a friendly letter

So one of the writing tasks in first grade is learning to write a friendly letter. I just have to share a few excerpts from letters that made their way to our home this week...

Dear Adam,
I am your friend. Is Curtis also your friend? I hope not.

(We had a little discussion about this one!)



OK, I'll have to edit this post later when I find the other funny one...but here is a nice little piece of writing by Titus....

One day Billy met Silly. Silly said, "Can we be friends?" Billy said, "We are already friends!" Silly said, "Great!" So they talked and talked and talked.

The end.

another first

Titus scored his very first goal ever in his soccer game tonight. Way to go Titus! He made a run too - took the ball at about 1/3 into his backfield, crossed mid-field, kept kicking it past the defenders, winning the ball, and making his way to the goal box...and then he did it!

It wasn't the perfect picture of ball control by any means, but he was aggressive and persistent.

mother's day

This year for Mother's Day, I received a morning glory planted in a green plastic cup decorated with foam cutouts. And a letter. They were left as a surprise for me by the computer on Sunday morning. Here's what the letter said:

Dear Mom,
I made this plant just for you. I love you and this is a morning glory. When it bloms you shlud see it in the morning and that is why it is called a morning glory. This is how I planted my flower. First I planted the seed. Sukinly I wated and wated. Last I put soil and sand in the cup. I love you and happy Mother's day.

Love, Titus

PS I (heart) you

That was a heart, not the word heart in parentheses by the way :-)

Super cute. He even underlined the words he doesn't know how to spell. Then last night he told me that he wished every day was Mother's Day so that he could tell me how much he loves me.

I love being a mom!

shel silverstein...titus' poetry muse

Today, apparently after having his teacher read Shel Silverstein poems, Titus was inspired to write one of his own. Check it out...He even included a title, his name and age, and had the lines, punctuation, and line breaks as written below.


Cluk. Cluk. by Titus W. age 6

An egg lay
in a nest of
hay. Cluk. Cluk.
He took his
shell away.

Some dreams fulfilled

A few highlights so far from San Francisco:

- Chatting biz with education reporters from, among other places, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times.

- Gossiping about The Wire with the Education Writers Association's education editor, Linda Perlstein. It turns out that Linda, who lives in Baltimore, is a good friend of the creators of The Wire (a show to which Nancy & I recently became addicted). At bar mitzvah, Linda danced and kissed the actor who plays McNulty. She says he's very "flirty." Sigh.

- While walking to The SF Chronicle, getting asked by an obviously drug-addled woman to purchase a cell phone for $3. I demurred.

- Meeting some very old school reporters in the Chronicle's newsroom. These are guys with 30 or 40 years under their belts. They remember when drinking and smoking were just allowed in the newsroom, but required.

- Seeing some hand-edited pages of Herb Caen columns. I nearly cried.

Well, that's enough for now. I'm off by BART and CalTrains to see the fam in the west bay. Peace.

ray is such a stud writer

So it is awards season again. As many of you know, Ray has won awards at both Des Moines Area Community College and the University of Iowa for his writing. He has also won awards from both the Iowa Newspaper Assoc. and the Missouri Press for stories he has written on the job. But today he found out that he just won his first national level award! Way to go hubby!

In fact, Ray won two national awards doled out by the Suburban Newspapers of America. He is the education reporter for two papers originating from the same Northland office, one covering Clay Co. and the other covering Platte Co. He can correct me if I'm wrong, but the details are as follows:

Sun-Gazette won 3rd place for education coverage
Sun-Tribune won 2nd place for education coverage

Pretty good, huh?

happy little update

this morning ray had an interview with the northtown high school principal. i had interviewed with him last summer for a school counselor position that i didn't get. at the time, he said he really wanted to find a place for me on their staff and told me to get in touch with him in the spring.

with my recent resignation from the kcmo school district, ray and i kind of figured i had ruined my chances for a job with nkc schools for a few years. however, in their conversation this morning, ray was able to fill dan in on my situation. dan said that he still really wants me on board. he added that he felt like we really personally connected and then gave me some nice compliments (that i'm talented and intelligent...).

so, i'm hopeful that maybe i'll be back in the schools next fall. keep your fingers crossed, pray for me, rub that lucky rabbit's foot, make an offering to the job gods...i'll take all good fortune for a job at northtown!