I heart Barack

While there were a couple of nice moments, the Duke game today was pretty tragic. Harumph. The best moment: President Obama was in the crowd at the game, and he spent about 5 minutes with the CBS commentators talking about basketball in general (Obama likes to play) and the game at hand. I thought that I couldn’t love him any more than I already do. And then this happened:

CBS commentator: “You’re obviously a left-hander.”

President Obama: “Yeah.”

CBS commentator: “Do you have any problems at all going to your right?”

President Obama: “You know, I went the Republican House Caucus just yesterday to prove that I can go to my right once in a while. But there’s no doubt that I’ve got a stronger left hand.”

Mr. President, you entertain me GREATLY. Let’s hang out some time.

the least of these

the upper school chapel at our school today was dedicated to haiti.  donations from our school over the past several years have helped build two schools in haiti, both of which were damaged in the recent earthquake and are currently unusable.  the children who attend those schools and their teachers?  we've received very little information about how they are doing.  having a sister school in haiti has meant that i am feeling a connection with this earthquake and the people who were affected.  i am also feeling so uplifted by our students and their thoughtfulness, their care, their motivation, their hope, their desire to help these people so far away.  the reading in chapel today was from matthew 25, and ended with this line:

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

the "I" and "me" in matthew is jesus, but sitting in that chapel, surrounded my our students who came to the altar with donations for the people of haiti, the "I" was me.  i'm not religious, but for the first time ever i was truly moved by a biblical verse.  and by "moved," i mean i cried a lot, through the rest of the service: our students' songs and piano music and poems, all in honor of the people of haiti.  (don't worry - willis held my hand and tried not to look freaked out.)  the way we treat each other is the important thing in life.  and i'm a part of a community that gets that.  i am such a lucky girl.

(sounds like i'm totally drinking the kool aid, huh?)


it makes me think of this (overused, but i don't care) john donne quotation:

"No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind."

this, friends, is my night.

tonight, i love...
sushi from orient express with the lovely kelly
clearing out my tivo
a long shower
pajamas
all the good tv tonight - i'll be switching between the duke game and the state of the union address, which tivo will magically let me do without missing a beat of either one.
the new york times' news blog, "the caucus", where their analysts will be live blogging about obama's state of the union address.  i can't just watch the address on tv.  in addition, i'll be playing state of the union bingo, making notes about what obama says in anticipation of our class discussion on friday, talking back to the tv screen, and refreshing "the caucus" on my computer.  because i am ridiculous.

"this is one of the most stunning things that i have ever seen in a basketball game."

dear duke university men's basketball team 2009-2010,

winning on the road is hard.  good work at clemson on saturday.  i am reminded of how sweet road wins can be; this is why i love duke basketball.

[thanks to dad for reminding me of this glorious game.]

i know we can't always come back like this - we may never come back like this again - but a fan's gotta dream.  this, i think, was when duke-maryland became a rivalry second in duke fans' hearts only to duke-unc.  i was a freshman in spring 2001.  i remember watching the game - the panic of the black screen and then the picture coming back but without the volume.

now, you boys this year need to steal the ball like this.  and shoot three pointers like this.  i would be very grateful.

love,

claire

a post in which i am quite excited

it's official - i'm going back to oxford to work this summer!  i'm a lucky girl.  a lucky girl who is very excited.  several of my friends from last summer will be back, and apparently last year there were record amounts of rainfall in england...so maybe i'll get to see the sun more this summer!

and there is a john/dodie/becky/possiblybrandon/claire trip to scotland in the works for two weeks after i finish working in england.  so exciting!!

fridays

i teach 12th grade.  to stereotype: all the boys are taller than me, they can't keep their shirts tucked in, they spend a lot of time pretending they aren't as bright as they are, they are intimidated by smart girls, they are super competitive at any game we play in class, they talk trash to each other, they make really funny history jokes sometimes, they are usually polite and always kind.  the girls are diligent and eager, unsure of themselves and their knowledge, they outperform the boys on almost every assignment, they hem their skirts far too short, they laugh at the boys' jokes, they remember things from past history classes (!), they text in class - under the desk like i won't notice, they love non-uniform days when they can dress up, they are always polite and usually kind.  even though they can get into real trouble, they are becoming real people - the adults they will soon be.  and i love spending my days with them.

while i could never teach the younger kids - i do NOT have that kind of patience - i love working in a school where i get to see them occasionally.

one of the best parts of my week: fridays at about 2:45.  the lower school gets out earlier than we (the upper school) do on fridays, and a cute 5th grade kiddo with lots of red hair comes up to the upper school to meet his big sister and get picked up.  he walks past my office to do so, and pops inside for a minute because i have a bowl of candy and he knows he can have a piece.  he's loaded down with a backpack that's bigger than he is, a jacket tied around his waist, and a laptop bag and he kind of staggers through the door.  some days he's sweaty from recess in that way that little boys are sweaty, like he's just run as hard as he can.  some days he's tired and some days he talks a mile a minute.  today he was covered in pine straw.  "did you just have recess?"  half smile that indicates he knows he's a mess, but can't help it.  "yeah."  (this is what i love about elementary school kids: they aren't trying to impress anyone yet.)  he takes his orange starburst candy and he's on his way.

gay men don't know everything.

the scene: my office.  the topic of conversation: the upcoming wedding of two dear friends of ours.

willis: "apparently her wedding dress has two sashes - one for day and one for night."
me: "oh!  i didn't hear that."
[pause for contemplation.]
willis: "what's a sash?"
[a lot of laughter from me.]
me: "what do you think it is?"
willis: "to me a sash is like a pageant sash [over the shoulder].  why would you need that for a wedding dress?"

okay, men, the green ribbons here are sashes:

[just ignore the fact that one of these people is REALLY REALLY PALE. she spent the summer in england.  there wasn't a lot of sun.]

but willis is right, women in pageants also wear sashes over one shoulder.  but seriously, willis?  you didn't know that there were two kinds of sashes?  i am extremely amused by this.

losing is not very fun

well, it's hard to win a basketball game when your opponent is shooting lights out and you are shooting okay-to-moderately-poorly.  oh, and it appears only three people on your team can make a basket.  sigh.

and seriously: must everyone rush the court when they beat us?  i recognize that you're unranked, but simmer down and (as my dad says) act like you've been here before.  i have never rushed a court, and i would estimate that was in the student section in cameron for 60 games while in college.  when you win, you jump up and down a lot.  and scream.  and high five people.  maybe you hug your friends.  but rush the court?  i would have had to jump over a reporter, and have you met me?  i'm 5'4".  plus, i'm pretty classy, and classy people don't rush the court.

mid-week pick-me-up

willis is in my office right now, playing the song that, to quote him, "would be my drag queen song when i am a drag queen."  note: it is extremely spicy.  willis "jiggled that" when the song told him to.  and just said "there would be lots of fast spinning at this part."

[to relive this moment in your own office, listen to ciara and missy elliott's "work."  you also need your own version of a willis to dance for you, and i don't think all of you have this.  sad for you.]

yogurt rant

every morning i eat a yogurt for breakfast.  i pack it in my bag and eat it when i get to work, because i CLEARLY do not wake up with enough time to eat breakfast at home.  the yogurt-a-day practice has been around since i started teaching in atlanta.  at first, i ate a lot of yoplait yogurt.  but then i got on this organic milk and eggs kick, and yoplait, while cheap and delicious, was not rocking it for me.

then i fell head-over-heels in love with greek yogurt.  like, i couldn't stop telling people about how good it was and how they needed to try it.  i was prosthelytizing for yogurt.  i converted a couple people.



now, friends, i have found the yogurt to beat all yogurts.  yes, i'm still eating greek yogurt, but it is slowly being beaten by the best yogurt ever.

wallaby yogurt is (a) delicious (i am in love with the maple flavor and the caramel apple flavor), (b) "australian style," which means it is a different/better consistency than yogurt i'm used to - not as gelatinously thick, and (c) they have totally suckered me in with the list on their website of family farms that produce the milk used in the yogurt.  they are attempting to sucker me in, and it is WORKING.

note: this yogurt costs $1 each.
note: i realize this is significantly more than your grocery store brand yogurt costs, let alone yoplait or its rivals.  but think of the cows!  they want to play outside and eat grass and not get antibiotic shots all the time.  and think of the family farms!  they want to make a living doing what they love and naming their cows.
note: to entertain myself, i put in my parents' zip code on the wallaby yogurts website to see if wallaby yogurts are sold in our county.  i thought this would be a riot - to see where the closest store selling this yogurt was.  i predicted: boone.  FALSE.  the lowes foodses (i have just pluralized foods) in town stock them (not the one closest to home, but they don't have anything other than white bread, either, so i'm not too shocked).  this is not just a yuppie product!

okay, it is.  but apparently there are yuppies in wilkes county, nc.

invictus

get thee to a bookstore/library and find yourself invictus (originally published as playing the enemy), by john carlin.  then read it.  it's one of the best nonfiction books i've ever read - more about mandela than rugby, but uses rugby to tell the story of reconciliation and forgiveness and triumph at the end of apartheid.  i learned SO MUCH.  i finished it on saturday afternoon and then lay in bed for another hour finding this gorgeous version of "shosholoza," a work/protest song that became the official song of the 1995 rugby world cup in south africa (i want to take the little bitty soprano boy in the video home with me).  and, of course, trying to find actual video of the end of the final game so i could see what john carlin writes about so beautifully in the last chapters of the book.  if you haven't read the book or seen the movie, this might not mean much to you, but i loved being able to see it.  THE INTERNET IS AMAZING.

and then i promptly emailed my friends and got a group together to see the movie.  and it was amazing - very well done, i thought...touching and funny...and how did morgan freeman not win best actor at the golden globes last night?

i can't put the book away yet.  it's sitting on my desk and i look at it and think about how incredible the story is - and how much i am in awe of mandela and his country.  and it gives me a little hope for other parts of the world that face equally daunting circumstances.

so i think i'll be six, now and forever.

In honor of Georgia Tech beating UNC today (!!), I give you this story:

I went to the Georgia Tech-Duke basketball game last week, and even though Duke lost (tragedy), there isn't a bad seat in the house and it was really fun to get to see the boys play in person.  Other than the actual game, the best part of the day was the little kid who sat next to me.  He was approximately six years old, and he had on a Georgia Tech jersey and visor, and it was clear that he had these items specifically so that he could attend this game.  He was with his dad, and he liked to do all the cheers along with the student section.  When Duke was ahead he got a little bored and played games on his dad's phone, but when it got close he would focus on the game.  At one point late in the game a Georgia Tech player was taking a free throw.  As all good fans of basketball will know, the home team's fans are quiet when the home team takes free throws, but the opposing team may try to mess up the shooter by making noise.  (I am not one of these people when I am in an opposing team's stadium - don't worry.)  Some Duke fans were yelling things and trying to throw off the shooter, and the kid next to me got really nervous and screamed to the shooter, "whatever they say, don't listen!"

Quiet giggles erupted from our section.

Cutest. Thing. Ever.


On another topic altogether: it has been noted that sometimes I write in all lowercase on this blog and sometimes I capitalize random things and sometimes I capitalize all the appropriate words (as I'm doing here).  If I blog when I'm at work, I'm much more likely to capitalize like I'm supposed to, because I'm in WORK MODE, and work mode requires appropriate capitalization.  The rest of the time I'm likely to be lazy and write in all lower case.  When I capitalize a whole phrase LIKE THIS it means LISTEN UP, FRIEND.  I'M RAISING MY VOICE AT YOU.  Really, I do what makes me happy at the time.  That's what this blog is about...and, to a larger extent, what my life is about...

familiar

5:30pm:
me: "want to have dinner?"
roommate: "sure.  is it okay if i ask m & k & the baby if they want to come?"
me: "of course!  i'm just leaving the gym - i'll be home in 15 minutes."
roommate: "okay, let me call you back."

5:40pm:
roommate: "m & k are in.  i told them 6:15 at blue moon pizza - does that sound okay?  i know you like blue moon's salads."
me: "sounds great!"
roommate: "and that doesn't give you a lot of time to shower, but i know you don't always shower after the gym [embarrassing, but true], so i hope that's okay."
me: "perfect!  i'll just hop in the shower...i won't blow dry my hair."


people: i love having a roommate who knows me so well.  he may not have the best memory for some things, but he's got a good memory for the important things.  love you, roommate!  hooray for pizza and friends on a friday night!

i survived a five day week

last night i volunteered at world peace cafe, as i do most thursdays, and with a mountain of plates and bowls and coffee mugs in the back, i found myself doing dishes for about an hour at the end of the night, while playing the "guess what each person's middle name is based only on the first initial" game with the other people in the kitchen (mine was the hardest to guess - and the most awesome, obviously).  i hate doing dishes at home.  but that's partially because it's required if i want to have a respectable looking house.  at world peace i'm doing it because i've chosen to help an organization that is bigger than me, and they need it done.  and it's better than cleaning the bathrooms, which was the other thing that needed to be done.  so i did lots of dishes, and at the end of the night drove three buddhists home to the buddhist center where they live.  did i see myself driving buddhists around when i started this job four months ago?  no - no i did not.  but now they are my friends, and i was happy to give them a ride home.

today?  today is the friday before a three day weekend, and i have new whiteboard markers to use when giving notes on the board.  and that's all it takes to make a teacher happy.

i'll leave you with this video, courtesy of one of my favorite blogs (again).  you will only think it's funny if you watch "jersey shore" (aka "the trashiest show on television"), which i am not embarrassed to admit that i love.  enjoy.

thank you, clemson

last night duke won pretty convincingly and unc lost pretty convincingly.  basically: my ideal evening.

on my bad list: pat robertson

this makes me want to throw up.  (courtesy of the new york times' awesome news blog, "the lede.")

haiti

i just made a mini donation to the international committee of the red cross - you can designate that you want it to be spent in haiti - and if you can help, too, the red cross and the people of haiti certainly need it.  i'm thinking of it as choosing to eat something in my freezer for dinner tonight instead of going out to eat.  and bam - there's my donation.

our school has a partnership with a school in haiti - through donations, we've helped to build them a new school building that was just complete a year ago.  the school is just outside of port-au-prince, and it's devastating to think about what must have happened to it and to the families of the students who go to school there.  i've heard that there is no electricity in the entire country, and we haven't been able to touch base with anyone that we (as a school) know there.  so scary.

i heart mash-ups

i heart this  (thanks to joey for sending it to me!)

and i heart this  (are you reading this girl's blog?  because you should be.)

fact: i love music.
fact: i am a horrible singer.  if you have ever stood next to me in chapel, driven on a long car ride with me, or danced around an apartment singing along with someone's ipod with me, you know this to be true.
fact: i do not care.  i will continue to belt it out.

also, have you seen (500) days of summer?  the music in it is awesome, but more than that: the movie is awesome.  best movie i've seen in a LONG time.  i literally clapped my hands.  and talked to the screen.  go rent it now.

to counteract all the cookies i've been eating: vegetables!

i love to cook - and it doesn't all stem from my love of eating (though that is certainly a good reason to cook).  some days i only want to heat up a frozen pizza, but other days i want to cook, to chop and stir and boil and bake and compose.  in december i didn't really make a lot of time for cooking, and i'm trying to remedy that in january.  the cold weather helps - it is comforting to be in a warm kitchen.

since i am only cooking for one person, i often have to/get to eat a meal for several days...so i'd better LIKE what i cook.  for christmas, dad bought me the cookbook chez panisse vegetables, by alice waters.  it is arranged by vegetable, and gives a couple pages of information on each vegetable before giving you recipes.  earlier in the week i was in the mood to make pasta, and the index led me to asparagus and onions with whole wheat linguine.  i'm going to be honest: whole wheat pasta scares me.  i don't think it tastes as good as regular pasta, and i always imagine it to be tougher than regular pasta.  but i made it, and it turned out really well - i may be converted.  the recipe is sauteed asparagus and onions and garlic, to which vegetable broth (and butter - yum) is added.  you pour the sauce over the cooked linguine and squeeze lemon on it, and then add some ricotta.  it was SO GOOD.  it's not a super thick sauce, but that's good - in the bowl, the noodles sit in the broth and are flavored by it.  it works.  i made enough for what i considered to be two portions.  and then i ate it all.  oops.

(note the creamy delciousness on the sides of the bowl that indicate that this is my second helping.)

now i need to make lunch, because i am hungry just thinking about how good this meal was...

let it snow

the low tonight in ames, iowa, where my aunt and uncle and cousins live: -15.

holy shit.

we can't compete - and i don't think we're trying to - here in atlanta, but it has been cold here by our standards this week.  highs in the 30s, lows in the teens.  we are cold and not amused.  but with cold, friends, comes this much snow:

that is my car with approximately 0.5 inches of snow on it, our total accumulation.  be impressed.  photos taken last night at 9:45pm immediately after receiving the phone call that indicated that school was cancelled today.  snow day!  hooray!  i know this looks like we are weenies who can't deal with inclement weather, and we are.  that's the point.  atlanta public schools were cancelled today, as were cobb, fulton, and dekalb county public schools, and basically every private school in the area.  so we weren't alone.

my bedroom window looks out on a slight hill leading out of our neighborhood.  all morning i heard people trying (and many failing) to make it up the slightly icy hill and out of the neighborhood.  once i woke up, i perched myself on a chair next to the window (yes, i know that this is what old ladies do) so i could watch people try to get up the hill and thus learn what i would need to do if i wanted to go out to lunch with my friends.  some people made it up the hill in several attempts.  at least one person tried, failed, and went back home.  TRAGEDY.  when it came time for me to leave i was a little nervous, as my roommate sat perched at that very window, ready to judge me and laugh if i couldn't make it.  with a bit of a running start, i made it just fine.  I AM AMAZING.  the well-used roads were fine, and lunch at taqueria del sol was delicious.

happy weekend, everyone!

just another reason why i love being a teacher

the following is what one of our students wrote in a paper for his english class:
"thomas jefferson purchased the louisiana territory because, as any woman knows, you shouldn't pass up a good deal."

one guess as to the gender of the student who wrote this paper.

just some websites i stumbled upon...

do you know about stumbleupon?  as in, "i stumbledupon this cool website!"  in my ongoing quest to bring you the cool things i find on this fabulous internet of ours, i suggest you check out stumbleupon.  here are a couple websites it found for me that i loved...

(be warned, once you stumble, it may be hard to stop and then you will look up and realize how much time you have wasted...except, of course, it isn't really wasted.  it's well used.  either way: stumble at your own risk. )

some of the most gorgeous photography i've ever seen

world sunlight map as of this very moment

i kind of want to live in this house

SO CUTE IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL

piano stairs

driveway moment

i heard this story on NPR and couldn't stop crying.  i pulled into the parking lot of whole foods and sat in the car to listen to the rest of the story (and pull myself together).  please listen...and join the national marrow donor program if you feel compelled to.  i volunteered with the american red cross in college, and the national marrow donor people came to duke to register people in the months after september 11th.  i joined the registry, and i actually want to be called.  just like i want jury duty.  does this make me weird?

anyway.  one way to start 2010 off on a good note would be to join the registry...

8:45am

super willis is the informant!

(as in, willis walked into my office this morning, and this is exactly what he was wearing.  he said "i'm not sitting on the crapper, though."  true, but that doesn't negate what you are wearing, willis.)

second semester begins

it was 19 degrees when i left my house at 7am this morning.  THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS WRONG WITH THAT STATEMENT.

an outing

scene: woodland brook road (yes, this in the name of a road near my house. it flooded this fall. there really is a brook.)
saturday, 1:20pm

as i approach the railroad crossing i see a father and son on the opposite side, holding hands and standing on the sidewalk a couple feet from where the tracks cross the road.  just standing - not walking.  the father is in his thirties and the kid is four or so.  i realize they are waiting and hoping a train will pass by.  i am hopeful for them - that they won't have to wait long; this is a busy crossing, by my standards - maybe four trains pass by an hour.  i shift into third gear as i cross the tracks and head down the hill on the other side, and in the split second it takes to do this the bells start to ring and the lights start to flash and a train is approaching.  i look over at the boy and his face is pure surprise and pure anticipation.  and i wish i could stop and watch him watch the train.

revived

i just had the most amazing plate of nachos and diet coke at atkins park, a restaurant in smyrna i need to go to more often.  that, plus the shower i had beforehand, have revived me.  i am invincible!

some people start a new year by exercising more or eating better or saving money.  i started this year with a plate of nachos and good conversation with my roommate (hi roommate!).  and i'm content with that decision.

hello 2010!

because i am good for nothing today except (a) lying in bed and (b) lying on the couch, i bring you - live from my bed! - a top ten list of my favorite songs purchased on itunes in 2009.  in no particular order:

single ladies - beyonce
city hall - vienna teng
josephine - brandi carlile
forever - chris brown
highway 20 ride - zac brown band
back where i come from - kenny chesney
run this town - jay-z, rihanna, and kanye west
gillian - the waifs
sons & daughters - the decemberists
winter song - sara bareilles and ingrid michaelson

note: i purchased 175 songs from itunes in 2009.  i hope the songs above feel special to be a part of the elite top ten...