Hey, Howdy, Hi!

Joe'l is coming to visit Thursday! We are excited to see each other.

I am going to figure this picture posting thing out and let ya all see how we are doing these days!

I will not be visiting Fresyes for Thanksgiving...BUT, I will, however be visiting over Christmas break (from Dec 23 to Dec 30)!

Things are as good as they can be! Will write more soon.

R

Update

Thanks for the positive energy...yes, Adam, positive energy...I really miss you guys. When I watched the news coverage later that evening, I didn't know what to think about what I was seeing. I didn't know what to think about the information I was processing. What I saw on the news was 15, maybe 20 drawn officers searching the yards surrounding the school and neighborhood for 3 African American males, one of which was reported to have had a gun which is what started the chase in the first place. Since the incident occurred, the 2 boys they apprehended admitted to stealing bicycles, but no more or less. The third boy was never caught. He was the one who was supposed to have the gun, but no boy and no gun was found. Even though the lockdown was very real and allowed for a real discussion at our school about crisis intervention and crisis procedure (one week before this happened, the local newspaper had listed our school as the second least safe/secure schools in the area, which we had worked all week it seemed to fix coincidentally), I am frustrated. I do not regret that we went into lockdown mode because the experience was extremely valuable, but I do question WHY we went into lockdown mode. Again, thanks for the well wishes. The last two months have been so difficult for me and I wish I had a good moment at Tokyo to restore the balance. More to come...news at 11> haha.

Lockdown!

We (Ottawa Hills High School) had our first real "lockdown" today. It wasn't a drill. I am still not quite sure on the details, but in light of everything that has been going on in the news recently, I would be remiss to say that I wasn't concerned. Roughly...here are the details as I am aware of them at all. Three teenage males from a local Toledo Public School were seen in the University of Toledo area. I don't know who called or where the accusation came from, but supposedly, one of the young men lifted his shirt and flashed a gun. Toledo police, University of Toledo police, Sylvania, police, and Ottawa Hills police responded. They chased the young men into the small community that is Ottawa Hills. Most of the action went down in the neighborhood yards and in the area right outside of the high school building. We were put on lockdown because not only was one of the boys suspected of having a gun, but the police were drawn in pursuit of the suspect... Regardless of what was happening outside the school, I was sitting with 22 students in a corner of my classroom, on the floor, with the shades drawn, and the lights off. We are supposed to instruct the kids to remain quiet, but I allowed them to not only talk, but discuss, to feel what they were feeling. They handled it well at that point in time, but I wonder how they feel tonight. Do they feel like I feel? Are they questioning and going through the "what ifs"? Even though I am questioning those things, as well as my own existance, etc..., I am also stuck questioning if those boys really had a gun...or if they were just suspicious in the wrong neighborhood. Were they in any way profiled? So much on my mind tonight about this. Whoever, whatever you believe in... please find a way to send me positive energy. I will keep you all updated.

Not enough and too much

October 6, 2006

Time. Not enough and too much.

Always needing time to get work done.

To get life done.

Lesson plans.

Grading papers.

My daughter?

Pencil her in.

Read for class.

Write a paper.

10 pages? 25?

Workout.

Write letters.

Keep in touch.

What's a blog?

Too much sometimes.

Stuck in a room.

No outlet.

Waiting for June.

I hear bells.

Want to see you.

Want to see him.

Waiting until then.