Christmas Time in Arizona

We recently had a very fun weekend, and I'm very sorry that I don't have a single picture to document it! On Friday Dec. 11th, Dean and I and Lacey and Bille went to a Virgin of Guadalupe party that my friend Maria from school threw. She is the best! She works in the cafeteria in the mornings and cleans rooms in the afternoons, so we always talk when she's in my room. It's great because she doesn't mind that my Spanish is bad since her English isn't great either- you might wonder how we communicate but I think we make a great pair! We always laugh a lot and have a good time, but when she invited me to this party at her house, I was worried it might be awkward. I (correctly) assumed that I'd be the only white person there, and I didn't know anyone else who would be coming, etc. etc. Still, she was very excited about it and told me to bring my sister and her boyfriend, and anyone else I wanted, so I decided to take her up on the offer.

SO glad I did! First of all, I didn't know that regular people (not restaraunts) could own pots that big. Also- where does one store such wonderful monstrosities? Maria kept feeding us til we were bursting, Lacey had someone give her the fascinator (hair thing) she was wearing at the end of the night since Lacey had said she liked it, everyone was super friendly and we got to hear a lot of praying the rosary. We ate (in no small amount) each of the following: Homeade beef tamales, posole, rice with corn and chiles and cheese, Mexican macaroni and cheese, mole, red chile, nachos and chapurada (sp?) which is the best homeade hot chocolate of all times, and another hot drink that tasted like rice pudding in liquid form. Needless to say, it's a miracle we managed to roll ourselves out of there after all was said and done.

Then, on Saturday we drove ourselves (and Henry) down to Tucson to see my little brother Jake star in his high school production of Cyrano de Bergerac. It was wonderful and he was AMAZING! My family is so neat and talented, and I was so proud of him. The rest of the weekend we just spent hanging around our family's houses. It was fun to see all the Christmas decorations we grew up with and spend time with family. Unfortunately for me, it has made it very difficult to return to the last week of school. I voted for just staying in Tucson and not finishing my last week of school before break, but Dean thought that might not be the best idea.

Being at home (even for a short time) especially around Christmas makes me think of how good I had it growing up. Sure life wasn't always perfect, and there were occasional family stresses, but basically I had nothing to worry about! No bills to pay, jobs to go to, major decisions to make, church callings to fulfill, or other major stresses. Life is great now too, but every now and then I get an urge to return to being a kid, when life was simpler and I had no real responsibilities. Plus-my parent's pantry! Being at home really makes me appreciate the power of a well stocked pantry. Any snack you want is available and probably a few you don't want are available as well! :) I'm sure Dean is hoping that someday our pantry will be that full, but he might have to wait for that wish to come true. That's about it, just a brief update- I'll try and find pictures that I actually took for my next post!
Merry Christmas Season!

Mexican White Supremacists and other 7th grade happenings

So this is not funny, it is rather horrible. But, it is also funny because it is so stupid and it's like the Dave Chapelle sketch has finally come to life right before my very eyes in my own classroom! Recently, a fellow teacher confiscated a paper airplane created by three-four students on our team. This airplane had some especially disturbing/entertaining (depending on how you view it) designs on it. And by designs, I mean swastikas! Elaborate ones! Swastikas that clearly had time and effort put into them. (Keep in mind that I can't even elicit this kind of effort from these kids on their warm-ups let alone major assignments). Now, I have 150 students and only two of them are white. The rest are Mexican, Native, or Black. Ready for the kicker? The swastika airplane was taken from 4 of my Mexican students. Confusing? I think so. I'm not sure how it's possible that they've been in MY class since August and think that Swastikas are okay, but I'm also confused on this fact- do they not realize that Mexicans cannot be in the White Supremacist club? Not only are they uninvited, they are vehemently abhorred. Somehow this fact has been lost on my four little anti-semite students who I can only conclude think that Swastikas mean anti-Jew without realizing Swastikas are anti everyone. When I tell my students not to do something, they sometimes think it's because it's against school rules or it offends me personally. While both of those things are true in this case, the real point is that my students are making themselves look like complete morons. SO my question for you is...how can I facilitate a realization in my students that Swastika drawing, confederate flag waving Nazis do not like them? I wish to remain silent so that students don't continue drawing this stuff in an effort to be defiant. Plus, I've already spoken my peace on this kind of stuff. What could I get away with having them read that would deliver the message loud and clear? If you have an idea that works, I'll try my hardest to capture their shocked little faces. Thank you so much dear readers. I hope this post has been simultaneously hilarious and disturbing.