HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
June 21, 2006 My writing output for Useless-Knowledge has been slim recently especially in comparison to the previous year because I have been busy doing other things, particularly earning money, which I need. I do not think anyone should be surprised at this. Money talks. Sometimes a lot. I also have many personal things to do. I try to visit the nursing home where my mother lives once a week on Saturday afternoon. I have also been able to attend a Mother’s Day function and a Passover Seder there, so I have been able to see mom enough to be happy, although her state of mind is not good, which is disheartening. Furthermore, I have sold a few articles recently, six to be exact. Two on garden bridges, two on promotional pens, one on shower curtains and one on duct tape. More than three hundred but less than four hundred words each. The payment went straight from paypal into my checking account and I continue to look for more paying gigs. Writing is less taxing than tutoring and there are fewer bosses, only an editor and purchaser and readers who count only as hits, not customers, compared with parent(s), coordinators, supervisor(s), children and school people, not to mention counselors and professionals of various sorts (some kids have problems). So I say not bad for my writing. But as of today I am still tutoring. It pays better and there are more real time opportunities. This past year I have worked with two Pakistani children, three ninth graders and a second grader. Mostly math and English. That is my background. If you want to pass the ninth grade math Regents, I can help. But one of my ninth graders boxed me into discussing the Progressive movement, the Temperance movement, women’s rights and the environmental movement, mainly because she had failed a practice government studies test whereas my Pakistani students studied math, science, English, history, Arabic and the Koran. Not that I claim any particular expertise in Arabic or the New Testament or the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed. I am primarily Old Testament, but I am supposed to give an educational direction to my tutoring sessions. On the other hand, my ninth graders relationship to algebra, or Math A, as it is now called before reverting back to good old algebra shortly, is not one to one. You know, x’s and o’s like when the fullback passes the halfback because the quarterback didn’t know the score and the linebackers are drawing geometric figures on the grass in hopes of a big hit. Or was it the hipbone is connected to the knee bone. In short, math can be very, very difficult, especially if you do not like it and need to work on exercises you do not like. No wonder the education system is so poorly regarded. What is worse, I just lost out on a chance to write a comic about math, specifically fractions. I thought the sample I submitted was pretty well written but the editor said no. So I am out looking for paying gigs since summer is the slow season for school work and good students tend to get nannies because they have the ability to figure out the work on their own time, if you know what I mean. This is my fifty-seventh article for useless-knowledge. Believe it or not, next up is my fifty-eighth, when I get around to it, assuming my medical problems, like those of some of my contemporaries who have written essays, don’t overwhelm me. ------------ About the author Neil Levine: If you want to check out my satires on thespoof.com, click here: http://www.thespoof.com/profile.cfm?uID=2595 Email: neillevine3@aol.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
