Last week was nuts. Not nearly as intense as all of the horror stories propounded by the alums, but I will admit that Friday takes on an entirely new level of meaning as a teacher. All in all, it was a great week. I have fallen in love with my students, and I am so thankful to have such a bunch of sweet, well-mannered 14 year olds. They are generally eager to participate in all of my lessons and are quite amusing in their little jokes and quirks. I have begun to find my "groove" as a teacher. I feel confident and energized in front of the students, and they have all been making measurable progress towards their goals.
That said, I was so grateful to get off campus and out of town for an adventure-filled day in and around Oxford, MS. A few friends and I made the two-hour drive through flat fields (cringing at the low-flying airplanes blanketing the crops in pesticides) so that we could see the literary hub that is Oxford. William Faulkner and Eudora Welty are from there and many famous writers and musicians live/travel there on a regular basis (John Grisham, Eric Clapton, etc.). It was such fun! The town is very quaint and very bourgeois. Apparently it was the number one city for wealthy retirees in the nineties, and that wealth is alive and well. But we soaked it in for the day, perusing the used bookstores and boutiques and savoring gorgonzola cheese, pecans and catfish. It was such a treat to encounter such familiarity and leisure. While sipping my coffee on the porch at Square Books, I ended up having a long conversation with a friendly older man about mathematics education, race relations, and the blues. It was his birthday and he told me how he had volunteered at a homeless shelter that morning, since he would rather give himself away then receive gifts on his birthday. When I told my friend who went to Ole Miss (in Oxford) about the encounter, she was like, "Oh, was it Black Angel?" She went on to tell me that he is a sweet old man who is always hanging out at Square Books and getting into uplifting conversations with people.
The Lovely Town of Oxford
Square Books
On the drive home, we impulsively decided to follow the sign for a state park, and boy am I glad we did. We wound up and down (elevation!) and around ivy-laden earth. Seriously, everything was covered in an ivy-like plant to the point where the landscape looked like a richly textured, undulating blanket of lushness! It looked like a fairy land! Anyway, we finally arrived at a lake (albeit man-made) and again, impulsively, decided to jump in the lake and go for a swim. It felt so good to move about in the water. It was very strange, though, that the entire first FOOT of water on the top was hot. It didn't feel quite like the chilly Minnesota waters, but it was still somewhat familiar. We ended the day by climbing a hill to watch the sunset, and on our drive home, we stopped in a field to take in the constellations.
Lake Sardis
Diversity in the Delta
A Spectacular Sunset
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