Newsies

Where to begin after being silent for so long? Probably with the news: I have just accepted an offer for full-time employment with the Food Bank for New York City. I'll begin on the first Monday of the new year. After nearly four months of job-searching, interviews, applications and the like, employment is official. I've never felt so sure that what I'm about to begin is so fully a deliberate choice.

While I have been searching for full-time work for months, I have been working. Since October, I've been acting as a server at a kitchy, comfort food joint in Monrningside Heights called the Kitchenette Uptown. It takes a twenty minute walk to get there, so I've been meeting regulars who live in the neighborhood as well as Columbia students who frequent this popular brunch spot--I'm picturing our ritual Middlebury-weekend brunches transplanted in the Kitchenette, and I'm thankful for our shared dining tables, even if the so-called "free dining hall food" was simply illusory.

I'll tell you I'm acting as a server because I'm a bit of a hack. I had no restaurant experience prior to working there, which everyone tells me is impossible in New York City. Back in October, wearing an oxford shirt and slacks, no less, I walked into the restaurant and handed over my restaurant-less resume to the manager. After a two-minute discussion, she gave me the chance to train as a server. After a week training, the owners hired me. My first day of work, the manager who gave me a chance quit. If I had come in with my resume a week later, the new manager would not have considered me a potential hire.

I could write an entire post on my experiences at Kitchenette, and I hope to post some anecdotes eventually, but I'm using this entry to tell you about what's new in my life. After the summer months of hoping and doubting, and the autumn days of hunting jobs and prowling unfamiliar streets, I believe I've found what I was looking for. First, because I want to immerse myself in the intersecting worlds of food distribution, marketing, policy and education and its effects on the health and integrity of communities--and the Food Bank for NYC is one of the best organizations in which to do that. But I also feel that for the first time, perhaps even moreso than with college, I have taken responsibility for my next step. That, at least for me, for now, is news.

-=-Josh

Port O'Brien LIVE

It may not seem like it, but this video represents the culmination of one of the most beautiful concerts I've ever been to. Everyone on that stage is super-psyched to be there, and I was thrilled to witness such happiness and to feel it myself. If you are ever in San Francisco at the same time Port O'Brien is having a concert, I highly highly recommend seeing them. It is joyous and tense and beautiful.

What I Do (Miranda)

Some links to videos of things I've been up to.  I participated in the PBP this month and I helped to organize the Great SF Personal Statement Weekend.

Peanut Butter Plan
Great SF Personal Statement Weekend

Victory for 1A! (chris)

Pitkin County Ballot Measure 1A passes by 73%.

Aspen Daily News e-edition front page

Aspen Times front page article

Slacking

Hi Everyone, long time no talk.

I haven't been bloggin lately.  But I want to!  I want to stay in touch and all of that.  So, here's what's going on with me since my last post.  well, I went and saw where the wild things are (seems like years ago) and it made me cry, just a little bit.  It's not really a children's film, but more of a film for non-childs to reflect on our youth.  i liked that spike made the characters wild emotions, but i think he might have done a better job showing that.  The after party was at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and spike, dave, catherine keener (who they referred to as simply keener) and Max Records were there.  Max wore a box on his head for part of the night.  The Maurice Sendak exhibit at the museum was pretty cool, I recommend it to anyone passing through SF (i have a coupon btw if you want one).  What Else?  max's costume is in the pirate store right now.

I hit a milestone: finished my very first issue of the Bay-farer, the newspaper workshop that I teach.  It made me really happy-- the reading/release party went really well, we had a lot of food and Every last kid read their article!  (except the one that didn't show up).  I was really happy that everyone felt comfortable enough to read, even the kids that barely spoke at the start of the 5 week workshop.  And the paper looks great.  My personal favorite article is titled Facts about Cats, but another catchy title is Canines: a Vast Subject and also The Smallest Monkey.  Don't worry, there were non-animal articles, too.  It's not a newspaper focused on animal journalism.

In other news, I've taken up a part time job of nannying for 6mo. old twin girls.  They are the cutest and sweetest babies I've ever met!  Their dog is really sweet too, and I'm less allergic to her for some reason.

I went to the Treasure Island music festival and was joined that weekend by some midd people like Emily and Rachel who live in the Bay and Miles and Ken who drove up from LA.  Ken had driven up the weekend before, too.  Most memorable acts for me were definitely The Decemberists (who completely killed it) and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (who were really high but really beautiful voices).  Other really good ones were Beirut, Grizzly Bear, and THAO! and The Flaming Lips.



I'm not sure what else to say right now except that I'm doing really well, been really busy.  We're organizing an event, so I've been all tangled in that, but that will be over in just a few weeks.  I'll talk to you all soon!  Write!

Upcoming Goings Ons (Miranda)

Hi all,
you are all very beautiful. Meet friends in your neighborhood.

I thought I'd start off by pretending to be a SPAM mail because it amuses me.  In other news, I have been working a lot.  I love it, it's just a lot right now since it's the beginning of the school year.  I'm not in my house much because I've been engaged in a lot of extracurriculars, so today I decided I'd hang around my room which has been a strange feeling.  I watched the season premier of Eastwick, the television version of the movie with Jack Nicholson BECAUSE (and there is a because) my ex-classmate is going to have a role on the show starting October 7th, and on that I congratulate him.  I found out because my friend told me over the phone and then I IMDB'd him and found out it was true.  Anyway, so far the show is a lot like the movie except with less famous/ talented actors (SO FAR) and the guy who plays Jack Nicholson's character is doing an exact imitation of how Jack played the role.  I can't tell whether I should be impressed or unenthused YET.

This same ex-classmate also created and starred in Harry Potter the Musical, which I recommend to all of you-- it is hilarious and completely up on Youtube, and I wouldn't say that if I didn't believe it.  Following this guy's career  made me think of something that probably isn't original, but I arrived at it on my own, so there: success inspires success.  

Seeing other people succeed makes me feel that anything is possible-- preachy, I know, but I think it's true.  I was helping this girl write her college essay, and she said she thought that the Bush Man (this dude who sits by the piers and frightens people with a frond of leaves) was successful and forced her to think of success in a new light.  She said she thought he was successful because he had created a name for himself and made people's days more fun.  I guess I agree, although I wonder whether he thinks he's doing well...

I'll say one more thing about this-- I think all of us are on a great track-- I don't see any of my friends sitting around, not caring about what happens to themselves or the world, and that makes me feel really really happy and good about the future.

ALSO, the Where the Wild Things Are SF benefit screening is coming up on Wednesday.  I got a great dress from the truly sweet ladies at Metier, and I am so excited.  I didn't think I would be so excited.  Spike Jonze will be there for Q and A and the kid who plays Max is supposed to show up, too. And there will be a puppet show from the folks at Paxsons Gate (taxidermy shop next door)!  If you want to support a great cause and see this wonderful movie weeks in advance (at a city near you: SF, LA, Chicago, NYC, Seattle, Boston, Ann Arbor) buy a ticket, and enjoy it.

What else?  A Very Happy Birthday to Miss Sakura Yagi!

I've also added Kate's Nicaragua blog to the sidebar, and since she's been traveling around advocating for repressed Hondurans, it's an informative read.  I have also been working on my "novel" and reading Slaughterhouse Five.  That's all for now.

Teaching on the Rez (Ruby)

Hey oooooo lovely Midd friends!

So, where to begin? Two weeks after graduating, I started my epic journey with Teach For America. One week in New Mexico, five grueling weeks in Phoenix for institute where I taught kindergarten whilst learning how to teach, another week in New Mexico, one week off to "chill" in Colorado before returning to New Mexico for good (aka two years).

Life is absurd. I don't even know where to begin, so let's proceed with bullet form fashion, shall we?

• I live on the Navajo Reservation in the town of Pueblo Pintado, NM. Oh, Pueblo Pintado. This booming metropolis boasts 23.5 people every square mile, one federal K-8 school where yours truly works and lives, one high school 1.5 miles down the road, one gas station a mile in the other direction, a laundromat 5 miles away, and one Navajo chapter house. Throw in some wild horses, coyotes, rez dogs, jackrabbits, rattlesnakes, cows, sheep, dead horses in the ditch and that's home!

• May I reitterate that I truly live in the middle of nowhere? Even groceries are a full hour drive away. I should add that good ol' Durango, Colorado--home, sweet home--is but a mere 2 hour drive, which is SO good for my sanity. Booze is illegal on the rez but Durango has a beer festival every month or so, so I survive.
  

• I teach 2nd grade at a BIE (Bureau of Indian Education) school which is all sorts of interesting. The BIE is dripping with money yet I managed to inherit a classroom without books, pencils, and paper (or a reading curriculum-- hello, Ms. Bolster has no idea what she's doing). The school is a boarding school and my kids have recently discovered where I live. Tuesday one of them stalked me home because he didn't want to sleep at the dorm anymore. Yesterday one of them ding dong ditched me and left a stone turtle on my doorstep. (????)

• I love my 16 little tyrants and they love me but I'm pretty sure they were put on this earth to drive me crazy. For a good three-quarters of the day, I ask myself why I'm such a masochist to have accepted this position, but then my kids hug me at the end of the day and tell me they will miss me and I forgive them for their antics (mostly).

• "Ms. Bolster, are you ever not white?"

These ruins are literally my morning view. It's badass.

The school/dorm/teacher housing/"twin towers". You can even see my own little house on the far left! Hip hip hooray for cheap government housing ($192/month, no joke).

Anyway, that's the major stuff from me. I need to grade math test #4. Who'd have thought that teaching 5 + 6 = 11 would be so hard?

xoxo gossip girl
(just kidding, this season is already awful.)

xoxo for realz, Ruby/"Mizzzz Booooolssterrr!"