I actually enjoy camping. Provided there's working plumbing.
(That's not really camping is it? But I slept on the ground!)
Dad interrupted my pity party on Tuesday to give me some advice on the education job market in town and we agreed that just waiting for the hiring freeze to lift wasn’t a good use of my time, so why don’t I just go meet principals on my own? Get my name and information out there so to speak. And this was done in the most loving supportive tones, but basically the message was, suck it up and get out there even though there is a 95% chance you won’t be hired because of the budget crisis.
Wednesday I went out to all the schools I was familiar with. Either my own former schools or a place I pass on a pretty frequent basis. So it was really less running around town and more like cruising and exploring. Going into my former schools didn’t elicit any feelings of nostalgia or grand memory. Everything was just there. One of the schools I visited was my paternal grandmother’s junior high school and it was interesting seeing just how different our junior high/middle school years were from an architectural stand point. A lot more grace and character in her favor with the gently curved stairwells and the cathedral windows in the library and no horrible high gloss paint. Then there were the schools that I passed by on my college commute. Beautiful stone and brick structures, manicured grounds, field hockey equipment. The sweet seduction of private education.
Jacksonville is pretty much a driving town, unless you are lucky enough to live in one of the areas which actually has easy foot access to necessities or on a viable bus route. But aside from that, the city is pretty much marked by urban sprawl with occasional pockets of farm/grazing land and woods. Pine trees―cheapest sound barrier we can use. Basically I’m not used to driving for much longer than five minutes without coming across some sort of landmark. So on Thursday I find myself in the tail end of the county to make a stop before heading into the county north of us and it is nothing like what I am used to. Once I left the interstate for county roads, my companions were trees, trees, more trees, and the occasional semi. And I’m fine with this. I like trees. A rural community is charming, but I couldn’t see the wood community for the trees. And that’s when it hit me.
Ents.
How, where, and when I don’t know, but clearly this was a community meant for the Ents. Somehow they found the Ent-wives, had more Entlings, and that was the population at these schools. This explains why the schools have such good rankings with the state, very deliberate wise creatures who beget very good students. So I was applying to go sit in the forest surrounded by Entlings as they hummed and hoommed while I lectured about history. They would be pissed when we got to the Industrial Revolution. Maybe I could apply for English instead and we could read romantic and transcendentalist poetry instead.
And then I entered the first of many darling little towns, with their local restaurants, feed and seed stores, front porches, and schools that were definitely full of people. That made up a bit for the lack of Ents, although they provided a good laugh as I continued to get lost for the rest of the day.
Dad interrupted my pity party on Tuesday to give me some advice on the education job market in town and we agreed that just waiting for the hiring freeze to lift wasn’t a good use of my time, so why don’t I just go meet principals on my own? Get my name and information out there so to speak. And this was done in the most loving supportive tones, but basically the message was, suck it up and get out there even though there is a 95% chance you won’t be hired because of the budget crisis.
Wednesday I went out to all the schools I was familiar with. Either my own former schools or a place I pass on a pretty frequent basis. So it was really less running around town and more like cruising and exploring. Going into my former schools didn’t elicit any feelings of nostalgia or grand memory. Everything was just there. One of the schools I visited was my paternal grandmother’s junior high school and it was interesting seeing just how different our junior high/middle school years were from an architectural stand point. A lot more grace and character in her favor with the gently curved stairwells and the cathedral windows in the library and no horrible high gloss paint. Then there were the schools that I passed by on my college commute. Beautiful stone and brick structures, manicured grounds, field hockey equipment. The sweet seduction of private education.
Jacksonville is pretty much a driving town, unless you are lucky enough to live in one of the areas which actually has easy foot access to necessities or on a viable bus route. But aside from that, the city is pretty much marked by urban sprawl with occasional pockets of farm/grazing land and woods. Pine trees―cheapest sound barrier we can use. Basically I’m not used to driving for much longer than five minutes without coming across some sort of landmark. So on Thursday I find myself in the tail end of the county to make a stop before heading into the county north of us and it is nothing like what I am used to. Once I left the interstate for county roads, my companions were trees, trees, more trees, and the occasional semi. And I’m fine with this. I like trees. A rural community is charming, but I couldn’t see the wood community for the trees. And that’s when it hit me.
Ents.
How, where, and when I don’t know, but clearly this was a community meant for the Ents. Somehow they found the Ent-wives, had more Entlings, and that was the population at these schools. This explains why the schools have such good rankings with the state, very deliberate wise creatures who beget very good students. So I was applying to go sit in the forest surrounded by Entlings as they hummed and hoommed while I lectured about history. They would be pissed when we got to the Industrial Revolution. Maybe I could apply for English instead and we could read romantic and transcendentalist poetry instead.
And then I entered the first of many darling little towns, with their local restaurants, feed and seed stores, front porches, and schools that were definitely full of people. That made up a bit for the lack of Ents, although they provided a good laugh as I continued to get lost for the rest of the day.