Looking for Good News!

I’ve searched the web, pondered over my email inbox, stared at the names online in Instant Message, and wondered, “What’s missing?” I’ve finally identified the vague sense of something lacking in the world around me, and decided to make it personal: no one is sending me good news! There’s only one thing to be done, then: send it to you all first.

Our good news is very low key, however, which is probably why it hasn’t been reported on the radio, TV, or online news sources. Which is a shame, because all those outlets have been scraping the barrel to find bad news, however trivial, to fill the white space or air waves. Too bad!

Our 2008 has been on the whole very nice. The biggest news is that Rob completed his studies at Santa Clara University and received his teaching credential last summer. The next biggest news is that the next day he was offered a job at the same school where he student-taught last spring, so he is now officially a full-time High School Chemistry Teacher! This will simplify gift-giving for everyone – there are a wealth of items with funny chemistry-related themes, such as ties, t-shirts and coffee mugs, and as you know Chemistry teachers will love to bring these to their classrooms to share the lighter side of science with their students!

I have found it quite an experience as a professional in educational publishing to live with someone who is actually using the materials I build. Actually, Rob’s school doesn’t use texts from my company, so I have learned that we publishers are pretty much the same in fundamentals: there are never enough good test questions, the media that goes with the book is hard to navigate, and there is always something better published by someone else out there on the web. August was a tough time for me personally, as I spent the days at work helping frustrated professors who needed materials for their classes, then went home to a frustrated teacher who needed materials for his classes.

All three girls are doing well in school, as usual. Gabby and Teresa are in the 4th grade this year, for the first time they have the same teacher that Rachel did in that grade. They are getting letter grades this year, and have a whole new level of anxiety around that. It’s interesting to hear them discussing their performance: Teresa immediately translates a numeric score into a letter grade to reassure herself, Gabby is much more relaxed about it. Both achieve the same high marks, but Teresa’s come with a little more stress.

They love science, particularly anything involving space. They have decorated their bedroom with glow-in-the-dark hanging planets and stick-on stars, and have enjoyed using the telescope from Poppa New York (my Dad). They are also enjoying the Old Farmer’s Almanac, and will probably learn to read it better than any of us.


This year Gabby went out for Girls’ Softball, which runs from September through mid-October. She says she’ll also go for Volleyball in the spring. Teresa didn’t think she wanted to do softball until after it started, but says she’ll do it next year.

Rachel is in 7th grade this year, technically in Jr. High or Middle School. I’ve noticed a new seriousness in the school work, but she continues to excel in everything. Socially, her classmates seem to be catching up to her at last, and she is also more comfortable dealing with them. She also has an extensive online social network, and I’m learning a lot about how the new generations will be interacting. For us older folks, the time she spends online chatting or emailing is the equivalent of the hours I spent on the phone at the same age. The conversations cover the same topics: boys, books, current events, parents, siblings. The difference is that these communications go on in parallel, and include the sharing of visual and audible materials. There is also a strong element of collaboration – they work together on writing stories or creating new websites.

Without the internet they would probably be pretty lonely at school, since there are only one or two kids like this in a class. But the Internet has overcome the geographic barriers. Rachel’s group of five or six close friends includes kids from across the US and into Europe. It’s fascinating to watch.

I’m doing fine too, in large part because the family is doing well. The textbook arm of the publishing industry hasn’t suffered the same downturn as trade publishing, so we aren’t looking at the same threats of layoffs and such. Our challenges come from the changing way in which information is distributed to students, both within the academic environment and in the general population. Verified, accurate information no longer gets to students through the strictly limited channel of an academic lecturer or expensive textbook, and we need to evolve in recognition of that. It’s a slow process however, which probably won’t be completed until today’s middle school students grow up and start teaching themselves.

Until then, things are interesting but not exciting. I hope you can say the same as you enter the New Year!

School is REALLY underway

Today was the walkathon fundraiser at St. Joseph's, where the three girls attend school here in Mountain View. Gabby walked 35 laps (over 9 miles!), and raised $265: most of it from a parental lapse of judgement which led to a pledge of $5/lap. Gabby is the major fundraiser in the family this year, she has also brought in seven magazine subscriptions to date in the subscription drive.

School is going well for everyone on campus in our family: Rachel is adjusting to 7th grade, gradually building enthusiasm for the social events of the year. She is more popular this year because classmates have discovered the Twilight series of young adult novels, which she has been reading for years. She reports constant comments of "OMG, Edward is so hot!" and "Rachel this is so cool!" She has mixed feelings about the gushing, because these girls were real pains last year and are still incredibly petty. At the same time she is less alone than last year, with something to share with the other girls at last.

As I remember, the world ended in sixth grade and from then on I lived in constant heartache. I wouldn't go back to seventh grade for anything.

Rob's school year has started well. He is teaching high school Chemistry, and this is his first real year as a teacher. He loves it, is able to keep on top of the grading and all so far at least, and even gets a full nights sleep almost half the time. His school requires everyone, even teachers, to have a period of quiet reading every day, and for teachers it cannot be subject-matter content. No reading Chemistry Today journals! So I've bought him a copy of "Up the Down Staircase" and "To Sir With Love." Time to open his mind to literature beyond traditional karate books and chemistry journals.

Today is September 9. It is my late mother-in-law's birthday, she would be. . .laughing with me about it if she hadn't passed away in 2000. She was a wise woman with a sense of humor, all tied together with tremendous charity: the selfless love for others. That made for some memorable exchanges that will always color my view of events and make me laugh when I should cry.

One simple example: We were sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea with Tang and sugar in it, talking about this and that. I remember she turned to me, her eyes wide with the urgency of the message, and said, "Marry the faults you can live with."
It seemed such a timeless piece of wisdom I thought it ought to be delivered in Spanish instead of English, like an Old World proverb. Such a simple thing but really, it's as good a beginning for a happy lifetime together as anything else. The man leaves his socks on the floor - messy but you don't mind so much? Ok. Messy socks on the floor cause you impossible stress at the disruption of order and the proper place of things in the world? Very bad. Such simple, good advise, I will do it in needlepoint some day.

The humor? She said this to me after I was married to her son. Timing, Momma, always timing.

She left us in May, not exactly a month from my oldest daughter's birthday, not when anything important was happening, no special event that would be colored forever by our loss.

The disconnection to special events instead ties my memory of her death to jokes and laughter so strong we cried with laughter: It was spring, sometime in the mid to late 1990's. She was telling me about a time when she looked out her back window one night and saw a horrible, ugly, huge, rat-like thing, clumbering along the back yard fence. "Oh, that sounds like a possum," I said.

She looked at me with eyes wide and eyebrows raised. "I feel sorry for possoms," I continued. "They hybernate all winter, then in spring they come wake up and come out all groggy, and all they want to do is find a member of the opposite sex and, you know... and they stagger out into the street and WHAM get hit by a car."

She dissolved in laughter, tears and all, for minutes. Finally, she lifted her head up and said, gasping, "If..... you ever hear that I died.... and it was because I was hit by a car..... You'll know what happened..."

And we both exploded, laughing so hard tears came down our faces.

Another time, we were sitting there again, and my father-in-law went by off to his office or somewhere. She tossed a nod at him to make sure I knew who she meant, and said: "I'm just leading him on." I said, "Oh?" "Yeah. As soon as I find Mr. Right, I'm out of here." Me, too, Momma, right behind you.