Some Random Notes

In high school, my best friend Tiffany and I carried around these neon pink notebooks, in which we would record "observations."  I still have them; there are 20 volumes (not exaggerating).  So in honor of our "Pulsar Pinks," here is a list of totally unrelated notes and observations:

1. These days, I'm really into Hanging with Friends on the ol' iPhone.  Please play with me!  (clairekiefer)

2. I spent the past two days in a workshop at SF's Juvenile Justice Center entitled Trauma and Recovery, and then came home and slept.  Normal, right?  It was an excellent workshop with an excellent trainer, and I learned very acutely that I am not comfortable with silence!!!  ("Be comfortable with silence" was one of the counseling "dos").  I am talkative and fidgety and silence? . . . can't handle it.

3. Talk about dichotomous activities: after spending the day in a Trauma workshop, I spent the evening devising a grocery list for Cabo.  Someone will go shopping for us and deposit our groceries (and tequila) in our villa before our arrival.  What???  June 22 can't get here fast enough.

4.  Mesmerized by this picture:

smokin'

5. What does one do when one's 30th birthday falls on the second day of #$@!ing school?  Need ideas.

6.  My hair doesn't hold curl.  It's naturally wavy, but when I blow dry it and attempt to use a curling iron?  FALLS RIGHT OUT.  I lamented this fact while my girls were visiting SF last month, and Jessie recommended this curling iron . . .y'all, it's life-changing.  Best $24.99 I ever spent.  I can brush my hair, sleep on it, put it in a bun, and it STILL has curl.  I'm so into it:

Remington T Studio curling wand

Okay, that's all I got.  I'm off to the gym . . . but only because I've promised myself a trip to Yogurtland on the way home.  

Energy. And Lack Thereof.

Today I learned a valuable lesson: no Shredding before coffee.  Actually, that should be no anything before coffee.

I'm committed to getting this 30 Day Shred done in a reasonable amount of time (roughly 34 days, as I'm taking Thursdays off).  For the past three weeks, I've kept my date with Jillian Michaels every single day except Thursdays.  Today is Level 2, Day 8 . . . two more days of this and onto the last 10 days.  The home stretch is calling!  


On Tuesdays I can go into work a little bit late, because I don't have a morning class.  I slept in a little bit today and then tried to hop right out of bed and into the Shred . . . and I just couldn't.  I got a little bit into circuit one and I turned it off.  Couldn't do it!  I thought, "I'm going to do this tonight when I get home, when I'll have so much more energy."  And it's true, I will.  I'm such a night person.  And by then I will have had my coffee.


So instead, I put on my work clothes and made a Berry Green Monster smoothie.  I think this is a much better choice.  I'll tackle Jillian tonight, cause who can look at this face before having at least had a cup of coffee?

"Don't phone it in!"

I think it's also the time of year.  May is rough for teachers.  Not to sound all "woe is me," but damn, it's when everything is culminating, and seniors are on the verge of failing and there isn't much more you can do, and final exams are within our reach, and there's the rush of semester grades due, plus packing up our offices/classrooms . . . it's exhausting.  Visions of lying on a beach with a (30 Day) shredded tummy enchant me. ;)

If you have energy secrets, tell me.  I'll take anything I can get!  

p.s. you should see what I'm wearing.  It's hilarious.  Clearly my fatigue has spread to my fashion sense, as well.  My current philosophy: grab from the top of the clean laundry pile & go! Hopefully no one will notice my polka dotted skirt, floral tank top, and cardigan with holes in it.  Ha!

Work Hard, Play Hard

That's been my motto of late (although seems I'm working harder than playing).  Today, for instance, after babysitting twin toddlers, I met up with my friend Diana for our bi-weekly poetry & dinner meeting.  She suggested the Saturn Cafe in downtown Berkeley, which is a sparkly, retro, space age vegetarian diner.  That's right.  And I had a salad and a milkshake--how's that for juxtaposition?

And speaking of juxtaposition:

WORK: California standardized testing this week at the high school.  Schedule all outta whack.


PLAY:  Dinner and beers with friends Saturday night included Heather's baby Rowan, who has developed an impressive pair of cheeks:

hi, I'm 3 months and I'm lookin' like my mama here

WORK:  Trying to create a powerpoint on Restorative Justice for my students.  Don't really understand powerpoint.

PLAY:  Planning for three back to back visits from far-away friends starting in late May.  Beaches, coastal hiking trails, Burmese food, rooftop cocktails, Napa wineries, Mission burritos--here we come!

Tomorrow morning it's back to the grind: teach teach teach, babysit babysit babysit.  But somewhere in between all that chaos, I will inevitably find time for my latest obsession:

from

I've got it bad.  I can't put this game down.  In fact, I've been neglecting my Words with Friends friends because I've been spending every waking iPhone hour with Tiny Wings.

Gonna call it a night, given that this post is already as erratic as they come.  Fingers & toes are crossed for a return to normalcy and deep breathing soon.  At least I've got prom to look forward to. ;)

When Your To Do List Makes You Want to Hibernate

Ever have that feeling?  After an incredibly restful (& fun!) weekend with my friend Elena, it was back to the grind this week.  My To Do list looks like this:

[ ] finish grading (all the student work from the past 6 weeks that I've ignored)
[ ] send out deficiency notices
[ ] finish planning the quarter's classes for San Quentin
[ ] write feedback on poems from this week's San Quentin class
[ ] call about dental insurance
[ ] email my doctor about my f'ed up back
[ ] finish writing & editing the narrative for Voice of Witness (a 10 hour project, minimum)
[ ] take bags upon bags of clothes I don't wear to the Goodwill
[ ] get oil changed since it was due about 3 months ago
[ ] call the parents of several students
[ ] pay multiple parking tickets (including the $360 bus zone violation)
[ ] write poem for next Cobras meeting
[ ] clean & organize my office
[ ] . . .  not to mention my house
[ ] mail several letters & packages
[ ] finish reading Snooki's book

As you might guess, there is only one thing on that list that interests me.  But given that I'm babysitting tonight (after I leave school) and quarter grades are due tomorrow at 3 pm, looks like I better get crackin.  So I'm off to attend to this:

while listening to this:

Hope your day is less work-heavy!

Monster Pride

Soooooo since the other day I talked about how crazy they are, I figured I better also give credit where credit is due.  I have talked about the absolutely mind-boggling (and infuriating) West Memphis Three case before, and I just gotta brag on my lil monsters that they've seriously rocked the project I assigned around the case.

They've written letters to the Arkansas Supreme Court voicing their opinions about the case . . .

expressed themselves through poetry . . .

created posters to educate others about the West Memphis Three . . .

proven that the mixtape is far from dead . . . 

as well as created pamphlets and "business cards" to hand out to folks, written newspaper articles about the WM3's new hearing, made phone calls to the state Supreme Court, and written letters to each of the three wrongfully incarcerated young men (Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley).  I'm a proud mama hen!

Also:  My student Eddy has a blog for the independent study he's doing with me around capital punishment.  He only posts once a week, and he's excited to be learning (and teaching!) about the death penalty.  But when I nudge him to post more often and put more effort into his blog, he says "But Ms. Kiefer, you're my only follower!"  What do you say we fix that?  Care to follow a teenager's journey to learn about capital punishment in the U.S.?  He'd appreciate it. :)

here's his blog:  Death Row in America

Thanks, y'all!

Jerry! Jerry!

Today's episode of 5th period was outta control!  Sometimes when my kids act like they drank a little crazy in their milk carton, I get crazy right back at 'em (call security, write referrals, raise my voice, etc.)


But today I just sat back and enjoyed the show . . .

(Enter S, a teeny little volatile thing with an ice-breaking attitude).
S:  J, I HEARD you talked to the counselor about me.  You snitch!  You act like a lil ass kid!
J:  Whatever!  F--- you!  I don't give a f--- about you!  (commences singing)
S:  Grow up!  You snitch!  No one likes you!  I don't give an f--- about YOU!  I swear Ms. Kiefer I'm gonna slap him.
J:  Do I look like I care?  Do I look like I care?  Do I look like I care?  Do I look like I care?  Do I--
(Enter V, a girl who suffers from a total lack of a FILTER).
V:  GROW A D--- and THEN talk to us!
J:  I'll go outside and show it to you right now.  (starts undoing his belt). Come on!  Let's go!
V:  ACT LIKE A N----!  ACT LIKE A N----!  ACT LIKE A N----!
J:  You got me f----- up.  F---.

etc, etc.  I just had to take a deep breath and practice calm, positive thinking.

Afterwards, I told them they were all being ridiculous.  And then we went on with our activity about racial profiling.  Winter break, where art thou???

Jingle all the way?

It's December 1st, y'all!  Which means that watching cheesy Christmas movies and listening to Christmas albums in the kitchen is totally acceptable now.  And Christmas cards!  I'm so excited.  I've already bought mine and can't wait to write them and send 'em out!

Last night I celebrated December Eve by knitting a scarf and watching Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Have I mentioned the massive crush I had on Macaulay Culkin as a kid?  My childhood BFF Susanne and I took pictures of ourselves with just a scarf wrapped around our (non) chests when we were around 11 or 12 and mailed them to Macaulay.  Ohhhhhh childhood fantasies.  Gone awry. ;)

And then my sister and I saw him in a tiny coffee shop in London once!  I stared into my latte and nervously debated saying something but just couldn't bring myself to bust out with "Hey Macaulay!  My Girl changed my life!  I am Vada Sultenfuss!"

the golden days

sometimes good things go very wrong

In any case, it seems all I want to do is rock out to Xmas tunes and watch festive movies.  And beg y'all for gift ideas since my brother-in-law and stepdad are so dang hard to shop for!

But there is one thing stopping me.  This, ladies and gentlemen, is a just-snapped picture of my desk:

And it's not even finals yet.

Braggin' on my Hooligans

Check out what my lil monsters have been working on in class:

After learning about the disparities among different groups of people when it comes to arrest and incarceration, they created satirical "how to" booklets based on facts about likelihood of imprisonment based on race, gender, poverty, level of education, etc.

pre-project

some of my 5th period students

post-project: they created masks based on how concepts of self-identity change upon imprisonment

I just gotta show them off once in a while.  Since they make me laugh every day and all. ;)

p.s.  go here to learn about what we're reading/studying in class.  The most egregious miscarriage of "justice" I've ever known.  

Art Murmur

Oakland Art Murmur is yet another amazing thing that my fair city has to offer.  The first Friday of every month, all the galleries on Telegraph open their doors and have exhibits (often with wine & snacks!) for the public to see.  There are folks selling handmade things in the streets, people making music, and crowds gathered to see the latest local artists' work.  I saw an incredible exhibit on the prison system at Rock, Paper, Scissors one month.

Sadly, Art Murmur is precisely where I won't be tonight, as instead, I am sitting at my dining room table saddled with a bazillion papers to grade (all before 6 week grades must be submitted--11:59 pm tonight!).  How's that for the perfect way to ruin a Friday night?  Ughhhhhhh.  In case you're interested, this is my current view:

Pray that I come out alive.

It's Friday and I am decidedly not in love.