The "Occupy the Manger" Protest

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45569552/ns/today-holiday_guide/

Okay, this is absolutely fabulous. Normally around this time of year you hear about the Jews and the Muslims and the non-religious types complaining about Christmas decorations and the separation of church and state and all that good cheer. Now the Christmas lovers are complaining about...Christmas decorations? This takes it to a whole new level. Mind. Officially. Blown.

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Mallrats, 2.0

Now that the Halloween candy is on clearance, 'tis officially the season all up in this joint. The stores are already in full Christmas swing. I even heard "Winter Wonderland" playing, which was hard to take seriously when it was 75 degrees and sunny. With Black Friday fast approaching, I've already seen some holiday hysteria: * I was in a store looking for lady stuff. There were three nuns in the lady stuff department. I was torn between wanting to stay as far from them as possible and wanting to sneak up behind them and see what they actually bought. I know that they need unmentionables too, but I figured that was just standard issue with their habits, along with the sensible shoes and Clorox to keep their whites looking white. Do they have to follow a dress code for their underpinnings, too? * A guy walking in front of me clearly had his shirt on inside out. Was he a messy eater and figured, "hey, it works for the couch cushions..."?...

The Power of Yet

Last week I attended a meeting where the presenter discussed the power of "yet"-- how someone can re-frame his/her thinking so as to have a growth mindset. For instance, instead of saying "I can't run a marathon," I should tell myself, "I can't run a marathon...yet." To be fair, I feel there's a fine line between self-confidence and false confidence; no matter how strongly I believe in myself, I'm not sure any amount of positive thinking will turn me into an Olympic gold medalist. However, my thoughts on the theory were tested just a few short hours later... I discovered that someone was making disparaging jokes at my expense about my weight. It's no secret that I have a love-hate relationship with my body; anyone who follows me on social media has seen my #runburstinrun journey. And it is indeed a journey -- I feel like I barely remember where I began, and there is no ending in sight. The source of the jokes claimed no harm was ...

"The Golden Years"

This past week I've been working with my students on writing revisions using the genre of flash fiction. Typically flash fiction is 1,000 words or less; for our purposes, we are sticking between 500 and 750. In order to model for my students I created a piece of my own, and I enjoyed reconnecting with my inner writer. One of my students, after hearing me read my first draft, asked me why I was a teacher instead of a writer #notsohumblebrag. Now that I've polished my story, I thought I'd share. It may still need a little work (I'm still not sure I'm happy with how I wrote the ending), but it sure was fun to create. Enjoy! The Golden Years “Mistakes are ok...but not here. You’re fired!” Fred started filling a cardboard box with his personal belongings from his locker. He wondered if they had a room of boxes somewhere, ready to hand out whenever someone was let go -- something that happened a lot. In his time at the company Fred only b...

My Dogs are Mooing

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