Wednesday, February 25, 2004

today

i'm reading selected letters of Jack Kerouac 1940-1956. letters from Jack to his friends and family - except sometimes there's a reply back from Neal Cassady. Neal was the author of 1 book in his life, but he is one of the most often spoken-about "figures" of the beat generation. perhaps because he could have written more - he had so much "potential" (a truly controversial concept with me...) I am absolutely loving this book. it makes me sad that we don't write letters anymore, and i think I may just have to start writing letters on a regular basis. there's always so much to say and so much to share, and i always feel, after writing that I know myself better. my other favourite correspondence book is Boris Pasternak and Olga Freidenberg. Boris was the author of Doctor Zhivago, and Olga was his cousin and closest trusted friend and confidante. she was also a very noted scholar and really lived quite a life. that was also, for me, such a great way to learn about history from such a personal perspective. so that's what I'm doing.

work. no, i'm not going to talk about work. most of my time is spent at work or thinking about work, and as much as i enjoy my job, i am very stressed out lately because of the training and progressing that i am doing. i am looking forward to taking the next step, but i am also quite wary, because i do not want this company to own me. i have so much else to do. you know?

ttfn!

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

jump math pizza social and today's tutouring

today was so great! i did a one on one with a girl in grade 4 in the library. we worked on fractions, decimals and subtracting with borrowing. okay, i got a little confused at this part but it worked out okay. just walked around the classes helping kids with their homework, and during recess, had a nice chat with one of the other tutors. next week i have to get his name... i feel like we're pals, except... oh and he reminds me of the guy in almost famous who plays cameron crowe. nobody cried today, but one girl almost made me cry. kids can put up walls too, you know. i wonder what has to happen to a nine year old girl to make her be so self-protective. any insight kristy?

and i got an invitation to an upcoming social for all the jump volunteers, and, i wager a guess, staff too. this is sooo exciting to me. i was actually just thinking last week that i hope they do something like this soon. maybe "cameron" inspired this in me. okay. i'm hungry. i will be heading to the mcdonalds at dundas west subway station now, before fellowship tonight. talk to you later!

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Jump Math - my tutoring gig

yesterday I made a little boy cry. this was in the third and final class of the day. yeah, it was stressful. the lesson was multiplying with "carrying". so, a 2 digit number x a 1 digit number. the little guy had no problems, he was very smart, but he kept trying to guess instead of follow the steps. (he's 8). predictably, he got the answer wrong everytime. i told him, don't guess. follow the steps. you are a smart boy and you can do this. but he was tired and sick of following the steps. so he started crying. the more I told him he was very smart, the more he talked about how stupid he was. oh, man, that hurt me. he just would not believe me.
also, in the first class I was in, I was paired up with a boy who spoke tibetan as a first and english not so much. it took me most of the 20 minute session trying to explain. not his fault, he was soooo smart. I just could not break through. the second class was easy. i went around the class and checked their work, and said "hey! language!" every time I heard one of them swear. (you're dam right i did! 9 year olds swearing? I don't even like it when my kid brother swears and he's 22!) I really enjoy these tutoring sessions. i love telling kids how smart they are and helping them see it. helping them to see that math is really cool is really cool!
okay, then, talk to ya later.