Bloat

This is unfortunately true. Right on the nose. Our district not only has too many unnecessary administrators who's jobs are redundant, they are obscenely way overpaid as well. And yet, it's teacher's jobs that get cut first. 

Air Pen

 One of my assistant principals has a cool pen holder. 

Cups

 I agree completely. 

WPD

Apparently it was World Pilots Day yesterday. My son is second from the right. 

6-7

My wife and I played a game of Trekker yesterday and tied with a score of 67. Our students would be thrilled. 6-7!

Since 1773

 I received this gift from one of my senior students yesterday. Very nice gift! 

Sorrows

The new Royals stadium, which was announced this week, will share land with a 100 year old church called Our Lady of Sorrows. I find this ridiculously appropriate for this last place team. 
 

Rebels

Last Saturday was a gray rainy. A perfect afternoon to watch a classic movie. So I put Rebel Without A Cause into the blu-ray. A tremendously sad movie but a great watch. The movie reminded me of when me and my son re-enacted the famous fight scene at the Griffith Observatory during a trip to L.A. a few years back. 

 

Odyssey

Emily Wilson's translations of The Iliad and the Odyssey are by far the best I've read. I just finished The Odyssey, my third time reading through this story, different translations with each read. But this one, like Wilson's Iliad translation, made me actually enjoy the story. It is written as an epic poem and not a novel, as Homer (or whoever first composed this story) intended. Wilson stayed true to the verse format with great effect. I enjoy the story of The Odyssey more than The Iliad. However, reading both gives greater weight to the story. The characters of The Odyssey have more impact if you traveled with them through The Iliad. Wilson's project is extraordinary. I'm actually not looking forward to the movie adaptation because I'm not sure how even as great an auteur as Christopher Nolan is can top Homer's story presented as a movie. 

Muir Day and New Information

Happy John Muir Day! Go outside and look at a tree. Also, based on new information I have received, The Kansas City Royals will not win the World Series this year. 

You see, when given new information you are allowed to adjust your opinion on things. 

Visitor

 

Chocolate

One of our favorite chocolatiers is closing. Kate Weiser is closing shop and we are sad about it. She makes the Carl the Snowman that has become part of our holiday tradition. Yesterday, after a doctor’s appointment, we made one final pilgrimage. 

The Ranch

 Thursday nights at the ranch. 

Irish Exit

 

Expectancy

 

Road Dogs

After reading The Iliad I wanted a quick and light read. Elmore Leonard always does the trick and Road Dogs was no exception. The character Jack Foley (played by George Clooney in the Leonard novel Out of Sight movie adaptation) reappears in this nice tightly written pulp crime novel. Slick dialogue with nothing appearing as it seems. Things are simple until they're not. Bought this from Half Price Books clearance for $2! 

God Will Not Be Mocked

The current President of the United States posted a picture of himself as Jesus Christ. I will not display that blasphemous garbage here.  

What will it take to convince MAGA Evangelicals that they are being used, that they have been used for the past decade. What will it take for them to realize they are being openly mocked.  

If they don't realize it now, they are too far gone. They are in a cult.  

Ranch Cat

 

Public School

 

Madness

 

Excursions

My latest long-term breakfast read. Excursions by Henry David Thoreau is a collection of essays. I'm usually a fan of Thoreau but I found most of the essays in this collection boring and pedantic. "Walking" was a good read. There were a few nice passages here and there. Most, however, went into nauseating detail about trees and plant life in New England. This might be appealing to a naturalist but I found it tiring. Well written, just not a subject in which I'm particularly interested. 

The Iliad

This was my third (maybe fourth) time reading The Iliad but Emily Wilson's translation is by far the best translation I've read. Her translation came out just a couple of years ago and truly gives the story the epic feel it deserves. It is clean and clear and bold. It felt to me like this is what the story sounded like when it was shared around the campfire for millennia. This is a superior translation and a real work of art just in terms of the translation process alone. I already have Wilson's The Odyssey on the top of my book stack all queued up. A remarkable achievement.

That being said, I find the story of The Iliad super depressing and dark. To modern ears it can seem repetitive, lots of heroes dying and dying and dying. The gods are capricious and manipulative. The Greeks and Trojans violent pawns in a hopeless tragedy of death and destruction. And not much gets resolved. Contrary to the popular imagination of those who haven't read the poem, the kidnapping of Helen is only alluded to and the Trojan Horse and the Fall of Troy not mentioned at all. 

The story takes place over just a few days near the end of the ten year war and it ends abruptly. It is not a feel good story! There are moments of grandeur, heroism and humor but so much of that is washed out in murderous and barbaric violence. War has always been a terrible scourge of the Human race. 

Of course, I'm reading it with modern eyes and those are modern observations. It is still a towering work in the western literary tradition and a good read. And this translation is fantastic. But at the end I felt like a lot of humanity's violent instincts have not really evolved all that much in three thousand years. And that made me sad.  

Time to Speak Up

On Easter Morning, the President of the United States posted a profanity laced social media post about killing Iranians. He also said in mocking fashion "praise be to Allah." This was posted the morning of the holiest day on the Christian calendar. 

This came two days after religious leaders such as Franklin Graham, Paula White, Robert Jeffress and others gathered at the White House to celebrate the achievements of Trump. During this meeting Paula White compared the trials and supposed persecution of Trump to the trials and crucifixion of Jesus. 

Also on Easter Sunday, the so-called Secretary of War, compared a downed airman's hiding in a cave and subsequent rescue to the resurrection of Christ. I saw Christian friends of mine re-post that statement as inspirational. 

Today, the president has threatened to kill an entire civilization and commit war crimes.   

My Christian brothers and sisters, now is the time to speak up. Now is the time to call out heresy and blasphemy. Now is the time to admit you were drawn down a rabbit hole. It is not too late to change course.  

You are being mocked. You are being used. If you continue to support this man and his regime, there is no going back. 

Workaday

Jack White’s 2025 Dallas show in the background during a teacher workday. 

Happy Easter

 Happy Easter!

Student

 My new student 

Launch

 

I was all in on yesterday's Artemis II launch to the moon. Pretty cool. As a Gen X'er, I have to admit I was nervous. Challenger memories are tough to shake even though those memories occurred when I was 13.

Waiting

Waiting outside on a beautiful afternoon for the Jeep to get inspected.