Friday, March 09, 2007

Whatever you do, do it well!

Like my previous post said, I'm just not sure where February went. I think we spent most of it indoors, since the average temp was, well-COLD! I knew going back to work fulltime would be stressful and wouldn't have a whole lot of extra time...so spending time with the family has been first and foremost...then comes grading, then we do the dishes, etc...

We had the pleasure of seeing some college friends last weekend...long story short-Dave was friends with Margaret Norwood during their years at Hastings College. Margaret wrote a screenplay. One of the characters was based on Dave. The screenplay got turned into a film, and they brought it to Omaha for the Omaha Film Festival last weekend. http://omahafilmfestival.org Yeah Margaret and Matthew Noorwood and Terry Gsell! (Sorry, Terry, for butchering your last name!) Kudos to Jason Levering (also an Aurora High Schoool and Hastings College Alum) and all the folks who worked to make it possible for Omaha to actually have a movie festival!

I am trying to include into my daily classroom rituals one of my favorite details I noticed in Margaret's movie, Independance, in one of the scenes, the bank marquee had this scrolling past: "Whatever you do, do it well." I am trying to remember that everyday as I get focused before my students arrive, hoping it will rub off on them. (Especially my 8th graders....they focus so much on trying to give off the illusion that they're "bad." Trying to get them to attempt to do well on anything and not be embarrased about having success is like trying to herd cats...)

I felt in awe through most of the movie...I remember Margaret and Terry (I was a freshman) in their last year of college completing their music degrees, always amazing on stage, and always seeming like they really had it together. It did not surprise me when Dave got an e-mail from Maraget saying her screenplay was becoming a reality. http://babylionproductions.com

Whatever you do, do it well!

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