Inspiration

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a college graduation at Baylor University for a girl that I've known since I moved to Dallas and began working at CDM almost 9 years ago. She was in high school then and was one of the teenage staff members for our summer program. This girl came from what most would consider less than ideal circumstances, yet had determined that she wanted to attend Baylor upon graduation. Her road through college was not an easy one. She didn't have financial support from family at all (and we all know Baylor is NOT cheap) and at times didn't have the necessary level of academic preparation to handle the rigor of college courses. Without going too much into her personal story, let's just say her graduation was a long time coming...almost 7 years. There were many roadblocks, many obstacles, many times that she didn't know how she was going to be able to continue, yet somehow, she always was resourceful and resilient enough to find a way to finish what she had started. I didn't always agree with some of her choices along the way, but at the end of the day, I was as proud as I have ever been of anybody when she walked across that stage and got that diploma. As hundreds of graduates walked across the stage, I wondered about each of them and what it took for them to get there. Perhaps for some, it had been smooth sailing, kind of like myself who had the support system to help me navigate through the financial and logistical challenges of receiving a college education. But for others, perhaps no one really knew what they had been through to "see it through" to that day.

This weekend I finished a book that was quite inspirational and moving. In some ways, it reminded me of my friend, although her situation hadn't been quite as drastic as the author of this book. It was a memoir of a woman who is now about my age who grew up in New York in the 1980's in an absolutely deplorable situation. Her parents were heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol and she spent most of her childhood truant from school, hungry, and eventually homeless at the age of 15. She lived on the streets for several years and at the age of 17 had one high school credit. She had never in her life attended school consistently and had had no desire to do so. However at some point, the author found some motivation within herself to change the direction of her life and decided to go back to high school. After much searching and being turned away multiple times, she was accepted into an alternative high school, although she was still homeless. She didn't want anyone to know she was was homeless because she had spent a brief time in a group home and had determined that she would rather be on the streets than experience that again. (Meanwhile, her mother died of AIDS and her father ended up in a men's shelter, also HIV positive). Within 2 years, she caught up on all her credits and was able to graduate high school. She ended up receiving a New York Times scholarship and was eventually accepted to Harvard University, where she graduated in 2009.

Yes, I must admit I was quite misty-eyed by the time I reached the end of the book and completely inspired by this woman who overcame pretty much the most heart-breaking childhood anyone could imagine...with really very little guidance or support until she got connected at the alternative high school. Her resilience, her ability to keep going, her ability to set a goal and envision a different life for herself was amazing. This kind of self-determination is rare, but I saw it in my friend from Baylor....I see it in my former student Dezeray (who I talk about all the time)...and then there are others that perhaps I don't see it yet, but it's there. All we have to do is help them uncover it...give them a direction to take it. As educators, we can never assume that a kid isn't capable of this kind of story. Many times in her search to return to school, the author was turned away because she was too far behind, had a history of truancy, a troubled past. She wasn't "worth" the risk, worth investing in....yet because someone gave her one more chance she ended up at the most prestigious university in America. Every single day in my work in education, a kid surprises me. Every day. We tend to get jaded, disillusioned, disenchanted....yet we have to be careful to never assume a kid is "too far gone". Somewhere behind all the baggage, bad choices, abuse, neglect, lack of opportunity, whatever the case may be...somewhere behind all of that, there are kids who have something else. A mental toughness. A determination to change the trajectory of his or her life. A willingness to finish what is started. It is up to us to expect that out of every kid because we just never know who is capable of Harvard or Baylor or beyond.

Hmmmm....Blank

I have been thinking about blogging for quite some time but I can't ever seem to think of what I want to write about. So I don't write anything. I don't know what happened between me being an 8 year old novelist in my closet back in the day and now, but it just seems so much harder to write now than it did then!

Explanation of the post below this one...at our camp this summer we had a book club and I had the girls create a "glog" which is an interactive poster type thing as a sort of book report. (Go to www.glogster.com if you would like to know more about this). I thought the girls did a great job and I wanted to post their glogs on my blog (sounds like it could be a future Dr. Suess book) but couldn't quite figure it out. As you can see, the size was too large and I am not smart enough to figure out how to fix it. Anyways, it was a fun project and I highly recommend having your kids do something like this instead of your traditional report.

Summer flew by. We had another great summer program, I took a quick trip to Southern Oregon to see Crystal, and now we're back at school! I am attempting to scrounge up some motivation from somewhere for being a school librarian but I seem to be having a difficult time grasping any. There is actually something I would like to request people's prayers about but would rather not publicize on the blog at this point (not that thousands of people read it or anything) but if you could just keep me in mind over the next week or so...it would be appreciated!

Upcoming things to look forward to as fall approaches....
-Labor Day weekend in Farwell
-Possible Texas Rangers game in September with the Fletchers
-Possible Texas A&M football game with Buddy and Rosco
-Possible possible camping trip with the -Fletchers and Tricia somewhere between here and Missouri???
-Texas State Fair

So maybe I will start having something to blog about again soon!

Brieanna's Glog

A Reader's Dream Come True!

Some of you may have heard me mention the "MET Project" over the past year or so. I won't go into the details now, but basically, this was an extremely intensive, stressful, complicated national research project that our district chose to be a part of. I was designated as the school project coordinator (participation was supposed to be voluntary but that's not how it was presented to us...it was more of a directive) which ended up being one of the most, shall we say, challenging experiences of my professional life so far. Anyways, after 18 months of headaches, frustrations, etc. etc. the project is finally over and I can focus on the perks!! As the SPC, if I met certain deadlines along the way, I could receive extra incentives. I ended up getting four Barnes and Nobles gift cards, as well as a new Ipod Nano Touch. The gift cards hadn't been in my hands but a couple of hours and I was on my way to Barnes and Noble to redeem them for my long-awaited one of these.....



Isn't it beautiful?? Definitely worth all the stress of the past year to be able to get this almost free. I fortunately was able to get the latest version of the Nook Color, which has so many neat capabilities that it is almost as good as an Ipad in my opinion. Not only can I view books, magazines, and newspapers in color and with a touchscreen, but I can store music, photos, and files on the Nook, I can access Pandora and the web and watch streaming video over it, I can email from the Nook...it is amazing! It is everything I hoped it would be! The only downside is not being able to purchase books quite as cheaply as say used books from Amazon, but I think that as e-readers become more popular, there will be more available for free from public libraries and other sources.

I'm so excited about my new toys...just in time for summer reading! And working out with the cute little Ipod! Every now and then hard work actually pays off!! :-)

My Daddy!

Wow, this semester was quite intense! I think I warned everyone that I might be MIA for awhile and it turns out my predictions were more than correct. In some ways, I feel I have worked harder the past couple of months than I ever have, but that might not be true. Just felt like it there for awhile. Between my job as a librarian, and my new apparent position of being an on-call substitute at my school, being the school project coordinator for the MET Project, working four days a week at the Boys and Girls Club, working every other Saturday for Upward Bound, taking 6 hours of master's classes, helping my friend coordinate his school's field day, tutoring on Sunday afternoons, and planning the grand finale for the CDM education department last weekend.....I was, shall we say, busy. Many of those things are now complete or almost complete so I'm feeling much better. Now just to gear up for the summer camp....:-) I think this summer will feel like a vacation, only working ONE job and being done at 4pm everyday...I won't know what to do with myself! Hmmm, maybe do things like work out, drink water, and go to bed on time to start with!

Anyways, since it seems I have somewhat started a tradition of talking about my appreciation for various family members on this blog, I would like to take this very special day, May 25, to talk about my wonderful pops on his birthday. The older I get and the more people I meet and especially the more kids and young people I interact with, I realize more and more how blessed I was to have the dad I did growing up. The more I talk to people, I realize what a rarity it is becoming to have a stable, consistent, godly, hard-working, honorable dad in one's life...but I have always had that and I am so grateful. Now that I've been an adult for awhile, I look back at how we were raised and I just don't think my dad and mom could have done a better job...and much of that is due to my dad's hard work, sacrifice, and leadership. When I think of my dad, the three words that come to mind are hard work, character, and sacrifice. A vivid memory from my childhood is sitting in church with my dad, holding his hand, and feeling the roughness and callousness of his skin...skin that was leathery from hard manual labor. For almost 30 years, he has gotten up six days a week to carry mail all day and then head to the farm to work many days until past dark. During the summer months when irrigating, he gets up before the sun comes up and sometimes doesn't get to stop working until the sun has been down for quite awhile. I remember sometimes going to bed without seeing my dad because he was still in the field. I remember him coming in late at night, tired, dirty, and smelling like tractors, dust, and grease, but I liked that smell. He never really enjoyed his mail route job, but it was a sacrifice he made year after year in order to provide for our family. On top of these two jobs, my dad has had pretty much a third job at church all these years, being the one that in many ways holds everything together there. He taught our Bible classes, led our singing, handled the finances, and much more. He showed us the example that our faith and our church should ALWAYS come first, no matter what else was going on or what other responsibilities we may have. My dad is also one of the most honest and honorable men I have ever known. He wouldn't cheat anyone or anything half a cent even if he had the chance. He is absolutely trustworthy in every way and his example truly stands out in a world where even Christians often are blurring the lines between right and wrong, honest and dishonest, fair and unfair. My dad is a very wise manager of finances and as a result he has the ability to be quietly generous in so many ways. I also think my dad was able to strike the perfect balance in allowing my brothers and me to have an enjoyable, carefree childhood while still instilling principles of hard work and responsibility in us. He also found the perfect balance in helping us make the transition to adulthood smoothly. I went to college with kids who either had absolutely no help from their parents or else had the proverbial silver spoons in their mouths, but I was fortunately somewhere in between...I had to work and do my part, but my parents were there to help me get through my education. My dad somehow knew just how much to do to help us without becoming a crutch for us. I get emotional when I think of how much he and my mom did without over the years to be able to get into a financial position to help us get started in life, and as a result, we have all been able to become independent and productive without too much stress or struggle. Another thing I love about my dad is he always treats people right. He treats our family right, he treats people in the community right, he treats strangers right. I never heard my dad curse or talk ugly in all my years of being around him. He just minds his business, works hard, and enjoys simple things. He doesn't need attention or praise or "things" to be happy. He is very humble and quiet, but he is also very wise. I just think I have the best dad in the world and I'm more thankful all the time for him! I can't wait for this time next year when he will finally get to retire from the post office and really have time to do the things he enjoys...he has definitely earned that right more than anybody!

There is so much more to say, but most of the people who will read this already know my dad and they know that no one could really describe him the way he deserves in a couple of paragraphs. He might not even read this but I just wanted the world to know what a great man and great father Mr. Weldon Embry has been to me!! Happy birthday!!

A Special Lady

Today is my grandmother's birthday, so I would like to say a few words in tribute of "MaMa." I am so thankful that I was blessed to grow up around all my grandparents and that I have had them for so many years of my life, including MaMa. "MaMa's house" was pretty much one of my favorite places in the world growing up....it has this certain smell that when I got home and unpacked my bag I would just sit and sniff my clothes because I loved it so much. Looking back, I see how patient MaMa must have been because I was always asking her to get something out or to show me how to do something....from painting pictures in the "little house" to teaching me to embroider and crochet to giving me driving lessons or getting out all the old photo albums or exploring the cellar or watching Little House on the Prairie reruns, MaMa always made sure I was happy and entertained! (This is in between making sure PaPa was taken care of and that meals were cooked, etc.) I used to also enjoy sitting with MaMa in church because I could count on her having a little notebook and pen for me to write with and, most importantly, gum in her purse. Other favorite activities were putting rollers in her hair for her (beauty shop!) or having beauty pageants in the bathroom in her nightgowns and high heels with Holly, Cindy, and Tammy or helping to can the green beans or check on the garden. And there's nothing like her homemade rolls or chocolate pie or ice cream or cream puffs....I probably shouldn't get started on the food list....it could go on for awhile! :-) I just have so many memories that bring a smile to my face and they wouldn't have been possible without my grandmother who I love dearly and am so happy to celebrate today! Thank you, MaMa, for giving me so many special memories over the years and for loving us so much!