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.
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.
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 8th 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.
Last night was my FIRST of many nights staying on the rez in the Navajo Nation. I had a teacher-slumber-party in Crownpoint, NM. It is seriously gorgeous there! Hidden behind giant red rocks, a windy highway takes you through a textured, shadowed landscape to the tiny town. (If you have good eyes, you can find Crownpoint on the map of the Navajo Nation.) I stayed at my friend Liz’ “teacherage”- a special housing unit just for non-Indian teachers living there. This morning, Kayla and I went for a run, and a rez puppy followed us all around! It was the cutest dog I have ever seen! Running at 7000 feet is extremely difficult, but after training here, I’m going to be unstoppable!
Right now I’m back in Gallup with my awesome corps. Tomorrow is a community service day. Most people are painting random things around town, but Liz, Maya and I volunteered to do some desert landscaping for the town. I’m excited!
Oh my God, it’s finally over. Institute is MFing over.
First of all, thank you to everyone who supported me during this ridiculous time. I probably wouldn’t have made it without you - You know who you are.
I’m kind of in shock that this experience is over. I don’t know what to do with myself! (Well, actually some corps members gave me an idea for tonight that will probably end up at little establishment called the Vine...) But I can’t believe I’ll never see my kids again… They have come to mean SO much to me. There are a few things I’ll carry with me though: Oscar’s comment, “I’m reading books for SIXTH graders?! Awesome! My cousin- he’s 12- I’m going to show him I can read the best!” Iris’ letter, “Thank you Ms. Fleming, for making learning fun. I wish you were my teacher in 5th grade and forever.” Yanei’s smile when she got a division flashcard right for the first time in Around the World. And last, but not least, the crazily skillful drawings of Transformers that Jose Carlos made for me.
As I prepare to leave Institute, one thing I can say is that I am incredibly inspired by all of my amazing friends, colleagues, and fellow corps members who I’ve met here. There are thousands of passionate, relentless, innovative, and ridiculously talented people committed to closing the achievement gap- and some of the best of them will be people I’ve worked with who are going to Louisiana to get to work in just a couple weeks. Whenever I feel like letting up, I’ll KNOW that a friend and colleague of mine somewhere outside New Orleans or Baton Rouge will be working just as hard, if not harder to impact their students’ achievement. And when I consider the fact that I’m part of movement like that, it will drive to me to push myself even harder for my students.
So yeah, even if I wasn’t ready to part with my friends and students, I’m READY to get out of Phoenix. Besides the fact that it’s 115 degrees here every day, I just can’t wait to get to New Mexico. Even though I still don’t have a job, officially. :/ I just know that New Mexico is where I’m supposed to be right now, and I have this incredible sense of urgency to get there and start my work. Of course, my little sidetrack to Asia (in one week!) is going to be totally legit. Tomorrow morning I leave to explore Sedona and a petrified forest, then stay at my friend's place on the reservation in Crownpoint, New Mexico. Yay!
In other news, KCSB summer schedule posted! Check it: http://www.kcsb.org/schedule
After another insanely stressful week at teacher boot camp... The 'rents came to visit me this weekend. It was amazing to see them... Not just because they bought me drinks and frozen yogurt. They're totally fun to hang out with... for parents. :) Yesterday, we went to the IMAX theater and saw the movie Moon. It is incredibly great! And disturbing... But mostly great. Especially if you like Sci-Fi, but even if you don't usually. Bottom line: Parents rule. Go see Moon now.
Fun Fact: It was up to 115 degrees in Phoenix this weekend. Even at night, it's still 100. (Oh, the many connections Phoenix Institute and Hell...)
