Graduation II

My ESL class graduation was last night. I received a truly horrible Christmas present from one of my students. It's a Porcelain Angel with Fiberglass Wings. Thank goodness I waited and didn't open it in front of them, because I wouldn't have been able to conceal my crushing disappointment.

The graduation ceremony was wonderful, as always. It's such an ego boost to be recognized as a teacher with applause and cheers. Whenever I've taught for money the stress has been enormous, but doing it for free gives me stress relief.

The final Letter to Your Congressperson assignments were also entered last night. The topics were:

- Request to add Russian-language programming to the cable package at a subsidized housing complex for the elderly.
- Request for greater police presence in a certain neighborhood in order to prevent both armed robberies and domestic abuse, especially abuse against Latin-American immigrant women who are afraid to go to the police because they are illegal.
- Request for sweeping immigration reforms.
- Request to fix more potholes in the streets of a certain neighborhood, backed by an argument that too much transportation money is spent on rural highway systems instead of urban streets.