summer is well under way! i see i have at least one loyal reader left. ucla writing project is an amazing experience! the opportunity to be in a roomful of very competent fellow teachers with sound pedagogy and practices, and sharing all our ideas, and having amazing guest speakers... is just, wow. on friday i got to meet linda christensen of rethinking schools magazine. i'm nearly on the verge of idolizing her. i give her much respect for the work that she does and how she exemplifies it in real life. practice and theory bound into one. i aspire to be there. she encouraged me to write a piece to publish in the magazine. me? publish? i dunno man... scary. apparently the writing project i'm in is just part of the entire national writing project. they're scoping us out for publishing opportunities and conference presentations/workshops. and on top of all this i get paid to participate. =) lovin it. the only hard part is digging deep into my past and revisiting times and feelings that i've put to rest. writing about that stuff ain't easy. lotsa self reflection and analysis going into our own writing, as well as learning about teaching writing. make sense?

on mondays and wednesday evenings i drive up to CSUN to teach an 11th grade writing class. most of the students are from westchester high. crazy cuz my fellow educator who i play soccer with teachers at westchester and we have a couple of the same students. i love teaching high school!!! i need to hurry up and look into getting a secondary credential. i love my 3rd graders and all, but the depth of conversation i could do with secondary level students! most of my students at this summer outreach program are african-american, one pilipino, and one vietnamese. they're DOPE. so much fun. =)

thursday korean drumming practice has begun and i'm totally lovin it too! i can't help but be happy about things right now. reconnecting with my roots and helping out my people. last saturday i volunteered for national citizenship day, which was an amazing experience! we helped almost 2,000 immigrants apply for naturalization. dozens of lawyers came to volunteer, i was helping folks in both korean and spanish, my dad and brother came out to help... my friends that i recruited came out... a beautiful beautiful thing.

soccer is huge in my life now too. what with the world cup, the copa comunidad soccer tournament on saturday (our team tied for the championship, and 2 goals by yours truly!), and regular soccer on sunday evenings... life is good. i'm getting plenty of exercise, frequenting the beach, hanging out with good folks, staying involved in the people's work, teaching high school youth, getting my learn on, eating and cooking yummy food, and in the company of a very cool someone i'm getting to know =) things are good...and soon i'll be off to guatemala! ooh, but i'm getting immunizations tomorrow. =(

but saturday.. is my birthday! i always look forward to being in the comforting company of good friends. =) it's that time of year again, the one opportunity when i let myself get drunk enough to tell everyone how much i love them.