I'm really sad and disappointed. The rainy season this year has led to some fungus, whose name I can't remember how to spell, and surely can't pronounce, making it so that winter squash, despite that name, will not be something I can store. I've had seasons where the vernal equinox has been celebrated in my house by the making of a huge batch of pumpkin/winter squash lasagna-- one of the few dishes I can claim to have designed from my own little culinary brain alone, no recipes involved. The fungus will make it impossible to keep and store squash, killing that tradition that would have been in its third year. The only silver lining is in the fact that this year, we had the option to extend our CSA shares into December, and should continue getting fresh squash until then.
The rainy summer has made for exceptionally tall ragweed too, so as soon as I healed (the scabs are still visible, so by healed, I mean stopped itching) from the poison ivy I picked up on my birthday in August, I've been suffering bitterly from allergies. They've gone right into my lungs, too, so I hack and cough, and sound like patient zero in some deep contagion. I keep going to work like this, even though I've had days without a voice. And, teaching without a voice in classes approaching 30 students has been interesting, to put it mildly.
But, I'm excited to be in the midst of trying to steal away a club advisory. Every year, they have to take applications and conduct interviews for the few extracurricular clubs that still exist, probably because of the supremely awesome $2500/year pay -out (there's sarcasm there, if you can't sense it.... doing the math, if you advise a club properly, you get compensated at pennies an hour, no exaggeration, since post-tax that works out to something like $1900, something I learned from my one year advising a middle school yearbook). So, I'm trying to steal the advisory of the Green Team. The only "green" thing this team does is collect the classroom recycling bins weekly. The rest of their time is spent in fundraising-- for non-green school events, like prom, etc. I kid you not. They do nothing else. I intend to give them an actual curriculum, teaching them about how to meaningfully live in a green way, and in the letter I've written, and will reread one more time before submitting on Monday (deadline is actually Wednesday, so it's good and ready within the required timeline), I propose to use the underutilized (read, not used at all) quad area to teach the kids how to grow their own veggies, and I've suggested they should be involved in local environmental actions, such as the attempt to rescue a very polluted marsh right next to the high school grounds, and travel to elementary schools to teach appreciation of the natural world to kids at a young age, where it's likely to stick with them for good. Imagine proposing that a Green Team should to actual green stuff? I hope I get the position: I can't even tell you how much I dislike the team's current advisor, and not just because he takes the yearly stipend without knowing his ass from his elbow where environmentalism is concerned (for example, he's clearly oblivious to the fact that just about all of the school's recycling isn't getting recycled at all, because no one has taught the kids that plastic drink bottles need to be sent with caps removed. The caps are a different plastic, and because there's no time to remove these caps at the recycling center, all bottles with caps attached go right to the landfill.... In other words, the only "green" thing he has them doing isn't even happening! I also know he got permission to use the quad for what I propose-- he was just given it, without solitcitation-- but did nothing because it means showing up at school a couple of days a week in the summer, and perhaps spending about $200 on supplies and/or working to get then donated), but also because he royally sucks as an English teacher, and if the kids even read or write in his class, I'd be desperately surprised. He's also a douchey driver, something I learned on a day when we were together in pulling over for an ambulance, and he took it upon himself to cut me off getting back into the road (he was behind me when we pulled over: did he think I planned to just sit there pulled over and masturbate when it was clear to go?). In short, it may be only $2500, but that money should be given to someone who intends to take a club and make it legitimate, not just someone who advises a club solely to have (some of the) money to go snowboarding every other weekend. I will be pissed if they (the administration) can't see that I'm clearly the better candidate for the position, and I intend to mildly and diplomatically point out how poorly the club has achieved the goals it ought to have for the years it has existed when interviewed. Here's hoping reason and sensiblity prevail!
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