Yesterday was my parents’ 58th wedding anniversary. *wow* That is a long time, which seems far, far away right now for Jean and me. However, the first 25 years flew by, so maybe she and I will be sitting in a senior citizen complex a lot sooner than I think. Maybe I should not be so anxious to emulate Joe McDermott and C.B. Mehta and retire anytime soon. ☺

My summer work is coming along pretty well so far. I have already finished the Passing Scene portion of Visions of Paradise, and I hope to finish Wondrous Stories by Friday so that this weekend I can start editing the Tibet book. Right now I am reading a pair of futuristic travelogues by Jack Vance entitled Ports of Call and its sequel Luluru. Next I will read something more serious; if you wish to see my complete list of books for the summer, go to my Visions of Paradise blog.

Tomorrow we are going to Paper Mill Playhouse with Alan and Denise to see Ragtime. That was one of my very favorite books ever, and the play, although a musical, got good reviews both in its initial appearance on Broadway and this recent revival, so I am looking forward to seeing it. On the way there we plan to stop at a restaurant called Garlic Rose Bistro. The name “garlic” sounds incredibly interesting, and I am looking forward to the experience for sure.

Yesterday was the first full day of summer vacation–I have to return to school for a half-day Monday, but that is more formality than doing any real work. I spent the morning catching up on mail and other chores, and then began editing the summer issue of Visions of Paradise, which I hope to finish in a few days so I can start the important job of summer, which is editing the Tibet book.

My plan is to spend mornings writing/editing and doing all other work in the afternoon, including household chores, practicing guitar and cooking. I would like to do one other activity in the learning/arts area to replace all the time I spent learning statistics last summer. I am considering sketching. I took an adult school course in “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” a half-dozen years ago, but I have never really had time to practice it. So hopefully this summer I can do that for an hour each day.

This is a dinner party weekend. Last night we went to a barbecue at Kathy & Dave’s house, and that was enjoyable. I only had time to talk with Kathy though, not with Dave, which is too bad since Dave shares a love of history. His prime interest is the Civil War while I much prefer non-American history, primarily pre-modern times. But it is still enjoyable talking history with somebody, since I do not have too many friends who share my interests.

Tonight we are going to Hoboken for dinner at Veda and Joe's house. We have not seen them since they were at our house a year ago, so it should be a fun evening catching up on our lives. Veda is one of my very favorite students ever. I am thrilled we have stayed close for so many years.

Exams are finished, and now I am grading them and doing various other end-of-the-year chores. This is actually a hectic time of year. An example is that positive senior failures were due at 1:00 pm this afternoon, although some teachers’ last senior exams ended at 12:00 noon. I had that situation last year, and it is almost impossible to finish grading and make such decision in one hour. Forget about eating lunch at all under those circumstances!

I expect to finish all my grades tomorrow morning, which gives me nearly 3 days to finish my other chores, since school ends for teachers next Monday. It will be impossible to work on Thursday with graduation in the morning and the school’s retirement banquet afterwards. I have always marched at graduation, but this year I have been placed in charge of diplomas, although nobody seems to know exactly what I am supposed to do with them. Since the graduating seniors go to various classrooms to pick up their diplomas immediately after the graduation ceremony, I assume I will be sorting the diplomas alphabetically and bringing them to the teachers assigned to each room. That does not sound like anything too stressful or too difficult.

The retirement banquet should be an emotional one this year, since Joe McDermott is retiring after 30+ years teaching in the district, the majority of them in the high school. He has made a lot of friends during those years, and has been a vital part of the math department. I was flattered that he asked me to sit at his table with his friends and family, since I never knew he liked me very much. We'll all miss him a lot next year.

This has been a very busy week, which is why I have not been home much to update my blog. Tuesday night was the annual Senior Awards Ceremony, one of my favorite end-of-the-year activities, since it is so nice seeing my students honored for their academic success. Today was the start of final exams, and although I will still be in school for another 7 days, I will not see my students much from now on. The ending of the school year always brings me mixed emotions. I definitely need a break from the constant stress and 7-day work weeks, not to mention some time to work on my writing. But this is the last time I will see my seniors with whom I spent a lot of time the past three years. I will miss so many of them, especially both Jessicas, Divya, Giana, Manal, Naeema, Rita, Seema, Amy, and James, all of whom are really good people who should do very well in college.

Of course I’ll miss some of the underclassmen–Preeti, Rabbit, and Aishwarya–and teachers–Damaris, Maria, George, Adrianne, Megan, and Eric–but at least I know they will still be there in September when school resumes.

I have a tentative list of things I hope to accomplish this summer, highlighted by final-editing Fei Fei’s Tibet book, working on some fiction of my own, and reading at least 8 books that I have been stockpiling the past few months: Iron Council, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell, Perfect Circle, Ports of Call & Lurulu, A Sundial in a Grave: 1610, The Year of Our War, Pompei, The Eight, as well as some of the nonfiction books I discussed in my May 28th blog. Stay tuned to these pages to learn how much of this I actually accomplish!

There are times it is scary how quickly one’s life can be snuffed out due to a momentary mistake. I nearly got killed driving home from having my oil changed today. I was turning left across the highway to go home, when I suddenly realized that not only were a bunch of cars racing towards me eastbound, but a van heading west in the outside lane was also coming towards me. Thank heavens my instinct was not to step on the brake–I would not be writing this now if it had been–but to accelerate across the highway and onto a side road, which I barely reached ahead of the westbound van. I am still shaken from it. Sometimes we forget how ephemeral and precious life can be. If I were a cat, I definitely used one of my nine lives today.

Summer heat finally came to my school, which was built in the 1950s so that it is incredibly uncomfortable when the temperature surpasses 80o and the building begins to bake. Fortunately, two of my classes are working on projects and a third is doing review for the final exam, so I am really only teaching 2 classes for the last week of classes. Thank heavens.

I am a Yankees fan, but it is obvious to me that the team is undergoing the same metamorphosis now that it underwent in the late 1980s, when they traded away most of their young and upcoming talent for over-the-hill veterans who did not perform nearly as well as expected, as well as draining the team of any enthusiasm, so that they sank to the bottom of their division in the early 90s. Right now there is maybe a half-dozen enthusiastic players on the Yankees surrounded by one-dimensional senior citizens. It is actually the cross-town rivals the Mets who are headed in the right direction, and the fact that they are managed by one of my favorite old-time Yankees Willie Randolph has me rooting for the Mets now for the first time ever.

Monday night was our end-of-the-year celebration for Target Teach, a program in which 30 seniors from both high schools have spent the year learning about teaching at monthly workshops while working with mentor teachers on a daily basis. The program has been more successful than we ever dreamed it would be, and it is great seeing the enthusiasm of those kids, some of whom are the future stars of our profession. It is also incredibly-rewarding being part of it.

Sorry I have not updated all week, but I have incredibly busy at school, which is not unusual for the end of the school year. Wednesday was the valedictorian dinner, which is always one of my favorite occasions of the year. Our valedictorian Jessica is both a really nice girl and an outstanding student, and I was thrilled that she invited me to the dinner with her. She is going to The College of New Jersey, which was the most popular college announced by the county’s valedictorians and salutatorians at the dinner, a tribute to how that school’s reputation has grown in recent years. Four of my other girls are going there next year, which I think is partly my influence since normally such students would have gone to Rutgers in the past.

Thursday afternoon I taught a class from 3:30 - 5:00 consisting of elementary aides who must take a state PRAXIS test in mathematics as part of the president’s No Child Left Behind program. Most educators, myself included, are not sure if that program is really intended to improve the quality of education in this country, or is merely an excuse to make public schools look unqualified so that the president can introduce vouchers enabling parents to send their children to private schools with taxpayers’ money. I would not be surprised at such a motive by sneaky politicians.

Thursday night was the PHS prom, so I had no senior classes yesterday, which was relaxing. A few seniors did come to school, including Jong who is one of the most serious students I have. He has been working 1st period with me every day on Calculus, doing topics his class has not reached yet so he can do well in his Calculus placement test at college. He even helped me in my 7th period class yesterday, which was nice of him.

Currently reading: Postscripts, the latest issue of a semi-annual magazine containing fiction from a wide expanse of genres, including science fiction, fantasy (including a superb historical fantasy set in ancient China), and mystery.

Currently listening: Richard Thompson is one of my very favorite performers, and The Old Kit Bag has him at the top of his form.