Sunday, February 7, 2010

Breakfast: oatmeal with organic flame raisins, organic cinnamon, organic nonfat milk; 8 ounces of Odwalla orange juice. Stretches. Weight training: shrug and other exercises. Grocery shopping at Safeway. Cheese rice snacks; mini pizzas with basil garlic marinara sauce, organic monterey jack cheese, and sliced mushrooms; 8 ounces of Odwalla carrot juice. House chores: vacuuming. Nap. Dinner at psychobauble and Nate's: appetizers: jalapeno cheese, goat cheese, crackers; main course: white bean soup, bread, butter; dessert: homemade pistachio ice cream, waffle cookies. Stretches. Weight training: crunch, bridge. Answered this question on Formspring: Question: Why can't you just answer the question? Answer: I've answered every question given to me in Formspring. Just because the answer didn't satisfy you doesn't mean I didn't answer the question. It's also unclear which question you mean. I give specific answers only when I feel they are true. I would rather give a non-specific answer that is true rather than a specific answer that is false.—Answered this question on Formspring: Question: Who was the best teacher you've ever had? Answer: I really don't care for questions that ask for answers in a superlative because if you give a superlative answer it prevents you from granting the respect that could well be due those who were not chosen. I think that it's very unlikely that any of my former teachers will see this response, but I still think it's unfair to pick only one and hold that person in higher regard than all others. (If there were a clear winner, I would say so, but here I think there is not.) Also, like the question earlier about memory and food, I think it's unfair to select a best teacher because what's best to a child isn't what's best to a teenager or to a college student—how can such comparisons be considered fair? And students are not always the best judges of what makes the best teacher—sometimes administrators or peers are. I was educated in the public school system in Anaheim, California, then at UC Santa Cruz for college and almost every one of my teachers seemed to have a passion for his or her work and a genuine caring for students and their learning, and I am thankful for all the teachers I have had. I think I turned out pretty well under their care.