First Day of School

Aujourd'hui was my first day of school, as a teacher! So I decided to take a picture like my mamma used to when I was in elementary. Basically, it was pretty much a day. I am not going to say that it wasn't hard, but I for sure love my job. Actually I am obsessed with it. Mostly because I just love my students. Here is me awkwardly waiting for the timer to go off on my camera because no one else wakes up at the crack of crazy to go to work. Okay, a lot of people do, but just not my roommates. Cheers for teaching!

Also, junior high is the place to be. I think that is where I want to spend the rest of my teaching days. Eighth grade baby.

Who Started This Ice Cream Thing?

Once upon a time people lived without freezers because they hadn’t yet been invented. People would harvest enough ice in the winter to last stored in their ice boxes throughout the whole summer or they would have ice delivered to them (How). And if you think that is strange, think about what that actually means. People also lived without cold drinks, leftovers, and ice cream. How did people live without ice cream?

There must be many people in the world that don’t get to enjoy a good ice cream cone on a sunny day. Begging Mom to give you money for the ice cream truck, buying a triple scoop at the park—these are things some people don’t have. And once, no one at all had any such an experience.

So when did this ice cream craze all begin? When was the first lick? Who invented ice cream? Turns out, ice cream is so ancient that no one really knows whose genius it was that whipped up the first batch of candy milk (The History). Ice cream is much older than the flimsy old freezer. In as early as 54 Ad, “Roman Emperor Nero was said to have sent his slaves into the mountains to fetch snow to mix with nectar, fruit plump, and honey” (The History). However, sources say, this is most likely a tall tale. It is more likely that ice cream originates in China during the T’ang dynasty, happening in about 618-907 AD (The History). Although, there are rumors that China had ice cream as far back as 3000 BC (Olver). Wait, so did the Chinese have freezers? Nope! The king kept about “94 ice men on hand to lug ice to the palace to make a dish or kourmiss (heated fermented milk), flour, and carnphor” (The History).

Of course, I don’t think you have 94 extra men sitting around in your backyard just waiting to bring you some ice cream, but ice cream did somehow become a part of the American diet. From China, to Italy, to France, and finally to the US is the most probable guess when tracing ice cream’s history (Olver). In 1939 it began to be sold in American grocery stores and became so popular during WWII that Mussolini banned it from Italy because it was seen as a symbol of America (The History). American food is such a mix of other cultures that it is hard to pin down what is considered American. But it is even harder when you don’t know facts like this: When Ronald Regan was president, he declared July as National Ice Cream Month and encouraged everyone to celebrate any way that they can (National).This year, ice cream day will be on July 21^st. How are you going to celebrate America’s dominance over ice cream? Ice cream trucks? Homemade ice cream from science class? Banana splits from the shop down the street?

Whatever you do to celebrate, you won’t be able to commemorate the inventor of these most delicious and popular treat. Ice cream wasn’t invented; it was slowly discovered over time through a process of strange experiments and myths (Goff). But, we can’t even celebrate who we think might have invented ice cream. There are so many different stories, and there is absolutely no historical backing to any of them (Goff). So, for National Ice Cream Month this year, I think I might just hashtag “IceCreamMonth” and join the trending party as IDFA suggests (National). And of course, I am going to have me some dark chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream in my favorite bowl.

Works Cited

Goff, Douglas H. "Food Science." Ice Cream History and Folklore. University of Guelph, 2009. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.

"How Did People Make Ice before Freezers?" How Did People Make Ice before Freezers?N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.

"National Ice Cream Month." National Ice Cream Month. International Dairy Foods Association, 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.

Olver, Lynne. "TheFood Timeline: History Notes--ice Cream." TheFood Timeline: History Notes--ice Cream. N.p., 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.

"The History of Ice Cream: Who Invented It?" Timeline Invention Cone. Yankee Publishing: The 2004 Old Farmer's Almenac, 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.

What 100 dollars can do

The first time I ever cried for happiness was when I gave my aunt a hundred dollars to help her pay for a law suit. I was eight years old, and we were parked in one of those overflow dirt parking lots out in the desert, when I slid on out of my grandmother’s big ‘ol SUV to head into the store. Without thinking, I picked up some money tumbling along in the wind, but when I looked at it, my mind didn’t believe my eyes. It was One Hundred buckaroos.

Now some people think it is stealing to take money off the ground; I didn’t think so, but we turned it in anyway being the good people that we like to think we are. The lady at the desk refused to take it. “You found this blowing out in the desert?” She raised those thin eyebrows. “Honey, no one’s gonna come lookin’ for this.”

My parents said they would keep it safe for me, ya know, until I knew what I wanted to do with it. Somehow, I knew it was special, and I wasn’t about to just give it away to the toy store. A few months later, we had this dinner for my aunt because she was dealing with this law suit and all. Being eight, I didn’t know much of what was going on, except that she wanted custody of my cousin or something like that. I’ll admit that when my mom suggested I give the Benjamin to my aunt to help her out, I wasn’t exactly what you might call thrilled. But I knew it was a nice, maybe even the right thing to do.

I had seen people cry because they were happy before, and I knew that was why she was crying when she opened the card. It was anonymous, but she knew. Her Thank-You folded in between our hug, and suddenly I was crying too. The tears felt different though; they were warm, and my insides were exploding with light.

I knew right then and there, no doll or toy or bike could have made me that happy. It wasn’t even happy, it was pure, untainted joy.

Lovin' me some middle school

Today I wore my black polka-dot skirt: the one that was a Christmas present back in the twilight days of my middle school experience - oh so classy. I put it on, sassed it up with a belt, and was on my way to teach middle school. Just lovin me some middle school I guess. I tried to imagine what my students would say if I told them about my vintage skirt. Do I have a really old skirt? or yes, I am just a really young teacher. Either way, this skirt has made its full circle.

Brown with Black and strips a polka-dots.
This would make my grandma Joanie shiver.

After deciding I wanted to be a teacher, I thought I wanted to teach high school, but for my practicum experience, I was assigned seventh grade. But, lately I have been thinking more and more that maybe I actually want to teach middle school. I always knew I would enjoy it, but honestly, I think I might even prefer it.

1. The kids are so stinkin funny. They do the cutest, strangest, most innocent or spacey things and it just isn't a big deal.

2. I love seeing them rise to the occasion and accomplish some pretty monumental stuff. Hold them to a high standard and they will rise to the occasion.

3. There isn't this huge distinction between class or social status or even coolness. They are all pretty much just sittin their little touches in my classroom, all interacting with each other on the same level - more or less.

4. They are just starting to grow into their unique selves; which is beautiful.

5. They still love to learn. Even those who say they don't love to learn, still love it. I can see it. They can't help but be interested in the lesson. Okay so there are still those who put their head on their desks and fall asleep, or those who throw little pieces of paper across the room all class period, but I can see it in even them, they can't help but learn something. The curiosity hasn't been beaten out of them yet.

So maybe, just maybe, don't hold me to it yet, but maybe middle school is for me. Helpin those sassafras students become life-long learners, or at least doing my best to head them in the right direction.

Thoughts From Dolls

The fact that it snowed yesterday has nothing to do with this blog post. And neither do the Nilla Wafers I ate last night that remind me of my grandma and being a kid at her house. But last night as I was eating these nilla things, I watched some Pixar short films while snuggling up in bed (with Salami). Most were cute, but this one was creeeppy.

Growing up I had two shelves atop half of my bedroom, lining the wall. I loved, like really loved, dolls, so I filled the shelves with all different sorts of them. I loved dolls from other ethnicity and dolls with lots of accessories. Just to prove my point, I am going to admit that I had an American Girl doll house that my dad made out of wood. Often, when I would have my little friends over for sleep overs, especially my couz Paige, they would say how creepy it was that I had these dolls staring down on me all night. That one with the cloak? No matter where I go, she is still looking at me - they would say. Okay, they were not creepy; what is so scary about a sweet little doll? Except when one randomly fell off the shelf - now that did make me jump - but I liked to pose some of them standing up which sometimes made them a bit wobbly.

 I think maybe I wasn't sketched out by them because they were my own dolls. I knew each of them: their personalities, likes and dislikes, temperaments; because I had created them; they existed truly in my head. What an interesting idea. For two reasons:

1. Whenever we create something it does exist first in our head. This Pixar short first had to be created in someone's head. And why did they create it? What does it mean to them? When I watch it, I also use my eyes and noggin to create meaning. What does it mean to me? What does it mean to you? Blowz my mind. (EMD*)

2. On a more spiritual side of things. God knows us each perfectly, and he created us. Maybe that is why he can see us not as we are now, but as we can become. He sees our divine potential and worth. Perry cool stuff. To find out more about the LDS (or Mormon) church, go here.

*EMD refers to English Major's Disease and often happens when English teachers think everyone is going to love literature as much as they do, among other symptoms. Coined by Dr. Chris Crowe.

Memoir

Once when I was a little chickling, I was sitting in a patch of clovers (not) watching my brother play soccer. I had recently seen seen an episode of Reading Rainbow : ) where they had searched through a 5' by 5' square of clovers to find a lucky four leaf gem. So I decided to try my luck. I searched through each regular three-leaf flower, carefully separating them out, looking at each one individually. And guess what, I am not kidding, I found one. So you know what I did with it? I put it in my pocket to show my mom when I got home. A four-leaf clover in my pocket. When I got home to show my mommy, my four-leaf clover, dead and crumpled, was not much of a treasure. So...I threw it away. yes. I am crazy. I once found a four-leaf clover and I threw it away. cray-cray-ka-cray. You are just going to have to believe me.

Here is a completely random picture of me with an owl. #readharrypotter4lyfe