grandma, part 4

Somewhere between the age of 0 and 5 I’ve acquired this memory: The bowl was large, chrome, bronze, but it seemed like gold. She sat on the floor of the kitchen with a smile on her face, beating and kneading large amounts of dough. Who knew what that would become? Bread, noodles, 떡… The memory […]

In Sickness and in Health

She leaned over the side of the hospital bed, grasping at the metal beams to sustain her balance. She saw that he wasn’t eating. He had been sitting in the same spot, in the same clothes. At times he sat looking at the television, other times praying to himself, thinking, and looking back at her. […]

grandma, part food.

No one compares to 할머니’s cooking. No one. Some of my favorites: – 장조림 – 메루치 – fried potato slices (slightly boiled, sliced thick, pan fried) – 부추전 – 무, 고기 국 – plain old 김 & 밥

grandma, pt. 1

It’s the mid-90’s and my grandmother is at our house, My sister and I are in elementary school and my grandmother is on babysitting duty as she always was. We sit in the rear, sun drenched room of which we have deemed “the playroom” and this is where we pass the time. 할아버지 is either […]

post-grad finance

How do you tell your parents they have to work harder? This is a rhetorical question to which I already have an answer – sort of. I know I cannot possibly ask this of my parents who have already sacrificed so much. Yet I find myself screaming to the abyss of my own thoughts saying: […]

tenure

You can choose to believe me or not, but tenure was never a motivation in my choice of becoming an educator. I am proud that I am able to say this so confidently, yet somewhat embarrassed because I had to ask my coworker/mentor what the big deal about tenure actually was. It doesn’t seem that […]

“Branding”

Where do I even start with this… Today’s meeting at work went against all my personal, moral, ethical philosophies as an educator as the leading figurehead of our school started talking about branding. The gist of it all: the success of our school is like promoting a brand (followed by activities centered around our thoughts about places like […]

homecoming

Tonight was my first time at a classic school dance. You know, the ones held in school gyms, student made decorations, low key, school pride and all. Expectations weren’t too high but really…. my eyes cannot undo what it has just witnessed. I felt as if I were in a strange parallel, gangster, afro-hispanic, technological […]

my two cents

One thing charter schools have right is that they start at the base. Many successful charter schools start right at kindergarten and follow their students to the very top of the chain. If charters are any reflection of our public education system, it is that we cannot trust it, even from step one. Logic says […]

dilemma

I sit here an hour past my bedtime, again, not having any work graded. I’m currently telling myself over and over again: “You can wake up early and grade, or do it when you’re supposed to – during your prep. periods”. This statement is a lie. The real conflicts have inched their way into my […]

of alexandria

What good amid these, O me! O Life!