Welcome, Fairfax!

We'll be raising a guide dog puppy for the next year and a half, and he arrived yesterday! Isn't he SO CUTE? Poppette the Rockette (as adorable as ever, of course) is taking it in stride, with the help of Supermom and Superdad, who are visiting this week and have given her lots of cuddles and playtime. She is sporting newly clipped nails after "spa night" on Sunday, which she tolerated with grace and dignity. In other news, it's spring again after some stormy, cold weather, and everything is blooming, most notably, our tulips!

Guest Blog: A Middle School Science Teacher Shares Her Experience

A former colleague of mine, who teaches science, wrote a great piece about her students to read to them on Read Across America Day. Her observations about her middle-schoolers are spot-on and incredibly warm and caring. I told her it had to be published, and that I would do it. Enjoy!

Dr. Suess Day—Read Aloud to Your Kids

Whenever someone asks me if I have kids, I chortle and tell them, “Yep, I have 120 of them!” Impressed with this number, are you? This is nothing. Some folks have 150 to 180. ALL BORN THE SAME YEAR. No, I am not a freak of fertility, I am a middle school science teacher, and I teach at the Disneyland of middle schools. Sometimes we refer to it as “camp,” and we have many happy, chatty campers, whom we corral in and out of classes 7 times a day.

I've been teaching science at Egan for 4 years, and my kids still continue to amaze and amuse me.

My kids have as many moods and personalities as they have Vans shoe patterns (I have a pair, too—the pattern is called “Frog Splatter”). Their brains and bodies are changing like mad, and they are very metacognitive. Yes, the average 12.5 year old IS pondering when their prefrontal cortex will blossom. Because they are in a State of Flux, you have to cut them some slack.

We recently dissected frogs, and the winners of the Annual Frog Naming Contest were:

Borat, El Grande Burrito, Harbinger of Nausea, The Kerminator, and G Dog da Frog. Hoolio the Hopper and Katy Kadaver made the semi-finals. Oh yeah, George W. Bush made the semi-finals too, but I took ol’ Dubya off the list because I am trying my darnedest to keep religion and politics out of science. These poor 12-going-on-13-year olds have to listen to me nag and screech, whine and preach enough minutes of the day. They also probe and bridge my synaptic gaps with questions like, "Can brain waves be manipulated?" "What happens to light in a black hole?" "Can a kid be born with a concave lens in his eye?" and, while leading a discussion about astrobiology, I get funny feedback like, "They found something on Mars, but they squished it!”

One of my kids asked me, “Don’t you get bored teaching the same lesson all day?” Excellent question. The answer is no, because every class is different—the personalities are different; thus, the synergy is different. Being an amateur cultural anthropologist at heart, the observations of social mores and behaviors at a middle school are endless. No better place to see it than in a hands-on activity, when the students are directing their own learning. Yard duty is priceless, because the children are no longer artificially grouped together—they have self-segregated into their own tribes.

Here is an overview of my 6 classes:

Period 1 is surprisingly alert, and they help me wake up. I program the coffee machine for 5:40 AM, my alarm rudely awakens me from some highly imaginative dream at 5:45 AM (last night I was in an intense conversation with a white Bengal tiger), and by 5:50 AM, I am imbibing a cardamom-infused organic soy latte of my design (just say NO to Starbucks), but I’m still waiting for the caffeine buzz by 8:06, when period 1 takes the room by storm. If you gave the class a color, it would be Naples Yellow.

Period 3 is an interesting balance of shy and not so shy, girls and boys. By now, I am awake, and that helps, because they have turned up the volume a bit. Their class color would be Viridian Green.

Period 4 is my, um, vivacious class. They are a whirlwind of shrieks and silliness, yet at the same time, some of my most serious students. If you gave the class a color, it would be Crimson Alizarin blended with Titanium White, which would give you HOT PINK.

Period 5 is so tiny and quiet, they fall off the decibel scale. I am usually still recovering from the effect of the 4^th Period Dust Devil when these poor kids walk in the door. This class would be a mellow Phthalocyanine Blue.

Period 6, fortified by lunch, is by far my most inquisitive and cerebral class. That’s a function of who they are, but also time of day and nutrient delivery to the brain. (I have noticed a pattern: kids, if they haven’t scarfed sugar all lunch, are at their best intellectually 6^th period. I had a 6^th period 2 years ago, before we got rid of the soda machines, that was one giant sugar crash.) Their color would be Plummy Purple, made from French Ultramarine Blue and Perylene Red.

Period 7 is what I like to call my “Mini UN class.” It is a fun and diverse group, but there have been skirmishes throughout the year. I remind them that we are a microcosm of the world, and we need to try to get along. Their color would be a bright Cadmium Orange.

I Threw Up in PetSmart

Hi, I'm Katie, and I threw up in PetSmart on Easter Sunday. Yes, that's right. After managing to get through elementary, middle, and high school without incident, I saved my public embarassment for adulthood.

Some background: Easter was mellow. We woke up, read the paper, met our friends for brunch at Home Grown Cafe, saw the fabulous Blades of Glory, grabbed coffee and a cookie, and headed to PetSmart to look at kittens.

As I watched Matt cuddle Panther, a sweet black kitten, I started to feel horrible. I headed for the restroom, somewhat abruptly, where I felt like I was going to pass out. I returned to the adoption center, where I was able to blurt, "I think we need to go; I feel like I'm going to pass out," before literally tossing my cookies right in front of the adoption area. Those poor cats. Matt managed to get me out of the store, arranging for someone to clean up after me (I feel terribly guilty, but they were nonplussed; I guess when you work in a pet store, little phases you), and home without incident. I spent the evening relaxing, talking on the phone, watching Prison Break, and generally feeling fine.

I appear to be OK. Who knows what caused it, but I'm glad to feel normal now! Will we be getting Panther? I really don't know. Perhaps that was a sign that it's not the right time to get a new kitten?

Though my ailment was the more dramatic one, I should also acknowledge Superman's suffering. The rash mentioned last week turned out to be a hideous reaction to Poison Ivy that worsened as the week progressed. Apparently, the pretty purple shoots we so carefully refrained from pulling up during our spree of yard work are Poison Ivy's angry spring sprouts, due to become evil green "leaves of three; let them be" in short order. I was spared due to my uncanny ability to be distracted by anything and everything; I kept going off to do other things in the yard, avoiding the Poison Ivy area. I also had neighbor Mike's gardening gloves on--thanks, Mike! We'll buy you some new ones that aren't covered in poison! Poor Superman is using Benadryl cream, steroid cream, and calamine lotion, taking steroids that keep him awake with a chaser of Benadryl, which knocks him out, and generally being a trooper. My goal this weekend was to distract him with a movie and kittens; I like to think I went one better, by making him take care of me, in my short illness, to get his mind off his!

In other news, I'm bummed not to be able to vote in the city election tomorrow. Apparently, my voter status has not gone through. However, we are considering posing for a photo, to be included in a book about Newark's history (pictures of city residents will run in a small strip all through the book). Our tax returns are done, I have a little break from work today, and I'm happy to be inside, instead of out in the cold (yes, cold. Spring appears to be taking a break from emerging for a few days.). I'm reading the sequal to Twilight, which I heartily recommend to girls who like vampire stories and romance.

Happy Easter Monday!

Supergirl is Really a Delawarean!

I love the Delaware DMV. These are words I could not utter in California, where my last DMV excursion took three and a half hours. The CA DMV has been harassing me. I got DE insurance under my new last name, and despite my insurance company calling them AND mailing them proof of insurance, they couldn't handle it. Rather than pick my way through that bureaucracy, I decided it was time to bite the bullet. We arrived at the DMV, just a few minutes away from home, at about 9:00 A.M. and were done by 10:00. Better yet, we left with new drivers' licenses, a new license plate and registration sticker, good till '09, and a new car title! Oh, and we're Delaware Democrats now. We walked to the license desk (no line), where I changed my last name, registered to vote, was entered into the system as an organ donor, and got a new license (my CA driver's license was unceremoniously tossed in a pile for shredding). We moved on to the photo desk (also no line), where, three minutes after saying "Cheese," we received brand new licenses (I look like I have seven chins, but hey, I have a new license!). We pulled the car in front of "the shed" outdoors (no line here, either), where a friendly man verified that it's a 2005 vehicle, checked our mileage, and sent us back inside. We changed my name on the title, added Superman, transferred it to Delaware, and for the cost of registering the car in CA for two years, we not only registered it for two more years, we re-titled it, too. And whaddya know, no lines! That's how easy and pleasant a DMV experience should be.

Our weekend was a celebration of all the great things there are to do here. Friday night, we headed to a member's only viewing of Longwood Gardens' orchid show. A highlight was floral arrangements throughout the conservatory, featuring orchids and other spring flowers. We wandered around the conservatory with our wine and looked at orchids attached to trees in one garden, orchids in pots in another, with a steel drum band playing in the background. I always love being there at night, and this was a real treat.

Saturday, Superman went on a beautiful bike ride in Maryland, while I attended yoga with my friend Mary. It was Iyengar, my favorite, and the teacher was a hoot. He is the most enthusiastic Iyengar yogi I have ever encountered. Saturday evening, we hit Wine and Dine Newark with friends, where we sampled different wines and nibbled different snacks at a few of the downtown restaurants. The whole town was there--Newark gets lazy and quiet when the students are gone, and last week was spring break. While I love the vitality of the kids being around, it was fun to experience a different scene--"adult swim," I call it. We ran into several of our swim team buddies at Wine and Dine, and met our accountant's wife and friends We ended the evening at Mary and Dave's, with the best tiramisu I have ever eaten in my life. It has ruined me for all other tiramisu. Mary may become a chef someday, and if she does, she will be famous. That's if I don't hire her first.

Sunday was yardwork. There is a creeping vine we call "creeper" that likes to take over yards here and strangle other plants, who are just minding their own business and trying to look cute. We attacked it and have battle scars to prove it. My finger is housing a thorn, and Superman seems to have a rash. However, the leaves are raked, the creeper is at bay, the dead plants have been excavated, and there just might be hope for the rosebushes. The daffodils and crocus continue to bloom, and we should be seeing our basil and tulips in no time. Sunday night, my favorite eight-month-old came to dinner with his parents and finally made Poppy's acquaintance. She thought he might be a nice playmate till he got excited and exclaimed, "Bah!", at which point she hightailed it under the bed. Still, I think she likes babies.

Ice skating starts up again tonight, so it's a good thing I broke in my skates (and my legs) a little bit. Puppy class is tomorrow, self-defense class is Wednesday, and Katie and Jeff come to visit Thursday! It's going to be a great week, especially if the sunshine holds. Hope you're enjoying warm weather, wherever you may be!