In some ways, I am very much enjoying my work with the Missouri Department of High Education. I have made new English teacher friends and renewed a friendship with a smart woman from graduate school. We meet just across the street from this place.
And, this place.
We have been here before. My first MDHE meeting was in February. We spent the remainder of that day with GracyLu and our sweet friend Chelsea at WWU. We discovered that GracyLu earned a good deal of scholarship money and signed a commitment to become a WWU student that day. It was great and already lists of what we need to do to get her to college are swirling in my head. John accompanied LibbyLu's class to tour the Missouri State Capitol and Governor's Mansion in May. Now that LibbyLu is heading into high school this next school year, and I will miss the swing and flutter of those sweet plaid skirts.
So far, our committee members have sat around a very long conference table talking in circles as academics are prone to do. Around and around and around we go and where we stop nobody knows. At some point, someone interrupts and points out that we are all talking in circles. Um, that might have been me. They all look down the table at me with confused expressions. I am used to this. My teenagers look at me this way. We professors are sometimes comfortable in our circular thinking especially when those who do not understand what we do ask us to use numbers, in a world of words and thinking, to show how well our students write and think. You can count beans, but it is difficult to count the quality of good thoughts. Our committee is charged with coming up with a rubric for every writing program in the state to use for, well, accountability? If you teach, you know why I am questioning what it is we are doing even though we are not all quite sure what the politicians are asking from us. It has to do with this bill. The University professors and the Community College professors are a bit different. We all have similar degrees in our field of study. We all teach writing. We all think about research, theory, and best practices. The University instructors research and teach and the Community College instructors we teach, teach, teach, then we research if there is time. Community College instructors do not have much time to talk in circles. We want to find the best answers and move on. After two hours yesterday morning, there was a call to move on and we did. We meet again at the end of the month.
The Missouri Capitol is a two and one half hour drive from our home. Yesterday, we loaded up the car with two teens, blankets, snacks and drinks and headed for the capitol. The girls spend most of the drive time giggling, talking, eating, sleeping, picking on one another and staring into space with wires dangling from their ears. Everything we say while the wires are dangling from theirs ears floats hopelessly in the air without being heard. One evening John and LibbyLu had this conversation:
LibbyLu: "Do I have to go?"
Me: "Yes."
John: "It will give us some quality time together."
LibbyLu: "Okay. Let me get my ear buds."
Such is life with teenagers. We all have these wiry things that transfer music, or audio books, to our ears. The problem is that these ear buds all look alike. The girls misplace theirs, often, and it has become a frustration to figure out whose is whose and where did you leave yours or, for that matter, mine.
I confess that I keep mine close and do not share much with the girls. They argue I should share because I do not use mine. They are right. I do not use mine often, but when I travel, I very much like to have them with me. I am selfish that way. Not long ago, I stumbled across this tutorial while spending my time wisely on Pinterest. Helena provides plenty of inspiration on her blog and walks you through the simple process of making your ear buds your own.
I had the melty beads
on hand, as many of us moms do, so I put on an episode of Desperate Housewives
and customized my wires. There is now no doubt which ones are mine. I took mine with me yesterday and was quite tempted to pull them out at my meeting and escape from the words that circled the room, but thought that might be really rude.
