New Mexico State Fair 2012

Things to Win our Buy.

Things to see:  We loved watching the tiny pigs race!

Things to Ride:  The Midway Ferris Wheel.  An amazing view of Albuquerque!

Things to Eat:  Hawaiian Fried Hotdog

Things to Hear:  Eddie Money at the Rodeo saying Good Night!

Auntie Val's Snake Dream for Daniel

Auntie Val was sleeping a couple of weeks ago. She was so happy to be sleeping after a long day of work. She was dreaming many happy things, but around 11pm she had a dream that there was a black and green snake slithering trough the bed and coming right for her. She told herself in her dream that this was impossible because snakes are so hard to find! But her dream mind answered back. It told her, "NO, there is a snake in your bed. There really is. And it is going to hurt you!" So in her sleep she jumped out of bed and yelled at Uncle Joel that there was a snake in the bed. Uncle Joel was only half awake. He got out of bed without saying anything and he took all of the covers off the bed. Then still without saying anything he put all the covers back on to the bed and went back to sleep. There was no snake anywhere, so both Uncle Joel and Auntie Val went right back to sleep! Uncle Joel still doesn't even remember checking the bed for a snake!

But the next morning Auntie Val felt very bad. Her neck hurt really bad and she wanted to cry all of the time. She could not move her neck and arms and could hardly walk. So after several hours Uncle Joel called Grandma, and Grandma said Auntie Val should go to the doctor. So Uncle drove in his careful but fast way to the urgent care center where the doctor was waiting to see Auntie Val. The doctor gave Auntie Val some very strong and helpful medicine and told her not to sit at computers and not to feel stress.

Now Auntie Val feels better because she took the medicine (even though it tasted bad) and she knows there wasn't a snake in her bed so she can sleep every night. She also set up her computer so she won't hurt herself at work, and she will never feel stress about anything (especially about silly things at work and school) ever again.

The End!

Jonathan Kozol

Mom and I went to hear Jonathan Kozol speak last night as part of the Bookworks author series. Just last month his new book Letters to a Young Teacher was released. It is a deceptively powerful book about the state of education in the United States today. The book is a series of letters to a teacher Kozol calls Francesca. The letters are written in a casual and easy seeming manner. Several nights ago, however, I was reading a couple pages out loud to Joel - and reading the text out loud I realized the letters are filled with a passion and a frustration that I hadn't fully sensed just reading the book silently.

I first heard of Kozol at Cornell College when I read a book about poverty in America called Rachel and Her Children in a sociology class. It was a book that changed my life. It changed my understanding of poverty - and made me realize that part of living an educated life often requires looking beyond the surface of our basic understanding.

Last night Kozol was very frail and at points seemed to have trouble speaking. He has been fasting since June in response to the lack of changes in No Child Left Behind. He has written a article of explanation here.

During his talk last night he spoke about talking to people in Washington DC, and how difficult it was for him to speak to legislators. He spoke emotionally about interviews he has been part of on conservative news programing and how he felt like the debates were "verbal homicide." He explained that his parents had not raised him to deal with this verbal violence inflicted upon him. Speaking on a national stage is really difficult for him, but he feels he must.

He also spoke about the joys of teaching and being with children.

The audience was large between 300-500 people. He received a standing ovation at the end of his talk.