Author Archives: Miss Kitten

Maybe I Should be Worried

Sometimes I wonder if,
There’s something wrong with me.
These days I’ll go two days,
Without a shower,
Even three.
When people ask me how I am,
I usually say I’m good.
But I don’t know,
Cause I don’t do,
The things I really should.
By now I thought that surely,
I could get up,
Bright and early.
But these days I lie awake in bed,
Or often sleep,
Till noon instead.
I’ve got nothing coming up,
And no job to worry about,
So there’s not much point,
In getting up.
No point in going out.
No point in doing anything.
No point in getting dressed.
Sometimes I wonder,
If I’m lazy,
Or just really depressed.

Teaching is hard. Teaching well is even harder.

The 1969 side describes what I endured in school.

Whenever I suggest that teaching is a difficult job, there’s always someone who says that being a teacher is nothing compared to, say, being a police officer or a firefigher or a soldier. Fair enough. Those jobs are more definitely more difficult than teaching. Though, I do find it oddly satisfying that the only examples of occupations they can think of that are more difficult than teaching are those which involve dealing with criminals and junkies, running into burning buildings, and fighting in wars.

The “1969” side pretty much describes what being a student was like for me. I remember  how awful and humiliated I felt when I had to present my parents with substandard grades. Yet, they would never dream of blaming my teachers for my poor academic performance, even if it was partially their fault. And whist it is true that today’s students are more narcissistic than they were in my day, the issue is not as black and white as the above image indicates.

Now that I am a teacher I know that teachers, parents, and students are all responsible for a student’s education and results. Getting students through school is a team effort, and each member has to do his or her part. Therefore, all the blame for poor academic performance cannot be placed solely on the teacher or the student.

Having said that however, it’s true that there are “bad” teachers out there whose jobs are protected, and who keep on working long after they’ve burnt out and should have retired. They get to keep their jobs because of seniority, and the younger teachers are often let go, even if they have union protection. The unions can’t always protect you if the school can convince them that they don’t need you anymore and can give your duties to another teacher.

This happens all the time. It has happened to me and I’ve seen it happen to colleagues, many of whom are extremely capable and popular teachers.

Whenever someone suggests to me that teachers have it too easy, I tell them that they should consider becoming a teacher. If it’s that easy and you get off work early and get all those vacations off, then what are you waiting for? It sounds fantastic, right? Who wouldn’t want to do that?

Most people, actually, because teaching is hard. Teaching well is even harder.

Okay…just hold still…

Here’s my little cat, Cinnamon. I haven’t actually tried to paint her very often because it’s difficult. She keeps licking the paint off. So I thought I’d try painting a picture of her instead.

Cinny Sleeps

It’s not perfect but I think it’s a pretty good likeness. Here she is sleeping on my tablet case. The tablet was in there but it was turned off.

It’s not made of warm but I want to lie on it anyway.

The Burning of his Soul

he is a manic
barely suppressed
creative genius

and a depressed
non-conformist

a total artist

on fire with ideas
and drowning in
inky black sludge

his soul stuck
in both places

two sides that
repell each other
like the positive
and negative poles
of a magnet

from that struggle
comes the art

you might think
that being bi-polar
is the most natural
thing on earth

since the earth
itself is bi-polar

no they said
you are broken
so take these pills
to fix you

and you will be
no longer burning
no longer trapped
like a sloth
in a tar pit

you will be free

and so the burning
of his soul
ended

out it crawled
from the sludge

and there it sat
not moving
feeling nothing
creating nothing

no more pain
no more joy

and no more art

In my heart. In my head.

I wish that I could say,
Without scaring you away,
What is really in my heart,
But I don’t know where to start.

Sharing with you my despair,
Is not easy and not fair.
For it belongs to only me.
It’s not meant for you to see.

Nor meant for you to pity.

Still…

I wish that I could say,
Without scaring you away,
What is really in my head,
But I’ll be quiet instead.

We All Have Our Obsessions

It shouldn’t be too hard to guess what mine is.

This is the first Violation painting I attempted. It remains a favorite and hangs on my kitchen wall.

This is the second Violation painting I did, again in black with a red background. I gave it to a friend and former colleague.

I did a third Violation in Black painting quite similar to the first one, and gave it to a very dear friend. I don’t have a picture of it, though.

The first attempt of a red on black image. I didn’t want it to look too much like the Violator album cover so I kept the black background to a minimum. This one also hangs on my kitchen wall.

My latest Violation, this time in blue. I absolutely love it.

All paintings are aquarelle pencil and watercolor on paper.