...pride
...frustration
...excitement
...nervous
...exhaustion
...and uncomfortable
Feeling some of these feelings in the places you'd least expect. The exhaustion came from being asked repeatedly by my students if I was either voting for, or related to, McCain (probably could've plead harassment there...but the exhaustion became apathy in response to biting comments from 11-year-olds). Frustrated that school dragged on SO long and that 7th graders are not capable of non-offensive political converstaions, I found myself with nowhere to go in frustration, and finding it hard to understand how to be relevant to black kids when talking about a black man (did I mention I'm white? wow...that sentence finally ended).
Moving on. My nerves and excitement kicked in when I walked to the polling place. I heard nothing but "3 HOUR WAIT" and "LINES AROUND THE BLOCK" all morning...so I got a little nervous about standing in the rain. Turns out, no line, but pretty uncomfortable box to stand in for voting. I had a little free-time (2 hours and 39 minutes, give or take), so I waited patiently...
Even though I was one of the 92% on this side of the DC vote...pride set in. So, I'm pretty excited. Not to mention talking with teachers at school today had a WAY better tone than the usual, "Hey, I had a fight in my class today!" I am still a little lost however...no, Obama is not my savior...nor the antichrist. I'm lost in that relevance to my students still.
This brings me to a post that I've been meaning to add for a while. So, while most of you will probably be stuck looking at the picture above, I'll try to figure out how a geek can be relevant in the world of teaching. In a great (and long-winded as usual) NY Times article, I was hooked by the quote from Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character in Almost Famous:
The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you are uncool.I think I have my inspiration (or maybe just motivation) to stay just the way I am...tall, skinny and white. A change, I won't believe in. I'm resigning to the truth that my students will always be cooler than me (most other people I know are for that matter), but "knowing is half the battle"...or was it..."the more you know"?
