the spooky old tree

my blog may be taking a new low with this, but i have to post it cause it's awesome. i think i've decided to go into the bulletin board decorating business. behold! my very first bulletin board! i was privileged enough to get to do the bulletin board in the main office at the school i work at. i spent a very long hand-drawing and cutting out all of the components to my special bulletin board. i couldn't have been happier doing arts and crafts a few days instead of the regular boring work. when i was in elementary school, i absolutely remember being mesmerized by anything visually engrossing around the school and i still get faint images in my head of the ones that really stood out to me. i may not quite remember them now, but i know they had an impact on me at the time.  it may sound lame, but it makes me hopeful to have the same kind of impact on the kids with my bulletin board.  

have no fear, i actually have a story to go along with this. (although the "creative" pictures are the extent of my normal themes of art and disabilities.)

who remembers the children's book the berenstain bears and the spooky old tree by stan and jan berenstain? look it up if you don't.

the best part is the 3-D effects that each of the bears are holding:  one with a flashlight, one with a stick, one with a rope!

the "water" was clear plasticy paper. how clever! with 3D splashes

3D crow and banner!

and 3D bats!

now for my story:

this week is "read across america week" where the classes have guest readers come in to read a book or two. we decorated our bulletin board for the occasion, and the head secretary i work with chose "the spooky old tree" since it holds a special place in her heart. (i made the bulletin, but she helped out by throwing out some ideas and stapling.) when i was asked to be one of the guest readers for a class, panic immediately set in and i got out of doing it.. until one of the kindergarten teachers convinced me to read.  she told me if i felt uncomfortable because of the wheelchair, that it was fine since the kids had been exposed to things of that nature before. she caught me offguard, since i hadn't even once thought about that. i find it interesting that that's where her mind immediately went, while mine hadn't passed over it at all. that seems to happen a lot, with all different types of things. not saying that is a bad or offensive thing at all, i assume people just think i'm more self conscious about it than i really am. i admit i am at times, but i think everyone just confuses it with my undeniable personality awkwardness.  (there. there's my disability topic contribution to make up for the fact that i'm writing a post about a bulletin board!)

anyway, she's one of the nicest and coolest teachers at the school, and of course she threw the whole "you're part of the family now" thing in my face, so how could i say no? now, prepare yourselves.. i actually had to read a book to a class. i give you permission to laugh in my face. i'm literally the most awkward person on the planet, i choke on my words, i mumble like crazy, have zero control over the tone of my voice, and i have some serious eye contact issues. yet i had to read a book to a class. sure it took about 5 minutes and was only 5 words a page... but my anxiety still kicked in and i wanted to vomit. once i started, i was fine (at least in my mind). i read the spooky old tree, and the kids were adorable when they "shivered" whenever the berenstain bears shivered. the best part, obviously, was the "very spooky field trip" to the main office afterwards to see my bright, colorful, full-of-life spooky old tree bulletin board to go along with the book they just experienced! come on, that's exciting. they were screaming in excitement (very loudly) and i had the satisfaction of temporarily getting over my fear of public speaking for a few moments and sharing my bulletin board with some appreciative kids.

 i don't care how horrible a story that is, those kids rocked and my bulletin board rocks even more. if you don't like my stories, you can bite me.

at least admit that you love my bulletin board...

a frog's life

(a short story)