I just finished the necessary evil of filling out the taxes and sending in the financial aid papers. I love that we can do all that on line now. It took about an hour to do both my taxes and Bec’s and to do my financial aid forms. Maybe, next year I will qualify for some type of financial aid. I doubt it. Apparently, with a gross income of 26,000 dollars, I should still have almost 5,000 dollars available to pay for college. I am not sure how that works out, but I guess when the “poverty level” income for a single person is only 19,000 in Indiana that extra 2,000 dollars a year that I would have left after paying for college should pay for books, etc. I find it strange that in this amazing “land of opportunity” that we can’t find some other way to help people go to school!
I am not talking about my own needs here; I CAN pay for school and pay bills. But, I also know that if I were a poor, uneducated person who came from a family of people who held menial labor jobs, I would not know how to survive on $26,000 and pay for school, books, expenses, and the like. Or maybe I would know better how to do it! Would college even be on my radar, though? I just read a great story about a student in Indianapolis who grew up homeless and in foster care. He went to college and now works as a counselor at his church. He works to provide community for college students who have no other community: homeless teens, first generation college students, and people who are far from home. This is what the world is about.
This is what I seek to do with my life. I would love to start a program for the community that helps first generation college graduates with acclimation to college life, that provides community for them, and that gives a strong support system to those students who are statistically the least likely to succeed. Maybe this is the reason I plan to teach college. Maybe this is the reason I am drawn to teaching at a two-year school or a smaller college? I just think there is so much more going on in students’ lives than what we see on the surface. I want to create community for them in a new and real way. I am not sure that I do. But I try.
EDIT:
Stuff from my other, old, defunct blog.
I thought quite a bit about going out for lunch today, but then I reminded myself that part of the reason I am vegan is to save money. Besides I have a whole bunch of “sloppy joe’s” left, so I had those for dinner. For breakfast I had a cookie that I made last night. I used a standard oatmeal cookie recipe, but baked them in bars. I also added carob chips, graham flour, bananas (instead of eggs), cayenne pepper, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and coconut. The little bars are a veritable Tropical Luau in my mouth, and the cayenne gives them just the kick they need and deserve! They are the perfect little snack or breakfast item, and they are fall apart goodness. As you can tell, they are spectacular, probably the best thing I have made recently.
My plan is to make several things to freeze for when school goes back in session. I will be in paper writing (and grading) madness, so having some frozen delicacies ready to thaw or bake would be pretty helpful.
The dogs and I walked for about an hour and a half this morning. I was a little saddened to see that we had really only covered about 3.4 miles because of all the stopping to roll in the snow (Lily) and peeing on things (Sydney)! We plodded merrily along and were no worse for wear when we arrived at home. I worry sometimes about the salt on the sidewalks and roads when there has been a lot of snow, but the dogs don’t seem to mind much. They just stop periodically and drink from puddles, standing in them to let the water cover their feet. I know the salt is hard on their pads, but you would never know by watching them walk.
Reason Breeds Insanity 