Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Subway!



Today Alexandra had her first complete meltdown on the subway. It began at Teachers College, continued through Harlem, and was culminating in a screaming crescendo on the 125th Street platform when we boarded the D train. I had no idea if I could even take the D train home. I just got on before I threw both of us in front of the next train.

The only way to calm her when she goes buck wild is to nurse her. I have made it 10 months without ever nursing on the subway, but with an hour ride ahead of us I had to break down and do it. After I caught a 65-year old dude masturbating to me nursing her in a playground in Park Slope this past summer, I have been very cautious of nursing in public. The subway seemed like an open forum for pervs and such.

But instead of being treated as a piece of live porn, I was thrown by the complete respect I received when I had to nurse her on the subway at early rush hour. Maybe they were all just glad she was shutting-up, but men averted their eyes, women of all ages smiled understandingly at me, and it was a strangely peaceful event.

Sometimes I just love this city. I swear up and down that I live here for the diversity and for the public transportation. Today just bolstered those beliefs of mine.

A bit of Muppet magic giving love to the subway for all of you to enjoy :)

Monday, April 28, 2008

Bklyn Ikea, June 18th


We were at the Park Slope Ale House and our fave trashy waitress was overheard saying, "I have never been to an Ikea..."

Wha-wha-what?!

We are like the opening scene from "Fight Club." Literally most of our apartment is filled with furniture that has odd Swedish names and cost less than a couple hundred dollars. Our best piece is Alexandra's 99 dollar crib. Solid wood. White. It's a true gem--no lie.

And as much as the mallification of New York is a real problem, I am celebrating that Ikea is opening in Red Hook on June 18th. The B77 bus in my 'hood already says it terminates at Ikea (how much did they pay for that advertising?). I can't wait for everyone's apartments to look exactly alike. We all are already clones of each other, why can't our apartments be clones, too?

welcome to dorm 335


As you can see, Alexandra has her own room! No, we haven't solved the million dollar question of how to make a one bedroom into a two bedroom (god, if we could we would surely be gizillionaires in this town amid our reproducing friends). No, we haven't inherited a sizable amount of money from an unknown, mysterious relative that facilitated us buying a place. No, I am not being a surrogate mother to a gay European couple nor did we sell our organs so that we could afford to rent a two-bedroom in any desirable neighborhood in Brooklyn. We have turned our apartment into a dorm.

We moved our bed into the living room and gave Alexandra Osa our room. It's a darling little play space. Of course, she still prefers more often than not to crawl towards the front door and rummage through our magazines and attack the television, but we feel confident that we're providing for our daughter b/c she has a room of her own (with a leafy view!).

And then Mary, our wordsmith neighbor came down last night to return our vacuum and said, "Heeeeeey! Nice dorm!" and plopped herself down on our bed to chat. It was a bit weird, seeing Mary just chillaxing on our bed and chatting our our crazy upstairs neighbor and even crazier landlord. But it was JUST LIKE A DORM! Seriously...I felt like we were regressing.

Maybe we'll put our bed on a loft so that we can put our desk underneath. Maybe I'll get Adam some black light posters for father's day. Maybe you'll walk by and we'll be doing bong hits and listening to Sonic Youth and Pavement and drinking Natty Bo.

Just wanted for forewarn you.

Monday, April 14, 2008

once upon a potty



There is something about working in a high school that helps teachers maintain a fraction of their adolescence at all times. Some might say this is a blessing--we are able to keep one foot in the hallways of youth while moving forward into adulthood. On the other hand, we are subject to the petty arguments and tiffs that define high school. Here is one example:

My "office" is in the Humanities teachers' lounge. Last year we were having a lot of...um...cleanliness issues in the bathroom of this said office. We knew who the main culprits were, but due to the inability to call someone on their shit (literally), I wrote a funny/polite bathroom manifesto which is posted above. Just a few reminders of how to be considerate when sharing space. The manifesto has remained up for the past year.

Then someone, who hasn't revealed himself, defaced my manifesto. We have had an annoyingly big problem this year with men leaving the toilet seat up ALL the time. Strangely, it seems the men and women are perhaps equal in number this year (a rare thing in teaching), but still, leaving the seat up is gross. And then, out of the blue, someone defaced my manifesto with some smart comment that we women don't want to touch the toilet seat but we'll sit on it--as if protesting the request that men lower the seat after peeing. I had to respond. Childish, maybe, but I could not resist. It made me feel totally juvenile, but I also kinda enjoyed it :)

Adults fighting over potty space by leaving notes in the stall. And we're the folks educating children. Scary!

Friday, April 11, 2008

quote of the day

From a student's essay:

"My grandfather always told me your only friend is your wallet."

Love it.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

too much

happy birthday julia!
love,
lori, adam, & alexandra osa

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Accolades for The Wire


As far as television shows go, in my humble opinion NO show has adequetely illustrated life in an urban public school. Usually, the struggles of the staff, the peer pressure the students face to sell drugs, the poverty and family dysfunction the kids have to endure while trying to come to school everyday are glossed over in an attempt to make audiences comfortable. Any and every school-based show I have ever tried to watch fell drastically short of my real-life experience. In fact, as a teacher in an inner-city school, they were nothing short of insulting.

And then there's Season 4 of the "The Wire."

As they would say in Baltimore, "Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit...." this is right on target. As we watch it, Adam continuously turns to me and says, "Is that what happens?" and I reply with a nod, mouth agape. From Prez finding a unused computer in the school's basement to the student whose parents sell his school uniform for drugs, EVERY scenario they depict is 100% true from my measley eight years of teaching.

I am in awe and thankful for the 4th season of "The Wire." Finally, someone has the courage to examine the REAL issues involved in urban teaching: the small joys of getting to know the students, the crap they have to deal with at home that inevitably trickles into the classroom, the creative and desperate measures teachers will take to get students to learn, the ludicrousness of political posturing in the name of education reform, and the frightening power that the street has over many urban youth of today.

Any/every teacher in an inner-city school needs to watch this season of "The Wire."
Buy it and write it off on your taxes as educational research. Fo' real, yo.