on bullying

I have been listening to the recent and all-too-often ugly accounts of bullying among school-age children. It has felt unbelievable to me, until yesterday ...

I went over to the high school behind my house to vote. It is a large building and I had to walk its long hallways to get to the gymnasium where the voting was taking place. I rounded a corner, took several steps and fell forward, landing hard on my knees and hands before ending-up in a prone position. I lay there for a few seconds, somewhat in shock. There was uproarious laughter from students around me. I felt embarrassed and a little afraid that I would not be able to get up.

I finally mustered the courage to crawl towards the wall and use it to steady myself in order to stand. I stood, pulled down my jacket, and walked on toward the gymnasium with the laughing students behind me the entire way. Not one person stopped to give me a hand or ask if I was ok.

recycling old books

I had 8 of these MacMillan Pocket Classics that belonged to my Grandmother and Great Aunt. They were filled with penciled notes and comments from their high school days. I decided to recycle them in order to make them useable and gift them to each of my siblings. I removed the pages from each of the books to use for other ideas. Then I followed Cathi's tutorial to put a pocket on the inside of each cover. I then visited Dollar Tree and found some decorative pads of paper ... some with pockets and others with calendars ... and some cute little mini pens to finish each set.