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Mar. 8th, 2013 03:58 pmWednesday evening, we normally would have had Scott's Babylon 5 game, but two of the players had a funeral to attend. The remaining three players came over and played board games with Scott. I didn't participate because I have a phobic response to most board and card games. I start to shake, get a headache and just generally panic when faced with most games. I can play something like Apples to Apples because there is no right thing to do, but I can't handle any game with even a jot of strategy or planning.
Thursday morning, the Daisy troop at Northside (there is no Junior troop, so Cordelia's not a Girl Scout) was selling cookies. I bought a box of thin mints and a box of trefoils. Then I hung around the school for about fifteen minutes because the principal was having an open coffee for parents. I could go, so I figured I should go.
I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't what I got. There's apparently a big fuss going on with some parents deeply unhappy with the principal. I'm not clear on why, but they've filed a formal complaint with the district. From what I gather, they got people, including parents whose kids are no longer at our school, to contribute anecdotes. About half of the parents at the coffee were involved in the complaint. They declined to say what specifically they were complaining about. The teachers present said they felt attacked.
I must have looked a bit shell shocked. The principal several times referred to me as having not expected what I'd walked into. Everyone was sitting more or less in a circle, and I was one person away from the principal.
I have mixed feelings. I know nothing against the principal, but I also know nothing about why these parents are so upset. They might have legitimate grounds to be concerned. The main things I know about the principal are that she knows my name and Cordelia's name and that the kids like to give her hugs. She is a black woman, and the parents present who were in on the complaint were all white. I don't know if that's a factor. The principal did say that she thought that her style, which comes out of her cultural background as a black woman, might not fit with the cultural expectations of the white parents. That simple statement was enough to make one woman get up to walk out.
The coffee ran twice as long as it was scheduled to, and it could have run longer still if the principal hadn't had another meeting to go to. We didn't cover anything but the complaint letter (and nobody would give any details on it. The parents wouldn't say, and the teachers and principal didn't know) even though some other people present brought up other topics they'd like to have addressed.
In the afternoon, while I was doing Sit and Be Fit, my exercise band broke. I'd known that I was taking a risk by only having one band, but I honestly expected it to last longer. The previous band lasted about a year and a half. This one didn't even make half that. I've ordered two new ones. I expect Sit and Be Fit will do a lot of exercise band routines before my new ones arrive.
Thursday evening was Hockey Night at the school. That's a fundraiser for fifth grade camp. It's $5 to play floor hockey in the gym, there's a free movie in the cafeteria, and volunteers sell hotdogs, drinks, baked goods, etc. Cordelia isn't interested in the floor hockey (She played once and hasn't wanted to again). She likes watching the movie and running around with her friends.
I was at Hockey Night from six to seven. I spent most of that time talking to other mothers. Scott came over at seven and sent me home. He could actually watch the movie while I couldn't because of the risk of migraine.
I've finished a rough draft of chapter 22 of Rheotaxis. It's short, only 3500 words, but I think it does what I need it to do. It feels weird to have another chapter so soon after the last one. If I write over the weekend, I may start on chapter 23. I know what needs to happen in that. I have a Chronicles of Narnia story in progress, but it's not working, so I keep putting off working on it.
I'm actually thinking of putting up a poll on DW to ask people to vote as to what I should work on next. I've got about eighteen different things that I'm thinking about writing. About half of those are things I've already started. The others are things I just have prompts/ideas for. Would anybody be interested in voting on that?
I'm not sure I want to do it. I might, after all, find that I can't make headway on what people pick. It might also result in my working on something I won't be ready to post for a long time (several possibilities are epics, and I'm reluctant to start posting bits of those until I have Rheotaxis done).
Thursday morning, the Daisy troop at Northside (there is no Junior troop, so Cordelia's not a Girl Scout) was selling cookies. I bought a box of thin mints and a box of trefoils. Then I hung around the school for about fifteen minutes because the principal was having an open coffee for parents. I could go, so I figured I should go.
I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't what I got. There's apparently a big fuss going on with some parents deeply unhappy with the principal. I'm not clear on why, but they've filed a formal complaint with the district. From what I gather, they got people, including parents whose kids are no longer at our school, to contribute anecdotes. About half of the parents at the coffee were involved in the complaint. They declined to say what specifically they were complaining about. The teachers present said they felt attacked.
I must have looked a bit shell shocked. The principal several times referred to me as having not expected what I'd walked into. Everyone was sitting more or less in a circle, and I was one person away from the principal.
I have mixed feelings. I know nothing against the principal, but I also know nothing about why these parents are so upset. They might have legitimate grounds to be concerned. The main things I know about the principal are that she knows my name and Cordelia's name and that the kids like to give her hugs. She is a black woman, and the parents present who were in on the complaint were all white. I don't know if that's a factor. The principal did say that she thought that her style, which comes out of her cultural background as a black woman, might not fit with the cultural expectations of the white parents. That simple statement was enough to make one woman get up to walk out.
The coffee ran twice as long as it was scheduled to, and it could have run longer still if the principal hadn't had another meeting to go to. We didn't cover anything but the complaint letter (and nobody would give any details on it. The parents wouldn't say, and the teachers and principal didn't know) even though some other people present brought up other topics they'd like to have addressed.
In the afternoon, while I was doing Sit and Be Fit, my exercise band broke. I'd known that I was taking a risk by only having one band, but I honestly expected it to last longer. The previous band lasted about a year and a half. This one didn't even make half that. I've ordered two new ones. I expect Sit and Be Fit will do a lot of exercise band routines before my new ones arrive.
Thursday evening was Hockey Night at the school. That's a fundraiser for fifth grade camp. It's $5 to play floor hockey in the gym, there's a free movie in the cafeteria, and volunteers sell hotdogs, drinks, baked goods, etc. Cordelia isn't interested in the floor hockey (She played once and hasn't wanted to again). She likes watching the movie and running around with her friends.
I was at Hockey Night from six to seven. I spent most of that time talking to other mothers. Scott came over at seven and sent me home. He could actually watch the movie while I couldn't because of the risk of migraine.
I've finished a rough draft of chapter 22 of Rheotaxis. It's short, only 3500 words, but I think it does what I need it to do. It feels weird to have another chapter so soon after the last one. If I write over the weekend, I may start on chapter 23. I know what needs to happen in that. I have a Chronicles of Narnia story in progress, but it's not working, so I keep putting off working on it.
I'm actually thinking of putting up a poll on DW to ask people to vote as to what I should work on next. I've got about eighteen different things that I'm thinking about writing. About half of those are things I've already started. The others are things I just have prompts/ideas for. Would anybody be interested in voting on that?
I'm not sure I want to do it. I might, after all, find that I can't make headway on what people pick. It might also result in my working on something I won't be ready to post for a long time (several possibilities are epics, and I'm reluctant to start posting bits of those until I have Rheotaxis done).
