I Got A Job!

I had my first interview last Thursday morning at a small county high school. I met with three out of five of the other English dept. members and the principal, who was starting her job that same day. The interview was great, and I was really impressed by the dynamic among the ladies of the English department. Monday morning, I had my second interview, and although I liked the folks there as well, it really added some contrast and brought into clearer focus what a rare find the first school was. At about 6:30 Monday evening, as I was on my way out to play Viking riff-sludge with my heathen pals, I got the call and offer. Tuesday I called back and accepted.

And that concludes the thrilling story of how Austin got a job. Now Austin has to go mow the lawn.

Small Comforts

I wrote this poem when I was observing the classes I would later student-teach, as an example of the assignment they were doing (based on a poem by Nikki Giovanni). It pretty much came right out on the spot, but I like it.

"Small Comforts"

I like the possibility presented by a fresh blank page in a brand new notebook
I like my warm bed on a cold morning just after the alarm goes off
I like bent-note blues guitar solos and Muddy Waters moans
Deep slow John Lee Hooker rumbles and
Crackin’ cacklin’ Howlin’ Wolf shouts—
‘Cause I’m built for comfort I ain’t built for speed

I like wearing hoodies on the beach at the deserted Jersey Shore misty cool mornings
Just before spring
(Where Springsteen used to walk his talk between boardwalk hot spots that are cold now, Sandy)

I like hot coffee in my cupholder on long drives across the open eastern American spaces
that stretch between my place and my home
I like my baby’s big soft purple couch and tired Friday nights at home
watching movies
Worn out from the week’s work and knowing there’s nowhere
—and no way—
I’d rather be.

(10/28/08)

The only Boss I listen to...

At the request of an old friend, I'm trying to put together my very own "best of" Bruce Springsteen compilation. So far, it's a two-discer with each disc clocking in over 70 minutes, and I still feel like I'm leaving out some really important stuff. More problematic, it seems that far too many of my favorite Springsteen songs are the down-tempo sad ones. Mixing in the rockers strategically has been quite the challenge.

Here is my tracklisting:
Disc 1:
1. Kitty's Back [from The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle]
2. Further On (Up The Road) [from The Rising]
3. Back In Your Arms [from the "Tracks" box set]
4. Worlds Apart [from The Rising]
5. The Promise [from 18 Tracks]
6. Spirit In The Night [from Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ]
7. My City of Ruins [from The Rising]
8. Point Blank [from The River]
9. For You [from Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ]
10. Drive All Night [from The River]
11. Meeting Across The River [from Born To Run]
12. I'm On Fire [from Born in the USA]
13. Prove It All Night [from Darkness on the Edge of Town]

Disc 2:
1. Thunder Road [from Born To Run]
2. Adam Raised A Cain [from Darkness on the Edge of Town]
3. New York City Serenade [from The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle]
4. Independence Day [from The River]
5. Cover Me [from Born in the USA]
6. Paradise [from The Rising]
7. Lost in the Flood [from Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ]
8. The River [from The River]
9. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out [from Born To Run]
10. The Fever [from 18 Tracks]
11. When You're Alone [from Tunnel of Love]
12. Stolen Car [from The River]
13. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) [from The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle]
14. Backstreets [from Born To Run]

No, there is nothing from Nebraska, because I don't like Nebraska, except maybe for "Atlantic City"and "Reason to Believe" (but if I were going to put "Reason to Believe" on there, I'd use the version from Live 1975-1985). This is my best attempt at succinctly compiling my favorite Springsteen tunes into a listenable compilation, and you'll probably learn more about me from listening to it than you will about Springsteen--although I did try to pull some things that might make people go, "I didn't know Springsteen wrote songs like this!"

Anyway, I don't think anyone actually reads this blog, and the entire track listing is subject to change, but I needed something to do while I was listening back through the mix and blogging about it seemed like a good idea. If there are any readers out there, please don't comment to me about what I forgot or left off or what you would have done differently. Just make your own mix and send it to me. I'll listen.

On Rock 'n' Roll and Danger

I just found this neat little blurb I wrote a long time ago, in my former life as a rock star. The circumstances surrounding its conception are no longer relevant, either to my life or to its meaning. Still, I enjoyed it and wanted to put it somewhere where I wouldn't lose it again.

On Rock 'n' Roll and Danger:

Living out tired cliches is not revolutionary, no matter how hard you throw yourself at them. But here's another one for the list you live: The empty can rattles the most.

You are not dangerous if you pose no threat to anyone but yourself. Self-destruction is neither beautiful nor glorious, neither glamorous nor stunning. Like self-aggrandizement, it is only sad and ugly, and people only pay attention until it's over. Then they shake their heads and walk away.

I'm walking away.

Life Instructions

The other day, in all the randomness and jumble of the internet, I came across this picture. I like it. I want to get it blown up and laminated or framed and hang it in my classroom. It says so much more than it says... don't you think?

The End Is So Close I Can Taste It

And it tastes like gingerbread. Mmmmm gingerbread.

I just submitted my HAT for Adolescent Readers on LiveText and now just have to complete my unit for Special Methods (I'd say I'm 60% there), make it through class on Thursday, and endure having that whole class watch video of me teaching. I'm boring. Sorry, methods folks. Once that's done, I can put my feet up and focus on the stress of being broke for the holidays and having no reliabe source of income for the next 5 months or so.

I'd like to sat this has been a great semester. I expected to be able to say it was the best yet--then I started it. Now, it could be that I've been so preoccupied with having to find work from day to day, trying to get settled in a new house with my girlfriend who lived 750 miles away for the past year, and just trying to juggle school, work, homework, and my personal life that I won't realize how much I learned until I take some time off and decompress. I really hope that's what it is, in fact. There's definitely been a lot to learn from--a lot of people, places, fun, and frustration.

If there's anything that I know I've learned, one thing I can point to, it's that I'm happy being in school every day. That seems like it's important for a teacher. I don't like the unpredictability of subbing, and I don't like having to introduce myself to between 25 and 150 kids every day and answer questions about my height, beard, (lack of) hair... I don't like getting stuck in rooms with teachers who yell at first graders for crying because they yelled at them and then answer their cellphones in class, or teachers who yell at little girls for sneezing too loudly. I don't like 17 year-old football players trying to physically intimidate me because I'm the stranger in their classroom. I don't like getting called a leprechaun.

But, all that aside, subbing is still the best job I've ever had because it's teaching, at least sorta. Yeah, I'm tired and ready for vacation (and I could really do without having to bust my butt to try and work all next week), but I am pumped about student teaching next semester. I learned from my days as an audio engineer that any idiot can fake it through the classes and get a degree, but the real test, and the real learning, is in the field. I've been in the field all semester, every day, and all I want is more (after a vacation).

Too Cool for School?

I have recently discovered that I am cool. This is not a first for me; I was cool in the sixth grade when I had the good fortune of being--among the seven boys in my grade--neither that crazy sociopath kid who talked to trees nor the fat kid (who was, you know, fat). In seventh grade, there was an influx of students, and I became very instantly uncool. By high school, I was pretty tight with the fat kid, that Marilyn Manson kid that everyone else was almost too scared of to pick on (except not really at all), and all the other dorks and misfits who picked theater over sports for after-school activities.

I mean, I've always been cool, from my fourth grade school picture in my Harley Davidson t-shirt to my years in New York City playing rock star to empty venues on Friday nights. I'm, like, a totally rock 'n' roll, non-comformist, anti-establishment, heavy-metal-punk-rock-Bruce-Springsteen-and-Black-Sabbath dude, y'know? It's just that I'm SO cool that for most of my life I've been the only person cool enough to see how cool I am, see? Lightyears ahead of the curve and such.

Anyway, I've been observing/student teaching once a week at JHS all semester, where my host teacher leads a journalism class. I do not know what I have done or said in that class, aside from having a giant beard, but those kids have decided that Mr. Beard is THE COOLEST! Sounds awesome, right? Don't all teachers want to be the cool teacher, like that suave motherf**ker in that crappy Rose McGowan horror flick that was on TV the other day--that dude was helping young damsels-in-distress with their lockers, beating flunkies in half-court for the wager of an A in his class ("I believe you owe me an A."), making out with his smokin' hot girlfriend in front of students, and then--and THEN--he was like, "Call me Pete." Now that is cool. Who doesn't want to be that teacher?

I don't. That guy was a douche, every aspect of his behavior was inappropriate and should have been grounds for firing, and by trying to be a peer instead of an elder he completely undermined his own authority. Good thing he was a good basketball player, I guess, or he might have had some classroom management issues.

Well, I'm 5'3" in my teacher shoes, and I don't shoot hoops. I'm glad kids like me and think they can relate to me (they seem to value my opinion, and that's certainly a plus), but it's like they're so convinced I'm cool that they forget I'm a teacher. One of them actually started to say something really crass about my host teacher right in front of me! Look, if a kid is dissatisfied with the way he's being taught, I do want to hear about that. I can learn from that. But how did I let that interest get mistaken for, "Hey, I'm the cooool teacher. You can talk crap about your other teachers in front of me. Don't worry, I'm coooool."

You know what happens when you forget your place because you're too busy trying to be cool? You become Michael Scott from The Office. I don't want to be the Michael Scott of teachers. Sure, I want the kids to like me, but not because they think I'm like a kid or I'm on their level; because I give them the chance to come up to my level and behave like and be treated like adults.