“Air You Can Chew On”

You know it’s going to be a hot day when you’ve already completely sweat through your lightweight polo shirt at 7:30am during your 50 yard walk to your car.

I had a fun time over the weekend going to Passage Key, which apparently used to be an island and now it’s a small sandbar that has about 1ft to 3ft deep water. Lots of boats go there to chill and swim. People had their dogs and it was a beautiful day. I was so happy to be there.

Who knows what today or any day will bring. It is just so odd to keep going through life having no idea what is going on. I have no idea if my school is going to continue, what will happen to my girls, whether I’ll have a job or what. I am just so beyond nervous about all of it that being like this almost seems normal because it has been going on for so long now.

I just worry about each of the girls. So many of them say “I don’t want to go back to ! Kids there call me names!” or “I don’t want to go back to ! No one cares about me there!” It’s not that people don’t care at public school, it’s just that teachers and staff are stretched so thin and so overwhelmed by worrying about the FCAT that teachers have to choose “Well, do I spend my energy on this one kid who will need all my attention to have a shot at passing, or do I spend most of my energy on the other 20+ kids in the class?” It’s a call that shouldn’t have to be made but seems to be the sad truth.

Who knows if someone will step up. I am not usually that religious of a person, but I hope against hope that whoever is in charge of all of us looks down on our girls and sees fit to make something good happen for them. They have a shot to get the skills they need and I hope it happens for them.

Because he’d always wanted to.

I can’t say there is anything all that new to report.  My school is still in danger of closing and we still have no idea what is going on.  I still have not given up hope.  I hope for the girls’ sake that something good happens very soon.  They NEED this.

Recently, I watched a movie called “Danny Deckchair.”  It’s an Australian movie from 2003 where actor Rhys Ifans plays a happy-go-lucky cement truck driver who loves camping and has all sorts of silly ideas; including but not limited to tying a bunch of balloons to a deckchair and flying wherever the wind takes him.The most intriguing thing about Danny is that he is not the “run-of-the-mill” romantic comedy movie flirty hunk.  Danny has his own charm and he is fiercely himself.  He has unique interests and beliefs that, throughout the course of the film, prove to be the most important thing to him.  Danny dares to be himself and break the mold of the boring male love interest.His actions in the film inspire other people to do things they wouldn’t normally do. 

There is one line that I feel humorously encapsulates the film’s purpose.  A newscaster reporting about Danny’s trip says, “Danny’s journey has inspired many people.  Today a local man climbed to the top of a telephone pole with a chair and sat there all day.  When asked why he would do such a thing, he replied because it was something he’d always wanted to do.”

My point in writing all this is to ask you this: What is it that you have always wanted to do?  Are you doing it?  What is stopping you?

I say go get it. 

I leave you with a quotation from the infamous Todd “Too $hort” Shaw

Short Dog's In The House

“You should be gettin it, everything you wanted
Everything you dreamed of, never have to front
you should be gettin it, gettin money
I’m talking about you black, don’t laugh it aint funny
You should get a good lawyer, like Johnny Cochran
Swear to tell the truth, hell no I didn’t pop him
Get your kids in school, so they can get an education
Get a degree, and take a vacation”

 

 

Today

“You know today, I just woke up and I said, you know, instead of waitin’ on a good day, waitin’ around, through ups and downs, waitin on something to happen, I just say, ‘I’m gonna have a good day …”

- Nappy Roots from the song “Good Day”

I am definitely have a good day today because I signed into the <a href=”http://www.fldoe.org/”>Florida Department of Education</a> website to discover that they finally got to my Professional Certificate application and according to that, I have my Professional Certificate now!  Hopefully this means the paper one will be coming in the mail soon!

We haven’t really had many responses at all to our news efforts, but I’m not giving up on the school yet!  Keep hoping!

If you or anyone you know has space they have trouble renting in Bradenton, FL and they would be willing to make a deal with our school, please call (941) 567-1022!

“If you don’t have a dream, how’re you going to make a dream come true?”

-Dizee Rascal

Embrace Change

“All men dream, but not equally.

Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds,

wake in the day to find that it was vanity:

but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men,

for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.”

- T. E. Lawrence

The above quotation inspires me quite a bit. I do dream that the SONG Program can continue to exist. Ways to make this possible consume my consciousness to the point where I forget what time it is. I keep imagining these girls going back to public school and being put in a class with 20 other kids and a teacher. This is of course not to say that the teachers they would get would not be capable and intelligent, just that they would also be responsible for 20+ other children and that there would be no where near as much one-on-one assistance and no regular personal and family therapy.

I mean, sure, I am worried about my job, but honestly, the much bigger concern is the children. It may take me one day, one week, or one year to get a teaching job, but eventually, I’ll get one. These children get one childhood. One chance to ramp it up, develop good habits, and get the skills they need to pass school and not drop out. I hope something good happens…