So do I go back to the news? Mainly do I go back to listening to NPR on the way to and back from work? I am not sure I want to. I do miss aspects of it, but can I get that in other ways. So tomorrow, we will see.
My final commutes during Lent was with Bruce Cockburn and the song which struck a cord was Pacing The Cage from his Charities of Night CD. The opening image is powerful to say the least.
Sunset is an angel weeping
Holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it's pointing toward
But then these words really got me~
I've proven who I am so many times
The magnetic strip's worn thin
And each time I was someone else
And every one was taken in
Powers chatter in high places
Stir up eddies in the dust of rage
Set me to pacing the cage
For 26 years I have taught and been judged worthy to teach another year. The schools have changed. I have changed. The supervisors have changed. And yet I must do it again this year. My supervisors get a quick glimpse of me. Swipe my magnetic strip. And the system continues.
I understand pacing the cage. I have seen it in caged tigers, students in my classroom, and tonight in myself as I was finishing up an IEP. I call it caged tiger syndrome. I briefly thought I had deleted a lot of an IEP from the online site. I paced the cage ready to face my supervisor. So I called a colleague, who stopped the pacing, well most of it.