I Am Just on a Food Campaign, I Guess, as Last Night I Went to Stowe's in West Haven for the First Time (Had Fish & Chips). Looked Out to the Water

Thankful to Sonya and Cliff for getting me out on a Saturday night and for bringing me to an outdoor eatery I've never heard of. Definitely a fishery and, well, the kind that gets fried. I actually had haddock, simply because I had something to compare it to. It was good. Love eating it...my stomach hates processing it. Fried foods need to be a thing of the past for me. The acid reflux is too much, especially at 2 a.m. in the morning. I told them I would go, though, when I saw the pirate. Who doesn't love a restaurant with a pirate?

Yesterday was an Indian summer like day: gorgeous. Sunny. Enticing. I did a lot of yard work, mowed the lawn, went to a 1 year old's birthday party, and dined with friends. Not a bad 1st day to the weekend. I also watched the Louisville football game, although they lost. 

Today, I need to finish the yard work, grade, plan for the week ahead, and probably go to Norwalk to pick up books borrowed by a graduate student from yesteryear...I'm teaching those books on Wednesday, after all, and I loaned them to her last summer thinking I wouldn't need them ever again. Nope. Asked to teach a course I haven't taught in a long time.

Rainy days make it easy to work inside all day, but it looks to be another beautiful one. Now, I can't give into the temptations until I get my #$@#$ done. 

This is the goal.

It's Been a Minute Since I Had Muscles and Zabar's Delicious Desserts. So Thankful to @Silvergal for Her Incredible Hospitality

I was under the impression that schools had a two-day break, not realizing that Bridgeport Public Schools only had Thursday off. When Kathy said she wanted to do a back deck gathering last night, I thought it was because she had two days of non-teaching recovery and felt like getting her hands in the kitchen. Nope. She worked all day and still managed to bake incredible salmon and serve a bowl of incredible muscles in garlic and butter sauce. Joanna, too, put together a charcuterie board of cheeses, crackers, and incredible cranberry jalapeño jam. The flavors were out of this world. Michael, Elan, and Ethan joined us and it was a wonderful evening of a fire, good food, conversation, and much needed relaxation. I say it all the time, "Whenever anyone can introduce me to new culinary ideas and share their secrets, I'm overjoyed." 

Kathy baked the salmon with a spicy mustards, Joanna had a kale salad, and we ate as if in 5-Star restaurant. On a Friday night after a busy school night. It was exactly what I needed.

A grant was submitted, I hosted a lunch from Abi's Falafel with students and a colleague in preparation for NCTE, and I can say that my Friday was a culinary fiesta. Such good eating and I must admit, it was a blessed day for the stomach.

The weekend is supposed to be nice before a rather dreary, rainy week, so I'm glad we gathered as we did. Lawn needs to be mowed. Classes need to be planned. I really must grade, but for a night I was in chill-mode and I appreciated every second. Meet a teacher. Hear their stories. Let them share the chaos of a school week and you can't help but laugh at the complications of a bizarre, almost impossible world.

But with friends and good food...it all is made tolerable. I am thankful.

For the Pie of Shepherd's: I Believe We're Moving Into the Season of Comfort Foods. Warmth. Ease. Flavor. Rest.

Need to thank Mama Sue for reminding me to blog this morning. I'm in grant-land and with that comes limited head space. Yesterday, I worked from home so I could actually get work done. I also worked at Subaru as I needed an oil change, met with another financial advisor, and graded. So when Pam texted she was making Shepherd's pie, Karal and I sprinted to her door. She mastered the ease and breeze of the get-it-done recipe. I've never tried it myself, but now that I watched her do it, I'm like "Dang, Crandall. Innovate. This might be fun."

I actually thought it must take hours and hours to make, so I was surprised when I arrived at 5:45 and it wasn't even begun. We were eating, however, by 7. Just layers, and she's mastered steps to quickly bypass the more laborious parts...like pre-mashed potatoes that just need to be heated in the microwave. I sent her a tater-tot recipe for a Shepherd's pie, but she forgot. I want to try that one, too.

And I was thinking of my parents. Not just because my mom texted, "Where's your blog?" (it's how she keeps tabs on if I'm alive or not), but that it's fast, easy, different, and flavorful. It makes me want to trek to Syracuse simply to meal prep it for them for the week.

Ah, since I'm on food this morning, I'm also super excited to be hosting a research meeting in the Writing Center today with Beth Boquet, as we put forward more work on a year of mentoring undergraduates on pretty spectacular writing projects of their own. They will be presenting numerous times in Boston next month during the National Council of Teachers of English conference. Can't wait. 

As I type this, Karal is draped around my neck like a feather boa ... her morning ritual of starting the day. I type and she lounges like a 55 pound sloth. She watches the kids walking to school, the neighbors taking their newborn for a stroll, the squirrels gathering morning beechnuts, and the traffic driving to work. I am the tree. She is the bird. But as I hit publish on this post and head to the shower, I get to hear her tremendous sigh that my day is beginning and she'll have to lounge elsewhere.

The dog's life. Geesh. 

For the Love of Teaching and Learning - a Brilliant Day at Central High School, @BridgeportPSchl, & 27 @FairfieldU Undergraduates

There is not more joyous occasion than the days spent with phenomenal teachers and K-12 youth, especially Mr. King at Central High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Under the stellar leadership of Principal Graff, I've been able to continue community-engaged work with students for more than a decade, and such education comes from commitment, community, and literacy excellence. It is easy to see why a National Writing Project's investment in teachers is simply the most marvelous way to go. Teachers are professionals. They have the expertise. They deserve to be celebrated each and every day. 

This is year 12 of collaborating with different classrooms of Bridgeport Public Schools through the mission of the Connecticut Writing Project and via the numerous grants we've been able to secure over the years. Such support provides a way to work with teacher-leaders around the state who have attended CWP-Fairfield's teacher-leadership institutes, and the results follow. Mr. King is one of them - the epitome of teaching excellence.

Yesterday, we had the fortune of bringing 26 undergraduate students in a Philosophy of Education course to work with King's classroom of multiple languages. The librarian offered us a beautiful space to read, write, perform, converse, and gather. In addition, young mathematicians from newly-hired, and Fairfield University alumni, Michael Draper, brought forward his freshman and sophomore classes to discuss education, collaboration, and instruction with the inquisitive and curious college students. It is always something to witness the brilliance of youth as experts of their own lives. As teacher-leader Bria Parkman-McCullough, another teacher-leader, noted, "Imagine if there were weekly opportunities like this for all students. What might we achieve?" (by the way, Congratulations on the wedding ahead - such magic coming your way, Bria).

Mr. King and I have been dreaming up instructional possibilities for over a decade, including better ways to support English language-learners in his care through reading, writing, speaking, and student leadership. I think one testimony for the work is that word spreads quick around the school, and those who have attended Ubuntu Academy ask permission to attend these sessions when we're able to do them. 

 During our time together, young people discussed reading, learning, and the purposes for school and life with Fairfield University students. In return, they asked questions about achieving in college, study habits, and advice on how to be successful. As part of the exercise we read Bette Midler's children's book, The Tale of the Mandarin Duck, about the summer the rare (for these parts) bird landed in Central Park and distracted New York City dwellers from their phones. They put them down for a moment and simply enjoyed the beauty of the phenomenon...the awe of looking around (which is rare for us all in these troubling times).

Mr. King wanted the exercise to about main ideas and pulling important points from a story. Dr. Michelle Farrell, a teaching dynamo and colleague at the University, suggested how she uses hashtags to help students find meaning in what they read. It was a quick, early morning parking lot conversation when I stopped by the University to get copies. We gave it a try, and guess what? It absolutely worked.

#PutThePhonesDown #BeInTheMoment #SeeWithYourEyes #WeAreStrongerTogether #KnowWhatMatters #AppreciateNature #BeInAwe #LiveLifeAware

It was marvelous a day, as always...and a reminder of why I jumped into the profession, study the ways young people achieve as literate learners, and profess the importance of Ubuntu, human togetherness, cooperation, and shared humanity. We are stronger in community with one another, especially when we team up to help every individual achieve.

Each and every day should be like this. It's pedagogy that works ... 29 years and counting in this educational gig I got going on, and it remains true from the beginning (I have Sue McV and the Brown School to thank for this). There's no learning without relationships. Kids need to be valued, trusted, respected, and heard first. Curriculum should be built from who they are and who they might possibly be. 

Thinking About Why? The Book by Nicolai Popov, the Story of a Frog, a Mouse, and Their Desire to Rule Their World

Oh, how things escalate. I am reflecting on a classical graphic story by Nicolai Popov that starts off innocent of a frog doing frog things, but a mouse who wants what the frog has. The battle escalates, where violence grows, destruction occurs, and both worlds, that of mouse and of frog, is destroyed, all for no reasons. It's a great book to read (or view) with a room full of winners, simply to see the silliness of it all.

But they are animals, not humans. Humans create an even scarier and more frightening world. Bring in traditions, cultures, economics, hubris, and weapons, and well, it's where we are right now. Happy Happy Joy Joy.

Children everywhere deserve better. But the ship is only as strong as its tiniest leak. We have tremendous economic gaps around the world, and with them (and our international codependency) it all gets complicated. 

Diplomacy. World history. Never a dull moment. That's what I'm thinking before heading out to schools with 100s of kids who need sanity.

Quote of the morning: "Wait. With the debate rules, you said you weren't going to fact check."

Um. And therein lies the rub. Facts are facts. And democracy takes hard work.

Returned to Campus for the 1st Center of Climate, Coastal, and Marine Studies "Toward Making Climate Science Actionable" by Dr. Mi Ming

Dr. Ming, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Boston College, is an expert in climate dynamics and atmospheric science and is widely regarded as one of the top scientists in the field. His scholarship has covered numerous topics in climate and atmospheric science, including the effects of aerosols on climate, changes in monsoon dynamics, and changes in global precipitation and circulation. As a member of the planning committee, I attended the first talk and was enthralled by the scientific modeling, predictability, and alerts his field has been calculating for decades (based on years of research in the scientific community. His concluding remarks?

• Climate change knows no border - another reason to for thinking globally, especially in regard to food security (internationally)
• Extreme weather events may pose greater risks in a changing climate (like what we've been experienced around the world for over a decade)
• Both natural variability and climate change contribute to volatility
• Advances in climate science offer new opportunities for enhancing resilience and sustainability
• Academia may help facilitate the knowledge transfer from government to business

Of course, I was also thinking about the visuals created from cross-pollinated studies that didn't paint the most optimistic portrait, and the coupling of this against the doubt populations for their governments and science, in general, painted a somewhat disturbing picture. Alas, Chicken Little, I'm not one who is too keen on doomsday pessimism, so I will balance the talk with what can be learned from life itself, scientific reporting, and ecosystems that will either adapt or not adapt to such changes - the human side of it all being the most alarming.

I like to believe that humans like Dr. Ming are operating from the greatness of scientific understanding and am inclined to follow their lifelong work than political naysayers looking for votes. There's never been a time in human history where alarms and bells haven't been ringing, but it was hard to refute the vast amount of data he and his scientific community are reporting. 

And of course, I am thinking about 3rd world nations that are feeling the brunt of this the most (like Sudan) and am thinking about What is the What? Our modern day conveniences come at a cost, and I believe I left most interested in the use of cloud as possibility being one solution to the heating atmosphere, although he warned no one knows what that might do if nations begin manufacturing clouds to curb a protective shield for their nations. 

It's complicated. We're complex. And I have to rethink my optimism of the planet, with my cynicism for humanity. I was the "Road to Hell" once for Halloween, and I understand the best of intentions. I love a brilliant mind, though, and kudos to him for his research and for the Center of Climate, Coastal, and Marine Studies inauguration at Fairfield University. Every little bit counts...I hope. 

Hello, October.