I’ve been incredibly nostalgic for 2004 lately. I don’t know what it is or why exactly it’s 2004 that I’ve been missing so much, but I’m constantly trying to relive it in my head. It was a good year - my junior year of college. Quite possibly it has a lot to do with the fact that it was the last year that I got to hang out with Chris all the time before he graduated, which pretty much epitomized my college experience (hanging out with Chris, that is. He was the only one of my friends that was consistent.) So I’ve been listening to music that reminds me of waking up early (8 a.m. HA!) on those spring mornings and driving up to Lewisburg to do my practicums. And the music that reminds me of going to Sig Ep parties (and standing there feeling awkward, haha). And music that reminds me of those incredibly long and depressing winter nights. And who could forget the music that reminds me of the drag races? haha.
I can’t WAIT for homecoming this year. Last year we were all pumped to go to the drag races like we always used to (when Chris would race his CR-V, and the guy at “The Beave” would make fun of him on the mic and call him “Jersey Boy” haha), and then we checked the schedule and saw that they were closed the ONE weekend we were going to be there. That sucked. But Chris said they’re open this year, so it’s going to be AMAZING, haha. It will feel like…… Fall 2004 all over again (which was the last time I was there, I believe). Oh hey, 2004 again (except that was my senior year of college).
Maybe I’ll just be the girl who never totally gets over college. So I’m going to keep wishing and hoping and praying to get out of here and find a job in PA soon.
Well, it’s time to go see if I can keep my eyes open long enough to read for an hour before 90210. I’m reading Nineteen Minutes right now, by Jodi Picoult. I’ve never read her books because they’ve been so mass-marketed and I tend to be something of a book snob (I’ll admit that I’ve lost respect for books that have ended up on Oprah’s Book Club — even though I just wrote my term paper for 701 on how she has done wonders for American literacy, especially among women), but this book is actually really really good. It’s about a school shooting in a high school. I saw her talk about it at the National Book Festival in DC in September and her research was intriguing. The book is so sad, especially because I think about the students in my high school and which ones would do it. And then I think about my administrator last year telling me it wasn’t my job to be concerned when one of my students (who was crazy) brought bullets to school and only got suspended for 10 days. There’s a part in this book where they’re going through the school after they’ve remanded the shooter into custody, and they find that a student has stayed behind in the building and he’s covering his teacher’s wounds and trying to save his life, and the cop tells him that the teacher is dead and the kid is so distraught because he cared about that teacher so much. I don’t think any of my students would do that for me. In fact, this group this year is pretty dumb. They’d probably hear shots and go running out into the hallway and get us all killed. One of the administrators DID tell me that I have the least safe classroom in the whole school because of where the door is positioned (behind a wall, in an alcove). Nice.
05.22.08
Nostalgia, etc.
Posted in Commentary, Personal tagged books, friends, 2004, nostalgia, Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult, college, school violence at 4:04 pm by heyruhnay
I’ve been incredibly nostalgic for 2004 lately. I don’t know what it is or why exactly it’s 2004 that I’ve been missing so much, but I’m constantly trying to relive it in my head. It was a good year - my junior year of college. Quite possibly it has a lot to do with the fact that it was the last year that I got to hang out with Chris all the time before he graduated, which pretty much epitomized my college experience (hanging out with Chris, that is. He was the only one of my friends that was consistent.) So I’ve been listening to music that reminds me of waking up early (8 a.m. HA!) on those spring mornings and driving up to Lewisburg to do my practicums. And the music that reminds me of going to Sig Ep parties (and standing there feeling awkward, haha). And music that reminds me of those incredibly long and depressing winter nights. And who could forget the music that reminds me of the drag races? haha.
I can’t WAIT for homecoming this year. Last year we were all pumped to go to the drag races like we always used to (when Chris would race his CR-V, and the guy at “The Beave” would make fun of him on the mic and call him “Jersey Boy” haha), and then we checked the schedule and saw that they were closed the ONE weekend we were going to be there. That sucked. But Chris said they’re open this year, so it’s going to be AMAZING, haha. It will feel like…… Fall 2004 all over again (which was the last time I was there, I believe). Oh hey, 2004 again (except that was my senior year of college).
Maybe I’ll just be the girl who never totally gets over college. So I’m going to keep wishing and hoping and praying to get out of here and find a job in PA soon.
Well, it’s time to go see if I can keep my eyes open long enough to read for an hour before 90210. I’m reading Nineteen Minutes right now, by Jodi Picoult. I’ve never read her books because they’ve been so mass-marketed and I tend to be something of a book snob (I’ll admit that I’ve lost respect for books that have ended up on Oprah’s Book Club — even though I just wrote my term paper for 701 on how she has done wonders for American literacy, especially among women), but this book is actually really really good. It’s about a school shooting in a high school. I saw her talk about it at the National Book Festival in DC in September and her research was intriguing. The book is so sad, especially because I think about the students in my high school and which ones would do it. And then I think about my administrator last year telling me it wasn’t my job to be concerned when one of my students (who was crazy) brought bullets to school and only got suspended for 10 days. There’s a part in this book where they’re going through the school after they’ve remanded the shooter into custody, and they find that a student has stayed behind in the building and he’s covering his teacher’s wounds and trying to save his life, and the cop tells him that the teacher is dead and the kid is so distraught because he cared about that teacher so much. I don’t think any of my students would do that for me. In fact, this group this year is pretty dumb. They’d probably hear shots and go running out into the hallway and get us all killed. One of the administrators DID tell me that I have the least safe classroom in the whole school because of where the door is positioned (behind a wall, in an alcove). Nice.
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