Tag Archives: Yes we can

>Super Bowl – victory to the underdog?

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>The Green Bay Packers were not expected to even make it into the playoffs this year. Early in the season they stumbled, and mid-season they fell. Then they picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and started all over again.

It wasn’t a true do-over; they still stood with a record of 9 wins and 6 losses going into the last game of the season against the dreaded Chicago Bears. The Bears had already clinched the division title and playoff eligibility. The Packers? They had to win if they wanted to play post-season games.
They did it that cool Sunday. They beat Da Bears 10-3 in a defensive battle. The underdog, the one not expected to win, pulled it off and won themselves the right to keep playing in a Wild Card slot.
The team headed to Philadelphia to play the Eagles. We served Philly pepper steak with cheese; delicious. Aaron Rodgers and company ate up the field and pulled out a win and the privilege to travel to another away game, this time in Atlanta. The Falcons had beaten the Packers early in the season in a heartbreaker of a game. Both teams had played their hearts out, but the Falcons scored a field goal in the last minute of the game to win 20-17. Heartbreaker? It hurt to watch, and it hurt to remember.
The Packers had lost the last meeting with the Falcons; that’s the main focus. Would they lose again? Or would they turn the tables and win a close one? Coming in as the underdog, what would the results be?
They beat the heck out of the Falcons. Underdog? They outplayed the birds 48-21. No doubt about it; this was not the same Packers team that had barely lost the previous contest in November.
This was the game that had me re-thinking the term Underdog. An underdog, according to various dictionaries, is one who is not expected to win or one at a significant disadvantage. With a final score of 48-21, I had a hard time considering Rodgers et. al. to be at a significant disadvantage. They had the ability, the motivation, and the advantage that day. Underdog? The only disadvantage they had in Atlanta was that as a Wild Card team, they didn’t get home field advantage. In the end, it didn’t seem to matter.
After eating peach cobbler and drinking Coke products during the Packers-Falcons game, we prepared for the big one: the NFC Conference Champions, a re-match with Da Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago. We decorated the house in green and gold, served bear claws for breakfast, pizza for lunch, and ribs for supper. The Packers had won the last meet-up; were they an underdog this time?
Nope. No underdogs this week; the only disadvantage was the condition of the field, a problem for both teams. Green Bay played another strong game, winning the Halas trophy and the right to play in the Big Game: Super Bowl XLV!!!
Sometimes the opponent underestimates an underdog, one not expected to win, leading to an upset or unexpected dramatic score. The Pittsburgh Steelers organization sported five Lombardi trophies to Green Bay’s three, not counting championships won before the Super Bowl began. Terry Bradshaw, while admittedly biased toward his old team, waved a Terrible Towel and predicted the Steelers to win handily. Steelers starting quarterback Big Ben Roethlisberger had been playing longer than Aaron Rodgers and had a Tough Guy image to go with the experience. We almost expected Ben in a black cowboy hat and Aaron in a white one coming out for a duel at the 50 yard lines instead of a coin toss.
Chuck served up kielbasa and pierogies with Klondike bars for dessert as we awaited the kick-off time. Commercials? We were here to watch the game!
Ultimately, the “underdog” didn’t play like one. Green Bay had one weak quarter (the third, after injuries to two major players hurt their momentum and concentration), but otherwise controlled the game. They forced three turnovers and scored from each one. The defense refused to allow Pittsburgh to move downfield one last time, knocking down a pass on a critical fourth down.
Underdog? Not this Green Bay Packers team. Led by a talented and classy MVP quarterback, the boys in green and yellow were more like late bloomers. They started the season with some inconsistency, lost many important starters to injuries, but then they pulled together and became the team that wouldn’t lose any more.
A week later, the city of Green Bay and the state of Wisconsin are still basking in the glory of our Green Bay Packers. XLV was no underdog accident; it was a well-deserved and well-earned achievement.

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>Sleep, still elusive; my foggy brain

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La Petite asked me, “Mom, is your spaciness from the depression or from the medicines, the anti-depressants?” I didn’t know. I thought perhaps it was a little of both.
I don’t like the spaciness – the feeling of being in a fog. Some days the fog lifts a little, some days more. Some days it’s like slogging through a swamp, when I can hardly move around the house, much less get up and out and accomplish anything.
I posed the question to an expert, a professional counselor. He said it’s the depression in general, and the sleeplessness leads to the flakiness, the spacey feeling of not quite having it all together. We talked about sleep and its importance, clinical studies that he’d read about how and why sleep is so important to the brain. He used the analogy of a computer doing a defrag. During a deep sleep, the brain goes through its contents and organizes. The most important “files” are categorized and attached to something relevant in a brain location with easy and quick access. The less important data may go on a less frequently used pathway. Those files that really, truly, don’t matter, can be set aside or tossed in the recycle bin for good. With insufficient sleep, the brain can’t reorganize, pull itself together. Due to my sleep troubles, my brain doesn’t get to reconfigure its data files, leaving me unfocused and forgetful by day.
To sleep, perchance to dream. Or maybe not. I still have the occasional odd dream, the kind that wakes me up either tense to the point of pain or sweating from head to toe. On the bright side, these nightmares turn up less often than they used to; they’re not a nightly occurrence any more. Maybe, just maybe, the bad dreams will fade away, I’ll begin sleeping more, and my brain will bring itself back to its wise and savvy normal.

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>Dream On: Out of the fog

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The snowmen are still around. Packer decor is scattered all over the house. The Dream Tree on the wall is new, a gift from an artist friend. I wasn’t ready to take it down after Christmas.

Somehow, she knew what I was feeling and how down I was before Christmas. Between clinical depression, work challenges, and the physical pain caused by both, I was at my lowest when this arrived.
The tree is beautiful; it’s not just for Christmas. Did she know my dining room walls are blue, and the colors are perfect? Whether she did or not, my artist friend knew I needed to dream, and dream of peace. The colors, the design, the shapes all speak to me of peace. There is a special tiny ornament, too – can you see it?
It’s an owl. Artist Friend chose an owl for me because she considers me a wise colleague. I have a good memory and a lot of background knowledge, but I haven’t been feeling very wise lately. By giving me this small owl on this wonderful piece of art, she reminded me of a side of myself that is still present, still strong. And for that small but important reminder, I am very grateful.
The spaciness that comes from depression, especially from the interrupted sleep, is still present. As my condition improves and I make more deposits into the sleep bank, I hope to show my Wise Owl side more often.

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>Amigo gets athletic, takes show on the road

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>”Mom, you should write a post about me and wrestling and going to Ohio.”

Wow. The teenager wants me to post about him? Cool! And his new involvement in athletic competition is cool, too.
He called us Saturday night as they got on the bus to come home from a wrestling meet in Ohio. The state schools for the blind compete against each other, which means travel. Road Trip! Amigo enjoys road trips, so this is just another piece of the whole positive experience. He can tell me the route they took to get from Wisconsin to the other schools, the choices of highways if there are more options than one. He packs his armband radio and explores the states by finding local radio stations and getting local flavor.
Back to Saturday night. He talked about the meet, how he’d done, and the ribbon he had that he could bring home. Of course we talked about the upcoming Super Bowl – did you have any doubts, readers? He’s as wild and crazy a Packers fan as I am. As his bus rumbled down the Ohio turnpike, Amigo shared updates of the meet and I shared updates from home, including Super Bowl plans.
Sunday night he called again. There was one more adventure on the road; the bus broke down near Champaign, Illinois. The repair was major, a new bus had to come get them, and they arrived back at their dorms in Wisconsin at (are you ready for this?) 5:30 A.M. Sunday. Ouch. He slept until noon, and was still tired when we talked to him Sunday night.
Wrestling is his third sport this year. Amigo started the year in track and field, then participated in Goal Ball, and followed those with wrestling. We were amazed at first; he’s a sports fan, but other than the Challenger League summer baseball, he’d never competed in team sports.
He’s had a great experience in many, many ways. Enjoying practice with his peers, making progress in his own abilities, surprising himself in competition, win or lose.
And then there were the road trips. He and I might have to do more road tripping next summer; he has so many stories to tell, and being on the road is a great way to bond and share tales.
As long as he doesn’t expect me to wrestle with him, all will be well.

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>Dreams

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>In the wake of the Tragedy in Tucson, and in recognition of Dr. King’s Dream, below is a re-post from times past.

I dream that differences will be valued, not disdained.
Eye color, hair color, body shapes, and skin shades will be appreciated for their beauty and variety.
Cultural traditions will not disappear, but will thrive and grow together into a rich and fascinating sharing of knowledge and beliefs.
I dream that blindness will be merely a different way of seeing, and deafness impair only the quantity, not the quality of the language ‘heard’.
Children will matter because they own the future. Their education, academic and social, will become and remain of utmost importance.
The mediators and the peacemakers will be recognized as the strongest leaders.
Questions will come from curiosity, not ignorance, and the answers will breed respect.
Knowing each other, knowing ourselves, will lead to knowing that fights and conflicts, wars of all kinds, will cease to be of value.

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>For Christina

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Christina Taylor Green will be mourned and buried today. Vibrant, positive, excited about life, she sounds like an amazing young woman.
Christina was a Child of Hope: a baby born as our world turned upside down on September 11, 2001. she was killed in another public day of violence as our world turned upside down once again.
Baseball, ballet, horses, science. church, choir, student council. She was enthusiastic and involved in everything possible. Photos show her smiling, grinning, looking eager for the next adventure.
Christina attended the ill-fated town meeting to meet her representative in Congress and learn more about politics. She was sincerely interested in making a difference, perhaps by running for office and making a life of public service.
Christina won’t get that chance. Her life was cut short in a senseless and violent shooting rampage. Are there any other kinds of shooting rampages? Do any make sense? Of course not. An early and violent death like Christina’s doesn’t make sense, either.
I keep using her name so that Christina stays real: not just the nine-year-old killed in an unbelievable event. Not just the student council girl who wanted to meet her congresswoman. She was a real person, a daughter, a neighbor, a student, a sister, a friend.
Christina didn’t get to live her dreams and her passions. For young dreamer Christina, gone too soon, I call on the rest of us to step forward and make a difference.

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>Setting goals? Go greener.

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>I frequently admit that while I lean to the green, I’m not as green as I could be. While my family is far from no-impact, we do find ways to lower our impact on the planet. If you’re setting goals on the green side, here are a few that are easy to implement.

Bring your own bag. Many, many stores offer discounts when a shopper brings a bag. It may be 5 cents off the total, but if you bring five bags every time you shop, it’ll add up. It’ll also reduce the amount of garbage or recycling in the house when those paper or plastic bags stop piling up in the corner. For people who forget; make it a fun and easy habit. I keep two collapsible bags in my purse at all times and another in the car’s glove box. Buy a pretty one that you’ll want to use! It’s a mind game, yes, like many other goals.

Water bottles. Remember my review of the Filtrete pitcher? The family likes it. We’re drinking more water, staying better hydrated, and Chuck & La Petite are using fewer plastic bottles. I’m buying a replacement filter so we can continue using the filter pitcher. Filtered water makes good coffee, too. need I say more? Like the BYOBag goal, easy and convenient goals are more likely to continue and become habit.
Garbage. This one is new to the family, but it fits. The city offered residents a chance to downsize their curbside garbage bins, the ones picked up by the automated trucks. The reward is – it’s free, rather than a small charge for the big ones. We chose to take them up on their offer. It’ll be tougher in the winter when we’re composting less and the bunny litter doesn’t go on the brush pile, but we can do it. The real reward isn’t the absence of this small charge; the real reward is knowing we’re contributing less to the landfill.
I expect 2011 to be a year of change in many ways. One attitude that will not change is this; we’ll take care of our world as much as we can, acting locally while thinking big.

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>Donors Choose Update: oh, yes.

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>I was honestly thinking of writing about compassion fatigue: generous people who just can’t give any more. With so many free-lunch students I can’t even count them, families who have trouble buying pencils, and my own budget shrinking, I have a hard time coming up with a few pennies no matter how worthy the cause.

And then I got the benchmark reading levels for my class. Seven fourth graders, only one with a diagnosed learning disability, all reading at a first grade level. Kids reading at the level of Frog and Toad, Henry and Mudge, Little Bear. But they didn’t want to be caught reading Little Bear in front of their peers.
So I went to work. Research: where can I find high -interest, low-reading level books for these students? All want to read. They want to read cool books, fun books. So I found cool, fun, and easy books. And oh, my, were they pricey. Buying any quantity for teaching purposes would require a significant investment.
I wrote to several civic groups. I had missed the fall deadline for one. One turned me down saying we didn’t “fit their mission,” but referred me to another source. Yet another funded some more glamorous projects. Face it; books aren’t sexy, no matter how necessary.
Then along came DonorsChoose.org. I found them after writing a post for MomCentral Consulting, a PR post announcing their Bing “Our School Needs” project. One of the perks of writing a post was a donation credit code for DonorsChoose.org. You guessed it; I wrote my own project so I could keep my donation code at home, er, at my own school.
I shamelessly promoted this project through Plurk, Twitter, and my own blog. Other bloggers promoted it, too, and even donated. Yesterday I got the exciting news: my project was closed. Funded completely. Done.
Oh. My. Goodness. I could hardly sit still. Even though I’ve verified the orders and downloaded the thank you package, I’m still in a bit of happy shock.
The biggest and happiest surprise was the speed at which the project finished. Several donors ate away very quickly at the first hundred. Then a large donor, a foundation new to me, stepped in and finished the job.
Douglas and Maria Bayer Foundation, I applaud you. My students will thank you, too – as soon as I get their photo releases and help them write the letters. Seeing the project fully funded so soon and with a major generous donor really knocked my socks off. It’s wonderful to see that despite all the needs in our world, compassion and generosity still thrive.
Now, about those donor codes? The school down the road has a project, too. It’s time to Pay it Forward.

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>Seeking the elusive balance

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>Regular readers know that I’m in the midst of an extremely stressful school year. Health issues in September made that even harder. I usually de-stress by gardening, visiting the farmers’ market, and then cooking or canning what I harvest and buy. While on crutches, playing in the kitchen wasn’t an option. Walking around downtown to buy fresh food wasn’t in the cards, either.

Seeking balance is tough. I’m recovering from the bout with gout, and my feet and ankles are slowly but surely regaining strength. I’ve learned to avoid the worst of the bullies at school (yes, some of my coworkers are nasty). Nightmares about school disturb my sleep or wake me in a cold sweat with a tension backache.
I make lemonade with the lemons I’ve been given by writing grants, procuring books, and preparing a DonorsChoose.org project that will benefit my neediest students.
A recent weekend showed the challenge of successful balance.
Spreading compost on the gardens takes strength, risks injuring weak ankle and sore back. But it feels so good, so productive, and sets up for a successful spring planting. What to do?
I always bring home a bag full of schoolwork. Bringing out these papers and projects takes time and concentration and risks taking my train of thought to scary-stressful tangents. A stack of math or science papers can send my blood pressure sky high, but this work has to be done. What to do?
The family needs to be fed, the blog needs updating, and there’s laundry to wash, dry, fold, and stash. Well? Now what?
Balance. I drafted the bulk of a math project, a summary and plan of a recent geometry unit for a math training institute I started last summer. With a focus on the task at hand (and the washer and dryer running while I worked), I created a strong rough draft that will need only a few additions and revisions Monday before the class meets on Tuesday.
Then I grabbed a shovel and went to play in the dirt. Now I can stand and contemplate with pride the compost and soil on top of the barriers on the mint bed. After a few months under the snow and ice, this section will be available for better use in the spring. I stopped after this (three wheelbarrow-loads of compost was enough shoveling for the day) and went back inside.
More laundry: wash, dry, fold, stash.
Updated blog, planned more posts for later in the week, knowing I’d be in meetings at least three days after school and have limited blog time.
There was more, and Chuck kept wondering why I didn’t stick to just one project. Alternating physical and mental and emotionally-charged tasks helped keep me balanced. And after that, taking a break by the fireplace and doing a little recipe research helped plan for decent healthy eating later in the week. That’s another good time investment; takes pressure off to think, plan, and cook at 4:30 after struggling to teach in a rough environment all day.
Balance? I might never achieve the elusive goal. Maybe someday I’ll reach that point. For now, what I’m doing can only help keep the effects of major stresses at bay.

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>Top Ten Reasons to worry about the upcoming election

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  • The opponent in our Senate race thinks global warming doesn’t exist.
  • The opponent in our Congressional race plans to get rid of Social Security as we know it.
  • One candidate for governor plans to scrap our public pension plan, effectively cutting my income by 30%.
  • The opposing candidate for Senate is out of touch with the middle class, which means me.
  • The opposing candidate for Congress has moved in and out of the district several times; whom does he really represent?
  • Many candidates talk about cutting taxes by reducing education budgets – budgets that have already been cut to the bone.
  • Candidates are talking about judging teachers by their students’ test scores. If that’s the case, people, give me a chance. Bring these kids into my class reading and achieving at grade level.
  • I can’t afford to donate enough to my candidates, but I can’t afford not to; if the wrong side wins, my working conditions will worsen severely.
  • Misleading advertising might just tip voting in the wrong direction.
  • Negative advertising might encourage people to stay home, and low voter turnout is never good.

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