Jill Crossing: January 2010

Great view of LA one morning from the balcony!

Howdy from California! I have just finished my first week of classes for quarter #2. My new courses are extremely interesting. One of them focuses on Urban Schooling "Learning & Inequality," while another examines philosophies of education. Additionally, another one looks at Cultural Studies and another at Critical Media Literacy. I am going to have a lot of work on my hands until mid March but I am excited about all that I am going to learn about this topics!!! I feel like the biggest nerd lately!

Guess what! I finally got an email confirmation that I officially have a Massachusetts teaching license! Hurray, the processing only took several months. Now I am going to make some connections with LA teachers and possibly even line up a volunteering position in an LA classroom for the spring to get back into the groove of things so that will not be rusty when I start teaching next fall out here. Crossing my fingers that I find a job! I am anxious to learn more about the school system out here. It is incredibly massive and complicated.

Despite my absence over the holidays, the garden survived (except for the cilantro) quite nicely without me. The vine has more buds on it than I have ever seen, the Freesia literally tripled in height, the key-lime tree started budding white flowers, and I almost have my first ripe strawberry to munch on! Here are a few recent shots from and on the balcony.