wiggolation

Taking a (martini) break from it all: Out with Johno, Anna and her friend. (Three lawyers, god help me!)



Johno takes in one last fag, eh, cig, before NYC bars go smoke free at midnight.

He's back!! (...although not looking as cool in the new kit)

Find this whole war a big, weird, surreal experience. I expect to wake up any day and find it never really happened. How can you take postmodern warfare seriously when you can flip from one of the war channels to your usual comedy show or sports teams? It's at once staggering and silly. Absurd perhaps is a better word. As for all the debates and for and against protests I think neither side has made a good argument. I think it's clear the Bush admin is out for blood, self-interest. But I cannot really believe that living in modern Iraq is much fun. At least that's according to all the exiled Iraqis they interview on TV. They claim Saddam's whacked. Of course you have to take what they say cautiously as the very media through which they are speaking is probably corrupt. There is a lot of spinning going on in every camp. Propaganda from all sides. How do you, Average Joe, find a thread of truth, if that even exists or is a valid discussion anymore. As for me I have watched at least 24 hours of war coverage (or spinning or whatever it may be) in the last 72 hours. And it's very disturbing on many levels. Yet today, after watching three hours straight, I went riding in sunny Central Park where there were many happy people from all walks of life enjoying the fine weather and sunshine. Maybe I'm just a strange person, but the whole time I was thinking about the people in Iraq who were fighting and dying and bleeding and wondering when they were going to eat next or shower or get to go to the bathroom or see their family or girlfriends or boyfriends again. Here I am riding along doing as fine as could be and over there I know there is a living hell being experienced. Am I supposed to forget about it all and ignore it?

If only someone could shine light over the darkness. There's no God. But if there were some force that could just open everyone's mind to the really amazing, glorious essence of the human experience and make the warring peoples feel their humanity and the mysterious history of the human race. Where are the war poets??

Ah, it's all a fraud. A big fraud. Absurdity, Samuel, sheer absurdity. Fucked up situation.

Tomorrow I'll be asked to talk about the war again. All I can think is, what a pathetic bunch of people there are out there.

Beasties coming out loud: Click on 'download' and pump up the volume! (Cheers to Chaospirals)

Divided by English.

posted by me  # 23:41

Americorps is cutting us Peace Corps Fellows off in the oncoming year. That's 4,750 USD I'll have to come up with out of my own pocket. Whether it's cos of budget cuts, 9/11 ripple effects, the Bush admin's warped values (military spending over education etc. etc.), we be feelin' it in the pocket and the classroom. So much for vacations abroad anytime soon!!

So I'm grading a fat stack of papers (grammar exercises, paragraphs, short compositions on whether to keep exploring space, etc. etc.) when I decide to get closer to my students, or 'co-learners'. So I have attached a word-processed paragraph to each student's work; I say what I think of their performance in class, how nice it is to have them in class when they work and participate, etc. I guess I'm doing this to bond with them and encourage them. Well, we'll see how they respond. Some are just too cool to respond at all I'm afraid (who knows, maybe they'll surprise me and themselves?) but there are some who will probably like the attention. It take hours to write out a note to each but if I do it every week or every other week it would be worth the extra time.

Meanwhile, the drunks down below are really enjoying the good weather. I know cos they keep shouting at each other. So jealous....

A happy war to everybody.

What's across the street:

Hadn't realized how sloppy my site looked via Explorer! Long live Navigator.

So Vino takes a crazy Paris-Nice. This will go down in the record books for sure. As said, the last stage took place today on the climbs around Nice.

Sometimes seeing them again makes me want to head back.



Nick and Ron (my old teammates) and I used to train on these very climbs.

Whoo. Been a while since I actually wrote something about me old time here in NYC. Well, there's not a lot of excitement, just a lot of the usual.

I think teaching, the biggest thing in my life these days, is going OK. It does have its ups and downs but in a weird way I'm getting used to it. I have bigger classes this time round, almost thirty per class, so there's a lot more grading and emphasis on structured planning. And the classes are much more ethnically diverse. Have students from countries in Africa, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Ecuador, Columbia, Mexico, Poland, Dominican Republic, Korea, China. And that's in one class. It's great to have such diversity but it's also a lot harder to focus on each group's linguistic quirks. Anyway, we tend to have interesting discussions as a result.

Otherwise I've got a two week break from Columbia because of spring break and a TESOL conference that my profs are attending. I'd like to go myself but I know my students would be heart-broken. Not. Nonetheless there's a rather tough mid-term in less than two weeks in SLA. O what fun!

NYC is much nicer these days now that the milder weather is here. Been out on the bike trying to get some fitness before the hot weather comes. I'd have a grabber if I didn't.

The road was dry, occasionally wet;
The visibility was pretty good.
They grew wheat on steep mountains.
They played golf in their spare time.
Your eyes are like two Forget-Me-Nots in the grass,
Run over by a steam roller.



--Buty, 'Cesta Byla Sucha'

Talk about a great day! Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom) took one of the toughest stages of Paris-Nice. Below he raises his arms in victory and tribute to fallen compatriot Andrei Kivilev as he wins the fifth stage atop Mont Faron. Nice one, Vino!







I was lucky to get to ride with Vino one day in Nice. I was riding with Bobby Julich and we met Vino training. He's a humble man of few words but really nice. You might say he speaks with his legs....

I still can't believe Andrei is gone.

There is a burning restlessness inside you that is activated because you don't feel as if you are fulfilling your life's destiny, dear Pisces. You may have a sudden insight that you have a much greater purpose in this lifetime than what you are currently doing. Explore this idea, and see what you can do to move toward this great desire that comes from deep within. This is the perfect time to put large, long-term goals into action.

Sadly, another pro cyclist has died--Andrei Kivilev of the French Cofidis team crashed during the second stage of Paris-Nice and went into a coma and never came out. He wasn't wearing a helmet.

R.I.P.

I remember watching the rising star in smaller French races when I lived in Nice in 2000. He climbed fast and was really beginning to place well in the big races, the TDF not excepted (fourth last year). He was now a name in cycling and someone everybody took seriously when it came to winning big races. His death is a real shock for those in cycling. So young--and he leaves a wife and a six-month old boy!

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Gatorade 20 oz $1.59 ............. $10.17 per gallon
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Brake Fluid 12 oz $3.15 ........... $33.60 per gallon
Vicks Nyquil 6 oz $8.35 ........... $178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol 4 oz $3.85 .......... $123.20 per gallon
Whiteout 7 oz $1.39 .............. $25.42 per gallon
Scope 1.5 oz $0.99 ............... $84.48 per gallon
Evian water 9 oz for $1.49 ....... $21.19 per gallon.

View of Manhattan from the George Washington Bridge:

This year's Paris-Nice, which starts tomorrow, will end with a very untraditional huge day of climbing, and the course porfile looks rather ominous. I trained and raced on these same climbs when I lived there myself, and they are leg-breakers. My regret is that I am not going to be back to see it all happen. (My picks: Frigo or Cassagrande.)

More here.

These are trying times, grasshopper. You must be wise.

So...the presentation in SLA went well. It's nice to know my one and only presentation is done for the term. To boot the prof moved the midterm from next week to late March. Nice one! I have to thank the TESOL conference people for this one. So instead of cramming for the midterm we have another three weeks to study. Good thing too as there are hundreds of pages SLA research waiting for me.

My own life teaching continues to be a mix of frustration and progress. The biggest problem remains: incompetent administrators. There's a lot of bad communication and disrespect. I'd be so much happier in another school. Be that as it may I'm happy with what actually is happening in class. Students still are not working hard and still are not very motivated in the main. But they usually pay attention in class and generally behave themselves.

I had to sub for a math teacher this morning and a couple of the mainstream kids were mouthing off. So I kicked two out of class and made one write a one-page essay on the etymology of 'fuck'. He protested of course but I insisted. It's great having students plea pathetically and try to defend their total disrepect for teachers and then be able to coolly leave them without a response. Wheareas most teachers want to argue and reproach, I've found a great tool in negotiating with said brats: silence. Works great!

Was keen on getting out for a ride today but was too exhausted.

What life has taught me
I would like to share with
Those who want to learn...

Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war

That until there are no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war

That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be persued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique,
South Africa sub-human bondage
Have been toppled, utterly destroyed
Well, everywhere is war, me say war

War in the east, war in the west
War up north, war down south
War, war, rumours of war

And until that day, the African continent
Will not know peace, we Africans will fight
We find it necessary and we know we shall win
As we are confident in the victory

Of good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
Good over evil, good over evil, good over evil

Last week at school blew pretty hard and I didn't want to write about it then. Some of my classes are just frustrating for me. I feel I'm doing all or most of the work and the students save a few are just not working. I gave a few mini-lectures on why they should do their work and graduate but I hate lecturing like that. It's basically the old homework problem again. That is, most refuse to do it. Someone pointed out that I was doing most of the work in the class last semester. And after thinking about it I realized that person was right. So I'm going to focus more on my planning in terms of what the students will have to do. It's so easy to get caught up in trying to do a million tasks right and lose sight of what the students ought to be doing. Ah, well. Since this population of students isn't going to just start doing homework (they never really have apparently, and that's why the go to an alternative school), then I'm going to really create time in class for them to do it. We'll see how this works out this week.

Went out to see some friends and their new apartment on Saturday. They got smart and got out of student housing. That's me this fall, by the way! They made sushi, which went great with the Old Milwaukee I'd brought. Big hits all around.

Het Volk rocked--great to see that old Johan is still winning big races at 37. There's some motivation for me. Sadly the other news this week in pro-cycling is that Lance Armstrong and his wife separated. Quite surprising really. Publicly they were on top of the world.

Today was not a total blow off: I got my presentation for SLA just about wrapped up. I didn't get to my grading but there is time tomorrow to do that. I just had to spend time on Columbia classes though. I was getting behind and caught up in the day-to-day stresses of the high school. At least grad classes take your mind off the immediate problems of work.

Two cows standing next to each other in a field.
Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning."
"I don't believe you," said Dolly.
"It's true: straight up: no bull!"