Seventh Grade Cyber Harrassment

Since I was feeling especially benevolent during the days leading up to and following by birthday, I thought I would bring birthday treats for my students the Monday and Tuesday following (I see my students only every other day). You know, so we could all bask in the celebration of my philanthropic life together. (After all, I am spending my best years with these kids!) Well, A-Day (aka Monday) went without a hitch and sugar was enjoyed by one and all, making the entire ambition of teaching post-Thanksgiving all the more arduous. On Tuesday, however, I must have decided that I was finished heralding the dawn of my new decade (which technically probably starts at 31, huh) because I showed up to school, sans candy and unbelievably, my first 75 students during the first 75 minutes of school did not make a peep regarding my gaffe. The bell rang and 51 seventh grade boys stormed the door. "Did you bring our treats?" Oops. It hadn't even crossed my mind. After consoling my distraught students with promises of candy to come the next classtime, they almost seemed ready to absolve me of my sin. But oh, how quick was I to forget on Thursday the mercy that had been extended to me just 48 hours previous. Again, I had not even thought of my dietary obligation to the children since Tuesday afternoon. Thursday, needless to say, was not good. Seventh grade boys looked up at me only to look away and shake their heads in distaste. I was receiving mutinous threats on the dry erase board and was half expecting someone to have keyed their name on my car. The vigilante students then decided to take matters into their own hands: they would send me emails over the weekend through my school address to remind me. What followed was a slew of emails overflowing in my inbox. I thought I would share some of the winners (with original spelling and punctuation).

treats dont forget them or the punishment will come!

BBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG treats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alec Woolley told us to send you a reminder to bring treats so here you go.

YOU NEED TO BRING US FOOD BECAUSE MY DAY CONSISTS OF SPORTS SLEEP AND FOOD , SO I NEED FOOD SO i WILL LIVE!!! BRING FOOD!!!!

YOU NEED TO BRING CANDY FOR NEXT TIME MS. KINGMAN CAUSE WE ARE HUNGRY
BRING CANDY
BRING CANDY
BRING CANDY
BRING CANDY

Alec Woolley told us to e-mail you about reminding you to birng them treats! I think that they need it for how well they are doing!!

Mrs Kingman, C plz get us the treats on Monday or we all will crying so plz bring us treats for B2 on Monday
Plz : Please.

I was just reminding you about the candy thing hehe
so bring it on monday for B2
thanks
oh ya p.s. bring candy on monday

Mrs.Kingman
Bring treats please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well have a good day I will write each day over the weekend. So Mrs.Kingman do you have a boyfriend. Bring to school so we can meet him. Dont be mad at me please. Well gotta go my show is starting. Bring Treats OKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, it's Monday and I remembered the treats. And I still have my head and classroom and car intact. Moral of the story: If you're going to bring candy to junior high kids---seventh grade boys in particular---make it a surprise.

I Must Belong Somewhere

Awhile back I was talking about my brief love affair with Europe's "The Final Countdown" and how it had proven itself to be a worthy theme song for my 30th birthday and such. While the affair may be over (we've parted amicably and will remain friends), I thought I'd share a little compilation of songs I'd been crushing on---mostly within the past month or so, some from earlier in the year. If the song is on the list, it basically means that I've obsessed over it, playing and re-playing it multiple times in a row (yes, I do this to songs I love).

To anyone who has turned 30, is single, and living in Utah Valley (or maybe to someone who is only one of those 3), the title "I Must Belong Somewhere"---shamelessly yanked from the last song of this soundtrack---bears obvious meaning.

I just published the mix onto iTunes, and as soon as I get the link for that I'll put it up here as well.

Reprise-Grizzly Bear (This is a beautiful ghost of a song. This band was, hands down, my favorite during May-June 2007.)

D.A.N.C.E.-Justice (I dance in my house and in my car to this song and am unashamed to admit it. You will too. Just an unabashedly happy song from some European hipsters.)

Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex-CSS (This song, from what I'd like to call Brazil's indie answer to the Spice Girls, is a little more innocent than what you might infer from it's provocative title. You might recognize it from the latest iPod Touch commericals.)

Phantom Limb-The Shins (If you hate, and I mean HATE---and truthfully you may---all of the songs on this list, you will love this one. Promise.)

Knights-Minus the Bear (Worship the guitar at 2:05 in; the song is pretty cool up until then, but it really gets good at this point.)

Viscera Eyes-The Mars Volta (The guitar riffs from the previous song are completely ripped off from this band. Most of Mars' songs are like 10-20 minutes long and total weirdo-prog rock-jam band---which I can't fully appreciate because I don't do drugs---but I still love their singer Cedric, the Latin Robert Plant.)

Nomanisisland-Subtle (I just found out about this band from my sister last week, but I'm obsessed. They don't fit into any music genre except for "weird." Love it.)

Wolf Like Me-TV On the Radio (If you like to race on the freeway, this is your song. This band sports some pretty wicked cool afros too.)

Icky Thump-The White Stripes (A little psychedelic and head-banger at the same time. I'm still a little bitter I didn't get to hear this song live this fall.)

Rest My Chemistry-Interpol (I wish I were as cool and melancholy as this song. The band is totally not in a hurry because they are cool too. . . and they know it. . . and they know you will listen even if you should have been somewhere else 20 minutes ago. The guitar on the bridge is especially great.)

The Way I Are-Timbalake (Okay, okay---a guilty pleasure. My student teacher did an activity teaching beat with this song and it is so friggin catchy.)

Declare Independence-Bjork (This song is what carries me through the hardest, tiredest part of my runs. It was her encore when I saw her in California earlier this year and she and her all-female-all-horn band were jumping up and down with flags; I felt like I was caught up in a frenzied spiritual revival. Basically it is Bjork screaming furiously for Greenlandic independence but somehow it seems to do the trick for me. Yeah, a lot of you really wouldn't like this song.)

Brandy Alexander-Feist (I wanna be a dead sexy singer like this Feist chick when I grow up. Her CD is maybe the most beautiful of the year.)

The Marshalls Are Dead-Bloc Party (I discovered this song on a mix CD that my sister titled "Loads of Gayness." It is anything but. It's from an EP that came out before Bloc Party's first album Silent Alarm, a CD I think would be better labelled "crack cocaine," as it is precisely that addicting.)

Jigsaw Falling Into Place-Radiohead (A gem from the best band in the world. Thom's vocals are exquisite. When I name my firstborn son Thom, you will know why. Since this song "technically" has not been released yet by a record label, it's not on iTunes and won't show up on the iMix link. Go to inrainbows.com and you can get the whole album for whatever price you choose.)

10 x 10-Yeah Yeah Yeahs (I'll never forget seeing this band about a year and half ago and watching Karen O., their lead singer, put the microphone in her mouth and scream at the top of her lungs and it was beautiful. Not a band I typically listen to much (outside of the fact that seeing them changed my life), but this song is fabulous.

American X-Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (American rock n' roll at it's sexiest. Dark and soulful. If you liked the Brit band Oasis before they got addicted to drugs and became total a-holes, you will like BRMC.)

I Must Belong Somewhere-Bright Eyes (Even if you're not down with the Bright Eyes goat voice, you will still probably really enjoy Cassadaga, the album from which this song comes. I just thought that this song really summed up how I feel turning 30.)