the association, pta video


my very exhausted pta president friend sent me this awesome video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p09tvwvHnsU


enjoy!

out for a drink tonight at the homestead with two mama friends. we got carded which is starting to seem so ridiculous.  the guy checking ids said he was three years older than us.  i politely lied and said i would have carded him, too. we had a few old fashioneds and my friend scared me by demonstrating how fast her new electric tesla could fly on a city street.

we talked tonight about how our city kids were growing up in a place where they cannot help but be aware of socioeconomic differences.  we are in the middle of a huge pile.  it's not just a matter of who has more toys or cars around here.  some people are sleeping in the dirt, and others have several homes and travel to asia and take many vacations.  somehow my not so diverse childhood made me less concerned with money, and i am not quite sure this is a good or a bad thing.  we will see how it all pans out.

three little girls were chanting on the playground today about how mitt romney could not be allowed to win.  right now i hear a bunch of drunk kids outside chanting something at the bus stop.  what could it be?

recently i am seriously craving some peace and quiet. a place in the woods, with drips of water falling from wild rhododendrons or a fast moving river over rocks.  tired of drunk chanters and angry men with microphones yelling about jesus, and airplanes and buses and cars.

that electric car was wonderfully quiet, the sound of no garbage entering the air.
goodnight.

giant value seals

maya spotted a man "sleeping in the dirt" today as we drove from bayshore to potrero.  seconds later she saw someone lying on the hill in the skate park, neatly tucked in under a tan blanket, rock-like in the grass.  she yelled "look" and then asked very seriously if we should invite people who are homeless into our home. she said it in a way that let me know the idea scared her a bit. but i was glad she asked.  when i told her she could give money to a shelter that would help find places for people to stay she quickly decided she would give away all her money.  then she changed her mind and said she would give "some".  she needs to save some for herself to buy hello kitty marshmallow lollipops at walgreens.

ranting helicopter parent

i think of urban kids as being more affected by helicopter parenting because of the physical environment--we are with the kids more as we drive them everywhere, can't let them loose outside in the crazy neighborhood with lots of traffic.  i have also read some convincing arguments that parents have become more and more involved with their children's lives as a result of marriage becoming less important, or being perceived as a partnership for parenting. these things make sense.

but i also wonder if parents like me are so involved with their kids' lives because of the depressing news we hear about almost daily.  my kids go to school in a urban district state that is 49th out of 50 for education funding. hearing day after day about education cuts, including early education and college, makes me feel like i have to be involved in my kids' education.    parents think so much about private preschools because they have to pay so much money for them, and want to make sure their kid is getting as much into their little brains as possible before they have to enter the underfunded education system.  and ultimately parents are thinking about the future we keep hearing about with economic and climate disaster, etc etc.

we want our offspring to make it through and thrive and have good lives, and we don't feel like society as it is will provide it, so we pour all our resources into our own kids.  i think about the money we are spending on dance class, soccer, and now maya's drama class.  i know a lot of folks who pay for tutors for their elementary kids who are doing quite well in school. all this money adds up.  it could be going into funding a school system that would be better for all the kids in our society.  but the way our society is set up kids are a low priority.  so we helicopter to try and make sure they will be ok anyway.  and while helicoptering all our energy goes into our own kids.

where will this pattern lead?  to more and more inequality, right?

how can we get to a place where kids are the most important people instead of the least?  a plane to finland?

happy homemaker

on my days off work and kids  i know there are many productive things i could be engaged in.  working and making money, for one.  working on a creative or artistic project.  doing some type of work for the common good.  the world is in need of  serious intervention, and i know it.  however, i am finding that i slip into a domestic meditative state that i really enjoy.  folding laundry, sweeping the floor, watering the garden, putting kids clothes away, paying bills, making tempeh and vegetables, baking oatmeal muffins.  it is sunny and the windows are open and someone's smooth jazz sounds good coming through the back window.  in an hour i will walk up potrero hill to get my kids, taking my time through the starr king open space. cleaning and feeding and keeping things going need to be done, but could be done much more efficiently.  instead of feeling guilt over not making money or producing something of value i am trying to be ok with just having some time, all alone save for the dog and guinea pig, that is simply pleasurable and easy.

sidewalk scaping appreciation video

walking through the mission, an unscripted homage to sidewalk scaping.

my ambitious son told me yesterday he wanted to live in the country when he grew up, in point arena. he would buy part  of our friend's land and then build a huge house, with a huge trampoline he could jump on all the time, and a soccer field.  he said he would stay in the city if he could live in a quiet part, with his own soccer field to play on. when we talked about how cities are good because people share common land, and how native americans didn't even think land could be owned, etc etc, he reconsidered and said that he would buy a house in a city next to a huge soccer field, buy it, and let other people and dogs play on it, too. he then asked me if i knew how much professional soccer players make..."millions, every game! yeah, baby!"  some of us have more drive to own, and own big, than others, all i can work on with my acquisitive kid is  making it seem just as rewarding to give as to acquire.  living in a small city space with a shared yard  could lead to desires for grandeur and space, but also to an appreciation of plants growing out of a former sidewalk square.

tacolicious fundraiser

tacolicious on valencia street at 18th is supporting my kids' school, starr king elementary.
they are giving a nice chunk of their profits from each monday in september to the school.  the owners have kids in another san francisco public school and do this as a very generous way to give back to the larger community.  so go to tacolicious and splurge on delicious tacos and drinks.  i went last night and liked the tuna tostadas, the heirloom tomato salad, and the pitchers of margaritas--one regular, one with watermelon.  remind me that i am too old to drink alcohol on a work night, though.  none of the kids seemed to mind that i had a headache all day.

size matters

my current caseload is only at 65% of the maximum number of students it is recommended i work with, and i have been able to DO MY JOB for these first weeks of school. i have had time to consult with the preschool teachers and parents.  i have created systematic home practice programs for most of the kids.  i have started one kid with a step by step device and trained the classroom staff on how to use it with him.  i have been able to do some 1:1 pull out sessions to teach new skills and then had time to help the child generalize these skills in the classroom.  i have been building relationships with all my new little students on the autism spectrum. i have been busy as a bee working on visual supports for communication--see some examples of my fine iphone photography above for those students who just don't understand what those picture icons are all about.   i have been able to plan out activities and make materials ahead of the day of.   i have been taking daily notes on progress towards goals.   i have even had time to eat lunch!

it would be fantastic if my caseload stayed this low, but it won't.  it won't, that is, unless some of the  students can move on to less restrictive settings.  we will see how it all unfolds.  it is exciting to feel like you are doing your job.  it is exciting to see little people moving forward into the unlimited world of symbolic language.

long long break

well, after a blogging break like i never took before i need to ease back into things.  so yes, a rambling post.

summer has already blurred over, but looking at my photo library we had: a visit from my dad and stepmom with a ridiculous kite in a tree rescue and some nice grandparent and grandchild bonding. lots of dug up emotion from childhood which bobs to the surface each time i see my father. my friend who fled to the suburbs of chicago came to stay with us and made me miss her again so much.  there was lots of golden gate park time for me and maya while miles went to tennis camps.  there was plenty of wine.  camp mather, with that pool in the redwoods and a new group of friends formed around the ping pong table.  kayaking on the russian river, and weeks and weeks in sonoma with my mom, swimming in the pool for hours each day, the sun beating down, lots of fruits and vegetables and time in the green town square.  while many of our friends jetted from coast to coast, and off to hawaii and china and beyond we stayed,once again, very local.

and now we are back in the city and school and work.  i see more clearly each year how the preschool special education system should work a lot better and it makes me want to fight.  change is very slow.  and i feel part of a much larger fight in which education and kids are a low priority.  i have been fuming driving to work and listening to republican speeches and sound bites.  my kids have it pretty good this year, with four solid teachers, but i am not satisfied with the way my school district is supporting the "economically disadvantaged" kids at their school.

being a parent, and working in a school system, and seeing the general big systems of our world more and more clearly because i have to wonder how they will affect the lives of my kids and students as they grow i've started to feel very small and powerless at the same time that i am  gaining knowledge.  is there a way to funnel this knowledge into something productive and fulfilling?   i would like to figure this  out before i get too old.

and believe it or not, still thinking about fleeing the city sometimes.  maya and i were feet away from a horrible fight on the number 9 bus  a few days ago.  a 50 year old man and a young guy with an attitude yelling  at each other and shoving and then the older guy hitting the younger--then more shoving and a woman in a wheelchair screaming about babies being on the bus and me holding maya and finally the older guy was hit in the back with a mcdonald's strawberry milkshake and ran away as the police pulled up.  the constant traffic noise has me fantasizing about closing down our street.  there are constant sounds of engines.  i read ecotopia for the 15th time.  i am an occasional peeping tom on facebook especially with friends who are living out in nature, but then i will admit it, i imagine myself living many people's lives and wondering if i would be happier there, it's just a thing i do.

if anyone is reading this, please do me a favor and let me know what you would like me to write more about.  i will do it for you...