five for five... that's the expression... five periods for five days... and we're back into it... school... the real thing... 8 to 3:15... and beyond...

and this is the start of my fifth year at carmel. back in may my first (and... as it turns out... last) carmel freshmen graduated. this year i'm teaching only seniors... no more american lit sophomores... no more huck... no more gatsby... no more walt or miss emily. who will i be without them? i will be the guy who teaches four sections of advanced placement literature... the guy who teaches one section of world literature honors right at the end of the day...

my schedule isn't horrible, but could be better. it's light in the morning when my brain is freshest and quickest and ready to go... and heavy in the afternoon when i just want to nap... a call for more interior adjustment...

yesterday was ok... we ran a mass schedule for the feast of the assumption... a bit strange for the first day back... made for short class periods... so i said hi to each section... and we talked a little about the summer reading... and i collected a bigboxload of written responses to it... and the bell rang... by day's end my throat hurt from all the talking... that's the truest hint that summer is done... summer... sweet... silence...

room 305 is looking kind of barren... even with my posters...two bob dylans, the 400 blows, a touch of evil, a world map, a u.s. map, an old madre del carmelo, some warhol maos, some miro, some magritte... kind of empty looking... it is a big room... and needs books. but i can't decide which to bring over... how much poetry, which novels, to what end? the more i put in, the more i'll have to move come street scenes in february... still, a room without books is as useless as a room without walls...

these are the simple things that mark a new season... what else?

the walk-jog... what will become of it? dom and i have plans to walk earlier and earlier... to balance the demands of light and schedule... monday, i think, will be the first real test of 5:30... however, maybe only i need to do that... i can hit the track for four laps first and then dom can meet me a bit later for our two mile walk... yeah... that might work... and it will be nice to get the tough part over with first...

milestone... yesterday marked the end of the first round over at finish your phrase... twenty-six weeks... from affection to zap... meeting some small part of your irrational need since... 15 feb 2003... oddliness is next to godliness...

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

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