Indeed, a lot has been going on lately, some good, some bad, some just plain indifferent. My latest assignment subbing was two weeks in a Dearborn middle school, and if you weren't aware, we're into the first few days of Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim calendar. As a result, on the first day, I had several students, mostly boys, ask me (during the last hour of the day,) if they could pray. Far be it for me to constrain their Constitutional freedoms. Anyway, I also figured there was more of them than there was of me, so keeping the peace this way was pretty much nothing. Of course, as a Catholic, and never having been in a Mosque, it was an interesting cultural experience for me as well. As for the girls, they stood in the front of the room with me, chastising their male classmates roundly for "praying on a dirty floor." I was also quizzed about Catholic prayer by them, and I told them that there are many prayers, and as much as you should go to a church to pray, you can indeed communicate with God when and wherever you might find the need. I even recited as much of The Lord's Prayer as I could recall under such pressure, and I suspect they kinda got a kick out of that. They all asked me if I was fasting, and I said yes, albeit not really on purpose. As early as I have to get up to get across town, or wherever I happen to be going, breakfast and lunch tend to be kind of an afterthought. So indeed, I don't usually eat until evening. None the less, they seemed to appreciate my respect for their religion, such as it was. I had my own reasons, sue me.
I'm also now a certified ESL trainer with my corporate agency, which makes me feel good. The more assignments I can get under my belt the better, particularly in light of the biggest news, I got into grad school. That's right, your faithful blogger is finally going to begin work on the Master's. Mind you, it's an online degree, which hopefully will be at least more convenient, and no less useful in what can seem like a plod up the mountain at times. In line with everything I've been contemplating, my cirriculum will be in ESL, and my first class starts on the 25th. I can see where this may indeed take up a lot of time, but I think it'll be worth it in the end. In fact, I pretty much know it will. It entails new ways of doing things, I know I've never used the publication manual of the American Psychological Association to write anything. Hell, it's been forever since I was able to find one of my AP Stylebooks. And I wish I could find the one with the autograph of Sam Donaldson, but that's probably a lost cause. But, as they say, here goes. I'm not burdened in midlife like I was as an undergrad with the ongoing college mating ritual, (that Far Side cartoon depicting the mating sounds of certain wildlife, including the man going "Hey, bay-bee`" springs immediately to mind,) so that's a plus.
There are still minuses, but hopefully these we can manage. And, boy, it's mondo bizarro being a sub for 10+ districts since Michigan has now gone to this staffing agency. I get the sensation that this year is gonna be just crazy like that, as well as in other ways.