Week Six: Truly A NY Minute

This was the week of Feb. 15th. I had been at my internship for almost a month. I had become more comfortable with directions and places in NY. I had begun considering New York more of a home and myself less of a tourist. But this week I truly understood what people mean when they say, NY is busy. The week started off with a breaking news story. A plane had been hit into the IRS building in Austin, Tx. All coverage on other matters had stopped. This was now priority. Questions were floating about the newsroom. Who did this? And more importantly why? Could this be yet another terrorist plot? Why choose a relatively small building in Texas? We were bogged with research. As more facts were discovered, the story became more clear. This had been a personal vendetta, but one that many still considered fanatic. Important details became available as rigorous research tactics were employed. He was one of us, an American, one frustrated with his own government. The week continued on as we found as much as possible about the incident. More news came and went and somehow the time was lost in many NY minutes.

Before I knew it, it was Friday. And rather than spend the weekend relaxing from this reeling week, I was off, on a plane to Houston, TX. Though New York has begun to feel more like home, the prospect of racing highways and wide, open spaces put a smile on my face as I began my journey to Texas. I got out of the terminal and, for the first time in over a month, I sat in a car! It felt unreal that I didn't need to go into an underground lair in order to be transported to various parts of the city. As the highway moved beneath us, I was sure this weekend would be exciting! Exhausted from the long day of traveling and the week of chaos, I did the natural thing: got to my hotel and headed out for a fun dinner! lol.

The weekend literally flew by as we trained ourselves on how to train teachers to teach. It's probably more complicated than it sounds, which is why an entire weekend with some of the best minds from around the nation still doesn't seem to solve the problem. Maybe the solution is part of the problem. Hours and hours of discussion went by, formative activities were included, creative lesson planning strategies taught, all resulting in a wish-list of practical goals for the upcoming year. Before I knew it, I was heading back with the awesome crew, The Table of Trouble, to the airport. It was fun to reconnect and plunge into deep discussions of the spiritual sort. Each of our personalities is so different. It really is a wonder that we can come together and get any work done. Well after the performances of "AAl is Well" in TE land, poetic affirmations of faith, and comical interludes of our own faulty human nature, we left with a sighof a relief and a feeling of accomplishment. And in a NY Minute, I was back at the airport, ready to enter another week, somehow less healthy but more awake.