MindSpinner

This day I will finish up the school yearbook, but for the final batch of proofs. Our last pages are quite late, and we don’t know whether the book will come back to us by the end of the school year. The bottleneck has been the fact that eleven students have had to share three computers to get the work done. The pages these days are laid out on the computer, not by hand, using proprietary software that is, while manageable, definitely subject to improvement. The old cropping tools come out of the cabinet only once in a while, when a parent or a patron supplies a print for an ad. We were OK with the smaller deadlines, but we could not muster pages fast enough for the biggest one. I have spent the better part of spring break completing spreads in hopes of getting the book out. This student and that one have come in to finish a page here and there.

School starts again on Monday, and before Monday, I have to spend several hours working on my classroom. A gutter backed up and flooded the corner where my desk and teaching materials are, substantially damaging the wall, soaking teaching materials and papers. The wall has been repaired and repainted, but stacks of papers, notebooks, and ripply books have been laid out on tables to dry and must be put away or discarded to make room for students. Nevermind all the other things I had put on my list to accomplish over spring break.

I sat down yesterday and talked with the principal about getting two more computers for yearbook and journalism. I’ve been saying all year that we needed more computers. Now I think the point has been made, though largely at my expense.

The daffodils in the yard opened on cue for the first day of spring. This year I will have to enjoy the season in short and measured breaths, as a swimmer takes in air midstroke. Tomorrow I’ve scheduled a generous gulp of sun and dirt and breezes - a day’s work in the garden mulching paths between the new beds and filling the new beds with soil. I won’t get everything done, but I will begin. Somewhere along the line, the notion of finishing slipped beyond the horizon. It will be enough, for now, to begin.