and general education students who came to know Ms. Thelma) were lined up at her desk waiting for a moment of her time and attention, in hopes of resolving some “personal crisis.”

I have seen her de-escalate potentially dangerous students with resolve and reflection, personality and precision, and at all times, with humor and “in heels.” She has dodged flying desks, physically restrained students who were a danger to themselves and others, and effectively removed students from the general education classroom without conflict or hesitation. Her patience and ability to work with all students, even students considered at-risk, mentally or emotionally handicapped or a behavior problem is boundless. Furthermore, Thelma has an uncanny ability to offer incomparable insight into the exact psychological motivations for a student’s behavioral manifestations (both academically and socially.)

In closing, I must mention Thelma character and work ethic, both of which are beyond reproach. Her professionalism in corresponding with parents and colleagues is exemplary and not restricted to the technological tools of the modern era. She is just as effective (maybe more so) at communicating face to face as she is on the phone or in an email. She is a tireless worker, often meeting with me in the hours before or after school to compare meeting notes or finalize an IEP. Her dedication to excellence in her performance is unwavering and she is not afraid to seek information or resources in her quest for quality.

It is with unbridled enthusiasm that I recommend Thelma for a counseling position at your school. You will not only gain a remarkable counselor, but an invaluable team member and a staunch advocate for both students and staff. Please contact me if you have any questions.


Sincerely,

Louise

Find Your Bliss

The Plum Book

This is a post I made to the discussion board this week for my School Counseling Internship.

It may not come as a shock that, back in November, I applied for a job with the Obama administration. This was an act of patriotism and blind optimism on my part for two reasons;

1) I am a Canadian Citizen (which surprisingly didn’t disqualify me immediately) and…
2) I have a Syrian born Brother-in-law, fresh back from a trip to Cuba (I love you Hassan!).

This latter issue may also not eliminate me immediately, but I am no one’s fool. I watched every episode of the X-files.

No one has called me yet.

During the course of my practicing due diligence in the research of any potential role I may take in this new administration, I found the Plum Book.

“Every four years, just after the Presidential election, the United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions, commonly known as the Plum Book, is published, alternately, by the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Government Reform. The Plum Book is used to identify presidentially appointed positions within the Federal Government.”

The Plum book describes almost 7000 positions form entry level to the highest posts that are filled by presidential appointment at the beginning of a new Term. The Plum Book got it’s catchy name (and spiffy cover color) from the idea that government jobs are “plum jobs”. Not surprisingly, a government job is no way to get rich (you have the qualifications of a brain surgeon), and your tenure will change with the next presidential transition. However, I viewed it as a once in a lifetime chance to contribute to the greater good and quite an experience to add to the resume (that thing that is on all our minds and desk tops).

Continuing on with my research, I found that the Plum Book had a companion, called the Prune Book. This is the balancing counterpart to explain how to survive the many challenges facing presidential appointees.

Here is where I come to my point and tie it all up with a tidy bow for our school counseling discussion board (hang in there with me). In perusing some sample chapters, I found a list of personal qualities recommended to assist in surviving Washington that I felt had a relevant application to our new positions as school counselors. They are as follows;
Chapter: How to survive in Washington;

1. Team work
2. Humility
3. Focus
4. Patience
5. A sense of humor

As we embark on a transition of our own, we each have to forge our own way and find our niche, exercising our strengths, and finding ways to turn our weaknesses into opportunities to grow, helping in big, splashy ways, or in tiny, everyday kindnesses. I think this is excellent advice. When reflecting on this list, I also think it is a good reminder that school counselors are called to be agents of change as much as any elected, appointed or civil servant in Washington.
Now get out there and change the world!

The 2004 Prune Book Top Management Challenges for Presidential Appointees
John H. Trattner with Patricia McGinnis, Brookings Institution Press and Council For Excellence In Government 2004 c. 117pp.

Reading and Procrastination

Let me start by saying I have Soooooo much else I should be doing right now, but some how a little procrastination does a body good. There's nothing like pressure to inspire one to get the job done. What job you say? Oh, the three extra assignments I just ( stupidly) volunteered to provide to my professor by Friday, the presentation, the lesson plan and observation ( by my boss), the multiple letters of reccommendation, where I barely avoid lying to get my darling students into college, resume and job applications, course descriptions to order ...etc ad nauseum.
Oh! I finished another class on Saturday- final exam and presentation. Also wrote a song and four pages of poetry waiting to get finished while watching five hours of other presentations. (Don't worry, I wasn't obvious.) That would be rude.

What are you reading these days? Here's a list that I currently have on the night stand;

2666, Roberto Bolano
Echoes of Beaudelaire, selected poems
Money, by Martin Amis
Revoloutionary Road, by richard Yates
The collected works of E.M. Forrester
A Passage to India, by E.M. Forrester
The Audacity of Hope and Dreams From My Father, by Barrack Obama
John Adams, by David McCullough
Pursuasion, Jane Austen
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
The Shack, by WM Paul Young (Meh!- just holding up the alarm clock)
Brass, by Helen Walsh
Love Letters
Paris to the Moon , by Adam Gopnick

Uh Oh! It's clear I have a problem or should have been a librarian. But I love books and just have to have them all! I am currently reading three simultaneously. Others are on deck. Others have been read. When I was a child, I pictured a cozy home with rooms lined with books. I am on my way.