The Cancellations Began at 11 a.m. Before the Snow, so There Was a Time for a Pink Pam-ther and a Few Rounds of Rummikub

The best news of the day is I didn't adventure to campus to finish preparation for PD in Darien with middle and secondary teachers in literacy. Yes, everything but the copies were completed, but with a call to say "NOPE," I'm glad I didn't bother to continue. All the meetings, the time spent last weekend to be prepared, and all the arrangements are a no-go...and they have no other space this semester for such PD, so it is a wash. I am not bothered. I would rather be warm and safe. 

As for my graduate course, another Monday cancelled, I don't feel comfortable calling it off because Spring Break is around the corner, so I'm hoping to get a 1 hour video together to help them be ready for next Monday. And for all the other shenanigans required this week, we shall see. The outside candidate, as of yet, cannot get a flight to CT, and with more snow predicted later this week, only time will tell. I'm not very optimistic. I'm just hoping I can keep my head on straight to make it make as much sense as humanly possible. It's a lot to juggle the insanity, but it is what educators do. 

Pam made me lunch and followed with a Pink Pamther cocktail...some sort of vodka, cranberry, ginger ale drink, and we played several rounds of Rummikub...she won 2 of the 3 and the dogs got to tire one another out. 

I got home around 5:30 and it was light snow. By 7 p.m. the icky was getting sticky and I could tell it was going to be quite a night...the heaviest coming in between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.. I'm waking to the exhaustion of removing it, but because it's not stopping until 6 p.m., I'm unsure how much I want to remove today. Daylight is likely not going to be the best time, so I await decisions for on-campus 10 a.m. meetings to figure out a game plan for all of it. I can't get out of the house if I can't find time to shovel. 

Oh, Maude...you're making us feel like Syracuse down here. All joy, always. We've had a respite from winter for a few years, but Mother Nature is getting her payback now. 

My brain is scrambled. It is what it is. Phew.

Stay under the blankets.

And So We Wait. The Predictions are Pretty Wild, and the Cancellations Will Begin Soon (But I'm Ready for them Now)

I needed milk. 20 minutes to find a parking space. 60 minutes to check out. The CT Blizzard panic began early. For me, I just want to know it's all cancelled; that way, I can work with this Sunday very differently. I have a PD in Darien and a late night class, but if they are canceled, I can operate totally different today. I planned on being on campus to get the prep work done, but I don't want to prepare any more than I already have if there isn't going to be an audience for the work.

I realized yesterday I am totally exhausted. My brain isn't working, I don't want to be on screen, and I most definitely don' want to think, which is tricky because that is how I make a living. Of course, the weather also offsets every part of the week, as Tuesday will be another day and it's a marathon, too...as is Wednesday...Thursday...Friday. A cancellation today means that I can forgive myself and just rest on the couch all day. I also have to think about the great shoveling afterwards. I'm already tired thinking of it. 

All of this is to say that I'm at the edge of WAY TOO MUCH. I know I need to pull back and practice self-care. This time I'm really feeling it.

On a happy, joy joy note, Dr. Boquet invited me, Max, and Nohea over for lunch as Nohea was visiting her brother from Honolulu and wanted to see us all. She, as is normally the case, came with a case of gifts...Hawaiian candies, cards, treats. She really is too much. Her brother, sister, and other friends from Hawaii came later and it was just a total trip of warm happiness on a soon-to-be wintry weekend. I loved every second of it.

So, whatever will be will be today. I'm thinking of Lester Lamanek's SNOW DAY story. I'm hearing from everyone that there doctor's appointments, banks, meetings, etc. have already been cancelled. I just need them to cancel schools now and then, ah....a day to rest. 

Rest. Rest. Rest.

You Know It Was a Friday When You Arrive Home and See Possible Crazy-Snow for Monday and You're Like, "Yes! Yes!"

It is true. If snow comes Sunday night and schools close Monday, I get a break. I'm scheduled for PD and teaching on Monday, after a week with no breaks, only to follow another with less breaks. I'm here for the Weather Channel, and although I'm sorry for the prep-work I've done and the readiness I already have, a cancellation will keep me from traffic drama, overcommitment, and a little more time to catch up on the exhaustion.

Yesterday, the 2026 MLK Youth Leadership Academy was an amazing success. I don't know how Dr. Rony Delva finds the greatest middle school students in Connecticut, but each year gets better. Kids with integrity, focus, self-esteem, awareness, a sense of humor, a commitment to community, and tremendous responsibility. These kids come to write and to lead. It's such a joy. 

It's always wonderful to have so many key players at the University there to support the incredible work. We used Victory Stand: Raising a Fist for Justice, a graphic novel by Derrick Barnes about 1968 Olympian Tommie Smith. It was the perfect fit for an incredible workshop.

I wish I could say I slept well Thursday night, but all the anxiety monsters greeted me as I closed my eyes an I barely slept an hour. Still, I made it through the workshop with the usually energy and enthusiasm I have for kids. 

A million and one finger snaps for the Women's 2025 Women's Volleyball MAAC champions who helped spotlight the important of MLK and his ongoing commitment to social justice and equity. They made the day extra special

I need Saturday and Sunday for down time...rejuvenation...and sleep. Wish me luck. All in all, yesterday was absolutely incredible. 

Well, A Package of Cards Arrived in the Mail. I'm Not Sure If It is a Good Think or a Sad Part of Getting Old. I'll Go with Both

Apple updated its platform and now all my rotating desktop images are showing themselves sideways or upside down. I'm reading this is true for Mac users everywhere, and using this to accompany the fact that attaching to a new online network and wifi at the University is also hit or miss since the update. ITS tells me that they are aware of the online issue. 

The upside down and backwards is what I'm colligating this morning, as yesterday was upside down and backwards, too. I'm used to chaotic days and frantic drives to make sense of the nonsensical, but Thursday was more than I could process or handle. Work in higher education is bizarre to say the least and all the positioning, dog-eat-dog, peer-reviewing is traumatizing at times. Yet, it is the work that is called for and one must adapt to in order to survive.

When I finally got home late last night, a package was at the front door. Many of my friends have lost loved ones, both young and old, in Kentucky, Connecticut, and amongst childhood friends. I thought it might be smart to have cards on hand to share my sadness and to show love so made the order a while ago. They came last night. I'm not sure if this is perverse or proactive. Sick or caring. My colleague, Beth, said, "maybe it's a sign you need to have sympathy for yourself, too...God's way of saying I'm delivering the cards on a day when you wanted to throw in the towel. Maybe he's looking after you."

I'm not sure about that, but I have them now to send, so I don't have to rely on 21st century messages, emails, or texts...the ol' snail mail routine.

This morning, I'm working with 100 8th graders for the MLK Youth Leadership Academy...a tradition that is well over a decade old at this point. I'm using my time with kids to rejuvenate parts of the soul torn by the ways higher education sometimes operates...to heal. 

It's a TGIF moment, indeed. I'm very thankful there's a Saturday and Sunday ahead to process.

Yesterday and Today Are About Working Ahead so Next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday Don't Have Me Drowned Out

February is always a lot, and it is even more with the onset of potential weather events. I already had once cancelation needing to be rescheduled from last Friday. Next week I have a PD in Darien, two days of PD in Redding, and a two-day conference online (as well as the regular scheduled teaching, plus another candidate on campus). The result is lying around Wednesday, hair unwashed, to start planning everything so I don't seem to be a schmuck when I arrive to the settings. Plus this Friday is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Leadership Academy.

Sprinkle into that the news of a new grant needing to be spent quickly and registrations coming in for summer and I'm a little wide-eyed with getting it all done. My lack of planning cannot constitute an emergency. That's how I role.

Such is the way of a birthday week (and friends want to know why I'm not in a mood for doing something extraordinary...I just want peace and quiet). 

I am thankful, though, for all the opportunities and try to package the labor and resentment to the side so it doesn't slow down the possibilities for teachers and students. Lucky for me, it's low-grading until March. 

Here's to all of us currently hitting our heads to the screen.  It is what it is and we got this. There's no other choice.

Ooof. That Was a Loooongggg Day on Campus But There Were Numerous Highlights of the Day Including a New Grant & a Few Special Guests

Fresh of the press and hearing it hear first: CWP-Fairfield received a 2026 Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation grant to enhance K-12 writers through the art of diverse texts. I wrote the grant over the summer and hoped it would stick, simply placing a YA author, James Bird, at the center of it all. As luck would have it, I taught his book Wolf Club last night and when he heard the grant came in, he surprised the students with a free author talk. It was amazing. 

I also got to spend the day with a TESOL candidate looking to fill the enormous shoes of a colleague who is retiring. She did one HECK of a job teaching translanguaging practices found in Wolf Club. The night was jam packed with knowledge and, lucky for me, I also got to go to dinner with the applicant afterwards. It made for a very long day, but all good was on our side (although now I want to spend a few weeks processing what she taught us in relation to choosing James Bird's book. 

At one point she had us draw what we thought multilingualism looks like, so I drew Triangle Man, Oblong Man, Squarehead, and Octagon Boy. Each of the adults are talking at the boy in a language he doesn't understand (seeing all as adult talk sent from the district). Each of the characters are speaking a made up language native to their ways of knowing the world. The kid, Octagon Boy, is just looking for peace. 

And I'm looking for peace, too. The day was exhausting, but enriching, so I'll be thinking about it for some time. Now, however, I need to make up for an entire day lost to a job search (or was it found in a job search). Only time will tell. 

So, I'm 54 and 5+4 = 9, and I Had $9 in My Wallet, so Bought $9 in Scratch-Offs and Came Away $270 to the Good. I'll Take that Birthday Karma

The photo of this card is no good. I already cashed it in. I'm not stupid. I never win, so if I DID win, I was on it. I am laughing, because I bought a friend's son tickets last week and he won over $100. I was like "bastard, good for you." Ah, but the karma came back to me on the 16th, my birthday. Pam make me an Asian good luck noodle dish and I brought wine and the scratch offs. I'll take it. It feels good to be a winner....

...and I wasn't counting on Syracuse, even if I do HATE Duke..

Today is one of those ugly 14 hour days, but I'll do my best to keep my head screwed on correctly. I laid very low this weekend knowing that for the next three weeks, life is almost impossible. I will get through, but there are numerous demands. 

The irony is that mail didn't run because of President's Day, and I imagine the birthday cards are arriving today while I'm on campus on a faculty job search (as well as my own classes). 

I only finished 1 of the 3 books I started, and I want to hibernate to get them down. The temperatures were up so it was wonderful walking outside. You almost got that Spring feeling, but I quickly reminded myself to slow down. It's currently skunk-mating season and February and March can stink real bad. 

Here's to knowing it's your birthday, which means an extra day, and for actually having the will-power to resist work-work-work-work, to actually chill out, watch basketball, read, cook, and enjoy calmer days. 

Ah, I will pay for that in 3...2....1