Flying high

I finished working on these (above and below) before I left today.

And took these pictures before landing in Baltimore.

Now I'm home, after eating Korean tofu soup, hanging out with the new dog (he's sweet).

Big wheels keep on turnin

I'm Finally Done

with this painting assignment.  Here are the results.  The blue one is kinda spooky and off.  But I like the yellow one, especially because I think it looks a lot like my mommy.

Here they are next to each other, mounted:

I'm watching...

the Wizard of Oz right now.  David is frying some bananas in flour, sugar and cinnamon and this is who I have yet to meet (but will get to by Thanksgiving):

His name is Lucky and my parents called me on Friday with the catchphrase "We got lucky on Friday the 13th!".  He's an 18 month-old poodle mixed with something and is being rescued by my parents from a shelter.  When I heard the news, I instantly was brought to tears.  Not tears of happiness, but tears of honest sadness.  I was heartbroken to hear that we/they were getting a new dog.  I still have trouble every day when I think of Fangio, my first dog.  It's been a little over half a year since he died, and I still cry every couple of weeks about him (Don't make fun of me, he was my little brother for almost eleven years and the embodiment of unconditional love).

Love,

Monica

Current Work

Teach for America

You guys are all probably wondering if I got accepted or not.  

Well, unfortunately, I DID NOT get in.  I'd like to say THANK YOU, though, to everyone that believed in me and encouraged me along the way.  I wasn't even going to apply because of how selective the program is.  But I'm glad I did.  Not only was it a great experience, but I got to the final interview stage, which not many people get to participate in.  

I'm not gonna lie...it is emotionally-draining and a little disappointing to have gone through three intense application stages since September only to get rejected a couple months later.  However, I am not ashamed or upset that I didn't get in.  Instead, I am a little hopeful for exploring all the other opportunities that I've had in mind for some time.  Here's the brutal rejection letter, in case you folks are curious:

Dear Monica,

Thank you very much for your interest in Teach For America and for the time and effort you invested in interviewing with us. I am very sorry to inform you that, after careful consideration of your candidacy, we are not able to extend you an offer to join the 2010 corps.

Your initiative in applying to Teach For America demonstrates your commitment to expanding opportunities for children and effecting social change, and we would like to offer all candidates a path to realizing these aims. This said, we know that Teach For America is not a fit for everyone. While acknowledging the limitations of any selection process, we have developed a set of admissions criteria over time that helps us identify those most likely to be successful in our particular program. We use the written application, transcripts, online recommendation forms, phone interview, and all parts of the interview day as lenses through which to view evidence related to these criteria.

We know that you have the potential to make a significant contribution to meeting our country's pressing social needs, and we encourage you to pursue other ways to make a difference. To assist you in your pursuit, we have posted on our website a list ofrecommended resources. If you also are interested in being contacted by other education and service-oriented organizations that may wish to recruit Teach For America applicants for similar opportunities, you can complete a short form here.

Although this e-mail may bring disappointment, I hope that your experience with Teach For America thus far has been positive. If you would like to share any anonymous feedback on our admissions process, we welcome your reflections and suggestions here.

Lastly, I am sorry that we are not able to provide individual feedback on admissions decisions, given that we do not have the resources to handle the volume of potential requests. We attempt to minimize the disappointment we know this can cause by being upfront about this policy in our application.

Again, thank you for the energy you invested in our admissions process. I wish you the best in your future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Joshua Griggs
Vice President, Admissions

Anyway, I am a little relieved that I didn't get in (if that makes any sense).  I didn't know if it was exactly what I wanted to do.  Some parts of TFA make sense to me, but there are also a lot of other pathways that I have been looking into.  The main issue that I had been grappling with was the paradox of TFA sending inexperienced or less-experienced teachers into low-income, high-need areas.  One of the main criticisms of the the education system is that children from high-income backgrounds are able to afford higher-quality education (better-educated, higher-quality teachers also happen to be at these schools) and that low-income areas have schools that lack resources (meaning they lack more experienced teachers).  While I am not trying to discredit TFA or say anything bad about it (I support the goals and corps members of the program whole-heartedly), I am meaning to reveal something about myself.  All things considered, I think that I would make a better teacher if I took the time to get more experience, perhaps go to graduate school, than if I had to receive training in a crash course 5 weeks before becoming a full-time teacher.  And I say this especially in the context of teaching in an area of low-income or high-risk. 

So, while I am a little bummed about getting rejected, I think it is going to work out for the best.  If offered the job I would have taken the challenged in a heart-beat, but now that I know it is not a possibility this year, I am going to explore all the other options I have to work toward my goals and strengthen my abilities to help others in need.  

And if you are reading this and happened to get into TFA, CONGRATULATIONS and good luck!  

Love,
Monica

Dream Journal

Due to the larger amount of dreams I've been remembering lately, I wanted to extend this blog to be somewhat of a dream journal as well.  I won't write anything complicated, just the last bit I remember before my alarm clock wakes me up.  I'll go ahead and write to someone that was in the dream.

Dear Jean,

I had a dream last night and you were in it. I was being chased by Bill Murray (he wanted to make out with me) and he was chasing me through this really big college-like building with lots of stairs (which conveniently turned into ramps when I approached them) and slippery floors. I was wearing socks and he wasn't, so I kept extending my lead by sliding everywhere. The final flight of stairs (ramp) that I went down had the exit at the bottom and I cruised through. Walking outside on cement ground for a change I saw you and a bunch of your friends playing marco polo on land. I also saw Amy and she was complaining about having guy problems. 

Bill Murray was nowhere in sight.