chatter from the Library Monkey

who is new, is never news

It’s after Nine and I am a little tired. I chaperoned for the basketball game. I have placed myself in that bad position of being flexible — which loosely translates having no life. when they put together the basketball chaperone schedule I was just going to do timing, then it was announced that there weren’t enough chaperones, so I volunteered to do that. Then I find out that everyone who was chaperoning and doing timing gave a schedule of what they could do. Most of the chaperones said — no Fridays, which means I have to fill in for that. And now that the schedule is in place, people can do no more.

When the call went out for people to chaperone and do timing, I volunteered for timing, I am sure I e-mailed back first. I think the other guy got it and they assumed I would do the chaperoning (since I am the only person on both schedule). Here is a funny thing about it. When I do timing I take apart the timer, fold up the chairs and table and put that area away. When I chaperone I do that too. I guess I am the only one who does that. I am one of the few timers or chaperones that also helps push the bleachers in.

Here is another joy of being the gestapo. In a high school meeting there was a discussion about having the kids always have a reading book in their hand to do reading. It was a suggestion about having the kids read more, and improve their reading. I asked the question: “if kids are coming to the library to do work (and I assume to their class) with out the book they need to do the work with, how do you assume they will always have a reading book?”

That got into the discussion of why aren’t they coming to the library prepared — as if that is a surprise or (even) my fault. And now the rule is if you come to the library and not work or not have your you don’t get back. And if you get the wrong teacher to sign your pass and/or you are not doing what you are suppose to, then you are out of the library for a week. Of course, I am the one that is the messenger.

We never got to the discussion of having a kid with a reading book the whole time they are in school.

And the being was B period. I went and talked to the seniors, who were with the middle school teacher who teachers one High School class. It’s clear why he is on the mat for the count during his tenure year. I walked in and the kids are taunting and acting like idiots. He says I would like to talk to them and the girl who has had every rule there is bent around her says: “O god, do we have to listen to this.”

“you need to sit down and quit acting immature,” I said and then after talking for a bit, I added: “I am sorry to be rude, but if you are going to disrespect people you can expect that.”

Of course the first person I had to restate this policy to — as in a threat to be kicked out was the same girl.

She is another example of spending 90 percent of your time on one loser. This same kid in the course of the last two years has been caught cheating twice. Has kept her senior privileges (she gets to leave for lunch) only because one of the teachers (or two) bends the rules for her. Is rude, disprespectful and obnoxious EVERY day.

What is kind of annoying we got into that because I was pointing out that we need to change the student mindset if we want them to carry books to class, not make the librarian the gestapo.

Best of all, after that meeting I was talking to a new teacher and he said: “It’s just clear, if you are new here, what you have to say isn’t important. I hate to say it, but it is easy to agree with that statement.

On the up side there was a wonderful full moon on my little walk to the house.

and it’s a struggle

Not sure how much I can struggle through this. Played hockey tonight; for about an hour and it was tiring.

A guy really clobbered me tonight. There was a good turn out, mostly with the guys that play twice as well as I do. One guy was breaking in on goal and we kind of were goin gin the same direction and he won the bull contest. It’s a ‘no checking’ league so after he clobbered me he said he was too tired to stop. i should not have been out there, since with my glasses I couldn’t see because they fogged up and without them I couldn’t see. Mainly what I need to do is sake some to get in shape. And find people who are about as skilled as I am to even it out.

On top of it all I have a headache from one of several things: I didn’t eat until 10 p.m., I drank about 2/3 of the coffee I usually drink, did not get a nap. Well hopeful the ibuprofen works for all the pain.

well enough, time to settle down.

Not so super, but superintendent day

I think this is true most places, but I know in my district and the other SLMS people in NYS, we are special teachers. And the term is about as comfortable with me as Special Ed is with the mentally challenged. Partly because it creates one more barrier to being accepted.

Perfect example: in a high school meeting (I am the only special teacher that goes to the Team Meetings, the chorus teacher could, but I think she chooses to not go — maybe a good choice) and it was mentioned I would be teaching an Adult Ed Class (assuming anyone signs up) and she asked what. I Said research and she laughed. Not a ‘o neat’ laugh, but a ‘what a joke’ laugh. Even if I had no skills to teacher that (as if she would be the expert).

For superintendent day it was suggest the two english teachers and I discuss the research curriculum, one English teacher quickly poo poo-ed that.

This was a superintendent day — it is suppose to be kind of an academic day for teachers. It’s a good day if you want to visit another school. Every ’special’ teacher I spoke to had ’something’ to do, but here was the one day for the whole staff to work with people they never get to meet with and of course, the usually teams met. These were productive, I am sure, but not for the teachers who are outside the loop.

I don’t know how to change that, I guess the thing that I find kind of interesting is the fact that most of the special teachers seemed to be glad to be out of the loop.

Another special teacher was complaining about the new grade card. It was kind of funny, since a) she had a legitimate complain (relative to her) and b) she was complaining about doing about one eighth of the work that the elementary teachers have to do on the grade cards each quarter.

I have to say the best part of the complain was when she said: “And you have to remember to hold down the shift key to make a plus sign.”

Play rehearsal was so so, play is okay. I should be there if I am going to direct — I see too many things going bad and it is a good play that I should be enjoying.

Tired from the weekend, took a nap

More Cracker from archive.org, this time an acoustic duo.

I find one song a bit sentimental

And how I wish I was in your bed tonight

To taste the salt upon, salt upon your neck

To feel your body press, pressing down on me

Instead of being, I’ve been around the world

I’ve been so busy I have sewed up a fez!!

verse vvorse

Just wrote a couple more poems. I was thinking how I put poems in the campus mail at UB to the Poetry Archives. Wonder how quickly they tossed the poems. Yet at the same time some of my poems were already in those very same archives within the copies of the ‘zine collections they have.

With that goes my wonderment of poetry. All things. How beautiful poems only exist at readings and in notebooks. And how the most lame of all poetry exists freely because of academic professors publishing other academic professors.

I think what I really wonder about is how I like to say I have written several thousand poems. I have to be careful to make it clear they aren’t all good poems. At best maybe a couple hundred. Though people who they are for might think the number is higher.

People might think they are a little repetative and unoriginal — maybe.

On the forum where I put little pictures of people dancing and moving around, a guy complained of the lack of originality, yet at the same time there were no others printing original anything. Mostly people taking a picture and with Photoshope putting the picture of someone in place. I guess that is a little original — it is a project our middle schoolers do.

And the guy was kind of right, most of what I did was put a monkey in different situations doing what every the topic was about. Like the hippy monkey would be when they guy made a derogatory comment about hippies.

I wonder if when Keith Haring started out if everyone said — all you draw is the same thing. Well yeah, that is the style.

Now listening to Cracker from archive.org. This one that is on now is kind of neat, since it is a recording from a radio station. An acoustic duo thing with interviewing between songs.

o well kind of a busy day, I have to head into home town for the play rehearsal. This is the last one before the big weekend.