Now, that's a send off!!

Holy smokes! Have I ever mentioned how I'm really blessed? Like, seriously, have a great life. If you need proof, think about my day yesterday: got up two hours before my last trip of the season (sad) and packed all of my stuff (by myself). Then I headed out for my trip. A Whales trip to Pt. Adolphus. I had the pleasure of taking out some Californians, my homegirl Lauren and her Mom, visiting from Bellingham. We started the day with flat-calm water and an excellent whale show: breaching, fluke slapping, breathing, you name it these whales were doing it. And so many of them! Whales everywhere. After hours of whale watching, we paddled east towards the point at which point the fog had burned off, the sun was shining and we could see the Fairweathers! And and it was warm!!!! After lunch, we swam in Icy Straits, well I did and so did one of the Californians. It was awesome!!!! Now, you're thinking...wow life can't get any better. Wrong!!! Right after I dropped my people off, I got on my friend Zach's boat and we boated to Juneau. Wine and snacks were flowing. Did I mention that it was sunny and warm!?! Once I arrived in Juneau town, I met up with my homie Kenny who let me stay at his amazing house and drove me to the airport early this AM.  Lucky!

Now I'm headed to Ketchikan, where I'm going to ferry to Hollis    Where my homegirl Amy is going to pick me up and take me back to Thorne Bay. Damn, it takes work to travel around AK. Totally worth it!

Fellow Spirit Walkers at the Commune

The Umiak

The Umiak

Oh man, so many things I could have named this post, including: Drinking and Boating, It will be easy, 1 to 1, no problem. You'll see why. This long story starts with my homegirl, Karen. We guided together last year for Spirit Walker. Any who, she came back from a trip to the Hubbard Glacier (LUCKY) and wanted to go on a trip with our other friend, Jeffie on his boat, The Umiak. A little background on the Umiak is this: 

The umiak, umialak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac or oomiak is a type of boat used by Eskimo people, both Yupik and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia to Greenland.^[1] First arising in Thule times, it has traditionally been used in summer to move people and possessions to seasonal hunting grounds and for hunting whales and walrus.^[1][2] Although the umiak was usually propelled by oars (women) or paddles (men), sails, sometimes made from seal intestines, were also used, and in the 20th century, outboard motors. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umiak)

Okay, I'll try to make this short, but basically I didn't want to go, because I was tired. I had been working since I got here and we had a week long Teacher's Trip leaving in a couple of days. Karen convinced me that this trip would be "easy" and that they really NEEDED me to go because you can't paddle the boat with only two people. I realized that I didn't really have a good reason not to go and that this was kind of a once-in-a-life-time opportunity and this boat was BAD ASS. So reluctantly, I agreed. 

Fast forward to the trip, it's kind of tricky. We were headed up into Glacier Bay into the Beardslee Islands and to get up there you have to "make the cut." Which means that you have to make it through this narrow passage at high tide OR there won't be enough water. In a kayak you might be able to portage but not in this boat. When Karen was trying to convince me to go in the first place she explained that high tide was at 1 on Sunday and 1:30 on Monday so we should be back to the commune by 2:30, latest. 

Okay, so on Sunday, we load up the boat, which was ridiculously heavy, but totally awesome and we get on the water by 1 or so, plenty of time to make the cut. Whew, so about an hour after we get on the water (after making the cut), we decide to break for lunch and drink some wine and then we started paddling/rowing again. Did I mention that I was tired? I end of falling asleep while paddling, at which point, Karen is like, "Hey, maybe we should all take a nap." And Jeffi and I were like, "yeah" and then we were all sleeping (in the boat)  within like 45 seconds of her making the suggestion. Who knows how long we were asleep/drifting, maybe a half an hour maybe 45 minutes, any one's guess. At some point we wake up, reorient ourselves on our map and continue paddling. To our surprise, we found Secret Bay much sooner/closer than we were expecting, and we decide to camp for the night. Okay, everything is great. We sleep for like 10 hours Sunday night. Awesome

Wake up the next morning around 10 or so feeling rested, in plenty of time to make the cut back to Bartlett Cove. We have a nice leisurely breakfast with coffee and then we load up the Umiak and start heading back to exit  Secret Bay. Once were on the water, we are all a little confused as to where exactly we are. I mean, we knew where we were, but the map just didn't correlate. At any rate we paddle for about two hours toward home...it should be noted that while this boat is badass (it's made with ballistic nylon) it is not fast. In fact, it takes quite a bit of strength to paddle, we probably should have had a fourth person in the boat. Any who, after a couple hours of paddling we realize that we don't know where we are, LUCKILY we happened to see two Park Service Kayak Rangers (BEST JOB TITLE, EVER). We flag them down and they informed us that we were in a completely different part of the islands and that we were in fact paddling in the wrong direction of the cut. F! By this time it's about 2, almost high tide. So we hightail it, backtracking to right where we came from, only to get to the cut by 5 O'clock....three hours after high tide, with less than 9 feet of water in the channel and NOT enough water for the Umiak to make it through. At this point, I can literally see Bartlett Cove Dock where we launched the boat. FRUSTRATED! Mind you, we didn't pack food or water for an additional day, but what eves, we're out there, and waiting for the tide, about six hours. We decide to just stay up and try to make the cut at 1:30 am, which is exactly what we did. Luckily it was a full moon so we had plenty of light. Oh yeah, at one point I started to drift off to sleep, only to be awaken by Jeffi, screaming, "Hey Guys, there's a bear in camp!!!" So then I jumped up and we scared off some bears....this included Jeffi chasing them. This was actually pretty funny.

The moral? DON'T DRINK AND BOAT...you're likely to end up lost. But not all was lost, I actually had a great time and am glad that I went. Another moral? Don't trust Karen, nothing is ever fast or easy with this chick. 

 

"The Cut" and Bartlett Cove Pilings in the back ground

So...apparently I'm golfing now

Yep, you heard it here first folks. Can I just tell you about my first day in Gustavus? Well, it started with a tumultuous pack sesh before I left Tacoma where I lost my watch. Lets just say my Mom and tears were involved. Some might say I was struggling with leaving Tacoma and those people would be correct . I had an amazing visit to Tacoma that reminded me of everything I love about that city and ultimately why I need to mo ve home....but that is Not why I'm blogging, no, I want to tell you about beautiful Gustavus, Alaksa.

I arrived in the afternoon after two flights... Really tired with lots of stuff. It took no time to move into my new digs...the wall tent as all I did was dump my bag out iN the middle of the tent...problem solved. Anywho, I wasn't here two hours before one of the new guides asked me I wanted to go to the driving range. It was sunny and warm and they had beer, so this was a no brainer. I can't remember if I told you about the driving range and golf course last year but its a quintessential Gustavus activity I that its paid by honor system, you borrow shitty clubs and shag your own balls. So yeah we went and I'm thinking, life is bliss. Then, just when I think life can't get any better we go to shag our balls and to my surprise its already strawberry season!!!! So the we grazed for about an hour. It was AMAZING! And the course is beautiful!!! More pics to follow. 

W.T.F.

I'm terrible at blogging. I'm not even going to make excuses, by this time, you should know that I've just been busy..with school. 

Speaking of, check out the Wolf Task Force that a couple of my students started. They think they're so funny. I kind of think it's funny too, although I think trapping is weird, and am especially bothered by trapping wolves. I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that there are a lot of things in life that I'm just never going to understand. At any rate, the wolves of Prince of Wales Island are being brought to justice by the high schoolers. 

So it's been a surprise to no one, except me, that living and teaching in an incredibly conservative state is hard for somebody from WA. I've been thinking a lot lately about what the future is going to hold for Miss Em (me). As we all know, I'm technically done with my teaching program in June, and by no means am obligated to teach in Alaska. Yes, if everything goes as planned, I should have a Professional Teaching Certificate in June. 

It was this time last year that I was informed that I probably would not have a job next year and that I should start looking for a new job. There has been no suggestion that this will happen to me this year, but really nobody knows, because the bullshit and bureaucracy that working for the state entails. I do know this, that if I do leave here, I will miss it. I work at a really awesome school, with great kids. I will miss them. And sometimes when I dream about living in a place more tolerant, I'm quickly reminded how lackadaisical teaching in rural Alaska can be. This is not suggest it's easy, I have to believe that it's actually harder. Let me give you an example from last week:

To celebrate the end of the semester and the end of a unit, in my geography class we had an "Oceania" party, which basically just consisted of eating Australian food, watching Flight of the Concords, and listening to music from Downunder. Oh yeah, an also in honor of the Maoi people of New Zealand we gave each other henna warrior tattoos (henna is not from New Zealand but I didn't think real tattoos were feasible). Any who, half way through this party where we are dancing, eating food and getting tattooed once my students who is getting a "tramp stamp" says, "My mom is going to kill me." And for the first time since I hatched this plan,  I was like, shit, maybe I should have sent a note home or something, you know, before I let their children apply 3 week tattoos to various parts of their body.

As of yet, I haven't heard of any reprecussions, and I don't really expect to. I use this as an example of how cool my students are and how chill my school is, I don't even think the administration noticed that I was having a party until after school when I literally had like all of the high school in my classroom wanting tattoos. The point is that things are more relaxed here then they are other places and I think that would be an adjustment for me or not, I don't know.

Also, I can't imagine finding a place more entertaining to live.

Well, off to plan for second semester!

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." ~ MLK Jr

 
 

"Ms. Moody is actually pretty good at basketball"

Dreaming of longer and warmer days, already.

Student 1: What'd you guys do during PE today?

Student 2: We played 3 on 3 basketball. Ms. Moody is actually pretty good at basketball.

This quote is funny for two reasons:

1.     I’m not even “kind of” good at basketball. In fact, I don’t think that I’ve even played basketball since my days at Elk Plain Elementary.  This is the glory of working with middle school age children… I discovered this a long time ago: I’m better at doing almost everything than a 12 year old. Seriously, with only a few exceptions, I can do most things better than they can. And they occasionally notice, and think that I have some type of super power. It's a makes up for all the other stuff you have to put up with working with these little shit heads.

2.     They way this kid said it, was like he was absolutely amazed that I could possibly be good at anything…like (this is what he was thinking) here’s this woman, mean, smells bad, terrible at teaching, but actually, pretty good at basketball….. totally astonished.

I personally thought it was hilarious.

Oh man, it’s been a month since I blogged, terrible, no excuse, just busy I guess. Happs include single handedly putting on a Geography Bee for the entire school, students against teachers, the high school student team won. I was pretty jazzed. Considering I hate trivia, I actually really enjoying geography challenges.

Another less exciting thing but significant none the less, I put traction tires on my car and have been forcing myself to drive in the snow. This may not seem significant, but I have sincere anxiety about driving in the snow which is a real hindrance to my outdoor adventures considering it’s snowy here for several months out of the year. So yeah, that’s it, I’m a  little bit proud that I’m overcoming a fear and learning a super practical life skill.

I’m coming home on December 15^th for three weeks. I don’t have much planned except a 253 Christmas party with all my old Rosewood homies, dinner and drinks with my home girl/cousin Marian, drinking coffee, drinking beer, practicing yoga and eating delicious food, other than that no plans. Holler at your girl to get on the schedule.

Okay, start drinking water now!

"Dang it, I'm a liberal."

Fall on Prince of Wales Island

This one is too good not to share.... so the election is over. I made it through a presidential election cycle in Alaska. No easy task. I've been fortunate enough this year to teach middle school social studies and high school US History. I cannot begin to explain how nice it is to be teaching in my content area. This would be the first time since I started this program that I actually have command over the content that I'm suppose to be teaching....compare that to entrepreneurship, math or health....all classes I've been asked teach. Whatever, the point is, I've really been enjoying teaching this semester, partly because I get to teach something that I actually know something about. 

Back to the story.... I've been using my time in middle school social studies to teach civics. We started from the beginning, the purpose of government, the founding of our country, the constitution, etc....leading up to the formations of political parties and platforms. My students were very eager to learn about the political parties and to talk politics but I wanted to make sure they had a sound understanding of the purpose of government before we got there. Any who, the time finally came two weeks ago when it was time to start delving in to the two-party system that we practice here in the US, but before we started this unit, I gave them a quiz that asked them rank themselves on a spectrum from liberal to conservative on big issues facing our country. The five issues were taxes, energy, defense, education and health care. Before I gave them the quiz, I erased the the words left, right, liberal and conservative so that they didn't know which stance was associated with each political party. When I administered the test, a couple of my students were wise to me, they asked which side was republican and democrat. I told them it didn't matter, I wanted them to read about each issue and pick which stance they thought made the most sense based on what they knew to be true.

I was NOT surprised to learn that most of my students (I gave it to two classes, one middle school and one high school) were smack dab in the middle....like the majority of the country. It was a great exercise though because these kids really pride themselves on being super conservative and totally republican, I wanted to make the point that they didn't even know what it meant to be a republican or a democrat and more importantly, that they were actually pretty moderate. 

One of the brightest students I have is also the one who called me out for meditation. As soon as we completed the test, and started learning about the party platforms, he realized that his quiz would prove that he was more liberal (which he totally was, he actually sided more with liberal viewpoints than any of my other students). He kept asking for his quiz back and I kept reminding everyone that I would hand it out when were finished with the unit, any who, one day in class he looked at me and said, "Dang it, I'm a liberal." Me, trying my very best to be nonpartisan, said, "That's fine, why do you think you feel that way?" To which he replied, "If the purpose of government is to protect on natural rights, then how could you be anything but a liberal?"

WINNING! I was speechless, first I was totally impressed that he remembered what the purpose of government is and second was so pleased that he came to that conclusion. I've prided myself on being unbiased and nonpartisan while teaching about the government. In fact (to my amazement) I still have most of my students guessing what political party I belong to. When asked I remind them that this is my place of employment and I don't think that politics or religion belong in the work place, and then I add that it shouldn't matter what I think, that they should think for themselves.

Once we were finished with the unit and I handed back their quizzes, I gave them this lecture:

1. Regardless of where your political views fall right now, they will change and evolve (except I didn't say this word because, you know it's bad word), and that's OKAY.

2. If we're going to be debating politics in this class or any other class, it needs to be based on these questions that we just discussed (the purpose and role of government).  

3. If somebody is a member of a party that is different than the one you associate with, it doesn't make that person bad or evil, it simply means that they have different views on the role of government and how to solve social issues. 

And after explaining that to three different classes. I think that I'm starting to believe it. It was a long road, and kind of a scary one, but I'm really pleased that I was able to teach this unit. And it goes without saying that I was pleased with the election outcome. And for the record, I did vote for a republican for state house here in Alaska. 

Peace in the Southeast

 

Busted

Almost got smoked out of my own classroom last night with incense.  

I got straight-up called out today at school. Yes, it's true, the secret is out, I have been practicing meditation with the middle schoolers.  Yep, the difference between today and the rest of the school year when we've been practicing these awareness exercises, er uh, I mean devil worshiping, is that today, I accidentally said the word. You know the one, the M word (meditation). I don't know what I was thinking, it truly was an accident, and as soon as it slipped out, I knew there was going to be hell to pay. And sure as shit, as soon as school got out I had a meeting with my principal about something, "very important." As soon as I sat down he was like, "guided meditation, are you serious?" To make a long story very short, the least tolerant people on earth, AKA the Baptist, are rampant in the town that I live in. They believe that meditation is praying to yourself and the ONLY person you should be praying to is GOD. So meditation is NOT to be trusted. Proof that they have no idea what meditation is, but that's not really the point. That's what I love about these people, they don't let facts or science get in the way of their belief system.

I went and made my case to the parents, who happen to be teachers at the school (both of them), and happen to be people I like and respect a lot. Armed with the guided meditation book that I was reading from and scientific evidence proving that meditation is good for the brain; I ensured them that I am not trying to indoctrinate their child, that I was simply trying to prime the middle school brain for learning after a long weekend. I also told them that I wouldn't do it anymore, and I'm not going to.

Yeah, I know, I'm going straight to hell. What else is new? I'm actually really upset that people could be so close minded and so disappointed that I let myself become so comfortable that I let my guard down enough to say the word, because truthfully, had I not said it, I probably could have done concentration and brain work with them all year. The lack of tolerance of new ideas will probably drive me out of rural communities. I don't have time for this shit. The worst part about it is that I totally feel like I have label now, but as one my friends pointed out me, I'm kind of transparent, I wasn't really hiding anything to begin with.

In completely unrelated news, I bought a car so I've been able to do lots of cool stuff outside. We've had a fabulous fall. Happs have mostly included hiking and kayaking. Today in fact, I took my US History class kayaking in the Thorne Bay and up the river. It was really fun. 

I'm moving into my new classroom this weekend. It's super small but so pretty! Pictures to follow, I have an awesome view of the bay and a cute waterfall. 

"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."
 ~ my boy, Thomas Jefferson