Not again!

It's the second time in about 2 years that one of our favorite restaurants has closed!

First it was our favorite Italian place, Zio's. They closed their Aurora location. Fortunately, we can still visit their Colorado Springs location whenever we happen to be down there.

Now, it's our favorite Cajun place, Bourbon Street. They're the only place in town I know of that served Fried Dill Pickle Spears, just the way I love 'em. Bayou Bob's serves Fried Pickle Chips, but it's really not the same. Now I have to go all the way to Bloomington, IN to the Trojan Horse to get 'em the way I like 'em.

And I'm not going to tell you what my other favorite restaraunt is. Don't want to jinx it!

WWJD?

An anonymous friend of mine wrote recently about a struggle with his church. I thought I would post an excerpt here to see how other Christ-followers would respond in this situation.

"We've tolerated the situation to this point because we love our church... its scholastically rich and faithful messages, even if tweaked by one or two sentences of political afterthought that we choose to ignore... its people who practice what they preach in giving, and the warm, friendly nature of the people. Yet, we can't tolerate it anymore, and we've we've reached the point where doing nothing is being intellectually dishonest. We've got to do something.

Do we speak to the pastors about our concerns and thereby "out" ourselves as Republicans and/or conservatives? Yes, outing oneself as a "re-pug" in is more stigmatized than outing oneself as GLBT. The pastors would probably keep quiet. If they didn't or someone overheard, such word would spread like wildfire. Since a bunch of colleagues go to our church, I would be endangering some income that I receive, as word would also spread similarly through that community and would endanger my membership in the <> union. Also, good luck finding a church anywhere in the area that doesn't wax liberal. The Catholic churches in the area even openly oppose the pope on several crucial issues (gay marriage, abortion, communion to those who support either, etc.). The few evangelical churches in our area are so noxiously to the other extreme, spending so much time on news topics in their sermons, that faith is almost ignored altogether... no great option there."

Please share your thoughts. What would you do in this situation?

A tragic ending...

It is not my intent to criticize the way authorities handled the stand-off yesterday. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes ever and I admire their courage. But I'm reading in the news that the gunman shot Miss Keyes as the SWAT team burst into the room. I can't help wondering if she'd still be alive had they just waited him out.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Keyes family and the community of Bailey, and also with the authorities involved who probably also feel a terrible sense of loss after their dedicated efforts to rescue all the hostages.

A happy ending...

It was 11:50 AM and I was driving through my neighborhood on my way to my voice lesson when I saw three cars swerve to miss hitting a cute litte Jack Terrier. One of them even honked at him and he didn't get out of the way. I pulled over and opened my car door, and the little dog hopped into my lap and started licking my face. He was wearing a collar, but no identification. And he was in excellent shape - not fat, not skinny - so clearly someone had been taking good care of him.

I knocked at three houses. One wasn't home. Another said they thought the dog belonged to the folks that weren't home. Given his unhealthy affinity for being in the street, I couldn't leave him there, so I took him to my veterinarian. They scanned him, but he wasn't microchipped, so they couldn't help. So, I took the little guy to the Dumb Friends League. He was so happy riding in the car with me and so miserable when I left him at the shelter that I cried leaving him there.

Seven hours later, when I finished teaching for the day, I printed a few flyers and headed back to the street where I found him. I knocked on the door of the folks who hadn't been home. No answer. But as I finished taping the first flyer to a lightpost, they pulled into their driveway - a young mother and her two teenage boys. And it was their dog and they were quite worried about him. I told them where to claim their doggie and they were very very grateful. A happy ending indeed.

And to top it off, my teacher was so kind as to let me have a later lesson time today so I didn't have to forfeit my lesson.

Getting ahead

Hello again.

I am a much better student now than I was as an undergrad. I'm feeling like a total nerd because I get truly excited about the subject material. And since I don't have anything due next week, I spent the weekend working ahead in two classes. After all, if nothing is due this week, then it's probably all going to gang up on me later. Plus I need to be working ahead since I will be in Rome for two weeks in November.

Today I read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." Anyone else ever read it? It was assigned reading for my Special Ed class. I read the whole book this afternoon. I haven't devoured a book in one afternoon since I was a pre-teen reading Babysitter's Club books.

I have been experiencing a peculiar phenomenon this last week. My gag reflex is out of control. I think it much be some sort of reaction to stress, but this last week was significantly more managable than the first three weeks. Unfortunately, it's getting worse. Today it was constant instead of occasional, and bad enough that I was only able to eat a little bit. I tried looking for an answer on the web, but all I found were articles about morning sickness, and I can be reasonably sure I am not pregnant. I called my mom, a nurse, but she had never heard of such a symptom. I hope it goes away soon.

Growing into Charles Ives

The only class I ever got a C in was Twentieth Century Music Theory. I hated it. Basically, I didn't like 20th century art music, so studying it was pure torture. Consequently, I devoted as little time to it as possible.

So, it's really something that this evening I attended a lecture on Charles Ives of my own free will. And actually enjoyed it. I think the difference is 8 more years of life experience and maturity. It takes a mature intellect to appreciate the abstract works of 20th century art music composers. It also reflects a higher level of maturity that I now value learning for its own sake. I can't imagine attending a lecture as an undergrad that I was not required to attend.

I still don't like all of Ives' music. Maybe I'll be mature enough to appreciate it later. Maybe not. There's something entertaining about the idea of a duet featuring two pianos tuned a quarter tone apart. That is to say, the idea is most amusing, but the music itself is most disturbing. Still, some of his music is quite beautiful to the point that I considered adding some of it to my library. Most entertaining, however, is his literature. I perused a couple of pages of a book of essays he wrote, and nearly every other sentence stands alone as a witty, thought-provoking quotation. I think I will try to track down a copy of that book.

Unfortunately, none of the quotation websites Google brought up share any of the dozens of quotes that attracted my attention, so I will have to share those with you at a later time. Goodnight!

Struck a nerve

I'm still wiping tears from my eyes, although I had the presence of mind to wait until class ended and I was well away from the building before I let out my frustration.

Undergraduage special education class.... we were taking a quiz. It's the WISC-R test that they give kids in order to assess whether or not they should be placed in special education. The teacher chose sample questions from each age group up through age 12. The questions were given verbally, as they would be in actual practice, and we were to write down our answers. There was only one right answer for each question. The questions were very vague. In many cases, more information was needed to really give an accurate answer. For example, a math problem concerning money and we're supposed to subtract "a quarter." Was that 25 cents or 1/4 of the amount? (It was 1/4 of the amount.) So, I asked for clarification on two questions.

After the second time, the professor told the class - no, he didn't address me, he addressed the class - he said that if this were a real test, he would interpret my speaking up as an indication of psychological emotional disturbance. I didn't ask any more questions.

I was the only person in the class that passed the test.

The purpose of taking the test was to demonstrate how unfair and unrealistic the test is, despite the fact that it is still the primary assessment tool used in public schools. He certainly made his point.

Why am I so upset? Well, for one thing, I already feel alienated in that classroom. Because I have a 20-minute walk to class from my previous class and only 15 minutes to do it in, I arrive 5 minutes late for his class every time. I can only imagine how the other students interpret that. And secondly, I'm at least 7 years older than anyone else in the class, and I am acutely aware that I am therefore different. Having been warned by a wise friend, I don't contribute much if anything to class discussions. I've tried so hard to just blend in, and I feel like the professor ruined those attempts today.

The experience also made me very aware of myself. Well, more than usual. And I think I finally figured out why I was always regarded as a "problem child" by my early elementary school teachers. And that opened some old wounds.

It was without a doubt the worst classroom experience I have had since elementary school.

For those interested, some of the questions on the test included stuff like, "What is a horse?" and "What do you call a baby donkey?" which is a trick question. You still call it a donkey. "How far is it from New York to Los Angeles?" The answer is 2500 miles. Any other answer is wrong. "If you found $50 on the floor in the grocery store, what would you do?" Remember, only one right answer. There is no subjectivity in the grading and no partial credit. Students are placed in special ed according to their scores. "You missed this many, you go in special education." The questions were drawn from tests going up through age 12, and again, I was the only one who passed the test. Does this bother anyone else?

Catching up

Hello again. I've composed half a dozen blog entries in my mind over the last week or so, but by the time I get to a computer with time to write, I forget what all those enlightened thoughts were!

I've been very busy. I had so much homework to do over the weekend, and believe it or not, I actually got it all done. But there was no time for anything else. Of course, part of the difficulty was that I was in Loveland all day for the dress rehearsal and performance of the Loveland Opera Theatre fundraising Gala, which went well. But I still managed to read a whole chapter of special education during the break between rehearsal and the show, and during the show when I wasn't on stage. But those are the lengths it took to get everything done. No wonder I can't remember waht I want to write - my brain is full!

I'm need to have a chat with my four kitties. They are not doing their job of keeping their papa company while Mommy is in Greeley on Monday nights. We usually wake up with cats all over us, but this morning Eric says there was not a single cat on the bed with him. In Windsor at his cousin's house, I slept like a rock. I never woke during the night, and I can't remember the last time I slept that soundly.

So, I'm babbling because I can't think of anything intelligent to write about today. Sorry, my friends! But after a week of silence, hopefully babble is better than nothing.

Funny teeth!

So, when my husband was in college, in a fit of stupidity (one of many!) he performed a handstand balancing between two dressers in a small college dorm room. It was spectacular - until gravity kicked in and he woke up some time later in a pool of blood. End result - he broke a tooth and had to have it crowned.

Many years later (tonight), he was playing with a flourescent black light (using it to locate any cat urine we missed. Life is a little rough in the Seligmann house this week). Would you know that all his teeth glowed bright green except the crown, which looked purple? Who'da thunk it? If I ever wondered which tooth it was, I now know!

Remember Mad Libs?

Yeah, those things where you were supposed to list a noun, another noun, a verb, an adjective, etc. without knowing how those words would fit into pre-determined sentences? You've probably noticed that online search engine advertisements use the same idea and plug whatever you searched for into their sentence, indicating how their website can help you find what you want, no matter what it is. This one about killed me....

Pet Odor
Shop and compare great deals on Pet Odor and millions of other products.
http://shopping.xxxxxx.com

Wow! Who knew there was a market for Pet Odor! If I could sell the "excess" pet odors Trisket has blessed us with this week, we'd be "filthy rich!"

Challenges

It's been a very challenging week for me as a teacher for a variety of reasons. The most recent snag is that one of my best students didn't get a role in her school musical.

To give you an idea of how she ranks within her school, last year she sang the role of Maria in The Sound of Music at her school (and did a knock-out job! See March blog) and she was the only student from her whole school to get into All-State Choir. When I heard that her school was doing the musical, Anything Goes, I was thrilled. The role of Reno is perfect for her. In fact, I was convinced that they chose the musical specifically for her - kind of like Doc did when I was in high school by doing Fiddler on the Roof the year Jordan Sher was a senior. So, I was floored when her mom called tonight to tell me that not only did they not give her the role of Reno, they didn't give her any role at all! And that musical has several supporting roles. They put her in the chorus. This, her senior year, and she's planning to major in music! What a terrible disappointment!

I had a student last year who was denied a leading role because her school had a policy against any student having a leading role two years in a row. But they told her this so she understood. This student's teacher didn't pull her aside to explain or do anything to prepare her for what she must have known was going to be a hard blow. I will be interested to hear what she and her mother can get from the choir teacher in the way of an explanation. I mean, they have every right not to cast her, but in an educational situation like that, I think it's important that a student of her caliber understand what factors worked against her.

And sadly, I think I know how my student feels. She's worked very hard, she thought she was sure to get a role and then she was blind-sided. Like when I applied for a master's in voice performance at CU Boulder after doing my undergrad at the #1 music school in the country (Indiana U!). I couldn't believe a state school in my own state would turn me down with the qualifications I had. I was devastated.

Now, on one hand I've been told that there were political issues going on at CU which would make it harder for an in-state student to get in than an out-of-state one. So, there was sort of an explanation later on, though I have no real proof of it. But on the other hand, I was never meant to be in Boulder, and I don't think I was meant to get my master's in performance either. I just hadn't realized it yet. I am not doing my graduate work in Music Education because I couldn't do it in Performance. Not at all - I was accepted to the Performance program at DU, but turned it down. No, it was during that time that I suddenly realized that although I love performing, I didn't want the lifestyle of a performer - the traveling so many months out of the year. I like being at home and I want to raise a family. And at the same time, I was discovering how much I really enjoyed teaching, even though it had originally been a means to an end. And UNC is among the best places in the country to get a music education degree.

So, the point is, I know how crushed I was when I first found out that I wasn't accepted to CU. I knew God had a plan, but I couldn't begin to fathom what it was. And that's where my student is now. And God revealed His plan in His own time and it is better than anything I could have dreamed up on my own. He will do the same for my student.

Like I said, her mom called to tell me what happened. I don't actually see her until Tuesday, so I have that long to figure out the best way to encourage her. I have an idea how I will start, but I would be interested in how y'all would handle it if you were in my position...