Comments:
My first thought is how mind-boggling that so many years have passed. Secondly, as so aptly put by Jody LeWitter, it would have been better to just jump in. Having read about so many people's years, I feel a bit unnerved. Deep breath then. After Graded I went to Drew University in NJ where I doubled in EngLit and Philosophy, continuing on with an MA inPhilosophy at Georgetown in DC. My parents gave me a ticket to SE Asia and some money for moving about, and I spent June through Dec of 1980 in Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia--where I visited Chris Colt in Perth--and NewZealand. Hands down one of the highlights of my life, with memories so scintillatingly bright and deep, I cannot imagine ever losing them. Returned to SP to see my parents in Jan. and then back to DC to take up my Ph.D. Finished the bulk of the coursework that next semester, but my heart just wasn't in it. I was actively pursuing some sort of "alternative" teaching--and in June/July of 81 sold most of my meagre belongings, put the remainder in storage, and headed to CA as I planned to move to Europe--where residency, green cards and the like were not going to be an issue--I am still a Dutch citizen--so as to say temporary goodbye to my close friends from the Drew/Georgetown days and then move on. Serendipitously, a friend of a friend in Berkeley told me I really should check out the ed program at Mills College in Oakland. On a lark, I went up for a visit the next day, got talking to the director of the department, who said that their 10 student program had just lost someone,a dn wouldn't I come in for an interview the following day... so after July in SP returned to the Bay Area and got a teaching credential through a wonderful program there, but then--due to a serious teaching slump at the time--could not find work. Subbed for a year, during which time I again returned to SP, and met Andrés through my brother Rolf. Andrés quit his job at Ciby-Geigy and spent a year on the road, summer 82 with me in Oakland, then 6 months on a kibbutz and bumming around Israel, and more time in Europe, and via Oakland, returned to Brazil. Still no luck on the job front, I decided to return to SP. I started working teaching English--where I remember one director telling me I hadn't passed the English test, so he couldn't hire me, but refused to show me the exam--. Taught also at the Uniao Cultural in SP, where teaching the advanced lit classes was really wonderful, but the pay was strictly for paupers. Began working at Graded as an assistant teacher in Feb 83, and the next year moved into my own classroom. During my sometimes tumultuous years there worked with some wonderful people, and some frightful ones as well. We were lucky to Esther Rodrigues as our librarian, and I remember Lena coming back for a stint of middle school science, and then later in the IB program. I think they're the only two people I saw again in all those years...except an evening that was at Barbie's house(?) as Kathy Pepper was back in town. All vague I'm afraid. I spent two summers back in Berkeley doing the coursework to become a "writing specialist" at the Bay Area Writing Project--fantastic times with unbelievably talented people. By this time Andrés and I had been living together for a good 6 years, and he now worked at Abbott Labs, and although we had just finished building a lovely house in Cotia, he was transferred to the Chicago area in Oct. 89. We got married in August of that year, so I could go too! Have been living in Libertyville, Illinois for going on 20 years now. My stepson Tomas decided to move up here at the end of 1990, went to HS here, and then to Uof I at UrbanaChampaign, got married to Sarah --another engineer with serious smarts in 2003. THey lived in Chicago, moved to Baltimore for her PhD at HOpkins, and are now thrilled to be back here, living in the city. Rebekah was born in 1992 about 10 blocks away, and is--for the two of us, incredibly and almost impossibly "American" considering we still feel like we have at least one foot in another country. Unlike her somewhat reticent parents, she is about the most social being I've ever met, and is constantly on the go. She is a wonderful singer and cellist and photographer, a class A procrastinator, and we fear she may win prizes for indescribable messiness. Everyone else thinks it's a phase. Tomara que estejan certos. A sad turn of events consumed us in 2001 when my brother Rolf disappeared and was found brutally murdered in SP. By an incredible piece of luck, his body was retrieved and identified by a colleague the day before he would have laid in a pauper's grave. I have had a difficult relationship with SP ever since. Can't ever quite put that sort of senseless violence behind me, although every trip it is a mite easier. Fortunately, however, my parents seem to have finally turned the corner. The blow to my mother, in particular, was predictable but intangible and quite frankly awful.
Andrés decided on VERY early retirement in 2003, and I returned to work in 2001. It has been a great fit for us both, and has freed us up to do at least some of the travelling we like during our summers. This will be our first summer in the US since 03. I presently teach 1st grade, a bilingual classroom of 24 mostly Mexican kiddos. Most are 1st generation Americans, lots of low income, low education level parents who are--especially in these rather rough times--barely scraping together a living. I have become a vocal advocate for the population, although it is an uphill battle on many fronts. I have--shall we say--locked horns--on numerous occasions, but am still hanging in there. Don't know how much longer I'll honestly want to continue though... For the rest my time is taken up with books, travel, yoga, perennial gardening and right now, parenting... Looking forward to catching up with people during the reunion.
