Making Lemonade

Okay, so along with all his other dangerous schemes, namely his plan to put an end to collective bargaining for union workers in Wisconsin, Scott Walker, our so-called Governor, has cut all funding to the appointment of the State Poet Laureate. This was a small pot of money (a whooping $2000 a year) earmarked in the state budget to support the travel expenses of the Poet Laureate, whose job it is to promote poetry throughout the entire state for a period of two years. Our first three Poet Laureates in Wisconsin were: Ellen Kort, Denise Sweet, and Marilyn Taylor. In November 2010, Marilyn Taylor’s tenure came to an end and Bruce Dethlefsen was named to the post by Governor Doyle. Although Scott Walker has jettisoned the Poet Laureate from the state budget, the actual poet is not going to go away!

What do I do now?

As of last week I finished student teaching sixth graders at Farnsworth Middle School. I must admit that I miss the children terribly, but I am now back into reading and writing mode. Being essentially finished with school, however, is incredibly disconcerting. There are no jobs in the area for teaching, so my options are limited.