First a quick announcement:  Mike and I will be out at the Santa Fe Farmers market tomorrow (Saturday, October 15th) participating in the Local Food Baking Competition.  The competition runs from 11-12pm at the Farmers Market in the Railyard.  Come out and join us- it’s going to be a blast!

Today Chris from Krusty on Chrissy is our celebrity guest writer.  Chris was a high school honors English teacher but a few years back he quit his gig at the high school and went to work at the city jail….as an English teacher.  He gives us a peek into a world most of us will never ever see through his insightful writing about his experiences teaching prisoners.  His stories are poignant and often funny.  I (Molly) came across this post last week and have been describing it to everyone I’ve had more than a 10 minute conversation with.  I found myself steering the conversation so I could talk about this post.  I came home, emailed Chris and asked if I could publish his post in its entirety on our blog.  He told me absolutely!  Chris recently participated in First Gen American’s Coffee Talk Challenge.  That post was one of his first where he threw the focus on his family.  Go check it out here, it’s about traditional values taught by his fairly un-traditional father.

The stories the guys can select from the web-based program we use to teach them reading are many and varied. They range in topic from NASCAR to Frida Kahlo, from the rise and fall of the Aztecs to the emergence of the hotdog as a popular food in American cuisine. One story in particular often catches their fancy. It’s about whales and the history of whaling in the US. Personally, I love whales, so I always supplement the whaling story with knowledge I’ve acquired » » »