The Awesome Impact of Running

     A few months ago (some time in September or October), I started training for a marathon. A friend was registered for one in February and wanted to get others in on it too. There were a couple reasons I was open to the idea - it was a concrete goal and I needed some way to keep fit. Also, the idea of running a marathon just sounded cool - a real achievement to be proud of. However, I wasn't exactly a big fan of running. Even though I had started running more often my last 2 years of college, it was a relatively sterile running experience; I'd hop on a treadmill and run a few miles, and that was that. Not a great experience by any means, but it was still an effective way for me to push personal boundaries and improve myself.
     At the time, my accomplishments were pretty heady to me - running a mile was no big deal, but going for 2 then 3 were more than I'd expected to run pretty much ever, really. I ran anywhere from 3-5 times a week, sometimes getting up as early as 5:30 or 5:45 to squeeze in a few miles before leaving for class. My crowning personal achievement during this period was clearing 5 miles in <40. Running a mile in less than 8 minutes seemed a pretty decent standard to me - to take that pace and keep it up for 5 miles seemed like a lifetime achievement. Fast forward a couple years, and things are pretty different.
     Earlier, going for 3 or 4 miles was something I made a conscious decision on - most days I'd run just a mile or 2 before lifting weights. Now, 3 miles is pretty much the bare minimum - and that's on a day where I feel sluggish or after a long break. More representative of a typical run lately has been 4 miles, with a 5 or 6-miler thrown in every 2-3 runs. Although this is my new normal, it's still astounding to me because I never would have guessed that I would have such a routine: get home after work, change into some shorts, and take off for ~30-45 minutes and clear 4 or 5 miles about 4 times a week. The difference between then and now goes way beyond the length or pace, though.
     Now when I run, I start from my house and have a pretty set route that's 4 miles long, with additions for my longer runs. Instead of a treadmill, I'm out in the neighborhood - and it's definitely a beautiful one. I get to take in some fresh air and for about 3/4 of a mile near the end of my run, I'm sandwiched by beauty: a row of gorgeous houses to my left and the Mississippi River and the setting sun to my right. Although I'm not going at the <8-minute pace that I had been on earlier, I feel like there's a major gap in difficulty of running on a treadmill vs. running outside - namely, that running on a treadmill is much easier. The quality of my runs are so much greater. Running outside allows for variations in pace and flow, where I used to just throw on a set pace and go until I finished on a treadmill. Now, I can push to go fast, aim to keep the pace, or slow down on various stretches throughout the run. Particularly, it forces me to stay mentally sharp while I'm running - I have to push the pace if I feel like I'm going slow, try and maintain my speed if I feel like I'm coming up on my limits, and push myself real hard when I know I'm past the more difficult length of the run and can try and empty out what's left in the tank. It's such a different, deeper, and definitively more fulfilling experience.
     The fulfillment comes from the fact that, even though I'm always keeping track of the pace I'm on, the consistent, relatively predictable action of running allows my mind to wander. I get to think about lots of things - things going on in my class, things going on in my life, things I need to do when I get back home, things in the world that interest me. I'm so amazed at the level of thinking that I get to do while I run - it's almost like meditating in that it's an opportunity for me to get inside my head. Plus, thinking about things that interest me, having the opportunity to reflect on my opinions, or taking the chance to more fully flesh out my thoughts - those are all things I love to do but haven't set aside the time for. Running has opened the opportunity to make sure that I'm flourishing both physically and mentally.
     Beyond those needs, running consistently has really helped to ground me in the belief of improvement and hard work. Like I said, I never thought I'd be running this much. Here I am, though, doing it on a regular basis and at a pace I am proud of. This has really helped me professionally because those ideas/values are what I really try to impress upon my students- that no matter how bad they may be or think they are at math (or anything, really), hard work and self-improvement are all that really matter. Until (relatively) recently, those were things I could appreciate and promote intellectually, but that I had never really believed myself. Working hard and improving myself are things that I honestly haven't known for most of my life - I've always maintained (and still do, to a great degree) that I was born into the features that have made life such a breeze for me: a brain that can pick things up, a body that does most of what I ask it to, and a sense of humor that helps me connect to others. Starting some time in college, though, I (somehow) began to develop a work ethic.
     While I've still got a long way to go concerning my work habits, I've already covered quite some distance. I'm proud of my college GPA - not because it's particularly good (or even good at all...), but because it feels so much more earned. Similarly, I have a much greater appreciation for my accomplishments in the past couple years - a good score on the GRE, getting into TFA, doing more pull-ups than I figured I'd be able to, starting to run a gazillion more miles than I used to. I haven't done anything outstanding or exceptional, but those are some of the things I feel like I worked particularly hard at. & now that I've seen the fruits of my labor, I can talk about hard work and self-improvement from the perspective of someone who's done some of it. Even as I'm discovering this, I know that I've got a long way to go - about a lifetime, actually. Still, though, the knowledge that hard work pays off is exciting because now I know and believe in it 10x more than I used to - and from there, I'm able to sincerely communicate that to my students without feeling like a fraud.
     With regards to training for the marathon - I tanked. I started off with a pretty good schedule - I ran 3-4 times during the week, and on Saturday or Sunday I could pop off a long run. Some time in November, I think, my longest run was 12+ miles, and I had a few runs of 10-11 miles as well - on track to make a marathon if I could just add on one mile to my long run each week. Then I went home for winter break, and over those 2 weeks ran about 7 miles... total. By the time I came back to Natchez in January, running 3 miles was much more of a struggle than I was used to. I'd say it's taken me since then - about a month and a half - to get back to the grind. I've been running between 4 and 6 miles pretty consistently, but haven't tried any long runs in a few weeks. Not only that, but the marathon is next Sunday and I'm going to visit DC from Wednesday to Saturday to see my brother with Anne & Jeremy. Needless to say, 26.2 miles is not currently on the horizon for me, but that's okay - it's a much more real goal to me now that I'm a bit more familiar with what running such a long distance entails. Plus, this should finally be the year I average over 1 mile/day (365 miles in a year)!
     Thanks for reading - I hope I've inspired you to lace up your shoes and go enjoy a run! Take your time, or push yourself - it doesn't really matter. Walk a quarter mile, jog 10, or sprint 1 - that doesn't matter either. As soon as you've made it outside, you're doing better than you were before - & that's what really matters.

The Black Friday Dilemma

     I recently saw a petition on my Facebook feed asking major retailers to push Black Friday back to where it belongs - y'know, Friday. It's definitely disturbing to me that we're at this point where we have to fight major companies to give back one day when retail workers were pretty much only ever guaranteed Thanksgiving and Christmas before anyways. As if the other 363 days of the year weren't enough (which is 99.45% of the year, by the way), they want to have the right to schedule you to work Thanksgiving too?? Jesus. This is truly ridiculous. However, even though I'm already riled up about the ridiculous attitude people can have towards work and laborers, I'm going to write about this situation from a different angle - how we are going about trying to solve the issue of stores opening their doors earlier and earlier. 

     Like I said, I saw the petition online (here). It has 13,586 signatures as of this writing. That's insignificant, considering the fact that as far back as 2011 there was a petition with over 200k supporters (here). Just consider the petition: someone thought it was a bright idea to write a letter to someone whose job, ultimately, is to optimize money-making. And the author and supporters of that petition thought it would be a bright idea to ask that CEO or company in general to stop doing what they were made to do. It just doesn't really make sense to me, and previous failed petitions have shown that this year's version probably won't be any more successful. So I'm gonna go ahead and say that the online petition isn't going anywhere, unfortunately. 

     On the bright side, there is something we can do. Instead of writing a letter to someone whose job is to optimize money-making and asking them to stop doing what's driven their success, we can fix the issue ourselves. How? The answer is simple: stop. Stop engaging with Black Friday. Stores wouldn't keep opening if they didn't keep making money, and stores wouldn't keep making money if droves of people weren't packing stores to buy stuff. So...don't do it anymore.

     Not only that, but instead of writing to people who will never see or even care about online petitions, why don't you tell the people you can impact? One of the pleas across these holiday petitions is that the controlling members of these major companies need to think about the families that are impacted by workers who miss out on quality time. Well instead of trying to get that idea across to a stranger... why don't you share that sentiment with your family and friends? Consumers need to understand that they are the ones who need to stop and think about the families across the country that are missing a loved one - a mother, a father, a brother or sister or any manner of loved one - and realize that when they go out to shop at Target or Wal-Mart or wherever else to buy stuff on the cheap - they are the ones responsible for ruining the holidays. 

     So, there it is. While I agree completely with the goal of the petition - fight against Black Friday, think about the families - the idea behind it is all wrong. Why plead with someone who has the power to change things - but won't? Instead you can take things into your own hands by 1) not participating in Black Friday (at least not so early, if at all) and 2) encouraging your friends and families to be considerate of others (namely: all the workers and their families and friends). 

     For full disclosure, I have a vested interest in this because it seems like every stinkin' year my family has to account for my aunt's work schedule on Thanksgiving!! & I'm just like....

     Anyways, I sincerely wish you a happy Thanksgiving. and before you get any shopping in, I urge you to tell people how their actions are literally ruining Thanksgiving for others. Happy holidays!

Environmental Issues

     It's something I think about a lot. I've never really considered myself an environmentalist ("a person who is concerned with or advocates the protection of the environment." - brought to you Oxford Dictionaries from Bing). By definition, though, I am. I am concerned with the environment. I've never written about it before because I've never really known what to write. For the past few years it's just been a lingering issue in the back of my mind - I do what I can, but I haven't come up with any good ideas for how to change things on a grand scale. However, I realized that 1) I don't have to reinvent the wheel and 2) the things I do do are not common - but if they were, we'd be better off than the path we're currently on. What do I mean when I say these things?
     First off, I realized that I didn't have to come up with some large-scale, completely novel solution to the issue. Sometimes I forget (and I think you all forget as well) the power we have as individuals. In a world with 7 billion+ people, I don't blame you. I'm here to remind you, though: you can and do have an impact on the world. It might be great, it might be small, but I guarantee that you do. And the best part is, no one has to do anything that's really amazing - the answer's been right in front of us this whole time. So what are we supposed to do? It's simple:

1. Reduce - "make smaller or less in amount, degree, or size"
2. Reuse - "use again or more than once"
3. Recycle - "convert (waste) into reusable material"                     (All definitions drawn from Oxford Dictionaries as suggested by Bing)

It probably sounds lame to you if you've been hearing those three words since childhood (like me). However, that shouldn't keep you from looking at them as solutions to the issue of environmental waste. It's like running a mile or doing push-ups. Everyone (or almost everyone) knows how to do those things to stay in good health - most folks just don't actually do it. Similarly, it's not like the solutions to environmental waste are unknown or far out - we just got to do it!
Here are some examples brought to you by the EPA (bold text from the EPA, sub-bullets are mine):

• Buy used. You can find everything from clothes to building materials at specialized reuse centers and consignment shops. Often, used items are less expensive and just as good as new.
• Clothes are cheap, at least monetarily. It's not difficult to find plenty of articles of clothing for <20 bucks. Think about that - 3 hours of minimum wage work could buy you jeans. Or maybe a few t-shirts. Or a couple pairs of shorts. Here are some examples I just pulled from Amazon so you don't think I'm making things up: 
• Fruit of the Loom t-shirt 4-pack
• Dickies Pants
• One of those is a FOUR-PACK of t-shirts that costs <$12! I know that's cheap, but it's like the dollar menu at McDonald's - just because it's cheap doesn't mean you need it, and if it's so cheap, it's probably bad in some way or other. With fast food, the cost is your health. With clothing, the cost is our environment. Check out this picture I found (from http://www.ecouterre.com/infographic-how-many-pounds-of-textiles-do-americans-trash-every-year)
  
• "Nearly half of us still trash perfectly reusable textiles." & that's just for the things that do get wasted - it doesn't take into account the clothes that currently sit in houses and storage units that remain untouched - sometimes for years.
• So, what's the take-away? Even though the market is over saturated with cheap, new products, the bottom line is that they're (almost?) entirely unnecessary. If we took to our own closets, thrift stores, and other stores/websites that sell secondhand, we'd find enough clothes to last a lifetime without (barely) ever having to buy new (thus diminishing the demand for production and its corresponding impact on the environment).
• Look for products that use less packaging. When manufacturers make their products with less packaging, they use less raw material. This reduces waste and costs. These extra savings can be passed along to the consumer. Buying in bulk, for example, can reduce packaging and save money.
• I think this boils down to "Shop at Costco." Even if you're single and it seems like everything is just too big - figure it out. You can still shop at Costco.
• Buy reusable over disposable items. Look for items that can be reused; the little things can add up. For example, you can bring your own silverware and cup to work, rather than using disposable items.
• Something that kills me is the great amount of disposable items people go through. Cups, to-go boxes, plates, coolers, and so on & so forth. Whether they're made of plastic, paper, styrofoam, or other materials, people produce a ton of waste that could be reduced. Solutions? You've got plenty of options: use reusable things and wash them (like at family parties). I know it seems inconvenient, but think about it: you're saving junk from piling up into landfills.  If you don't like that, you could even reuse disposable items. I know that defeats the purpose - you just wanna use it and throw it out. But think about things like plastic red cups - all those need is a soapy rinse and you could keep using them instead of going through a gazillion of them for every single gathering. & if that sounds really stupid to you - go back to the first option and just skip disposable products altogether!
• Maintain and repair products, like clothing, tires, and appliances, so that they won't have to be thrown out and replaced as frequently.
• This one's simple - when you take care of things, they last longer. The longer they last, the longer you can go without unnecessary replacements. In addition to the things listed, they even apply to other things such as technology and cookware. Seriously - maintenance and repair (especially because a lot of maintenance and repairs can be DIY) go a long way, if you're willing to use google and youtube to your advantage.  

So, there that is - some solutions for addressing environmental issues in completely do-able ways. I hope it was easy to digest these, and I hope you see that these actions are so simple that you could easily make a difference on the environment if you just put forth the effort to. I've always adhered to the practice of leaving some place better than I found it, and I think sharing this with you all is my way of applying that practice to our planet. Thanks for reading - & go be more of an environmentalist than you were before!

A Big Move (aka Major Differences) part 2

     Like I said when I ended my last post, there are a lot of things down here that are awesome. Something that has really stood out to me is the music – it seems like every Friday and Saturday night (and maybe Thursday night too), every bar has a live band (or 2, or 3) to come and play music for the crowd.

     This phenomenon manifested itself best in Memphis – the night of July 3^rd, we were on Beale St. (which is like the Strip in Vegas, but replace the casinos with bars) at the Jerry Lee Lewis's bar. The band was playing Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis covers, and they were a real treat to watch. One of the coolest things I’d seen was when the singer poured out some liquid on top of the piano and lit it on fire! He then proceeded to do the same to a set of cymbals and some counter space at the side of the stage. Of course the fire lasted just about ~10 seconds, but the novelty of it combined with fire’s ability to inspire fascination made it really cool. It also helped that he made a good 7-10 foot line of fire in front of the stage. I know I’ve been gushing about the fire, but the music was awesome too. People would get up and dance and the main singer was skillful at engaging the audience. At one point, he said something like “Y’all are at the best bar on Beale Street,” which drew a response from a particularly inspired young boy,

     “More like the best BAND on Beale Street!!”

     I could only laugh about this kid’s enthusiasm (he’d been dancing very vigorously throughout the band’s set) and agree.

     Next, we headed to BB King’s House of Blues where they had – you guessed it – more live music. This venue was much larger, with a band to match. Whereas the last group had a main singer (who played guitar and piano), another guitarist (or bassist, I don’t remember), and a drummer, this next group had: someone on the keyboard, a drummer, a main singer and back-up singers, a trumpet player, a guitarist, and a bassist. In other words, they had so many people that they even swapped people on and off stage. As for the music choice, it was largely oldies – stuff that I wasn’t too familiar with, but there were definitely some tunes I could sing along to: September, Beat It, and My Girl, just to name a few. If I thought the last band was great, this band was even greater. The main singer belted out the tunes with a level of vigor and soul that was absolutely thrilling to witness. Accordingly, a great number of people came out in front of the stage to dance out their inspirations.

     So yeah… you could see why I’d love the music down here. It’s not that there isn’t live music in San Jose – but here, it’s everywhere. Not to mention the music down here just seems better. It might be the musicians themselves that are actually better, or the atmosphere surrounding the musicians; it seems like everyone here really enjoys live music, and that’s something I can definitely get behind. This is the perfect time to get into the next thing that’s made my experience such a pleasure – the feel.

     It’s felt more heavily depending on where I am or what I’m doing, but being here just feels different. I can’t give you anything but examples because I’m not too certain of what this feeling is or where it even comes from. Heck, “this feeling” is probably actually a combination of a whole bunch of feelings.

     For example, just this past Thursday I went to a place called Po Monkeys to hang out. it’s a spot that opened up in 1961, where “farm workers could relax, drink beer, and listen to music” (I pulled that from the wiki). There was seating for about 30 people, maybe 40 tops. The ceiling was probably somewhere between 7 and 8 feet, so it wasn’t very tall either. In other words, a pretty cozy place. Also, I forgot to mention that this place is nestled at the edge of a corn field, about ¾ of a mile off the paved road and just accessible by a gravel path. We had a couple beers and listened to some music (which, by the way, was not live, oddly enough. However, there was a DJ that would work the crowd and create breaks in the songs for people to sing to.).  I also forgot to mention that this place was BYOW (Bring Your Own Whiskey). Sweet deal, huh? Just don’t try to bring beers in. (Trust me.) The coolest thing about the place was its historic feel.

     Knowing that this was the watering hole for locals for 50+ years was pretty special. There was writing on the wall too – like what you’d see at Boiling Crab. The only difference was that at Po Monkeys, even the writing on the wall looked old. The faded color of the wood and smoothness of the surfaces definitely pushed the image of this place as something that’d been around for a long time. Just being in there gave me a good feeling.

After we were finished hanging out, we went to the shack outside where they were serving food so I could grab some BBQ rib tips. While we were waiting, the state senator who owned the business that was serving the food came out to talk to us. I think we chatted for a good half hour, at least. We talked about this and that and joked around, and it was just absolutely amazing to me. To meet and engage with somebody of his political clout as if we were old buddies – that is something special.

I’m not sure if I’ve done a very good job of portraying it to you, but the feel of the place – to me, at least – has a lot to do with the history of the area and the closeness of the people here. Not just physical closeness – but a social closeness that some places have and others don’t. This leads to my final point of major difference between here and San Jose: the people.

I left this point for last because it’s the most significant. The climate, the music, the distance – all those and everything else are secondary when it comes to the people. They make this place. On a grander scale, people have always been what my life is about. I’ve spent the majority of my existence making them laugh and smile. I don’t think that will change any time soon, if ever. People are why I hope to be a teacher for the rest of my life – I love to see people flourish, and this is one way I can directly help them do that. So let’s talk about these people.

From my time down here so far, the people have been very welcoming. I’m sure part of it comes from being with TFA – it seems like everywhere we go, people have a positive view of the organization. Parents, community members, and school staff – everyone just has words of encouragement and kindness for us. I know that’s not always the case for all TFA members, so I’m very grateful to be placed in a region where I feel both wanted and needed. Furthermore, I think it has more to it than just being with TFA; it sounds cliché, but I think people down here might just be better conditioned at looking out for each other. Whatever the reason, the locals are very inviting and seem more than happy to share their home with us.

Besides the locals, there’s another group I’ll be spending a lot of time with – everyone that’s in TFA, which consists of the other 14 corps members, the alumni/2^nd years, and our regional staff. Since there’s so few of us in all, it seems like we bonded very quickly and deeply for such a diverse group of people. Although we come from a lot of different backgrounds, I guess it just so happens that our personalities mesh really well together. Besides the fortuitous chemistry, we’re also bonded by what we all signed up to do – to work our hardest in providing a quality education for those who might not otherwise get one. Being surrounded by like-minded and motivated people is really quite thrilling. The energy we each bring to the table seems to be multiplied when we come together, which really sets the tone for how I want to work: with enthusiasm and perseverance (while remembering that having some fun along the way just makes the work easier). The people here have driven me and will continue to be there along the way as I (inevitably) struggle through my first two years of teaching, and I can’t be more excited about that.

So that’s it – through 2 posts and somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,500 words, I think I’ve covered the great majority of what’s been different between here and San Jose. I’ve shied away from saying “home” too much when referring to San Jose because it will always be my HOME home by default. It’s where I grew up, have great memories, and where (most of) my family lives. However, after just 7 weeks I can already feel the fondness and warmth in my heart that I associate with the 2 other places I choose to call home, and that’s something that really excites me. Here’s to 2 more years! 

A Big Move (aka Major Differences) part 1

     7 weeks ago, I hopped on a plane that took me from San Jose, California to Monroe, Louisiana. When my parents dropped me off at the airport, Daisy came with to say goodbye. After grabbing my things (1 luggage, 1 carry-on, and my backpack), I turned around to say goodbye to Daisy. We hugged, we kissed, we exchanged some words, and we shed some tears (it was tragic, seriously). Then I turned to head into the airport with my mom to check my baggage while my dad made a loop around the airport. After checking in my baggage, there was nothing left but to head on up to the security checkpoint. I hugged my mom goodbye and cried some more. I wasn’t really sure what lay ahead of me at that point– the only thing I knew for sure was that I would be leaving everyone and everything that I had known in my life up to that point. Tough to do when you lead a life you enjoy surrounded by people that love you. This was very different from leaving to San Diego.

     When I went to San Diego to start school, I drove down with a friend to a place that I had already been to and where I knew I was going to see at least a few familiar faces.  Louisiana was a complete unknown – I had never even spoken to whoever was picking me up at the airport, let alone met any of the staff in person (we’d had conversations on Skype or the phone). I didn’t have any expectations for the place besides knowing that it would be a lot more hot & humid than California. Turns out even that expectation wasn’t completely right – I think San Jose’s hotter, it’s just the humidity down here that makes me sweat so much. In fact, I knew so little about the place I didn’t even think it rained down here – which, in retrospect, why the hell wouldn’t it rain down here?? I moved to the South, not the goddamn desert. If that doesn’t give you a good idea for how unaware I was coming down here, I don’t know how else I could show you. I really didn’t know anything. Heck, I still haven’t* even made comparisons between the temperature here and in San Jose to conclusively tell you which place is hotter!

     Anyways, back to my flight to Monroe. First off, I didn’t even go there directly. I flew to Phoenix for a short layover of about an hour, after which I travelled to Dallas, where I slept over at the airport. Finally, I woke up for an early flight out of Dallas to Monroe. When I got there, I waited for about an hour before I was picked up by a fellow corps member. I hopped into his car and we drove to Tallulah, a city with a population of – get this – a whopping 7,500 people. At this point, I was a good 1,500 miles further from home than I’d been in San Diego.

Before I continue, let’s have a quick rundown of the perceptions of my new home:

• So humid I could just stand outside and still sweat.
• A population that is literally less than 1% of that of San Jose’s
• Waaay way far from home. As in, a one-hour drive and a 7-hour flight to get home, whereas before I’d been a 20-minute drive and 1-hour flight from home.
• I hadn’t realized it immediately on my first day, but my God – the mosquitos. There are hordes of them, and they just feast on your flesh. Sometimes, even coating myself in bug spray hasn’t been enough L.

     All in all, not a very flattering list. Oh, and did I mention? I went from being just another Vietnamese person in a city absolutely teeming with Asians to being one of less than a dozen Asian people that I had seen in the entire city. Like, when I saw the family that ran the town’s Chinese buffet, I actually felt a sense of kindred with them – just because they were the only other yellow people I’d seen all week.

      I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been particularly conscious of my skin color growing up, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times in the past 7 weeks where I felt like I stuck out just for being the token Asian in the area. For instance, students where I taught summer school asked if I was from China, if I could speak Chinese (typically accompanied by the “ching chong ling long” used by those who are too unaware to know any better), or if I was really from California. The worst part of it all is that I don’t even blame them for their questions – I would bet that for most of the people around here, Asians account for less than .01% of the people they’ve encountered their whole lives. Why wouldn’t they assume I’m Chinese, considering they’re the most populous of Asians? I’ll probably be the closest a lot of these people will ever get to Vietnam, period. As in, yes, I am rather exotic. I never thought I'd be describing myself as such.
     I’ve never really paid attention to it, but people still do – it shows when they ask me where I’m from (y’know, with that particular tone of inquiry) or where my parents are from. And I can’t help but do a double-take or make a mental note every time I see an Asian – as if to acknowledge that, oh yes, there are other Asians here. Also, the 9-inch hair tied up definitely isn’t doing me any favors either. All in all, the racial difference has definitely been an interesting part of the experience down here.

     I’ve touched on a good number of the features that have made life down here different – the climate, demographics, the extreme distance, and those pesky mosquitos. However, there are still many differences I haven’t addressed yet. These differences include the music, the unique feel, and most obviously, the people. Those are the things that make me excited to live down here, and I’ll be covering those next.

               

* I checked after writing that. The average temperature is 4 degrees hotter in Tallulah than SJ and the amount of rain here is about 3.5x greater than in SJ. The temperature difference doesn’t sound like that much, but consider that the lows are lower here. The highs have to be higher (on average) to make up for that – in the summer months, I’m not sure if the highs ever hit as high as they are in SJ, but the majority of the summer is spent in the high 80s and 90s. At least that’s what I concluded, looking at usclimatedata.com

Welcome Back to my Blog!

     I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. After I'd finally nailed down a name for this blog, I thought that having a framework for my ideas would make it a lot easier to sit down and write. And it does! I just haven't had the chance to be alone with my thoughts in quite awhile now.
     For the past 6 weeks, I've been spending all my time with other prospective teachers to get a taste of teaching and to prepare for the upcoming school year. I just wanted to write about it to process it better. I analogize it to watching a movie or reading a book again - your brain will probably focus on some other details that seem new just because you didn't pay them proper attention for the first time. This way, you really get the most out of the material as you can. Similarly, I'm hoping to get the most out of life by programming in occasional periods of review. It's like watching film of yourself to learn from events that just recently happened. That being said, let's move on to what's been happening since I moved away from California!
     For the first week, I spent time to get to know the 15 other people placed in the same region as me; we traveled around the community and met people/explored places. This included some community service (a major clean up of a park), meeting and talking to parents and other community members to get to know the area and our work in it, and a lot of team building and reflection activities to share out about ourselves and get to know each other better - after all, we will be spending the next 2 years together.
     For 5 weeks after that, we joined with 400+ others from the surrounding regions to participate in a variety of things during our summer training (referred to as "Institute"): teaching summer school classes, engaging in discussions on culture and teaching, and planning our daily lessons. It was the definition of routine, at least from Monday through Friday. Specifically, my days went like this:

• Wake up at 5:15, get dressed & head out the door at 5:30. 
• Go grab a bagged lunch and have breakfast 'til 5:55
• Walk over to the bus, which leaves at 6:10.
• Get to school at 7, head over to the classroom and prep for the day (clear the board, sharpen pencils, etc.)
• From 7:30, spend time with students in the gym until classes start at 8
• 8-9:40: Fine-tune my lesson for the day or work on tomorrow's lesson 
• 9:40-10:40: Small-group instruction (practicing math with 3-4 students, it's pretty self-explanatory)
• 10:40-11:05: Sit and spend time with the students during lunch
• 11:05-12: More lesson-related work, meeting to discuss lessons and the classroom, observing others teach. Come to class during my co-teacher's block so that students get more individual attention.
• 12-1: My 1-hour block to teach Algebra.
• 1-2:30: Getting back to campus
• 3-6: Classes on teaching, culture, management, etc. etc.
• 6-10 or 11, sometimes 12: Cramming in dinner, lesson planning/printing, exercise, and socializing.
• Rinse & repeat

Phew! We got weekends to ourselves, which consisted of hanging out/going out to get to know the surrounding area (I went to Memphis for 4th of July weekend, which was awesome).

     It's weird to write out that list and see just how planned out my existence has been during Institute. People are creatures of habit anyways - it just so happens that this routine was largely given to me as opposed to being set by me from the start. 

     As far as the bigger picture goes, that's what I've been doing for the past month. The last day of Institute was yesterday, and afterwards I drove back down to our regional base at Tallulah. Everyone but myself and 2 others headed home until we start back up on July 22 with a week of professional development. Until then, I'll just be hanging out in the general area (hopefully sliding down to southern MS for a few days and then around New Orleans for a few more). I hope to get some more writing in during this time.

     Even though I've given you a snapshot of my life for the past month, there's still so much I haven't gone over yet - ideas coming from the discussions during our class sessions, visiting the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, my experiences in class as a teacher, and so much more that I'm pretty sure I won't even get to it all (for instance, I haven't even touched on moving from California to Louisiana [or more accurately, Mississippi]). Stay tuned for updates in the next ~11 days!

     

Alas, A Name

     I can’t remember what I was doing – maybe hanging up laundry or cleaning the backyard – when it hit me. The new name for my blog! No longer would I be undecided, but rather a work in progress. It seemed like a great fit, and it definitely has a lot to do with my move to Louisiana. As I hope to be here for the next 2 years, I’m pretty positive that this experience will lay the foundation for my career and serve to propel growth for the rest of my life.

     I’ve always had it in my mind that we are all just works in progress. Since people are dynamic, I figured it was an appropriate way to view them. However, it  hit me one day that this view isn’t necessarily true. While people might be forever changing, many people stop progressing. A work in progress sounds like …well, a work in progress. Something that isn’t finished, but is on its way towards completion or fulfillment. Like a project running over budget, however, a work in progress can stall. Or even be ruined by poor design (wiki the Tacoma Washington Bridge, my fav. and definitely my most-referenced example of poor design). Along those lines, I realized that not all people are works in progress.

     Though we may change, that isn’t inherently good or bad. Change doesn’t have any moral value by itself. For instance, a change I could make tomorrow is to pick up a meth habit. Sure, I’ve changed – but I don’t consider it a step in the right direction, so I definitely wouldn’t classify it as progress. Thus, changes need to be evaluated before they can be rightly termed as progress.

     So that’s what I thought about when I first considered changing my blog name to “A Work in Progress.” I hope to make this period a valuable one as far as making progress in many areas of my life by doing a few things:

•   Becoming familiarized with the worldviews and perspectives of a group of people I never thought I’d surround myself with.
• Broadening my own horizons by doing the above ^.
•  Exploring a side of food I’ve rarely (if ever) encountered.
•  Learning an absolute ton when it comes to teaching technique (as far as figuring out all the approaches  I will need to help all students succeed).
• Resurrecting some fitness goals I’ve let go of these past few months.
• And I’m sure a ton of other things I haven’t even considered but will change in me.

     In summary, the name of this blog is drawn from my decision to commit myself to being a work in progress. I’m not finished trying to make myself better. I hope anybody reading this hasn’t quit yet either.