What a Riot

Spring Fever has arrived at Gwynn Park. The weather is nice, the year is winding down, and all anyone can talk about is summer. As much as I love this time of year, it's the worst time to be a teacher. Keeping kids in line who just want to be done with school is a miserable process. I can't say I blame them for wanting to get out. I also want the school year to be over! But at some point, all that tension boils over, and for a number of high schools in the area, that tipping point was this week.

Wise Senior High School, our neighbor, had a riot on Wednesday. This week was the last week of school for Seniors in the county, and a Senior prank food-fight there quickly turned into a real fight. Twitter was abuzz with pictures of kids engaging a swat team, and the local news reported nine students were arrested. Wednesday night, I couldn't sleep. I knew that this kind of drama would have the kids at Gwynn Park buzzing and that Thursday would be a long day. Our principal sent out a warning message to all the homes, asking parents to tell their kids to avoid senior pranks and stay in line. We took precautionary measures, limiting hall passes and forbidding bags and backpacks. But alas, it wasn't enough.

Third period at Gwynn Park, all hell broke loose. Students dumped baby oil around the ramps and stairwells of the school as a prank, and students slipping into each other quickly broke into widespread fistfights. We went on lock-down mode and herded any student close to our classrooms inside before we closed and locked our doors. We were stuck there, without directions, for almost three hours till the end of school. I had no idea what was going on. The students thought it was hilarious, but as a teacher, it was terrifying. Lock-down means danger. It's the same code we use if there are firearms or intruders in the school.

Finally, we were released safely and everyone made it home. Two students at Gwynn Park were arrested, and mace was used to get the student body in line. That said, we apparently had the school locked down and hallways cleared in only 30 minutes. This is an amazing feat and speaks to the efficiency of our administration, staff and security. Wise could not clear its hallways for an hour and a half.

The week ended on a pleasant note Friday with Prom. Everyone was beautiful and with all the miscreants suspended after Thursday, there was no one there to cause a problem. Prom was peaceful and lovely and I was so happy for my kids. I love seeing the students I care about, the students that work hard and act with kindness, rewarded with the kind of events they deserve. I took some pictures with some of my favorites and put them here!




Peace and Love.

Cloud 9

Yesterday, we had more than 40 people in our backyard for an end-of-the year bbq, and we certainly had reason to celebrate! It's been a few weeks since I've posted (yes, the New Year's Resolution breaks in April! Not too shabby) but those few weeks have been some of the craziest of the year.

I went home for a lovely Easter with my family, and although we enjoyed good food, good company, and a phenomenal egg-decorating celebration (see below) I couldn't fully enjoy myself knowing that my fate in DC was still a mystery. The job search was weighing heavily on my shoulders, and I was stressing about finding an apartment for next year without knowing where I was working and how much I was making.


Seven hour car rides are bad for the psyche. They give you far too long to over-think and over-worry about everything. On the car ride home, I was feeling pretty glum. Suddenly, my phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize, so I let it go to voicemail. When I pulled over at a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike, my life changed forever. The voicemail was from the Center For Education Reform. They are a think tank in DC and their CEO, a woman named Jeanne Allen, spoke to my grad school class last December. I loved her so much and was so impressed by her work that after class I chased her, got her card, and arranged a meeting with her. We talked about the work she does and I asked for advice on how to transition into the realm of Ed Reform from the classroom. She kept my resume from that meeting months and months ago, and when a position opened up at her organization, she brought me in to interview!

That car ride and fateful call was Monday. Tuesday afternoon I was in the office interviewing for the position and a week later, I was offered the job! My new title is "Manager of Development" and I'll be working closely with Jeanne to develop a number of strategies to grow the organization and spread the news of its work. I'll also be building relationships with many major donors, exploring why they have a vested interest in Ed Reform. The position has so much untapped potential and I think there's a lot of room for me to grow! Best of all, they are letting me start work after school as a "consultant," go to Israel, and come back to officially start full-time in July.

As if this isn't all exciting enough, Meredith and I also found a gorgeous apartment on Capitol Hill and signed the lease for it this weekend. It is LITERALLY 2 blocks from the Capitol Building and one block from Union station. The location could not be more ideal and we are so excited to have a place where we can put down some roots and hopefully stay more than a year!







Everything is really coming up roses right now. A mentor of mine from college summed it up perfectly: "You're living the dream! A place you love, great friends, and a chance to do work you believe in....that's what it's all about! Kudos."

I know things would not be so great for me if it were not from all the love and support from family and friends. I am so thankful!

Peace and love.

Welcome to Mississipuh

Prior to doing Teach For America, if anyone was talking about "The Delta," I probably thought the conversation was about a hot sorority girl. But in the spring of 2009, one of my best friends got the news that she was accepted to Teach For America and would be placed in Mississippi. And thus, the word "Delta" took on a whole new meaning.

The Shana Fisher that I knew in college was a Staten-Island girl who I never thought could survive in the deep south. I remember my Dad and I giving her a lesson in the finer points of rural life: shooting guns, drinking beer, talking about Jesus. (see: EASTER 2009) Now the tables have turned and she's a country-life expert! After 2 years of crazy stories, I knew I had to come visit her before our time in Teach For America came to a close.


Where to begin describing this wild weekend? It was nothing short of a culture shock. My first surprise: brown tap water. "It's brown and slimy," Shana explained, "But we put it through the Brita." I pulled out the Brita. "Shana, it's still brown!" I was dumbfounded. "Yeah, but the Brita gets rid of the slimy," she said. "It's fine!!"

The next morning I planned to accompany Shana to school. I was dying to compare my teaching experience to hers and see what her students were like. "I can't wait to see if you understand them," she said. I wondered how bad it could be- how different could these students sound from my students?

I walked into the classroom in the 300-person, decrepit highschool. "Hoo-da-ee!" The kids pointed at me. "Hoo-da-ee?!"

I had no idea what they were saying. Shana had to explain... "Hoo-da-ee?" = "Who that is?" The southern drawl was unreal!

Thankfully, Shana is a Spanish teacher...so we switched to a language all of us could understand and began interviewing one another in Spanish. I loved it!

After school, we drove to a local "restaurant," called "Chucks." It was a dairy-bar, order at the counter kind of place, where nothing was more than $5. Shana introduced me to heaven on earth: Corn-nuggets. They were deep fried balls of creamed corn and I can't explain how amazing they were. The corn nuggets were just a small sample of the mounds of fried food I ate that weekend. Doughnuts, chicken, catfish, hush puppies, french fries, more doughnuts, and as much beer to wash it down as you could want.


Mississippi was a beautiful place in its own way. It's very flat and there's not much to see, but the sky was so enormous! Shana lives on a farm next to a river. We spent a lot of our time outside partaking in all sorts of joyful southern activities: searching for alligators, climbing grain bins, riding horses, and of course shooting guns. All of Shana's neighbors, including her landlord and his family, came by to chat with us about life in the Delta and enjoy the beautiful day.


The conclusion of the trip was a fish-fry dinner with some of her Delta friends followed by an evening at "The waterin hole" - the only "bar" for miles and miles. I'm fairly certain there were more confederate flags in this bar than full sets of teeth, but everyone from the surrounding towns comes in to hear some live music, have some beer, and cause a whole lot of small-town drama.

There's so much more I could say about the weekend there but a blog entry could never do it justice. I think Shana and her friends should work on a book about life down there- it's a whole different world that us east-coasters can hardly imagine. Cheers to life's great adventures!

Going to Massachusetts to finish out vacation at home. Peace and love!

Waterfront, Boats and Ducks

This week in review seems to have a nautical theme!

Monday, summer peeked its head out in DC and gave us our first 80-something degree day of the year. It was not an evening to stay inside. Everybody poured out and jammed every outdoor restaurant patio and park, trying to catch the fresh air. I was no exception and made my way across town to the Georgetown waterfront, one of the nicest places to spend a happy hour in the city. The cheezy bars there set up rows and rows of patio chairs facing the Potomac- perfect to catch a breeze, people watch, and sip a cold one.




Simply watching the boats go by wasn't enough for me this week. On Thursday, I cashed in a Groupon I'd been hanging onto for a Fondue cruise on the Potomac. (Yeah, yeah, I broke my Lenten rules- AGAIN- but you know what? I don't think Jesus would have wanted me to let that coupon expire. Jesus would have LOVED fondue.) The cruise was great! The evening was clear and mild, and I loved seeing the monuments from the water at sunset. I think my friend and I were definitely the youngest people on the boat. I didn't care- anyone who knows me knows I'm an old lady at heart. The cornier the adventure, the better!


Finally, I wrapped up the week with the delightful Spendley family for a fancy-schmancy dinner at Proof in Chinatown. Cocktails? Amazing. Tuna tartar? Amazing. Beet salad and goat cheese? Amazing. Roast duck? Toffee cake? Bottle of organic wine? French press coffee? You guessed it- all amazing. It was seriously some of the best food I've ever eaten- but even better was the company. Many thanks to the Spendleys for treating me to such a wonderful evening! Perhaps the right term would be O.M.G- right Mr. Spendley?

Peace and love- MISSISSIPPI with SHANA FISHER next weekend!

Dr. Edmund Henry Hornstein Jr.

Wow! What a couple of dorks! It's no secret that I adore my dad, and so this weekend was super joyful. My dad came to DC to visit me after weeks of planning and I could not be more happy. Top 10 reasons to enjoy when dad comes to town:

1. Introduces you to a new kind of beer/restocks your fridge with quality brews
2. Free dinner all weekend! Thanks, dad!!!
3. Is okay eating a massive steak on a Lenten Friday (sorry God)
4. Inappropriate humor/dating advice for roommates
5. Still remembers how to drive to childhood home in Silver Spring for a memory lane tour
6. Military ID= cut the line EVERYWHERE
7. Home-made honey and maple syrup delivery. Yesss
8. Insists on taking "myspace" picture together using camera phone in front of Gorilla statue at the zoo. Multiple times. (It is never going to come out good, Dad. See above.)
9. Only person in the world I can count on to enjoy the invertebrate hut at the National Zoo as much as I do
10. Believes in me no matter how unemployed my future looks!

Love you dad! Thanks for coming.
Here's to another visit soon.

Peace and Love.

The Big Apple

Greetings from a Bolt Bus! I just enjoyed a lovely weekend in New York City with my two college friends Stacey and Stephanie. They are living the post- journalism school NYC dream together! Stace is working at Fox News (nope, she's not a republican) and Steph is working at Parenting Magazine (nope, she's not a mom.) The two of them share an adorable apartment in Astoria, Queens. Everything they need is literally right outside their door: a laundromat, nail salon, grocery store, bakery, produce stand- it's just how you imagine living in NYC is supposed to be!

Many of my college friends found their way to the Big Apple after graduation and we caught up with a few of them Saturday night. Katie, my roommate for 2 years, is now working in an ad agency, and our old next-door-neighbor Zach is continuing to hone his writing skills at Columbia. Everyone is doing really well! We're all so old and grown up.

When girls get together in NYC, there's an essential checklist to complete: Shoe shopping, mani-pedi's, cooking, movies, cocktails. Oh, and of course- a boozy Sunday brunch! Mine was fit for a queen. I couldn't believe I got to eat the food in front of me. I had fried potato-bread waffles topped with poached eggs and a spinach-Gruyere cheese hollandaise sauce... it was so pretty and soooo delicious. It inspired me to do more creative brunch cooking!

Even though it's sad to go back and face the real world after a mini vacation, I've gotta give thanks to whoever invented the Bolt Bus business model. They deserve to be canonized. I am typing this entry from a comfortable, spacious leather seat on my computer using free wifi. The bus is clean, the people on it are quiet, and we departed right on time. And best of all? It cost me $19. What a way to travel!

Dad is here next week. YAYYYYY!
Peace and love.

Chiste Mal...

Was one of my college nicknames. It's spanish for "bad joke." I earned it junior year because I was prone to so many awkward mishaps. Nothing dangerous... nothing actually tragic... just the kind of dilemmas that are the stuff of sitcoms.

This weekend's adventure was a perfect example. My friend Brian and I found a deal for an hour-long massage for 45 dollars. It was an amazing bargain- and we decided to get together, make brunch and treat ourselves to our coupon on Saturday.

The spa was in Arlington, VA- which is the opposite end of DC from my house. We drove out together and followed the directions to the address. The instructions from the spa said "free parking in the back." We pulled around the back of the building, but it wasn't clear if we were at the right place. "Do you think this is it?" I asked Brian. "Yeah, this is fine!" He replied. "Besides, even if it's not, it's a Saturday, no one will bother your car back here." Fateful last words...

We walked around to the front of the building and headed a few doors down the strip of shops to the spa. Both of us enjoyed a lovely massage, but we came out looking like something the cat dragged in. Every inch of us was slicked up with grease from the massage- including our hair. I looked like I hadn't showered in days. Brian's hair was spiky and slick. We thanked and tipped our masseuse and headed out into the beautiful day.

And as we rounded the corner of the building, of course- the car was gone.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I screamed. And then I broke my lenten resolution of not cursing with a special string of unbridled expletives.

Only when it was too late did we notice the "Private parking, vehicles towed at owner's expense" sign. We called the number. They had my car- but we had about a mile to walk to get to it!

We were an absolute sight to behold. No one should be seen in public as greasy and foul as the two of us were. We had to walk through Arlington's cutest neighborhood that way. Everyone was out eating at restaurants on the patios, ogling curiously at the oily, sweating, perturbed kids in sweatpants.

All's well that ends well- after forking over 115 bucks to a chain-smoking lady guarding the lot, I got my car back. Suddenly the $45 massage had become a $160 afternoon. Whoops! Chiste Mal.

Till the next episode,

Peace and love!