black lightning and local cultchuh

last night i was up obsessively researching mandarin immersion language programs which, as i suspected, have some definite challenges. are we up for them? we are waiting to find out if miles gets into our neighborhood school's mandarin immersion program, which has pros and cons, but is walkable and sounded like a safe bet in this hellish lottery process. if the program worries me too much, or if miles hates it, we could always transfer, (here is the biggest challenge i'm worried about:

"Some partial immersion teachers of the upper elementary grades report particular difficulties in teaching advanced-level subject matter because students’ cognitive development is at a higher level than their proficiency in the immersion language (Met & Lorenz, 1997). This challenge becomes more pronounced in programs where the immersion language is character-based since literacy development is more timeconsuming and demanding (Met, 2002). Promoting student understanding of more abstract and complex concepts in full immersion programs becomes increasingly difficult by the upper elementary grades resulting at times in teacher use of English to ensure concept mastery(Fortune, Tedick & Walker, forthcoming; Met & Lorenz, 1997). ")

or flee the city. also last night i was up wondering why we are still here. wouldn't it be simpler if we had moved to some nice suburb with nice predictable school systems and cheaper houses and less poo on the street, as most of my friends did? i wanted to stay here for the community, but that community has largely disappeared from our lives. but where would we go?

this morning miles was talking a lot about the mexican wrestling show he saw with maya's babysitter's 5 year old over spring break. he mentioned men without shirts, with masks, one jumping into glass. this isn't a show we would have let him see, but he'd loved it. we ended up making him a mask from some black and blue duct tape and a ski hat with eye, nose, and mouth holes. he said his wrestling name was black lightning and wrestled for quite a while with rich, which i'm sure our downstairs neighbors loved at 8 am.

later i took maya on a stroll around the mission. we went up 24th and got tasty coffee at sugarlump. galeria de la raza was working on an installation. a youth art festival is coming up at brava theater. maya liked a new mural of some wierd looking kids in masks, one of whom she decided was a lion. we walked over to the park and on the way saw some kids painting outside the red poppy.
these two cool young women (i'm feeling old) asked us if maya wanted to make some art. she put many smelly markers up to her nose and made some lines and dots with them. she painted some more lines on a big sheet hanging on the wall. a little 3 year old girl next to us perfectly painted her and her brother's names: xochitl and alejandro. i was amazed. other kids were painting suns, monsters, blobs. an acquaintance from miles' younger days walked by and his mom invited us to a group family camping trip she's planning. a drum circle was going on at caesar chavez elementary, pounding and banging ringing noises through the streets.

and later i took miles to a free introductory mommy and child yoga class up in bernal heights. it was fun, with miles learning to be a seed growing into a vegetable, a butterfly, a snake, a frog, a tree, and even helping me do some stretches. i don't think i liked it enough for $10 a person, but maybe.

and hey i forgot, also stopped at the very close by million fishes gallery to get a schedule for yoga classes they are offering. i went inside and chatted with the woman there. i told her i had been there years before, when our dog chicken's friend geo the dog lived there. i could tell she was from the east and was right, connecticut. we shook hands and she said she was glad to meet me. i liked her smile.

so, my stomach is still sick about the school thing. and i'm forever sad about all the leaving people. but the other people leaving is not my choice. it is out of my control. we have chosen to stay, at least for right now. so i know what i need to do is figure out how to really dig in and find who and what i need to be happy, right here and now. because i don't think there is a place we could go to find it and i don't expect anyone from my past in san francisco to return.

excuse me, it's late. bye bye