High school English teachers

One of my favorite things about being an English teacher is that when people find out what I do everyone has a story. It seems that everyone has a favorite English teacher who changed their lives, made them believe in themselves, helped them question their culture, exposed them to the raw, uncensored world, tenderly pushed them to places they didn't want to go, helped uncover the humanity in the humanities, and were a little quirky while doing it.

Just this week I heard about the teacher who called the student to apologize for a class activity that was to hard (while the student telling me the story couldn't help smiling about how the teacher cultivated an argumentative classroom for the 18 year olds) or the teacher who had each student create a tome of English information for the AP test, or the teacher that helped the student want to read.

I know my job doesn't make a lot of money, and I know that it's hard and frustrating sometimes, but it's delightful to be part of a system that people can't help but talk about. I see in these conversations the appreciation students have for their teachers and it helps with the frustrating times and the life of poverty.....

RIGGS!

Did you know that I moved to SLC, or that I got a new job for the fall, or that i'm working on my thesis right now? Anyway, those things are unimportant compared to this picture. I was at my house this weekend and a friend brought over a box and when she opened it out jumped this cat. It was fantastic!

Here is why this picture makes me happy:

I am holding an animal (which looks like it has super powers)

The animal is named Riggs from Friday Night Lights--a show i'm head over heels for.

The picture was taken by one of my favorite people who was visiting over the weekend.