T Minus Oprah

Housekeeping

1. You may notice a newish ad over there on the side and that’s from the LG TextEd BlogHer Engagement Program that I’m participating in right now. It’s all about how parents deal with the issues that cell phone texting brings with it when coupled with the wonderfulness that is teenagedom. Basically, I am an LG TextEd Ambassador and I have a post over at BlogHer today on the topic of Mobile Meanness. If you want to check out all the posts, you can find the link here.

2. Last week I completely forgot to mention that I had been chosen as one of the 50 Best Twitter Moms. That’s kind of cool, right? Like, as a mom I have something twitterable to say? Sounds good, eh? I was in the top 10 of the funniest moms. If you want to go straight to the page where they featured me, that’s here. I thought what they said about me was very nice:

The hysterically funny Mocha Momma is as open about her day job (assistant principal) as she is about her familial mayhem. Thank the high heavens for twitter handles and anonymity, because this is one mama who doesn’t hold back. Wish I had a principal this cool and funny!

The Real Post:

I have to set the record straight concerning tonight’s movie viewing and tomorrow’s live taping of Oprah: I am not going to be a guest on the show, I’m simply an audience member. What I probably don’t have to explain is that I am passionate about the work of education and that if by magical fairies or unicorn wishes I get a microphone anywhere near my mouth I can expound for hours on this topic. This means that I’ve spent the last two days spending my driving times to work and home having imaginary conversations with Oprah and the panel experts about this movie. Of course, I will post a review of my own to it as soon as I can, but I’ve been reading about the movie for so long that I have a pretty good idea what I’ll be viewing tonight.

My favorite part of this experience so far is that both of my sisters will be attending with me. They couldn’t be further from one another in their personalities. One of them was very casual and “Sure. Oprah. Let’s do this.” and the other screamed in my ear on the phone for so long that I just set the phone down and waited until she was done. Then, there’s me. I am literally the in-between sister in so many ways. However, I didn’t miss an opportunity to tell them both “See? And you thought my blog was just something fun I was doing because I’m a nerd.” To which each, in her own way, responded that I am, indeed, a nerd.

Many teachers at my school are excited for me today and can’t believe my sheer luck. One of the conversations I had was with the principal who is very supportive and encouraging to me. Working with people in education that get it is truly refreshing and our pedagogies of education are synched. We were talking excitedly yesterday about things we want for our students and our community and it’s a conversation that’s stayed with me because she taught me something about our town.

Springfield has history, yes, and Lincoln is everywhere here. The historic parts of town where people lived and families settled are gorgeous and yet overrun at the same time. My principal, Nichole, talked about how her life dream was to restore the Lincoln Colored Home. I’m ashamed to admit this, but I’ve never heard of it. Fifteen years in this town and no one has ever brought it up. I haven’t read about it in our newspaper or heard people talk about it. It was the first orphanage in our nation for African American children and elderly women who were not welcome anywhere else. Social services for them were denied and hardships were simply ignored at the time. In 1904 a woman named Eva Carroll Monroe established the home after seeing a need in this community of black women and children wandering the streets in search of help.

My jaw kept dropping open as she went on to describe this piece of history. Our 8th grade students do a culminating History Fair project (we have been the only middle school in our city to enter) that takes all year long to research and work on for our students. The 8th graders are working right now on choosing a project to research and I hear them in the hallways and classrooms talk about primary sources and the research they will do at our city’s Lincoln Public Library. A few years ago, a group of students worked on the Lincoln Colored Home and I am presently reading a huge binder full of articles and facts on the history of the home now. After talking with Nichole, I went to our school library to check it out and have been fascinated ever since. While we talked about the home, I could see the flicker of passion in her eyes for this project and how no one seems interested in restoring the home. (Dare I say that I recognize the flicker of passion in her?) She also mentioned that (as a white woman) she isn’t always welcome when it comes to her pursuit. As if, what, white people can’t be interested in the restoration of colored orphanage? And this THIS is always worth talking about for me. But that’s not the point right now. The point is that she introduced me to a piece of history with which I was totally ignorant.

Me: Where exactly is this house located?

Her: [she points behind me] Turn around and look out your window. See that house across the street? It’s right behind it. You probably pass it every day on your way here.

It was one of those moments in life when you feel history around you and you are transported and transformed by what you learn. For now, I’m still doing research on this subject and I can tell you already that I am going to get involved. I am going to add this to my Life List because when something hits you this hard you can’t help but want to dig right into it.

Life Lists are a beautiful thing. I want mine to be a living, working, ever-changing document of my own passions and the thing I learned early on is that it’s not about collecting stuff or obtaining grand items. It’s about changing who I am and experiencing worthwhile objectives in life while continually contributing to my fellow man. Teaching and learning and growing and changing and always striving to be a better person. Don’t you think that should be enough?

I do. Dig in.