What’s this? Is this Jayne Pynes come calling at this weblog, commenting in this post? Yes, it is. And thus some background.
Jayne (and correct me if this is true–are you done with the Rhet/Comp Ph.D?) is one of my oldest and best friends back in El Paso, along with her husband, Pat, a potent historian and Ph.D candidate at the University of Texas at El Paso. The history goes farther back to Catholic church and other familiarities. All of us were very close in undergraduate and grad school and had lots of adventures. My wife and I still cringe at the image of a heavy ladder almost taking off Jayne’s legs during a paint job at our old house.
Moves have separated us and yet while separated we’ve maintained contact (somewhat) and hope to hook up again for more games in the future. It’s tough with children on both sides and growing families and lots of work to keep everyone busy. And now Jayne tells me she’ll be hitting the classroom at Coronado, one of our nemeses in high school.
Thanks for stopping by, Jayne. Come back and often.
Dear Steve (and Susan, Kendra, Sam, and Jordan):
It is, indeed, I. And you do have most of it correct. Believe it or not, I didn’t even remember the ladder. I do remember your wedding (10 years!–the date on the calendar and thinking it had been 10 year since I was pregnant with Eryn lead me to you all, yet again), tutoring, American literature with Taylor, Brit Lit with Gladstein and Dick, trivial games, The River Runs Through It, and many times wishing you all were closer, etc…
One point: I did think of enrolling in the PhD program, but I didn’t do it; I am working, from time-to-time, on an MA in Rhet/Comp. I had some major health issues, and I just couldn’t add that to my plate. I may still someday.
But for now, I am delving into the exciting world of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocal (SIOP) with 9th graders at one nemesis high school (I interviewed at Austin as well, with Mr. Pokluda — did you ever have journalism with him? So I covered both nemeses). I will see what I can do to put a bit of the Tiger into the Thunderbird…
As far as teaching goes, I’d been headed in that direction for some time. My job at UTEP (pre-med program) hasn’t been stable due to funding issues, my Mom got ill (the kids have spent the summers with her), and continually playing with the idea that I wanted to be directly working with students, not with the Business Information System at UTEP, all pointed me back to the classroom. So, I headed back and forward, back into the classroom and forward into Texas public education. This excites me and scares the heck out of me.
Well, I stayed up late finishing the latest Harry Potter last night (Eryn got me hooked about 3 years ago), but it’s wonderful reconnecting with you all.
Please do me the favor of passing my email on to Susan.
Affectionately,
J