Put on the Shelf

I spent today at my son's middle school (I'll call it "Abraham Middle") volunteering in the media center. Great media center and media specialist. I shelved books and helped students find books that appealed to them; I set them up to take their AR tests (Accelerated Reader) and researched information about books that could be appropriate for middle grades (lexile scores, reviews, etc.). I was there all day and had fun, and it passed quickly. I realized how much I miss working with the students when I am there with them.

When I came home, I checked all of my internet "addictions" (emails, blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), and in looking over the posts from my Facebook buddies, it became apparent how recent college graduates are also being put on the shelf at a time when they need to make money most (college debt combined with idyll time is not a good recipe). One friend wrote, "another useless resume droppage," when he was referring to applying for a job as a teacher right now. Sadly, the forecast for the job rate in our state is for unemployment to rise to 11% in 2010 with no discernible job growth until 2011. I guess it's good I've got plans to go to grad school. Yeah. . . Why not just go even more into debt?