Well, my new career has taken swiftly off and has disappeared into the bright blue. Even after a week of fretting, running around getting paperwork straight, and losing sleep over how to even start, I've pushed through the worst of it. My kids are all really sweet, there are no horrible behavior problems to speak of, only a couple fidgety types, and frankly, for my very first teaching job, I couldn't ask for a better situation. All the other teachers are very supportive, which is good; I take great heart in noting that even the vets are just as stymied by the various myriad reading & writing programs we're expected to use as I am, as they are highly arcane and bizarre at times (The programs, not the teachers). At least I'm not alone in my solitude!

On other fronts, the next Blair fundraiser is afoot, scheduled for November, and so far it seems as if I will warbling a few more songs than last year. Likely possibilities are songs from "Damn Yankees," "Nine," "Avenue Q" (with Bridgette) and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." Cool! At least, I think so.

I suppose it has been a while since I've posted. Seeing the very interesting and highly telling federal response to the Katrina disaster has been quite an experience: rarely, if ever, has the mask hiding the state of American race and class relations been so deftly ripped off and never has the glowering visage been so rawly exposed. By now, many have seen this chunk of online reportage, but I can't think of any logical explanation except that expectations are, shall we say, what they are, even to the so-called "liberal" media.

Why is the black person "looting" while the white folks are "finding"? Hmmm, good question. It's obvious to me, at least, that the long-standing double standard is alive and well in these United States.