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anniedickerson
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Name: mrs e anne
Country: United States
State: Illinois
Metro: Chicago
Birthday: 11/1/1980
Gender: Female
Interests: photography, caffeine, the 80s, education reform, going places, doing things, being in good company, changing the world...and josh :)
Expertise: YAK-YAK-YAK ing!!
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  annethdee
Member Since:
3/27/2005
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| I've found that I love Facebook because it lets me record life in 'snippets'...and then I got together with a friend last night pouring her heart out over struggles she's having, and lo and behold, she shows me a journal entry of mine from my single years, asks me "how did you get past this, because it's exactly where I'm at"--and I could not help but notice how much poignancy, precision, and thought went into every single word choice. Is it telling about my impatience as a person that I'd rather write a one-sentence blurb on Facebook than spend some quality time 'really' wrestling with my issues and dealing with the hard questions?
School starts on Monday. I have 8th graders. Humanities, as we say in Int'l Baccalaureate speak. I'm excited and nervous, confident and cowering, hopeful and cynical. It's such an important year. So many of these kids will only know an 8th grade graduation as their life's graduation...and I'm not okay with that, I can't be okay with that. Yet the facts are just that: I'm not the Savior and can't save them all. That's been the hardest lesson to learn as a teacher--you can't save them all. My first year of teaching I refused to believe that-and I don't know that I'd call it a maxim, but now I see its truth.
I finally have a papizan chair in my classroom and a floor lamp (have always wanted to do that), and I think I'm going to buy a palm tree too (ALWAYS wanted to do that even more!) I just want to do everything within my power to motivate the kids to be excited about being there when they're in my room, and to hope that maybe this will be the year when God will break chains that hold these kids' families down. I love teaching, and I hate it. I just made it through 5 of the hardest years of my life, and am not holding true to my initial goals as a year 1 teacher: after finishing the first 5, I'm actually going back for year 6. :)
Good night, everyone. I promise to write more soon. | | |
| I've neglected you for far too long. Does anyone still read my blog on here??
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| ok, i love my dad more than he will ever know, but i'm VERY disturbed at the brand of right-wing Christianity that this email he sent me oozes. it's source is http://townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2008/10/21/bill_ayers_scary_plans_for_public_schools?page=1.
now, having realized in my recent adult years that there's a LOT more that's politically important, and a LOT more moral issues at hand, than ONLY abortion and homosexuality (2 issues the right-wing Christian camp has fixated on, at the neglect of others that should also be in the list), i had to post on this. while Bill Ayers may have done Communistic, anti-American things in his past, he's certainly not doing that in his present. he's a very respected teacher of teachers here in Chicago, and i think everyone needs to remember the countless stories in the Bible, which is TRUE, of God's work to redeem countless individuals who committed terrible sins, yet were later used by God for his glory and to bring about good in our world. i don't know Bill Ayers' stance on knowing God personally, BUT i do know his stance on a variety of social issues affecting students and teachers. and, while i disagree with a few of the agendas he pushes, nonetheless his inclusion by the McCain campaign as a political mudsling is not only unbecoming, it's unnecessary.
please read the full article at the link above, that will explain my thoughts. i posted a comment that i now can't retrieve, which is disappointing, but i just want to encourage my friends who are Christians to not be distracted by the mention of Bill Ayers (which is needless in this election, in my opinion). my thoughts are that the Bible has more to say about who we should prayerfully elect than Phyllis Schlafly of townhall.com does. i'm disappointed that she chose to take the angle of asking the rhetorical question, 'what would you do if Bill Ayers becomes the next secretary of education?' and then proceeds to tear him to pieces, instead of edifying her readers by presenting facts, presenting Biblical truth that concerns things Christians should be remembering when they vote, AND allowing God to work in individual hearts regarding the issue, instead of trying to persuade her readers to vote how she wants them to vote.
i'm just sayin...this type of thing is what turns a LOT of people away from the church, and while I assume this lady is a "Christian" (dn't know that for sure), i really think she needs to modify her message. she can still reach out to families in doing that.
nuff said.
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| i forgot to call the florist at home in Madisonville to ask them to send flowers to the memorial service for Patch Rudd today. i don't know how i forgot.
i'm annoyed after watching tonight's debates that McCain is all for a reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. and I just looked at Annie Lennox's MySpace page, she's got what i think is a weird view of the ying-yang and the way she ties it into the whole political race right now is just kind of odd.
grade card pickup is next week, and i always am nervous to meet parents for the first time, when their kids have Fs and i have to explain it. easy to do now, but never fun to do.
final random thought for the day-The Leroy curled up in my lap and strategically put both of his paws on my right arm when i was sitting on the couch and watching the debates-and he was sure to put his paws on the arm i was trying to use to make comments on kids' story drafts. unbelievable. (he unrolled a whole roll of paper towels again today!)
good night to all in Xangaland. please pray for healing and comfort for Patch Rudd's family. hopefully today was healing for them, but i'm sure it was also very hard.
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|  I went to high school with this guy--Patch Rudd. One of my friends, Amie, dated him in high school, and although I was never really close to him, he was silly and seemed pretty easy-going with everyone.He was always very nice to me, and was a lot of fun to be around. (He also goofed around with other guys in our graduating class all the time!)
I bumped into him once during college when I was home in KY for some reason, and he'd said he'd turned his life around and wanted to become a police officer, and admitted that most people probably wouldn't have guessed that he'd do that. This was the same Patch that waved around a box of Amie's tampons and yelled about it to cars passing by at one of our spring soccer games our junior year!
I cried tonight when I made the connection on another friends' Facebook, through looking at her album titled "Rest in Peace, Soldier," that all the pictures were of him, and found on the Internet tonight this following article:
"MADISONVILLE, Ky. (AP) - The father of a western Kentucky soldier
killed in Iraq says the Madisonville community is "filling me up with
love and prayers" since learning of his 27-year-old son's death.Sgt.
William P. Rudd died Sunday after being hit by enemy small-arms fire
while on combat patrol in Mosul, according to the U.S. Defense
Department. Rudd was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Ga. "The
community is filling me up with love and prayers," the soldier's
father, Bill Rudd of Madisonville, told The Messenger newspaper of
Madisonville. "They support what Patrick did for our cause, so we
wouldn't have terrorists back over here." Patrick Rudd is believed to be the first Hopkins County native killed in Iraq. He
graduated from Madisonville-North Hopkins High School in 1999, then
went to work on the assembly line at White Hydraulics in Hopkinsville." I wish sometimes that the U.S. would just let other countries implode and let Jesus come back and restore the Kingdom on earth, instead of trying to do it for Him. Then again, I guess there are some legitimate? examples in history where U.S. involvement in foreign issues meant greater stability for the world as a whole-including the great imperialists at home. It's just so bitter to see God's plan play out for someone like Patch who admitted that he was a rascal in high school, got things together, and then dies like this. With no grandkids, no rich memories gathered over a life of 40, 50, or even 60 years; probably not even getting to do everything he ever dreamed of doing with his life. Yet this is how he might have known he'd be leaving. I truly would not make an honorable soldier; I couldn't choose for that to be my life, yet so many have done just that so I can sit here and type on my blog tonight, with relative carelessness about the state of my neighborhood. Thanks, Patch.
(Stu-maybe you can write me and tell me your thoughts about where things are headed...) 
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