Delights: August 25 to August 31

August 25: After I updated my book group on my precipitous fall out of retirement, three women spoke up: “Can we come to your classroom?” Sure, I said, as I reached for my notebook to record their names and preferred dates. “So you want to read something aloud to the kids?” I asked. “No! We just want to watch you!”

August 26: A student’s mom emailed me late this afternoon; her child told her “It was the best the school birthday party I’ve ever had!” Of course, the kids did it all: the Party Team whipped up a celebratory poster (with turtles), a Birthday King crown (in green), and a big surprise greeting when he walked into the room. They (literally) kowtowed to “the King,” gladly assented to his request to be Line Leader for the day, and asked to take his photograph for the newsletter. The Birthday King glowed. 

And that’s not all. According to early polling of likely voters, things seem to be going pretty well. As we were all packing our bags for Friday dismissal, a 4^th grader came up to me. “I had a great week,” she announced. Why? “The teachers.”

I needed that. I also definitely needed to stop for one (or two) beers on my way home. 

August 28: I’m running late again. Not for school, where I routinely arrive well before the students, but for the Frank Stewart exhibit at the Phillips Collection. Jeremiah had raved about the show, and I thought I’d have plenty of weekdays before its Labor Day closing. Oops, maybe not. So I grabbed a now-very-precious Sunday afternoon and dashed to the exhibition.

Back when it was established, the Phillips Collection was one of the first art museums to feature work by living artists. They’ve maintained that tradition. For over 30 years, Stewart was the senior staff photographer for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. He sketched with his camera, capturing faces, moments, geometries and rhythms around the world, with a particular emphasis on Black life and ritual.

As I arrived, a docent invited educators to “notice” details of a particular photograph and “wonder” about the situation, story and characters. I use “notice & wonder” in my classroom (and I guess I’m now an educator), so I almost joined the cluster. And then I checked myself: this is my weekend; I will notice & wonder at my own pace and in front of my own choices. And I will savor it all.

August 29: “Mrs. Siciliano! Mrs. Siciliano!” called a fourth-grader with a sticker on her forehead. “You need some makeup.” True. I wear earrings, necklaces, and bright clothing, but never makeup. I approached the girl and leaned in. 

She fluttered the edge of a sticker softly over my cheeks and chin. I removed my eyeglasses, and she creased a delicate line over my eyebrows. “Corgi! Corgi!” called her companion. My aesthetician accepted the Corgi sticker. “I’m giving you eye liner.” I closed my eyes and enjoyed a soft precise trace of the Corgi under my lower eyelashes. 

“You look beautiful!” my artist announced. I felt beautiful too.

August 31: I was about to tell you about a student who decided to tuck a pencil sideways between her upper lip and nose (think mustache) and then, tipping her head sideways, attempted to write with it.

But instead I’ll tell you about bridges. My sister-in-law Karolina texted me this afternoon, just hours after I used a milk carton to demonstrate how the Roeblings used caissons to build the Brooklyn Bridge. (Really, that was relevant: I was talking about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge & Tunnel as part of our unit on Virginia’s geography, and the kids wanted to know how to build a bridge (and a tunnel) without water getting in.) 

On the same wave length, Karolina sent me a note mentioning that her father was a civil engineer specializing in waterworks, and that he was in charge of building the first set of ice breakers on Prague’s magnificent Charles Bridge. I also learned that the 14^th century Charles Bridge is the only one of Prague’s bridges to have a defense against the accumulation of ice.

So cool. I can’t wait to tell the kids.

Bonus: Look who popped up in the Phillips’ Frank Stewart exhibit!

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