Last night I took a walk for the second night in a row. I hope to make a nightly walk a part of the daily routine, since I need the exercise. The pain in the back isn't as bad as it was before, but the right knee was bothering me again today. I don't know if it was the cold weather or if it was caused by last night's walk. A 30-40 minute walk doesn't exert too much--I could keep on going for an hour or two, but I would need better walking clothes and shoes, as well as the free time.

I haven't walked daily since I went into exile (the beginning of which should actually be dated before the time spent in St. Botolph's Town, when I first went to VA.) I didn't walk regularly in the part of Beantown where I was living--the neighborhood wasn't very interesting, and the weather could be more prohibitive. But I should have been exercising nonetheless.

It is better to take a walk in the suburbs than in Brighton -- less auto traffic at night, and it is probably safer. It is also a good way to become familiar with the neighborhood. Surprisingly, there are a lot of public parts in the part of Milpitas where I currently reside--perhaps even more than in Apple Country?

The other thing I need to work on is preparing, and then eating, a reasonable portion size for meals. For me, overeating is less for the sake of sensual delight than it is a compulsion to finish what has been prepared. No more sodas (what a misuse of aluminum!), and juices will also have to be reduced. Although it would be better to get in shape as soon as possible, I will have to take a more gradual approach, until the knee and back seem better.

Perhaps I have some sort of bias against a particular school district, but I reacted negatively to yesterday's job. The kids didn't behave any worse than the worst class I've had in the district I prefer, though there certainly were a lot of energetic boys in this class. The district does not perform as well as the one encompassing Apple Country on exams and such, and it probably isn't as well-off, but my 'preferential option' doesn't extend to that part of the South Bay. The first graders were generally bigger than the first graders at the school I sub at most often. Nutrition? Are they as spoiled as the students in Apple Country?

Maybe I have a bad impression of the city in which the district is located. If I were able to build up more of a rapport with the students, would my opinion of the district would change?

The boys... how can their energy be redirected? Or 'suppressed' some of the time? Or should there be a separation of the sexes even at the primary level, so that a different pedagogy can be applied to boys? It seems that one local private school does separate the sexes even at an early age.

The class is noteworthy since a husband-wife team is teaching it. I don't know what sort of arrangement was made, with regards to salary and such, but I suspect their having a baby had something to do with it. (I doubt they are paid the equivalent of two teachers' salaries.)

It was another occasion for considering teaching in a public school (at the primary or the
secondary level), and whether I would be satisfied with that job. I doubt it, and think eventually I would have to quit and find some other work. The distance between what can be accomplished under the conditions that obtain at California public schools and what should be normative seems to be so great that I would be frustrated and miserable in my dissatisfaction.

It is also the case that I would prefer to teach Catholics. Is this mere favoritism? Or a legitimate expression of the hierarchy of loves? Radical Egalitarians are mistaken in thinking that everyone deserves the same from all; just because bad results have not happened yet does not mean that God favors such an arrangment or culture of 'entitlement'--He does permit things to happen out of His mercy. (Or in some cases, out of His justice--the state of affairs is its own punishment.)

In much of contemporary American society, a public school curriculum has no place for religion, and one wishes that the Catholic students at public schools had more of an opportunity to learn about God and to exercise religion. How can teachers who are not Catholics not also be evangelizers? What greater truth can they pass on? The acquisition and use of the intellectual virtues must be subordinate to charity, and to fail to acknowledge this order can lead to perhaps the worst form of pride.

The MD is in the area for the weekend, so I'll be spending some more time in SF. I should see if there is a public park near KK, but I don't think there is, since they live on a hill.