It's Saturday

I must begin by noting that my hair is super soft thanks to the rain and Oyin Handmade.

Still falling into a groove at work, so far, so good. A couple difficult moments with a couple difficult (bullying) kids. Then one student asked me if I ever did drugs and later on, another student saw me buying condoms (in a neighborhood far from the school). Aside from all that, it's been quite nice. The textbooks I ordered finally arrived and they are beautiful! I stayed late every day this week working on the class library. It's dope. I'm calling a parent this afternoon to finalize process of decertifying her child (yay!). He will be the first one to move into general education since I've been at the school.
So I'm good. Folks have been telling my that I'm "radiant". I'm just comfortable at work. Not with all of the policies or practices, but definitely in my classroom with my students.
Last night M and I were talking about how she wants to make a cake for her kids, but fears it might be too early in the year or that it may be frowned upon by administrators. I told her that this year, regardless of what my principal wants, regardless of what the district wants, I will be following my heart in everything I do in my classroom. I told her make the cake if that's what her heart tells her to do. She could bring it in for them to eat as they share their writing or discuss a text. They will be so appreciative that someone took the time to make them something delicious to eat (M is an excellent cook). Ain't nothing wrong with doing something nice for somebody.

As the bullshit will undoubtedly begin at my school next week, I'm mapping out my tried-and-true escape route: books.
My 2008-09 reading list (so far):

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (You can say what you want, I can't help but be intrigued by it)
Drown by Junot Diaz (like I admitted a while ago, I never read it. I figure I should get acquainted with it over a long weekend.)
The Train of Salt & Sugar by Licinio de Azevedo (which I can't find anywhere because it's on the Essence Book Club list? *sigh*)
Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir

Feel free to suggest more.