Binge drinking and school supplies book swap.
Tonight's binge drinking episode of 30 Days is particularly timely, since right now I'm reading Smashed, a memoir by a young woman who pretty much drank her way through high school and college. The students on the docu are boasting about getting shitfaced at least four nights a week. Lovely. My parents never raised me to be puritanical -- Dad loves German white wine, and if I'd ever asked for a drink when I was a teen, he and Mom probably would've let me. I never drank in college and seldom drink now, mostly because I just don't like the taste of most alcoholic beverages. The strange thing, though, is that somewhere along the way, I was indoctrinated by all those anti-booze-and-drugs messages in the media and school. All the drunken party girl binges on this show and in the book are a total turn-off, and though I feel kinda guilty for it, I find myself looking down on these people. Or maybe it's the whole mentality where getting totally trashed is seen as a "cool" thing. I know that in a larger sociological sense, I'm the odd one out. Still, it's making me think about my perceptions of right and wrong and how I tend to be too judgmental.
Whew. On a more cheerful note, I was thinking earlier about school supplies and books. Last year, several of y'all were SO amazingly generous about sending me lots of supplies for me to use with my students (and for those of you who are new to my LJ -- I teach sixth grade Language Arts in a low-income "suburban inner city" middle school.) Supplies are always appreciated and necessary for these kids, many of whom are on public assistance and don't have the means to buy their own. Plus, I like having cute pencils, folders, stickers, and similar stuff for kids to "buy" with the tickets they get for good behavior. I'd feel uncomfortable just asking for donations, though, so I had an idea. I've done a lot of reading this summer, and since I don't generally re-read books, I thought about doing a books-for-supplies swap. I could send you one of the books on my shelf in exchange for a few pencils or whatever for me to give the kids. Sort of like me selling my library but receiving school supplies instead of money -- if that makes sense. Brand-new stuff isn't necessary, either; I'm fine with things you have lying around, if they're in good condition.
Here are some books I have to offer. All are paperback unless labeled otherwise:
The Jane Austen Book Club, by Karen Joy Fowler
Smashed, by Koren Zailckas
Little Children, by Tom Perrotta
Devil in the White City, by Erik Larsen
Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain
Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell (hardback)
Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi
Stolen Lives, by Malika Oufkir (hardback)
The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood (hardback)
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, by David Von Drehle
And here are some supplies I could really use in my classroom:
ordinary pens and pencils (like ballpoint pens or plain yellow pencils)
fancy/cute pencils (like these at oriental.com, but anything along those lines is fine)
pencil-top erasers
folders and binders
small pencil sharpeners
stickers
markers
dry-erase markers
or, if sending supplies is too difficult, maybe just a giftcard (for the cost of the book - not some huge amount!) to someplace like Office Max or Staples.
So, if you're interested in doing a swap, let me know which book you want, and we can sort out the details via e-mail. Whatever you're comfortable with sending is fine -- and like I said above, used stuff (or swiped from the supply cabinet at work ;) is totally fine with me!
Whew. On a more cheerful note, I was thinking earlier about school supplies and books. Last year, several of y'all were SO amazingly generous about sending me lots of supplies for me to use with my students (and for those of you who are new to my LJ -- I teach sixth grade Language Arts in a low-income "suburban inner city" middle school.) Supplies are always appreciated and necessary for these kids, many of whom are on public assistance and don't have the means to buy their own. Plus, I like having cute pencils, folders, stickers, and similar stuff for kids to "buy" with the tickets they get for good behavior. I'd feel uncomfortable just asking for donations, though, so I had an idea. I've done a lot of reading this summer, and since I don't generally re-read books, I thought about doing a books-for-supplies swap. I could send you one of the books on my shelf in exchange for a few pencils or whatever for me to give the kids. Sort of like me selling my library but receiving school supplies instead of money -- if that makes sense. Brand-new stuff isn't necessary, either; I'm fine with things you have lying around, if they're in good condition.
Here are some books I have to offer. All are paperback unless labeled otherwise:
The Jane Austen Book Club, by Karen Joy Fowler
Smashed, by Koren Zailckas
Little Children, by Tom Perrotta
Devil in the White City, by Erik Larsen
Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain
Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell (hardback)
Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi
Stolen Lives, by Malika Oufkir (hardback)
The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood (hardback)
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, by David Von Drehle
And here are some supplies I could really use in my classroom:
ordinary pens and pencils (like ballpoint pens or plain yellow pencils)
fancy/cute pencils (like these at oriental.com, but anything along those lines is fine)
pencil-top erasers
folders and binders
small pencil sharpeners
stickers
markers
dry-erase markers
or, if sending supplies is too difficult, maybe just a giftcard (for the cost of the book - not some huge amount!) to someplace like Office Max or Staples.
So, if you're interested in doing a swap, let me know which book you want, and we can sort out the details via e-mail. Whatever you're comfortable with sending is fine -- and like I said above, used stuff (or swiped from the supply cabinet at work ;) is totally fine with me!