Monday, July 23, 2007

Passages


2 trains running, originally uploaded by Blog-Sothoth.

I gave notice this morning, and felt considerable guilt. My boss is close to a month's leave of absence due to her first pregnancy and now must rush around to find a replacement for me.* There are already other openings in Development, and a co-worker just had a death in the family and is out on bereavement to boot.

But I had to do it. I was going bonkers sitting here day after day reading lame picture books. Even Roald Dahl and Judy Blume couldn't make curriculum-writing palatable. I offered to work here part-time through September in order to make the transition easier, and there is some ongoing negotation about that possibility. I wouldn't mind this kind of work on a part-time basis. Especially if I were allowed to do it from home.

*I'm the fastest gun in the west. I routinely beat my deadlines by three or more days.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your new job and I'm glad your going for it. It will be hard I know, but I know you'll make a difference. And for those kids that throw things at you, you should throw them out of the class. Seriously, just tell them to leave, if they don't want to be there, why should they ruin it for the other kids who actually care.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I just watched the end of "Baltimore: The once and future city" an hour long program on the Discovery Channel HD. And if you believe this program Baltimore is on a definitive upswing. Interesting, no?

Anonymous said...

It doesn't seem like writing stuff about kids books should destroy your soul, does it. And yet, based on my experience which is only the tip of the iceberg compared to your horror, it is totally soul-destroying! Congrats on the new job. - Emily

Anonymous said...

Dude, if you can manage a McDonalds, go to college in the worst part of Philadelphia AND be MY boss for over a year...I think you are more than prepared for teaching in the Baghdad...I mean Baltimore...city schools.

This week on Netflix: "Up The Down Staircase," "Blackboard Jungle," and "Dangerous Minds."

Anonymous said...

Glad you went for it: there aren't many things worse than brain death.

Coincidentally (almost), I watched a repeat broadcast of the Bill Moyers piece about kids in the Earth Conservation Corp

Set in D.C., yes, a different city with undoubtedly slightly different culture, but from where I sit, DC and Baltimore are joined like Minneapolis-St. Paul and Dallas Ft. Worth are joined.

Anyway, my bloviating point is that it sounds like you have a chance to 'make a difference' or some such cliche, and I'm glad you seized the opp.

Geoff said...

DC and Balto have a "slightly" different culture? Ha! Don't let the Ravens/Redskins or Nationals/Orioles fans hear you say such a thing. But yes, we are intimately connected. By I-95, I-295, and our shared history of corrupt mismanaged educational and governmental agencies, etc.

Thanks all. Making a difference (or not) will be incidental to my mission. I'm actually motivated primarily by an addiction to university classes. Time to fix.