Boho in a Shotgun

This week has really flown by! And carnival is in full swing! Beginning next Wednesday the city will be all but shut down to driving after 5; it's an amazing sight to see!

Some highlights from the week:

1. I woke up to a dead mouse (my cat is a true hunter) in by bathroom (possibly TMI) but I am really proud of myself because Christian is out of town and for the first 15 minutes of my morning routine I had all but resigned myself to leaving it for one of my male friends to sweep up later in the day. But, "no!" I said to myself. And I swept it into a dust pan and tossed it in the garbage, still twitching, all by myself. Go me!
2. I had a very sobering conversation with one of my students while we worked on test prep. He told me sometimes he cries at home because school is so hard for him and he knows he'll never catch up. I was stunned by his honesty, and asked him if he had always felt this way about school, or if this was a new thing this year. He said it was new this year, because being a junior is harder than he thought and he worries he will not pass to the next grade. The hardest part of my job is difficult conversation with students, because he will most definitely be with us for at least two more years, and I just don't know how to have this conversation in a constructive way. 
3. My star student I spoke about last week cursed out one of his teachers and we had a really long conversation during his hour detention about respecting women and things a person should never say. One step forward, two steps back. 
4. It's almost Spring and time for teachers to decide whether they will return or not. Teacher retention is an issue for every Charter in Nola, and has a huge impact on the students. It's always a high anxiety time: finding out who will be asked back, who will leave on their own, and who will stay in the trenches for at least another year.

Christian is coming home from Baton Rouge today, and I can't wait. It's been a long week apart. Tonight is the Apocalypse Ball and tomorrow is the official opening of 1239 Congress; they will be a part of the Second Saturday St. Claude gallery walks from now on. Christian's showing his "Looking down series" and all the prints are literally taped to the ground. There's some symbolism here about the viewer interacting with the art, and I love it.  I'll take lots of pictures.

An interesting article from the New York Times about how the Achievement Gap now has more to do with income inequality than racial inequality:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/education/education-gap-grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html?_r=2&hp