Hehe, that will be awesome You'll make an awesome teacher, I can tell! You have such a great sense of humor and way of encouraging and storytelling, which rocks! The kids are going to love you

Fifth grade sounds cool! I'm getting certified to teach sixth through twelfth, but I'm leaning more towards the middle school end of the spectrum, cuz I volunteered at a middle school a lot last semester, and liked it a lot - the kids at that age are really creative and have so much personality, even if they sometimes don't want to express it for fear of not being (oh no!) cool And they get excited about things, which is always awesome! I'm really enthusiastic myself, most of the time, so I love being enthusiastic with other people and having mutual "yayyyy!"-fests

Oh wow, comic books YES. They were some of my favorite reading material, as a kid - all the old superhero comic books, and all - and I read the classics, too. Too many people seem to think that reading one type of lit excludes reading another type - but there's so much great stuff out there, why not enjoy a variety of genres? On that note, I just discovered Manga Shakespeare a few months ago. It is GENIUS. Have you seen those?

Hehe, the Les Mis Brick ^^ Well, a school in California recently upgraded to all-digital textbooks - maybe they'll have that in a lot of places in a few years? Then it can just be called The Gigabyte or something

--
“Rather than asking ‘Who am I?’ we
might ask, ‘In how many ways can I be myself?’ Rather
than asking ‘What is my place in the world?’ the
question might be better put, ‘In how many ways can I
experience a sense of belonging to the world?’”

Thanks! Yes, I think teaching will be a blast. What I'm really looking forward to is telling random stories in the middle of class. Also, I have a giant mischievous streak... Resisting the impulse to play practical jokes will be difficult indeed.

Middle school sounds fun! The "cool" thing cracked me up. Really, "coolness" is completely subjective. I think you're, but I bet other people would be like, "Oh, she reads? That's boring." Give me a break! The best thing I've ever heard in regard to coolness was, oddly enough, from a cartoon. It was an episode of Recess (I still heart that show!), and Vince tells Mikey that being cool is knowing your style, accepting yourself, and not changing yourself for other people.

I also like fifth-graders, because they've begun to develop a sense of unique identity. Most of them don't yet have the embarrassment of adolesence, so they don't repress themselves as much to appear (cue drumroll) cool. Also, they're old enough to have intelligent input, but young enough to still be goofy and have a very strong sense of playfulness.

Not just superhero comics, but also graphic novels and newspaper comics. I love Zits, X-Men, Get Fuzzy, Garfield (before 2004), Asterix, and Gunnerkrigg Court. What always fascinated me about the X-Men is how ironic the whole story is. Mutants are thought to be less than human when in actuality they are very human. The most physically weak member, Professor X, has the most powerful abilty. The frightening and evil-looking one, Kurt Wagner, actually has a very strong conscience. I could go on about superheroes all day. My little brother and I often have intellectual discussions about 'em.

Ugh, that's one thing that really pisses me off! I read the most random variety of books imaginable, so I become very irritated when I purchase a comic book, a fantasy book, and a geology book and the clerk looks at me like I am insane. Manga Shakespeare? That is awesome! I'll look for some copies.

That Les Mis Gigabyte will blow up the computer if anyone tries to download it. I think I need to find a copy with big print. 'Cause I checked out the version my library has and the print was so dang tiny! After the words stopped shimmering and fusing together, I nearly went cross-eyed just trying to read the first page.

--
Prepare for the best and the fastest ride.
~Angels and Airwaves: Everything\'s Magic.

I can\'t help it if I\'m really, really, ridiculously good-looking.

Azula actor: (pointing up) I think that's your honor!
Zuko actor: (looks around) Where?

I love the Recess quote! I totally agree! And just on that note, that was one of my favorite movies when it came out... so fun! And so many awesome 60s references too

I LOVE Xmen too! I've just gotten back into the animated series, and it's sooo good... so much fun. There's some corny dialogue and campy plot, of course, but there's also great lit references, awesome mutant powers, complex and intriguing characters, seemingly endless universe-mythos, and cool backstories! Yay! I love how the mutant/human movement can be seen as an allegory for so many things, too - the civil rights movement, for one! And Kurt Wagner is amazing.

My brother and I have discussions about xmen all the time too! Comics are one of the best topics for never-ending discussion that can branch out in all directions, from philosophy to sociology to literature to ethics to diversity to politics to about everything else ^^

Ooo! There's a Les Mis online, the whole text, if that sounds good! I think you can change the font size & all. I can send you the link if you want! But since it's so big, you might want to try to find a book copy with bigger print... but wow, I know what you mean. Mine definitely had ant-print syndrome

--
“Rather than asking ‘Who am I?’ we
might ask, ‘In how many ways can I be myself?’ Rather
than asking ‘What is my place in the world?’ the
question might be better put, ‘In how many ways can I
experience a sense of belonging to the world?’”

YES!! WHOO! I tend to feel a bit isolated in my family, 'cause I think cartoons are one of mankind's greatest inventions...but no one else thinks so. *mutters sulkily* I love Recess: School's Out! I saw it for the first time in 2003, about a month before I turned 13. (I also had chicken pox at the time. How delightful.) Six years later, it's still one of the best movies I've ever seen. Thank you for agreeing with me on that point.

Which X-Men series are you watching? I'm watching the really crappy anime-esque version, X-Men Evolution. It is so laughably bad, and yet it's so weirdly appealing. In some ways, I like it better than the movies. It's really fun seeing them as teenagers. Scott actually has a personality this time around - kind of uptight, but charismati. Kitty Pryde kind of makes me want to shoot myself through the head. She's a major airhead, says "like" every five minutes, and behaves distrubingly like my sister Maggie (even sounds like Maggie, too, which is just weird). Kurt Wagner - I love that boy! He's mischievous, and has the best lines in every episode.

I always associated X-Men with the plea for tolerance. I even used them as an example for a school report I did on tolerance. My teacher loved it.

The whole thing? Holy... I think I maybe reading that for the remainder of the century. Yeesh, this is going to be hard, but I love challenging myself. Could you give me a link? That would be most helpful.

Thank you for leaving me such a long comment. I'm bored, lonely ( I haven't seen any of my friends since I graduated), and I can't sleep.

--
Prepare for the best and the fastest ride.
~Angels and Airwaves: Everything\'s Magic.

I can\'t help it if I\'m really, really, ridiculously good-looking.

Azula actor: (pointing up) I think that's your honor!
Zuko actor: (looks around) Where?

I want to see Xmen Evolution! It looks cute and good, except Kitty Pryde But if you really want to be disgusted by an ooc cartoon character, look at Pepper in the new Iron Man cartoon - eeeeeeek.

That's so cool, you did a paper on Xmen and tolerance! That rocks! I think it definitely applies - for all sorts of things, too, including civil rights, gay rights, groups denied a voice, people we fear but who are human like us and deserve respect too... it's a great symbolic portrayal!

Here's the link for Les Mis online - [link]

--
“Rather than asking ‘Who am I?’ we
might ask, ‘In how many ways can I be myself?’ Rather
than asking ‘What is my place in the world?’ the
question might be better put, ‘In how many ways can I
experience a sense of belonging to the world?’”

It is incredibly fun, but Kitty Pryde is disgustingly annoying. Fortunately, she was toned down in the second season.

Is this Iron Man show on the Nicktoons channel? If it is, I don't get that channel. Which is why I can't watch Wolverine and the X-Men. *sulks*

It was such a fun paper to write! The concept always intrigued me: a "inhuman" race who actually want the same things every human wants - a life lived in harmony with others, not to be feared and mistrusted for having special gifts.

My computer does not like that link. Nothing showed, but I will try again. Thnks!

--
Prepare for the best and the fastest ride.
~Angels and Airwaves: Everything\'s Magic.

I can\'t help it if I\'m really, really, ridiculously good-looking.

Azula actor: (pointing up) I think that's your honor!
Zuko actor: (looks around) Where?