“BEING IN A PLACE WHERE THINGS ARE HAPPENING”
“I like being in a place where things are happening. I always find, over the course of the school year—I get to school, and I'm sort of annoyed to see my students because they're always causing trouble, and I’m like, ‘Why can't you people just shut up and go away?’ And then I find myself in school during vacation because I have to go do stuff and I realize, ‘No, I like it when they're here.’ And I like being in a place where things are happening, where there's always someone around. It's sort of fun in that sense. You have this automatic connection and relationship with all these people who, for all that they're annoying, are also kind of cool and interesting. And okay, it's annoying to have to deal with them, but it's also nice, right? I think in a lot of jobs you can sort of be on your own and do your own thing and never really communicate much with anyone. And here I have this job where there's a bunch of cool 14 year-olds who I get to hang out with. And again, they're super-annoying much of the time, but, actually, when they’re not there I miss them. If I were doing something else, I think I would miss them a lot.”
“IT’S MEANINGFUL”
“I teach middle school and high school. In my high school classes, I teach English literature. Actually, puzzling over the most interesting questions to ask about the short story that we're reading, or how this is relevant to them, or how to make it relevant to them, or which of the twelve options that are approved for the curriculum is the one that I think is most meaningful for my students for this year—I find that an interesting intellectual activity. It’s interesting to have conversations with other people about it, to consult with my friends.”
“I don't necessarily want it all the time, with no breaks, but I am running into my students on the bus and having a chat with them until we get to our stop—there's something nice about that. I like what I do on the whole and I I think it's important. I think it's meaningful.”