Jennifer Anne Kogler

On Monday of this week, I was in the Chicago area.  My first stop was at Kennedy Junior High in Lisle, IL.  Which is my second school named Kennedy . . . JFK seems to get his fair share of junior-high-naming-rights, no?  And at Kennedy in Lisle, I think I got the coolest picture in front of a school yet.  Or, at least, in my opinion.  I felt famous.  Kind of.  Let me see if I can post it correctly.  Here goes . . . 

Whoops!  Wow.  I stink at this.  I wonder if people are going to be driven away from my blog because I can’t even post a picture correctly.  Sideways Picture Blogs are all the rage.  You heard it here first.

 Well, anyhow, if you tilt your head to the left, you can sort of make out my name on the ritzy electronic sign in front of Kennedy.  A huge thank you to Paulette Goodman, who arranged the whole thing.  At Kennedy, I think I had the funniest teleporter to date.  ”Shaky” told me that he could teleport because he was magic.  When we couldn’t pull it off, he told me, quite matter-of-factly that he had run out of magic on Saturday and hadn’t had time to go purchase more.  I couldn’t help from cracking up myself.   

Heatherwood Middle School, with the winding road that funnels into the school, sort of reminded me of the place I used to go for summer camp. There was no Blob there, but other than that, it made me feel very nostalgic.  And I mean that as a compliment.  

The students had to sit on the floor, but they were still lively, especially for that early in the morning.  Teresa Allnoch was an extraordinary host, climbing on tables and chairs to set up my mic.  I had some pretty fantastic questions and Seamus was a good sport about teleporting.   Here is a picture from Heatherwood.  And no, you’re not seeing things.  I got new blog software and can’t seem to figure out how to make the pictures go the right way.  Well, it’s better than me sitting in front of a school, right?

Later that day, I was on to Eisenhower Middle School.  As a side note, I was glad to get another President’s name into the mix.  I’ve been to a couple Kennedy’s and I really don’t think that Eisenhower is getting his due.  There, Cheryl Kaloper had some excellent volunteers including Kostis, Marie and Sam.  I may be spelling Kostis wrong, which is a shame, because he really thought he was going to Hawaii.  

At some point, if I keep apologizing for the long lapse in between blogs, you’re going to stop believing that I’m actually sorry.  I had a good excuse this time, though.  My website was being completely redone.  How do you like it?  Pretty spiffy, huh?  

Anyhow, I better finish up with the Seattle schools that I went to visit so they don’t feel left out.  After Evegreen, I went to North Middle School.  I was welcomed by Officer Eddie when I first arrived, which was a first (actually, I was just lost and Eddie was nice enough to point me in the right direction.  Mrs. Kelly, the librarian, couldn’t have been nicer and I think, between the three different assemblies, we had the most enthusiastic group.  I’ll save the totals for later.  I’m going to be putting up blogs fast and furious now.  Just watch.

So sorry for the long delay between blogs. You see, life got in the way again. Well, by life, I mean “law school.” School officially ended on Monday (I took my last final for the year). I have packed up and moved out of my Stanford studio. Moving out ranks up there as one of the worst mundane tasks in the world. There’s really nothing positive about putting all my worldly possessions into boxes. But, anyway, all this means that my blog won’t be playing second fiddle to Constitutional Law and Property. It’ll be nice to just have one thing to focus on for awhile.

I have a lot to report. Last week, I started off at Tierra Linda Middle School in San Carlos, CA. I have to thank Mrs. Hernas for all her help and setting up five different class periods for me (my most to date). She was very gracious. I had an excellent teleporter there named Hannah, who believed that I could do it . . . the biggest vote of confidence I’ve had so far.

Then, I was off to Castro Valley, where I did two schools. Ms. Shoptaw of Canyon Middle School gave me, perhaps, the most spirited introduction ever and the students were fired up because of it. Of course, she’s an actress and performer (as well as a wonderful lunch companion), so I think she’s a natural. I should probably be asking for tips from her. Jesse was also an excellent volunteer and has had the best hair color to date.

I finished the week up in Creekside Middle School and was warmly welcomed on whiteboards and posters by Ms. Sarantakis. It was her first author visit and you wouldn’t know it . . . everything went off without a hitch! I have to give a shout out to Pat, who, although he couldn’t teleport, does have his own jump roping team. I personally witnessed the team, and they’re pretty darn good. Thanks also to Mr. Ellis for his emergency sound services (he also made a nice left-handed stab if I remember correctly).

Today, I’m in the Seattle area and just returned from Mr. Elder’s library at Evergreen Middle School. In terms of teleportation, Brandon, Rob and Rachel didn’t go anywhere, either, but I thought we got close. I’ll keep trying, there’s no doubt about that. Thanks to Evergreen for having me . . . it was great fun.

Well, I think I’m going to go get some rest before I settle in for the Laker’s game (sorry Golden State and Sonics fans). You’ll have to forgive me for not having pictures, but everything I own is still in boxes (except for this computer) and has not yet been unpacked.

I also have some more totals, and my how they’ve grown!

Total Schools: 11
Number of Appearances: 31
Total number of Students: 6,150
Cities: 8
Marriage Proposals: 3
Affirmative Answers: 0

And the beat rolls on,
Jennie