Wednesday, June 26, 2013

What's Up Wednesday: Travel Edition!

What’s Up Wednesday is a meme started by the awesome Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk as a way to keep up with your writer/reader/blogger pals in a quick, fun way.  Link up with other participants at Jaime's blog and make sure to leave some comments along the way!

What I’m Reading: 
A lot of different things, actually!  On my Kindle, I've been reading Who I Kissed, and I'm enjoying that.  But we flew to and from New York this week, and I actually prefer paper books on planes because I can read them all through take-off and landing (when I most need to be distracted, as a nervous flyer.)  So on the way in I read Below Stairs, the memoir of a woman who worked as a kitchen maid and cook in big houses in England around the time of Downton Abbey.  It was so much fun I finished it Saturday night!  I won't do a formal review here, but it was a plainspoken, funny, sometimes infuriating account, so if you're interested in that kind of thing I recommend it.  On the way home, I started a collection of old essays by Nora Ephron that I picked up in a bookstore in my old neighborhood, and today I started reading The Awakening, both out of my own interest and because I've been working on ideas for a course or two I'm teaching next year that may involve some feminist criticism.  

What I’m Writing: 

Still adding words to the ol' WiP!  Last week, despite only writing a couple days, I still averaged around 750 words/weekday.  Today I'm back home and shooting for another week with four out of five days over 1000 words--and today is one of them!  I don't have another snippet to share today, but maybe next week once I've been home and had time to pick one out :)

What Else I’ve Been Up To:  

The trip I mentioned!  Mr. S actually got to take some time off of work (only the second time he's taken any days off since he started last summer--the first being two days at Christmas) and we headed back to our old stomping grounds in NYC.  We ate a lot, and saw some friends and family, and DEFINITELY hit up Books of Wonder!  I scored some fun signed books and just generally enjoyed being in the Happiest Place on Earth.
What’s Inspiring Me Now:  


My former students.  The real reason for this trip was to see my students--the ones who were freshmen my first year of teaching, the class I had that whole year, the ones who smelled fresh meat and later told me they were trying to get me to quit, but then couldn't believe that I would leave them two years later: in other words, my babies--graduate from high school.  

I was definitely sad to have missed their senior year, but I was so, so proud of how many of them made it to the finish line.  A few kids in particular, who were my students in some undefinable way, hit big milestones: a few graduated after spending most of HS on the brink of not passing some important classes, while other distinguished themselves tremendously, winning awards and earning fantastic grades.  I was equally proud of them all.  

I'm also inspired by my former colleagues, because I know that getting these kids to where they wound up was not easy, not ever, and I know how dedicated the teachers are at this school.  

So, what's up with you?

18 comments:

  1. Your trip sounds like it was very fun and meaningful, the best type of trip, I think. Congrats on making progress with your writing.

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  2. Great job on your writing progress!

    Thanks so much for sharing about your trip. It was really inspiring to hear about your students and how you started out with them.

    Also, I've heard this Books of Wonder place mentioned a few times this week but I'd never heard about it before. I suppose I should look it up next time I'm in NYC...

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    1. Definitely check out BoW! They always have a great selection, but it's their signed books that get me really excited.

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  3. You met your goals AND took a weekend trip to NYC? You rock! That's so great you went back to watch your former students graduate. I'm sure your presence there meant a lot too them. Have a super writing week!

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    1. Thanks! It was so awesome seeing them all grown up :)

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  4. Great job meeting your goals! And let me know the next time you're visiting NYC! (Funnily enough, my husband was in Buffalo for work last week!)
    I loved THE AWAKENING as a teen--I really ought to reread it.

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    1. Oh, duh! This trip was so crazy I don't know when we'd have had time to meet up, but I totally will get in touch next time I come in.

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  5. Way to go with your writing this week -- you totally rocked your goals! My first class of of students, who I taught fifth grade to, also graduated from high school this year. Makes me feel old, but it's really pretty cool, too. :-)

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    1. Aww! I know that feeling--seeing campers I taught when they were little bitty things perform in shows at my old HS has that effect. (And they're almost all graduated now, too!)

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  6. Seeing those kids graduate must have been really extra special for you, I´m glad you managed to go and be part of it!

    And...I´ve been to NYC but never to Books of Wonder. I know. Weird. Next time :D

    Can´t wait for you to share an excerpt next week :D :D :D I think you´re doing great with your writing progress!

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    1. You MUST go next time :) It's such a fun place. A lot depends on who's been in signing recently, but there's always something cool.

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  7. Sounds like a fantastic trip! Enjoy! And good luck with your writing too :D Have an awesome week.

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  8. I love seeing my babies grow up and graduate! Sometimes I would get to teach them as freshman, then again as seniors - really neat and memorable and so glad you could experience that! Now, as a SAHM, I'll be watching my own babies and their friends of 10+years do the same. THAT will be neat.

    Good luck with your writing this week and have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Aww, it'll be so nice for you to be able to focus all that awesome energy you have on your own kids and their friends. I'm sure you're one of the "cool moms!"

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  9. I'm so glad you guys got to go to New York for a bit and to see your kids graduate. That's awesome! I'm sure it was a much-needed vacation too. :) I have to ask: Did you go for a smoked whitefish bagel??? I've thought about the sandwich WAY too much since you took us there. I would go back just for one of those bagels. :P

    You kicked butt with your words this week. I, on the other hand, did not. O_O

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    1. Um, that sandwich was the FIRST thing we did :)

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