not sure what to think about the zoo...
i'm real tired today as i've actually gotten on my bike a bit the past few days and yesterday I walked the kids to the zoo (it's a lot of work coming back up that hill to H.Park)...it's also my LONG day at school...I'm SO ready for these days to be over with..
you know how it's totally vain, but affirmation from the right person can mean such a huge deal?...well, i just got an email from my dad saying that i know enough history to compete w/ the folks in my graduate history class; he said "they should not have to take a back seat to you" or something like that...and that meant SO much coming from him b/c he's really smart, esp. when it comes to military history...i've always felt like the underdog academic in my family, that's why i'm such a nerd when it comes to school...i just always feel like i don't know shit, but i DO know shit, i just don't have any self confidence and i consider all conversations to be like term papers where i just don't say anything if i don't have enough proof to back it up ;) (also related to my belief that most ppl overgeneralize/moralize all the time and it doesnt MEAN anything; so that's why i don't talk much sometimes)...i also don't consider myself a historian in ANY regard; just someone who likes the social sciences and who likes the idea that history is tension over time; it's relationships and ideas and really interesting arguments; it's also the oddities of the human condition in little epitaphs...and i think it's really important that young ppl learn history; in the sense of: learning how to ask questions/argue/think analytically/critically...THAT, to me, is what it means to empower a young person...and if I can hep ONE 15 yr. old kid do that, then I will feel like my own enligtenment was worth it (to make an obscure ref. to dhmaric psychology)....so, thanks dad, you made me feel better...
also; since noone ever knows what/where i'm at in life here it is:
-finals in two weeks
-may/june term stats class
-pretending to teach in the fall (student-teaching)
-graduation: dec. 2008 bitzes!
-no employment/school/relative poverty in January! wahoo!
also...not sure what to think about these g-d elections...i fell in love with that sucker barack when i read his auto-bio. but i'm just afraid that he's too nice for washington; i'm afraid that i like him b/c he's a really good community organizer but that the presidency will ruin him...maybe i'm just pessimistic on the position/all past presidents since reading Chafe's "Unfinished Journey"...I just feel worried rather than hopeful; but I suppose worry doesn't accomplish too much.