Thursday, January 23, 2020

Year and change in Review

The world keeps on turning, and the Mikkelblogger is woefully behind on Mikkelblogging.  The Year In Review format/style of writing has never been my favorite thing to read, but I think I'm about to write one.  Don't get me wrong, if you or your family send Year In Review letters with your Christmas card, please don't stop sending them to my family and me--I'll still read them, and I'll still celebrate with you.  I love hearing about your life.  My hangups about that format are my problem, not yours.

So, now that the New Year is almost a month old (that's like six years in human years!), here's what's new with the Mikkelsens who transplanted to Portland.  It has been a year (and change) of change.

Camille is back in school.  She started the Master's of Public Policy at Portland State in the Fall.  For some time now, she had been thinking about how to get involved in changing education policy.  With her experience as a teacher in a fairly conservative/libertarian area, and then in a fairly liberal area, she has seen a wide range of local education policies, as well as a wide range of local responses to federal policy.  That's not to mention her firsthand knowledge of what works and what doesn't in the education system.

Camille sometimes quotes Rita Pierson, an experienced teacher, as a kind of mission statement for her teacher career:

"Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be."



Camille has been amazingly consistent and powerful in living by Dr. Pierson's call.  Now she's getting ready to be the behind-the-scenes champion.

Lily, the Unlikely Kid, has been stripped of her title as Least Likely Kid in the Family by her little sister, Rosaleen.  A little over a year ago, I wrote a post about Rosie that I promptly forgot to publish.  I finally published it while writing this piece that you're reading now.  You can go read the other one if you want to... I'll wait here.

Okay, when you're back, start reading here.  Lily started kindergarten in the Fall.  She's in a K/1 combo class because the incoming kinder class was so packed.  She's enjoying school, and reading everything she can rest her eyes on.  Camille has been reading the first two Harry Potter books with her for over a year now, repeating them whenever Lily wanted to reread them.  This month she finally graduated to book three.  I think the neighbors at the other end of the street could hear her squeals of excitement when Camille told her that she was ready for book three.

Rosie is in no hurry to start walking.  She can usually convince me to give her a lift wherever she needs to go.  Come to think of it, she can usually convince me to give her just about anything she wants.  And she doesn't even speak English.

Alright, that kid needs to teach me her secret.  Next time she throws her spoon on the floor, we'll see just how badly she wants it back--maybe enough to teach me how she is so persuasive.  I mean, is she a Jedi?  Is it her own modified Imperius Curse?

With Camille's career change in the works, I've also changed what I'm doing.  Over the last year, I've been setting up a music studio at home.  Right before Christmas I stopped working with a counseling agency that does intensive community-based treatment for kids.  After the lowest-stress vacation I've had in years (no day job to go back to when it ends), the music studio is open for business.  Right now it's mostly focused on teaching.  This way I get to see more of Lily and her mastermind little sister.  Oh, and the dog.

We also brought home a puppy about three weeks ago.  Maz Kanata is a very friendly, very lively mutt.  We are pretty sure she is part border collie and part terrier.  My money is on Jack Russel, but we haven't sprung for a DNA test.  The person who introduced her to us suspects that she has some coon hound in her, too, though that's less certain.  She likes to round up Lily and Rosie.  Lily is still learning how to keep her voice and movements a little lower-key when she plays with Maz in order to encourage gentler play.  Maz is still trying to figure out what to do with Rosie.  Rosie glows with pride any time she gets close enough to touch the dog.  Somewhere there's a video of Rosie doing a happy dance right after patting Maz on the back three times in a row.

So that's our year and change of change.  Life goes on, and we're going with it.

Ha!  I just realized I didn't miss Lunar New Year!  Gung hay fat choy!



I wish y'all a life-ful (not sure if I'm pulling off the word-invention thing... I tried this one before because I couldn't come up with a better word for it, but it's really cumbersome.  And so is this parenthetical... maybe I should wrap it up...) year, and I wish you whatever you need to go with it.