Summer Fades into School

In a couple weeks I will be starting school in a couple different ways.  This coming school year I get to be both the teacher and the student.  I know many people who would say that when you are a teacher you are always the student as well, and I agree.  But this year, I literally will be a student at UC Davis and a (student) teacher in a fourth grade classroom.  I am excited beyond words to go back into the classroom and work with students, as well as back into the classroom and learn and study and add more tools to my teaching tool box so that I may become the best teacher I can possibly be for my students.

Me with two amazing educators that inspire me frequently!

I realize that education is not exactly food related, which is what I originally thought this blog would be about, but education and my loved ones are things in my life that sustain me.  The fact that many of my friends are also involved in education as a profession is not a surprise to me, but what has come as a joyful surprise is how similar and connected some of my close friends' lives seem to be with my life (or my life to theirs...).  A few examples:  one of my best friends is also going to be teaching fourth grade this year.  Another friend is starting a program that seems to be very similar to mine, just in a different state.  Yet another friend will be in the Redwoods living out the dream of being a Naturalist working with fifth and sixth graders.  One of my longest and closest friends is pursuing a career as a paramedic.  Not exactly a "teacher" but definitely on the front lines of helping people and making people's lives better.  I have other friends who are first year teachers and others who are in other jobs in making education fun, memorable, and accessible.  My amazing parents have been suggesting and showing me resources they have found and think might be able to help me in my chosen profession, as well as having conversations with me about their perspectives and support for me basically living out my life long dream.  In my mind, synchronicity at its best.

All the above are just the beginning in the connections that I feel.  I met many of these friends when we were involved in, or working at, the same project or organization.  I am just amazed at the wealth of resources I now have in these friends, many of whom I plan (hope?) to have in my life for any foreseeable amount of time.  Not only do we share a passion for quality education, but also a passion and drive to make the world a better place.  To quote my favorite book Off The Map, "...we say yes to building our own visions and dreams and ideas, even though they may fail.  ...Instead of saying 'No that isn't enough,' I want to say 'Yes, we can make it more.'"I am just so thrilled about the connections that I've been able to make in my life so that when I reflect and ask myself if I've made the right decisions in life, I can so confidently know the answer is a resounding "Yes!"

Unquenchable Thirst

The way we fuel ourselves is an odd thing, and I'm not simply talking about the food that we eat.  I read this letter today and was almost brought to tears while reading parts of it.  Have past generations made mistakes?  Yes, most definitely.  But what is my generation doing?  I see many of us burying our heads in the sand, looking the other way, pointing fingers at others, waiting for someone else to do the dirty (and hard) work of creating better things, of taking responsibility and of making the difference we were always taught that we were each capable of making.

Many times I think we are a busy and taxed generation.  We were the first to have extra curriculars every single night of the week as well as weekends.  We were the first to be required to submit many of our college papers through email, having it assumed that we all own computers as well as have reliable internet connections.  We are the first to be confronted day in and out with a never-ending barrage of both goods and services we are expected to consume without thinking AND with the nightmare inducing news of the latest climate change disasters that we bad, industrialized, "modern" humans have created and continue to make worse with our insatiable cravings for more.

I feel pulled in two directions - "Be a good consumer and buy these goods that you desperately need so you can have a glamorous life and be adored by all!" or conversely, "Why are you such a mindless drone who doesn't pay attention to what's going on in the world and why are you not doing everything in your power every second of the day to create change so the world as we know it doesn't go up in a ball of flames?" So, what are we to do?

I know that I am lucky.  Lucky to have such technology literally in my lap that allows me to type my thoughts and then share them with those who choose to click on the link I provided.  Lucky to have electricity that allows me to see into the night and keep my house warm and dry my clothes after I have been out in the rain for much of the evening while trying to teach 5th graders about some of the wondrous work the Earth does.

But I also know that if unchecked, my thirst for new, for fast, for shiny, for clean will rise up and up and up and I will want more more MORE.  It has taken some work to literally unprogram my brain from the lessons I have been taught growing up from the media surrounding everything.  Moments that I am able to walk through the woods or along the beach or up a hill or down a street in full bloom of Spring-time flowers I don't need anything else.  I am entertained and feel fulfilled and engaged all at the same time.  No amount of time spent playing any sort of game on my much-too-smart-for-my-own-good phone can even come close to what I get from disconnecting myself.

Please remember that we have so much work to do.  If you haven't already, check out the powerful letter in the link above.  Because, SURPRISE!  It's not just about us.  I don't have my own child(ren) yet, but the number of people I know in my generation who do is getting bigger, and even though those children are not "mine" I feel so much love for the people they are becoming that I can not imagine doing anything less than giving my absolute all to change the tides of destruction and create a world where they can grow and play and live and love happily and healthily.