1. The Long Goodbye – Well I thought that leaving my village was going to be the hardest part of this goodbye process, but now it looks like my entire family and a group of my students are coming into Phnom Penh on Tuesday to take me to the airport. Perfect. What could be better than a second chance to cry in front of everyone.
2. On the Bright Side – I will miss a lot about my Cambodian life, but there are a few things that I’m really happy to have finally put behind me, such as…
- bucket showers
- shaving with a flashlight
- having to walk downstairs and out into the backyard to get to the bathroom
- Khmer coffee
- getting chased by dogs
- running out of money on my phone
- wiping with my hand
- burning trash
- rice, rice, and rice
4. The Scum of the Earth - Rarely do I get really angry here, yet when a group of white guys on motorcycles drove through my town going around 100 mph the other day, I felt some of my New York rage coming back to me. I’m looking forward to getting some of that bottled up anger back.
5. Treme Season Two – I didn’t think it was possible for season two to be even slower than season one, but after six episodes I’m still waiting for something to happen. I don’t know why I’ve stuck with this show. I think I’m still waiting for some of that Wire genius from David Simon. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen.
6. Quote/Stat of the Day - “Today, the state with the lowest obesity rate would have had the highest rate in 1995.” – Jeff Levi, Ph.D.
Also this: “Twenty years ago, no state had an obesity rate above 15 percent. Today, more than two out of three states, 38 total, have obesity rates over 25 percent, and just one has a rate lower than 20 percent.” (F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future)
7. Public Sector Jobs - I thought our countries problems were being caused by Obama’s big government policies? Apparently not. In fact since Obama took office the government has steadily been shedding jobs. Think Progress claims that we have, “500,000 fewer people working for the government since Obama’s inauguration even though the national population is larger than it used to be.”
So when FDR took office the government created programs like the CCC, the CWA, the TVA, the WPA that put people back to work. When Obama took office the government cut 500,000 jobs. Which sounds better to you?
8. Reforming the School Reformers - In this week’s NYT’s Magazine Paul Tough has written a great little piece about the failure of school reformers to look beyond the classroom: No, Seriously: No Excuses. It’s worth a read…
The reformers’ policy goals are, in most cases, quite worthy. Yes, contracts should be renegotiated so that the best teachers are given incentives to teach in the poorest schools, and yes, school systems should extend the school day and school year for low-income students, as many successful charter schools have done. But these changes are not nearly sufficient. As Paul Reville, the Massachusetts secretary of education, wrote recently in Education Week, traditional reform strategies “will not, on average, enable us to overcome the barriers to student learning posed by the conditions of poverty.” Reformers also need to take concrete steps to address the whole range of factors that hold poor students back. That doesn’t mean sitting around hoping for utopian social change. It means supplementing classroom strategies with targeted, evidence-based interventions outside the classroom: working intensively with the most disadvantaged families to improve home environments for young children; providing high-quality early-childhood education to children from the neediest families; and, once school begins, providing low-income students with a robust system of emotional and psychological support, as well as academic support.
9. 3000 - As much as I love Derek Jeter, I’m rooting hard for a week-long slump so that I can be America when he hits 3000. With All Star Break this week it just might be possible, yet regardless of when it happens it will be a great moment for one of my all time favorites.
10. Running in NYC – And finally, for all you running nerds out there, you gotta watch the PUMA video series on Delilah Dicrescenzo. Dicrescenzo lives in trains in NYC. She was also the inspiration for the Plain White T’s song, Hey There Delilah. The videos are really well shot and worth watching– especially if you’re in NYC.
Literally JUST finished reading this, closed the window and checked twitter. First thing I saw was Darek Jeter makin his 3,000th home run
In Providence getting ready to cheer on our Half Iron Man and Woman! Yay Court and Terence!
And Yay Jeter and Sweet Sixteen too. Love the video and agree that looks like the gold standard. Party hats and silly string. What more do you need?
Hope the last few days aren’t too sad. We’re counting down on our end. We’ll call you after the race tomorrow.
xo