[Updates: Adonis filled in a few details. 11/15]
Our second year was a big year. No more classes in the APEX – we had our own building. No more just one grade – we had freshmen and sophomores. Sixty-odd kids? Now 150. No more teensy staff of 6½ teachers and 5 others. Now just a tiny [...]
HS AS-talgia (part 2)
HS AS-talgia (part 1)
HSAS-nostalgia. HS AStalgia…
You know what “nostalgia” is. And Ostalgie is nostalgia for the east (in German), like for the chunky crosswalk man from East Berlin, pictured above, who’s going through a revival (he’s called Ampelman).
But HS Astalgia? Yup.
In 2002 they opened the school, but not the building. We were upstairs.
Upstairs?
Yup, upstairs in the APEX. An [...]
Goodbye
Only the seniors had Ms. Fiorello as a teacher.
Many of you knew her from tutoring SATs, or helping around the lab.
She was one of the original six teachers at HSAS, a good teacher, a good person. She will be missed.
Letter from B_____
I thought I’d tell you I got a job offer… in [...] a town West of Anchorage with no roads; the airport has only an outhouse. There are 360 kids K-12, 120 live in town, the rest live “down river.” They come to school only once a week to get assignments and lessons to do [...]
Valentines Day
Cochin was really surprised by the party the seniors made. And the flowers were nice, and nicely not overdone. And the plants were really nice. I bought one, but gave it away.
Barber called. She was in Ohio.
Tomorrow’s vacation. I can’t wait.
Farewell (and some stalking)
Friday after school a bunch of teachers (and assorted other adults) took Ms. Barber and her pilot out to dinner on East Tremont.
The meal was a course at a time, family-style (some for everyone). Rodriguez negotiated a fantastic menu:
Appetizers
thin crust pizza
fried calamari
sliced tomato with mozzarella
eggplant rollatini
Pasta
Penne a la vodka
Ziti with broccoli, garlic, oil
Entrees
Veal Marsala
Some sort [...]
Bittersweet grease and sweat
The end of the term feels different than the rest of the schoolyear, and this end of term is even differenter. The schedules are all floppy, and we don’t do normal things in class. I haven’t been behaving normally (from about age 9 on, but that’s a different story). Today I’m writing about the last [...]
Why this Friday was good
Fridays are always good
During lunch some sophomores were reading Brave New World aloud to each other on the couch by my office (Charisse. Who else?) And I rested (napped??) on the floor for a few minutes while they read. Quite pleasant.
Geometry projects showed loads of effort. And algebra projects were amazing. I like it [...]
Spoiler, no warning. Revenge, but no weirguild. Stripes.
I walked into Cochin’s freshman class 5th period. She was talking about Beowulf, telling the story of him killing the dragon, asking a few questions, jumping around, all startling and dramatic.
And she discussed the ending of Harry Potter. Boom, just like that. I haven’t read the book, and in an instant I knew the ending. [...]
