July 8, 1999

I know we're hardly halfway done with summer but I've got Classroom on the brain.

Dom showed me what he says is my probable classroom. It is...unique.

After a good walk the length of the building (I think), after passing innumerable standard square multi-windowed classrooms, we descend a short steep flight of stairs and find...a door. It could be a closet.

This long, narrow room has an extraordinarily high ceiling - almost cathedral-like. One tall window breaks the wall opposite the door. I didn't count the desks, but Dom assures me there will be thirty. There are no bookcases. There's a large physical map of Israel painted on the wall opposite the chalkboard.

Dom also assures me that the wild and wonderful native spider population will be displaced. This, of course, bothers me...not because I'm a raving arachnaphile but because I've been collecting spider poems and stories for a couple years and this room might be a great impetus to develop a unit. We'll call it (the room and the unit) Spider Closet.

I've had odd features in some previous classrooms. I remember the old wing at JCHS with clanking black radiators and one electrical outlet up by the door. I remember a room in Louisville behind the gym that had a stinky damp carpet and a little stage at one end. I remember a first floor room in Houston with windows low enough to serve as doors for whoever needed a quick entry or exit.

It strikes me now that Dom is skilled at practical jokes with an utterly straight face. He could be showing me this wonderfully preposterous room just to get a reaction. It's that kind of room. Time will tell. But what he's not counting on is the possibility that I could fall in love with this funky little spot...my heart may break if I don't get it.

In other news, I've finally risen from the floor and am seated at an actual desk upon which my marvelous machines are loaded. It's not so ergonomically correct, but the chair is comfy enough. Had to duck the iHub to the desktop, though.

My sister Beth is 40 today, and I hope she can handle at least 40 more. She'll make a wild old lady.