My new job:

I expected it to smell like a carnival: sawdust, funnel cake, and sweat. In fact, there was just a hint of popcorn in the air, but that suggested movie theater, not county fair. Not even a faint eau du animal shit.

Welcome to the circus.

I just got back from visiting my new home, small quarters on the train and an improvised classroom in the arena, traveling with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Yes, I’m running away to join the…

I’ll be meeting up with them this coming weekend in Philadelphia, where we’ll be for a week before heading to Providence, then Hartford, Trenton, Hershey, and on West (Portland in late August.) The complete tour is online. Next year is a bunch of different cities, including Albany, for all you folks in Bennington.

If you will be in or near any of these cities when I am, I would really like to see you. If you know anybody in these cities, or places I should go see myself (or could take my class on a field trip), PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I will certainly look forward to the company of familiar faces and the resources of someone else’s knowledge of a place.

I am sad to be leaving Portland, just when I begin to get roots here (and just when Beautiful Summer approaches), but this is the right thing to do. Contrarily to what I just said, I know a change of pace will be good for me just now; this is a unique opportunity; and it will make me a better teacher.

I am really looking forward to that teaching.

I will be in charge of a one-or-two-room school serving 13 students ages K-11; their parents work for the show. There is an assistant to focus on the younger children; I will be working with about nine students from 4th on up teaching all the subjects. I am looking forward to working with students of a variety of ages, and really excited about the opportunity for place-based learning. Also, these are students from all over the world and I anticipate the opportunity for rich cultural exchanges.

Of course, I am also scared shitless. I have to pack up in less than a week. I will be in a living in a very small space. I will be with strangers, and I am shy. I will be always in new places. I will be teaching on my own. But the excitement is also setting in, and my list of things to do is very, very long. But all will be well. I have good friends in Portland who are making it easier to move and to deal with moving.

Adventure awaits.

When I was in Vancouver, BC, two weeks ago, I age at a Chinese restaurant. By some error of fortune-stuffing machine, my cookie had two fortunes in it. One said, “Your sense of humor will ensure your success.” That fortune was in there by accident (although maybe the clowns can help me with that one.)

The other fortune read, “A new chapter of your life is being written.”

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n.b. I plan on maintaining Schopenhauer, but less frequently, and I do not plan on putting posts about my job here. If you are interested in receiving semi-regular emails about life with the circus, you will have to email me.

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