Is it November yet?

I have a photo in a show in Kansas... the opening is Friday...would like to be there but I have to guard the homestead from the cretins in our town who may want to egg the house. And, of course, I couldn't get to Wichita and teach... And a photo in a small show in L.A.. This makes me feel good.

I am trying to get my work out there more and more and it is a whole other job. The seeking out calls for art, preparing the work, sending the applications - it takes a lot out of me...

And my sister and I opened an Etsy shop and really want to get that off the ground...but being as we both teach, doing everything we should do to promote the shop is just not happening... At least I used the summer to make the stuff - 100+ pins, many many photos - so all I have to do is photograph them and list them.

However, glad to be going to DC in a week. I know people think I should go to the NJEA convention, but the Art workshops there are not as good as what I get from the exhibits I go to in DC. And museums offer lesson plans and materials for teachers! I also received two free passes for the Corcoran gallery. It costs me a heck of a lot more money - unreimbursed - than going to AC, but I get things I can actually use in class. And it's my second home...

Today is club photo day...I am fed up with yearbook...but mot my staff...they are super...

A solution...

Not feeling super lately...sore throat coming and going, very tired, and everyone around me getting sick. Thought I would be proactive and take the day before I get worse like the hubby was last week. Then I find out that our little sink problem in the basement could be fixed today! But mother couldn't be here and hubby used a furlough day Monday...that meant I have to be here.

So here I am...and my voice and throat feel nice not talking...

In anticipation, I am going to finally sew and finish the blackout fabric for my basement windows. I hope to be printing in my darkroom by the weekend. I can develop at home, but the stinky smell from the pipes makes me reluctant to print b/c that requires keeping the pipe open for much longer. But by this afternoon...no more stinky!

Ooof...

So I think I am too busy... volunteering on Saturday, chowing at a food fest in town, prepping the basement for more painting, grading work, progress reports, yearbook stuff due, Dad's birthday, art shows for me to submit to, one show to prepare a piece for and ship, opening my Etsy shop with sister, and make more art. And trying to maintain some semblance of a social life. I am starting to hyperventilate.

I think I need a nap...

Stop this car...

So I have this Woodentops song in my head that sounds like and is - I think - about a runaway car or situation... Gee wonder why...

My head is spinning from this day... so many things with the seniors regarding the packets. Happier that I did it via the internet, but not much easier. Especially considering I must respond to each and every one I get. Ah well...

Too bad I will never get any kudos for all the upgrades I have brought to the yearbook.

Or to Photo for tha matter. And I just have to say right here: Thanks to all my Photo II kids who are so eagerly doing their Photo Journals. While things get on my nerves, I know that all of my classes will make me happy. The Photo II classes received the journal assignment earlier than last year because I thought they could handle it. And the first due entry proved me right. While there are a few PII students from last year I dearly miss, I have to say that this year's group expects less fawning over them and likes to work hard and seems eager to learn from me. Exactly why my happiest times are in the classroom.

Now to do more yearbook work... help!

Straightjackets...

...I must have a custom fit one somewhere...How else does that explain why I don't make a bigger stink about not being given the curse of the yearbook year after year. So here I am, after 9 pm on a Thursday, when I should be on the sofa with Millie on my lap and reading material in my hands...and I am refreshing my yahoo page to check the Yearbook submissions every couple of minutes...so that all the procrastinators can relax in the knowledge that I received their e-mails before going to bed...

As if to rub it in, husband comes up to the computer room, sits down, Millie enters room and sits on whose lap? HIS! Oh, the inhumanity of it all... And she's purring away over there...just rubbing...it...in...

Just glad there is a 3-day weekend coming up. Have a new photo project burning into my brain and I just have to shoot it before I lose the excitement for it.

Now to check the yearbook e-mail and burn some cd's for juried show submissions. Nighty night...

I will miss you, sniffle...

I have to miss the next two days. I am going to the AENJ conference - presenting Tuesday and on a panel on Wednesday. I am happy to be doing this, but I am sad to not be at work. I feel like I am abandoning the classes. I wish the AENJ would do the conference later in the school year. I know no one wants to watch a video with a sub, but I really like the videos I picked.

I guess I am also glad in a way. I am getting my first cold of the school year. Ugh! Right now I have the chills and my nose is running like crazy. And I have to speak in front of a room full of people tomorrow! Yikes. But I am happy because, though I will be going to A LOT of workshops, at least I don't have to run around like I do at school. Hopefully the two days will be mellow enough so that I do not get sick. I hate to use sick days.

I can't wait for some of the talks I plan to go to. Some are about grant writing, some about social issues, and some about helping students get into art school. Now that I am in a groove with Photo II, I can now focus on getting the students to put together stellar portfolios!

My schedule is so packed this week, I feel like I need to install my car's cruise control into my brain. At least this is a three-day weekend coming up. And I have to volunteer on Saturday and I have a feeling I have something Sunday, but I cannot remember what. Ooops...

London Day 5, 17 August

Whoops...Been so caught up with all the hullabaloo at work I forgot to finish posting the London escapades. I need to get myself to a happy place after the events of Thursday and Friday and what better locale than London? Can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be...maybe DC, San Francisco, Austin, N'awlins, anywhere but here...but I digress...

Beautiful and sunny day...again...is this really London? We wandered in the southeast section of central London. Many quiet streets and meandering lanes. Love it! So much mystery, your imagination can run wild with the things that have gone on and continue to go on in little places like that.

Found LOTS of churches - on my list of places to find and not on my list. Each one was different. St. Bartholomew the Great dates back to the 1200's and the entry to the churchyard is a Tudor beauty. Of course, we two dips didn't think that Sunday is not the best day to go church hunting, so we could not gain access to any of them. Unless we wanted to attend services... Awkward... I don't like to show up to anything in the middle...

No matter the condition of the church, the gardens around them are meticulous. They are havens of solitude, even in the heart of The City. It is amazing. The closest thing to these is the Grace Bible Church on B'way in the north Village in NYC - a place I have been drawn to for years. It seems the British realise that a church can be a peaceful place for all people of all denominations or none and they are so inviting. They just beckon you to sit a spell and relax. Then there are the creepy aspects - the lessons taught graphically in the architectural decorations, the war damage, and the various aspects of each building's history. The pictures I shot this day may all look the same to some - you've seen one church you've seen them all - but to me, they most certainly are not!

Then, we pass an old hospital that also has the Church of St. Bartholomew the Less within its walls. And those walls! I was immediately drawn to the sheer number of pock-marks in the thick stone walls. These were the result of the Blitz. It is just amazing the amount of damage this area sustained in WWII and that this building is still here. And to touch those deep recesses left by the bombs...scary. I just do not think the majority of Americans really understand the ramifications of warfare becuse the 20th century wars the US was involved in did not happen on our shores. Not that anyone should ever have to live through that...but things like visible damage are not so subtle reminders of what war really does.

Then we walk more and a turn here, a turn there, and there's St. Paul's Cathedral! Whoa! It looks so much better now that there has been a massive campaign to clean the exterior. Not finished, but under the bright blue sky, it gleamed. And I can't even express how huge it is. I could not fit the whole thing in the frame. I am not kidding. Went to a little cafe near there. Had a soda called Fentiman's. The flavour was dandelion and burdock. Now, I am not a soda person. I only like unique flavours - root or birch beer, ginger beer, sasparilla... This soda was so good! I had to take a picture of it! Delicious! And I found where to buy it in the US! Yippee!

Then Dave decides, we are so close to the Millenium foot bridge, let's walk across the Thames. I saw Tower Bridge! And there was a guy playing the accordion on the bridge! Perfect. Well, since we are right in front of it, we should go to the Tate Modern. Ingenious use of an old building. Don't tear it down and rebuild something with modern, inferior materials! Recycle your architecture. And the MoMA could learn a thing or two from the Tate. It just flows so nicely. And fabulous use of space. The museums in the UK - Manchester and London - just really seem to be for the people. All people, all ages. NYC could learn a thing or two...

Back across the Thames. There are guys standing on surfboards and rowing. Weird. But upon telling this story at home we find out that it's a new sport. No cable TV in Casa Vasa means we are out of the loop. I certainly would not want to have fallen into the Thames, though. It was real brown.

Walk Fleet Street past St. Bride's church. So beautiful. And the Halls of Justice. There was a great monument in the center of the street in front of the Halls. On top of the monument was a dragon. Fierce! Then walk to Aldwych Crescent. I can't believe I agreed to walk this much after the pain of yesterday...must not have been thinking clearly. Also really wishing I could have found those replacement Doc's. Like RIGHT NOW!!!

Dinner at Carluccio's - an Italian chain by a chef that also has a food market in the restaurant. Even the chain resturants here are more substantial and less offensive here. No Macaroni Grill or Olive Garden cr*p. The food is actually decent and edible and healthier. Quote from Dave - "This is the best pasta dish I have ever had!"

End the night at our local hangout, The Swan. I still don't understand Cricket and I have watched the highlights of it every night.

No thanks...

I had a disturbing conversation today, eighth period. The principal was urgently looking for me. Wanted to know why we need the film portion of the photo program. I briefly explained why - as I had before when they gave me the program. He said ok. But I have many thoughts about this...

This is coming up when they are looking to send the course books to the publisher. That means they want to dump the darkroom for next year. The reasons could be they want the classroom space, they want to spend less money, or someone who knows that film is the main reason for the popularity of the class wants to kill the program.

Here's my thoughts...Film and digital are near equal cost-wise. Film has great costs related to consumeables, but the priciest things - the equipment - last a long time. Many of the cameras and enlargers we have are older than the kids. Digital equipment is obsolete so quickly, the equipment replacement costs will skyrocket. And if the kids do not have film prints to take home as completed projects, they will want something tangible from the digital. That means lots of real expensive ink and paper for the Epson and sooner than expected replacement or adding another printer.

I was given this program because it was driven so far into the ground, guidance had trouble filling one period. In one year it went up to three periods - limited because of my two periods of yearbook - the following year four, then the third year they needed to get another teacher. We have eight full periods and rumour is that we could fill 10. That is not on digital alone. I built this program up - as I was asked to do - and I did it with a combination of film and digital.

I am amazed at how just when I feel good, there is someone or something ready to slap me in the face here. I sacrifice so much of myself for this place and get no thanks... The only ones who are thankful are the students.