:: p-dog ::

After putting it off for about a month and a half, I finally put together the latest Fischer Times. Here it is.

34 more teaching days.

:: Leslie H - 6:43 PM - ::

I'm home sick today with the latest bad cold bug going around at school, really bored with reading and TV but too listless to attempt much else. Other than periodically haul myself to the computer, of course.

Catholics have elected themselves a new pope. A really conservative one. To my dismay.

Those Catholics never let their claws out of you. Lapse all you want, but you identify in some weird way. You still hope the leader is someone you don't find morally repugnant. You still find yourself oddly proud that Catholicism is more progressive in many ways than those weird evangelicals. Perhaps I'm attributing too much to my religious upbringing: I would hope that any high-profile world leader would believe that birth control and homosexuality are not abominations.

Regardless, the already wide gulf between myself and my former faith just got a little more impassable.

:: Leslie H - 4:32 PM - ::

This weekend I felt for the first time that the school year is almost over. It manifested on Saturday as a deep sense of peace, and on Sunday as a lack of my usual dread/desperation about starting another week. There are only eight left. Why stress?

Well, here's one reason. This is an email I got from one of my students this weekend. As you can see, I have done a tremendous job of teaching writing.

helo ms.hall!!!!!!:D what r u pu 2 lately? sorry about the writting but its the new days not old scool ya''llllll. just want 2 tell u if u can send me the 411-info abut the recycling thinger magiger. that u and ton ,mr. martinez r doing thanks gottta blast
LATE

Mmmm, yes. My legacy.

:: Leslie H - 8:35 PM - ::

Apologies for the lack of posts. I am holding my breath and swimming madly for the finish line. I'm afraid if I do too much reflection it might make me notice how long it's taking.

Eight more weeks.

:: Leslie H - 3:06 PM - ::

While school started again yesterday, today was my first day back. I was greeted by a smashed window (one of half a dozen at the school), glass shards everywhere, and the desks rearranged by my students under the not-so-watchful eye of yesterday's substitute.

Where was Ms. Hall yesterday? Tacking on an extra day to spring break? In Dallas with my recently hospitalized mother? Sick myself? No! I was visiting the magical fairyland that is Berkeley, California. It was visit day for the public policy school. Ostensibly to give prospective students a look at the school, answer questions, and persuade fence-sitters to choose Cal over Georgetown or Princeton or NYU. As I a) applied to no other schools, b) deferred my admission two years ago to do TFA, and c) have romanticized grad school to the point where it cannot possibly live up to my expectations, nor could I fathom doing anything else next year, one would think that I would not need to go to the open house. Au contraire.

If I had actually made some informed decision about what policy grad school might best fit my needs, rather than just pick one that sounded good and was in the right place, I doubtless would have known better what I was getting into. As it was, I was just crazy lucky. The answers to all my questions indicate that Berkeley’s Goldman school is not only an outstanding program, but it also suits me perfectly. I won’t go into all the details. But here are some.
1) The program trains generalists, meaning everyone gets a fundamental skill set (read: lots of math) that helps them analyze policy in whatever field, for whatever kind of job. It also means that everyone is basically in the same classes the first year, which leads to corollaries:
a) there is a great deal of camaraderie, and
b) classes are every day from 8:30 – 12.
2) Year two is basically about taking any electives, from any graduate department at Berkeley, that you think might be useful. The Goldman school offers some great ones, but there are no requirements at all.
3) Berkeley, as a city, is approx 1000x cooler than anything in the South Bay.

I was only unhappy with two things:
1) 90% of the people who do the joint policy/law program just become plain old lawyers, regardless of what they said they would do when they entered the programs. And I have never wanted to be a lawyer.
2) In-state tuition next year is increasing by $5,000/year (from $7,000 to $12,000). The upside is, it’s one more thing I can blame on Republicans. And Arnold in particular.

But those are only minor dampers on my now near-orgasmic joy. Rather than being a hazy light at the end of the tunnel, Berkeley has become much more concrete. It also helped that Bryan and I walked around potential neighborhoods and speculated on apartments.

I have to go to a staff meeting now. But after this one, only nine more. 47 more days as a teacher, then back to being a student.

:: Leslie H - 2:34 PM - ::

My spring break pics are up. I am plugging through a long to do list. Good times, rolling.

:: Leslie H - 1:06 PM - ::

Dallas was awesome. I am currently doing my darnedest to put up the kind of gallery post you have come to expect and deserve. In the meantime, check out this list of 100 Best April Fool's jokes. Who remembers seeing the Taco Liberty Bell ad?

:: Leslie H - 7:29 PM - ::