1. Whoa.

2. When I first heard of the possibility of piezoelectric dance floors, I was ecstatic. This phenomenon has been a long time coming, and now it’s on the WEST COAST. Can’t wait to hit one up.

When I was in eighth grade, I had a teacher named Ms. Clark. She changed my life. I was very unhappy at that point, as many surly adolescents are. I felt isolated and lost and friendless and impotent to change any of it.

Ms. Clark was a badass. She respected her students. She spoke to us like adults, and we were expected to act like adults. She expected the best work each of us could muster (I received one of my few B’s from her). She challenged me daily.

We wrote response papers on Frost poems and Smashing Pumpkins lyrics. We watched The Eye of the Storm and The Wave. Every reading and writing assignment was specifically engineered to teach us to be radical individuals. At an age when kids are both making choices that will guide the rest of their lives and, at the same time, most susceptible to peer pressure, I was fortunate enough to have a teacher who stressed, over and over again, how vital it was for us to develop our own opinions, use our own judgment, and be proud of the conclusions we came to. She de-stigmatized “Different” and gave me the confidence to devlope my identity.

How many other people out there remember what they did in eighth grade?

Exactly.

Ms. Clark was an incredibly exceptional teacher. I will readily admit that I am and have always been a relatively affluent nerd who had the time and desire to do well in school. Ms. Clark wasn’t teaching in a ghetto (at least not when she taught me). But the fact remains – she was extraordinary in the most literal sense of the word.

And so, the question is, will the school district be all Ms. Clarks if this woman has her way? Because I’m inclined to say that almost any sacrifice would be worth an army of people that powerful. I like people (in theory) who don’t have time for smalltalk and get things done. But on the other hand, test scores used as the sole measuring stick always leave me wary, and dumping a bunch of people out on their asses *might* not be the best way to get things done. I’m really torn on this one. I can’t decide if I love her or hate her.

What do you think?

Another must read, though priceless in a completely different way.

“It’s something they need to assist them in daily living.” Why of course it is.

If you haven’t seen this, you need to read Section I right now. It’s priceless.