Community Immersion

This summer is my last before becoming a teacher! This time next summer I will have completed my student teaching and will hopefully have a job lined up for the fall.

I have a lot of emotions going into my student teaching. I know it is going to be HARD. I know I'm going to cry. Maybe a lot. I'm scared. But I'm also hopeful that I will be able to make changes in students' learning. I know how to teach reading and science, and integrate social studies. I'm learning how to teach writing and math. Maybe I can do this!

This summer I'm taking two classes. One is a master's degree course about research. It's not that exciting, it's online, and my group does things at the last minute, which I CANNOT STAND. Why professors seem to think that group work in an online class is OK, I will never know.

The other course I am taking is part of my teaching certificate requirements. As far as I know UMKC is the only school requiring students to do such a class. Basically, we are exploring Kansas City's darker side. We have been to a community kitchen and served food to homeless people. We have visited a homeless shelter and a halfway house. We have walked from an affluent part of town to a poor part of town and explored the disparities between the two. I will have to volunteer to tutor. I am compiling resources about obesity and food islands in the inner city to create a presentation. All of these things together are going to help me teach the students stuck in less than ideal situations.

I'm a little exhausted just thinking about how hard this is going to be.

Immigration

I've been thinking about immigration a lot lately. My family were immigrants, and so are the students that I teach in Kansas City, Kansas. I found it striking that Kansas City, Kansas, has had high numbers of immigrants for a hundred years, and that the house in which my grandfather grew up  now houses immigrants from Mexico.

207 S. 8th, Kansas City, Kansas (near Strawberry Hill)

Immigration is as American as apple pie, but it is one of the most hotly-contested issues in American politics. I do not know much about the state of our immigration policy, but I hear how difficult, time consuming, and expensive it is for people to come here. In 1899 European immigrants were at an all-time high, and by the 1920s the Dillingham Report caused the government to pass legislation (The Emergency Immigration Act) to restrict immigrants by numbers (3% of of the population already living in the United States), ability (must be able to read), and race (anyone easily assimilated into "American" ways). The legislation blocked people from Southern Europe, Russia, and a large section of Asia from immigrating legally because they were desperately poor and had religious views that contrasted with Protestant Americans. Who called for the report and subsequent legislation? Nativist groups, according to the best source available, Wikipedia, states, "Nativism typically means opposition to immigration and support of efforts to lower the political or legal status of specific ethnic or cultural groups because the groups are considered hostile or alien to the natural culture, and assumptions that they cannot be assimilated." Sounds racist to me...

Here's an interview on NPR about the long-lasting effects of the Dillingham Report: http://www.npr.org/2013/01/28/170494504/dillingham-commissions-ranking-of-immigrant-groups-affected-u-s-policy-for-decad

 It also sounds like current legislation in states like Arizona are attempting to pass. "Nativists" hold deficit views of other cultures, and because we had done a horrible job of teaching social studies in this country, the same racist legislation is being passed in 2013 that was passed in 1911, over a hundred years ago. 


^{History is repeating itself. What are we going to say to our children's children when they look back at our policies today?}
 

New House and Recession

St. Louis Arch

Our first home

Living Room

Living Room

Kitchen

We were so excited to be in a new city with a new life. We had just purchased our first home! In addition to the rabbit and Stella, we got another dog. We just kept adding and adding. Stella was named after a jazz tune called Stella by Starlight and Chowder is a Boston Terrier, so Chowder seemed like a fitting name for a mess of a dog.

Chowder and Stella

For work, I had an accounting job that I hated. My boss was rude and insensitive. I quit after six weeks. I contacted a coworker at Champion Windows and got another accounting job, answering phones and scheduling appointments. However, they were overstaffed and I often went home early because there was not anything to do. In the fall of 2008, we elected a new president. I dressed as Sarah Palin for Halloween that year. Then, the bottom dropped out of the economy, and our perfect lives.

The Recession, 2009

We went ahead and bought a new car on New Years Eve, 2008. I'm still driving that car. In February of 2009 I was laid off. I came into work that day and my supervisor cornered me and said that the discussions they had about staffing resulted in me having to go. They knew I was in school and was not going to stay at that job forever. I was out of work for six weeks, with a new car payment, three animals to feed and take to the vet, and an expensive mortgage. Walt decided to buy a new truck during this time. We still fight about that truck every once in a while. While I was laid off, I took education classes and decided that teaching was the direction my life needed to go.

Luckily I got a job at a bank in April of 2009. I REALLY liked that job. It was fast, they gave me some responsibility, and my co-workers were really fun. I worked there throughout the recession, trying to pay bills and take classes at UMSL. Walt's job was very stressful, and during the spring of 2010 we felt like it was time to move again. I was going to have to quit work to focus on school full time, and we could not afford our house payment on one salary, so we put the house up for sale, I applied to UMKC again, and Walt found a new job at another charter school in Kansas City.

We couldn't sell the house, though. From June to August we bit our fingernails, waiting for people to come look at it. No offers were ever made. We couldn't understand. The house was so cute, the location was great. So we moved to Kansas City anyway, but because we still owned the house, we had to move in with Walt's mom and dad. That six month period was the worst of my life.

I'm eternally indebted to my in-laws for letting us stay with them for free. We did not even buy groceries most of the time. But our lack of privacy and the feeling of dependence was hard for us, since we had lived on our own for five years. We went back to St. Louis once a month every month until January 2012. I applied through our lender to do a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure on our house. We had maxed out our savings and retirement making payments on a house we weren't living in, so we gave it back to the bank. (You can see the pictures of it, inside and out, here: http://www.trulia.com/homes/Missouri/Saint_Louis/sold/98207-6452-Southwest-Ave-Saint-Louis-MO-63139#photo-14)

We lovingly dubbed the house our "vacation home." I still miss it.

Cincinnati

In 2006, after graduating from UMKC, we moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Walt had been accepted into the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as a teaching assistant on a full scholarship. He was going to get his Masters in Jazz Trumpet.

Cincinnati is a beautiful city, situated on the Ohio River. It was a lot of fun to move to place neither of us had been before, away from family and friends. We truly had to rely on one another for everything. I recommend it for everyone's marriage!

Cincinnati, OH from the Kentucky banks

The Purple People Bridge

We actually lived in Northern Kentucky, just on the other side of the river from Cincinnati. It was sort of like a suburb. Fort Thomas was such a cute little town and was really a fort at a point in time. The barracks were down the street from our apartment complex.

We enjoyed going to Cincinnati Reds games, and munching Gold Star chili (they put cinnamon and cocoa in their chili, and it does not have beans). We also got a puppy when we lived there. Meet Stella.

In 2008 Walt finished up his program at CCM and began applying for jobs. The first and only offer he got was for a charter school in St. Louis, Missouri. We really wanted to move back to Kansas City, but St. Louis was closer than Cincinnati, so we packed everything up, took a scouting trip to St. Louis, and bought our first house!

Our Wedding

Walt and I met at UMKC, in band of course. We also lived in the same apartment building. He was on the tenth floor, and I was on the fifth. We had friends in common, so every weekend we saw each other. He finally asked me out in 2004. We had been walking back from rehearsal to our apartment building when a friend of Walt's joined our chat. That friend lived on my floor, so we had to wait for him to get off the elevator before Walt could ask me. He almost didn't, but I'm glad he did.

Our first date was on 4/4/04. He took me to the restaurant in which he worked at the time (because he got a discount and I could drink wine underage), we saw a scary movie on the Plaza, and walked through Barnes and Noble for a long time. I think we both knew then that we would get married. Walt proposed on Christmas Day, 2004 (the same year). It was quick, but we do not do anything in a small way.

We were so poor (and still are) so we had a lot of help planning the wedding. I made my dress, just like my mom did. She helped a lot, and so did my grandmother. The materials cost me $60. I borrowed the cathedral veil from my mom's cousin (both she and my mom wore the same veil). We had the cake and pictures donated by family members, and another family friend did my flowers at cost. We made all of the food by hand, with A LOT of help. It was mostly Polish food.

First dress fitting

Getting the train hemmed just right, in flip flops again

July 2nd was blistering and humid as a greenhouse. The church had not turned on the air conditioner until we arrived at 2pm to get ready. The ceremony started at 7pm, and it was still really hot, especially once all of the people arrived and filled the tiny church. All of our pictures show our really red faces.

The ceremony itself was a formality. I did not want to do it because of stories I heard about how my dad was acting. But it ended up fine, in the end. I hired a cellist to perform my favorite Bach Cello Suite in G (you can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZn_VBgkPNY). Our band director, Dr. Parisi, played piccolo trumpet for us, and the church pianist played my favorite melody from the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini (you can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZbvluHcNo).

Flower Girl and Ring Bearer

Christi, Ashley, me, and Rachel

Matt, Pastor Don, Walt, and Kevin

Danny, Stephanie, Kevin, Walt, Bret, Jake, and Derek

We drove away in an old truck and the boys jumped in the back of it.

He pinky-swore that he wouldn't do this. I had cake in my dress and on the bottoms of my shoes. We have trust issues.

After it was over we all drove the Johnson County Civic Center to dance and eat. We ran out of beer, a family member was asked to leave because he was getting mouthy, and my mother complained about how loud the DJ was. I would have rather not done the reception, too, but we have some silly stories to tell now.

Conservatory of Music, UMKC

Because I loved music so much in high school, I had decided by the tenth grade that I wanted to pursue music in college. In 2002 I was accepted to the University of Missouri-Kansas City on a full scholarship in Flute Performance.

My dad packed up my stuff and drove me to Missouri from Texas. My mom couldn't come and we  both cried and cried. My first room mate was African American. We were room mates for three years. When I look back at how I behaved and the things I said, I was so stupid. I wish I was still in contact with her.

Music school was hard. Flute lessons was a four hour class, and I was expected to practice that much OUTSIDE of rehearsals, which I was not used to. But I made really great friends, some of whom I still talk to today.

My First Apartment, Twin Oaks

The Country Club Plaza, as seen from my first apartment.

 After a couple of years I began to wear down. I had reached a plateau in my playing and the seriousness of the program was becoming difficult. I was one of three undergraduate students, competing against five-seven graduate students at all times for chairs and ensemble placements. I debated quitting.

But, during my sophomore year I met Walter Brown. He was a trumpet player in the same band as me. He taught me how to listen and enjoy music in ways that I had never been able to do.

Walt, 2004

Christmas at Crown Center, 2005

We got married on July 2, 2005 (see the relating post) and took our senior years together. We even had some classes in common. Together we completed the remainder of our programs (he was a music education major) and we graduated together, on the same day, in 2006.

Walt, my mom, and me at the UMKC Commencement

September 11th, 2001

This is an email from my penpal in Peru the week of the attacks. Her name is Rosa and we are still on contact. Her twitter handle is @Rositavill.

Newspaper clippings of the newspaper on September 11, 2001.

More clippings and a ribbon that the marching band wore to the football game that Friday.

This event changed the world. It turned my life upside down. I was almost 18 years old, in my senior year of high school, and the way I function and live life is different now because of this day.

 

The newspaper clippings and things that I saved were included in my senior project that my AP English teacher assigned. I think I cried the rest of this year. Things came to an end. Friendships were placed on hold. The world cried with our nation. Everything about the future was uncertain.

 

I was supposed to come to school early this day to finish up an art project. My art teacher never showed up, though. I was headed to the band hall to put away my instrument when she finally came and unlocked her door. "I couldn't leave home because I had to watch what was going on." I was clueless about what she was talking about. It wasn't until I arrived in the band hall that several people were gathered around the televisions. I watched the second airplane hit.

 

As I made my way to Spanish, which I had first hour, a sense of dread began to seep in. I had written a paper about the attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993, so Osama bin Laden immediately came to mind as the person behind this. It wasn't until the towers collapsed, a plane was crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, and another plane crashed into the Pentagon, that the news media began to suspect a terrorist attack.

 

That evening we had a scheduled marching band rehearsal. We did not cancel that rehearsal because we did not want to give the world the idea that we could be stopped. The aggression and anger over this event caused us to speculate about invading the Middle East, even on the day the attacks occured. We stopped rehearsal early to watch the president's address to the nation. The whole day felt like I was watching a movie.

 

The corruption, the endless fighting in Afganistan, and the invasion of Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, all began to overshadow how truly horrific this day was. It is important to me that we are giving the proper information about what happened to future generations so that it never happens again.

School Years

Second/Third Grade

4th Grade. I wore glasses at this point and was teased, so I took them off for this photo.

10th Grade

Senior Year as Drum Major, Fall 2001

June 2002, in my flip flops because they were against the dress code

I think my school experience was...interesting. Especially now that I live further north and I see how my experiences were quite different. I grew up in a small town where everybody knew everybody and your business. The air smelled like mesquite and cement, the sun burned through your skin nine months out of the year, and people spoke in such a slow, thick accent that molasses is the only way to describe it. My wardrobe is a point of contention between my husband and I because in my mind summer starts in March. I will wear flip flops with a coat.

Elementary school was fun and I liked most of my teachers, but now that I look at how that school culture was, I am not surprised that we had several suicides in high school.  The whole school--hell, the whole town was a clique, and you had to fit a mold. Being from Missouri, my parents tried their best to help me see through their bullshit. In the end I was fine, but I wasn't fine for a lot of years.

I felt that middle school was like swimming through cake batter. On the surface it looked sweet, but really it was fraught with exhaustion, anxiety, and struggle. My best friend through it all was Ashley. She and I were the cookies that didn't fit the mold. We don't speak much anymore, though. Our lives took different paths, and in most ways she is still doing her own thing. I found the mold that fit.

Finally, we were in high school. It really was a lot of fun. I had a core group of really smart, good people to spend time with and we were all in the same creative classes together. Because I fit the female stereotype of being horrible at math, I opted to take the literature, language, and music classes. They were my sunshine through the clouds.

After a few successful years in music, I began taking auditions. Before I knew it, I had been accepted into college on a full ride scholarship. I remember the day I got the big package and the award letter. I smiled for days. High school was intense and went by like a westbound train; loud, dirty, and fast.

How I Got My Name



I wrote this paper in the 7th grade. 

As the paper states, my name is chosen from my great-grandmothers on my father's side. My mom goes by her middle name, and so do two of her siblings, so she did not see anything wrong with calling me by my middle name, too.

 

I was born Anna Rose Bukaty on February 14th, 1984 in Lancaster, California. My father was working for LTV, a defense corporation that was bought out by Lockheed Martin, where he still works. He was moved to Edwards Airforce Base to work with the space program. They have home pictures of the space shuttles landing at the air force base and tell stories of the sonic booms that happen when the shuttles re-enter the atmosphere. My brother, Matthew John Bukaty, was born in 1987.

 

One month old, 1984

One year old, 1985

 

"Dinney Lan!"

Disney Land, 1986