"I was spending my days with my demons, yeah, they had taken up inside of my heart. They were trying to keep me entertained, they were tearing me apart.
Well, my memory, she was packing, yeah, and I knew that she would never come back. She handed me a letter and then she vanished in the black. And the letter said:
'Things are what you make of them, things are what you make of them, baby. And you know what I mean, yeah, you know what I mean.'
Well, I met up with my common sense, and I knew her by the rose in her hair. She said: 'Son, if you don't make a noise, God will never know you're there.'
So I purchased me a ticket, yeah, for a meeting with Jesus Christ. He shook my hand and offered me just this thimble of advice. He was telling me: 'Things are what you make of them . . .'" ~bishop allen

I'm in love with Bishop Allen right now, and I couldn't choose just one part of that song.
Dead Man's Cell Phone was interesting. Mary-Louise Parker was wonderfully quirky; I loved seeing her live and in such a small, intimate theater. The play itself wasn't exactly my cup of tea; it wasn't bad at all, it was just a little too bizarre for me. But I was glad I got to see it. And ushering was definitely the way to go, because I got to see it for free (and I got a very good seat; actually, all of the seats in that theater are good because it's so small).

In the Heights opened today to mostly positive reviews. Here's the review that matters the most, the New York Times. Isherwood has some complaints with the show but basically writes a love letter to Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is absolutely deserving of all the praise he's receiving. Go see this show if you can. Trust me, you'll love it.

'In the Heights' Video

"I used to think we lived at the top of the world. When the world was just a subway map, and the 1-slash-9 climbed a dotted line to my place." ~in the heights

Last night I saw the Broadway production of In the Heights. It was fabulous; I absolutely loved it. It's about Washington Heights, which is the neighborhood in which I teach. I would have loved the show even if I weren't familiar with the neighborhood, but having Washington Heights as such as an important part of my life right now made the musical especially meaningful to me. Today someone asked me if it was realistic. Well, I don't usually see people singing and dancing as I walk down the street. I suppose I'd say it's a slightly romanticized look at the neighborhood. The guy who conceived, composed, and stars in it is from the area, and while you're watching it you can definitely sense that the musical is rooted in a familiarity with and a love for Washington Heights. It's fun and entertaining with great music and dancing, but it has depth because it addresses immigration and the concept of home and other issues that are really prevalent to WH's inhabitants. So I loved it. I just wish it were more accessible to people who actually live in Washington Heights. I don't think many of them make it down to Broadway very often.
Here's me and Karen Olivo, one of the stars, a few years ago (after a performance of Brooklyn):


Tonight I'm meeting my parents for dinner and then I'm ushering at Dead Man's Cell Phone, starring the always amazing Mary-Louise Parker (I love her). I'm excited!

"I must be me, I'm in my head, black birds are circling my bed. I must be me, I must be me, black feathers are falling on my feet." ~the national

My tattoo is inspired by Counting Crows, particularly by the phrase "I am feathered," which is from the song "A Murder of One" and which they insert into lots of other songs and is absolutely gorgeous. I love listening to live versions of different songs in which they insert that lyric. They did it during "A Long December" at the Bowery Ballroom concert I went to last month; it was the perfect ending to an awesome performance of that song. The opening quote of this post is from The National's song "Karen," and it also fits my tattoo perfectly. I love that song as well.

I've been feeling uninspired lately. It's hard for me to sit down and write creative lesson plans that will engage the kids. I get distracted easily. And it shouldn't be so hard for me right now, because I'm doing a unit on Katherine Paterson and I love Katherine Paterson. Maybe it's the winter. It makes everything seem so "blah."

My kids are doing okay for the most part (of course, now that I've said that they'll come in tomorrow and act completely insane). There's this one boy, D, who's a real handful. He actually has gotten really into our current read-aloud book, though, which is a Katherine Paterson book called Park's Quest. I was sitting with the kids during science today and I had the book with me. We had just read about a mysterious new character, and D kept trying to convince me to tell him who she is. When I wouldn't tell him, he grabbed the book from me and skimmed through it for an entire period (while he was supposed to be doing science), trying to figure out who the girl is. He refused to give the book back to me, and he was so invested in his search. I was particularly frustrated when he flipped to the last page and started to read it, because I didn't want him to spoil it for himself. I was frustrated with him for not giving me the book back, for not doing his science work, and for yelling out things that happen in the parts we haven't read yet. At the same time, though, I was glad that he was actually interested in a book. That's unusual for him. It's those little things that keep me going.

"I will walk along these hillsides in the summer 'neath the sunshine, I am feathered by the moonlight fallin' down on me. I said I will walk along these hillsides in the summer 'neath the sunshine, I am feathered by the moonlight fallin' down on me. I said I will walk along these hillsides in the summer 'neath the sunshine, I am feathered by the moonlight fallin' down on me. I said I will walk along these hillsides in the summer 'neath the sunshine, I am feathered by the moonlight, change, change, change..." ~counting crows

This was a busy week. Thursday was particularly tiring. First there was school, then four hours of parent-teacher conferences, then class. I missed about half of my class because of conferences, and I missed the important stuff, so I wasn't thrilled about that. It was unavoidable, though, and my professor understood.
I don't like talking to parents. I'm not good at it. I'm usually too nice because I have a hard time telling someone that their kid is bad, especially when the kid is right there. I had one kid cry, but it wasn't my fault; I actually gave her a very generous report considering her behavior, but the dean came in and basically ripped her apart.
I was out of my apartment from 7am until 10pm on Thursday, so it was a long day. I have the weekend to rest, though. I don't have any plans; I've just been doing random stuff that needs to get done like grocery shopping, laundry, lesson planning, reading for my class, etc. Oh, I got a tattoo. That was exciting (though painful). It's an homage to my favorite band, Counting Crows. I'll post a picture later. Now I'm off to have some of the fabulous-smelling dinner that's cooking right now.