favorite blue ridge quotes

Me: 'You look tired, Xavier. Did you go to sleep late last night?'

Xavier: 'I went to bed at 20.'

Mr. G: 'Diego, are you going to be a police officer? Because you're sure questioning Jose like one.'

Kailer, to me on Ash Wednesday: 'Oh cool, you got your forehead pierced?'

'My story is a but a wisrd,' Seth, with backwards s, doing journal work.

Mr. G, having confiscated four or five toys from Gerardo by the end of the day: 'Teacher Cari, I think I'm going to have a yard sale this weekend with all these cool toys.'

Me: 'I'll be there, Mr. G, I could use some new toys.'

Gerardo: starts weeping, Mr. G looks at me with a whoops expression; I go to Gerardo and try to offer comfort--solo un chiste, mentiras.

'I like all the ones that are brown.' -4th grade Ashley, offering her opinion on Barack Obama, and presumably US presidents in general

'I'm walking with first graders, not frogs.' -the things you hear yourself say on a daily basis

Oscar: 'One day I saw Teacher Cari and Maestra Lupe at... uh... at.... uh... Green....'

Me: 'Green Park School?'

Oscar: 'Oh, yeah!'

La substituta, trying to get everyone back on track: 'Alright, that's a neat story.'

O. again, talking to me about bringing a special treat to school for Valentine’s Day: 'But not to him (pointing to Xavier) because he doesn't brush his teeth.' I should add that O’s mouth is full of six-year-old lost teeth gaps and silver.

'Or you could not get those, since you're not a child.' -Girlfriend overheard in Grocery Outlet, regarding juice boxes, to boyfriend. Not sure if that relationship will last.

I'm not even embarrassed to say it: K. and I saw this last night and cried the whole way through. Sooooo good.

Ash to Ash

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others as we have been forgiven.

Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.

Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, our exploitation of other people,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,

We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt for those who differ from us,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, Good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;

Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish is us the work of your salvation,

that we may show forth your glory in the world.

sea dwellings

Grow old with me, the best is yet to be.

-Robert Browning

unfold your own myth / rumi

Who gets up early to discover the moment light begins?
Who finds us here circling, bewildered, like atoms?
Who comes to a spring thirsty
and sees the moon reflected in it?
Who, like Jacob blind with grief and age,
smells the shirt of his lost son
and can see again?
Who lets a bucket down and brings
up a flowing prophet? Or like Moses goes for fire
and finds what burns inside the sunrise?

Jesus slips into a house to escape enemies,
and opens a door to another world.
Solomon cuts open a fish, and ther’s a cold ring.
Omar storms in to kill the prophet
and leaves with blessings.
Chase a deer and end up everywhere!
An oyster opens his mouth to swallow one drop.
Now there’s a pearl.
A vagrant wanders empty ruins.
Suddenly he’s wealthy.

But don’t be satisfied with stories, how things
have gone with others. Unfold
your own myth, without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage,
We have opened you.

Start walking…Your legs will get heavy
and tired. Then comes a moment
of feeling the wings you’ve grown
lifting.

on working at the best school

Today I was filling out paperwork to for a routine dental check-up in my new town, and as I checked no to question after question (gum pain, discomfort chewing, bleeding, coldness, numbness, tooth decay, blisters, sensitivity, erosion, jaw pain, etc, etc, etc) I remembered again how much we have to be grateful for that, most days, I confess I fail to even notice.

After site shadowing at another elementary school in a neighboring county, I decided to make a list of all the reasons I love Blue Ridge. I've worked in seven schools now, and attended ten more, and it really is such a unique, energizing atmosphere. Here's why:

• First of all, the building is underground, a grassy knoll on one side, exposed windows on the other. Huge skylights overhead allow light into each stairwell so even the basement hallway is lit. The structure is ''an architectural gem 30 years ahead of its time'' according to one architect from Boston I met last weekend, who said he spent some time studying the building's design when he moved out west.
• We do zumba every morning for 15-20 minutes. 'Nuff said.
• The color makeup. I hope this is not shallow, but after visiting a very white country school, and having a conversation with a six-year-old about hunting and how he shot a deer in the foot and thought it was super funny, my appreciation is majorly renewed.
• Latino teachers. Young teachers. Brown teachers. Six male teachers. That is kind of unheard of in elementary.
• Recycling. I know that seems standard, but trust me, a lot of schools don't.
• Many bilingual teachers and students.
• The view of the Blues (for which it is named)
• The eagle mascot
• The Turkey Trot. The best!
• No gossip/teacher drama.
• The salad bar.
• The secretaries.
• Hearing and speaking Spanish every day.
• The kids, duh!! Some of the most hilarious and precious and ridiculous and wonderful little ones I've met... not that I'm biased or anything...