"they" say saturday nights are for going out, dressing up, meeting boys, drinking a beer.

and i like all of those things.

but tonight i like sade and my quiet house. new books from amazon. waterproofing my hiking boots. moving classes around on my excel spreadsheet to fit everything in next year. going through old clothes to give away. vacuuming. online scrabble. bbq chicken my roommate shared with me. registering for classes and buying plane tickets online.


teaching was great today. i don't know how to explain with words the joy i continue to feel with my students. today at cal state, we laughed so hard, and i felt them relax into my discipline. thursday at peter pan, i saw them start to become their character, to own the experience for themselves. when i told my choir last week at church that i wasn't returning next year, they teared up a bit and surprised me. lately i sense the vulnerablity of my students more than i used to, and want to respect the influence i have.

it's easy to forget, or perhaps to never know the impact you are making as a teacher. but without this awareness, i think we are dangerous, flippant with our words and greedy with compliments. i'm learning more about the sacred relationship between teacher and student. there is a trust there that i want to hold close to me. and the more i remember their smallness and fragility, the more i smile and discipline gently, and the more we laugh together. and when they sing with their whole body, i am so proud of them.