Reporting Live from McAllen-Miller International Airport!

Dear Readers (whomever you may be, real or in my imagination),

Hurray for free wireless at the fabulous airport in McAllen, Texas. I have been "straight-chillin'" here, a few miles from the border, watching airport on-goings since 5:30 AM this morning. Around me I see fellow-fliers, some frustrated, some calm; through the big glass windows, I see...not much... thanks, thick fog. One flight out of here has been canceled, but I am still hopeful that I will be flying out in an hour--three hours later than I'd hoped, but moving towards home nonetheless.

This time yesterday, I was learning the rules to middle-school dodgeball. At school, they had a bunch of "stuff" for the kiddies to do--a dance, movies, various sports (including bowling!), snacks for purchase, board games--and, of course, we teachers got to supervise. I initially was responsible for selling at the concession stand, but was offered a trade to dodgeball by one of my co-workers. Figuring that physical activity would be more exciting than preparing hot cheetos with cheese* all day, I agreed.

I spent more time during dodgeball screaming at kids than I have all year. It was chaotic, but fun. I was told, "Miss, you throw like a girl"; broke up what could have bubbled into a fight; and canceled dodgeball after one kid hit another with one of the bright orange cones that cornered off the dodgeball area. I was pleasantly surprised that when I ran into the dodgeball crossfire, yelling "TIME OUT! GIVE ME ALL THE BALLS NOW", the boys stopped and handed me the balls. For most of the day, as I ran in and out of the dodgeball "court" telling boys who were out that they needed to get off the court, the boys on the sidelines would pull me out of the way if I were going to get pegged; it was very sweet of them. I had kind of expected they would try to hit me with the balls most of the day, so it was really nice that they kept an eye out for me instead.

It was fun, but I might grow up and be one of those moms at the PTA that makes the school stop playing dodgeball. From what I saw, it's not much of a sport when 8th graders play it--it's more of a "how hard can I hit the lame kid without getting caught?" game. Well, actually, I'd advocate for kids to play whatever sports, but also require some sort of sportmanship/sportswomanship/sportspersonship? curriculum.

* To those of you who don't live in the Valley, hot cheetos with cheese is, unfortunately, exactly what it sounds like: a bag of spicy hot cheetos, with nacho cheese poured on. It tastes like one would expect: delicious but horrible. The school sells this stuff, in addition to soft drinks, candy, nachos, and other junk, to raise money. Texas schools can only sell/give junk food to kids on certain days (like before breaks), or after lunch. The school makes a ton of money off of it, but I really don't think that my students should be exposed to such unhealthy food just so we can afford field trips (the sales don't generally raise funds for stuff like books). My students definitely don't eat healthy at home, if they eat much at all. Why give them such horribly fattening food? In a country with an obesity epidemic, it makes no sense. We may as well let them roll around in raw chicken.


Now, I am going to start watching Arrested Development, and then move on to Planet Earth. I figure I can have both series finished by the time I get home tonight at 10:30 PM.

Happy Travels!