U.S.: Grad School (warm drinks)
'Tis the season for giving thanks and drinking all the hot beverages. Winter is coming, I'm afraid, and in order to stay warm I am on my third hot beverage of the day: a nice, warm apple cider.
The first two hot beverages I had were this morning at my local Starbucks (one tall dark roast to start, Christmas blend, then a free refill thanks to my gold status that I somehow "earned" this past year). As I was sipping on my daily fix of caffeinated loveliness, simultaneously making progress on a paper analyzing the morphosyntactic variation of possessive adjectives in a specific Spanish dialect (I'm currently on page 28 of that but taking a break for a second, because, well, syntax), I was moved by an unexpected moment of gratefulness. Mainly, I realized I was grateful for the people who worked to make my sipping a hot coffee possible, from the growers to the baristas, and even the corporate middlemen.
Not ten minutes after I had placed my order and situated myself at a corner table to start working, no less than twenty high-schoolers dressed to the nines entered the shop. Then more entered. And more. And the line did not shorten for one entire hour. Those poor baristas...because most teenagers aren't seeking just a regular, black cup of coffee when they go to such a place. They want high-maintenanced sugar and whipped cream. From what I gathered, there was a high school debate event this weekend and this Starbucks (which happens to be connected to a hotel) was the breakfast stop of choice for literally all of the high schoolers in the state of Wisconsin. Or so it felt. I am exaggerating, I know. I quickly became an outlier in a group of self-conscious, self-centered, technology-addicted high schoolers. Wanna bet how many Snapchat stories I happen to appear in? Yeah, neither do I.
Okay, high schoolers are not as bad as it seems. But amidst my gratefulness for hard-working baristas, I was also overcome with gratefulness for the educators who, day after day, work with adolescents, even more so in the mayhem of these past two weeks. Kudos to you all. Perhaps you'd call me smart for wanting to teach at a post-secondary level...then again, I'm the one suffering on a Sunday morning, trying writing about morphosyntactic variation. Maybe this is just repercussion for a cowardly decision to avoid high school. Anyway, high school teachers, administrators, counselors, coaches, and everyone in between - you have my utmost respect. And I shouldn't limit this to just high school, let's be real. Elementary, middle, whatever age...they all deserve a big, big "thanks."
Time to return to writing theoretical analysis, but I will do so with a grateful attitude. Grateful for the opportunities that abound, for today's energetic youth, for the educators who have an undoubtedly important responsibility in forming our future, for a hot cup of cider on a bitter, cold day.
The first two hot beverages I had were this morning at my local Starbucks (one tall dark roast to start, Christmas blend, then a free refill thanks to my gold status that I somehow "earned" this past year). As I was sipping on my daily fix of caffeinated loveliness, simultaneously making progress on a paper analyzing the morphosyntactic variation of possessive adjectives in a specific Spanish dialect (I'm currently on page 28 of that but taking a break for a second, because, well, syntax), I was moved by an unexpected moment of gratefulness. Mainly, I realized I was grateful for the people who worked to make my sipping a hot coffee possible, from the growers to the baristas, and even the corporate middlemen.
Not ten minutes after I had placed my order and situated myself at a corner table to start working, no less than twenty high-schoolers dressed to the nines entered the shop. Then more entered. And more. And the line did not shorten for one entire hour. Those poor baristas...because most teenagers aren't seeking just a regular, black cup of coffee when they go to such a place. They want high-maintenanced sugar and whipped cream. From what I gathered, there was a high school debate event this weekend and this Starbucks (which happens to be connected to a hotel) was the breakfast stop of choice for literally all of the high schoolers in the state of Wisconsin. Or so it felt. I am exaggerating, I know. I quickly became an outlier in a group of self-conscious, self-centered, technology-addicted high schoolers. Wanna bet how many Snapchat stories I happen to appear in? Yeah, neither do I.
Okay, high schoolers are not as bad as it seems. But amidst my gratefulness for hard-working baristas, I was also overcome with gratefulness for the educators who, day after day, work with adolescents, even more so in the mayhem of these past two weeks. Kudos to you all. Perhaps you'd call me smart for wanting to teach at a post-secondary level...then again, I'm the one suffering on a Sunday morning, trying writing about morphosyntactic variation. Maybe this is just repercussion for a cowardly decision to avoid high school. Anyway, high school teachers, administrators, counselors, coaches, and everyone in between - you have my utmost respect. And I shouldn't limit this to just high school, let's be real. Elementary, middle, whatever age...they all deserve a big, big "thanks."
Time to return to writing theoretical analysis, but I will do so with a grateful attitude. Grateful for the opportunities that abound, for today's energetic youth, for the educators who have an undoubtedly important responsibility in forming our future, for a hot cup of cider on a bitter, cold day.
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