Random Notes From the End of the Semester

This is our last week of classes, with finals beginning on Monday. The Fall semester is "complicated" by its correspondence with the holiday season.This weekend Kadie and I have two holiday parties (at the school) and two Christmas parties while our kids have one party and a children's musical. Life accelerates during the Yuletide.

**I tried something a little different this semester and taught an introductory course in Hebrew. It went well, though it has taken a lot more preparation than a usual class. I ended up with a class of thirteen, pretty good for a state school where it was only offered as an elective. Our foreign language faculty have approved it for fulfilling a foreign language requirement in future semesters, so I'll be teaching Hebrew II next semester. This afternoon we had our final class meeting and, since our home is located near the campus, I had them over for a potluck lunch.

Since almost all of the students will be returning for the second class next semester, I wanted an opportunity to build community in the class as we go forward. Common meals are a significant way of doing that. We had a good time, with only a pop quiz interrupting the general good will.
The best line of the meal was when Kadie returned home from picking up Squealer from pre-school and one of the students said "So, is this the kid who's afraid of squirrels?"

**I dig a Christmas pin out of mothballs and wear it every year. It has an green L on it with the international "Not symbol"(the red slash) through it. It reads No-L or of course, Noel. So I get some interesting responses from others when I wear it. One student said "No Losers? Are you against losers?" My favorite responses though are people who come up and read "No L? What does No L mean? No L No L?

But today I had a colleague come up and say come up and say (rather seriously) "Why do you hate gays?" I was stunned and could only respond "Why do you think I hate gays?" "Because your pin says that you are against Lesbians, the L word."

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

**Public schools are turning our kids into sales staff as PTAs and school administrators seek monies through various fundraisers. But they hold out trinkets and trash for students who sell a lot of stuff. Scooter sold several subscriptions to Reader's Digest and proudly announced to all who would listen that she could get a mini-slide phone with hands free operation (see here). Which she took to mean a cell phone. There were pictures of a girl, happily talking into the phone with her friends. I tried to tell her that I didn't think it was a real cell phone, but she was captivated with the thought of the wonderful free gift that would make her the envy of all of her seventh grade friends. But when it arrived, it wasn't a cell phone at all, but a cheap plastic piece of equipment with a phone jack in the bottom. You must plug it into the wall for it to work.

She was disappointed, but I recognized the learning experience immediately. Like Ralphie's Secret Orphan Annie's decoder ring, I too had suffered disappointment as a kid. For me it was Sea Monkeys. Apparently it is a rite of passage to get your hopes up as a kid for some mail order gift.