"The sky glows, I see it shining when my eyes close. I hear your warnings but we both know, I'm gonna look at it again. Don't wait, don't wait. The road is now a sudden sea, and suddenly you're deep enough to lay your armor down. To lay your armor down. To lay your armor down." ~dashboard confessional

I think I've done enough lyrics from the Boss for now, so I'm moving on to a new artist. And Dashboard Confessional is a worthy successor. I love that song. I love that whole album. That song is a perfect way to kick it off.

Today I got letters from kids in my last class telling me about themselves. A few quotes:

"I want really smart kids, but if something bad happens and they some reason they cant be smart then I will still love them anyway."

"I hate my job. They think I'm stealing but I'm not!!!!!!!"

And I have to post one entire letter, because it's too funny not to. This kid is absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately he has some learning disabilities that make school hard for him, but I can totally picture him as a famous writer someday. I read one assignment he wrote last semester and it was one of the most creative pieces of writing I've ever read. So here's what he wrote to me today:

"Every fiber of my being is slaving to the goal of being the best ditch digger in the tri-state area.

Usually I'm pretty easy-going, but if pressed I'm liable to bury the assailant under my rose garden.

I like burning carpet and putting sand in people's toilets.

I love flipping through my well-worn copy of Mein Keimph, it's so inspiring!

Lastly, I like counting...to seven."

The kid is hilarious, he's a genius, and I don't know what to do with him in my class because he's much better at writing creative stories and philosophical rants than he is at sitting in class learning about seventeenth century poetry. I really want to encourage him to write and to go to college (which he doesn't want to do), but I have to teach specific material, about which I'm afraid he isn't interested in learning. So I have to make the material interesting. Which is hard to do when I'm not a huge fan of it myself.

Yesterday in class a girl told me I reminded her of the teacher from the movie Freedom Writers. That made me really happy.

I got a package from my grandmother today; I love getting mail from her. She sends me stacks of magazines after she reads them. She writes funny notes alongside certain articles and pictures, like, "READ THIS!!" or "I hate her hair when it's this color" or "she's obviously had some plastic surgery." She knows which actors, movies, and musicians I love, so sometimes she cuts out or tears out pictures or articles about them so that I'll be sure to see them. I love Gran so much. I think she just might be my favorite person in the world. She calls me her southern belle. I was born in Columbia, South Carolina, where she and my Grandad live, and whenever we drive past the hospital where I was born she'll say, "There's your old home, Claire!" She was there when I was born. I'm her first grandchild. She understands me.