Clearing the Mental Lint

Ah...reminds me of grad school.

The many home improvement projects are keeping us occupied this summer. We wanted to improve/reorganize our media closet for awhile, but just hadn't had the time to do it yet. We considered buying a massive media tower from Target to put in the closet, but then decided there would be too much wasted space with that option. 

So, we utilized some fast tracking system pieces that Tim's dad had given us and added a few more pieces from Lowe's to complete the project. Now we have six custom-made shelves to house our myriad of DVDs and video games. We're very pleased with the way it turned out.

Carport Roof, Interior, and Front Corner--BEFORE

We do enjoy our toys!

At 10am we had an interesting assembly. Our school had raised money for Relay for Life in April and the "winners" received their "awards" today, the awards being pies in the face and head shaving.

I posted pics of today's festivities on our flickr page; here's a sampling.

Last night was the 2008 Commencement exercise for PHS. Usually, there is a sense of finality to graduation. However, this time, due to snow and flood days, we still have a week of school remaining. Many of our senior students will not be attending because they received exemption as a reward for scoring well on their MAP tests last year. But the teachers and underclassmen will be there till the bitter end. Still, I shouldn't complain; I've heard many other people say their schools are not out until the first week in June.

Graduation was a bit different for me this year. I was chosen to give the faculty commencement speech, which was quite an honor, but a bit nerve-wracking. The nerves subsided when I reached the graduation stage and realized the main people I could see were the seniors, most of whom were my students. "It's just like being in front of my classroom...only larger," I told myself. I fumbled a few times during the speech, my major issues stemming from the too-large font my speech was printed in (a last-minute decision on my part), causing me to have to turn too many pages. The last page stuck to the principal's notes directly below. I turned the second-to-last page and saw only "Heather Baskin's bio" sheet staring at me. I paused, the next practiced word of my speech stuck in my throat. But I suppose that error was minor compared to our principal's when he tried to dismiss everyone before one of the seniors gave her closing remarks. 

Overall, it was a very nice night. Afterwards, we ate at El Torrero with Jarret and Nicole, and then they came to our house to hang out and watch some HD movies. We had a lot of fun.

Below is a copy of my speech.

The Magnetic Poetry Life

 

Members of the Board of Education, Administrators, Faculty and Staff of PHS, Parents, Family, Friends, and the Graduating Class of 2008, I am honored to speak with you this evening.

            In 1993, a man named Dave Kapell invented Magnetic Poetry as a way to overcome writer’s block. On the front bulletin board in my classroom hangs the remnants of a Magnetic Poetry calendar from 2006—a magnetic square of black cardboard and approximately fifty word tiles, such as:  embrace, hair, cloud, language, pizza, music, etc.

            Over the last couple of years, I've watched with pleasure as students approached the Magnetic Poetry board without prompting; it was not required, it was not something only the “cool kids” did, and it was not for a grade. Having observed this, I decided to incorporate the phenomenon of Magnetic Poetry into my Creative Writing course and Writer's Workshop this spring. What emerged was sometimes beautiful, always realistic, un-intimidating poetry. Listen, for example, to these poems by a few of my senior students:

 

                  Brittany T’s “Magnetic Moon”

                  I cry to the moon,

                  a delicate goddess.

                  I stare at my love in the sky.

                  She is my heart, my beauty, my life.

                  For eternity I will watch her and die.

 

                  Samantha B's “Shadows”

                  from beneath the summer rain, they moan.

                  has time flooded their minds?

                  their screams turned to a whisper.

                  gone into a thousand shadows.

                 

                  Andrew C's “Recipe for Disaster”

                  Chocolate milk shakes

                  Egg whites

                  Bitter produce

                  Red meat

                  Honey

                  Sausage

                  Peaches

                  Make me heave!

 

                  Alex O's “delicate as water”

                  Thousand whispers for eternity.

                  Vision is delicate as water.

                  Beneath the shadows, summer soars.

                  Delirious moment will tell of power.

 

                  And Kristopher C's poem “love”

                  I do like you,

                  you enormous, heavy, sweaty, ugly, sagging butt,

                  repulsive, delirious, mad, gorgeous woman.

                  Your beauty is like a shining diamond.

                  I do like you.

            When I first introduced the Magnetic Poetry kits to my students, I offered suggestions for creating poems. First, arrange all the word tiles face up so you can view your options. Then, begin writing your poem by choosing a noun or a verb. Add other words—adjectives, adverbs, and word endings—for creative imagery and figurative language. Continue this process, writing multiple lines and stanzas and voila! You have a poem.

            You’re probably asking, “Why is Ms. Baskin teaching about poetry again? This is our high school graduation, not English class!” Well, the first answer to that question is, “Because I love poetry and I love sharing it with others.” But the second, more pertinent answer to that question is, “Because creating Magnetic Poetry is like creating your adult life.”

            At certain hallmarks, or turning points in our lives, like high school graduation, we stop to examine our options, our available word tiles. From those options, we make choices. What nouns should we include in our lives:  family, career, success, hope? What verbs will facilitate action in our lives:  watch, study, train, apply? What adverbs will describe how we do things in our lives:  quickly, leisurely, gracefully, thoroughly? What adjectives, or hobbies, will make our lives more creative, more enjoyable?

            Sometimes, in both magnetic poetry and life, we have limited options. My students are often frustrated with the available words on the magnetic tiles, but they persevere and create the best poems out of what they have. The same applies to life. I think Megan S. said it best one day in fourth hour, “Magnetic poetry is like life. You don't get to pick what you want, but you still have to make sense out of the words you get.” And I agree. In order to be fulfilled and happy, you must create the best life out of your available choices.

            On occasion, the best life comes from choices that surprise us. Eleven years ago, when I stood on my graduation stage delivering my Saluditorian speech, I would have laughed at you if you said I would be teaching high school in the future. Please do not misunderstand me, I knew at the age of five that I wanted to be a teacher, but I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. The semester before I graduated college with a degree in Elementary Education, I was recruited for the Graduate English Teaching Assistantship program. When Dr. Michael Hogan, one of the best writing teachers and mentors I have ever had, approached me with the idea, I said, “Are you crazy? I graduate next semester. I'm going to get an Elementary teaching position, start a family, move on with my life.” He asked me to at least consider the possibility. I did, and after being in graduate school, teaching freshman composition for a year, I decided I liked teaching older students: students whose noses did not need to be wiped, or whose shoes I did not have to help tie. So after graduate school, I pursued a high school teaching position. And here I am today. I say all this to encourage you: be prepared to be pleasantly surprised. You never know where a choice may lead and potentially change the course of your life for the better.

            Unlike me, you may not have known since you were five years old what you wanted to be “when you grew up.” So, as you are challenged to make difficult decisions in your life now, perhaps some writing instruction will be helpful—choose words for a precise, specific purpose, and word after word, line by line, you will create a poem that both you and others will enjoy reading. Do likewise in your life—make each choice, each action, wise, specific, and full of purpose. And choice after choice, day after day, you will create an adult life that you will enjoy living and others will enjoy sharing.

            I’d like to close with a Magnetic Poem of my own, called “graduation language”:

 

            this gorgeous moment—

            a sweet symphony of dreams

            producing elaborate eternities.

            from a sea of green and white gowns

            march bittersweet memories

            and soaring visions.

 

Thank you.

Bookie got a big brother Saturday night. Tim and I were wandering around Best Buy in Carbondale earlier that day and stopped by the Apple kiosk. I took one look at the keyboard design and said, "I've got to have this," (sort of jokingly). Tim said okay, and here we are, happily computing again. Photos, blogging, composing...everything's so easy and fast. The new iMac is simply perfection. Check flickr for more photos.

Our furniture! We picked out these two pieces on Valentine's Day weekend and they were finally delivered last week. We are very satisfied with the new look (they match the drapes!) and the comfort of the pieces. We have significantly increased our seating capacity in the living room now and look forward to having people over to enjoy it with us. We will be searching for a new rug soon, because the green clashes. I'd like to find something a bit lighter, maybe something like the creamy color in the drapes. We'll see. (I posted some more pics on our flickr page too if you're interested.)

In other news...

• I am trying out contact lenses for the first time. We'll see if I can get the hang of poking myself in the eye! So far, it's been pretty painful.
  
• School was canceled for a day and a half due to massive flash flooding. (Now we have to attend a week after graduation to make up missed days.)
  
• Also due to much rain, we've got water damage in the bedroom around the roof of the closet. Apparently, when the roof was replaced four months ago,  the roofers did not "flash" the chimney correctly. We are waiting to hear back from our real estate agent on that  one.
• We got new, cool, wooden chairs for the office because our "wheely" chairs were starting to damage the beautiful floor. (Forgot to take a picture. Sorry.)
• I was sick for a week with Pharyngitis, which is basically a really bad sore throat that also inflames the larynx. So speaking was definitely an issue. I still sound like Mickey Mouse when I talk. (It did force us to meet our new family doctor here in Perryville though. Dr. Bracke is such a nice person!)
  
• I have a full-time student teacher in my classroom, Mr. Cato. He was such a big help when I was sick. In fact, his first day was the worst I was feeling; he taught my last two classes for me.
  
• Tim bought an HD-DVD add-on device for his XBox 360 very cheaply. So, he's been nabbing up super-cheap HD-DVDs on Amazon. (They do look pretty amazing, if I have to admit it. Don't tell Tim I said that though :)
• We had a wonderful visit with Mom and John the weekend of March 8. They came to check out our new house, and they even stayed with us. We took many trips down memory lane and had a great time!
• Tim & I are both certified in First Aid and CPR now. (They had a training day at school for teachers who are involved in the C.H.O.I.C.E.S. after-school program.)
• Tim & I both signed our school contracts to be employed in the 2008-2009 school year. So we get to eat for another year! Woo hoo!
  

I think that's it for now. Things have been pretty interesting around here lately. I'll try to write more often to keep everyone updated.

Chow for now!