One of those life changing moments...

No matter what anyone says, grief is hard and when you watch a parent's grief as they say goodbye to their little one, there is NOTHING you can say or do that is going to soften the blow. I have only been through this a couple of times in my life and it does not get easier.

One of my mentors said that this is the hardest part of being a teacher is saying goodbye to a student who left us so soon. I would have to agree with this whole-heartedly.

This young lady brightened everyone's lives. I remember meeting Alexa on my first week of teaching and she was so supportive. She was a part of a crew of students who worked so hard of make sure that my first year of teaching was not so daunting and they helped me with the transition. I am so grateful to these kids, more than they will ever know. What struck me about Alexa was that she was an "old soul", with an amazing smile, a twinkle in her eye and her amazing ability to color the world wherever she went.

I never had her in any of my classes, but she was involved in Stagecraft, in Art, and was highly involved in my first spring musical at North Little Rock, Beauty and The Beast. To watch her paint the set and work her magic with color, she selected color like there was no other. She graduated and went to UALR for Art, which was absolutely logical. However, she came back year after year to help us with our sets and never complained when asked her opinion. She created our moon for Midsummer Night's Dream and it was glorious.

She worked at a local restaurant where she met my family. My family even commented on this young lady's amazing spirit and sweetness. She even agreed to paint a portrait we had asked of her of my Dad and neice. She cringed when I asked, but she did it and it is absolutely beautiful!!! It hangs now on my Dad's office wall for remembrance.

We lost touch and from what I understand she spiraled down. It saddens me so much and wish she would have reached out so I could have somehow helped her.

Today we said goodbye to this sweet child. Gone too soon, taken from us before she could affect the world. And yet, she rocked our world by just being who she was. An accident that took her from us so soon.

She treated everyone with mutual respect, she helped those who were hurting, she provided the world with beautiful color and creativity and warmth and will be missed so much!!

Alexa, you are not hurting anymore. I could feel your presence today at the service. I know that it would be exactly how you would have wanted it to be. It had your hand all over it.

I am grateful to have known you, to have been able to work with you, and to have been able to call you one of my students. Sleep well, dear heart, and we shall see you soon. Paint something beautiful for us. I cannot wait to see what God has planned for you with Him.

Exhaustion

So I have completed my first week of my fifth year of teaching...
And you know what?
I am EXHAUSTED!
However, it is a great kind. Our district has made some changes that are shaking...but I think, with time, it is going to be the good kind of changes.
The biggest change was going from 90 minute block period scheduling to 7 period days, with class times varying from 45 minutes to 65... I cannot tell you how crazy it felt to be in the middle of lecture this week and have the bells go off. But what I love about this is that I think we are going to have fewer issues with heads down in class and faster flowing days, and we also get to see our kids EVERY day rather than every other, which is nice...I did find myself getting to Wednesday feeling absolutely worn out and thinking how am I going to make it to Friday???

One other awesome occurrence...as much as I miss our graduated seniors this year...many have texted, some have stopped in to say hello or goodbye...and to say they have arrived at their college campuses and are already succeeding in getting settled, or receiving callbacks for auditions they went to, or just to say how much they miss us. BELIEVE me we miss you all as well!!!

Going to be a great year. My students seem like a cool bunch of kids and seem to be fairly respectful, creative, and open to trying new things. Forensics team is going to rock and roll this year...amazing talent, great beginning to the tournament season, and seem like a wonderful bunch of energetic rock stars. Drama kids are always the question mark, but it seems that there is a great crew of folks here as well!!! Excited to be back, excited to be in drama class, and excited to begin work.

What does year number 5 have in store?? Only time will tell, but all arms point to good things ahead and for that I am thankful for it.

We head to PISA!!

What an awesome surprise!!! Pisa was really jolting and oddly hysterical. People are so funny...the tower is leaning...obviously...but the tourists all try to take their picture with their hands up like the are trying to push the tower back up. HIGH-larious to watch...and yes I had to try it as well...
There are three buildings on the grounds...all three leaning to some degree. The tower is most pronounced. The cathedral leans to the South, along with the tower. Awesome story I will share in the next few posts about the Cathedral and how you know it is leaning.
Oddly enough the Baptistery leans to the North. The Baptistery was really cool with the font right in the middle of the dome...3 steps leading up to the font, symbolizing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with a beautiful sculpture of john the Baptist in the middle of it.

 

The acoustics were PHENOMENAL!!! A man got up around the crowd and sang and it was chilling.

 

I had previously mentioned the floors...well as you walk around the fount, you notice and arrow carved into the marble on the floor. If you face the direction the arrow is pointing, you will notice carved into the top of one of the columns is a face with its mouth wide open. There is only one face like this in the entire place. If you sing, this is the spot where the best acoustics are. REALLY COOL!!

An odd post I know

One of the things I found so amazing from my trip to Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid a  few years back was the fact that my neck hurt. I posted all of the amazing ceilings I saw while on that trip of a lifetime...HOWEVER, little did I know that I would feel absolutely HYPERSENSITIVE going on this trip to Italy.

Hypersensitive in an amazing, breath-taking way. Not only were you trying to take everything in above your head with all of the amazing gold-flecked ceilings and paintings upon paintings upon paintings. The Sistine Chapel was smaller than I had imagined yet just as awe-inspiring and breath-taking....

But you also had to keep your eyes on the FLOORS. Carved marble designs were EVERYWHERE. The intricacies and colors and designed were absolutely BEAUTIFUL and you were almost afraid to walk on them. And you know, as I sit here reminiscing about this trip, never once did I see a dirty floor...the pride on display over our entire trip of Italy is quite the feat. They were so beautiful and thought-provoking and awe-inspiring. What was paintings and museums in France and Spain, became architecture, sculpture and paintings in Italy. Truly remarkable and memorable for sure!!!

 Cool and interesting fact about the below picture. While on our tour of Rome and the Coliseum, our tour guide asked the kids to tell her what color the actual Coliseum would have been, to which they responded white marble. "Correct", she replied, "but why do you think the Coliseum is now only brick and rubble, removing the fact of wear and tear?" No one could respond. She then told us that the answer would be revealed later in the day.

Once we got to St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, the fact was revealed. Roman culture is that of recycle and reuse and always has been. They even recycled sculpture!! But the fact is that ALL of the white marble used in the Coliseum was removed and was placed in the flooring of the Basilica!!!! HOW COOL IS THAT??? Never knew that!! (and truth be told, kinda eerie as well begin that so many Christians died in the walls of that horror and now we are walking in a sacred place one the very materials that created that horrific, yet jaw dropping structure)

Where does the time go??

Today is the day before I begin my fifth year of teaching. I am in awe of how the time flies and yet look back and see all the amazing lights that have graced my classroom walls and am in awe of all of their adventures and accomplishments. It always warms my heart when one steps back into my classroom to say help.

But what is disconcerting is that this time flew by. I guess that catch phrase is absolutely true and it is important to make the most of what time we have.

I am actually looking forward to this year very much! I am traveling more with my Forensics students. I am directing a version of Macbeth that I am very excited about which will open on Halloween. I am excited to see what my students have in store for this year. They are a VERY talented group who have within them the capacity to accomplish many great things this year on the tournament circuit. I am going to step back from directing the Spring musical, but that does not make it any less exciting. We are doing Shrek: The Musical- a HUGE technical challenge...going to be AWESOME!!!!!

We also have a brand new superintendent that I am very enthused to meet and see what he has in store for us. He is a past band director and I can sense has a strong sense of what he wants for our district. He has a vision and goals set and that makes me very excited!!

We also begin our new construction this year...with hopes that 3 to 4 years down the road we will have a brand new campus with new facilities to work in! I love that!! Gonna be a chore getting there....but I think well worth it!!

Can you sense the excitement and enthusiasm?? Ah that beginning of the year excitement...I wonder if this will be the same feeling when it comes to ten years? It is my sincerest hope...

One disapppointment from our trip...

Being with an art teacher on this trip of a lifetime had its immense opportunities. What a wonderful experience to have been able to share this with Suzzette. We travelled so well together. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I think we would both agree that one of the biggest disappointments of our trip was not being able to tour two museums. We were outside the Museum de Uffici in Florence but were not able to get in, It was not part of our tour sadly.

This amazing museum houses the largest collection of Michelangelo and Da Vinci's paintings. Obivously, the Medici family had their hand in this development as well, which I am thankful for. I am sure that many Italians of the time period would have felt differently during the time period...but so thankful for the creation of this museum.
The other museum we wished would have been part of the tour is the Academie Gallery, which houses a large amount of Michelangelo's sculptures.

 The courtyard of the Uffici Museum was lined with artists and sculpture of all the greats. It was here that I bought a few watercolors from some of the artist and marveled at the sights. A few of the sculptures were of lined along the courtyard area and were so detailed and beautiful.

Giotto- an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Italian Renaissance.
Donatello- a world-reknowned Italian sculpturist and of Ninja Turtle fame

 Francesco Petrarcha- Italian scholar and poet and one of the first known humanists.
Macchiavelli-was an Italian historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance.  He was a founder of modern political science, and more specifically political ethics.






Gallileo Gallilei-was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. . Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of science", and "the Father of Modern Science". There will be more about this adventurer coming up...We learned a really cool fact about him as we toured a Duomo, which I will talk about in the future.

I wish we could have gotten inside these two museums. Was kind of a let down. However, when comparing everything we did get to experience and see, this fact pales in comparison.

 



Eye-opening...

Today was a great day in church with a eye-opening message. It centers around the Bible verse involving a man with a withered hand coming to Jesus for a miracle. The Pharisees were in the same area waiting for Jesus to do something wrong, especially on the Sabbath. Sabbath was meant to be a day of rest and had been since the time of Moses. It appears in Mark 3:4-6 and spoke volumes to me on a deeper level, thanks to Will's breaking it down and providing insight into what he thought it said.

It reads:

Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
⁵ He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. ⁶ Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

What Will shared was this: are we  not to help others just because it is the wrong day? He imagined that as the tortured man with the withered hand reached out his hand, the Pharisees began to clench theirs. The Pharisees held tight to their teachings, to their beliefs, and to their hardened ways and be damned if anyone opposed their beliefs. What Jesus asked was, "Are we to turn our backs on those who are hurting, in pain, who are clearly struggling because they are different, or the day is wrong?" I believe the answer is no. As the times change and we evolve, are we not to embrace those who are different? Are we not to reach out to those who are hurting and struggling? Or are we to turn our back, entrench ourselves in the ways things have always been, entrench ourselves in what we think should be and dig our heels in and ignore their hurt and suffering?

I found this very eye-opening because of where our society is leading to this very moment in time. People are clenching to the Old Testament and holding everyone's feet to the fire for what the ancient teachings say, ignoring what Jesus actually did and did not say.

We need to reach out to our fellow man, ignoring the hard of hearts and folks who continue to dig their heels into the sinking sand  by being selective as to what verses they will hold true to and ignoring the other ones because they are "ridiculous". If you are going to believe one and ignore the other, then is that truly not hypocrisy? The world is full of those folks and I think it is going to get worse before it gets better...but there is hope and a glimmer of light in the distance.

Embrace the different and support the suffering. Lead the good life friends.