wouldn't one think that the words "east" and "fast" should rhyme...

well they dont.

i got to thinking the other day about the "who/what/when/where/why"  my first exposures to social justice/ life inequities/ individual rights/ volunteering (you know that whole hippie/earthy kitten caboodle)... and i think there are so many things that have brought me to where i am today (doing jvc where one of the 4 tenants is social justice...) but when i got to the "when" question... it dawned upon me that much of my exposure came during my formative high school years (shout out to divine savior holy angels) and yes, if you click the link it IS really about my high school and if you've read the book... then no, i did NOT sniff glue in the way that is described in the book.

sorry for that rant... my point is... my high school years were very formative... and it was during this time that i gained my initial social justice exposure... so sometimes i wonder if my students think about the same things i thought about in high school... maybe some of them too are trying to get a grasp on what is going on in our world, maybe some of them are hoping for the same things i was/am or having those same conversations and crucial reflections...

or maybe they aren't.

but on Tuesday after I did morning load out (a process in which we take attendance, do uniform checks, sell lunches, listen to announcements and then send the students out on either our two buses or van for their morning work commute) i found a piece of paper that a student had left behind.  it had the following passage which i had heard before and think is creative....

it is as follows..

"an american business man was at a pier in a small coastal mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. inside the small boat were several large yellow-fin tuna. the american complimented the mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. the mexican replied only a little while. the american then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish? the mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. the american then asked the mexican how he spent the rest of his time. the mexican fisherman said "i sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where i sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. i have a full and busy life, senor."

the american scoffed, "i am a harvard MBA and could help you. you should spend more time fishing and, with the proceeds, buya bigger boat. with the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. instead of sellling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. you would control the product, processing and distribution, you would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to mexico city, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise" the mexican fisehrman asked "but senor, how long will this all take" the american replied "15-20 years" "but what then, senor" asked the mexican.

the american laughed, and said, "that's the best part! when the time is right, you would sell your company stock to the public. you will become very rich. you would make millions!" "millions, senor?" replied the man "then what?"

the american replied "then you would retire, move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evening where you could sip wine and play the guitar with your amigos."

so if one of my students had this printed out..

maybe they DO think about the same things i do... like that "east" and "fast" should rhyme.

become legendary.

So I feel like I don't really talk about my life, my work and what being a JV is really like in the blog.  I think sometimes, that is because that can mean opening a whole new can of worms (or bag of apples if you are emily). So I am going to sometimes (rarely) add in a bit more information on the day to day's and a bit more insight into what I do at here. 

As I believe I have described.. my students scamper off to work 5 days a month (one day a week and an extra friday).  They work at awesome companies who have agreed to pay our school for the students services and act as amazing mentors to our students. My students work at companies like the United Way, Deloitte, University of Houston etc.. (here is a full list).  At these companies they do entry level work such as filing, faxing, copying, receptioning (I realize this is probably not a word).

So you are probably thinking cool.... but aren't these kids like in high school (yes, I do work at a high school AND we are only two years old WHICH means we only have freshman and sophomores SO the kids we send out are like 14-16). Reality check... MY STUDENTS WERE BORN IN 1995. So back to my point... so these kids go out and work in the "real world" most do really well. They enjoy their work (actually say it's their favorite part of going to our HS), work hard and have a lot of fun.

But every once and a while the kids make mistakes and mess up (and get fired)... in my time, I find that the students get fired for attitude, aptitude OR a combination of the two... regardless our office hopes that these are "teachable moments." When the students come back into our office they enter what we call a "retraining" program. We work with them to help them hopefully go back into the work force.  It is often a combination of reflections/essay writing AND working to improve their technical skills. 

I had some retraining students write an essay for me based of the "become legendary" videos that Michael Jordan had done a while back for the NBA.  The prompt was simply to relate it to their life, their work and their time at CRJ. 

Below is the video.

One  student wrote the following and it stuck out to me ...


"I am legendary at being who I am. I won't copy anybody and I won't let anybody bring me down. I am me and that's what the best thing about me is. I am original and unique. I don't want to be like the others, I want to make a change. I want to be the leader that is a legend!"

Become Legendary. 

photos of late...

gee willerkerz.  if a picture is worth a thousand words then... here are well a bunch of pictures (thousands of words)...

so in JVC we certainly do not sit on a pile of money or burn it for heat (as rumored)... however, we did come across some surplus money amonst our community finances... so I took my community out for dinner at Diner 59 on me (ok, my community card). it was great to get some food (a small step above denny's) and we even got shakes.  this is a sweet pic of maggie and alex who hogged most of the shakes.

Above is a picture of the G (for Green Bay Packers).  Tomás' grandparents and parents hosted us to watch the game AND they had a helmet cookie that had a G on it (above). Tomás even cut it out for me to eat (warning the green icing makes your teeth black). 

Emily turned 24 and had to complete 24 tasks/assignments... here are a few things she did.... 

she ate a carrot and we then sent the picture to her mother (who is aware that emily doesn't LOVE vegetables).

These next to photos are of her sharing a bag of Doritos... an event she has struggled with in past communities. Please note Tess is our "peg-leg" community member as she loves walking around on crutches (and may or may not have to have knee surgery)...

Sometimes it is hard to share. 

So near my house there is the AWESOME park called Hermann Park. It's a real treat amidst the concrete jungle of the city.  So  a while back Tomás and I were there and saw this suspisious log floating around... WEEKS later on a different trip to the park we saw an Otter! Turns out that log was NOT a log but rather an OTTER. who knew.

Pride International (one of my schools sponsors) donated a "Mobile Offshore Learning Unit" to come to our school. Essentially, it was a mobile museum with 6 learning pods that had 4 stations each. The students traveled from station to station completing tasks in their "passports."

 

Never a dull moment at good old CRJ. Tuesday we had a visit from the fire department following a small fireless- fire.

 

 this is my life, of late.

so I definitely haven't blogged with real information in a while. which doesn't mean that real information has not occurred (photos will come in a later post... i just need to satiate the facebook posts of my mother).

lets think...

• the packers WON the superbowl
• our dinning room table was broken (this may or may not have been a result of some birthday celebrating/challenges)
• i need to get my soda consumption in control. or do i?
• the lyrics "should i stay or should i go now" have been mumbling through my head.
• the packers won the SUPERBOWL
• we had a snow day... and there was NOT any snow
• Alexander cut Sophia's hair (my cousins).. let's just say NOT a profession for him
• since the PACKERS won the superbowl I've been getting a lot of SWEET articles and such in the mail. Thanks mom and dad for 8 front pages of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel AND thanks Analisa (my roommate of late) for the Sports Illustrated (should I really be thanking time magazine)?
• our house (temperature wise) is like the Katy Perry song.... Hot & Cold.
• We had a fire drill yesterday... only NOT a drill an actual fire... only NOT a fire... rather sounds like there was just some smoke... it was exciting nonetheless. 
• Cristo Rey Jesuit had it's gala (see video below)

Touched By An Angel

by Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.