View From the 5th Grade Trenches: September 2012 : Panic Button

First of all, I want to apologize for being the worst blogger in Bloglandia. 

New school year + New school site + Parent conferences = NO TIME LEFT TO DO ANYTHING BUT COLLAPSE

I promise to let the October breezes carry me back over to your wonderful blogs.

I've invited the panic button onto my blog this week so anyone concerned about education in our country can give it a push. 

Since when is education not important enough to finance?

Since when have teachers become villains?

Since when have students ceased to be individuals and become test scores?

Since when has hugging a child in distress become an action that can threaten your job?

Since when is it vital for a ten year old to identify the chemical signature of photosynthesis?

Just sayin'.

Thoughts?

What's Your Chocolate?

Has there ever been a more delicious blog hop? I don't think so.

I remember my first date with a chocolate bar. I was probably eight years old and I'd saved up a whole dollar. I rode my bike down to the liquor store and bought one of the GIGANTIC Hershey bars with almonds, the one with all the squares usually used for s'mores.

My mom would have fillet me if she knew I'd spent my dollar on that, so I hid behind the back fence and ate the whole thing in one sitting.

Bliss.

Nirvana.

No regrets.

Chocolate has been the one constant in my life.

My daughter doesn't like chocolate. 

I've failed as a parent. 

No, wait. Glass half full time...I will eat her share.

Here are the other yummy Hop Links. 

GUTGAA Meet and Greet

Here we go with Deana Barnhart's Gearing Up to Get An Agent fab blogfest. The first task is a meet and greet.

Mini-bio: I’m a mom of two amazing kids in their twenties. One is an actor and one a writer. We will be eating lots of ramen noodles in our house until we all hit it big. I snagged a BA and MFA in theater arts back in the 80's. I never had "big 80's hair." I taught design for years at UCLA, and had a couple of plays produced there. Yes, you may call me, Professor Rose. Yes, you may snicker at the thought of that. Now I teach fifth grade north of Los Angeles. I love writing YA because those teen years are so deliciously crazy. It’s a kick to go back into that emotional soup. My short stories appear in the current Journeys of Wonder, Volume 1 anthology and the upcoming Paramortal 2 by Cliffhanger Books.

 

-Where do you write?

My "office" is a white tile topped kitchen table in a corner of my bedroom. (I have issues with getting rid of furniture) There's a bulletin board above the table to tack up pictures, notes, and irreverent inspiration. 

-Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see? Mirrored closet doors that are covered with post-its for various projects artfully hiding a "side-view" of me hunched over my laptop.

-Favorite time to write? After lunch into the evening

-Drink of choice while writing? Water or flavored iced tea - I had to give up the Diet Dr. Pepper. Sad day.

-When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence? I HAVE to play music. I’ll listen to the playlist I’ve created for the project I’m working on. I listened to Elton John’s Aida about a million times when I was writing my short story AFTERDEATH for the Journeys of Wonder Anthology. Yes, I cry at the end of Aida every single time.

-What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it? Lately I’m into using fairy tales and myths as springboards. I’m working on a Rapunzel retell so I read every version of the story I could get my hands on, including watching the movie TANGLED. Is it wrong to have a crush on an animated character? Don't tell me if it is.

-What's your most valuable writing tip? Hook up with critique partners who are honest and caring. I'd shrivel up and die without Lisa, Julie, Ian, and Deborah.

Join in the blogfest fun. Click on the badge in the sidebar to hop in. Can't wait to meet everyone.