el dia de hoy

winter begins.the year ends.

...the end of this year

means the end of...

...el dia de hoy...

for now, at least.

it was a good space.

for now, feliz navidad

and a very blessed

new year to you...

peace,
saul.

to teach

....or not to teach.

no longer an undocumented, transient teacher...as lovely as the lifestyle seemed to be...

now, i have papers. the official stuff. after a few observations, a lot of paper work, some classes, deductions from my paycheck, and, of course...a sit down, bubble the dot, timed test with weakly worded questions and...i'm official...not sure what i should make of that quite yet. nonetheless...

my memories of miss acosta and miss rivera (my fourth and fifth grade teachers who seemed quite the quirky couple to most of my friends) seem quite cloudy. like some story i never really lived just got told about by my mom's tio who knew a friend who happened to live right next to their caretaker's primo...

...regardless, i wish they were around. somewhere close by, where i could help miss rivera with that crumpled paper bag full of old books she was carrying one time to the local public library. perhaps she'd let me keep them. perhaps she'd enjoy knowing that i, like her, have fallen in love with old books...

...im too scared, however, to look them up when i go home. for fear that theyll be gone, or something of the sort.

as if my not looking for them will somehow keep them here forever.

and im scared to look for mr. guilliard, my high school english teacher who introduced me to poe, told me once that i wrote well and, most importantly, entertained us with a comical rendition of the crazy couples kissing quickly in the hallways, trying to beat the bell...

now, it's me. attempting to teach and beginning to think it may be for good.

not sure i care too much about the standardized tests my kids have to endure these days. i do, however, care and hope that one day they'll fall in love with old books and have the courage to look me up and tell me about it...

not much more.

bush boys win.america doesn't

the boys come in to class.

"mister, they got lin baden...",

"no, they captured saddam hussein."

"yeah, that one."

porn at the pottery barn?

or the spider hole.

the sadness of it all. the ignorance of an
america

gone blind by bushites and cheney
chums

and how exactly does the pentagon
fight

halliburton

and where the hell is houston if not
here

at a place called home

or someplace so seemingly same

or so seemingly unsane

like enrons and the child left
behind

somewhere close to the place

paige left houston

for d.c.

where he likens

comparing
norm reference tests
and criterion reference tests

to

comparing
bull riding
and sheephearding

didnt quite follow. something about both
involving livestock...and shit, of some sort

(no high school football metaphors

this time.)

while these kids he left behind that he claims
to have helped

keep dropping out

to wash dishes for the

bush boys

he now resides with.

standards?

enron.

bullriding.

halliburton.

sheephearding.

december days

as is evident, my posts are scarce these days. the daily dose of writing i committed to a while back has for more reasons than one, gone the way of dirty piles of laundry and dishes left undone...

just returned from being in the woods for a few days. no internet access. just trees and a lake.

come january, im not sure what this space will look like. not sure i care right now. perhaps more personal, perhaps more political. perhaps neither.

miserable failure

although miserable failure were dick's words, i think i'm going the route of dean...

the lesser evil..for some...

the middle of nowhere, where

is it anyway?

it was a piece

on this american

life last

sunday

the place youve

never heard of..

until you hear about it..

and then, you cant stop

hearing about it...

gore goes dean...

or en

Dorses Dean...

and joes just not

right for the job.

what job?

in other wor(L)ds...

the us is sorry in afghanistan...

and in baghdad, drive by's

are in...

el(los) dia(s) de ayer

three days.

some random thoughts about

jesus saving the lost and how,

somewhere, somehow, i want,

but dont, quite feel

lost.

or at least dont feel the need

to feel found.

three days.

baker and bush do the twist.

more boys die in baghdad.

putin sounds the trumpet.

and all of a sudden,

bush and blair arent

the only ones

claiming victory on

miserably lost causes.

bad ass boys

US army boys are bad asses riding atop their tanks and bradleys. according to the bbc's peter greste, it took them "...two hours and all the weapons they had to fight their way out of the city." according to us reports, 54 were killed . wHo counted?

the UN warns the world isnt doing enough to hold off a chemical or biological attack from al-qaeda...while the us thinks world's aids crisis is out of control. . WHO EXACTLY is THE us AND THE un?? since when did the US become a leading advocate against the aids epidemic? since when did the UN become a wise, intelligent advisor to the world? aren't we ever so grateful for their wisdom and warnings. what would we do without these two world leaders?

in other wor(L)ds,

the lord of the rings finale premieres in nuevo zelandia.