It’s a good day to be a teacher. Over the years I’ve had occasion to question my career choice, usually because of the systemically anemic pay. I’ve watched friends and neighbors pull in salaries that doubled, tripled or even quadrupled my humble teacher’s wages. My wife and I have learned to live a frugal lifestyle. Although I’ll be taking a pay cut next year, I’m relatively confident that I’ll have a job. And I’m well aware that more than four million of my fellow Americans have lost their jobs and the odds are countless others will be out of work before we’re out of this mess.
Furthermore, I am grateful for the two week spring break that began this afternoon. With spring break comes time to write. I’ve learned to be productive over the breaks, writing two books over the last three years. If things work out according to my plan, I’ll be twenty-thousand words into my third book two weeks from tonight.
Finally, I’m at a point in my career where I’m honestly enjoying my job. Today I read a chapter of The Spirit Guide Bar to my students. They responded positively. Of course I am the guy in who gives out grades. I guess some of the kids fear me more than others. The boss promotes post secondary education by encouraging the teachers to wear university t-shirts. Today I wore a t-shirt that read ARIZONA STATE -1886. One of the boys asked, “1886, is that the year you graduated?” The truth is I don’t think any of them fear me - and that’s OK with me.
