Taking a Chill Pill

First off, thank you everyone for the outpouring of support and shared thoughts. The flow of responses both publicly and through email has helped bolster my spirits this past week immensely. I’ve been more zen about trying to do it all, and I’ve learned a few things about what teaching might be like in other areas around the world. I think teachers are inherently an empathetic bunch, and more often than not I just need a good shoulder to cry on/with before hitching up again for another wild ride at school.

This past week I participated in the Global Women’s March, took 10 teenagers from school snowboarding, worked a 50 hour work week, and taught my students a little bit about Chinese New Year in between all the science. I would call it a successful week. To ease out of the work week, I dressed super chill today with stretchy jeans, sneakers and a sweatshirt. Kids responded with: “we can’t even tell that you’re a teacher, miss. You look just like us today!” and “Ms. Schenck’s got the second best shoe game in the building!” I have no idea who is first. I’m ok with being second.

I picked these up at the tail end of last year while out shopping the holiday sales. I needed another pair or shoes like I needed a hole in my head, but I had a moment of fashion weakness. Stan Smith sneakers have been back in trend for ages now, and I finally caved. It’s funny how Adidas sneakers have made it into 3 rounds of trends (that I’ve noticed directly) since I’ve been alive. In the 80’s, these exact shoes were all the rage amongst the asian kids who played tennis, and Adidas shell toes were gracing the feet of hip hop legends like Run DMC. In the mid 90’s, Adidas sneakers were once again all the rage amongst my friends and the skater boys. In the early 2000’s, old school Adidas shell toes were all my friends and I wore – to concerts, on the motorcycle, to parties, all day every day. Now I feel like Adidas sneakers are in the midst of a new resurgence. I’m pretty glad I still had a pair in my closet from the last cycle in the 2000’s, but I of course “needed” to add these to the collection. I’m sure once the current Adidas craze dies down, they’ll be back out for another round in about 10 years. I’ll be prepared.

thlt-stan-smith