12:25 p.m. - April 22, 2004
Good things on the wind
Some time ago the chair of a (high school) foreign language department contacted me regarding some consultant work I did via ACTFL. We spoke briefly and have communicated intermittently about language learning and assessment but my schedule didn't allow for the work she was interested in having done. Today as I was walking out the door I got a phone call from this same woman who is now director of curriculum for a school district five minutes away from me, asking if I c/would be interested in a 10-month specialist position. 10 months, part time (max 15 hours per week), full benefits as a Humanities curriculum specialist. We've scheduled an appointment for next week to review the proposal in depth.
Is this the sign I've been waiting for to return to teaching high school? Or is it something larger, the edges of which I cannot yet determine? The conversation was brief but I've thought of little else all morning.
If I have benefits, I can continue counseling with my current therapist. This makes my heart leap.
How-Odd's questions:
1) How many serious relationships have you been in?
Let's see:Brittany, 2.5 years
Tasha, 4 years
Dana, 3 years
Spec, too long or not long enoughI was with Brittany while in high school; does this count as a serious relationship? Given how I dated Brittany and her best friend Miri, concurrently, I'm not certain this qualifies as serious. Tasha was my first adult relationship; she was 5 years older than I. We lived together for 2 years before our relationship fell apart. Dana and I planned to marry and everybody assumed we would; then I met Spec and tried to have both of them for too long. Left Dana for Spec. I see my relationships are getting shorter and shorter. This does not bode well.
2) Do you ascribe to any religious beliefs?
Yes. I am a Christian, though a poor example of one. I don't write much about my faith here because I'm ashamed of being a hypocrite. That's not true: I am more ashamed that I am ashamed to admit I am a Christian. I don't want to be boxed and labeled or dismissed based on somebody else's conception of what a Christian is or ought to be, whether you feel Christianity is deluded, a horrific, oppressive organized religion, discriminatory, responsible for every evil in the world, or simply irrelevant, but neither do I want to take a stand and preach. So I avoid talking about it. Yet my faith is one of the most important aspects of my life. I don't know how that works. I attend a conservative (theologically and socially) church where I feel very comfortable; it is not hand-waving and speaking in tongues, or Jesus-is-my-buddy-my-mind-is-closed. Being a Christian is hard work and I take it seriously. In private.
3) What's your favourite book?
You may as well as which is the favorite hair on my body. How can I choose just one of so many? Paradise Lost, The Grapes of Wrath, Les Miserables, The Iliad, Shakespeare - and what about poetry? Agh. Cannot pick just one. Sorry.
