On her toes and running in the sunshine
Hey kids! So down here in blessedly dry, sunshiny New Mexico I have officially transitioned from lazy, sleepy, chill days of summer to the structured, alert, intense 8 to 3:30 schedule of summer school (or, as structured, alert and intense as summer 'school' can be anyway). I've had four days of tutoring six kids in writing and teacher assisting three periods of architecture classes at Academy (my high school). The first week is always intense and crazy, and this week has been no exception. For the first two days I searched for my tutees in Academy's considerable library like those people in airports who hold name placards, meeting people they've arranged to but never met before. It is an effective method. Then, sometimes with parental units present and sometimes not, we had to appoint the 20 or so 8th to 10th graders to we three tutors, and also manage to get in the first couple of meetings this week. It has definitely kept me on my toes, but it's all worth it. I am so psyched to be working with these kids this summer. They are all motivated, or at least have a definite desire to improve their writing, and they're very responsive to my suggestions and assignments. They possess extremely different personalities and styles, and I'm loving the adventure and frequent struggles of getting to know them and learning where they are, what they're interested in, where they want to go and how I can help them to get there. AND, I get to edit ALOT of writing! :)

Three of my kids: First of the six is Michael who is going into 8th grade and loves fantasy and animal fiction. He's a big Redwall fan and also reads the Robert Jordan books! (For those of you who don't know, I'm a huge Wheel of Time dork. The ten or so fantasy books are a series in which prophecies are fulfilled as the Dragon Reborn comes into the world to challenge the Dark One in the (perhaps) ultimate battle between the Light and the Dark. *dunh dunh duuuunh* These books dominated my reading from sixth until sophomore and even junior year. They are the source of my Wolf obsession and who knows what else in my personality.) Anyway, Michael is a sweet, quiet, slight boy with a willingness and ability to try new things, explore and use his imagination. He's also quite prolific, having given me 30 or 40 pages of single spaced writing as a sample.

Then there's Hillarie, an energetic (near hyper), spontaneous, and well-articulated 9th grader. She's just been admitted to the Academy, (to her supreme excitement and relief) finally freed of her apparently academically oppressive Catholic middle school, and ready to swing out on the ropes of literary Sturm und Drang. She's working on a novel which is already 50 or so pages in which the main character's mother dies, the father commits suicide, her older school-drop-out brother becomes her legal gaurdian at 18 just as she gets a boyfriend who begins to abuse her, her brother finds out and murders him and is then thrown in jail for murder. Talk about drama. She's quite a character.

Right after Hillarie I have Lesley, whose mother came to me the first day and explained that Lesley has never really written any papers for school. She then requested an assignment for our first official meeting in two days. Thinking on my feet, I told her to write a two-page paper in which she briefly summarize the book she's been reading thus far, describe her likes and dislikes and then explain why. I was pretty nervous under her mom's eye, being forced to think quickly (something I generally prefer not to do), but it turned out alright when I saw Lesley today and received the assignment. Now I just have to figure out what's most important for her to work on. She's a bright eighth grader but it is clear she lacks the proper tools to express herself on paper. I know I'm going to learn a ton working with her, and hopefully she will do likewise.

I am also tutoring three (equally interesting and different) other kids, but I'll spare y'all the eye workout for now and tell you about Elena Kayak, the architecture teacher I'm assisting in the morning. Elena is very high energy - she joked the first day that she has adult ADHD, and I could definitely see what she meant, but she doesn't really - and has ten years of teaching experience at Academy's summer school so she really knows what she's doing and is great with the kids (mid-schoolers). She grew up in New York and has travelled all over the country and the world, so she just knows a lot of stuff. I could just listen to her talk about things all day. The only problem is that holding a conversation with her is much like jumping on skipping stones when crossing a river: you pause at each one for just a moment until you choose another and jump to it, with hardly a thought or memory to the place you left, and only a broad idea of where you're going. So I've had to intuit a few of the tasks I'm pretty sure she meant to tell me to do. Elena also really cares about her three kids and about people in general. The first day when I had forgotten my lunch, she provided me with a tuna sandwich thing and some canned mandarin oranges, the second day she gave me a water bottle (she's an avid cyclist), and she very sensitively asked me about my family and where I live. Particularly revealing for me was her explanation behind her apparently oft request to the bank to give her $100 in $2 bills cash back when she cashes a check. She uses them as tips and change . . . to make people happy. She went on about how when she gives people a two dollar bill they ask her "are you sure you want to give me this?" to which she generously and joyfully replies yes. She really brightened up when she told this story. It was really cool.

Anyway, work is definitely on my mind this evening, but in terms of what I've been up to:
I've been reading four or so books on and off: Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" - excellent book, wow., Acts, some journal entries of Thomas Merton, a bit of Brothers Karamazov, and some Kierkegaard ("Purity of Heart is To Will One Thing") - very philosophical/theological and nerdy. I started running and doing some ab and upper body workout yesterday and today in the afternoons at school. I find that even though it's probably the hottest part of the day, it's the perfect time for me because my head is so full of all the stuff I've been doing and all the people I've been working with that I just need some time to be alone, move to a simple rhythm and sweat a little (or, ALOT in my case). Oh, I'm also currently house-sitting for my high schol academic advisor (who went to Middlebury and majorred in religion with Yarborough as an advisor, strangely enough). I'm taking care of her beloved cat Wally, an eleven-year-old, half-blind, diabetic, greyish fluff ball of cuteness until the 13th. Meanwhile I get to sleep in a luxurious-for-me queen bed, use the computer all I want and have abundant times of silence, thinking, solitude, reading and chilltime. It's actually a pretty swell deal. I find that - unlike last year- I'm loving it.

OK, this is near epic. Thanks for reading dudes. I love you all and thoroughly enjoy your updates. Peace and all good :)
- posted by maria @ 9:20 PM