i went on an adventure!  well, really i was just stir-crazy and googled "hikes in houston" and this appeared and i went with it.  a 30 minute drive to the other side of town, and i found cullen park, with a 6.5 mile long paved trail that is mostly in the shade (this is the ONLY way to walk outside in houston in july).  i saw a dozen or so people walking and biking while i was there, but otherwise had the trail to myself.  just me and my ipod and my sweat.  i only walked 3.5 of the miles, but in the 90 degree heat and humidity, this was a good enough workout for me.

the best part is that the path goes by a 19th century cemetery!

one of these guys fought in the "indian wars"!

excellent adventure.  now i will stay inside for days on end until i forget about how truly hot it was and venture out again.

moving recap!

we left north carolina.  we realized the uhaul could go up to 65 or 70!  we passed trucks!  it was all very exciting.

dad did probably two-thirds of the driving, but i helped out.  the uhaul was actually pretty easy to drive (compared to my fear of how hard it would be to drive) and we listened to podcasts, music, and the audiobook of bill bryson's a walk in the woods.  we were well entertained.

we got to houston on friday night and becky (from dallas) and my college/atlanta friend jenny (from austin) came to town to help me move in!  it was amazing to have their help and company.

dad and becky assembling furniture (i bought two bookshelves, a dining room table and chairs, and an end table for the living room at ikea...and didn't put a single one together.  luxurious!):

jenny was able to stay until monday (becky and dad left on sunday - frowny face), so we went for a walk and lunch with her dog piper on monday morning before she drove back to austin.

and dad bought me a vacuum and becky and brandon bought me a sodastream as a housewarming present!!

there are lotssss of skinks (or lizards or whatever they are) that hang out outside my apartment.  they say, "welcome to texas, claire!"

it is pleasant outside before 10am and after 9pm, which is more than i expected.

photos of the apartment to come once i've finished unpacking!

gold star to dad for all his help moving out here and moving in, and also for not complaining about the 2 hour trip through ikea.  i couldn't have done it without him!  silver star to becky for the help moving in, decorating tips, and furniture assembling.  bronze star to jenny for help moving in and for introducing me to her friend kate who i hope will become my friend kate!

final location update

houston, texas!

states driven through since i left new york:
11. mississippi
12. louisiana
13. texas

dad and becky were a huge help in unpacking and cleaning and building ikea furniture and being good company.  they left yesterday, and now i'm alone in my new city.  eek.

i have a week until i start work and lots of errands to run and projects to do.  photos from the trip will appear on the blog soon, and once i unpack the remaining boxes i'll have some photos of my apartment, too!  stay tuned, patient readers...

location update

i'm in north carolina until thursday, when the trek to texas begins!  on thursday and friday i successfully moved from NYC to NC, with a stopover in DC at nigel and nora's place for fun games and awesome curried lentil soup.

states i've been in in the past four days:
1. new york
2. new jersey
3. delaware
4. maryland
5. DC
6. virginia
7. north carolina

the drive to texas will add a lot to this list.  stay tuned!

stories from my year in new york city

as my time in new york has wound down, i've thought about what i've written about the city and what i haven't.  what is missing from my account of this year?

these are some stories that i don't think i've shared before; they say more about new york than they say about me.

here's a little portrait of new york city, through my eyes:

i helped a little old lady cross the street.  this boy scout cliche happened after our big snow storm in february.  the streets had been plowed, but walking was messy: as you crossed a street you had to go over the piles of snow that had been pushed off the road by the plows.  i was crossing a street behind an older lady with a cane, and ahead of us was packed, slippery snow before we could get onto the clear sidewalk.  i pulled out my earphones; "can i help you?"  "yes...can you put out your arm like this?" she held my forearm and inched across the snow.  "thank you."  "it's not a problem!"

*

old people and disabled people in this city make me so SAD.  i imagine their existence is hard, having to walk a lot to get groceries or fill prescriptions or go to their job.  it makes my heart hurt watching an old man with a cane struggle across the street or a hunched over old woman push her walker down the sidewalk, both things that i see every day.  a friend in my program believes the opposite: that it must be empowering for the elderly to be able to walk places, to not have to rely on a car that you might not be able to drive as you age, to have everything you need very close by.  maybe it's a matter of perspective - those who grew up in a city want to grow old there?  me, no.  please no.

*

to get to JFK airport by public transportation you have to take the subway to its second-to-last stop in queens.  on my way to JFK this fall the train car emptied out gradually until it was just me and a big burly man across the car from me.  this must be rule #1 of subway safety: don't be alone on a car with someone.  he was sort of sleeping but also sort of looking at me, and i trained one eye on him as i nervously pulled my bag closer and hoped the last few stops would bring more people onto our car.  they didn't.  when we arrived at my stop and i stood up to get off he smiled at me and said "have a good flight!"  oh, the assumptions we make about people.  let it be noted that no one talks to strangers on the subway, so his kind words were even more unexpected.  i hope he didn't guess the assumptions i was making about him.

*

that's the thing about new york: there are people everywhere.  that's what made the subway ride to the airport so weird.  there is safety in groups; walking with (female) friends through a deserted street in charleston late one night this spring was more nerve-wracking that new york city at the same time of night.  when i moved to new york i asked some friends, "okay: how late is TOO late to safely ride the subway?"  they sort of thought about it and gave an answer of around midnight or 1am.  let me say, though: there are just as many people on the subway at midnight as there are at 10 in the morning.  other than the time the guy sitting next to me fell asleep and graaaaaaadually slumped onto my shoulder - and no amount of shifting woke him up, so i let him sleep there for the couple stops until i got off - nothing weird has happened to me on the subway at night.  i love that.  i love this civilized city.

*

this is a city where people (myself included) will wait 15 minutes in line to check out at trader joe's.  in atlanta, if a line had more than two or three people in it, i thought it was long.  the trader joe's i go to on the upper west side has 29 (!) cashiers and routinely there are probably 100 people in line when i arrive.  people stretch around from the check out area through the store in line, so i do about half my shopping from the line.  we pass the prepared foods, the vegetables, the fruits, the sweets...all while standing in line.  trader joe's, i learned, sells everything at the same price in every trader joe's in the country.  i thought they were reasonably priced in atlanta; here it is like getting food for free.  for cheap, delicious food with no preservatives, i will stand in line for 15 minutes and then schlep my food on the subway almost 50 blocks.  my second favorite thing (after the price) is how nice the cashiers are.  you've waited in line for a while and then you get to a nice, friendly cashier, who takes the time to say hi and chat with you a little while they bag your groceries.  it is calmness amidst chaos.  i love it.

*

i will not miss the trash truck picking up trash outside my window six days a week at 7am.  i will not miss my 109 square foot room with a shared kitchen and bathroom.  i will not miss the trash on the sidewalk, the rats on the subway tracks, the homeless people who ask for money.  i will not miss walking through the city in the rain.

*

i will miss the reliability of public transportation, a system that goes everywhere you want it to go.  i will miss catching glimpses of the statue of liberty at unexpected times (from a plane, from the high line, from the brooklyn bridge, from the car ride back from coney island).  i will miss the ease with which my program allowed me to make friends, and the many wine and board games nights with those friends.  the food: i will very much miss the food.

*

i am sure i will truly miss being a student, but for now i am so excited to be a teacher again.

graduation!

graduation was a two part affair.

part 1: teachers college graduation in the cathedral of st. john the divine (8 blocks from teachers college) on tuesday, which mom and dad came up for (yay!)...

getting ready to process in:

the enormous and beautiful interior:

with mom and dad at the reception afterwards:

and then part 2: columbia university's commencement on wednesday...

um, there were lots of people there.  this was my view of the proceedings:

and this is a pretty awesome photo from the top of butler library that i got off the teachers college facebook page:

(i am in the big set of risers on the right side of the photo - and then all the way to the front side of those risers, which was actually pretty close to the action.  all the blue people are the graduates.)

both graduation ceremonies were wonderful, and i have lots more to say...but i'm pretty tired at the moment.  more in the coming days.  tomorrow i drive to DC and friday i drive home to NC.  onward to new adventures!

brooklyn bridge + grimaldi's

on tuesday talia helped me check another thing off my new york city list: walking across the brooklyn bridge as the sun goes down...

...and eating dinner at grimaldi's, a pizza place sort of under the brooklyn bridge that is famous and delicious.  becky took me here when i visited her once, so i had been before, and the pizza was as good as i remembered it.  actual conversation between me and talia when our large pizza arrived:

me: "that's a lot of pizza!"
talia: "don't you think we'll eat it all?"
me, without pausing: "yep!"

and we did.  YUM.

i move away from new york in exactly one month.  where did this year go?!  time to make a conscious effort to appreciate every last day in new york city...

one of the best parts of grad school is being around other smart people and learning things from them.  this essay was recommended by a classmate of mine, and i find it incredibly interesting.  it's a bit of a long read, but worth it: the disadvantages of an elite education.

the parts i found most spot-on:

I learned to give that little nod of understanding, that slightly sympathetic “Oh,” when people told me they went to a less prestigious college. (If I’d gone to Harvard, I would have learned to say “in Boston” when I was asked where I went to school—the Cambridge version of noblesse oblige.)

um, i do this.  ugh.  "i went to school in north carolina."  only if pressed do i say i went to duke.  i am incredibly proud of my duke education, but you get a lot of reactions.  it stalls a lot of conversations.  i am fearful of sounding like i'm bragging.

...students from elite schools expect success, and expect it now. They have, by definition, never experienced anything else, and their sense of self has been built around their ability to succeed. The idea of not being successful terrifies them, disorients them, defeats them. They’ve been driven their whole lives by a fear of failure—often, in the first instance, by their parents’ fear of failure. The first time I blew a test, I walked out of the room feeling like I no longer knew who I was. The second time, it was easier; I had started to learn that failure isn’t the end of the world.

so accurate, both about the experiences of my very bright students, but also about my experience: this year i was a finalist for two jobs that i did not get.  the first rejection was like getting punched in the face.  then i ate a lot of bad food and laid in bed for many hours feeling sorry for myself and then i was okay.  the second rejection was so much easier.  learning to deal with academic or job-related failure is something that bright kids don't often have to learn how to do - something that i didn't have to learn how to do until i was 30.


We live in a society that is itself so wealthy that it can afford to provide a decent living to whole classes of people who in other countries exist (or in earlier times existed) on the brink of poverty or, at least, of indignity. You can live comfortably in the United States as a schoolteacher, or a community organizer, or a civil rights lawyer, or an artist—that is, by any reasonable definition of comfort. You have to live in an ordinary house instead of an apartment in Manhattan or a mansion in L.A.; you have to drive a Honda instead of a BMW or a Hummer; you have to vacation in Florida instead of Barbados or Paris, but what are such losses when set against the opportunity to do work you believe in, work you’re suited for, work you love, every day of your life? 

preach it.


there are many more fantastic passages in the full essay - i'd highly recommend it, especially to those interested in education!

observations about houston

i offer these observations on houston, based on the 48 hours i spent there this week:

1. at least 1/3 of the radio stations are in spanish.

2. humidity = high...i'm back in the south!  the swimming-through-the-air feeling is one i'm familiar with from my time in north carolina and atlanta.

3. i got a hug at the meet-and-great with the new families i'm going to be working with.  it's a mom who was one of three parents who interviewed me when i was out there in march, and she came to the meet-and-greet to tell me how excited she was that i'm coming to the school.  so sweet of her!  possible gross exaggeration: this would never happen in new york.

4. i ate mexican food for two of my four meals in the city.  this might be near the top of my list of reasons to move to texas.  my sister's favorite texas taco joint (which she took me to when i visited dallas in january) has a location in houston WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE OF MY NEW APARTMENT.  a-maz-ing.  my love of tacos is well known, and new york city does NOT have good mexican food options.

5. i think i'm going to like living in the central time zone.  tv shows are on an hour earlier, thus facilitating going to bed earlier!  yessss.  (old lady alert.)

i leave new york in 7 weeks. here's what i want to do before i leave:

walk across the brooklyn bridge at sunset and then eat pizza at grimaldi's

go to the world trade center memorial.  (stop putting it off because you know it will be sad.)

see book of mormon

see matilda

walk the high line when it's warm and sunny outside

go to coney island

go to the natural history museum

go to the rooftop garden at the met

have another picnic in central park

[new yorkers: what else should be on my list?!]

a post where i will bury the lede

folks, i have a job.

exclamation points everywhere!!

it was an emotional road - great interviews where schools seemed to love me, punctuated by long stretches where i felt invisible.  over the past 5 months i applied to about 40 jobs, had about 20 phone interviews, got invited to final round interviews on campus at 2 schools (in houston and seattle)...and got neither of those jobs.

womp womp.

then i spent 36 hours lying in my bed and feeling bad about myself and my life (punctuated by going to class and eating and being a wimp on the phone to my sister).  both of the positions i didn't get went to internal candidates.  internal candidates are the bane of my existence.

i imagined my life if i didn't get a job.  there were a couple alternatives.

option 1: live in my parents' house and work at the dairy queen.  except there is no dairy queen in town and the little dipper (our version of dairy queen) closed this year.  see, i don't even have a place to work.  woe is me!

option 2: live in my sister's guest room and pay rent by cleaning the apartment and preparing cocktails for my sister and her boyfriend when they return home from work every day.  watch lots of tv.

option 3: move to hawaii and sleep in a hammock on the beach and practice yoga every day until my savings runs out.

i miiiiiight have been a little dramatic about this whole "can't find a job" thing.  people tried to remind me that it was only march, but i was in a funk and just wanted to mope for a while

then i emerged from the funk and was a normal person again.  i applied for more jobs and sent follow up emails to some schools i'd applied to but hadn't heard back from.

then the houston school called me again.  turns out when they said "everyone really liked you, BUT..." they meant it!  everyone really did like me, and when a different position became available at the school they didn't want to interview for it.  they just wanted to hire me.  and in truth, the position is a great one and after working out the details i have accepted it - i'm moving to houston!  i will be one of six deans (my job will be very similar to my last job: i'll do academic advising, discipline, communication with parents, and look out for the general welfare of kids), and the deans at this school are also the college counselors (i have no experience in this, so major professional development will be coming for me in this area!).  i really like the other deans that i'll be working with and i loved the school when i visited.  the job is a new challenge, and moving to houston will be a new adventure.  i'm so excited!

great article: living with less.  it speaks to my experience traveling to england the past couple summers with just a small suitcase, and to this year of living in 109 square feet.  can you live with very little?  YES.  is it fun to live with more?  also yes.  i can't wait to have a real apartment again...

how to get ready for an on campus interview, by miss claire

job-hunting has moved into phase 2: a couple schools liked me enough after our phone or skype interview to invite me to campus!

(i did not walk you through how to survive a skype interview, but it involves skyping with your sister so she can make sure the connection works, moving around furniture to make it look like you don't live in a 109 square foot dorm room, turning on some lamps and turning others off to get the correct lighting, putting on a nice shirt and sweater but wearing yoga pants on the bottom, and remembering to smile a lot.  about half the schools i interviewed with did skype interviews instead of phone interviews.)

as soon as they invite you to campus: be really excited and text your sister and willis in all caps to let them know.  feel awkward about who you can tell and not make it sound like you are bragging.  you aren't bragging - you are being excited.  fine line, though.

soon thereafter: back and forth emailing with the school about timing - what day you will interview, when you will arrive and leave, etc.  buy plane ticket and reserve rental car.  private school code says that schools pay for your plane ticket, rental car, and hotel room, but sometimes you have to pay in advance and get reimbursed.

5 days before: spend far too much time looking at this document that details average salaries for different administrative positions in independent schools.  since this would be your first administrative role, you want to get a sense of what you could be offered.

4 days before: try on a million combinations of the clothing you own to find the perfect outfit for the interview and (in this case) dinner with the principal and a couple faculty members the night before your interview.  text photos of potential outfits to your sister for her feedback.  this is why you have a sister.  thanks, mom and dad.

3 days before: force some of your friends who are teachers to help you brainstorm potential questions you could be asked when you interview.

2 days before: brainstorm good answers for these questions.

1 day before: start to freak out.  travel to city where interview will take place.  explore city, find hotel, enjoy sleeping in a bed almost as big as your dorm room.

the day of: be as awesome as possible.  end up exhausted.  force your sister and jenny to listen to extended analysis of every detail of the day.  make it home.  take cab back to your dorm because, man, you deserve it after that day.

every minute thereafter: wonder/worry about whether they will offer you the job.  think about what you will say if they do.

little luxuries in the life of a grad student

1. buying a book that isn't required for grad school.

2. reading that book.  it feels illegal, frankly...it's such a luxury.  i just downloaded the light between oceans onto my kindle and have been reading it before bed and on the subway.  move over, group dynamics reading - i've got something more interesting to read.

3. trader joe's coconut body butter. dominique introduced this to me and i'm completely addicted.  it smells AMAZING and isn't greasy like a lot of hand creams can be (huge pet peeve of mine).  i put it on about 5 times a day and my hands are very happy.

4. i have succumbed to buying the gloves that it seems everyone in new york city has: fingerless gloves with a mitten that comes over the top.  the mitten part keeps your hands so warm, but when you want to text or look up directions on your iphone, you can do that without taking off your gloves (hands in gloves do not work on the iphone screen).  i love these and am so pleased with my purchase.

5. a bloody mary.  any time it is appropriate...so: any time i go out to brunch.  i have brunch plans tomorrow and i can't WAIT.

how to get ready for a phone interview, by miss claire

some insight into my life as a person who is job-hunting.  perhaps (probably?) more than you wanted to know.

1 day before the phone interview: do research on the school, make a list of reasons they should hire you, make a list of questions to ask, do other responsible things.

10 minutes before: listen to a song to pump yourself up while assuming a power stance.  this is something i've done this year after watching a TED talk video that a friend in my program told me about.  the video's 20 minutes long and is SO WORTH WATCHING.  fascinating to learn how body language can shape how people perceive you even if they can't see you.  and the take away for me when interviewing: in a research study, people with identical resumes were split into two groups.  one did nothing special before a phone interview, and the other assumed a powerful stance for 2 minutes - legs apart, arms in the air in a V, for example.  the interviewers didn't know that the groups had done different things at all, yet rated the people who had assumed the power stance as ones they would be more interested in hiring.  seriously, watch this video.


8 minutes before: start to be nervous.

1 minute before: convince yourself the person actually isn't going to call because why would they want to hire you when there are so many people out there who are awesome candidates?

30 seconds before: remind yourself of the power stance and calm yourself down.

0 seconds before (these people never call right on time): think about checking to make sure you phone has a dial tone.  maybe it's broken!  remind yourself that this is ridiculous and checking for a dial tone will only give the person calling a busy signal and we can't have THAT.

3 minutes after: they finally call.  you are (hopefully) fabulous.

a photo a day

miss claire's post-blizzard update: the snow stopped overnight.  this morning my friends and i went to central park to play in the snow!  we definitely got more than a foot, and central park was gorgeous - there were patches of untouched snow.  it was very grey at 10am when we were there, so the photos are a little dark...

kiddie hill for babies to sled on:

dominique is queen of the hill!

this dog (like many dogs we saw) was wearing snow booties:

after an hour of playing, we warmed up in ben's apartment and went down to times square to try to get tickets to see book of mormon (they do a lottery every day for twenty-two $30 front row tickets)...after failing at that (sigh), we ate lunch and got manicures.  SUCH a fun new york day with my friends!

now i'm warm in my bed and trying to do some reading for school before heading out tonight with talia - the fun continues!!

(mom, the smartwool socks you gave me for my birthday were CRUCIAL to warm feet and today's happiness.  thanks!)

easy meals i created

i want to tell you about some easy meals i have concocted in my shared kitchen that are quick to make and very delicious.

easy meal #1: duh.
bean, corn, cheese, and salsa burrito (i add guacamole if i am awesome enough to have an avocado on hand) + side of rice (leftover from another meal) + baked (ahem: microwaved) sweet potato with parmesan cheese and a little butter.

i am calling this meal "duh," because a burrito is not rocket science, but adding the baked sweet potato on the side makes it so much more filling and more interesting and very satisfying.

easy meal #2: what i had in my refrigerator that one night.
combine: ravioli (i like the trader joe's butternut squash ravioli) + defrosted frozen peas + steamed broccolini + parmesan cheese + feta + a little bit of olive oil = a warm pasta salad that is chock full of vegetables and SO tasty.  also very filling: i can't do too much damage here.

i recommend you give these a try.

love,
miss claire

job search update

that subject line makes it look like i have actual news, right?  NEGATIVE.  ha!  i fooled you.

my update is that i am applying for jobs.  the kinds of administrative-level positions that i want have an earlier hiring season than regular teaching jobs, and thus far i've found 6 or 8 jobs that i'm interested in  and i have sent my resume and cover letter and references out into the world, hoping the people doing the hiring for those positions like what they see.  i am applying for some jobs that i am technically qualified for (master's degree plus eight years teaching experience...), but probably won't get, like upper school principal positions.  there are a lot of very experienced and qualified people out there, but my hope is that i might be considered for one of those jobs at a small school (those are the ones i've applied for) that are seen as entry level principal position.  i'm also applying for dean of students positions or the school's equivalent.  i believe i'll be considered for those and hopefully someone will like me enough to call me up.  CALL ME UP, PLEASE.

i think we can all agree that i'm a planner.  so as soon as i apply for a job - before i even hear a single thing from a school - i have already begun to imagine my life there.  (i know i'm not alone in this, as my friend jenny does the same thing when she's done job searches in the past.  oh jenny, how alike we are.)  i have already imagined what my life would be like in the 6-8 cities where i've applied for jobs.  what would i do on the weekends?  where would i go grocery shopping?  what would the weather be like?  what airport would i fly into?  can i picture myself in my little blue toyota corolla driving around this town?  i am also planning on getting two kittens when i move into a real grown up apartment again...so i picture getting the kittens and them snuggling with me on the couch.

i am ridiculous.

this is why you love me.

headstands

i am taking two yoga classes here at columbia.  the one on mondays is a basic class...and it's pretty basic.  it's important to focus on the basics - make sure you're doing the pose exactly right - but that gets a little boring sometimes, particularly since a lot of people in this class have never done yoga before.  knowing this, the second class i signed up for is an intermediate class that meets on wednesdays.  i've never taken an intermediate class even though i've been practicing yoga for probably 5 years...and i am 100% the worst person in this class.  but i don't even care.  i can play along with all of it and modify as i need to.

the intermediate teacher is having us practice headstands.  this was initially very intimidating to me, but the teacher is great and she is working us into it.  some of the people in the class just throw themselves up into a headstand like it's nothing, while a couple of us scoot our mats over to the wall and work with the instructor.  i am at the middle step in this picture - which is really the first step, but whatever.  actually, i'm more in this step - you make yourself into an upside down v and then walk your legs up the wall.  it is hard and i can only hold it for about 5 seconds, but presumably i will keep getting stronger and stronger and someday, who knows.  maybe i'll do a real headstand.  that would be fancy.


additionally (and on an unrelated note), i haven't been posting many pictures recently because it feels like all i do is go to class, eat, go to the library, sleep, repeat.  it's midterms time and the library is PACKED, so i know i'm not the only one with a lot on my plate.  the good news is that i turned in my last midterm-y paper today, so i will get to be a real person for a while this weekend.  hooray!!  my plan is to take some long walks and capture some pictures of fall in new york.  stay tuned.  i'm also going to try to go to the new four freedoms park on roosevelt island - looks beautiful, and i need some FDR quotes in my life right now.

anyone else more excited about election day than halloween?  i'm like, "oh right...a costume," whereas i have my election night outfit ALL PLANNED OUT.  stay tuned.