Ever since I was little I always wanted a wall of books. No, not just a wall…an entire library. You know, like in the movies where the rich family goes into their “study” and takes a book from their “library” and perhaps the library resides in the north wing of the house…you know, those kinds of movies. I loved the idea of having several books, nah, I should say “volumes” to choose from. And these volumes would have thick covers with gold lettering and the page edges would also be trimmed with gold. To sit, next to a crackling fire in your smoking jacket (or in my case ‘non-smoking’ jacket) and enjoy a chapter or two of Dickens or E. B. White. Those visions still fill my head, okay, perhaps not the whole north wing, gold letters and crackling fire…but the idea of my own library.

Well, it’s 14 years after high school and I finally have my small library! I have a wall of books, DVDs, and CDs. Okay, so my husband helped me fill out some of the space with his favorites, but it’s ours! I have books from when I was little all the way up till now. It’s not the full room of volumes I have dreamed of, but it’s a start and honestly, it makes me happy to look at it.
I recently wondered why that vision has stayed in my head for so long. I know growing up we really didn’t have many books around the house. I can’t say anyone in my family is really a “reader” except for me. Books weren’t really a big deal I guess. We could go to the school or public library any time we wanted, but we didn’t.
So why did I want a wall of books? Could it be perhaps:

a. to look/feel like a smarty pants standing in front of it
b. to be literary enough to necessitate a library
c. to say “oh, I have a book on that” and be able to run to my library and “fetch” it
d. all of the above

Hm, I’m going with D. I’m sure our school librarians helped, as well as certain teachers. I do remember in middle school, standing in front of the library book shelves and staring at all the titles lined up. I would totally judge a book by it’s cover and select the cover, or should I say, the spine that looked most interesting. I also remember in high school my friend Mandy and I would try to read classic novels, everything from Hunchback to Dracula. For some reason it was the cool thing to do (for us at least)!

So why all this talk about libraries? Well, today I marched right on over to the Austin Public Library and got myself a library card!

While I love buying books (I preferably go to Half Priced Books to save money and to recycle), I have joined a book club and well, I would be spending a lot on books. Don’t get me wrong, I will still buy books, but now I can be a bit more choosey. Also, with a book club, sometimes the style of the month isn’t really what I am into, and if I don’t like the book, well, hey I can turn it back in!
When I went into the local library (it’s right around the corner from my house) I was instantly transported back to my middle school library. I don’t know why I hadn’t been in there before, I have lived in this neighborhood for 4 years! The card feels good in my wallet, sort of wish I could wear it like a bumper sticker. “Keep Austin Reading!”
I think you should go check out your local library…
Oh and what are you favorite books? Any suggestions so I can start using my library card?!

Lately, I have been seeing several articles about Latinas. Most prominently, of course, is the news of Judge Sonia Sotomayor taking her place on the Supreme Court. Which, by the way, Latina magazine is selling these cool t-shirts, in honor of Judge Sotomayor’s appointment.

But sadly, the news has turned bleak again for Latinas. Most recently, the focus is on the dropout rate among this particular group being up 41 percent. Dropout is implied as students unable to complete high school within 4 years.
Here are links to the studies completed bythe National Women’s Law Center and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) to show this trend:

• MALDEF: Listening to Latinas: Barriers to High School Graduation
• National Women’s Law Center study

“Many Latinas are influenced by family and societal expectations, often based on stereotypes of Latinas as submissive underachievers and caretakers,” the report said. “When these stereotypes are internalized, they may cause Latinas to doubt their chances for academic and career success.” – CNN Article

The report did give some recommendations to provide support to one of the largest female groups in US schools . The recommendations include (summarized on the CNN article):

• Congressional investment in Latino children through early education initiatives and child care, and outreach to Latino families.
• More outreach to Latinas in schools, including providing them with role models.
• College preparation by schools for Latinas, with funding from Congress.
• More school measures to stop discrimination in educational programs and activities.
• School use of comprehensive, age-appropriate material to teach sex education to avoid the rising pregnancy rates among teen Latinas, and additional support for those who get pregnant.

A professor at the Art Institute is working towards his PhD. He has been doing studies on Hispanic males in high school and trying to find ways to help them graduate on time. Most recently he has felt hopeless, his studies show that even intervention programs are not making much progress. They are of value, but not to the extent to make a large change. The only findings he says show actual progress is simple, parental involvement. Things like showing interest in your child’s life, helping them with their homework, reading to your child, and asking how their day went. While that does sound simple, there are realities that make it difficult. Single parents trying to balance work and home, grandparents raising grandchildren, or parents with several children. Not to mention, parents educational level not up to par as their child.

With this information the outreach recommendation stands out to me. I encourage everyone to become a Big Brother or Big Sister. Something as simple as just hanging out with a young person can make a difference. By you being there, you are not only showing support, but also giving them another perspective, another person with experiences that may be far different from their own. You are a role model, and you fill holes that you may not even realize are missing in that child’s life. To respect her privacy, I won’t post a picture of my Little Sister, but she is awesome and I love her.

While this post may be about Latinas, we can’t forget the other half. Recently, BBBS of Central Texas told me they desperately needed Big Brothers. They have to start paring Big Sisters with Little Brothers because the volunteer number in males is so low. Taking one day a month (or more) can making a difference in any child’s life (whether latino or other), believe me, you won’t regret it.

Below is a CNN video discussing the Latina dropout issue:

48 miles to Austin…driving home from Corpus Christi. Our weekend was good and long but I am only slightly happy we are going home.
We began the weekend at our in-laws. Danny wasn’t feeling well and so it was pretty down. We had dinner with his family, hung out and chatted. They noticed Danny seemed tired or sad and asked if he was felling okay. He said he was fine and so later that night we watched the Soloist. It was an okay movie, sort of long with no real ending, but interesting. It shed light on people with mental disorders and what can and can’t be done for them. That night Danny and I talked and he seemed to feel better.

The next day, Danny slept in. He never sleeps in. I had time to chat with his parents about things that have been bothering me/us. I told them why Danny might be down. Danny is a very honest person and doesn’t throw feelings around often, if he says he is bummed, then it’s not to be taken lightly. His parents were understanding and his mother usually knows what to say (usually). Overall it felt good talking to them but I wondered if I should really divulge information like that. Perhaps some things in a marriage should be private, and not involve the parents.

That day Danny and his father went to Academy and then fishing. Danny’s mother had asked his dad to talk to him, so when the day was done I asked if they talked. Both are men of very few words. Apparently Danny’s dad said about one sentence about it and that was it. Typical men talk I guess. Either way, Danny had a good time fishing and was much happier. Spending the day with his dad, even if only light chatting was done, was a very good thing. Later that night Kelly, Danny and I went to Half-Priced Books and enjoyed their 20% off sale!

The next day Danny, his father and I went to the beach. They fished while I sun bathed, walked, played in the surf and read.

It was actually a really good day. It was perfect outside, even though it was raining not far off. The water at Padre Island was a blue green, rather than the dull brown it sometimes is. The waves weren’t too big or small, and the sky was a almost cloudy blue. Not cloudy in our area, but not so hot either, just right. It had rained the day before so even the sand was perfect between my toes. No jellies and just a little seaweed here or there. We just had a good time, but, Danny did get sun burned. Meh.

Afterwards we went to my families homes. The whirlwind began with a BBQ at Lisa’s house, then hanging at Andy’s. Isaiah got a new kitten and wanted to show her off. She is super cute and named “pulgies”. “Pulga” means “flea” in Spanish. “Pulgita” is the name for a “little flea”. “Pulgies” is like a slang term of endearment to an animal…no for real, it is! Also, my old cat named, Amidala was nicknamed “pulgitas”…he liked it and kept the name.

Sunday, we all ate lunch at Kiko’s and then headed to Barnes and Noble. Afterwards we sort of split up at Petsmart and Target. It ended with most of us coming home and napping. The evening wrapped up with eating left overs at Lisa’s.

Before we ate dinner I did get a message from a co-worker. Apparently another co-worker may have been fired. Tensions are high at the college and people are very unhappy with management. I must admit, I’m not a fan either and am wondering if I too should write a grievance letter. The conundrum I am having is that I really love it there. The teaching, the atmosphere, the students…all are great. What I don’t like is the whole “for profit” business. I’ll know more about the whole situation when I go to work tomorrow (or should I say later today).

Let’s see where we are on our trip home…ah, reaching the outskirts of Austin. I can see the city lights, especially the Frost Bank tower.

At least we feel rested and calm. Sometimes going to visit family can be stressful, and at times this weekend it was, but it was good and I am glad we went.

Within my career in education, I have been employed at a community college, an elementary school, and most recently, at a for-profit college. I probably could add my time in grad school as also being a part of a large university as well.

Looking at all the experiences I have had in education, I can narrow down over-arching themes I pulled from working in the different realms.
Let’s start with my first educational job at a community college.

I was hired in 2000 by a community college in Austin. I was very excited to get a job in education for several reasons. One, education is a stable career (usually) and two, I liked being part of something that’s sole purpose is to help educate people. A large portion of my job was to record and edit the Board of Trustee meetings. Afterwords I would compress and stream the video on the web, as well as maintain several web pages. I must admit, I was at times bored with the meetings. Lots of talk about grants, raises and building a new campus or two. It wasn’t till I had been there a while that I really started to listen to what was going on. When they talked about grants and donations, it was all to benefit the students. When they talked about raises, they talked about how to help employees without cutting the needs of the students (a very hard task when working in a non-profit). When they talked about new buildings, they were looking for locations with the furthest reach, they wanted affordable education not only for the people of Austin, but also the surrounding cities and towns. Their purpose was to educate people who didn’t think college was right for them. To educate people who couldn’t pay by offering affordable classes and scholarships. So many people diss community colleges, but they truly do provide an important service. Not everyone gets their education given to them on a silver platter (even if they worked hard for it). Also, along with Associate’s programs, they have technical training, so if the regular classroom isn’t right for you, you can get your degree in auto maintenance or air conditioning repair, etc… May sound dull, but a local AC guy came to our house and made $73 on telling us we need insulation! Obviously there is a need for AC fixers and people are willing to pay. I will always push and tell you how important a community college is, partly because I am a community college graduate. I attended Del Mar College in Corpus Christi and received my AA in Radio/TV.

Sidenote: In high school I was told I should just apply there…and I did. Later I came to resent my counselor. I was not offered any other choices because she thought I couldn’t pay for it/do well/have support, who knows why else. I thought it was my only option. I still resent her, but I am proud I went there and am where I am today because of it. You could try and blame my parents for not pushing, but honestly, they didn’t have the opportunities we did and they just didn’t know what was out there.

The over-arching theme I have learned from my experience and employment at a community college:“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free“! Fighting the good fight, educating the masses…
All this of course, is dependent on the integrity of the college and the board who runs it.

Next, my time at a University. I attended two of varying sizes. The first was Texas A&M Corpus Christi for my BA in TV/Film and the second was The University of Texas at Austin for my MA in Instructional Technology. While I was not employed there, themes still stood out. The culture they create is one of strength and empowerment. We were often told (mainly in grad school) that we were lucky to be there, that we were a select few who made it among many who did not. We were told if you didn’t want to be there, to leave, that there were many waiting to take your place. Students felt like they had to take responsibility of their education and do the best they could with the opportunities they were given. I must admit, it was very stressful, but it pushed me to do well. I wanted to earn the right to graduate, proud that I did my best. And I think I did. The cost was much higher (thankfully I received a few scholarships and then a Fellowship for grad school). But with the cost came many more resources, libraries, museums and academic as well as student support. I don’t have the experience of working at such large institutes, but from the student side, the overarching themes were clear.
The over-arching theme I have learned from my experience at a large University: You were specifically selected, we have a lot riding on you, you have a lot riding on you, don’t let us or yourself down. Oh and “ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free!”

In my next post, I will continue my thoughts on over-arching themes that I have observed while working at a public elementary school and at a non-profit college. The differences are very interesting!

The other night Danny made Lazy Lasagna. The recipe was easy to make, but it tasted a bit bland. I think perhaps adding some spices may help. It did make quite a bit though and Danny and I have been eating on it for a few days.

Recipe

Lazy Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 jar Spaghetti Sauce
• 8 ounces Sour Cream
• 16 ounces, weight Large Curd Cottage Cheese
• 1 box(es) Lasagna Noodles
• 2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 pound Ground Beef, (we used ground turkey)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 pan with non-stick cooking spray. Brown and drain ground beef, if using. Add spaghetti sauce to skillet with gound beef. In a small bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese. Layer lasagna in prepared pan starting with sauce/meat mixture, then mozzarella cheese, then uncooked lasagna noodles, spread sour cream mixture on top of noodles, and repeat until ingredients are used. End with mozzarella cheese on top. Pour 1/2 cup water around edges of pan once lasagna is assembled. If your pan is really full, use a baking sheet on the lower shelf of your oven to catch drips. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes then remove foil and continue baking for an additional 15 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Serve with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

So we were able to make 2 of the 4 recipes! Pretty good. My parents came to visit this weekend so we ate out instead. Otherwise, we would have made all 4! Since I won’t be home the next two night (due to classes), perhaps the other 2 can be made later this week!

After my parents left this afternoon, Danny and I took a long nap! I love a good Sunday nap!

I know I am mentioning cooking a lot but I have an update!

Today, my husband is home from touring and I wanted to make him lunch. He mentioned that we should go to Chipotle. I suggested I try whipping up something since I have these groceries now! I knew I could probably find a recipe for burritos and save the money.
I found this recipe at Tasty Kitchen:

Recipe

Chicken and Black Bean Burritos

Ingredients

• 2 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
• 1 can Black Beans, Drained And Rinsed
• 1 tsp Fajita Seasoning (as much as you need to cover one side of chicken breast – added by me)
• 1 cup Salsa
• 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• ½ teaspoons Black Pepper
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ⅓ cups Water
• 6 whole Burrito-size Tortillas
• 1-½ cup Cheese
• Sour Cream (added by me)
  
• Fresh Tomatoes for garnish (added by me)

Preparation Instructions:
Place chicken breast in pan; pour 1/2 cup salsa over each breast. Cover and cook approximately 15 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from pan and chop into small pieces or shred with two forks.

Add chicken back to pan, add black beans, seasonings (to taste), and water.
Simmer for an additional 15-20 minutes.

Roll filling and cheese, sour cream and tomatoes into tortillas.

Modification:
I did make a change, instead of pouring salsa on top of the chicken breasts as they cooked, I coated one side with fajita seasoning and added the salsa when I added the other ingredients. I also added sour cream and tomatoes to the burritos, if I had lettuce I would have put some of that too!

It was really tasty and pretty easy to make!

I am going to take my great friend, Mandy’s advice and plan my meals for the week. She has suggested some great recipes in her blog “Life in Pink & Blue” and I making my list and am going to have a shopping day. I tried to pick easy to make recipes, since God knows if it’s too complicated, I won’t do it. Also, the recipes could not have perishable items, meaning, if I don’t get around to cooking it till 3 weeks from now, I’d be okay. I tend to buy veggies for meals and never get around to cooking them, then find them in the crisper dark and gross and sometimes growing friends!

The meals I have chosen, along with ingredients and recipes are:

• Turkey & Two Bean Chili
• Lazy Lasagna
• Soft Taco Casserole
• Creamy Italian Chicken

All of these recipes come from the site, Tasty Kitchen. Mandy seems to love the recipes she has found there and I trust her judgment, so I will try them too!

Possible setbacks: A few setbacks I foresee are:

1. Class. Monday and Tuesday I have class at 6pm, so I can’t imagine cooking after I get home at 10pm. Perhaps I can do it for lunch, but most likely, that won’t happen…but I will keep that option open.
2. Danny. My husband is coming home on Tuesday, yay! He has been guitar teching for a band for three weeks and is returning home. We aren’t sure what time he will come in, perhaps I can cook for him that night, but most likely, that last thing on his mind will be food!! tee hee
3. Friends. Lately I have been hanging out a lot with my friends Brian and Tom or Denise. They have been inviting me too hang a lot since Danny is gone. Also, when Danny is here and busy, we usually hang then to. Perhaps I can have a dinner party
4. Laziness. Sometimes, coming home from teaching all day, the last thing I want to do is cook. But I am hoping since I picked easy recipes that it will be easy and not seem like a big chore.

I’ll try and post when I actually get one cooked and have done a taste test. I need to find my crock pot!

Tonight I saw Julie & Julia with some friends. It was a pretty good movie, but what I really liked was the entire Julia Child story. She was very interesting and I left wanting to know more about her. Of course, the big star of the movie (besides Meryl Streep’s acting) was the food! It all looked so good! I just felt like leaving the theater and basting something! Would I ever want to go through a cookbook like the character Julie did? Well, if I did I would not have picked that book for sure (sounded too difficult). But I wouldn’t pick something too easy. My idea of too easy is Rachel Ray or Paula Deen. It would need to be difficult enough to teach me things, but not so far out that I wouldn’t want to eat what I made.

I also think taking some cooking classes would be so much fun. I am great at making recipes (well, most of the time), but as far as knowing what flavors work well together and what doesn’t, I am clueless.

A few months ago my friend Meghan came over for dinner. We were thinking of where to go and she suggested we eat in. I told her I hadn’t gone grocery shopping and showed her my fridge. I had bell peppers, some old sausage, a box of pasta and some spaghetti sauce in the pantry. She whipped us up a feast. She just said this can go with this, add some of these spices and taste. It was awesome. Sausage and peppers with rigatoni pasta! I was so impressed. I hadn’t thought to put those things together, if I had I wouldn’t have thought of those spices! I wonder if one day I will be able to do that!

I do have several cookbooks, perhaps I should start having dinner parties for my friends. It would force me to step out of my comfort zone and learn some cooking! More than just eggs, migas, spaghetti and the general Mexican food like tacos or chalupas.

Lately I’ve been having a few issues with two of my classes.

The first is my Intro to Scripting class. In the past, my web design classes were very small, just a handful of students. If one started getting behind, I could work individually with them while the others moved on. In such a small class it’s pretty easy to keep everyone moving forward. Interruptions are fewer and everyone is focused. This quarter I have a class of 16 (I told you my other classes were small, between 3 – 5 people!). It’s much harder to help students when they get lost. What happens is the leaders finish early and the slower learners get so far behind. I have been lucky to have very awesome students who offer to help each other if someone is having trouble (not all students are so kind). We are a week behind on what I want to cover in the class and I’m not 100% sure students feel comfortable with what they have learned. The content is pretty straight forward. I’m teaching xhtml, CSS and JavaScript coding, I’m not even sure if we’ll get to JavaScript at the rate we are going.

I feel I need to revamp my curriculum for larger classes, but how can I do it half way through the semester? Are some students so far behind they will never catch up?

Part of the problem is that I have web majors mixed in with other majors. So I want to go in-depth for that group, but does the other group really need to know the in’s and out’s of code? I can’t just split the class in half and give more work to some. Hm, I’m just not sure how to handle the situation with such a large gap. Also, there are one or two students who are web majors who are having problems too. I have offered tutoring but no one has reserved time.

Part of me wonders if perhaps instead of hand coding everything, I should have started on Dreamweaver (I normally reserve it for Intermediate Scripting). Coding by hand is tedious, but you really do learn a lot about the code. And from my other students who have gone through the class, they like that because Dreamweaver was a snap to learn since they knew what everything already meant. But like I said, with non-majors, do they really need to know it that well? Perhaps if I used a different editor (currently using TextEdit) to write code. There are some free editors that show color coding which I know would help. I could ask our IT about putting that in our mac lab. It is already week 6 (out of 11 weeks), I hope things start coming together!

My other class, Digital Imaging I, focuses on teaching Photoshop as a design tool. I have the same problem between super technology savvy  students and ones who barely know how to open a file. Problems that should be easy to solve by now, are still giving students issues (like making a gradient). How do I backtrack while still moving forward? I have the problem of bored students and the ones who get annoyed at not being able to “get it”.

This is the first quarter that I have had such a big gap. So my classes, which I thought were designed pretty okay, need a lot of revising…but I’m not sure how to keep all students learning (and happy).

Now time for one whine. How can students forget their flash drives (so often)?! Sitting in a 4 hour class and not being able to save anything…especially when doing all this code or digital editing?!

Today I reached out to a local web and interactive design firm here in Austin, to set up a meeting to discuss internships and what needs they may have. Rather than just having any students apply, I wanted to be able to only have students that fit the criteria they really want. I called the Internship Coordinator to setup something. The call was horrible. The woman was so rude. She kept saying to read what’s on the site and have them apply. When I tried to explain that knowing more about the types of skills students should have would help me in sending them there, she just kept saying ‘have them apply”. I asked to perhaps talk to the head of the department to set up a meeting she told me “she is a very busy women and doesn’t have time to talk to you”. It was really frustrating and so rude! The call started and ended badly, and since I knew I was doing this for my job (and possibly at the expense of my students) I tried very hard not to lose it and ended it gratefully. But gah! What a poopy-head. Believe me, “poopy-head” isn’t what I’m really thinking. Oh and even though I stated I was from the Art Institute of Austin she said I was from UT!

Part of me really wanted to send an angry email to the main company address. I am still pondering it. Anyone who calls that number would be treated so poorly and rudely. The problem I see is that if I complain, they may not hire Art Institute students since she appears to be the internship gatekeeper. I am annoyed because perhaps because our call went so badly, she might nix anyone who applies with Ai on their resume. Or who knows, maybe she thinks it’s just UT! So I am torn between just calling her a crappy person in my head and leaving it at that or emailing the company. Either way, even though there are many other design firms in Austin, I don’t want to burn any bridges at a large one like this. What would you do?