Another project finished....here's the Holga hobby I mentioned previously, now hanging on our livingroom wall:

During our impromptu yard sale on Saturday, Erica bought some sidewalk chalk to keep the kids busy. It ended up keeping me busier than the kids. I decided to brighten the days of everyone in our building:
And then last night a vicious thunderstorm came and washed it all away.

Happy Memorial Day, by the way. Is it just me, or is this one more patriotic than other years?

There are many things to write about, but it seems I only have a chance to write when I'm taking a minute to discover new gems on the WWW, and thus, the only thing I have a chance to share is the links to said gems.

That being said...I thought half the charm of Take Away Shows ("*groan* he's talking about this again?!?") was their setting in Paris. As it turns out, they are just as charming in Cincinnati of all places! And I thought Sufjan couldn't be more epic with his giant wings on the stage of Tower Theatre, but few things make him more epic than standing on a rooftop, serenading the city all alone, like a contemplative superhero. What's even more exciting: he's wearing a t-shirt I own.

If you have a half hour to spare, the first video has a lot of spectacular moments as well. (kyle page: if you still read this, check out the third guy in the first video...he's a weirdo doing a crazy noise percussion improv that i think you'll probably love.)

In other music news:

The new Page France album (...And the Family Telephone) is very pleasing. It doesn't seem to have the same charm as Hello, Dear Wind, but the melodies and lyrics are just as enchanting as anything else they've put out.

I've finally started to listen to Joanna Newsom. I am way behind the times on this one. Dan lent me his Y's LP. You either love her or hate her, and while I've only listened to the first song on Y's (three times, mind you) I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that I LOVE her. The only adjective I could think of while listening was "other-worldly."

I'm expecting the Andrew Bird album to arrive tomorrow. From the bits and pieces I've heard, I'm really looking forward to it. I think he'll be right up my alley.

In other life news:

4.5 days left with the kids.
2.5 weeks left in America.
Expect more reflections on these things in the upcoming days.

Chalupa showed me the trailer for a new movie called PARIS, JE T'AIME. A long list of very talented directors, a long list of very talented actors, and focused on Paris, of all places. Of course, it sounds amazing. Yet, it also seems a bit gimmicky. Hit or miss? At any rate, it will prove to be an interesting watch, especially after spending the summer in said city.

Goodness!

I've told you about Take Away Shows before, and I don't think I'll stop telling you any time soon.

Watching Benni Hemm Hemm just now, a band new to me, let me know that my love for Icelandic artists [sigurros,amiina,mum] and oversized bands using a vast array of assorted instruments [anathallo,brokensocialscene,arcadefire] will not fade any time soon.

I'm still trying to figure out this beauty thing. How can a tiny video on a computer screen of a band I've never heard of singing in a language I can't understand fill me up with such a sense of peace, hope, beauty, and goodness and go on to leave others simply bored and unaffected?

Over the past couple of days, life has gotten super busy and there have been too many things on my to-do list to handle. My mind's been spinning and I've been very forgetful, and I've been living life mostly one day at a time or even sometimes one hour at a time.

But in the past 24 hours, things have felt very productive.

Yesterday was field day. I was in charge of kickball for the second year in a row. It went relatively well and we had great weather and it was a fun time.

After school I picked up some extra mat-board so that Dan can finish framing some of my enlarged Holgas. I dropped it off for him and hopefully we'll have the pictures soon. Have I told you about my Holga hobby? Perhaps I'll find a way to scan a few to share.

For dinner I invented a new sandwich called the Chili Melt. Cook up some ground beef with some onions, green pepper, chile peppers, diced tomatoes, cumin, garlic, and oregano. Then get out your fancy griddle, butter some bread, and put the beef in a sandwich with some monterey jack cheese and toast it up nice and toasty. It was pretty good.

I got signed up for the mail-order prescription my insurance provides. That way I'll have enough medication while we're away this summer.

I got word last night that the train tickets for our last week in France have been booked, and at unexpectedly cheaper prices, even. This means all our travels are planned, and the next step is looking into hotels, but getting the itinerary set is a huge stressor relieved. For those of you interested, in our second to last week in Europe we'll be in Malaga, Spain. From there we'll spend a few days in Marseille, which is on the southern coast of France, then a few days in Montpellier just west of Marseille, then a few days in Strasbourg on the Germany boarder, and then back to Paris just before returning to the states.

I took a personal day today, and even after sleeping in I've been able to accomplish all sorts of things this morning. BIG things, too, like buying a LAPTOP! And opening new bank accounts and buying wedding presents for friends and making reservations at the restaurant where we'll be eating this afternoon. All this in just 2 hours! I'm a new man! Now I just need a shower.

The only way I've been able to keep track of the chaos is by a white piece of computer paper taped to our office wall with all the things we have to do. And I've crossed off quite a few in the past 24 hours. What a feeling!

And while this blog post was probably mundane for you, these are all the little details that have taken over my life, preventing me from posting anything otherwise.

I've always thought about the fact that kids in urban settings grow up much too fast. Today, in talking with a coworker, I thought of it in a new but similar light. In talking about a particular 8th grade girl who is known as quite the partier, a coworker remarked, "She's living her high school years." We went on to admit that she probably realistically won't make it through high school.

She's living her high school years. It's true. In suburbia, middle school remains relatively innocent and harmless. High School is when the partying really picks up. Then, a lot of the partiers try out college, waste their parents money, and end up dropping out when things don't quite work. In the city, though, it all happens a little bit faster. Elementary school is relatively innocent and harmless. Middle School is when the partying picks up. Then, they try out high school and end up dropping out when things don't quite work. The consequences are a little bit tougher in this case.

So that's the depressing thought of the day.

But as I was driving home from school with my windows open, I heard someone yell "MR. SHORB!" as I passed through an intersection. I knew who it was immediately, and excitedly hit the brakes and pulled over along the curb. I looked back, and sure enough, it was a student I taught last year riding his bike. Over the past year I've always seen him riding around town. We wave to each other but haven't yet had the chance to talk. He rode over and crouched to look through the passenger-side window. He looked like a man. We shook hands and he politely asked how I was doing. I asked if he liked his new school, if he was getting all A's, if he was staying out of trouble. He said it wasn't a whole lot different but the teachers were nice, not A's but he's passing, and yes, he's being a goodie-goodie. He told me his mom was out of school and got a job as a nurse. We were happy to see each other. We said goodbye and went on our way.

I smiled the rest of the way home.

I am accompanying the 8th graders to the Philadelphia Zoo today. Please keep me in your prayers.

This has provided abundant joke material for we teachers in the past few weeks.

Each one should be followed by some sort of signal queuing the audience to laugh...something like the Nate Shorb smoker's laugh, or mumbling "Where do I come up with this stuff?" or "It's too easy!" or your own variation...

"Yep, we're going from one zoo to another!"

"Why do we need to drive all the way to Philly to see a zoo? We've got one right here!"

"We're taking the kids back to their home!"

"It's going to be a family reunion!"

"I was thinking about applying to be a zoo trainer while we're there...I've already got plenty of experience!"

and on and on and on it goes....

Have you heard about THIS?

It's AMAZING. Amazing.

Let's hope there's a movie coming out this year called FREEDOM RAPPERS.

And with my newfound interest in rap after the respect I earned last week, I'm thinking I need to start one of these up.

Read more HERE.

Who knew that Neville taking on Chinese Idol would turn out to be such an epic tear-jerker?! What an emotional rollercoaster it's become!

In case you've missed it, catch up here:
Chinese Idol 1 of 4
Chinese Idol 2 of 4
Chinese Idol 3 of 4
Chinese Idol 4 of 4

And what would it do for our culture if the American Idol judges were as kind and encouraging as the Chinese judges? Maybe it was just the person they were judging (or, at least that makes it more acceptable in an American mind) but why do we Americans have such a lust for the degradation of others? Why does it improve ratings so much? And what is it doing to us?

One of my students wants to drop out of school and become a professional rapper. He is so serious about this goal that he chooses to do absolutely NO work in math class and works on his lyrics instead.

I heard him proudly remark to the boy in the opposite corner of the classroom that he was writing lyrics "en ingles" and they were "muy bien." So I asked to see them. They were mediocre at best, similar to every other song he writes in English, and this is obviously mostly because of his limited knowledge of the English language. They all go something like this:

"Yo don't mess with me, I'm a real G, How's it gonna be, You don't wanna see me out on the street, I've got homies who would die with me...." etc etc etc, all rhyming with the long E sound.

(He could quite possibly rap well in Spanish...I can't critique those lyrics as easily. But one thing's for sure: he CAN'T sing...in ANY language.)

So I decided it was time to show him what was up. I started freestyling, and it was slow going at first, but it started coming, and eventually I ended up with this in front of the entire class:

"I talk too much I can't stay in my seat,
I don't take notes so on my tests I gotta cheat,
I dropped out of school but couldn't land a record deal,
I'm livin' on the streets and now I'm forced to steal,
Workin' at McDonalds you want fries wit that?
I'm bein real lazy and I'm gettin fat!"

The kids loved it. And this student was pretty much stunned. He tried to rap a comeback but it fell flat. ("So I'm not good in math, but I try my best...uh...er....um....") He told his next teacher that I was really good.

I told my next class about the rap I had written, and they laughed with skepticism. But when I finally shared it with them, they responded pretty much in unison:

"AWWWWWW, THAT'S HOTT, MISTA!"

Good news and bad news:

The good news was that yesterday someone called in a bomb threat at the middle school where my last grad class was being held. We met in the parking lot, turned in our papers, and were allowed to leave right away.

The bad news is that YouTube is finally blocked at school. It's going to be a long month without it.

What is it that makes vinyl so dang tempting?!? I have this album! I don't need it in another format! But it's calling my name!

There is something about the rotation of that turntable...the turning gears...the drive belt wrapped around the platter...the stylus lying in the grooves...

Does it sound better? Not really. (Definitely not when it's playing through your TV because you still haven't replaced your broken stereo). Is it convenient? Not at all. (Especially not when you have to flip it over after 15 or 20 minutes.)

So why am I so eager to spend the 15 bucks on this?!? (Of course it doesn't help that I've acquired Illinois [thanks Yoder] and Michigan [Neville talked me into it] on vinyl, and this would round out the collection.)