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  • 51 Plays
  • Becausethe Beatles

Because by the Beatles

Today was an up-and-down day.

Lab Manager came back today, informally. Tuesday will be her first actual day back. I’m really looking forward to having her around in the building again. When she left for her surgery I felt adrift and directionless for a bit. But she is on the receiving end of some really shitty and immature departmental nonsense, which upsets me and makes me anxious.

As negative as this stuff has been this week, it’s shown me again and again that I have somehow landed in the right place at the right time. Lab Manager has made me feel like family since that lonely and terrifying first week here. I have quality friends, brilliant friends, and our little team will weather the departmental storms. We have a vision and goals and talent and integrity and humor and a deep commitment to doing right by the kids.

Today, with its ups and downs, was one of those days when I suddenly realized how loved I am by so many wonderful people, here and far away. Seriously, there’s so much love in my life, and so many people in my corner. And there are so many awesome people for me to invest in and support and take pride in. I have really had a knack for surrounding myself with the best at pretty much every stage of my life, and that’s a tremendously powerful thing to reflect on. 

End

I broke up with Boyfriend today.

I decided that I wanted to end the relationship a few weeks ago, but I did not want to break up with him during his finals week, so I waited. I’m glad I did wait because it gave me time to mull things over and feel confident with my decision.

He is a nice guy. I generally enjoy his company. But he just didn’t have what I think I need in a romantic partner.

I need someone who is more fun than I am. Someone who has direction and who accomplishes things. Someone who will be supportive when I talk about teaching science in a public high school, not disparaging. Someone with an awareness of privilege and some social justice sensibility. Someone who isn’t utterly dismayed by the prospect of getting rained on. Someone who can balance cynicism with optimism, pessimism with cheerfulness.

I didn’t know any of that before. For right now, for the first time in quite a long time, I am utterly content in my single-ness. I have a lot to do this summer, many places to go, many loved ones to visit. I’m looking forward to doing it on my own and on my own terms. I guess in the fall I’ll think about starting to actively date again. We’ll see.

sagansense:

Books I just ordered. I couldn’t help it. Science Learning Life Education is my addiction.

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Eisner’s World: Life Through Many Lenses 

by Thomas Eisner

Tom Eisner’s first forays into photography were the result of scientific pursuits. An early fascination for insects—specifically in the strategies that enabled these little animals to achieve dominance on earth—required a close look into their behavior, physiology, and ecology. Photography became an indispensable means of data acquisition. Dr. Eisner’s creative eye was not to be limited, however, and his collection of some 20,000 images has come to include photos of organisms other than insects, as well as pictures taken by special techniques, or for special non-scientific purposes. The instruments he employed to achieve a wide variety of visual effects include 35mm cameras, compound microscopes, scanning electron microscopes, ultraviolet lenses, and a color copier. Eisner’s World: Life through Many Lenses features 118 of these photos, selected for their innate natural drama, sheer beauty, and imaginative appeal.

  • Insects
    • Faces (Plates 1–10)
    • Sex, Reproduction, and Defense (Plates 11–28)
    • Crypsis (Plates 29–34)
    • Habits, Habitats, and Special Relationships (Plates 35–44)
    • Glimpses (Plates 45–52)
  • Spiders (Plates 53–61)
  • Plants (Plates 62–75)
  • Live-Action Scanning Electron Microscopy (Plates 76–80)
  • Seeing the Invisible (Plates 81–84)
  • Fall Foliage (Plates 85–94)
  • Butterfly Scales (Plates 95–102)
  • Fantasies (Plates 103–118)


Prehistoric Life: The Definitive Visual History of Life on Earth

by DK Publishing

With an extensive catalog at its heart, Prehistoric Life profiles hundreds of fascinating species in incredible detail. The story starts in earnest 3.8 billion years ago, with the earliest-known form of life on Earth, a bacteria that still exists today, and journeys through action-packed millennia, charting the appearance of new life forms as well as devastating extinction events. Of course, the ever-popular and endlessly intriguing dinosaurs feature large, but Prehistoric Lifegives you the whole picture, and the plants, invertebrates, amphibians, birds, reptiles, and mammals that are the ancestors of today’s species also populate its pages, making this book unprecedented in its coverage of prehistory. Specially commissioned artworks use cutting-edge technology to render species in breathtakingly realistic fashion, with astonishing images of prehistoric remains, such as skeletons and fossils, to complete the story. To put all the evidence in context, the concept of geological time is explored, as is the classification of species and how the evidence for their evolution is preserved and can be deciphered.

This 512-page visual guide encompasses 3.8 billion years of life on earth from microscopic primordial bacteria to giant dinosaurs and creatures beyond. Once again, the DK editors have surpassed themselves with an adroit combination of striking, cutting-edge illustrations, a clearly written text, and a wealth of fascinating sidebars.

Want. Want. These look so damn cool. I could just see them chillin’ in my classroom.

My birthday is next month, folks. Just saying.

Source:

Today was a work day for teachers

No kids! (I didn’t miss them.)

Here are some bullets:

  • I co-presented along with mb24jg about implementing STEM (science, tech, engineering, and math) standards at our school. This is one of my favorite soapboxes so I was excited that she let me present with her. And it was generally well-received, except for one English teacher heckler.
  • We got our “tentative” teaching schedules for next year. Mine is OK. I have afternoon planning, and I’m not too sure how productive I will be then. I’m keeping all the classes I currently teach, which I’m very happy about. I have big plans for ecology and for gifted. But I’m getting a new class, regular (on-level) biology. I’m not upset about teaching the on-level class; I am bothered by having three preps. There was no way around it because there are only 2 ecologys and 2 gifteds and I need to teach 5 classes.
  • No official word on classroom assignments. If I do in fact get my own room I guess I can deal with 3 preps.
  • Next week at school is going to be a giant clusterfuck.
  • State testing is on Mon/Tues/Weds. Monday morning I lose a planning period to proctoring an exam and all my biology kids sit their state biology test.
  • Graduation is on Thursday, so there’s a half day of school and nothing will get done.
  • This means that graduation rehearsals are happening simultaneously with state testing. On Tuesday I lose a planning period to covering the class of a teacher who runs the graduation rehearsal.
  • So my interest level in next week is basically 0.
  • 14 more days
  • At least next weekend I will get to hang out with privilegedwhitegirl
  • I am so checked out.
  • I don’t want to lesson plan anymore.
  • But I do really want to lesson plan for next year.
  • But it’s still this year.
  • 14 more days.

Mother’s Day

This is always a tough one for me.

I love my mother.

My mother and I have a very complicated and difficult history.

I don’t give her a lot of credit for raising me. She was not responsible for any of the principles or ethics I live by. She didn’t teach me to read or encourage me to be in awe of the natural world. She never mentioned religion. She was impatient with my childhood questioning, probably because she was short on answers. She didn’t instill in me any sort of body confidence—just the exact opposite. I thankfully did not inherit her taste in movies or TV. She never mentioned politics, really, or substantial current events. She could never tell me what her own childhood aspirations were, and never showed any clear direction or ambition as an adult. And she felt the vast distance between us probably even sooner and more keenly than I did (do). I’m my father’s daughter, through and through, and my father was so foreign to Mom that she left him.

But she loves me dearly, in spite of the quirks she can’t understand—the piles of books and the drive to understand and the liberal politics. When I was a kid all I wanted was her approval, and whatever else goes on between the two of us I know now that I have managed to make her tremendously proud. She never wanted me to teach, but now I think that she likes telling people that her daughter teaches science.

My mother has not had an easy life. Some of that is probably her fault, and much of it probably isn’t. It’s not my place to judge (even though I don’t always remember that). It is my place to be grateful for the fact that whatever our differences and difficulties and obstacles she has always loved me. I made the obligatory phone call this afternoon and we made some small talk, the only talk we can really awkwardly meander our way through, and it doesn’t sound like she’s having a particularly cheerful Mother’s Day.  I don’t exaggerate when I say that I don’t remember the last time I saw her on Mother’s Day. Must have been high school. Maybe some year I’ll see her on Mother’s Day again and give her a nice gift and take her somewhere nice.

Then again, maybe some year she’ll send me a birthday card.

The two scenarios are equally likely, and neither will happen for at least the next several years.

I love my mother, and this Mother’s Day I’m hoping that she finds some peace and contentment, and that she realizes/remembers/is assured that she is tremendously important to me and my older brother, and that our occasional bursts of frustration are only possible because of how much we love her.

Among the boxes

There’s a box labeled “Marriage.”

Read More

Keeper, part several of many

  • Me: Let's have beer and pizza tomorrow night.
  • Boyfriend: Yes yes a thousand times yes

Finished C25K Week 5

I was scared of today’s run: 2 miles with no walking. It seemed like a big increase from my last run, which was 3/4 mi jog followed by 1/2 mile walk.

But I did it. I finished. First time I’ve ever run 2 miles non-stop. Mile one was good. Between 1.0 and 1.5 I seriously contemplated giving up and started running back towards home. When I got to my intersection, I realized I only had .4 miles to go, so I ran past it. When I got up to 2.0, I was feeling strong again.

I had a great run yesterday and a hard run today. Tomorrow is absolutely a rest day!

Oh well

I was not able to finish my run today. The weather is beautiful, and I was sure that the run was going to energize me.

But I couldn’t do the last half-mile jog; I just went home. I was (and am) really dehydrated, and I’m not sure why—I drank two tall glasses of water when I got home at 11:30 this morning, and the run was at 2. This is more water than I generally drink. Around noon I had kind of a heavy lunch, and although I gave myself two hours for it to settle and digest I don’t think that was successful, because I started to feel sick to my stomach as well as dehydrated once I started running.

I felt awake, but I have definitely not been well-rested this weekend. Friday night I was up past my bedtime hanging out with Boyfriend, and then I was up early Saturday to go to Philly. Saturday night I was up late again, and then up early again this morning to come home, plus the whole daylight savings business. That, in addition to the large quantity of food I ate in honor of privilegedwhitegirl’s b-day yesterday, probably contributed to my inability to run today.

I think coming in was the right decision, much as I hate admitting defeat (especially after I had such a great run on Friday!). I’ll just spend the rest of today drinking water and have a do-over tomorrow evening. At least I don’t have to worry about racing home before sunset anymore!