Is the Recession Really a Recession?
That is, is it really a recession when a bubble created by fictional financial foolishness finally pops? I see people wondering about holiday spending, even while thousands are stampeding over Walmart temps to get bargains, and wonder HOW MUCH LONGER CAN WE KEEP SPENDING BORROWED MONEY and keep thinking that we’re doing our economy (and ourselves) any favors?
Original post by urbansocrates
Suburban Socrates?
I can’t be Urban Socrates anymore as regards teaching, because I’m teaching in the ‘burbs now, on the South Shore in Massachusetts. I still live in this “gritty blue-collar town” though, so I’ll keep the name.
It’s been a dramatic change from teaching Hispanics, Russians, Albanians, Africans, etc. to teaching (mainly) middle-class Irish American kids. Future entries will contrast teaching in an urban setting with the suburban setting I’m working in now. Also, I’ll complain about the commute, which is considerable (1 1/2 hours each way) The job has been worth it though, as I’ve regained most of my sanity. First complaint: How the hell can I tell all these Patricks, Brians, and Seans (and Erins, Colbys and Megans) apart!?
Original post by urbansocrates
The Hell That is Not Going to Work
I had a beastly Sunday driving my daughter and her boyfriend to college, although we did get to see a 6-point buck deer standing in the roadway like some kind of advertisement for financial services. I was hoping for a moose, as always, but it was a decent-sized specimen of the white-tail variety, so I was content.
Actually, the drive wasn’t so bad, but somewhere along the line I did my back a poor turn and could barely move. Combined with some side-effects from a medication I’m taking, I was up all night, sick and getting sicker by 1:00 in the morning. So I called in sick, which is what I do when I can’t possibly work.
Unfortunately, having procrastinated, I didn’t have my papers in order for the poor sod who had to cover my classes — a retiree from this very school, no less — and left him in quite [...]
Original post by urbansocrates
Ireland: Great Music, Great Scenery: Lunasa Video
Original post by urbansocrates
Moped Stolen!
My innnocent enthusiasm for mopeds has led only to mine being stolen on Wed. night. I reported the theft to the police, and my moped was registered, but I suspect I’ve seen the last of it. If you see it, let me know!
Original post by urbansocrates
The Telegram and Gazette’s Letters from Idiots
I love reading the T&G’s letters section online, because it is filled with choice, uninformed opinions that would be depressing if they weren’t so genuinely stupid. Especially worth noting are the comments to news stories left by idiots. These folks all have in common a worldview that divides the world into good and bad (policies, presidents, teachers, students, people in general). It’s as thought they must ascribe blame to someone, all the time.
A recent event at Wachusett High School spawned a long list of letters about kids involved in a beating. It was a nasty beating, and it was caught on video and put on Youtube for all to see. The opinions mostly fell into the category of “kids these days are spoiled rotten; punish them and they will improve.”
Many of the comments on this story fell back on the “bad kid, bad family” explanation; others asserted that school [...]
Original post by urbansocrates
Another School Year is Coming to a Close; Moped Heaven
Because I’ve been working part-time, I’ve been teaching only two courses at Nashoba Regional High School this semester: Law and Psychology. The psych course is for seniors, of which I have only ten, and since the seniors end their year early, after May 22 I’ll be down to one class, Law. Since I’ve just finished my own graduate class today (thank gawd! It was awful!), that lowers my workload considerably, giving me time to ready myself for my upcoming tour ( blog for that is here) on the Eurodam in northern Europe.
What I’m really patting myself on the back for, though, is buying a moped. It hardly makes sense to drive to work at all for just one (or even two) classes, given the price of gas these days. At the end of the fall, I bought a Tomos Arrow, which is a no-ped — a moped without pedals. It [...]
Original post by urbansocrates
Farewell, Nashoba!
I’ve been teaching Law and Psychology (not my best subject, psychology, it turns out!) part-time at Nashoba Regional High School for the last two years, but I’ve decided to leave and take a break from teaching. First, it’s exhausting being passionate about one’s work…nah, that’s lame. Really, I find that Nashoba and I don’t really make a good match. Not because it isn’t a good school. In fact, it may be TOO good. And I may not be good enough. I was trying to stretch myself by teaching subjects I hadn’t taught before, and I think I may have stretched too far. I like teaching law, and I think I’m pretty good at that, but I found teaching psych to be a real letdown, and not just because Bob Griffith, aka Griff, teaches across the hall, and is easily one of the best teachers of ANYTHING that I’ve ever [...]
Original post by urbansocrates