well, so long Deep South

Here is a beginning, a one act for moi, yours truly, Matthew Jensen III or, as I am now known, since my wedding, Matthew Lord. I am glad to be here (cyber-ly of course).

I am sitting in my hotel room in the deep south. I just finished packing up all my books and syllibi (plural for syllabus - you know, the thing that tells you what to do in front of your classroom) from my five week stint teaching for the Institute of Reading Development. I have been flying to Birmingham, Alabama (where they love the governor) every Friday for five of the past six weeks. This program I have been working for is really great and I have found that I love teaching. I suppose that makes sense as most of my friends and family have been telling me that I could be good at it since I was a young pup.
My classes consisted of students grades K-12 and adults as well. 8 different classes in all teaching various skills that work on a students knowledge of how to read, how to read faster, and how to enjoy reading more. Its pretty interesting to finally try something that you have felt so connected to but also very scared of for a long time. Ever since I was "removed" from the education department at Calvin College, I have felt that I needed to keep my distance from the front of a classroom. But this spark of classroom confidence has given me a new lease on life! Or teaching at least. I think I am going to keep it up.
I live in Chicago now, and I met a lot of you through the illustrious Calvin College. For those of you I don't know, I am married to a woman named Mandy Lord and we are the proud parents of one canine child named Miles. I must add here that for a long time I sneered uncontrollably whenever I heard someone refer to their dog as a son or daughter. It's a DOG....duh. However, as most biases come to an end and unfounded hatred is revealed as sickly and wan in the light of new found personal knowledge, I now fully accept and understand the naming of such a pet as kin...progeny even. In other words, I love my dog and he loves me. Oh yeah, and my wife...I love her too.
The Institute (or IRD as we call it in the biz) is an educational company that is based out of N. California and run by a dude named Paul Copperman. That should be enough information for if you wanna google that shizzle. Although they bear the title of "for-profit" instead of the illustriously misleading "non-profit" they are a stand up organization that does a lot of good things for the promotion of literacy, which I dig. They are nation-wide and run programs through local college continuing education programs. So technically, I am in Gadsden, AL through IRD and the University of Alabama: Gadsden Center.
Anyway, I am done in the South. The classes are five weeks long and there are three or four terms a year. This summer I am hoping to continue teaching with IRD in Chicago. In the mean time, I am planning on trying to get a job with the Chicago Public Lie-berry.
Well, that is all I have on personal information.
Now on to the fun stuff: I am excited for tomorrow. That is when Talledega Nights comes out on DVD. I really liked that movie. FUN-NY! I think that John C. Reilly pushed Will Ferrel in the acting department while Ferrel pushed Reilly in the comedy dept. A real exercise in give and take, ya know? All that to say, I'm buying it.
Has anyone seen the new Christopher Guest movie? Does it roxors? Do tell.
And finally, some more information on the media I am surrounding myself with: I am currently listening to the Zombies: Odyssey & Oracle (particularly the song This Will Be Our Year where the horns kick some a$$) and reading Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. I just recently finished the book Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE EVENT!!!!!) which was a little disappointing. It was really graphically sexual in ways that I thought cheapened the read instead of lending some sort of depth or whatever. Yeah, that is me giving up on the description bit. It is pretty late....one thing is for sure: that kid had a messed up life. So, back to the world of fluctuating story lines and flittering time signatures that is Salman Rushdie.
Well, here's hoping your days are filled with gladness and goodness. LYLAB! LYLAS!
Peace, Mattypro.