Thoughts (early) on a Sunday morning . . .

1. Pending a final review, my Christmas shopping is done!

2. I do not need any review to know that my winter cold has arrived.

3. Last Thursday's History Fair was great. More to come.

4. Here me squee like a fanbot (Squeeeeeeeeee!). Ken Burns will do a World War II historical series in the Fall.

5. I *like* Daisuke Matsuzaka. I wish I was fluent in Japanese. I would call the Boston Globe in a heartbeat. They really need a staff interpreter. I do, however, want to know what's going on with J.D. Drew.

6. Full week this week, and it's been hard enough to get the little blighters working for the last two weeks. I may be forced to do an SCA show-and-tell on Friday.

7. As far as holiday plans go, I will be on the road pretty much from Saturday, Dec. 23 to Thursday, Dec. 28. Unsure on internet access, but I am hoping there will be some.

8. I am now officially addicted to hot baths with Lush! bath bombs. It's all because of alethea_eastrid. ;)

Jocular Christmas music

If it's still between 10 a.m. and noon on Sunday, go to www.wumb.org and listen to the live feed of "Midnight Special."

Another Sunday update

1. Looking for a recommendation for a dependable taxi company to get Niki from Simmons to Logan early one morning this week.

2. A couple of song titles from the Midnight Special broadcast/webcast: "I Got A Harmonica For Hannukah," and
"Don't Call the Goyim on Christmas Eve."

3. I am all about this weather. I can deal with a Dry Christmas.

4. I think I have wirtten about 20 college recommendations so far. I have gotten a couple of nice thank-you letters as well.

5. I am listening to Christmas music. That's not something I susually do. I am trying to appreciate the season. ;)

We are not like the other fathers and daughters . . .

So, evilnicola and I went shopping yesterday and had a nice lunch to boot.

She was very patient with me, because I was feeling pretty crappy, what with the "First Cold of the Winter (tm)" going on.

We spent a good bit of time in a bookstore. At one point she sais, "When I was little, and everyone bought me books for Christmas, I promised myself I would not buy people books." She was saying this, cradling an armload of books that were gifts for friends and family.

Anyway, as I said, I was sick and having some trouble breathing, so my daughter says to me, "Why don't you come over to my room for a nebulizer treatement?" Gotta love that kid. We are on the same meds, so it's all good. I sat in her room, did the treatment and felt markedly better.

I love my family.

PS: There are a lot of Internet radio stations playing all-Christmas music, and I especially like this one.

Pardon me while I brag . . . .

I mentioned earlier that THursday's History Fair went really, really well. We got done in just over two hours, and it ran smoothly.

Batten down the hatches. I am gonna compliment evilnicola again!

She basically ran the judges' room, did all the inputting and figuring out of scores and kept everything under control. Yay!

But the best part came in the few minutes we had the kids together waiting for the results to be finished. The other coordinators send me out to get them together and give all the thank-yous. As was the case last year, they took longer than I had words for, so as I did last year, I looked at the mayor and said, "Now Mayor Bonfanti will talk a little bit about what we did today (or words to that effect).

So the mayor then launches into a couple of minutes of "I hope you know how lucky you are to have Mr. Toscano . . . He workds so hard to make this fair happen . . . I have been at all three, and it's getting better every year because of him . . . " I remember the word "passion," and I am pretty sure he mentioned National Honor Society too.

I was blown away.

Peer-student discussion: Post The First

Cross-posted in my LJ and sca_associates

I know I have been somewhat behind the times in writing about the two peer-student roundtables that were held at two recent East Kingdom University events. “Write up peerages” seems to be permanently just below “Clean room” on my To-Do list.

Anyway, I thought I would toss up a few of the ideas that we had come to some consensus on. I know it’s only two meetings and a little of LiveJournal discussion, but there seem to be some trends developing. I am hoping to continue these discussions at future events. And certainly, folks oughta have them on their own. I think there’s a good deal of examination that can be done about peer-student (or mentor-student) relationships. Besides, it’s a lot more fun talking about peerage stuff than about how many recommendations you need to volunteer with youth or whether a kid should be allowed to wear his garb and a sword in his high school yearbook photo.

So one thing we seem to agree on is that the peer/mentor does not have to be doing work in the same area as the student. This is more or less a Laurel question. If I am a cook, is it OK to apprentice to a garb Laurel? The consensus seems to be yes, because the peer teaches many things besides a specific skill. In fact, one Laurel commented, “probably the main thing I teach is how to do research.” And certainly when it comes to carrying yourself and acting as a peer, it doesn’t matter what skill the peer practices.

One of the areas we need to do more work in is the knight/master-squire relationship. I think in the two discussions, we have had one squire and have not had a knight/master because of conflicts with other classes and with the tournament.

I think it would add a great deal to the discussion to have some members of the Chivalry and their students present. Perhaps this is something we can do at a future event. (I am thinking about hosting something at Birka).

I would love to hear from people in other kingdoms who might do the same thing.

Peer-student stuff: Second post

This is the second post on a discussion of peer-student relations, drawn from a couple of roundtable discussions.

A second point of agreement is the firm feeling that a peer and potential student need to sit down and talk about – negotiate is not too strong a word – the parameters of the relationship.

Actually, this begins with talking to yourself. As a peer, you have to ask yourself what you want out of the relationship. Why do you want this person as a student? What can you offer them? What can they offer you? The prospective student needs to do the same thing. Why do I want to associate with this peer? What do I want to learn from him/her? What can I offer to them?

Once you’ve answered your own questions, you need to repeat that conversation with the potential peer/student. The more solid the groundwork, the better the potential for success. You need to answer questions such as: How often will we get together? Will they be regular meetings? What “duties” do each of us have? Once those questions are answered, you need to figure out what kind of regalia the student wil wear – if any – and whether there will be a formal peerage ceremony.

Yes, it sounds like a lot of work, but it will streamline the future progress.

Note: I am sorry this came out kinda pedantic. I fell back into teacher-writer mode. But I think it gets the point across.

Last post of the day . . .

All in all, a fairly productive day.

I wrote this To-Do List about 12 hours ago.

Everything in bold got done.

Grade all remaining papers
Put grades in book
Assignment sheet and topic ideas for History Project
Write the letters of recommendation
Clean room
Go through the piles of papers
Get prescriptions
Finish newsletter (I started it ;) )
History Fair press release
Sort through gifts
Pack and wrap gifts
Start packing for holiday
Clean truck
LJ posts
Sort flash drive
Pay ticket
Note to NHS list
New Vols List