The Inauguration

I was fascinated by this year’s inauguration, more so than any other year. Politics aside, and I realize that is difficult because we are talking about politics and also because certain readers have what I consider a fanatical extremist allegiance to a political party (you know who you are), I have enjoyed the after effects thus far of Obama being elected. I live in Harlem so on election night as the winner became obvious the cheering and noisemaking began. There was an electric feeling all over the streets and in school the next day. I live and work among minority groups who have seen this election and inauguration as an empowering and ennobling process. I have front row seats to the change as I watch the people who have so often felt like victims feel empowered to be something else. I thought it was important for my students to watch the inauguration even though I don’t ever remember watching any inauguration in my life.
I set up the computer in my classroom and asked the school to set up the big screen in the auditorium where they live streamed it.
The kids were not interested in what he had to say and were bored with the process but I think it was important for them to see someone who looked like them getting sworn in as President. They did however enjoy enthusiastically applauding every chance they got to make noise.

Had I been invited to the Inauguration, what would I have worn you ask? Probably this...

Nowhere is Obamania as intense as it is in Harlem where many people are from Kenya and claim him as their own. He is worshipped and his face smiles on me from everywhere I walk. There are posters of him in every window and on shirts and hats and pins etc. This African dress store has taken it to an even higher level.


There are signs everywhere that say:

Rosa SAT so Martin could WALK,
Martin WALKED so Obama could RUN,
Obama RAN so our children can FLY.

So no matter what your political opinions are, I think there is a lot of good that has come out of Obama being elected. He has the ability to mobilize a a huge number of people who have, until now, felt somewhat disconnected and uninterested.

Disclaimer, this post may have been influenced by some pretty blatant NYC propaganda:


That being said, all of the Obama posters and paraphernalia reminds me of Chairman Mao in China. He is everywhere! Families in the poorer part of the country have his picture hanging up in their homes just like some of my fellow Harlemites. With great power, comes great responsibility. I pray that Obama uses it wisely.


And now for a moment from my "kids"
I was walking out one of the doors of school to go to lunch and saw one of my students standing right by the exit in a stairwell that is off limits to students when he should have been in class on the fourth floor. I looked at him with a mean teacher glare and said "what are you doing?" HE immediately grabbed his stomach and said, "Miss, I got cramps." Middle school is that fun time when they are just learning about boys and girls and the boys start figuring out that the girls get out of most anything by saying they have cramps but they haven't quite figured out that ONLY the girls can use that excuse. I was laughing so hard I couldn't get him in trouble.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

As promised, here is a glimpse into my life.

A friend of mine works for PRSA and called me one day and asked if my school could use 1,000 binders that they were going to throw out. Given the pathetic funding of public schools I told her yes and we delightedly absorbed and distributed them. That went so well that about a week before Christmas she told me that they got a box of about 40 Mickey Mouse dolls and asked if I wanted them. Again, I said yes. My students don’t have much and receive a lot of what they have for free, free housing, free transportation, free meals, free healthcare etc. I wanted them to realize the joy of giving and given that it is Christmas I decided that instead of just giving these dolls to my students (and they wanted them badly) I would have my students take them and give them to the kids at the elementary school down the street. So I went to Barnes and Noble and found a book that incorporated Christmas and a mouse called “Santa Mouse.” I gave each student a part to memorize, we figured out costumes and staging and worked on their pronunciation for a few days during lunch. The day before Christmas break we went to the elementary school and my students performed their play for two different classrooms.

They were very nervous but did a good job and I was so proud of them.
Then they gave the dolls to the little kids.
When we were leaving a little boy went up and hugged one of the students that has a VERY tough exterior, it was so fun to watch his reaction to this outpouring of affection.

I went home to California for Christmas to watch the family circus that is Christmas. The nativitiy scene that we do every year became so much more entertaining as a Sheep (Ava) stripped the tree of the low hanging ornaments, Mary/ the star/ Angel #2 (Brielle) wandered in and out of the scene as she pleased assuming whatever roll tickled her regardless of whether it was already filled, a wise man (Blake) went from wiseman, to angel, to sheep thrower, the angel (Kea) stood with her arms up the whole time in my Mom’s wedding dress and Joseph (Davin) showed his true appreciation for music as he beaned blake in the head with stuffed animals throughout the singing of “O Holy Night.”
And all I kept thinking is, the kids causing all the chaos are not my responsibility for once, thank goodness.

We had a great Christmas morning and by great I mean we had LOTS of fantastic food that seemed to flow freely from the bottomless source of goodness that is Mom’s kitchen.
This was Blake's attempt at a smile.
The day before I flew out we went to Santa Monica and enjoyed the beautiful weather at the beach.Above: Davin, Brielle and Alicia watching for sea lions. Below: Kea watching the sunset.
I got on the plane the next morning and after sitting on the runway waiting for the fog to clear up we went to New York where we circled above JFK for an hour so that they could clear the ice and snow off the runway. It was COLD in NYC!!

That night my roommate Cristi and I put on like six layers and our running shoes, went to a friend’s party for an hour and then went to Central Park for the annual midnight run.
Cristi and I waiting for the subway to take us to Central Park.

It was 17 degrees but with wind chill and humidity it was below zero. At midnight the fireworks started and the 5,000 runners in a variety of costumes and at different levels of drunkenness began the 4 mile run. It was really cold but a lot of fun. When they handed us the water cups the water was frozen solid, ( a funny joke) but the cups filled with Martinellis were kind of like an apple slushy, YUM!

I hadn’t been downtown this whole Christmas season so New Years Day Cristi and I went down to see our lovely city in her Christmas dress. Here are some of her trees.Rockefeller Center
The Met Opera and Lincoln Center (smaller than years past because of the construction)
Washington Square Park

The next day I hopped on a bus down to DC for my good friend Nikki’s wedding. It was great to see her and her family again. They are just awesome people and the sealing was beautiful. The DC temple is so huge!Nikki and Zach Milne and I in front of the DC temple.

I came back home from DC today and start my crazy daily life again tomorrow bright and early. Thank goodness for vacations!

Blog Tag

I took the bait because I have a thousand other things I need to be doing and I am stalling.

Here are my responses to this tag:

I am always supposed to be doing something (i.e. lesson plans, correcting student work, my own homework, research for my thesis, stuff for my calling etc) but I am very easily distracted so I end up reading blogs and doing tags that help me accomplish nothing.

I miss summer vacation. It is already cold here. In the summer it was warm and sunny and I had no responsibilities and now…well, that changed.

I think there is hope in the next generation.

I know the church is true, Jesus Christ is my Savior and that my Heavenly Father knows and loves me.

I want to visit all 7 continents before I die, including Antarctica and I want to ride from Beijng to Moscow on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

I have great friends and family.

I search for plane tickets to cool places at least twice a week, even though I don’t have any real vacation time until Christmas and no money. FYI -plane tickets are expensive right now.

I wish all parents would take care of their kids and that no child would have to grow up in an environment of drugs, prostitution, violence or apathy.

I hate the smell of New York City when it rains. I love the smell of rain everywhere else, but here it smells like a wet dog.

I am scared of cows and being shot into outer space.

I fear the wrath of my neighbors if McCain is elected president. Harlem is known for getting a bit violent and well, I am white.

I always turn the water off when I am brushing my teeth even though I live on an island and nobody around here thinks at all about water conservation, I have been trained by the California droughts.

I love the sound of dry autumn leaves crackling under my bike tires as I ride by.

I feel responsible to volunteer for anything and everything. I feel that because I was born to such privilege in a country with so many opportunities, I am bound to reach out and help others.

I hear noise ALL day so when I get home I like silence, not even music playing for at least 2 hours.

I don't remember most of my past roommates’ names. I have had 87 roommates since I turned 18 and I just can’t remember them all.

I wonder what my life will be like in 10 years. I honestly have no idea. I doubt I will be living in the same place, have the same friends or be working in the same industry.

I care about the social customs of hygiene enough to shower every day even though I don’t like shower. Oh, how I miss my dear China where showering more than once a week was considered excessive.

I regret never learning to play the piano and standing outside the Louvre in Paris and never going in.

I am not good at organizing…anything, my time, my papers, my room. I am an organizational nightmare.

I believe everyone should follow social courtesies like standing to the right side on the escalator if you are standing and letting the walkers, walk by on the left and waiting until those getting off the train exit before pushing your way in.

I dance in gay bars because the guys there don’t put their hands all over you and you are never worried about them following you home.

I sing only the hymns I know and only the melody and I rarely use a hymnbook. I can’t read music so I find the hymnbook useless.

I write positive notes to my students on post-it notes and stick them on their desk. The best thing I have learned as a teacher or a youth leader is that positive reinforcement is the best motivator. One day I wrote a positive note to one of the worst kids in the school and he stapled it to his shirt and wore it around all day.

I win card games because I cheat. I have no problem cheating at card games or trivial pursuit or any other board game. I think it is all part of the game.

I dream in Spanish sometimes because I am around Spanish so much these days. When I was in China I dreamed in Chinese, everyone in my dream was speaking Chinese but I still couldn’t understand them.

I lose at least 20 pens or pencils a day. I need a fanny pack to wear to school so that I have somewhere to keep them.

I never saw any of “The Lord of the Rings” movies and I don’t feel that my testimony has suffered for it because I was schooled in all the parallels to the gospel over the pulpit.

I listen to silence or people talking. I have no interest in listening to music despite repeated attempts to figure out what all the fuss is about.

I read on the bus and the train every day on my way anywhere I am going; and that is the beauty of public transportation. Right now I am reading the Anne of Green Gables series. I am on book six and I HATE Anne. I think she is so annoying, but I keep reading. I love reading books and I love that my students, who also ride the bus to school in the morning, see me reading.

I am happy, period.

What ever happened to an Apple for the teacher?

So we all remember my student from the Ivory Coast. She is this beautiful little black girl who speaks French and follows me around. Today she shows up to school and hands me a little box and says, "pour toi" (for you). As a sixth grade teacher to kids from a latin culture I have seen this before and quickly refuse before they get too set on giving it to me. I don't accept gifts for many reasons:

• my kids are poor
• I am a government employee and I am sure it is illegal
• speaking of illegal I don't want them to give me any stolen goods
• most importantly I don't want the crap that they tend to give me, i.e. old hair baubles and bows, gum, used pencil top erasers, junk they find in the park, small ceramic kittens in Santa Claus hats etc

This little girl thinks that I am not understanding her so she keeps pushing the little box on me, so finally I relent realizing that it won't kill me to put a used Sponge Bob eraser on my pencil and appear to cherish it so as to make nice and bridge the cultural gap. I take the box and give Fatime a hug and say thank you. Then I open it.....inside there is a ring and what appears to be a diamond perched on top!
I try to give it back, Fatime puts it on my finger and looks quite intent on keeping it there. I ask her if her dad knows she gave it to me. She says yes. I decide we have to start class and this has gone on long enough and that I will talk to her later. So I teach my class then when Fatime leaves I put the ring in the box and lock it up. I go and consult my Assistant Principal and my dean, they say "COOL, Keep it!" they are obviously really classy. Fatime sees me later and asks if I have lost the ring, she is very concerned so I take her back to my class where I have it locked up, she pulls it out and puts it back on my hand and tells me not to take it off or I will lose it. So I teach the rest of the day with this ring on my hand and four other teachers ask me if I am engaged.

Here is the thing...
She is from the Ivory Coast, known for a brutal diamond trade.
(As I am writing this I am afraid the UN is going to come and arrest me)
I am fairly certain the diamond is real based on some things she has told me.
I am morally opposed to owning or wearing a diamond because of the atrocities committed on children in the diamond trade in Africa. How ironic is it that the first diamond that I ever receive is from the exact population I am trying to protect with my stand against them?
Given that there was a huge miscommunication problem with the diamond ring, this could mean that I am engaged to some random African man.

So, what do I do? Anyone ever had to give back a diamond ring?

The First Two Weeks

Teachers are told not to smile until Christmas so that the students don't rip you to shreds by June. Turns out, I can't make it even through an entire day. To counter my smiles I am perfecting a disapproving teacher glare that can strike fear into the heart of even the most thuggish of thugs.

I am much more prepared this year, than last so...things are going a lot more smoothly.

The first day of school, a sixth grade teacher came up and said, "Ms. Allred there is a girl in my class from the Ivory Coast who speaks not a word of English and she looks like she is going to burst into tears at any moment." She had recently been sent to live with her father whom she had never met and was separated from her Mother for the first time. Then she comes to our crazy school and is in a classroom where she can't understand a word and all the students are staring ar her and she has a bunch of teachers who never smile and glare angrily. I went into grab her immediately and broke out my rusty French. She started crying and hugged me, then she followed me around for a week. She never wanted to leave my side. She is doing better now and even trying out some English.

Some interesting things...
1- On September 11th I wrote on the board, "What happened 7 years ago today in New York City?" Nobody knew the answer. These kids were 3 or 4, seven years ago so that event seems like ancient history to them. After a few hints, (I drew the twin towers on the board and an airplane) one boy raised his hand and said, "George W. Bush ordered that someone blow up the twin towers." This is what happens when parents let Micheal Moore educate their children. We had a discussion about theory and fact.

2- Today I was discussing the issue of race with another class and one of the boys raised his hand and said, "Ms. Allred, you white like milk."

3- Another boy in another class came up really close to my face and after staring into my eyes curiously asked, "Did you buy those at a Halloween store?" He wants a pair of eyes "just like" mine to freak out his friends and family.

The Narrows in Zion

I hiked the Narrows with my young women’s group when I was 16 and my mom and sister said they wanted to do the hike this summer so I thought I would tag along. They both backed out and my little brother Bryce said he wanted to so we went.

We started at the trailhead 17 miles above the park. About ½ of the hike is walking in the river between two huge rock walls. As a 16 year old I was much more focused on just getting through the hike. As an adult I was able to appreciate how beautiful it is. It is truly unique and beautiful.

Little known fact about me: I am very scared of cows.
Toward the beginning of the hike, before we got into the canyon I was walking along looking down and when I looked up I was about 10 feet from the face of a giant bull. It scared me so bad. I think this fear comes from Young Women’s camp at big meadow. At that moment all I could hear in my head was Sister Fralick’s shaky voice warning about ferocious cows. She said “I would rather be up against 10 grizzly bears and a puma than up against one of those ferocious cows!” Amen sister Fralick!

If you plan on doing this hike, start early the first day so you can go swimming at your campsite before it gets cold and…BEWARE OF COWS.

I forgot to mention...

I LOVE JON BON JOVI!!!

So Bon Jovi was supposed to play in Central Park on the great lawn. He is one of only about 6 other people who have played there. So it was kind of a big deal.

My roommate Soo is a journalist for the Korean daily newspaper so she snuck me in as a "freelance photographer" with a press pass

This meant that we were able to go all the way to the front to the press box and we were escorted up to the front to snap pictures. We borrowed a camera from a friend that looked a little more professional than my point and shoot. The problem is, I didn't know how to use it and now most of the AWESOME pictures I got are trapped in that camera.

Bon Jovi is a GREAT performer and I fell absolutely in love with him. We sang and danced with the rest of the of the Bon Jovi freaks for hours. It was simply magical!