"Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland. Got a head-on collision, smashin' in my guts, man. I'm caught in a crossfire that I dont understand. But there's one thing I know for sure, girl: I dont give a damn for the same old played out scenes. I dont give a damn for just the in-betweens. Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul, I want control right now. You better listen to me baby: Talk about a dream, try to make it real. You wake up in the night with a fear so real. You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don't come. Well, don't waste your time waiting. Badlands, you gotta live it every day. Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay. Well, keep pushin' till its understood and these badlands start treating us good. Workin' in the field 'til you get your back burned. Workin' `neath the wheels 'til you get your facts learned. Baby, I got my facts learned real good right now. You better get it straight darling: Poor men wanna be rich, rich men wanna be kings, and a king ain't satisfied 'til he rules everything. I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got. Now I believe in the love that you gave me. I believe in the faith that could save me. I believe in the hope and I pray that some day it will raise me above these Badlands...For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside that it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive. I wanna find one face that ain't lookin' through me. I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these Badlands..." ~bruce springsteen

I tried to pick a short quote out of that song but I couldn't, so I had to post the whole thing. I've had the same Bruce Springsteen CD playing in my car for the past 4 weeks. I'm still not sick of it. As I was driving home from school today I listened to that song 3 times because I just couldn't move on to the next track. I do that a lot, listen to the same song over and over again. The lyrics don't fully convey that song's addictiveness. You have to hear him sing, "Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul, I want control right now" to get it. I love the rhythm of that line. It's pure poetry.

Speaking of poetry, I get to start teaching it tomorrow. I taught all the classes today because my cooperating teacher was absent, but she planned the lessons that I taught. Tomorrow I start teaching my own lessons. I'm nervous about it. I'm afraid I'll finish my lesson and look at the clock and see that I still have 30 minutes left until the period is over. Or I'm afraid that they won't listen to me or they won't understand. I have no real experience with this. I'm sure I'll manage, though.

I finished reading Frank McCourt's Teacher Man today. It was very good. I have a few complaints about the book, but they're minor. McCourt writes about some hilarious incidents and I couldn't stop laughing while reading those sections. I was in stitches. Even if you're not a teacher you'll probably enjoy the book. McCourt taught high school English in New York City public schools for 30 years. I hope to be half as good at that job as he was.