"When I left you alone to fight your battles of long winters in motels, what went through your mind? How is it that you made it? How is it that you noticed? It wasn't me who was looking at you through foggy glass or windows... it was them....I was in the desert waving planes and burning phonebooks to a tune that was famous the year I was born. Do not leave me dancing alone..." ~damien jurado

That song is so beautiful. I love it.

I think I was a little too harsh on the Grammys a few days ago. I have to keep in mind that they gave U2 5 awards last year (including album of the year and song of the year). The band has won 21 Grammys in total. How mindblowing is that? 21 Grammys. That's amazing. I can't badmouth an awards show that is so kind to my favorite band in the world. This year's awards weren't that bad, either. The Dixie Chicks were in the same position that U2 was in last year (they won 5 awards, including album of the year, record of the year, and song of the year). The Red Hot Chili Peppers won 4. Mary J. Blige won 3. All of those artists released really good albums this year, and they deserved to be honored. I guess I just wish some smaller bands and artists (like Damien Jurado, for example) would get noticed more often. I love a few big, famous artists like U2, but there are so many other bands out there that no one has heard of and are pretty darn talented as well.

I have a few more quotes from my kids to add to my ongoing list, so here goes:

1. Big Bird was talking to Ms. W. and I during lunch, and she wondered if I minded that Ms. W. leaves the room while I'm teaching. She said, "When we learned tumbles (in cheerleading), I felt like a scared, lost, little bunny. Do you feel like a lost little bunny when Ms. W. leaves you alone?" This girl is like no one else I've ever met, and I love it. She's hilarious. Writing her words down doesn't do her justice, because her delivery is what makes everything she says so funny and interesting. She's so straightforward and uninhibited and everyone thinks she's crazy but she doesn't care at all what anyone thinks of her. In an essay that she turned in today, she didn't know what to write so she wrote, "I'm crazy about Ms. W. and Ms. B." in her conclusion and asked if that would get her extra points.

2. Another one from Big Bird: "Don't worry, we won't be barbaric." She likes throwing vocab words, like barbaric, into conversations. Today she said something like, "Stop affronting me!" to another student.

3. "I'm going to name my first child Wiglaf. Or Caliope."

4. Ms. W. read these lines from Andrew Marvell's poem "The Garden" to her AP class:
"Such was that happy Garden-state,
While Man there walk'd without a mate."
Ms. W: What is he talking about here?
Kid: Um....New Jersey?