A Little Slice of Tiff

Well, I have been in New York City for the last week.  The trip was for school and overall I've been alone for 99% of the time I've been here.  When all is said and done NYC is a wonderful city, but I could never live here.  I think I am way too Vegas for New York.  They don't have 7-11's...they don't have convenience stores/grocery stores on every corner.  Hell, even Park freaking Avenue is lacking in the deli's and what-not.  

Nothing too exciting to report and yet I am giddy.  I bought grown-up stuff at Home Depot today!  It really made me feel all adult and stuff.  I got a new security door, locks and a plant!  So much fun!

What inspires you to blog?

I don't know that I really am inspired to blog just yet.....I am still getting used to it.  I suppose Patrick inspires me to be here cause he made me come here :p

So most of you know that I am a teacher here in Vegas....and Friday we had not one, but two student involved shootings at schools in the valley.  

The first left a 15 year old freshman dead and a 16 year old sophomore accused of his murder.

The second was a kid who had tagged a neighborhood wall.  Apparently the student was walking home from school and was confronted by the neighbor (the guy who owns the wall or whatever) about the tagging.  The student then pulled a gun out of his backpack and shot the guy.  

In both cases the guns were (supposedly) on campus during the entire school day.

I teach in the "ghetto" of Vegas.  My kids are not "ghetto" or "gangster" but it is a rough neighborhood - so much so they put a Metro station on the corner to try to keep the crime down in the neighborhood.  We have the occasional "Mexicans" vs. "Black" kids fights after school, but nothing major.

Both of these shootings happened in "whiter" areas of Vegas, where the kids drive Beamers and the teachers drive beat up Toyota Corollas...(I'm not trying to be funny, it's true).  

Our Superintendent released a statement, but it's not conclusive.  And the people in the Summerlin community are up in arms about "busing" bad influences into their schools and how "this shouldn't happen here, we are rich" type of comments in the news (again, I'm not trying to be funny, it's true).

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/global/story.asp?s=7895470 Shooter #1 being tried as an adult
http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=7889474&nav=menu102_2 Comments by the students/parents in the Summerlin area

Now, I'm not really "scared" to go to work, persey, but it's kinda a scary feeling to know that both of these kids (allegedly) had these guns on them all day and NONE of their teachers (between the two students 16 teachers) knew anything about it and had no inkling that either student carried a gun at all.

Freaky, scary, freaky world we live in...and it's getting worse.  I am terrified to let E-chan leave the house anymore...

I figured since I "have" to blog, I might as well do a little "webisode" about my school life.  Maybe one day I'll look back at these memories fondly and just smile...unlike today where I truly wanted to throttle something with a yard stick.

I teach US History Honors and World History in an urban school in Las Vegas, NV...what does that mean you might ask?  It means that I teach high school history to kids who, for the most part, don't really care about history.  They care about real world issues like having food to eat, being able to help pay rent, etc.  (It's unfortunate, but true). 

The demographic in my school isn't really as "mixed-up" as most people would think.  We have a high Hispanic population and a high Asian population with African-Americans and Caucasians and making up the rest of our school.  As far as class sizes go, the average class size is 38-40 and we have about a 50/50 split of male -> female teachers.  Our administration is split evenly male/female, so there is no real "sex" type majority. 

So this week I am teaching my lovely children about the history of the United States in the 1920s.  We just finished WWI and rolled into the "era of prosperity" with great fervor!  We talked about all the cliche' topics: flappers, gangsters, speakeasies, Prohibition, Scopes trial, Stock Market Crash, etc....all the stuff that should get these kids involved, but I find it harder to maintain their excitement as Spring Vacation draws near.  For the most part, they ask great questions, but it inevitably comes back to relating it to today's teens and nothing brought that closer to home than the gangland wars in Chicago (sad but true).  They go so involved and interested in this topic that in a couple of my classes I spent almost an hour talking about Capone and his motley crew.  It was a blast but frustrating at the same time!  I wanted them to be more excited about the wholesome yummy side of this decade, but it just wasn't happening.

I had a lot of fun with this unit, but I think for next year I'm going to have to revamp and try a new angle...maybe concentrate a little less on the "bad" side and concentrate on the Harlem Renaissance or something.   So many awesome events came out of this time period, it's a shame that they honed in on the bad and stuck to it like glue....

List three things you'd buy with your last $20. One practical, one frivolous and one of your choosing.

a) bread/lunch meat/water - so we don't starve  $8

b) crayons/coloring book - so E-chan doesn't get bored $4

c) pack of smokes - so I don't choke whomever stole all my money :p

I guess I am being cajoled into blogging, not that I think anything I have to say is worth blogging, IMHO....

So I will take up webspace to gush about my gorgeous daughter.  She is truly the apple of my eye and I adore her!

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What makes a good President of the United States?

Honesty and integrity.  Sadly, we haven't seen that in a President in many, many years.