This makes me so happy I could wet my pants.

In other news, it's Miley Cyrus' birthday. Her real name is Destiny Hope, which qualifies her for the "Pregnant By Fourteen" club. Still, though, it might just be better than Bronx Mowgli Wentz, who was born on Thursday.

So I think my favorite thing about being a teacher is the constant element of surprise. On Thursday, which is our poetry day, I laid out about twenty of my favorite books of poetry and every student had take one, find a poem they liked and share it with the class. There was a wide range, from Rumi to the Brownings to the Harlem Renaissance Poets. My favorite poet is Lucille Clifton, and every time we do this exercise her book gets passed around and giggled at because she writes about menstruation and breasts and penises and all manner of stuff. But everything she says is so true and undeniable. So I see Colin, who is only thirteen and quite twerpish, sit down with Lucille and I almost take it away from him because I can't stand the idea of a thirteen year old white male putting down a seventy year old African American woman. But I just walk away and let him do his thing.

Half an hour later we all gather to share our poems and when it gets to be Colin's turn he simple says "I really like Lucille Clifton" without a hint of his usual snark and proceeds to read Why Some People Be Mad At Me Sometimes. The room gets really silent and then all the students, those little jerks who give Colin such a (deservedly) hard time, say "Wow. I really really like that. Will you read it again?"

It's moments like that when I realize that my small salary is aptly supplemented.

Karma

So this article makes me slightly giddy. The kind of giddy that then gets me "convicted".

We're finishing The Grapes of Wrath this morning. I wonder how they're going to pull off the last scene on film. I think I'll be disappointed.

It's so cold outside.

Deb played with my butt this morning.

My college roommate, Dee Ann, is on her NICU rotation right now. She has encountered these two baby names:

• Posh Muffin
• Andromycus Come Here

I've managed to inhale at least 1/3 of a cubic ton of chalk today. Wednesdays are when I teach almost every period. I try not to wear dark clothes to reduce the embarrassment of being covered in chalk, but on days when I oversleep by an hour I find I'm not thinking clearly enough to color coordinate with the day's activities. So more than once today I've heard "Miss Allison, you're covered in chalk." 

"Your arm, Miss Allison. It's your entire arm."

"Your butt, Miss Allison."

"Wipe your nose right here, Miss Allison. There's chalk all over your nose."

I overslept. I had to leave my house without my pants on this morning. They're on now.