Weekly Kodachrome - Girl on a Swing

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The smoke of a nearby bonfire drifted sluggishly through the neighborhood and sifted the early evening sunlight as she took to the swing in the backyard; her hair tumbled around her shoulders like ocean surf as she swayed back and forth, legs pumping in the same rhythm she’d learned when she was little.

And for a just moment, it was yesterday once again.

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Did you take a photo in the past seven days that made you smile? Please feel free to include a link to the image in the comments section if you did...or, use the linky below.

Want to add this linky to your own blog? Feel free to grab the code here

Photoshoot - Shooting at the Parkes

Pin It It wasn’t all that long ago that I had the opportunity to do a photoshoot of the Parke family.

You will probably recognize the little boy with the flag splayed across his mug from my Happy Teachinfourth of July 2011 post; I have been so busy lately with my job at the juvenile detention center and all of the other various and sundries life has to offer that I finally came to the realization that I failed to post the remaining images.

So, here they are in all of their glory…

If you are feeling saucy - and have a few minutes - feel free to head over to the Parke’s blog to see some of the other images (Natalie’s favorites). A few of them are duplicates, but a visit just might be well worth your time…

Juvenile Detention

Pin It The reverberation and echo of the slamming door behind me was a sickening reminder of where I was; I licked my lips nervously as I stood in that small space between the doors that I christen as ‘the airlock,’ where one door is shut behind you and—once closed—the other is opened.

The second door buzzed, indicating that the locking mechanism had released and we were free to walk into recesses the Slate Canyon Juvenile Detention Center.

My steps were slow as I passed by the small rooms to the sides, the entire front wall made of windows, allowing view to the occupants therein. Some were boys whom I assumed were in processing, detox, or who were awaiting visitation from parents or legal counsel.

A feeling of gloom settled over me as I walked past the glass rotunda-ish master control where the eyes and ears of the detention center watched a plethora of monitors. A veritable montage of buttons and levers were splayed out before the workers as they buzzed people through doors and kept a watchful eye on the detainees of the facility.

I was given a brief tour of the varied facilities at my disposal, and found myself becoming increasingly more and more overwhelmed at the sheer magnitude of the building, and the enclosure I’d only beforewhich seen the exterior of from a distance as I sat in my air conditioned vehicle at the traffic light, listening to a playlist full of music waiting for my chance to proceed through the busy intersection. I’d seen the boys in the compound area, confined behind the high chain-linked fence playing football or walking the exterior lines.

But now it was I viewing the outside from within.

It was vastly different.

I snapped back to the present I was shown the copy room—through two more doors and down a hallway where I was buzzed through at each turn; video cameras gazed down watchfully from the ceiling at regular intervals as an assiduous reminder that big brother was always on the lookout.

I was shown to the classroom where I’d be teaching, and found my heart rate quickening somewhat as I thought of the next four weeks ahead of me.

Why had I agreed to this?

Why was I doing this in the first place?

What in the world was I doing here? I was a fifth grade teacher for heaven’s sake; I was not somebody who should be teaching high school students in lockup.

Each time the boys marched past the wide windows of my classroom I felt sorry for them, wondering what had brought them to this place and moment of time.

I didn’t want to know.

I taught my first three classes without getting knifed, stabbed, wounded, murdered, maimed, decapitated, or anything of the sort.

…until fourth period.

It was the voice that did it.

As the final group of boys trudged into the classroom that first day, I heard a voice I recognized—quite clearly—that said, “Mr. Z?”

Even without looking up I recognized him…he was one of my students.

The years compressed together as my mind careened through the durations to the tousle-haired boy who’d sat in my sixth grade classroom. And, for a brief second, the image of that eleven year-old youth materialized in my head. This young man was one and the same.

He was a bit embarrassed…along with the other four kids who recognized me, but they were also glad to see me as well, all being previous students at schools I’d once taught, though I had never before been their teacher.

I thought of these kids as I taught that day; I thought of the choices they made to bring them to this place in time.

It cut me to the quick.

I am a teacher.

I have been teaching at the juvenile detention center for three weeks now.

Each morning I walk through the double-lock doors and past the guards before entering my classroom, and it is there that I meet my students.

I am their teacher.

These are my kids.

In one more week my stint at the detention center will end, and two weeks later my upcoming 5th graders will arrive in my classroom to commence a new year with me as their teacher; however, I will miss my time in juvenile detention...and I am grateful for the chance to have been able to call myself their teacher.


The image above is not of my student, the shot was garnered from here.

This is the Place Heritage Park

Pin It While Trent and I were in Utah last week we went to - This Is The Place Heritage Park.
It was so much fun. I haven't been there since Trent was just a baby, and, of course, he doesn't remember it so I really wanted to take him there.

There is so much more there now than there was just a few years ago - a really fun, interactive village.

Sidenote: It is located on Sunnyside drive in SLC right across the street from the Hogle Zoo and WAYYYYYY too close to U of U territory for Trent and I! We passed through campus and shot at the Utah signs with our "finger guns" as we drove along - Ha Ha!!!

What a goofball!

We loved looking at all the old homes. It was fun to have the people dressed up.
When we stopped at the barbershop he told us he had went to school and could cut hair or perhaps pull a tooth if we liked. We no likey!

I adored seeing all the wash on the line - although I am glad for my dryer.

Trent especially loved the animals. We spent alot of time with them.

There was an indian village where we explored different indian dwellings and he made an arrowhead necklace.

The hospital was fascinating with it's old fashioned tools like a hack saw - Ouch!
Also, it's rows of beds with quilts.

We stopped into the schoolhouse where Trent wrote his name on a slate and then with other children they stood and recited multiplication facts.

When the teacher discovered that Trent had forgotten his homework he had to sit in the front of the class with a Dunce cap on.

He said he would never forget it again!

A prospector named Digger allowed Trent to pan for gold on his land. Trent found quite a few nuggets which he was required to turn over to Digger, but Digger was a fair man and let Trent take home a few as pay for his work.

I love being able to spend one on one time with Trent and not being in a rush so he can enjoy some of the things he wants to do. It was a good day!

I know I promised never to do this again, Cherie...and this will be the last time...really; this time I REALLY mean it...

Moments with Joey – Fortunes

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SCENE 1, INTERIOR. NOON, CLASSROOM. The room is silent as the teacher eats his lunch alone, enjoying a few moments of solitude. As he uses his chopsticks to eat his teriyaki chicken, the classroom door opens. A fifth grade boy sees him and immediately moves across the room with a huge smile on his face and is obviously very excited. He sits down at the table across from his teacher.

JOEY: Mr. Z, did you open your fortune cookie yet?

[The teacher glances down to the plastic-encased cookie sitting on his lunch tray].

TEACHER: Um, no…not yet. Why?

[The boy leans in and whispers].

JOEY: Because. fortunes. are. awesome. And they come true too…but only if you eat them after reading.

[The teacher does a double take].

TEACHER: Did you just say you eat them?

[The boy nods his head with a grin].

JOEY: Yep, if you eat them, they come true; it always works.

TEACHER: And just where did you hear this?

JOEY: Everybody knows it…and it works too!

TEACHER: Really?

JOEY: Yep, my last fortune said, “You will meet new people.”

[Pause].

TEACHER: ...and did you meet new people?

JOEY: Yep, the very next day.

TEACHER: [Mildly sarcastic] Wow, imagine the chances of that happening…

JOEY: Yeah, I know; isn’t it awesome?

[Pause].

TEACHER: Joey, I just have to ask…were they cool people?

[The boy gets a bemused look on his face as he thinks back].

JOEY: Actually, they weren’t…

TEACHER: So you ate a fortune and it was granted, but it wasn’t a good one. Well, to me it sounds like you got a little bit ripped off, to be honest.

[Pause].

JOEY: Yeah, but sometimes fortunes are awesome.

TEACHER: Well, this is way too much of a gamble for my liking…maybe you’d better take mine.

[The teacher hands the fortune cookie to the boy who tears off the plastic and snaps the cookie in half. He gently takes the fortune from the broken cookie straightens the slip of paper].

TEACHER: So, what’s your fortune?

JOEY: [Reading with a monotone voice]. Your luck will soon be at a high point...

TEACHER: Well, Joey…maybe you’ll meet some cool people after all…

[Pause].

JOEY: Actually, it’s your fortune, Mr. Z…and you just did.

[The boy grins and holds the fortune out to the teacher who smiles back].

TEACHER: Well, I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t eat it…

[The boy and the teacher both break into laughter].

[Fade to black].

Weekly Kodachrome - Table for One

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The cheery sounds percolated throughout the picnic area as a dozen different exchanges took place: laughter, lighthearted joking, and incessant chatter. I weaved silently through these varied conversations that seemed to hang in the air—clouds of conversation drifting in a sky of chatter.

I paused here and there to join in a discussion for a few brief moments before moving on.

As I snapped photos of the people at the celebration, I happened to glimpse a lone boy eating at one of the tables. I paused and raised my camera as he looked at me shyly, mouth full of watermelon, and floppy hat hanging down about his ears.

“Thanks for the picture,” I said, moving on to the group at the next table.

Shoving another bite of watermelon into his mouth, he grinned.

<center><a href="http://teachinfourth.blogspot.com/search/label/Weekly%20Kodachrome/" target="_blank"><img alt="Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0e1GL4TLj1n6H-veDNFvj6gHUt_9-X1MWA6Qo-0zyEHW2dGTMl4JeI8v_q4AdNQxb8FADxYjLPhQnxl1rEPTU9B2N1_m9vVei9Ea8PXDRASzVKotvo4jseesUFUvqazg0pxtTAN75ao/s800/Weekly%252520Kodachrome.png"/></a></center>

Did you take a photo in the past seven days that made you smile? Please feel free to include a link to the image in the comments section if you did...or, use the linky below.

By the way, I’m guest posting over at 3 Sunkissed Boys today. If you head on over, I promise you won’t be disappointed - well, probably won’t be.


Want to add this linky to your own blog? Feel free to grab the code here .

The Drink

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Carlos, luckily, just had to be first.

I’m just glad I happened to catch it on film.

i heart faces

To the Bully in Middle School

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It’s been a few years since we were in middle school together.

I thought you should know that I still remember the way that you made fun of me in the lunch line. The way that my spine curved because of a condition I had when I was still a kid, and how you got all of the other students to laugh at me, too, as you mockingly jeered about it.

To you, it was no big deal.

I remember the time you let all of your friends cut in front of me in the lunch line.

Every. single. time you did it.

I still remember all the laughing—probably nothing to you—poking fun at my expense.

You were a jerk.

I say that now, years later.

A score of years separate that time between my twelve year-old self, and the self that exists in the here and now.

Today I’d have told you to knock it off. I’d have had the nerve to stand up to you and tell you that it wasn’t cool.

I’d tell you that being mean to others isn’t anything to be proud of.

I’d show you what being cool was really all about.

Did you know that I grew up and became a teacher?

I still see you from time to time…in the faces of some of my students.

I do everything I can to help them to realize that being a bully just isn’t cool.

I realize that many of them have been hurt, too.

Sometimes, I rail on them for being mean to somebody else.

Then I put my arm around them, and I remind them that Mr. Z is on their side, too.

I let them know that I care about them…even when they do wrong.

I wanted to thank you.

You gave me a heart.

It was partially due to you that I learned what it felt like to be shunned, to be ridiculed, and to be the butt of jokes.

You want to know what you did to me?

You made me stronger.

No, not at the time. At the time, you destroyed me. Words can’t express how much it hurt all those years ago, nor can they convey just how much it helped build me and make me who I am today.

Did I mention that I’m a teacher?

I see you all the time.

Sometimes in the faces of my students.

I do everything in my power to help them not to become like you were.

For that, I thank you.

And I’m no longer angry.

Essence of the Nitrate Stick

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Though hot dogs have been around for quite some time, historians have yet to nail down their true origins. Yet, the stories of where they came from are most certainly interesting, whether you believe they originated from Homer’s brief reference in the Odyssey to the sausage, the ascription given to German butcher, Hohann Georghehner who lived in the late 1600s as being the creator, or even the attribution of their invention as happening at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904—the St. Louis World’s Fair. Wherever the birthplace of these little beauties, I still find that they taste incredibly awesome.

Speaking of franks, did you know that it wasn’t all that long ago that I was visiting a few friends down in Green River? I’d brought along a few gourmet bologna ponies from the land northward and was out placing these on the grill. I watched them hiss as they hit the barbecue with a sizzle. As the package emptied, I found myself gazing at the juice of these footlongs, still saturating my fingertips. Not wanting to wipe them on my cargos, I instead licked my fingers—not having a paper towel handy.

As the sweetened nectar of these durgers tantalized my taste buds, I realized just how delicious this stuff really was. I glanced at the plastic packaging; there was probably a quarter cup of that sweet essence in the bottom of the hot dog container, just waiting to be appreciated.

I thought about it.

Man, if only I'd had a straw.

I thought how this stuff’d make a wonderful popsicle; hot dog juice flavored frozen delights for a hot summer’s day. Why hadn’t anyone thought of this before?

Pure, unadulterated deliciousness.

I thought about drinking the remaining juice right from the package then and there. After all, I was thirsty, too. Well, that’s about the time everyone else started to come outside bringing the rest of the food for dinner.

I rapidly changed my mind and tossed the package in the trash.

Curses.

Maybe one day...


On a side note, of the facts below, all are true save one...if you want to guess which in the comments, feel free to do so. If not, that's okay as well. You can see the answer yourself by highlighting the section that says, "answer" at the bottom to reveal the lie in all of the truth.

1. The most popular condiment for kids with hot dogs is ketchup, while with adults it’s mustard.

2. The world’s biggest hot dog was 1,996 feet in length and was created by the Sara Lee Company for the Olympics in 1996.

3. The most expensive hot dog in the world was made my Joe Calderone and was sold for nearly $70. It featured not only truffle oil, but duck foie gras, and truffle butter as well.

4. By utilizing tongs or a spatula instead of a fork while grilling, your Dodger Dog loses far less moisture while cooking and all of those succulent juices.

5. Hot dogs are briefly featured in every Meg Ryan film—with the exception of one.

6. The hot dog was approved by NASA as a regular food item on space and shuttle flights.

7. On average, Americans consume 818 hot dogs per second in the United States.

8. The first words Mickey Mouse ever uttered in a cartoon were “hot dogs.”

9. Los Angeles residents consume more hot dogs than any other city.

Answer: #5 At least, not that I know of...

Images borrowed shamelessly from here and here.

Moments with Joey – Blowing in the Wind

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SCENE 1, INTERIOR. MORNING, CLASSROOM. The class is correcting their math assignments. As they do, the teacher notices one boy who has no work for one of the world problems on his page. Since the students are required to show their work for credit, the teacher points to the problem on the assignment.

TEACHER: How did you get your answer for this problem, Joey?

[The boy looks up in mild surprise].

JOEY: The wind told me.

[Pause].

TEACHER: The wind?

[The boy nods].

TEACHER: Ah, so you got that whole Pocahontas thing going on, don’t you?

JOEY: Yep.

[Pause].

TEACHER: So...have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon? Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned? I mean, can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?

JOEY: Yeah, pretty much; [pause] but only when the wind tells me to...

[Fade to black].



Secret note passed in class to you: With the ending of this past school year, you might have thought that Moments with Joey would end, too; well, they didn’t. I was searching around for something today and came across a slew of moments from this past year I’d written up, tucked away, and never published.


Instead of waiting until the fall to run them, I thought that this is as good of a time as any. Joey never fails to bring a smile to my face…I hope he does to yours, too.


Man, but I miss that kid.

Weekly Kodachrome - Rainbows on My Shoulder

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I’m blogging from the kitchen counter.

It seems that my best stuff always comes to me here; call it hallowed ground.

Billy Joel – Bill I’ve heard he wants to go by nowadays…much too advanced in years to be a Billy anymore - is keeping me company as he reminds me of days gone by.

From the open kitchen window, sunlight lances in from the afternoon sun, glittering in the water left behind in the sink from a few dirty dishes. It sparkles in a circular pattern on the ceiling, wavering slightly; around the kitchen, cast from the golf ball-sized crystal upon the sill, dozens of small rainbows cover the walls. I stare at a few of these multicolored strips and remember to going to my friend, Jess’s house, and the crystal his mom had in their living room window casting a thousand baby rainbows around the room. As a young boy I’d try to capture them, wanting to put them into my pocket and save them.

I’d never been successful.

As I type away on my laptop I happened to glance at my shoulder and noticed a multicolored caterpillar of light nuzzled on my shoulder.

I smiled, thinking of the crystals hanging in my room as a boy; the million arcs of color and light they cast day after day through the times of my adolescence and young adulthood.

Billy Joel serenades on…

and the silent fireflies of yesteryear surround me.

<center><a href="http://teachinfourth.blogspot.com/search/label/Weekly%20Kodachrome/" target="_blank"><img alt="Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0e1GL4TLj1n6H-veDNFvj6gHUt_9-X1MWA6Qo-0zyEHW2dGTMl4JeI8v_q4AdNQxb8FADxYjLPhQnxl1rEPTU9B2N1_m9vVei9Ea8PXDRASzVKotvo4jseesUFUvqazg0pxtTAN75ao/s800/Weekly%252520Kodachrome.png"/></a></center>

Did you take a photo in the past seven days that made you smile? Please feel free to include a link to the image in the comments section if you did.

Or you can use the linky below...

It's new, my friend made it for me

Media of the Week - The Deathly Hallows...Literally

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I will never forget – well over a dozen years ago – when I bought the first Harry Potter book and read it.

At first it felt like a story fit for the name of Roald Dahl…for the first twenty or thirty pages, but then it quickly changed into something else: something I’d never read before.

I. loved. it.

I enjoyed this then little-known story so much that I bought copies for my sister and brother for Christmas that year; you’d never seen such disappointed looks on both their faces – which they both quickly tried to mask behind the obligatory, “Oh, this is great” and “Hey, I can’t wait to read this.”

In reality they both wanted to throw the book in my face and scream something like, “A children’s book? It’s Christmas and you go out and buy me a CHILDREN’S book? What in the heck kind of lame sauce brother are you anyway giving out a stupid gift like this at Christmas?”

Oh, how after reading they soon ate their words.

It ended up being one of the greatest gifts of all time.

Strange little friend, that thing called perspective…

I can remember a year or three later, my brother and I were reading the next few publications of the books during our college years in our apartment, each of us reading a different story and yet having some amazing discussions about the plot lines, characters, and our varied epiphanies about the people in them.

Boy, those were the good old days.

Which now brings me to the end of an era, a period of life where – like the final book of a few years ago – the final movie is now upon us.

The proverbial closing of yet another chapter in my life.

Has Harry Potter affected me?

To be honest, I find it hard to think of a world without Harry, Hermione, and Ron in it. A world without Hogwarts. A world without Dumbledore. A world without even Voldemort existing somewhere inside of it.

Has J.K. Rowling affected my life? Just like a horcrux.


By the way, it appears that Mindy and Justin were the two winners of the contest; now if they'd both send me an email letting me know the print they'd like, that would be great. Thanks everybody else for taking part in the contest.

Since Mindy's chosen post was the closest to the top, she is dubbed the first place winner and will therefore get two prints.

P.S. Tell you what, just because I'm cool like this...the first person's post to show up in the widget before midnight on Friday will be our third place winner (since we still haven't had one). Be sure to make a comment on the 'contest' post and let me know if yours shows up first. If it is when I check, you'll be our third winner.

Yeah, you're welcome...so now you better go and remind your friends to check your favorite post out.

And just because it made me laugh:

Weekly Kodachrome - Eleven Messages

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We drove the dusty road that snaked through the boulder-strewn canyons, descending slowly toward the river bottom. The clouds of dust kicked up behind us caught in the sun’s light and billowed like plumes of effervescent smoke as the magenta and amber mesas rolled past us like watchful sentinels.

We stopped at the end of the rocky path and tumbled from our vehicles; as the six o’clock hour drew even nearer, we took our colored orbs and began to write our messages, some of them short, and others a bit longer…each of us clutching the ends of the strings.

As we released the smooth threads, the balloons, which had been struggling to be set free, raced toward the azure skies above. We stood and watched them as they climbed higher and higher, our smallest watchers convinced that they were all racing to reach Heaven first.

It wasn’t long before our rainbow of messages arose amongst the scattered billows and cerulean sky while we – still anchored to the earth – watched until they disappeared.

<center><a href="http://teachinfourth.blogspot.com/search/label/Weekly%20Kodachrome/" target="_blank"><img alt="Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0e1GL4TLj1n6H-veDNFvj6gHUt_9-X1MWA6Qo-0zyEHW2dGTMl4JeI8v_q4AdNQxb8FADxYjLPhQnxl1rEPTU9B2N1_m9vVei9Ea8PXDRASzVKotvo4jseesUFUvqazg0pxtTAN75ao/s800/Weekly%252520Kodachrome.png"/></a></center>

Did you take a photo in the past seven days that made you smile? Please feel free to include a link to the image in the comments section if you did.

Two years, and I Write...

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The hard sound of guitar and rough vocals flooded over me again and again as I drove the vast expanse of miles—the mileage that swept beneath my tires, though storms and rain; ominous cloudbursts similar to those of two years ago.

As the miles of road blew past, my mind careened over the past two years of my esoteric life: the alterations, the battles, the good as well as the bad times…all of those infinitesimal moments that have brought me to the here and now.

I slipped in and out the present as the mesas and sandstone cliffs—veiled in grey storm clouds—peeked from the heights above me as the arroyos, now flooded with overflow, ran freely through sand washes and open landscape toward the rising Swell off to the west, rising up like tidal wave of stone from the desert.

And again and again the melody thundered from the speakers, the words were pouring through my mind; it was if I were hearing them for the very first time:



It’s been years since they told her about it,
The darkness her body possessed…

It’s a blur since they told me about it,
How the darkness had taken its toll,
And they cut into my skin and they cut into my body
But they will never get a piece of my soul.
And now I’m still learning the lesson,
To awake when I hear the call,
And if you ask me why I am still running,
I tell you I run for us all.

I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother, your sister, your wife
I run for you, and me, my friend
I run for life.

It is now night...two years ago today though.

I moved out to the front porch and sat in the near silence as the night enveloped the neighborhood. A few crickets chirped off in the empty lot as a few stars peered through the clouds overhead. From somewhere up the street a dog barks and reminds me of where I am.

Why, two years later am I still writing about her?

To sort of quote Melissa Etheridge:

I write for hope.
I write to feel.
I write for the truth.
For all that is real.
I write for your mother, your sister, your wife.
I write for you, and me, my friend
I write for life.

In my head, the song still plays; the hard sound of guitar and rough vocals floods over me as I gaze at the heavens. And still, another year of journeying storms and sunny skies await yet in the wings.

The Game/Contest

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Do you remember going to the carnival when you were a kid? You know, the one that set up in the parking lot of the shopping center, mall, or out at the fairgrounds?

I sure do.

I remember looking wide-eyed at the bright lights and twirling rides, the music that would play, the smells permeating the air, and the chance to win prizes.

I remember one game in particular; it was a game where you’d try to get your rocket/racecar/horse/or whatever object it was to the top of a track or pole before your friends by shooting water onto a target.

Do you remember this particular, little carny game?

Well, guess what? At midnight tonight we’re going to start our own little carnivicular contest where it’s you against all of your friends…and some people you probably don’t even know.

How does it work? Well, do you see on the sidebar to the left? Well, more specifically the widget that says, “The Top 10 Post Viewed Over the Last 30 Days”?

Well, starting at midnight, we’re going to wreak havoc with it.

Seriously.

We’re going to play a little game that requires just a little bit of effort on your part.

I’m not sure exactly how that widget works, but from what I understand, it ‘reads’ the hits on specific pages on this blog over a 30 day period, and figures out which pages have been viewed directly the most—meaning that have been directly clicked on—for the past 30 days. People may peruse this blog, but unless you click directly on a post’s link, it won’t be ‘counted.’

Does this make sense?

So, here’s the contest.

In the next 24 hours, in the comments section, give the URL and name of your favorite post from this blog (the post you want to “race” to the top of the widget). Whichever three posts are at the top of the widget one week from today, July 14th at 7 A.M (Mountain Time) will be the winners.

But wait, Teachinfourth, if this is a race, then what do the three winners get as a prize? After all, you said there would be prizes…

Ah, such a good question.

The three winners will get to pick any matted photo from either my photography website or this blog—any size they want (up to 8x12)—which will then be sent to them via US mail. The person in the top spot gets to pick two images (photos of people are not eligible to be selected unless I get the ‘okay’ from said individuals OR unless YOU are the said individual).

You know, shots like these, these, or these...just as a few samples.

Any hints for winning Teach?

Well, I don’t know about ‘hints’, but I do know this: the Happy TeachinFOURTH of July 2011 post rocketed straight to the top in less than 24 hours because two or three people put it on Facebook once or twice and/or on Twitter. It was also added to blogs as a link as well. I’ve never seen a post jump so quickly to the top as I saw that one do.

Also, the more people who go to your post, the more likely you’ll stay in the lead. If your friends click on the main banner they won’t be voting for anyone, just if they click on individual post names—in other words, don’t freak out if they look at anything else on this blog.

So ask a few friends to put your entry on their Facebook page, tweet about it, or whatever it is you like to do...dig it? The more individuals that hit that page, the greater your chances of staying in the lead.

Anything else we should know?

Well, you can enter the contest as late as you want, but the sooner you do, and the quicker you start, the better your chances should be. From what I understand of the widget (which isn’t a lot) it calculates the hits over 30 days, so the more hits you have over each of the 5 and-a-bit-more-days of the contest, the greater your chances are of being in the top three slots.

Oh, one last thing…all the current ‘entries’ in the widget are off limits and cannot be used as entries. So any of these that you see below cannot be used as yours. I’ll post an image of what these are below. Also, look at the comments and make sure that nobody else has picked a particular post – it’s first come, first choice in this regard. Pick a good post, not a lame one (like there are lame posts here…).

Comment moderation has been turned off until 12:00 tonight so you can make your selections and will know right off who has what. At 12:00 moderation goes on once-again.

Good luck.

P.S. Be sure to let me know your ‘racehorse’ in the comments section and please don’t start the race until midnight. Remember, you can pick a post and start the race as late as you’d like, but your chances are probably better earlier in…all posts that show up in the widget before midnight are automatically exempt from being chosen in this contest.

In a nutshell:

1. Pick your favorite post from this blog.
2. Let me know in the comments which post it is.
3. Advertise that post on Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, or wherever else you want to.
4. If your 'faved' post from this blog is in the top 3 slots on the side widget by the deadline (July 14th at 7:00 am) you win a print from this blog, or my photography website.
5. This post doesn't count as a winner - I see it's already on the widget.

Oh, and I posted over at Four Perspectives today.

Top image garnered from: http://sanatogapost.com