Harvest Time

Today we took the kids to EZ Orchards in Salem for their Harvest Festival activities. The weather was wonderful and Logan had a great time with the tractors, petting zoo, and running through the corn maze. Addisyn slept for most of the afternoon, and the adults indulged in apple cider donuts while soaking up some sun.

What is it about boys and tractors? Logan loves them.

I write like who?

It's getting close to NaNoWriMo time. I'm not sure if I'm going to participate this year, but I've been reading about other people's preparations and anticipation. Today on the NaNo Facebook page was a link for I Write Like. It's a program that will analyze a piece of writing you enter and compare it to a database of writers. Out of curiosity, I had to try it.

First, I copied part of the dialogue I entered in the DAR American Heritage Contest in 2010. I won second place at the national level, so I figured it was a good place to start. According to the program, I write like....Cory Doctorow. I've never read that author.

Second, I entered the blog post just proceeding this one. This time, I write like...Kurt Vonnegut. Another author I've never read.

Third time, I entered the first few paragraphs of my NaNo book from 2009. At least I've read this author...James Joyce.

I had to try one more time, so I just entered this text. Now, I write like H.P. Lovecraft.

This is just too funny! Four pieces by me and the result is four different authors. Who knew?!

They're so funny!

Middle schoolers are a different breed of people. A family friend who spent 34 years teaching middle school says that "Sixth graders aren't human and seventh graders are only slightly closer." I'm not sure I completely agree, but this age group is definitely different from the high schoolers I'm used to.

Yesterday, at the end of our world history lesson it came across loud and clear that my seventh graders don't really get roman numerals. (I find this to be sad, since I've always thought they're kind of fun to decipher!) So, we had a few minutes left in class and I did a quick, down and dirty lesson in just a few minutes. We ended with translating dates. For instance, 2011 is MMXI and 1980 is MCMLXXX. Then one of the kids asked me to put my birth year up so they could translate it. As the kids were leaving one of my little lovelies stopped and said "I didn't think you were that old!" and proceeded to tell me she thought I was a good dozen years younger than I actually am! It was really cute.

Harvest Faire

My family spent the weekend in Sisters at the Harvest Faire. When I left the valley Friday afternoon it was raining, and I chased it all the way up and over Santiam Pass. My no so sunshiney mood really lifted as I broke over the pass and saw....blue sky! It was really nice to hang out with family and friends, and enjoy the sunny weather.

My Learning Curve...

Teaching middle school is a challenge. It's not because the kids are difficult, you just have such a variety of levels in ability and maturity. They don't communicate very well and I'm having some trouble with that. Today one of my little angels refused to work and then burst into tears. OMG! I'm so out of practice with emotion that isn't anger. And I'm constantly questioning how much of a response is genuine versus how much is an act to see how far they can push. It's no wonder I'm exhausted!

Race for the Cure - Portland

Today I took part in the Komen Race for the Cure with Erin as part of the Lou's Pirate Crew Team. (Lou was the mother of Erin's friend Mary, and every year Mary puts together a team for the race.) We had a great time. It's definitely a worthwhile cause since so many people I know have been affected by breast cancer and the exercise did me some good.

9/11....

It's been 10 years since that overwhelming Tuesday. Somethings about that day are very clear. I first heard about the towers on the radio while I was getting ready for work, but at that point it wasn't clear what was happening. I turned on the TV, and saw what everyone else was seeing.

My scheduled day was going to be busy. I was contracted to substitute teach that day, then I had planned to drive to Portland to pick up my sister. She'd been in Nevada for a friend's wedding that weekend. Before I got to work the airports had been closed, and all planes were grounded. I called my parents to see if they had heard from my sister.

School was a pretty non-productive day. We didn't have TV access, so everything we were hearing was from the radio. The internet had crashed, and we waited. I remember hoping that none of my East Coast friends had been flying that day, and that my college friend who lives in DC was nowhere near the Pentagon. My sister and other wedding guests arrived home very late that night after driving in from Nevada. Other than those details, the day is a blur.

The next few weeks are really blurry too. I think most people were in shock. Attacks like this were not supposed to happen in the US. In hindsight, that was an arrogant belief.

The terrorists who participated in the attacks on 9/11 had a goal to cause pain and weaken us. They achieved their first goal, but I do not believe they achieved the second. 9/11 made America stronger.