Back in the Fog

Back to school today and the drive through the fog on the way down was a white-knuckled, grip-the-steering wheel sort of commute.  The fog was so dense that I completely passed my normal turnoff and could only glance helplessly at the street sign as I crept along past it at a dizzying 30 mph.  But I made it to school in one piece and before the bell rang.  A group of students, waiting in front of my classroom, descended on me as I tottered towards them, rolling crate in tow.  They all began chattering at once about everything wonderful/awful/weird that had happened in their young lives during the past two weeks, and did a remarkably good job of diverting my attention from my recent blind 25 mile drive through grey nothingness.  Nine year olds will do that!

As is often the case, the first day back from break was both long and very fast moving.  My favorite part of it was after lunch when the students sat on the carpet and I read them a Native American folktale called "Coyote and the Grasshoppers."  I really get into the Trickster Coyote stories and do my best to make sure that my young audience does too.  I got into full storyteller mode, giving distinct voices to Coyote (whose job it was to take care of the problem of a plague of grasshoppers by eating them) and the Great Spirit (the one who, much to the delight of my students, gave Coyote this distasteful task).  I especially liked being the Great Spirit.  When I spoke as him, I looked down from on-high as I serenely commanded whining, reluctant Coyote to eat the grasshoppers.  And the children, absolutely still and wide-eyed, looked up towards me as though it really was the Great Spirit speaking.  It's incredibly gratifying when, in this age of multi-media technology, a woman holding a book and sitting in a chair can transport a group of children (and, I'll admit it, herself) into a tale that's been told around campfires for a very, very long time.

I got home just after the sun had set.  I changed and took the dogs for a walk -- two vigorous laps around the pond.  The moon overhead was so bright that it cast shadows.