the sad thing is none of my eighth grade blog so no one can fill everyone else in on the wonders of the Golden Dragon… 🙂

“five brothers and a million sisters” – let’s just start with the best book I read this week – a bio on the NKOTB – new kids on the block – I guess take whatever band you’re currently loving, and let’s assume it’s a group of guys about 10 years older than you – and have that group fall off the face of the earth five years from now, only to resurface 15 years later awesomely – and then get the chance to read their story, you might then understand the joy I had reading this book – just great – I guess my favorite fact is that four of the five went to elementary school together

“the barack Obama story” – this was the major book I finished this week – great biographer, david maraniss, who basically wrote the story of the president’s life to Harvard grad school – the biographer started with barack’s great-grandparents – in Kansas and in Kenya – just an amazing story to me b/c even as the president grew up, no one could see the path his life would take him – just a remarkable story in the sense that you never know what the things you go through now are preparing you for later in life

“quiet” – I was disappointed in this book – but I think it was b/c I read a book in the summer, “quiet kids” that pretty well gave me most of this book as well – introverts rule the world, regardless!!! and this book further proves that point (I mean, I think it now annoys me that all the workers at publix have to speak to me – I’m like, “just leave me alone – I don’t have the energy to shop AND tell you hello…”

“the year of living biblically” – this book was sad to me – the author spent a year trying to follow a bunch of rules – eight months with the OT and four with the NT – and, very predictably, and the end, he decided that while an agnostic, he was now a more spiritual agnostic for having done this – so basically, one man’s search to find God on man’s terms – which is to an extent all of our stories unless we believe God actually makes an attempt, or THE attempt, to find us and we have just one path to follow – the gimmickness of the book distressed me

happy MLK tomorrow
maf

okay, read two books and working on a monster one:)

“flapjacks” – something about them in the title – anyway, a very remarkable, well-written story about a british rower that overcame quite a lot to win a silver medal – and the unusual thing to me i guess, and to her, was just how remarkable and worth telling the story was – despite the fact we live in an age seemingly devoted to “winning” autobiographies – the title had to do with her mom’s world famous recipe for flapjacks (which was share – always a boost to have a biography serve a duel purpose – in this case, a cooking book:)

“game change” – story of the 2008 election – i read much of it during our delayed starts – and oh, how i’d forgotten some of the stories of edwards, palin, the clintons, and obama – well, he didn’t really have great stories – the others did though – very enjoyable book – i guess – on the other side, very disturbing book if these are the people we elect to office:)

maf

so the best think I did arts-wise last week was watch the 1970s musical “Godspell” – I’m a sucker for musicals anyway – and so that was a fun one to watch – high energy and everything

as for the reading, lots of it, just not sure how much of it was “great”…

“Christianish” by Steele – book about labels – and what it means to be considered a follower of someone – the author has a wry sense of humor so that was an added plus

“Nearing Home” by Graham – book on aging – on how to age properly – I think we all age – obviously – but Graham pointed out – very well – that we have a choice how we approach the process – and most people just tend to complain about all they can’t do anymore – the book was a great encouragement – made me thing about the old man I want to be one day:)

“Runner’s Book of Rules” – I got the awesome book as a Christmas gift – I read it in a day – it was that good – helped me learn that I shouldn’t go without a shirt next Sunday when I run Mobile – that’s against the book’s rules – but it is okay to pass gas while running in the group next week – that was okay – and stay away from ninja runners – I thought about wearing all black this morning so I could scare the running hobo in Chelsea park – but, alas, he wasn’t out there (or was he, and just in all black?)

“A Nice Little Place on the North Side” – YEAH for books on baseball – Cubs baseball in this case – Wrigley turns 100 this year – this book celebrates – and laments – the Cubs history – which is a good mix of celebration/lamentation

“Running Scared” – book on fears – and how to address them – like, I’m worried school will be uncanceled but this book helped me realize that’s a ridiculous fear – so there:)

probably four journals next week – so get started good people

maf

my money’s on rahracheel – Nicole parties too much, billy will be watching football, and fred will be, um, working overtime at the diner – yep – got it

and everyone be sure to post comments about fred’s jacket – I didn’t get to that one until today (see last week’s post and the last comment – well, last for now)

“love letters to the dead” – good high school book – works for eighth grade gifted – nothing terrible for younger kids, but I would wonder how much they’d get out of it – pet peeve? the “perfect” boyfriend is in the book – as is the phrase “all guys want the same thing” – okay, by that logic, the perfect boyfriend either doesn’t exist or else is very sinister – and all I want most days is a good bowl of Wheaties so what does that say about the rest of guys??? 🙂

“ruth and billy” – great example of why you always read the epilogue – when they’re included – oh, I forget – none of you read non-fiction – anyway, the best part of this book was after the book – the author, an older guy, commented that today is all about experience and connecting – that people aren’t interested so much in truth or prior knowledge as they are experiencing things and being a part of groups – and I see that as a very true statement of pop/current culture – so I learned something

“thinking fast and slow” – this was my proud book read – Harvard economist about the decisions people make – and how we tend to think fast about things – it’s our nature – and while that can be good – it can also be the wrong decision – for example, most stocks sold are sold at the absolute wrong time – even by professionals – in part b/c people are bad at math – and in part b/c we hate losing at things – so winners are sold much more than losers in the market – which is a mistake – my favorite part of the book was the brief mention about public education – that you have a small sample size so you can never trust edu stats b/c they will contain outliers until the school is big enough – a statement that essentially takes down all current educational thought – LOVED knowing that – will be frustrating not to share that one in meetings:)

happy new year

maf

so I decided to be all social yesterday and meet up with a group for a training run – and yep, six miles later, face down in the gutter with the skin off my hands and knees

so the lesson I learned??? running with people other than fred, sarah, and Nicole is rotten – and painful

“running free” – great classic book about the british miler seb coe – I think the book came out in ’83 – was basically wrapped up by the 1980 Olympics – I guess what I enjoyed most from the book was coe’s fearless determination after a bad performance in his first race at Moscow – he was written off – completely tossed aside – and he had the guts a couple of days later to get out there and win the gold in an event that wasn’t his strong suit – very inspiring

“Norwegian by night” – my first adult fiction book in years – I’m so diversified!!! anyway, an 82-year-old witnesses a crime – and his dementia prevents him being totally in the present, but his life’s memories and work help him protect a small child – all the while the police close in on the killer – really got good the further along one got

currently reading a great book involving why baseball players are overpaid – and why small schools both over and underperform – I should get a job with stats in education – but no one would listen to them

happy last-minute-shopping – if in doubt, yes, you definitely need to buy more:)

maf

ah, first grade…

so we didn’t get to my wonderful interactive site with sixth grade, www.todaysmeet.com/6grade, but the rest of the stories are up there right now for your last thoughts – www.todaysmeet.com/drmafeld, www.todaysmeet.com/fredsdiner, www.todaysmeet.com/thebirdisawaffle – I think I just put them in reverse order – drmafeld was eighth grade, fred’s was second block, and the waffle group is my first block group

“starting and closing” – by john smoltz – braves pitcher I grew up watching – big theme in the book was that of handling failure – that guys in the big leagues get there having never failed – and they have problems dealing with it – reminds me of gifted kids that have problems when things get hard for them – most panic and quit – so it was a good book if for just that lesson

“long run of myles mayberry” – gave it up – which is a shame b/c it’s set in boston and myles runs the marathon – but it was a bit too adult/mature/r for me – and that’s my pet peeve with fiction – something wonderful like the boston marathon and running can be ruined with talking about cheating on your wife who’s cheating on you – but still ends up having your baby…

“write on the bus” – from the national writing project – English teacher/soccer coach who had his players journal – I really like this idea of having kids explore what went right, what went wrong, after a game – and I’d love to do something similar in class

“the cancer chronicles” – made the ny times book of the year list – I could see why – good overview of cancer – how it develops – and why – and a proper way to respond – the tie-in to the writer’s ex-wife – and his brother – one survived cancer, one didn’t – made it all the more interesting

“the tao of chip Kelly” – coach of the eagles, former coach of the ducks – a book about his philosophy and how it’s just “perfect” – at least for this author:) good read – very middle school friendly – good for business people as well

happy final-ing

maf

yep, hard to act cool on a sideline when you realize fans are throwing TP down from the stands – it’s like “mmm, what a lovely game – TOILET PAPER – DUCK!!!”

i hardly read a thing yesterday in the midst of being at the game – still…

“capture the flag” and “stealing air” – i had the smart idea to read two elem BOBs this week – honestly, i guess i could’ve chosen worse – but neither was exceptional – that said, they also weren’t like 600 pages long and strange (like the high school BOBs can be) so it wasn’t that bad – and i’d actually recommend stealing air to most of you – it was entertaining – the flag book was just ultra typical – nothing new in it – but i did read it in a day – and that’s always a good thing

“yes, it’s hot in here” – great book coming out about living the life (the dream) as a major league mascot – the book looks into the history of mascots while also weaving personal stories about tryouts and life in the stands – it was a clever book – and made me watch Truman and Aubie a bit different yesterday

last week of journals in 2013 – i expect great things:)

maf

so this past week, I continued in my slack-ish ways and just read one book – technically, I finished another and read several magazines – and tried to work on scripture memory (2 Corinthians 8:7 and 9:7 if I remember right) – but I only count those typically when I’m slacking:)

“marathon man” by bill Rodgers – the last “haven’t read” running book I have that I had not read – really great book – Rodgers was underemployed, smoking, and basically going nowhere when he caught a vision of running – again – like he’d started in college – and over three year’s time, he transformed himself into a world-class marathoner – he won boston four times, starting in 1975 – and so the book reads well as a story of how hard work can bring us success, how we have a choice to become the best in us – and leave the rest aside – it inspired me – as my girl wendy does too:)

maf

so it seems like I was really, really productive this week in the books – dunno, I’m just awesome that way…

“flipped” – I had a girl give me this one to read – and one thing I know, you must read the books given to you by girls:) so flipped was read – enjoyed – it was cute – it was very predictable – it will probably lead to tragic misunderstandings b/ween girls that have crushes on boys who think that those boys, even though they are currently jerks, will change some day and develop crushes on the girl – and that never happens – you could tell the book was written by a woman – but hey, cute book about chicks:)

“notes from a totally lame vampire” – just creative and funny enough to keep me interested – and to like it a lot – basically, the story of an awkward teenage guy – and who doesn’t like those stories? he does transform from lame to awesome in the story, spoiler alert, but I think everyone would’ve been like “so what?” if there hadn’t been a change

“bro code for parents” – legendary book – legendary author – everyone should have four copies of this book – but maybe at like 18 – or 25 if they’re fat:)

“david and goliath” by gladwell – story of underdogs and giants – and how even though we think impossible odds get conquered every day, typically, the story is less heroic – there are typically logical reasons why the david’s of this world succeed – and we can all learn from those situations – to not have the pride and overconfidence when we’re in “our element” and to look for ways to attack when we’re overlooked – great read – the book got bad national reviews – but people can raise their expectations too high sometimes

“in the zone” Olympic medalist – two times – shared strategies of how to succeed in life – which he believes starts with faith in Christ – the guy had an awesome story – a story of overcoming long odds and difficult personal matters – very encouraging before I ran today – a race I totally rocked, by the way (ask me about my medal for bonus:)

happy thanksgiving – yes sixth grade (sarah b), you have to blog thanksgiving and black Friday – and during the iron bowl – slackers…

maf

ah, first grade on sunday mornings…

“running with the pack” – guys, when the important girl in your life takes a philosophy class, it’s important to read a book on the same subject so that you can interject randomly things like “you know, Spinoza might have been right about object-perception analysis” – and such and it sounds like you care about what she cares about – although, in all likelihood, she ended up in the class b/c Intro to Architecture by Ted Moseby was already filled – which is still okay b/c if the book is about philosophy AND running, hey, you still come out on top – even if you don’t know anything about what you read – even if it was about running – you know it’s bad when you’re reading about your favorite subject and you don’t even understand the book:)

“joy in mudville” – great picture book and companion to casey at the bat – joy is the relief pitcher called on to close out the ninth the next day for the Mudville nine – she does the job while proving that girls can play sports – although, the irony is that she doesn’t throw the ball at all in the matter of a baseball

“let me play” – I guess this week was my week for feminism – this book is in our room – the story of title ix and its importance in women’s athletics – women’s rights – really helped me remember lots of what I’d forgotten – and hopefully, lots of you will get to read this one b/c I have like 10 copies

“glory days” – let’s in the blog with a book about Alabama football – recaps important bama games through the years – I spotted errors – which always makes me feel smart – obviously, last night’s game wasn’t in the book (ugh… 🙂

so see everyone tomorrow – except for anna – our honorary nanowrimo CMS-er

maf