Lu's Film Debut

Hey! I dunno if Matt's one to toot his own horn, so I'll do it for him.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/lessthanthree/

what we have here is a failure to communicate

i was looking through the emails i have in my box about the get together on the 26th and it occurred to me that we could really use an email list where we can send messages and reach everyone. I set up a quickie group on google groups and added the people I have emails for, but I don't have emails for most of you guys.

If you want to join the list, go to http://groups.google.com/group/room-12-alumni and add yourself to the group. Once you're subscribed, messages to room-12-alumni@googlegroups.com will go out to everyone on the list.

Back in the 21st Century

The Room 12 Meeting
Hey all,

Sorry to have dropped off the "blogosphere" (if that is where we are). Thanks to AT&T, I lost internet for two weeks. It's amazing how much your life slows down without all this communication.... Rather than shelling out tons of cash for the latest, greatest relaxation/de-tox/de-stress/re-juvenation techniques, maybe we should all just hide our cell phones and unplug the cable modem?

Naw, too hippie.

In any case, having a gathering sounds like a lot of fun. I'll be in town from the 23rd to the 28th.

Hester, I was vegg-o for a while. I think it was the John Robbins (was that his name?) talk that we went to as a class. You know, when we first learned about the food pyramind. Now I try to stay as veggie as possible, but it's hard to resist the occasional bacon. Sizzly, sizzly, bacon... yummmmm....

Mr. D, if you send me the email list then I can send around an invite once we settle on the day. Carmen, thanks for offering your place!

Kate

If you go for it . . .

I have an email list of nearly everyone that was in the class back then. I have promised not to post the list (spam prevention), but if some of you want to arrange a get-together, I'd be happy to send along any invite you write. I'd say that more than half of the class is either living in Seattle or is going to be visiting during the holidays. I will be in New Mexico part of the time, so I might not make it, but who knows?

Judging by the infrequency of the posts to this blog and by the fact that a good number of former Room 12 students have decided to just lurk and not post, it might be hard for you guys to motivate everyone to get together. My suggestion would be that someone needs to take the lead, exchange phone numbers with a couple more and then get together and start trying to contact people in person to encourage them to come to any event you might arrange. DO NOT DO ANY OF THIS ON THE BLOG! Especially don't publish addresses or times. It's dangerous. Use the phone or IM. I wish you luck and if you go for it, I hope you can pull it off. It could be quite fun, or at least quite interesting.

Just a thought

Can I just say that I'm really impressed (but not all that surprised) with the work that you all are doing... and that I'd love to find a time in the schedule to do a mini-reunion thing. Typically, the time between X-mas and New Year's is pretty quiet unless you're travelling (that's me in Boston). Thoughts?

a few questions

now that we're all connected and everything, how about having a get-together of those of us who are around in the seattle area? i bet that some of the out of towners in the group might be coming home around the holidays, too, so if we time it right we might be able to get more people. comments? how does that sound? if you're traveling to seattle, when are you going to be here (leave specific dates)? anyone got a house that lends itself particularly to parties? we could use mine, but it is maybe a little on the small side if most of the group were to show up with partners in tow.

also, i mentioned my animal welfare group, chrysalis animal welfare society, which was created to build an animal sanctuary on the island of dominica in the caribbean. i'm stepping up our efforts over the next few months and i'm looking for volunteers on the US side to help us meet some of our objectives. we need everything from legal help (setting up a 501(3)(c)) to graphic and web design to grantwriting and fundraising. i'm totally open to other ideas that you might have if you've got a skill or expertise in something that you think we can use. this is a remarkably talented group, and i'd really appreciate any help that you can give. our seed money is enough to get us the property where the sanctuary will be located, but we have to raise money for the rest of the process, and we're going to need a lot of help.

-- jenny

David checks in from Thailand

Hello everyone!
It's been great seeing your pictures and hearing your stories over the last couple of days. It has added significantly to my emotional return to my new quasi-hometown of Phu Khieo, Thailand, where I have spent a good chunk of my post-college years. I just spent a day at the school where I taught English for a year and then had a marvelous dinner with the girl's basketball team that I coached to the National tournament about six months ago. You probably don't remember me as a little Asian girl like Patricia, but over the last few years I think that I have spent almost enough time with them to qualify as one myself, as you can see in the picture (all my girls have their game faces on, but I'm the one doing the classic Asian girl picture pose). I can't even begin to describe how well people treat me in this town. I'm the only white person who has ever stayed in this town long enough to learn the language and become part of the community, and am thus treated like a celebrity. Anytime I walk anywhere, everyone stops their motorcycles to give me a ride. When I eat at restaurants, the owners won't accept my money. Everywhere I go all of the children greet me with "Hello David!" usually followed by adorable giggles. I try to treat them as well as they treat me, but they set a high standard. I left this town in March, after leading the "Hoosiers" of Thai girls' basketball to a 7th place finish in the country and returned to Seattle after a couple of months in a Muay Thai camp (kickboxing) in order to study for the LSAT and GRE (actually that was just my excuse for sitting around at home and reading without getting a job). After the exams I thought that I would try something new and go teach in Indonesia in a vain attempt to make a small bridge in American-Islamic relations, but it was very short-lived due to pretty intense alienation and resultant boredom. I ran away from that job and returned to Thailand despite threats of a $1000 fine for breaking my contract in Indonesia that I never signed. So here I am now with about 10 months with which to do as I please before entering academia once again. Starting next week I am off to go teach English in a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand for yet another attempt at bridging the gap in American-Islamic relations by giving the Islamic refugees from Myanmar a marketable skill that they can use to get some sort of jobs in tourist areas in Thailand to improve their situation. As much as I love hanging out with the children of Phu Khieo, they have absolutely no desire to learn English, so I feel that my services will best be applied elsewhere.

This brings me to yet another use for Mr. D's wonderful blog: After a few months in the refugee camp, followed by another shot at the Thai national basketball title, I have no plans and would love to hear more about the work that Sharla is doing in Vietnam and Cambodia. For those of you who have never been to this part of the world, you would be astonished by the amount of awful people from Western society that this part of the world attracts. Everywhere you look you find fat old white pedophiles trying to satiate their repulsive sexual appetites by preying upon the children of this continent. Their is at this moment nothing in the world that upsets me more than this scum of Western civilization that congregates out here. They provide a marked contrast between their worthless, graceless, immoral selves and the beautiful, impeccably well-mannered and graceful local people of Southeast Asia. During my time out here, I have pretty much decided that the children of Southeast Asia are my favorite people in the world. I haven't quite been everywhere yet, but I have definately done some laps around the globe over the past few years, and I can think of no better way to spend my life than to help out these children in any way that I can, and I believe that my capacity for doing so could be greatly enhanced by getting a law degree and working in the fields of International human rights and labor laws. In the meantime, however, I would love to help Sharla out in any way that I can. If your work happens to bring you into Thailand or Laos, I would be delighted to serve as a translator for you or the organization that you are working with, and if not, I would love to help out in any way that I could, after, of course, my basketball tournament in March(we'll get it this year!). Anyway, send me a reply if you read this blog and you think that I could help in any way.

Abrupt change of subject...

I can't say that my elementary school experience or any of my classmates have crossed my mind in the last ten or so years, but after this recent reminder I've thought about some of the ways that it subliminally influenced who I am today. It was interesting to read about all of the vegetarians who came out of Mr. D's class and those discussions made me think about the values that Mr. D taught us, particularly those concerning the natural world. Well I am afraid to say that I am not among the ranks of the vegetarians due to my love of meat and the fact that meat and rice is pretty much what's for breakfast, lunch and dinner out here, my college years were basically a love affair with the natural world (along with some dabbling in intoxicants and school work). I pretty much blew off school to pursue rock-climbing, mountaineering, snowboarding, fly-fishing, etc. during the school year and spent my summers maintaining trails for the U.S. Forest Service. I loved living in my tent in the woods day in and day out and keeping the trails from eroding into the surrounding wilderness. I have been very conscientious ever since I was ten years old about how all of my actions affect the world and what I can do to minimize that impact (still working on the vegetarian thing. Sorry). It's good to hear that Mr. D seems to have had a similar influence on many of my classmates.

I would love to hear more from everyone who has already posted and anything from the people who haven't posted yet. I'm glad to see that we've got a fair amount of creative energy flowing out of Madrona elementary. If anyone needs an average hack-guitarist and sub-par vocalist to join in on your band, I'm your guy. What I lack in talent I make up for in enthusiasm. And Jenny, I feel you about the dogs. The dogs out here aren't in such good shape either. I was attacked by about a dozen of them walking home today. Fortunately for me, however, they're in such bad shape that they can't keep up with me. They could use your help. Okay, enough from me. Good to be in touch with all of you. Over the last two days you have all become more than a very foggy memory. I like it.
Much love,
Dave

Patricia Y. Checks In

If you don't remember me, I was one of the little Asian girls (Hi Miye!) that was pretty quiet and really shy. In 4th grade, I used to always wear leggings (usually pink ones) and didn't even own a pair of jeans. I can happily report that I have fully grown out of that phase. Well, I suppose that I am still Asian and little, ha.

My path after Room 12 has been pretty typical and tame. I went the WMS, GHS route like so many others. Post-high school, I went down to Claremont McKenna College (in a suburb of L.A.) for two years before coming back to UW and finishing a B.S. in Math. Lots of theory, lots of proofs. I was able to get away from all the numbers for awhile when I did a study abroad in Ioannina, Greece, complete with a visit to Albania! Northwestern Greece is very distinct from Athens or the Isles; we faced adversity for being Americans, and had to learn Greek to communicate with anyone (hardly anyone spoke any English), but ultimately, had an amazing experience.

After college, not only was finding a job way more work and effort than filling out grad school applications, I wasn't quite ready for "the real world" yet. So I decided to continue my education and went out to the cornfields of West Lafayette, Indiana and Purdue University for a M.S. in Statistics. I actually had a wonderful time out at Purdue with the Hoosiers, but wasn't ready (nor willing) to continue onto a Ph.D., so graduated with my Master's in May 2006.

A job brought me out to Boston, where I am currently working as a statistician (surprise, surprise) for a consulting / technology firm that provides market research solutions. I've been in Boston about four months now, and so far have been enjoying the city and my job. While I don't think I'll be here permanently, it's great to see another city and part of the country while I still have the flexibility to do so.

Reading about the lives of my former classmates is so inspiring and brings back so many great memories. I wonder what the rest of you are up to???

All my best,
Patricia

(Patricia asked me to post this on the blog for her. I just cut and pasted her exact words. I had to go out to the Internet to find a picture. It's of her graduation from Purdue. If you want a different picture Patricia, you know what you have to do --send me one. K.D.)

Time to step up

OK. It's time to name names. I have heard from or contacted all but three of the students who were once in Room 12. I know for a fact that many of you who have not posted are reading this blog because it is getting a lot of hits. Where are those people who were so full of ideas back in fourth and fifth grade: Amy, Seelye, Ben, Rachel, Miye, Lia, Elisabeth, Patricia, Ariana, Nicolas, David, Sarah, where are you? I know you're all reading this. I have heard from a number of you that the reason you don't post is because you worry about what to say. This blog is not a place to be judged. You don't even have to talk about your life since Room 12. It would be great to hear about your ideas now. What do you care about or think about? If you look at some of the comments people have made to each other's posts, you will see lots of opportunities to get discussion threads going. Add your own comments to each other's posts. Anyone can comment. You don't even have to join the blog. Hester has the right idea too (see post below). She's trying to start a discussion by making a new post on a topic that was frequently discussed way back when. And what about Carmen's idea? Did any of you get a picture of yourself in costume? It looks like Daniel must be a rooster ;) Here's another idea: What did you think of Enigma? Most of you have your copy by now? Did you read it? Did anything stand out or make you think about anything? What about politics? Surely you have thoughts on the current political situation. Wouldn't it be fun to read what each other has to say?

I'd like to encourage all of you to start a real discussion here. You'd find that with 25 people (3 cannot be located) with a common past, there are a lot of shared experiences and interests and this is an opportunity to explore that degree of connection.

One last thing: I also encourage you to leave an email address in your Blogger profile if you want to have a way to get contacted directly by other former classmates. I have almost everyone's email address now, but I'm keeping it private. It's up to you if you want to make your email public. I hope to hear from all of you.

Greetings from...

...Ballard.

Wow. I never thought I'd say that. It seems like only yesterday when I would make fun of Ballard and its Scandahoovian denizens -- fittingly, I now live in Ballard and am married to a Scandahoovian.

And that about covers the twists of fate in my life so far -- it turns out my 5th grade aspirations were pretty much spot on. So, to make a short story long (which, looking at my contributions to Enigma, seems to be my forte), here's my life in 6 chapters since Room 12:

Chapter I: The Dark Ages: Summer, 1992 - Sept 27, 1996
After doing three years in the slammer (a.k.a. Washington Middle School), I went on to Garfield where I studied various subjects whose exact names escape me at the moment. The only things I remember clearly from my early years at Garfield are being short and a high principal turnover rate.

Chapter II: The Renaissance: Sept 28, 1996
It was fall of my sophomore year at Garfield when I met Eliza Lagerquist. Two years removed from a two-week, long-distance relationship, I was a little "rusty" in the "interacting-with-members-of-the-opposite-sex" department. Nevertheless (perhaps Eliza lost a bet), we began "going out" and soon fell deeply in love.

Chapter III: The Bulldog Age: Sept 29, 1996 - August, 1999
Over the next few years, Eliza and I became much closer, and we even got voted "Most Likely to get Married" by the Garfield Messenger, along with two other couples (one half of one of which still needs to post, I might add...). No longer in the dating game, things seemed to go my way with each passing day. I rose up through the ranks of the mighty Bulldog football (I mean, tennis) team (though my hopes for the #1 rank never quite materialized, thanks to another Room 12 student...). I threw a few Halloween parties that didn't result in my parents' house getting trashed. I was even accepted to some colleges. Life was looking pretty good, until...

Chapter IV: The Grind: August 1999 - August 2003
"I assume you've all seen this before...", said the freshmen physics professor on Day 1 to a roomful (minus one) of nodding nerds, referring to a symbol that meant as much to me as a mass-mailed Christmas prayer from George W. (sorry, had to sneak that one in). And so began four long but ultimately rewarding years at Harvey Mudd College (actual school motto: "If you say it fast, it sounds like 'Harvard Med'" -- true story: In a recent conversation with a relative, having described Harvey Mudd in detail for several minutes, I was asked: "So, how did you like Cambridge?"). Anyway, I ended up majoring in engineering with a focus in control theory. On the way, I interned at Boeing during the summers of 2001, 2002, and 2003. And by the way, Eliza and I did attend separate 4-year colleges, lest we be accused of not giving our relationship the distance-test (though I should point out that, at a dead sprint, I could get from my dorm to hers in 30 seconds -- she went to Pitzer).

Chapter V: The Return of the Red-Eye: May 2003 - June 2004
After four long years of staring, with bloodshot eyes, late into the California night, at unflinching, ever-flickering CRT monitors, I decided I needed some change. So, I packed up and headed to the Aeronautics Department at UW, where my bloodshot eyes stared, late into the Washington night, at unflinching, ever-flickering CRT monitors. My original intent was to obtain a Ph.D. in Aeronautical Engineering, but then two things happened: my advisor warned me of a potential lack of funding for the following year (my first year was covered by a Teaching Assitantship), and I got a job offer from Boeing. Being the engineering student I was, I sought to define this dilemma mathematically to help guide my decision - this resulted in the following equations (Time measured in years from this point):
1) Staying at UW:
Salary = Peanuts - (Peanuts x Time)
2) Taking Job:
Salary = 4 x Peanuts + (Raise x Time) [Raise >= - Peanuts (and hopefully > 0)]
Even taking into account uncertainties in Peanuts and Time, the choice was clear -- so, in June of 2004, having completed 90% of the coursework toward a Masters', I began working at the "Lazy B" up in luxurious South Everett, Washington (I did manage to complete my MSAA degree last year by taking the remaining courses online)

Chapter VI: The Last Corny Chapter Title, I Promise: June 2004 - Present
Life has flown by (at mach 0.85, to be exact) since beginning work at Boeing. I work on the 787 program, and my job involves developing and testing algorithms ("Control Laws") that stabilize the airplane during flight -- interesting tidbit about commercial airplanes: if you fly regularly, chances are the flight computer has landed the plane at least once. If this scares you, just remember that the flight computer doesn't keep a flask of whiskey on hand for those long-haul flights... Anyway, life outside of work has been busy as well. In May of this year, Eliza and I bought a house together (just in time for home prices to plummet! Yay!). On a less sarcastic note, we also got married this summer (August 5th), on a remote beach on the coast of Maine -- I'll post some pictures soon. Oh, and we've got a feisty two-year-old named Rocky (don't worry, he's a cat).

Well, that about sums it up. It's been a long road since Room 12, and I can't wait to read about other peoples' travels, trials, tribulations, tutelage, failed attempts at alliteration, etc. I really hope the rest of you find the time to post!

P.S. I don't really resemble a crazed zombie rooster (see Matt Look's post for a more accurate portrayal of my likeness)

Lost!

I have located 26 of the 28 members of our old class. Two are missing. Any info on Madeline Vulcano or Tony Miller? Anyone?

I lurk! I lurk!

Busted.

Hi!

Room 12.

Hmmmm....

I find myself pointing out to people at least once a year that one of the definitions of "sinister" is "left-handed." I also trace the ability to keep "anachronous" and "incongruous" straight in my mind to all the snuggling with Word Power I did with you guys.

I floss every day.

And clearly I'm having trouble putting together a narrative. I'll start with my weekend.

This past weekend, I went to the Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival in an RV park near Joshua Tree NP (Southern California, in the Mojave and Colorado deserts). I didn't know I was going. Laura, my Australian girlfriend of nearly 3 years, is in town and decided to take me on a secret vacation. I thought we were headed to LA for the weekend to poke around the art museums, but instead she diverted us to the desert. We were going camping.

It really was a lot of fun. To be honest, however, my first thought was: ack! I have so much reading, research, and lesson prep to get through this weekend! How am I going to do this in the dirt?!?! But, by the end of it I was hula-hooping with the best of them.

How did I end up dating an Australian, you ask? Well, that's a good question. We met in Spain. (Oh, of course! you say.) Two years ago, right after graduating from college, I went to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago. Some of you have probably heard of it. It's a thousand year-old, 800-kilometer pilgrimage across northern Spain. It takes about 30 days. Of walking. Just walking.

Before I went, I thought to myself: Well, this will be a fantastic opportunity for me to Think About Life and try to Figure Out The Future. After about 3 days, I was so sick of listening to myself think I thought there was no way I would make it through another 27. I started tagging along with anybody – anybody! – who walked by, just so I could hear them think for a while. I met so many interesting folks from all over the world, trying to hear other people think.

To cut a long story short (something that I've never been very good at), I made it to Santiago. This was supposed to be the end of the pilgrimage. The cathedral at Santiago is where you get to stop walking. Instead, while I was waiting in line to get my official plenary indulgence from the Roman Catholic Church, my self-congratulatory reverie was interrupted by an Australian woman, clearly traveling with her mother, and trying to pick me up. Shortly thereafter, her mother left us ("Ugh, I'm going to the bar"), and we haven't stopped talking since. Our "camino" – back and forth across the Pacific – continues as we struggle to find time to be together and a way for her to stay in the States while I finish my degree.

[insert long rant about Fortress America here]

As for how I feed and clothe myself when not living the life of a pilgrim, I'm currently studying for a Ph.D. in Modern Japanese History at the University of California, San Diego (hi, Emilie!). I have somewhere between 6-8 years to go, though I hear you get time off for good behavior. I'm a huge dork, and I'm still in shock that somebody will pay me to do something I would be doing anyway: reading books and talking about what I think. My particular intellectual hobby is the history of movement, focusing on the railroad system in pre-war Japan and the period of empire.

I never did Figure Out Life, or even manage to Think About Life, while on camino. But, hearing about all of your adventures, challenges, and successes has given me pause to reflect on what I am doing now, how I am living my life, and how our experiences in the classroom shaped us as people. Besides giving me my Word Power skillz, I feel like Room 12 opened up a whole world of emotions and relationships that have been a part of me ever since. It was intense, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

(If any of you remember me in the 4th grade as a particularly angry or confused person, it's just now occurring to me that I was at this time first becoming aware of my "alternative" sexuality. Man, this blogging-thing is dregging up some memories...)

And, in conclusion, nobody believes me when I tell them I learned math while trying to calculate the volume of garbage that will be created in the next century by discarded tires.

Kate

P.S. If you want to learn more about the Camino, check out www.freehighway.org. You can watch the trailer to a fantastic documentary made about the pilgrimage and life as a modern pilgrim.

A Homework Assignment

I'm going to put on my teaching hat now. Please forgive me in advance. Here is your assignment: I think this blog is wonderful because I'm really enjoying what you are all writing, but it only goes so far. Why don't any of you comment to each other's entries? Wouldn't you like to hear from each other? Commenting is easy (I think). Just click on the comment link and write something. How much time could that take? I could have a comment written before you get back from the fridge with that beer.

Also, you can add more to your entry by editing it, or you can create a new entry. Just go to Blogger.com and enter your username and password that you initially created in order to join our blog. Then choose the Room12Blog link and then edit an existing post or add a new one. I know from your private emails to me that many of you have a lot of things in common. For example, there are at least three of you (and I think five) that have spent time overseas learning a language. Several of you either have taught or are currently teaching. Two of you have survived cancer. Many of you have shared the same city (other than Seattle). You should all start talking to each other. In your profile (accessed through Blogger) you can include an email address, MySpace page, other blog, etc. You should do this so others can contact you. It bothers me that I know more about all of you than you do about each other. So I encourage you to comment and to contact each other.

And for you lurkers out there. DON'T BE LAZY! I know that nearly everyone that was in the old Room 12 class has been reading this blog. So post already! You don't have to tell your life story. We don't need to measure your success against others. Just say anything. What's important to you? What are you doing right now? What Word Power words do you incorporate into your vocabulary (incorporate was a Word Power word).

OK, enough rambling. Well, almost enough. When you post, post a picture already! Jared, we want to know what you look like. The rest of you who have had the courage to post so far, nice going. What a fine assemblage of human beings! You look marvelous (pipe cleaners in nose, old Roll On Columbia shirts, and all). Too bad about the Columbia, isn't it?

Keep posting!

it's amazing...

...to get to read all of the writing that we did so many years ago, see ourselves as we were then, and at the same time to get to reconnect and see the same people as they are in the present. it's been such a long journey for me in the years since. after spending junior and senior years of high school at north seattle community college, i left seattle for los angeles, spent six months in upstate new york at a university there starting a computer science degree, and came back to seattle when it didn't turn out to be the right place for me. it turned out to be a great decision, because i got to have some really unique experiences and start my career sooner and better than i would have otherwise.

in 2000 i traveled to malaysia, where i got to spend eight months living with friends and working in a small graphic design company that had brought me there from l.a. i picked up some books and learned web programming for a project, and loved it. when i came back from malaysia in 2001 i was able to get a job as a developer in a software company in issaquah, and i've been settled in seattle ever since.

it's seemed like every time i get settled and feel like things are going to be okay for a while, though, something happens to shake it up. in november 2001 i was crossing a street when a woman ran a red light and hit me with her car, and i ended up with serious injuries to my right wrist and arm, requiring a joint reconstruction. after the surgeries were done, i have been left with a very severe chronic pain disorder from nerve damage caused by scar tissue. i am able to work now thanks to an adaptive keyboard that is designed for one-handed typing, which is wonderful. but it has been difficult to deal with the chronic pain and the limitations that come from being right handed and unable to use your right arm.

despite that, i moved through two companies and four years of being a software developer, building my career and honing my skills, and at the time in a long term relationship that was going well. and then in september 2004, i was diagnosed with melanoma, what turned out to be stage IIIB melanoma in my right hip and lymph nodes. there was only one treatment available, a one-year course of interferon, which i was like the poster child for people who should not be given the treatment. i have epilepsy, it causes seizures. i have a history of depression, it causes depression in 50% of cases. i have chronic pain, it makes chronic pain worse. the list went on and on. but it was the only treatment so they let me choose what to do, and i chose to take it anyway -- i felt like i had to do something, i couldn't just sit there. i tried to work through it, tried to keep my job up, but i just didn't have the energy and was fired. after six months, i started having bad seizures and my blood pressure was dropping and they made me go off of the treatment. they are hoping that the six months i got was enough. and so far, all of the scans have been clear. there's a possibility that some cancer is present and is too small to see, but that's something that we just have to live with. if it keeps going like this for another three years, i'll be considered in remission. three years still seems like a long time.

cancer did something really funny to me, that i never expected. if you'd asked me before i was diagnosed and went through all this what i would do if i got cancer, i'd probably tell you that i'd just go kill myself, that it wouldn't be worth the effort and the pain. and even though i don't know how or why i did it, somehow i found a way to live through it and i did go through it anyway, even though i didn't want to. and now that i am on the other side, i have gone from the person who is always negative and depressed to the person who is always positive and telling other people it's going to be okay. i leave little notes on the bus that have happy, inspirational messages on them. it sounds silly, but i feel this core, good feeling about life and that it is short and there is this goodness in it that you have to feel and enjoy because it will disappear way too soon. and i want to share that with people without them having to get cancer.

so i might be in pain, i might be sick and exhausted from the cancer treatment, still, even after a year, but i've got a better outlook and a better feeling about the world and life than i've ever had. i've climbed the mountain of my struggles and seen the view from the top, and it's more beautiful than i'd imagined possible. it's giving me the strength to continue moving forward.

my current status is working, again, finally -- i consider it a triumph, as i'd already started applying for disability and really thought i wouldn't be working again -- and now i'm doing web sites for microsoft games studios, which is just a really fun job and i love the place and the people. way better than the business software i've been writing the past several years.


my other big project is that i'm starting an animal shelter on the caribbean island of dominica (*not* the dominican republic). it's a small country of just under 70,000 people with a stray dog and animal welfare problem, a national and cultural problem of abusive and harmful attitudes towards animals, and no shelters or services for animals that we would consider necessary. when i visited the caribbean i fell in love with the place, dominica especially, but was especially saddened by the dogs, often pregnant or nursing females, who are thrown out and mistreated because of lack of knowledge about spaying and neutering. the dog in this photo is just one of the wonderful animals i met who survived on the kindness of countless random stranger for food, her life doubly hard because she is blind. she is lucky enough to have a restaurant owner who kind of kept track of her and fed her, but even when these dogs find someone to feed them, it's rare that they will be given any veterinary care, nor spaying or neutering. if anyone here is interested in helping with this project, still in its beginning stages, i'm looking for any kind of help that you can think of, so if it sounds good, ask. (beautiful caribbean island, wonderful people, rainforest... and lots of dogs who need help).

it's been a long road since room 12 was still together. it's good to have this chance to reconnect and see how very much we've all grown.

-- jenny m.

postscript: if you would like to see some of the work i'm doing now, go to http://www.vivapinata.com (opens in new window, flash player required). i did the development work and some of the design for the intro that you see when you first go to the site, and for the "hint hunt" game, which you can get to from the right hand side of the main page. the game was my major contribution and while it might look fairly simple, it was designed (for those of you who might understand this, or care) to use XML for managing all of the text, as well as the game play elements, so that the game can be changed to other languages and new questions and items can be added or removed, without making any changes to the flash file that holds the game code. it was a moderately challenging project that hit a few snags, but i had a lot of fun. this is the kind of thing i'm working on now -- flash development for websites about games from companies microsoft owns or handles marketing and design for.

Sharla's heading to Vietnam

Sharla wanted me to post for her because she is very busy getting ready for an extended stay in Vietnam. Here are a few words from her email to me: "I am heading back to Vietnam very soon. I was there teaching English at a university in the Mekong Delta last year and this year I will be working for a new organization that is trying to prevent the sex trafficking of young Vietnamese girls into Cambodia."

Here's a link with more info about what Sharla was doing last year: http://www.viaprograms.org/programs_in_asia/vietnam/images/top05/index.htm

I will try to get Sharla to tell us more about her life and what's she's doing and I'll post any info I get from her right here.

Someone had to go first

Hey all,

Like you, I was caught by surprise (a pleasant one) when my parents told me I got a letter from Mr. D. I hope that his letter found you well, and has brought some old memories back to life. I know that it's been a conversation starter for me when I see some of my oldest and closest friends.

I was honored to be able to give the toast at Daniel Vaughan's wedding in August 2006. His family asked me to say a few words, maybe tell a few embarassing stories. I'm not a public speaker. In fact, I'd still classify myself as shy and awkward. I pulled it off, but I realize that though we have grown and matured, many of us are the same people at heart that we remember from 15 years ago. My memories of all of you are fond ones.

Though some of us have grown apart, I want to thank Mr. D for bringing us back together, even for a moment. And yes, I have been to some of your MySpace pages to see how the heck you're doing.

So... I got the first post. Who's next?

Enigma is published!

OK, so I didn't get around to giving the address of this blog to anyone for nearly a year. I'm going to start now with the members of the 1991-92 Room 12. We did a lot of great things that year, including the beginnings of a recycling program that was ahead of its time, a self-managed classroom (with a complete room government), a computer network that was also ahead of the curve, and of course, the Roll on Columbia trip. It was a special year. A very powerful sense of community developed. The class was involved in a publication project that year too. The book was to be called Enigma. Unfortunately, it became one. For fifteen years the book languished on computer disks in my storage shed because I never had the time to finish the job my class had started. Finally though, the book is in ink!

It was no small task to complete a project that was done on very old technology (i.e. a Mac SE using Pagemaker 3.0), but I rose to the challenge. I dug out a very old computer and software and then had fun finishing and transfering the book to something that can be read by modern printers.

If you were in Room 12 in 1991-92, you have received a letter from me that among other things, directed you to this blog. If you send along your email address to tkentdaniels@hotmail.com I will make you a member of the Room 12 Meeting so that you can help create this blog with your former class members and me. Please do this so that your old teacher can read about your life. He has no life of his own, so he needs to live vicariously through all of the great things you do ; ) Also, if you still have contact information for any of the people that were ever in Room 12 at Madrona, please send them along to me. If you don't feel like taking the trouble to post here, just write me an email and give me permission to copy and paste your comments into this blog. One way or another, please get in touch. Let's catch up.

You can look for your copy (or copies, if you ordered more than one) of Enigma in the mail just as soon as I get your contact info. I think you're going to like the book. It was a labor of love putting it together (just like the class you were once in). You'll certainly be taking a trip down memory lane if you read the book. It has been a really moving experience for me as I've read through all of your stories and poetry and looked at all of the pictures.

I look forward to hearing from you. With love, Kent

Kent Daniels now.

Hey, you don't look the same as you did back then either!

Time for a classroom meeting!

Well, it's been a few years since all of my former students (that would be you) have left the confines of good old Room 12 at Madrona School. The APP program isn't there anymore. Neither is the same building. Something new has taken its place. Still, I think it is high time to have another classroom meeting. The couches are gone, and so is the rug. The book projects and the trips are all a thing of the past, but I still have the jelly belly machine sitting here and the computer network has certainly advanced.

Of course, doing this blog is mostly for my benefit. I'm asking all of my former students to join back together and post so that I (and your former classmates from that era) can know what you're doing with your life. Tell everyone what you've been up to and what you think (about life, the world, everything). Also, do you still remember anything from the 4th or 5th grade, or is it just a big blur that has been replaced by more recent and more prominent events

If you have the email address for anyone that used to be in my class, please do me a favor and send the address of this blog along to the person so that he or she might add to the community too. I've also set up a wiki in the hopes that many of you will share your philosophy, your activism (along with resources) and your insight and wisdom with the rest of the group. Here's the address: http://room12meeting.wikispaces.com

As for me, I now teach in a computer lab at Highland Park School. I teach tech skills to 450 students and about 50 staff. It's very different from what I was doing with your classes. I enjoyed the community we had back then and the creativity that I got to use in my teaching. The best part about it was you. Your intelligence, energy, compassion and creativity made those years at Madrona the pinnacle of my teaching career. For that I thank you all. I hope to see you all here. With Love, Kent Daniels

Thanks to Diana Leslie, mom of Jason Murcko for suggesting a blog as a way to reconnect with my former students. Thanks to Amy Dunphy for pointing me in the right direction to get started.

Become a member

This is a team blog. Anyone can comment on the posts on this blog, but you have to be a former student of Room 12 at Madrona School in Seattle, WA to be a "Room 12 Meeting" blog team member and add new posts. If you were in Room 12 (or Room 4 before that and I (Kent Daniels) was your teacher, and if you'd like to be a member of this blog team, just send me your email address. I'm at tkentdaniels@hotmail.com. I'll add you as a member. Then I hope you will post, add your current picture(s), comment, etc. I believe you'll have to register at www.blogger.com first. It's free. I'm anxious to hear from you.