News at my school

So this past week there was a tragedy at my school. A freshman student died on Friday night from alcohol poisoning. I was at home in Sacramento when I heard about it. It was the final week of school for the seniors and so they threw a big party. Even though he was a freshman, the student showed up to the party already pretty drunk and then drank way too much. His blood alocohol level was .40 when he was brought to the hospital (he was dead on arrival). That is the highest BAC New Mexico state police have ever seen for a high school student.

Monday was a pretty sad day. Students were pretty confused and melancholy about the loss. We were told to teach our classes as if nothing was wrong and told to try to refer kids to counselors if they needed someone to talk to. I had mixed feelings about our approach because on the one hand, I felt like we could have acknowledged it with a ceremony or something. On the other hand, the counselor I talked to said that a lot of kids prefer the regular structure of class so that they don’t have to think about the tragedy and they can resume life as normal. It’s also a bit difficult because Navajo culture is a little different. For very traditional Navajos, you aren’t supposed to speak about the dead at all. But there was a small ceremony by the students and anyone could leave class and go listen. There were a few older Navajo women who came and said a few words (I think one was his grandmother).

Tryan was the student’s name. I didn’t have him in class but had seen him around from time to time. Last week he came in to rub my shaved head I remember.
The most bizarre part of the story is that state police are now investigating the incident because they said adults were at the party (“Bluewater Bash” as its called). They believe there were staff members from both my school and Thoreau High School. It is all speculation right now but a kid that I coached in track and field is suspected of throwing the party (along with his parents who teach at the Junior High) and supplying all the alcohol to minors. Again, it is just what many of our seniors are saying. But sill, seems very weird that teachers would buy alcohol for minors even though it was a party for their son.

So that’s the whole story or at least what I now. We also just recently (Thursday) had another suicide in Thoreau. I teach in Crownpoint, which is about 30 miles from where we live in Thoreau. Suicide has been a huge problem this year in Thoreau. Two students at the high school have committed suicide, one at the junior high and one who went to the junior high last year. It has been a big problem for the community – they have had all kinds of meetings and talks dedicated to it.

So the schools are trying to move past these tragedies and get through the year. On a lighter note, my friend Craig is coming out to visit Erin and I and we are pretty excited because it’s the first time someone other than our parents has come out to visit.

If you are reading this, you are probably a friend of ours from California so get out here sometime and visit us. It’s very different, but very unique. I promise you a good time.

My Shaved Head

(PATRICK)

Ok so this blog is way overdue.

Almost two weeks I shaved my head. Basically down to a #1, not completely balled. It was pretty short.

I did it as a promise to the sophomore class. I am a sophomore English teacher at my school and represent their class. First, I told them I would do it if my class achieved growth on one of our regular reading comprehension quarterly learnia tests. Then I told them that if our class won the pennies for patients charity fund drive I would do it.

They ended up doing both. We were the only class to raise the full goal ($300). After week 1 we were getting slaughtered (down something like $50-12), but after I made my promise the floodgates of change poured in. I had sophomores from all over donating their change.

The actual shaving was a huge event. We did it in my room. Several students from all the classes came in to watch me go bald. In the end, the whole affair was pretty fun and brought some excitement to the school so I’m glad that I did it. And it’s already growing back to a respectable length.

Anyways, here are some of the pictures.

Snow Day in Thoreau

(Patrick)

So yesterday we had a day off of school because there was too much snow. As bad as I feel about my kids missing out on their education, I must confess I was rooting for it. Anyways, Erin and I ventured outside in the cold and took a few interesting pictures. These are all pictures of our house, neighborhood and town (Thoreau). Even the canyon-esque cool-looking ones are in Thoreau. I still can’t get over the fact that despite living in a town with less than 1,500 people, we have such nice scenery right in our own backyard. Anyways, here are the pics:












Check out Erin's facebook for all the pics.

(Patrick)
I swear from now on the blog will be updated regularly. So this weekend Erin and I went to Sante Fe and Taos. It was amazing. I think we’re both in love with Sante Fe and are talking about living there. Here were the highlights:

--Walking around downtown Sante Fe. Our hotel was located perfectly – right near the main square and large cathedral and also right next to the old Sante Fe mission (erected in 1610, oldest church in the US!).

--Dinner at Vanessie on Saturday night. It was a fancy restaurant in the Old Guadalupe district and difficult to find. We know this not only because it was hard walking there, but this pretentious Sante Fe snob told us “I haven’t heard of it. It must be closed.” Food was amazing, I had the Ahi Tuna.

--Drinks after dinner in a couple of swanky bars including one that was underground.

--Visiting Taos was pretty sweet. It’s about 1.5 hours north of Sante Fe and we went
the next morning on Sunday. The best thing there was the Rio Grande River Valley Gorge Bridge. It was a bridge going across an extremely large gorge. Amazing views.

--Also in Taos we went to a pueblo that has been around with Pueblo Indians living in it for over 1,000 years. No cameras, no cell phones, or electronics were the rules out of respect for the people. Other places in Taos of interest include a couple of old churches, a couple of art museums and a historic downtown square.

Overall, awesome weekend. Check out full pics on Erin’s facebook.

They come from the land.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCNKkuxnrHs

We grew up in cellophane, neon cereals, tanning cathode rays.
We were rinsed in pesticide, bleached with aspartame, antiseptic play.

You could tell from our soft feet
We were strangers to the land
And you could tell from our clean clothes that we were petrified of dirt and plants and sand

Take me out to the forest
Roll me in the soil, let me smell the earth
Paint my face with berries
Stuff them in my mouth 'til my stomach bursts

And when the brambles shred my skin
I bleed a red that shows the life within
And the blackberry stains on my hands
Are not from a lab, no they come from the land.

Pupz!

First of all, Patrick's post was insanely long.

In other news, Patrick and I adopted a little rez pup on Sunday! He is adorable! He's also very healthy, especially for a stray, according to the vet. We didn't realize how young he is- He's 25 lbs right now, but apparently he's going to be 60 lbs, in all his full-grown glory. He's half German Shepard, half Australian Cattle Dog.

Patrick named him Razz, after the character Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment. It fits him well.

Here is a picture of Razz! <3

My First Post

So it’s been a really crazy month, but I’m going to try and start updating this blog as best I can. I know I have been in New Mexico now for over a month, but I figured I should start writing to let people know what life is like.

When I first got here, the transition was a bit difficult. I was not working and we had all sorts of moving costs –furniture was ridiculously expensive. I am living in Thoreau in a teacherage, which is housing they give to employees at the school. It is literally right next to the school (Erin walks to work). The place is really nice. It is a two bedroom place with a really big living room. Erin and I bought a futon, a dining room table and chairs, a couple bookshelves and recently a recliner chair. The chair we got from the Thoreau flea market that happens outside Family Dollar every Saturday.

Thoreau is an extremely small town. Like very small. Less than 2,000 people. We have two gas stations, two restaurants (both really small café-esque places), a family dollar store, a video rental store (Gabe’s), and a couple of mechanic places and that’s about it. The whole town is probably like 6 square miles. The town is conveniently located near the 1-40, which is nice for traveling to Gallup or Albuquerque.

Living in Thoreau is probably what I like most about moving out to New Mexico so far. The rural lifestyle I never thought would suit me, but it is such a fun town. There really is no one around….ever. It’s sweet. I go running and rarely do I even see cars pass. Not to mention we live right behind these big red rock canyons. It is pretty amazing. Everyone we know from Erin’s school or in here program lives in the teacherages, so it’s a great place to be.

Other interesting notes about Thoreau:

--Our address does not appear on anything like google maps. It’s like our house doesn’t exist. We have to give service people (like cable guys and such) pretty extensive directions to get here. Sometimes they already know the area.

--It is officially on the Navajo Reservation. This is pretty cool, but it’s weird in certain ways. If we get traffic tickets it apparently is not fully enforced. There’s an $80 fine. You can pay it if you want. If not, then nothing really happens since it isn’t state land. However, if you get a second ticket and didn’t pay the first, you go to Navajo jail for a day. This hasn’t happened to me yet, although I did get a ticket from a state officer in downtown Thoreau (which is state land).

--Everyone here has a vicious dog that barks like crazy at you when you go running or biking. Most people have them fenced in, but it’s pretty dicey. Like this one Doberman I have to pass on my bike route and I always think that if one day he gets through that fence, it could be major trouble.

--Everyone is really nice. And I’m not just saying that. The people even compared to Gallup or other towns in New Mexico are extremely friendly. This might be because more than 70% of the town are Navajos.

--Thoreau has probably the most mercurial weather I have ever experienced. It will be sunny and then all of a sudden start storming. It does make running kind of weird because you never know when the weather might change drastically. We’ve had a couple of interesting nights of intense heavy thunderstorms with flood warnings. But usually it doesn’t rain during the thunderstorms and it’s totally badass because you can see the lightning light up the sky.

--There are a lot of animals roaming around in Thoreau. Horses frequently come up to the teacherage and we see them on our runs or bike rides. Also cows or bulls from time to time. There are also a lot of rez dogs roaming around. Erin and I have talked about adopting one. Her friends Claire and Jenn have already done this. These dogs are all in pretty bad shape so there is a lot of incentive to bring one in. We’ll see though, I think we’re waiting to get fully situated first.

Anyways, I have been substitute teaching now for three weeks while I am being considered by the Gallup Independent for a job. It’s a newspaper in town. Circulation is roughly 16,000. I think the interview went well and I did a tryout newspaper article that got published, which also went well. I interviewed a couple cancer survivors; it was a pretty intense interview and article given that I’ve never covered non-sports stories before.

Erin is doing well in her teaching. It is pretty challenging. She basically teaches all day. Comes home. Plans. Goes to sleep. Then does it all over. They leave you very little free time in this profession. Plus the first year is really tough. But she’s making due. Oh and for those who don’t know she is teaching 8^th grade social studies: American History. The curriculum covers Colonization through the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Erin and I usually spend weekends doing something fun. So far we’ve visited Albuquerque a couple of times, Farmington to the North, Zuni pueblo to the south and Chaco Canyon. I might do separate blog entries for some of these places, because they were very cool. Especially Chaco Canyon where there were some really cool hikes to awesome ruins from the Pueblo people who lived from approximately 900 to 1150 A.D.

Well I’m gonna wrap this blog entry up because I don’t want my first one to be too long. I will update it regularly as interesting stuff happens. I will do retroactive posts for the cool things we’ve done out here so far and try to get as many pictures in here as I can.