Tag: friday photo

Friday Photo: Knowledge

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Jennifer Wolfe

Viewing the United States Capitol Building in Washington D.C. for the first time stopped me dead in my tracks. I wasn’t expecting such majesty and grandeur to rise out of the trees and look down over the city. Maybe it’s from growing up in California-we just don’t have history that is so universal. Everything in D.C. is grounded in our forefathers’ vision for the American Dream.

I also wasn’t expecting the fascinating experience I had in the Visitor’s Center. Located in the publicly accessible area of the Capitol, the Center offers a comprehensive display of all aspects of United States history.

Looming large on the entrance wall, plaques proclaim key values of our country. Catching my eye, naturally, the word ‘knowledge’ jumps out at me. As I took a closer look, the text spoke to me: “Knowing that democracy flourishes best in an open environment with an educated citizenry, Congress has promoted public education…”

Is our forefather’s message still accurate? Does our democracy still flourish? Can our children still hope for the American Dream?

Are we advocating for educated citizenry in this time of education cutbacks, pink slips, and layoffs? Is this really an open environment for our children, when they are told if they work hard, take the right courses and score well on standardized tests they will be rewarded with a college education, yet that reward will strap them with debt for decades?

Knowledge definitely is power. The question is, who has control?

primark

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

Friday Photo: Schizophrenic Spring

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Jennifer Wolfe

I woke up and realized it was actually spring. Well, sort of. According to the calendar, according to the blooms, according to the upcoming switch to Daylight Savings Time, that is. According to me, it feels like I’m still stuck in the darkness of winter. It has my brain and body scrambled and in a state of constant confusion.

At my day job, I’m teaching kids what they need to know now and telling them how to prepare for the future. I’m scrambling to complete all my school year expectations while planning for the next crop of students to arrive in late August.

My weekday central California mornings are just above freezing, but steadily warm during the day. My Sierra weekend mornings are far below freezing, but eventually warm and turn the snow to slush.

In the morning I want to turn on the heat, but know in the afternoon I will want to throw open the windows. I wear a wool coat to work, but strip down to a single layer by noon.

I’m washing woolen ski socks, fleece long underwear and baseball uniforms in the same load. I have a baseball bag on one seat of the car, and a ski bag on the other.

Hot, steaming coffee brings me into the day, and cool diet Pepsi keeps me going into the dark.

The weather report calls for sunny days this weekend and rainy days next week. The trees are blooming, partway.

At home, my son is growing out of sixth grade and growing excited about moving to the junior high school. My daughter is planning for junior year classes to prepare her for college admissions.

I feel like I’m half way there, too. Balancing between two jobs, two lives, two of everything and never quite whole of either. Sometimes blooming, sometimes dormant.

And I’m all mixed up. Some days it feels like the best I can do is just make it to bedtime in one piece. On others, I have the energy to take on the world and then some.

Do you feel it, too? Is it a schizophrenic spring in your world, or am I the only crazy one?

Jennifer Wolfe

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

Parenting Athletes: How I Do It

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Jennifer Wolfe

Parenting athletes requires particular obligations-some sport specific, some general to having athletic kids living in the house. Until they move out, we are responsible for keeping track of practices, purchasing equipment and locating lost parts of uniforms.

We calendar games, attend training clinics and volunteer to work in snack shacks or host end of the season banquets. We learn how to run a scoreboard, rake a field and wax skis.

Parents write the checks for tuitions and races, replace cleats on what seems like a monthly basis, and stock the pantry with excessive amounts of food to feed their famished bellies. We know the value of having duffel bags for each sport, and invest in sturdy folding chairs, seat cushions and endless tubes of SPF 45 sunscreen.

Parenting athletes means we wash mouth guards and uniforms, and know the value of Oxi Clean to make grass stains disappear. We wait in cars and on benches for practices to end, and we trudge through heat, wind, rain, and snow to show our supportive faces.

People always ask me how I do it. Why do I drive 125 hours each way, every weekend, to transport my children to a ski hill in the wee hours of the morning. My answer? I just do. Everyone has a busy life. Everyone has places to go, people to see, things to do, jobs to work. And I don’t sleep much.

When your kids have a passion for something, parents make it work. It’s what we do. Our payment is the smile on their faces as they finish a race course, the laugh that erupts as they play with friends in the snow, and the comfort of knowing exactly where they are every weekend night-asleep early in their beds to prepare for the next morning’s 7:00 a.m. training runs.

That’s how I do it. And the why? The photo my daughter texted I received from my daughter last weekend at 7:15 a.m. from the top of Squaw Valley says it all.

She knows a good thing when she sees it. Me, too.

Jennifer Wolfe

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

Friday Photo: City By Dark

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Jennifer Wolfe

Traveling in a new city can be intimidating. Add to that traveling alone, in a new state, using unfamiliar public transportation, and you have a recipe for a pretty intense experience. I’m too stubborn, though, to let a little dark get in the way of what I want.

Having never before visited the nation’s capitol, I was determined to do the tourist things. I’m not shy about asking for help, advice, directions, or anything else that will keep me from doing what I want and seeing all the city has to offer.

Last night was one such experience. After dinner I headed to the metro, and introduced myself to Calvin, the friendly older gentleman in charge of the L’Enfant Metro Station at night. He couldn’t have been happier to help this California girl navigate herself around the city.

After assuring me there were ‘lots of police’ out at night, he directed me onto the ‘blue line’ towards the capitol. Upon exiting the underground stop I was astonished to be the only person within sight-and it was 8:30 p.m. on a Friday night!

Heading towards the Capitol Building I was struck by the majestic glow coming through the barren trees. The strength, beauty and majesty of our country shone brightly, and I began circling the grounds to see it from every angle. Turning, I caught a glimpse of the Washington Memorial towering high in the sky, lit up like a beacon. I began walking, sure that there would be more undiscovered beauty waiting for me along the way.

Walking the city alone, in the dark, may not be for everyone. But for me the calm and solitude of the chilly night was the perfect backdrop for the brillance I encountered. And I didn’t have to share it with anyone else-it was all for me tonight.

Are you letting something get in your way?

Jennifer Wolfe

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

Friday Photo: Back to the Future

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Jennifer Wolfe

Some days I wish for that machine from ‘Back To The Future’ – the one where I could climb in and time travel backwards. In the movie, Marty McFly found himself thirty years back in 1955, smack in the middle of his parent’s romance.

Mainly, I’d travel back to beautiful places I’ve been in my life. I’d love the convenience of pushing a button and finding myself in a new location. If I felt like great adventures, I’d go to Nicaragua. For youthful abandon, I’d wake up in a hostel in Amsterdam. Missing my childhood pen pal? I’d go back to Yorkshire, England. Nostalgia for family who have passed on would send me back to Sherman Oaks, California. A yearning for academic stimulation would find me in Berkeley.

Today I want to jump in with Marty and travel back to the place where generations of my family have landed before me. I want to walk on the soft white sand towards the lone Cyprus. I want to climb over to Bird Rock and peek into the Whaler’s Cabin at Point Lobos. I want to climb Hawk Tower and stare into the Pacific, imagining Jeffer’s view from the early 1900s. I want to watch my babies bury themselves in the sand of the Bird Sanctuary Beach and giggle as they wiggle their toes free.

Then tomorrow I’ll be back in 2012, immersed in life as I know it today. I’ll be driving from mountain to mountain, cheering my children as they catapult down the ski run. I’ll be packing lunches and loading skis, grading papers and doing laundry, unloading groceries and washing dishes.

But just for today, could you open the door and let me have a moment just for me?

Jennifer Wolfe

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:

Related articles