life treats.

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(Source: i-am-the-oracular-spectacular, via beardsleyjones)

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that was a damn fine weekend. 

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today = this on repeat. 

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(Source: theohpioneer)

It is one of those days…

…that you, near tears, flip out on one of your seniors because “YOU ARE EXHAUSTING ME. YOU WIN. I’M DONE.” and you put too much Bragg’s on your salad so it’s too salty and you’re kinda bummed, and then you just let your study hall students ride bicycles in the hallway because why the hell not, there’s got to be some happiness hidden somewhere in this day, right?

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(Source: pity-party, via dyslecix)

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fuckyeahspaceexploration:

Timeline #17

1980: Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage is aired, inspiring a whole generation of astronomers, astronauts and scientists.

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(via beardsleyjones)

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A Lot Like Polo, Only Faster and With Beer

Moto-polo, a game in Rwanda that utilizes motorcycles instead of horses, has few rules, lots of beer breaks and frenzied speeds of up to 45 miles per hour.

reading is good, y’all.

Things I read in the last 24 hours and liked:

drinkyourjuice:

• Not Nice: Maurice Sendak and the perils of childhood | Cynthia Zarin for The New Yorker (2006)
• Maurice Sendak on the First Book He’s Written and Illustrated in 30 Years | The Atlantic (2011)
• MCA, Kid Forever: How the Beastie Boys United Us by Never Growing Up | Jack Hamilton for The Atlantic
• The End of Adorkable: ‘New Girl’ Grows Up | Meghan Lewit for The Atlantic
• Mind the Gap in Crown Heights | WNYC Radio Rookies Neighborhood to Neighborhood Project via The Hairpin

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“The most outlandish people can be the stimulus for love … A most mediocre person can be the object of a love which is wild, extravagant, and beautiful as the poison lilies of the swamp. A good man may be the stimulus for a love both violent and debased, or a jabbering madman may bring about in the soul of someone a tender and simple idyll. Therefore, the value and quality of any love is determined solely by the lover himself [or herself].

It is for this reason that most of us would rather love than be loved. Almost everyone wants to be the lover. And the curt truth is that, in a deep secret way, the state of being beloved is intolerable to many.”

—Carson McCullers

(Source: apoetreflects, via theladyofthehouse)

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microecos:

From Animal World in Color, Volume 8 - Hunters: Birds, Fish, and Amphibians, edited by Maurice Burton, Childrens Press: Chicago, 1969 via Radigan Neuhalfen. 

(via believermag)

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It was an emotionally tough day at work, separating personal feelings from professional. Projecting my youthful fears and wants and life experiences onto a particularly special student. Feeling helpless in a motherly sense. Coming to terms, or at least just realizing, that my students, my kids, are vulnerable human creatures and, despite my best efforts, I cannot protect them from sadness or hurt. Feeling the need to save, to help, to calm, to soothe. Is this what it is to be a teacher? To be a parent?

I feel for my kids; I rejoice in their triumphs and sometimes, like today, I cry at their sadness. 

What is my role in their lives? What is my responsibility? 

I want to send happy, healthy, curious, eccentric, confident young adults in to the world. Is this my job? Am I doing everything possible to ensure that happens? I’m not satisfied to simply force them to read great books or discuss power politics in US History. But what are the limits of my capabilities? What are my limits as a human? Should I care this much about the emotional and educational development of my 37 students?  Am I doing the right thing? Am I helping them? Am I harming? Am I projecting the message of caring and openness to my kids? Do they find me aggressive and off-putting? Do I tease too much? Do I yell too much? Do I do more harm than good?

What does it mean to be a teacher? How can I be a better one? 

Defining your role in society, giving meaning to your life, trying really hard and failing…   

This all necessitates a rewatch of The Examined Life. 

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girlsareprettyforever:

You show up all sweaty from all the running you did because that shows his taking you back is so imperative that you just had to sprint to make sure it goes down as soon as possible, then you burst through the big doors into the fancy event (either his wedding or a wedding for his sister or some…

My obsession with this blog is all her fault. 

a list of thoughts

• photos of places i’ve never visited is currently my pornography
• reading The Hobbit with my 9th graders = heaven 
• i really, really love my job 
• like, i love my job so much that putting in 12+ hrs of grading/teaching/parent emails/athletic director duties/kid wrangling is totally satisfying in every possible way
• recognizing and embracing how smart and wonderful and curious and excellent teenagers are 
• being disappointed in how callous and unaffected and apathetic teenagers are
• my younger sister is an outstanding, hilarious, perfectly flawed, awkward human who is wise beyond her 22 years and makes my life better every time i talk to her
• i am so grateful for all of my weird & wild & wonderful friends, new and old 
• happiness is a mermaid pinata filled with candy & bacon scented air fresheners 
• happiness is cooking dinner for others, a nook in a neck, a two person kitchen dance party, an honest conversation, a genuine laugh, an animal in your lap, a solid sleep, a happy dream, excitement about tomorrow
• happiness is letting yourself be known for exactly who you are, unapologetically. and for liking everyone around you for exactly who they are, without reservations or stipulations.
• happiness is feeling like i’m currently doing everything right. for once. and that’s nice.