my response to an email from a friend giving me a hard time about ksu football.  he asks me about my opinion of bill snyder returning to coach at kstate and if the hall of fame will not only wait, but never materialize as a result.  i said:

snyder cannot coach himself out of the hall.  brett favre will still be a hall of famer despite the lunacy of his present choices.  bill and brett can't undo the amazing things they have done in the past, no matter how much of a circus they decide to let their careers turn into in the future.  bill snyder took a team that was ranked 113 (out of 112 teams... no lie.  Wichita State University had an accidental higher ranking in football than KSU in the late '80's... accidental because WSU did not have a football team at the time... [is that really true, or is it a tale of legend and lore???  oh well.  it works for making my point]). he led them to 16 successful seasons, a #1 ranking, and BCS bowl games.  that's incredible no matter what happens in the upcoming seasons.  it is still known as one of the best turn arounds in history.  that won't change.

as for how things will go in the new snyder era:  this is why i am not counting him out:  

1.  a mark of a bill snyder team is discipline, fundamentals, and more discipline.  that is what KSU is lacking, so increasing the discipline can only lead to improvement.  

2.  another mark of a bill snyder team is progressive, even if slow, improvement.  one thing you always could count on was improvement from one season to the next, one game to the next, and one quarter to the next.  snyder's teams climbed the rankings each season and with each game.  ron prince's team did the opposite.  ron prince had a game plan that involved a lot of trick plays that surprised teams, even really good teams (UT), in the first half of a game.  but he made no halftime adjustments and his teams became increasingly worse as the 2nd half droned on.  they made more and more mental mistakes, penalties, predictable plays that led to turnovers... these things are rare with a bill snyder team.  i expect that, even if our record does not indicate as such, we will see marked improvement as the season progresses and i'm ok with that for this season and maybe next.

3.  and this is why i think bill will be able to have "success" in upcoming seasons (whether that's bowl eligibility, big 12 north champions, or...), bill does not have to be the best or strongest "link" on the field.  he has brought in some amazing coaches to his staff including the offensive coordinator from last year's successful utah team and jo bo clements from ku.  bill knows that his teams are only as strong as the coaches around him.  he does not try to make himself bigger by keeping everyone around him "small time."  there are a lot of big time coaches that were assistants under snyder before and he's staying with that pattern.  he knows that he's older and up against a lot of odds... again.  he knows what it's like to be in this position.  in fact, he's dug himself out of even deeper holes before and he did it by bringing in strength and talent in the coaches around him.  ron prince was afraid of bigger and better talent on the coaching staff.  this threatened him.  he had to make himself the central element and the strongest link and he did not have a coaching staff to fall back on when his inexperience showed.  

4.  part of ksu's problem has been really poopy (not the word i used originally, but i'm censoring myself) ADs since the previous bill snyder era.  snyder will not go for this.  he will demand excellence on that level as he does with his coaches and he has the clout to make it happen.  for f-s (really did just say f-... not the actual word) sake, he's the reason we have a damn (not really that bad of a word... right?) equestrian team.  in the early '90's before ksu football brought in a profit, bill demanded an indoor practice facility and stadium renovations.  this was before anyone knew what he was capable of doing and everyone thought he was a crazy man for those demands.  but, he knew that is what it would take to build a program that could compete and to bring in recruits... and it worked.  he knows how to get it done.

i can't make any predictions about what bill snyder will do, but there's comfort in knowing that this is how he will build the program.  snyder loves being the underdog.  he really has nowhere to go but up and no one is paying any attention to ksu this year.  this is perfect for him to be able to teach and coach and turn things around gradually.  

first days of school

first week of school:

*getting up at 4:50 every morning, leave the house by 6:00 am. i'm kinda proud of myself for that.

*i've had a work order to get my phone in my classroom fixed for three weeks.

*we have a paper shortage. budget cuts = paper shortage. this is ok with me as i am trying to be environmentally conscious anyway. but, it's just a reality for schools this year. it's not just paper either. teacher shortages too. most of the teachers have 30+ students in their classes. i've spent several hundred dollars in the past month on supplies, posters, and books, BOOKS for my room. i am determined that my kids will READ in my class. if you've not been in a school in the past 5 years you have no idea how difficult this simple goal is to achieve. i'll be danged (i edited myself!) if my kids don't read a gosh-darn fleeping book in my class. i told my kids that they may not like it, but we're doing it, and by this time next year they'll know that in Ms Hutson's class you're gonna read a book!

*evacuation. wednesday we had to evacuate the building because of a diesel leak. we spent 1 1/2 hours in the school's football stadium with the entire staff and student body until buses came to take the kids home. we didn't get back into the school until friday. first week of school.

i'm not going to lie, my kids are tough. i'm the third case manager they've had in 3 years and right now they could care less about me. it makes sense. they have no reason to trust me, take me for my word, believe me... that all takes time. you can't just walk in and start talking about how much you care about them. i told them on day one: things you should know about me: i am not the enemy. i know you don't know me, so you don't know if you can believe that or not, but i'm not the enemy. i'm not looking to "get" you. i don't enjoy that. but there's right and wrong and we're going to work on some things. if i have to talk to you about something, you're not in trouble, you're LEARNING. i won't assume anything about you. i won't judge you. also, i'm not perfect. you want me to give you a break from time to time? you gotta give me a break too. i have bad days, i'll make mistakes. but i'll always own them and apologize when i've been wrong. the hard part with my kids is that until they decide to respond to me, until they decide i'm the real deal and they can work with me, i can't force their hands. one student told me i'm doing ok so far. hey. i'll take it.

guys, seriously. it's like every inner-city school movie you've ever seen. please pray that i'll just love these kids well, if that's the only thing i do.

p.s. read the post from yesterday about river to well. take photos. submit them. build a well in south africa. give people fresh water.

photo competition!!!!

Hey friends. Don't forget about the River To Well photo competition that I think all of my photographically-inclined friends should enter! You can submit photos online (save on the cost of printing photos and postage) and all of the funds go toward building a well in a South African village in a region that was hit hard by last year's typhoid outbreak. The competition has student, amateur, and professional levels, so there's NO EXCUSES to not enter your photos. DEADLINE IS SEPTEMBER 15!! Here's the link to the competition website: www.rivertowell.com

I'm planning on submitting a few photos, some of which have been featured on this blog. In fact, why don't you weigh in on which photos are your favorites. Go to the right side of the blog and click on my previous blog entries that are under the "photos" label and scan through and let me know which photos are your favorites and that you want me to submit.

school!

well, students show up tomorrow! yikes. i am super nervous. i feel like i've been trying to sip from a fire hydrant that is opened full blast. there is so much information, so much that i'm expected to know already, and i'm really nervous about how the students will respond to me. all to be expected, i suppose. the two most stressful things in a teacher's career are the first year of teaching and adjusting to a new district... i'm doing both this year. i feel like i know a storm is approaching and i can't avoid it but i am just hoping to weather the storm. i know that it's going to be busy, stressful, uncomfortable, confusing and scary for a little while but if i can just get through these first few months, i'll start to settle in a bit. here's some pics of my classroom.

i'll be teaching social development skills to kids with emotional and behavioral disorders. most of the office referrals from last year came from kids in my caseload, specifically the class that i teach. i'll also be working in an intervention room to help students with academic and behavioral problems that come up during their gen ed classes. and, finally, i will have my family advocacy group, which are kids that i will have close communication with everyday, close connections to their families, and help them stay on track with their goals, graduation requirements, etc.

nyc

i just got back from visiting my brother and sister in new york! my mom and i left last friday and stayed until yesterday and we packed A LOT of action into one weekend. if you've been to new york you know how it seems like you don't accomplish very much but you stay REALLY busy because half of the time and energy is spent on walking, subway, walking, pushing through crowds, sweaty subway stations, packed trains, walking, crashing into more people, standing in lines, walking, sweating....

hears a rundown of activities and some pics: short plays, sushi, shopping at the Strand bookshop, Mary Poppins on Broadway, Harry Potter, Indian food, Coney Island, Brooklyn, Times Square, 72nd and Amsterdam, Italian food, clothes shopping, massages in Chinatown (I conversed in Chinese with the masseuses! I still remember a little bit from the 2 weeks I was there!), great restaurants, etc.

river to well photo competition

so, after we got back from South Africa last december, our buddy, Ken, decided to create a photo competition to raise money to build a well in one of the villages we visited in the Limpopo (Northern) region. This is a region that was hit by the cholera outbreak that struck southern Zimbabwe last year and spread down into northern SA. We had the chance to visit several villages and churches/schools in the region during our trip. Below are some photos from the region and the village where the well will be built:

So, check out this website: www.rivertowell.com to see about the competition. I have LOTS of friends that are great photographers, so I hope you guys submit some photos! There's different levels and different categories, so everyone can contribute a photo!

goodbye waterdeep

on saturday, don and lori had their final waterdeep show in the KC area before moving to nashville.  they asked kirk to run sound (he's become a bit of a regular go-to guy for them lately), which is just a bittersweet, full-circle thing for him.  it's kind of his dream job to run sound for them, and just when he's become a trusted person they know to call on, they move on.  i know it was a little sad for him.  

i should say, it was a little sad to me, too.  their music has been the part of my life, like i'm sure it has for many of you, that allows me to be who i am with all the rough edges and dirty, dark corners.  their persistent honesty and raw lyrics make me feel like i belong with christ, like there's room for someone like me.  they don't clean it up, make it nice, package it just so.  i feel at home with their words.  there are a few significant things in my life that have allowed me to truly experience the gospel, the good news of grace and mercy:  waterdeep, sara groves, brennan manning's writing (e.g. ragamuffin gospel), cs lewis, being married to kirk, and working with kids that are as rough on the outside as i am inside (and sometimes outside!).  

so, thanks don and lori.  (and sara, brennan, clive, kirk, etc....)

funny percival story

so, cecil's brother, percival, is just the sweetest, most playful cat.  taking a cue from my friend tiff, i have a litany of cute-sy nicknames for him:  percy, muffin, muffin-face, biscuit, smudger (i don't know), etc.  

anyway, he got into a little scrape a while back and had a gash on his arm.  he never seemed to be bothered by it (because he's just a sweet cat, so playful), no limping, no cringing when i touched his arm; i thought i would just let it heal and skip the vet.  well, it wasn't healing, so finally i took him to the vet and found out it had got infected.  i know, gross.  anyway, antibiotics didn't help, so finally, we had to take him in to cut away the infected part and stitch him up.  traumatic.  

kirk dropped him off in the morning, they put him under, shaved him and stitched him up. later that day i went to pick him up.  i just felt so awful, his arm looked horrible and the stitches ran the length of his arm!  i was looking at him and i noticed that his whiskers had been shaved!  here's the conversation (my thoughts are in italics):

"what happened to his whiskers?" i said to the vet.

"what do you mean?" said the vet to me.

"his whiskers have been cut."

"i don't know what you're talking about."  (what the - ?!  how can you not see this?!) 

"look.  half of his whiskers are gone!"

"well, we didn't do that."  (WHAT THE - ?!  who says that??)

"well i certainly didn't do it.  when we brought him in this morning, he had whiskers!"

"well, we didn't cut his whiskers."  (i want his whiskers back!  give them to me NOW!)

well, see for yourself.  the shaver-guy must have been on drugs.  i nearly asked for a discount on account of his whiskers being shaved.  

big announcement

i know it's been forever since i blogged and there is a reason for that. the only thing that is going on in my life right now is that i've been trying to get a job. i reinstated my teaching license last fall and am eligible to teach special ed while i'm completing my masters. however, this is a stupid time to try to get a job with the state of the economy and schools facing cut backs. so, it's been a long process with lots of disappointing closed doors, which is why i haven't wanted to say anything about it until now.

i hoped to stay in lawrence, as it has been my home for 4 years as a para. i live only a few blocks from the school, have 4 years of relationships established with the teachers and the students, and it's familiar. but, to cover my bases (and due to rumors that lawrence was facing cuts in teaching positions) i also applied in the KCK school district. those of you who know me well know that i've always wanted to teach in an urban school with a diverse population. well, i was called in for an interview with a sped person from the KCK district about a month ago. the interview went well and my name was passed along to a few building principals to consider for a second interview. instead of a second interview, i was offered a job 2 days later!

since then, my application had to approved by the school board and i had to complete some preliminary paperwork so i've been waiting until i had the contract IN MY HAND before i really made the official announcement. i just couldn't face telling everyone that i'd been offered a job and then have the district cut my position or something else happen, so i waited.

anyway, i'm really excited about the job! i will be an Emotional Disturbance (used to be Behavior Disorder - the so-called "bad kids" that struggle to succeed in traditional school settings) teacher at Washington High School in KCK. it is definitely an urban school facing all of the usual challenges, but there are a lot of exciting things that the school and the district is willing to give a try in order to see their students succeed. i will have my own classroom, which i'm excited about (may not seem like a big deal, but it's not always a guarantee for sped teachers). i've got a lot of ideas for how to decorate! once i get all set up, i'll take some pics of my classroom and post them! i will be co-teaching part of the day in general ed classes (probably math, social studies, maybe english, hopefully not science!) and then i will have both studies skills and social development classes of my own to teach.

oh, by the way, i will be tripling my yearly salary that i've been earning as a para. yeah.

anyway, look for my summer reading list sometime in the next couple of weeks. i just have to get through the next week and a half of school and then i will be a more rested, lively version of myself!

random questions

my friend laura always finds these surveys with the greatest questions, so i stole some of the questions off of her blog.  i'm not going to lie, i chose only the questions for which i had witty answers because i like to edit myself so that i appear to be more awesome than i really am.  

1. Song that always makes you sad?  ok, maybe it's just me... but i love a good "sad" song because the lyrics are usually really honest and it makes me feel like less of a freak show!  so, i can't really think of many songs that truly make me sad... although country songs usually make me sad just because they're awful.  sorry, country fans.  

2. Last person you argued with?  a student tried to argue with me about why i wouldn't "help" her (translation:  give her the answers) on a test.  so, i stole her student planner, flipped to the "rules and regulations" page and wrote at the top, "MENDY IS ALWAYS RIGHT" and told her that it was the #1 rule at LHS, so, sorry, guess there's no arguing with me.  i don't think she thought it was as hilarious as i did.  
3. Do you put Peanut Butter before putting the jelly on? totally.  otherwise the jelly makes the bread soggy... peanut butter is a buffer.
4. One of your stuffed animals' names as a kid? Lamb-y.  it was a stuffed lamb.  i was really creative with my naming process.
5. T.V. show you secretly enjoy?  i'm not terribly embarrassed by any shows that i watch... i am, however, embarrassed that i am sitting at home on a friday night blogging and watching The Masters... The Masters... really? and this after taking a 3 hour nap when i got home from work.  i think i actually skipped my 30th birthday and went straight to 84.  
6. Would you rather play basketball or hockey?  i love basketball.  in my imagination i was always a really great player, but then it never seemed to translate into actual physical talent.  
7. Do you know all the words to the Canadian national anthem? i'm with you, Laura, i can't even make it past the first 2 words... O Canada, dum da di dum di da... seriously, what are the words?
8. Favorite Cheese?  all of them?  eww, except gorgonzola. bleh, it tastes like sick.  
9. Did you go to your high school prom? oh prom.  hideous bridesmaidal dress (yeah, i made that word up), awful "dyeables" shoes from payless (ugly AND uncomfortable), do-it-yourself hair-do, and an AWFUL sunburn from a soccer game earlier that day (shin guard lines and sleeves lines don't really flatter)
10. Do you use your queen right away in chess? no, and i've yet to win a game.  so, i'm no prodigy.  
11.Ever been in a car accident?  yes.  and it was my fault, which sucks even more.  side note:  i've also backed into a police car.  kirk and i have also both backed into the same exact car belonging to a total stranger on two totally separate occasions.  i know.  
12. Closer to mom or dad...or neither?  both.  i think my mom is "close" to everyone she's ever had a conversation with. she has this way of drawing people out and having deep heartfelt conversations with just everyone.  dad and i are sports pals.  and rolling-our-eyes-at-mom pals.  dad and i tend to have the same exact spiritual thought processes. mom and i read the same books and love the same movies.  my family never really lacks for things to talk about.  i'm sure you are all shocked.  
13. What decade during the 20th century would you have chosen to be a teenager?  i would never have survived any era when girls were supposed to be LADIES.  i think i would have been a quite rebellious '50's teenager!  yeah, the '90's were probably the best fit... you could get away with wearing t-shirts, baggy flannel shirts, baggy jeans.  anything earlier than the '60's and i would have had to wear dresses and skirts.  nope. 

14. Were you in track and field? my track career was short-lived.  i did summer track club in 4th grade.  while waiting for mom to pick me up from practice one day i decided to practice hurdles on this little chain fence.  i think we see where this is going.  caught my foot, face-planted, looked around to see if anyone saw me.  kirk has a great pole-vaulting story, you should as him about it sometime.  
15. Baseball hat or toque?  what in the world is a toque??  i like baseball hats, but hair's a little poofy for them. 
16. Have you thrown up on a plane? yeah.  but only thing i'd had was oj, so... it was flying into NYC... i think flying so low over the tall buildings made me wretch.  
17. Have you thrown up in a car? not that i remember.  i'm not generally a puker.
18. Have you thrown up at work? no.  but i make puking noises when i see kids sucking face in the halls. seriously.  it seems to be more effective than asking them to stop.   
19. Who was your first prom date?  ha ha.  ryan aylward.  michelle's cousin's husband.  awkward.  point of clarification:  he was not anyone's husband when he went to prom with me.  i did have a really huge crush on him.  but he was just a really great friend.  i was really good at being "friends" with guys, i think it was the sports thing.  anyone else remember that hated phrase, "you're just a really great friend?"  bleck.
20. Who was your first roommate? the browning house girls.  
21. What was your first job? I Can't Believe It's Yogurt.  great name.  it was a popular choice for all the "Classy Cats" dancers that went tanning next door.  they always ordered large, non-fat vanilla, with candy bar toppings.  i never quite understood the purpose of the non-fat vanilla in all of that.  
22. Who was your first Best Friend and are you still friends with them? Carrie, and yes, we're still friends!  we were an unlikely pair.  the first time we met was when i moved to the neighborhood when i was 5 and she was 6.  she rode up to me on this brown bmx bike (she was a total girly-girl which made the choice of bicycles even more ironic) and asked if i wanted to ride with her.  her definition of "riding" was to shuffle along with her feet on the ground instead of pedaling. we were always together after that.  we had our own weird little way of talking with each other.  her mother thought we were retarded.  yeah, she actually used the word retarded.  hilarious.  
23.Who is the first person you call when you have a bad day?  kirk.  poor guy.  
24. What was the first concert you attended? DC Talk and Michael W Smith.  yeah.  i was a cool christian.  
25. First tattoo or piercing? the cartilage of my ear.  lost a bet.  made Todd go with me (he was the winner of the bet) because i am a chicken. 

26.   First celebrity crush?  ahh, ralph maccio (wait.  was that his name???).  karate kid.  christian bale has been my longest running celeb crush (going strong ever since Newsies)