Hope you enjoyed it! Until next time, I remain
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Lost Generation
A co-worker sent this video to me a few weeks ago. It must've caught me on a good day because my multimedia emails usually pile up for quite awhile before I get around to reading them! I thought this was a profound way to say all is not lost with our generation...
Hope you enjoyed it! Until next time, I remain
Hope you enjoyed it! Until next time, I remain
The Teacher's Desk
Does this desk look almighty and powerful?? How many of us hold the teacher's desk with such high esteem to bestow upon it super powers beyond human measure? Maybe I'm off on one of my rants again but lately I have started noticing how many people seem literally tied to this piece of wood in a classroom. Ok, my school has gone through HOURS upon HOURS of Professional Development so we understand the importance of circulating around our rooms amongst the students. Personally, I have long ago given up that "Sage on the stage" role and have taken up my proper place among my students as their "Guide on the Side". Research tells us that our students must be involved in collaborative learning in order for them to "get it". Collaboration certainly cannot be done from behind this inordinate object that serves as a barrier between you and them. Hmmm... ok, in all fairness, I must say it's usually substitutes that exhibit this behavior; but not always... Almost as if that desk will put up some protective shield should the kids look at them the wrong way... It's quite funny actually. One such lady looked like she was one with the desk. Caressing it's every crease and crevice and looking lovingly against the grains!
Why? Why I say? What makes you think that furniture will give you the power you are seeking? It just gives me an uneasy feeling. Almost like the person doesn't really know what they're doing. Just in the room as a babysitter... Kids are different these days and they were born in the digital age. That sitting behind the desk ish ain't kosher! Me? Sure, I have a desk, but when do I get a chance to use it?? I sit smack dab in the middle of my classroom...
That's where all the action happens. Sure, I'm also a little bit of a control freak so I sit where I can bop em upside the head if I need to. (Just kidding. Don't want anyone to haul me off to jail...)
Anyway. That was my quick, pointless rant for the day.
One of my sisters
is now on the Blogging Circuit! Her blog is Scrap In Color and I'm soooooo proud of the fact that she is out there doing the dang thang! I dabble in scrappin' but Step is the Master, guru, head scrapper in charge of this realm and I gladly step aside and yield to her in the presence of patterned paper and paper cutters! Congratulations and Best Wishes to you Step! Luv ya and I'm adding ya to my blog roll!
Pray that our Governor will come to his senses and stop refusing our state's cut of the stimulus money!
Until next time, I remain
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Freedom of Expression
I teach, therefore I am... No, really.
By now you know I'm a people watcher. I'm usually the one sitting a little off from the others, arms folded and quiet. It's earned me quite the reputation for being a snob but it's not really that, it's just that I'm taking in the scene. Doing my thing. People watching. Anyway, I digress. Well, this week, some kids at my school decided amongst themselves that they were going to have their very own tacky day. Wow. They came up with that on their own. Ok, I'm a sarcastic people watcher:-) Anyway, in their mind, it's waaaay cool to wear plaid pants and striped shirts with totally unmatching colors and two totally different pairs of socks on each leg pulled all the way up to the knees. *complete silence* Ok. If you want to express yourself, go for it. yadda, yadda, yadda. They coordinated the WHOLE thing and walked into school like "What??". They were so proud... Then...IT happened... In comes the ONE who will mess it up for everybody... Yep. The ONE... In walks a grown azz 15 year old size 16 but wearing a size 12 hot mess. She. went. too. far. SHE decides it's cute to wear a d@mn DIAPER to school over her tacky clothes. I'm mad that she either: 1. Went to the store and bought diapers that big or 2. Stole some depends from her disabled relative. Those things are hella expensive. My reaction?? *mouth drop* *complete silence for a minute* Grab the cell phone, take a picture and send it to my other co-workers lucky enough to not be in the midst of this atrocity... Maybe I was wrong and I'll pay for it one day but for that moment, someone else had to share in my misery. She had NO shame in this game and the facial expression to match it. Seriously. I had a flashback of Jamie Foxx's Wanda as I took in her mean mugging face... My previous attempts to reach this child were fruitless and unappreciated. By her and her momma... Somebody, anybody, everybody please, help me out here! I'm supposed to understand these things but what the heck was that big "A" diaper supposed to prove?? If you were still a student, would you go that far?? If this were your daughter, would you allow her to go to school dressed like this all for the sake of "expressing oneself?? If she were mine, she'd be UNDER the house before I allowed that freedom of expression. No way, babycakes... Amendment rights do NOT apply to you... Get a job to pay for them diapers you wanna wear and then you have a bargaining chip! Ugh!
Congrats to 12kyle on the new job and Mrs12 for joining the ranks of the greatest sorority in the world. Welcome to the Sisterhood!
Until next time, I remain...
By now you know I'm a people watcher. I'm usually the one sitting a little off from the others, arms folded and quiet. It's earned me quite the reputation for being a snob but it's not really that, it's just that I'm taking in the scene. Doing my thing. People watching. Anyway, I digress. Well, this week, some kids at my school decided amongst themselves that they were going to have their very own tacky day. Wow. They came up with that on their own. Ok, I'm a sarcastic people watcher:-) Anyway, in their mind, it's waaaay cool to wear plaid pants and striped shirts with totally unmatching colors and two totally different pairs of socks on each leg pulled all the way up to the knees. *complete silence* Ok. If you want to express yourself, go for it. yadda, yadda, yadda. They coordinated the WHOLE thing and walked into school like "What??". They were so proud... Then...IT happened... In comes the ONE who will mess it up for everybody... Yep. The ONE... In walks a grown azz 15 year old size 16 but wearing a size 12 hot mess. She. went. too. far. SHE decides it's cute to wear a d@mn DIAPER to school over her tacky clothes. I'm mad that she either: 1. Went to the store and bought diapers that big or 2. Stole some depends from her disabled relative. Those things are hella expensive. My reaction?? *mouth drop* *complete silence for a minute* Grab the cell phone, take a picture and send it to my other co-workers lucky enough to not be in the midst of this atrocity... Maybe I was wrong and I'll pay for it one day but for that moment, someone else had to share in my misery. She had NO shame in this game and the facial expression to match it. Seriously. I had a flashback of Jamie Foxx's Wanda as I took in her mean mugging face... My previous attempts to reach this child were fruitless and unappreciated. By her and her momma... Somebody, anybody, everybody please, help me out here! I'm supposed to understand these things but what the heck was that big "A" diaper supposed to prove?? If you were still a student, would you go that far?? If this were your daughter, would you allow her to go to school dressed like this all for the sake of "expressing oneself?? If she were mine, she'd be UNDER the house before I allowed that freedom of expression. No way, babycakes... Amendment rights do NOT apply to you... Get a job to pay for them diapers you wanna wear and then you have a bargaining chip! Ugh!
Congrats to 12kyle on the new job and Mrs12 for joining the ranks of the greatest sorority in the world. Welcome to the Sisterhood!
Until next time, I remain...
Monday, March 2, 2009
Photo Fun!
Ok. Ok. Ok. So I've been M.I.A. for a minute. Ok, well... maybe an hour! Y'all (like my southern slang?) it's been more than a notion making everything happen in a 24 hour period! As most of you know, I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Science to middle school special needs children. If you know anything about South Carolina State Standards, you'd also realize that each grade level has an entirely different curriculum. Beyond inquiry and process skills, no class learns the same material. That rules out teaching the same lesson to different classes :-( Phooey for me. Add that to Special Education paperwork and taking care of my mom, it's a no go for my blog posts!
Fast forward to today. I'm sitting at home due to 6 1/2 inches of snow on the ground. Wow. Snow. Falling on the 1st day of March. Talk about March coming in like a lion! Deep breath. Aaaaahhhhh! It felt so good to sleep a little late and not have the usual deadlines and pressures of work, get home, check on mom, fixing dinner, taking care of the dog, etc bearing down on me. You get the point! Soooo, after doing a few household catchup things, I played around on a website I found out about at a technology conference. It was a great way to relax, relate, release (Go Whitley Gilbert!) and I found myself just playing around with different photo effects. I don't have an earthshattering blog topic today so I'll just post a little of my PhotoFunia work. Enjoy!
Check em out for yourself- www.photofunia.com
I look forward to your creative pics!
Until next time I remain,
Fast forward to today. I'm sitting at home due to 6 1/2 inches of snow on the ground. Wow. Snow. Falling on the 1st day of March. Talk about March coming in like a lion! Deep breath. Aaaaahhhhh! It felt so good to sleep a little late and not have the usual deadlines and pressures of work, get home, check on mom, fixing dinner, taking care of the dog, etc bearing down on me. You get the point! Soooo, after doing a few household catchup things, I played around on a website I found out about at a technology conference. It was a great way to relax, relate, release (Go Whitley Gilbert!) and I found myself just playing around with different photo effects. I don't have an earthshattering blog topic today so I'll just post a little of my PhotoFunia work. Enjoy!
Check em out for yourself- www.photofunia.com
I look forward to your creative pics!
Until next time I remain,
Friday, December 5, 2008
Where I find my Spirituality...
Spirituality.
"Spirituality as a way of life concerns itself with aligning the human will and mind with that dimension of life and the universe that is harmonious and ordered"
Peace and tranquility. My sense of calm and comfort. A thought occured to me the other day, how and when do I really get in touch with my spirituality??
Hmmm. When I allowed myself to sit quietly and contemplate, I realized that I do not get a harmonious alignment of my human will and mind from activities such as going to church and participating in weekly bible studies. Sure, don't get me wrong, hearing the word of God in the midst of his flock is important but for me, that is simply another appointment on my calendar rather than a metaphysical connection. For the longest time, I wondered, is it just me?? I didn't get the whole shouting, praise dance thing that others displayed in religious services. As a lifelong scholar, I used that time to of course LEARN more about the WORD but...
it still wasn't a SPIRITUAL connection...
It simply wasn't the experience of connecting with the healing powers of my higher power...
So...
Where do I find my spirituality?
That was probably best answered when I figured out my dominant intelligence.
Intrapersonal.
Highly self aware and best served when allowed to concentrate on matters by myself without outside influence.
Inner Peace.
I am most at peace when I can block the influence of the world and just be allowed to meditate, focus and connect. A melodious quiet song in the background. A non cluttered environment. An honest time for reflections.
My spirituality is tied directly to Christ. I truly believe that. I simply have a different medium from the norm and before I really allowed myself to think rationally about it, my way of connecting was a source of concern for me.
Answers come when you least expect it. I don't know why that topic came to mind. I'll never know... but, nevertheless, it is no longer a source of anxiety for me.
“We need to find God and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. Nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.”
~Mother Teresa
Until next time, I remain...
Simply Dione
"Spirituality as a way of life concerns itself with aligning the human will and mind with that dimension of life and the universe that is harmonious and ordered"
Peace and tranquility. My sense of calm and comfort. A thought occured to me the other day, how and when do I really get in touch with my spirituality??
Hmmm. When I allowed myself to sit quietly and contemplate, I realized that I do not get a harmonious alignment of my human will and mind from activities such as going to church and participating in weekly bible studies. Sure, don't get me wrong, hearing the word of God in the midst of his flock is important but for me, that is simply another appointment on my calendar rather than a metaphysical connection. For the longest time, I wondered, is it just me?? I didn't get the whole shouting, praise dance thing that others displayed in religious services. As a lifelong scholar, I used that time to of course LEARN more about the WORD but...
it still wasn't a SPIRITUAL connection...
It simply wasn't the experience of connecting with the healing powers of my higher power...
So...
Where do I find my spirituality?
That was probably best answered when I figured out my dominant intelligence.
Intrapersonal.
Highly self aware and best served when allowed to concentrate on matters by myself without outside influence.
Inner Peace.
I am most at peace when I can block the influence of the world and just be allowed to meditate, focus and connect. A melodious quiet song in the background. A non cluttered environment. An honest time for reflections.
My spirituality is tied directly to Christ. I truly believe that. I simply have a different medium from the norm and before I really allowed myself to think rationally about it, my way of connecting was a source of concern for me.
Answers come when you least expect it. I don't know why that topic came to mind. I'll never know... but, nevertheless, it is no longer a source of anxiety for me.
“We need to find God and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. Nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.”
~Mother Teresa
Until next time, I remain...
Simply Dione
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Remember when I said no angry posts?? I CHANGED my mind!
Well, well, well...
What do we have HERE!
Complete story can be found here...
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_buck16.3d67d4a.html
This picture was sent to a Republican Women's Group recently. The editor of the newsletter said she was trying to refute a statement Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama made when he said his face does not look like the other faces on American money. Soooo, this "woman" and I use that term loosely, decides to create this image of Obama's face on a food stamp with KFC and Watermelon in the background. About 200 people received this racist piece of crap. When our lovely little editor was called on the carpet about the error of her ways, THEN she wants to sincerely apologize for offending anyone! WTF?? Too M%^&F*$#ng late!! Her truth has come to light. Ohhh wait. Maybe I should not say error of her ways. She IS entitled to an opinion... Let's say, when she was contacted about OPENLY stating the views of more than one republican... I guess John McCain was there to shut her down since he does not allow ANYONE to make fun of Barack Obama...
I digress...
One would think in THIS time in THIS day in age, that we as a people could overcome racism, but to my chagrin, it is alive and well. I have watched debate after debate and have loosely followed Republican and Democratic campaigns without falling into political-ese talk that would leave my friends and co-workers looking at me like I had two heads. They already think I'm a nerd so to add Washington jargon on top of that would be overkill!
Anyway, yes, we do live in a free country and everyone has freedom of speech. It is just a shame that we do not see that right as a RESPONSIBILITY to interject some INTELLIGENCE with it!
As I sit back and think of the turn this election has taken, I scold myself for even being angry with anything that has unfolded. The polls are out. Obama is in the lead because the country is tired of the flat line of the economy. The Republican nominee used his very last debate time to whine about nit picky things and the Vice Presidental nominee has not been the golden girl savior as expected. She is a divisive figure and her mouth and lack of knowledge of simple things like the names of National newspapers does not fare well for the GOP.
I guess as I break it down in my head, and if I were in GOP shoes, I'd be upset too but as a thinking, human being, I owe it to myself to conduct myself with some kind of decent decorum. That, in my eyes, transcends race, creed and color...
Oh, I'd also be upset if the guy I was running against looked so damn fly...
Until next time, I remain...
What do we have HERE!
Complete story can be found here...
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_buck16.3d67d4a.html
This picture was sent to a Republican Women's Group recently. The editor of the newsletter said she was trying to refute a statement Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama made when he said his face does not look like the other faces on American money. Soooo, this "woman" and I use that term loosely, decides to create this image of Obama's face on a food stamp with KFC and Watermelon in the background. About 200 people received this racist piece of crap. When our lovely little editor was called on the carpet about the error of her ways, THEN she wants to sincerely apologize for offending anyone! WTF?? Too M%^&F*$#ng late!! Her truth has come to light. Ohhh wait. Maybe I should not say error of her ways. She IS entitled to an opinion... Let's say, when she was contacted about OPENLY stating the views of more than one republican... I guess John McCain was there to shut her down since he does not allow ANYONE to make fun of Barack Obama...
I digress...
One would think in THIS time in THIS day in age, that we as a people could overcome racism, but to my chagrin, it is alive and well. I have watched debate after debate and have loosely followed Republican and Democratic campaigns without falling into political-ese talk that would leave my friends and co-workers looking at me like I had two heads. They already think I'm a nerd so to add Washington jargon on top of that would be overkill!
Anyway, yes, we do live in a free country and everyone has freedom of speech. It is just a shame that we do not see that right as a RESPONSIBILITY to interject some INTELLIGENCE with it!
As I sit back and think of the turn this election has taken, I scold myself for even being angry with anything that has unfolded. The polls are out. Obama is in the lead because the country is tired of the flat line of the economy. The Republican nominee used his very last debate time to whine about nit picky things and the Vice Presidental nominee has not been the golden girl savior as expected. She is a divisive figure and her mouth and lack of knowledge of simple things like the names of National newspapers does not fare well for the GOP.
I guess as I break it down in my head, and if I were in GOP shoes, I'd be upset too but as a thinking, human being, I owe it to myself to conduct myself with some kind of decent decorum. That, in my eyes, transcends race, creed and color...
Oh, I'd also be upset if the guy I was running against looked so damn fly...
Until next time, I remain...
Monday, October 13, 2008
Diddy Blog #24
I'm back from Homecoming 2008 and I must say, even with the rain, I had the time of my life!! Plus, we won the game so that was par for the course... To my friend that missed it this year, yeah, I got your text message about me not partying too hard but I decided to ignore you for once! Hope to see you in the 'burg next time!! Haaaaa!! Now, as for my video post...
Well, if you haven't registered to vote by now...
SHAME ON YOU!!
I'm keeping up my end of the bargain, I'M not posting any angry posts, but I can't stop others from their opinion! I ran across this HILARIOUS video by Diddy. Usually, he's not one of my favorite actors but he had my stomach in stitches on this one!!
Enjoy!
Well, if you haven't registered to vote by now...
SHAME ON YOU!!
I'm keeping up my end of the bargain, I'M not posting any angry posts, but I can't stop others from their opinion! I ran across this HILARIOUS video by Diddy. Usually, he's not one of my favorite actors but he had my stomach in stitches on this one!!
Enjoy!
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