Quick reflection, then a summer
Starting Monday, it’s vacation
During the school year, I let myself check email Friday nights, because it was a school day. Saturdays, I refuse even to think about school, and Sundays I plan. During summer vacation, June is like Friday, July is Saturday, August Sunday. Prep for the year starts in August, July is for me, and for a touch ofJune, I have time to reflect on the year before I archive it like an old class in Google Classroom. Last day of school was Thu, this weekend was just what comes after. Proper summer vacation starts Monday, which means I can wrap up the year before checking out for the count.
It was a somewhat taxing year, as all school years are. A large percentage of kids were completely fine, a solid quarter of them were sweethearts, and there were a couple of real pills and a few who were different every day. Adolescence 101. I’ve seen worse, though of course there were a few nights spent replaying an interaction, worrying about the next day, drafting and redrafting parent emails in my head. Most non-teacher thankfully don’t have conflict in their daily work lives, but the sixth grade affords no such luxury. No matter how much you try to avoid it. Some kids mash the bait right into your face.
It took a bit of a toll, both physically and mentally, but I mostly was able to stay above the emotional fray. I reached a lot of kids, and I missed the mark with others. Some of that was my fault, some theirs. I think every career should get time off to rest and reassess how to improve for next year, so I’m thankful mine does. Big changes are on the way for my building, from staffing to curriculum to schedules and more. But those are August problems. I’ll congratulate myself on a year with plenty of highlights, and I’ll worry about the future some other time. Let’s dance.
The Urban Blah
Back in 2009-11 I collaborated with the brilliant Vee to make a webcomic that failed to become syndicated across the globe. I am pro-recycling.
Forgive me if I’ve shared this before, but it seemed apt for the Friday of summer. I made this comic when I had a dull office job, and I used to time the AC/DC on my headphones to kick in right as I opened the doors to the outside world. It nearly numbed the pain of the job itself! Also, Vee has a substack, you should subscribe!
Jam of the Week
Once upon a time, Mark Kozelek of the Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon released an album of AC/DC covers, although not the ones you hear as much in public life. A friend made me a mix alternating between the AC/DC rockin’ original and Kozalek’s chill acoustic cover. Of course I took the wildly wrong lesson and the song that made the greatest impression was the first song on the album, the ultimate Friday at 5:01 song: “Up to My Neck in You” from AC/DC’s Powerage. The ouitside door open was when the drums come in at :15. I need to fire that up soon.
My Back Pages
From my blog Surgical Strikes, January 21, 2009, “Introducing: The Urban Blah”:
Today we must pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking Dan Tobin.
Okay, I would never really compare myself and my own personal challenges to those now facing America, or to the transcendent moment of Obama’s inauguration. No, my search for career satisfaction is much, much bigger than either of those, and CNN’s best political team on television will be glad to confirm this. But I found our new Prexy’s speech yesterday predictably brilliant and expectedly inspirational. Ho-hum. I mean seriously, enough with the sublime oratory already! We get it, you’re a political genius, and we’ve got to sit through 4-8 more years of this unbelievable awesomeness. You want a cookie?
I really threw myself into the 2008 campaign, even took off election day to phone-bank and get out the vote. At the same time, I was in Boston post-journalism and post-sitcom and in the middle of a university office job that was not scratching my creative itch. I needed to do something.
So yes, a lot to love in that speech, so many right notes, so much evocative language, and a really clever reframing of the issues that lie ahead. On a personal note, the passage I paraphrased (stole) above resonated with me in particular. I’ve been licking my wounds and biding my time for all too long, and now I’m ready… for change. Yes I can. Yes I can!
When he said we have to fix America, I decided to do the same for myself. It would be another year before I’d decide teaching was the right move, but I I knew it was time to come out of my post-sitcom doldrums and choose a career path.
Sorry. I’m just still so proud of myself for not crying once yesterday. In fact, I haven’t cried since our celebratory dinner the Friday after the election, when I tried to thank Meaghan for pushing us to volunteer for Obama, and she kept it together while I choked back sobs at the restaurant. Today I kept it together, and I expect to keep that going for a while, barring a very nasty toe-stubbing incident.
I ended up crying any time I tried to explain what the victory meant to me. I felt so betrayed by the Bush years, betrayed by America in 2004 when he won on the heels of anti-marriage equality bills. I suddenly felt like I’d gotten my government back, like I’d gotten my country back. I was so proud of America and I could not keep it together.
But the whole point of this post is not to wax poetic about our brand new funky president. No, like I said, this is about something much bigger than Barack Obama, bigger than America, bigger than life itself. It’s about reinventing myself through my latest act of self-promotion.
Illustrated by the wonderful and talented Lovisa, once known ’round the blogosphere as Tot (of Totcetera fame), and written by your friendly neighborhood dantobin, it’s a webcomic.
In 2009, I told my blog readers to read my cartoon. In 2023 I tell me facebook friends to ready my substack. Failing to find an online audience since 2003, but always trying, trying, trying so hard.
What’s a webcomic? A comic strip on the web, silly. But what’s this webcomic? Well, if you’ve been reading here over any of the past 3952 posts, the voice should be pretty familiar. In fact, a few of the comics have been ripped straight from the headlines of this very blog!
That’s a lot of posts. Little did I know I was nearing the end of my time there. Did I make it to 4000? It would take too much work to find out. Probably?
It’s my standard-issue quiet, deadpan humor, about life, work, and spilling coffee on yourself. But it comes to life in a new and exciting ways courtesy of Lovisa’s really visionary illustrating. The collaboration has wildly exceeded my hopes, and it’s only getting better as we find our way though the Blah world.
I stand by every word of that, even found a way to rerun it. Obviously I’m prone to a certain amount of navel gazing, but I really believe the Blah is worth the gaze.
I’m not quitting the substack for the summer, but I can’t guarantee they’ll be out every week, or it’ll look the same. Maybe I’ll play around. Stay tuned!