United States of Sara

WARNING: This essay contains langauge that may be offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.  📣FUCK. I figured we might as well get that out of the way first. Negative Nancy, you can go ahead and take your dramatic exit stage right. 👋  Now then.  My single favorite word in the history of the English language is the word FUCK.  Fucking A...isn't it beautiful?  Before you say no, you should hear me out.  I have bonafide English teacher reasons for my love of this word.  Lesbehonest, I also just like the word.  I love a well-timed sentence enhancer, and truth be told, I just love the swears.  Sorry, mom. Calm down, reader.  I do have some respect, and I don't use this one* in front of her.  She does, however, know my reasons for loving it and she thinks I'm hilarious, as per usual. *I swear in front of her all the time.  It's who I am and I'm still her favorite person on the planet and I'll fight anyone who says ot...

Oklahoma weather update: Last week, it snowed. Yesterday, there were tornado threats. Today, it's a sunny but chilly 58 degrees. It feels like Mother Nature has been a bit more unpredictable than usual lately. If I were a conspiracy theory believer, I might think there's some truth to all the rumors surrounding the eclipse. I hear the apocalypse is coming. Or a complete Hunger Games style government takeover. Or aliens. It really depends on who you ask. It's hard to know what to prepare for, amirite?!?! I guess we'll find out...t minus 6 days and counting (until what is likely just a regular old solar eclipse...still cool though).   

 Current situation: trying to break into a career in writing. Also current situation: has no professionally published writing.  Enter blogger, and a writing portfolio built from application essays and such.  It's not much, but it's a start.  I know I can write phenomenal pieces about anything and everything.  I'm confident in this.  I just need ONE somebody to give me the chance to prove it. I've started a project for my friend Kendell and her business, Prestige Glam..  I'll be creating logos and other projects for her to help with marketing her brand.  I've only started the logos but I'm having so much fun.  I have so many ideas, I have already tried to get overwhelmed and throw a mini fit or shut down.  My brain is just going in a million different directions right now and I have to learn to pace myself. This is all new to me, but I just know I can be great at it if someone will give me a shot. Cue Hamilton's "My Shot" intro... I also ...

RIP, Geoffrey the Giraffe.  Gone but never forgotten. 🦒☠ I've honestly never really had a clear picture of what I wanted to be when I grew up.  As a kid (and as an adult, let's face it), I bounced around from idea to idea. I've never really sat and asked myself what I wanted and what would make me happy.   I've kind of fallen into several jobs that turned out not to be for me. I worked at a small local newspaper when my son was a baby because I was good at it, and I could take him to work with me in a bouncer. I loved that job, but it had no benefits and the pay was awful.  A long time ago, I worked temporarily at OKDHS administering a heating assistance program.  When I was at the newspaper, the OKDHS director happened to come in and we had a conversation.  A couple days later, she reached out to me about a job opening she had for a social worker.  I wasn't crazy about the job description but it came with full health benefits, retirement, and ev...

I love all things having to do with the English language.  Grammar, spelling, punctuation, proofreading, editing, writing, reading, word puzzles - all of it and more.  I could happily spend my days getting paid to do anything and everything English related - so we're giving it a shot.  I've recently realized that teaching in public education is not it for me, at least right now.  It's become increasingly hard to be a public education teacher - most especially in Oklahoma - and it's been years since I've had bosses I'd call good ones.  I need a break from teaching, and maybe just from people in general.  Let's see if we can turn the nerdy side of me into a new, exciting, fulfilling career.