Embracing What's Common on Racquette River

Driving over one of the many Racquette River bridges,
something caught my eye...

Yesterday I made the ten hour drive (five out and five back) to deliver my son to the Elite Distance Running Camp at the U.S. Olympic Center in Lake Placid, N.Y. Unfortunately, I did not have the luxury of stopping to hike or loiter too long as I'll be hitting the road early tomorrow morning for another college visit, this time in Boston, Ma., with my stepson. Despite the necessity of a quickened pace, and as always seems to be the case whether passing through or hiking peaks, there was much to be seen albeit primarily through the glass.

On the winding road home, I passed over the Racquette River a few times, and in doing so kept my eyes open (and on the road) for a shadow or hint of a common subject: a heron. A relatively frequent visitor to this part of the Adirondack region, I fondly recall coming across herons here in the past. My attempts to spot one again paid off when the fellow in the top image popped briefly into my peripheral vision. At that point I took the time to pull over to one of the many observation areas and snap a few pics and linger briefly.

This is what makes this bird ubiquitous...it seems to be everywhere!

Much like my habit of taking pictures of stills of American Robins in my backyard at home or photographing rabbits on the neighbor's lawn, I guess I just have an affinity for those "things" that are seemingly always around. I feel fortunate that I can add the heron (whether on the road or in my neighborhood) to the list of ubiquitous (defined as "existing or being everywhere, especially at the same time; omnipresent") creatures within my scope of living.

What Comics Taught TEACH Me: Big Words

During this past semester, I have been consciously working with my eleventh grade students on vocabulary acquisition and utilization. Because the act of only memorization sophisticated vocabulary is not enough to insure that such terms will make there way into one's working vocabulary--one must know how to use a word in their own writing to truly demonstrate its acquisition.

Vocabulary in action!

Often when I assign a list of terms to be watched for in the context of a whole class selection, such as The Scarlet Letter, I'll note for the students that "many of these terms are still in common use... maybe not with you're current acquaintances, but with those with whom you will become acquainted as educated adults." Occasionally with some words like "countenance" and "ameliorate" this comment is met with expressions of disbelief.

I feel a sense of validation when I myself come across a term that students think is "weird" or "archaic" in use in the context of recreational media. The recreational "media" I interact with most frequently is the world of comic books, a world I would attribute with much of my own teenage vocabulary acquisition. As a middle school student myself, often I would read a comic and come across a word like "nullifier" and, curious as to what it meant, look either it, or its root word, up in the dictionary until a could find a definition that made sense. (Though Stan Lee had a way of making-up pseudo-scientific phrases--"the ultimate nullifier"--there was usually something of truth or value to be gleaned from thinking it through. The "ultimate nullifier" was capable of rendering Galactus inoperative, or nullify his powers, so he feared its use.)

It's amazing what you can learn from reading comic books! Though I  now read fewer mainstream superhero books than I did 30(!) years ago when I discovered (in reprints) the ultimate nullifier, I still enjoy coming across the writer's use of sophisticated words. Now, given the minimal use of expository boxes in traditional comics, this primarily occurs if there is any high level vocabulary used in the dialogue of "educated" characters like Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, still one of my favorite characters.

Even after all these years, and issues, I am glad to report that occasionally the writers who bring these superhero/fantasy/science fiction adventures to life still send me to the dictionary for definitions...

Going to the Doctor's for Some Sunshine!

"So, doc, what your saying is that if there is anything I really want to do, I should do it now... just in case?"~my response to my doctor sharing the worst case scenarios (which are probably hogwash!)

Late yesterday afternoon, following (what was to be our last day of school with students and two hours of grading state assessments), I headed out to my primary physician's office looking for some answers regrading the recent numbness and aching in my left arm (fingers, hand, elbow, shoulder),leg (knee, foot) and chest. The doc did a basic neurological evaluation, finding nothing unusual about the problem. In fact, he noted that I appear to be in excellent shape. I explained that my concern stems from the fact that generally speaking, when I am otherwise occupied, I tend to notice the numbness (or tingling) less, but when I am going about my day-to-day life, it is noticeable and troubling.

Doc said that, based on what he could see from a quickie evaluation is called a paresthesis, or simply put, is a sensation of tingling, pricking, or numbness of a person's skin with no apparent long-term physical effect. It is more generally known as the feeling of "pins and needles" or of a limb being "asleep" and manifestation of parasthesia may be transient or chronic.

Fortunately (I suppose) as a recreational athlete I am fairly aware of my body and when things are off. I expressed that my concern comes from the fact that I know that something is wrong and I can't explain why. The doc gave me some advice and info, none of which I found terribly helpful:

"Sometimes when you get older things don't feel the way they used to..."
"... it may just go away in a few days?"
"It may be an indicator of a larger issue or just the result of tweak..."
"have you been doing anything different of late?"

So, from here, we watch the situation in re-evaluate in three weeks. My hope is that it will go away or that something will change to indicate a need for further testing... the likely next step should it not be "transient" and go away.

For now, I find myself evaluating what I do looking for a clue. I noticed last nigth while bicycling home from class that I tend to lean heavily on my hands while pumping my legs uphill... I'll note it and move on.

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!