RAVE REVIEW FOR NEW BOOK

Please check out this week's Suburban Lifestyles newspaper. Book reviewer, Margo Lagattuta says, "There is much to appreciate in CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL..." and "This is a story many young people could relate to, and perhaps their parents as well."

Suburban Lifestyles

Anyone living in the north Oakland County area, please watch for my featured book review in next week's Suburban Lifestyles newspaper. Have you gotten LIT yet?? Buy CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL.

METRO TIMES

The latest & greatest news is that I have a shout out this week in the Detroit area Metro Times. Pick it up free at a bazillion different places around town. Check out p. 28...and GET LIT!!!!

DETROIT FREE PRESS

Today...is it still Easter Sunday?.....I was featured in a Q &A article in the Community section of the Detroit Free Press. Not local? Click here to read:http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070408/CFP04/704080444/1112#article_comments

Although there were some errors:
1. I grew up on the northwest side of Detroit---not southwest
2. I went to St. Suzanne, not St. Cecilia
3. My next book is titled KIDS OF 8 MILE HIGH---not 8 MILE HIGH

And yes...I really do photograph that bad!

Parent/Teacher Conference Nightmare

Okay, parents, here's the thing...after surviving 4 hours---yes 4 HOURS of talking to parents at our Spring Parent/Teacher conferences last night, I have a question. WHY ARE YOU BRINGING YOUR KIDS TO CONFERENCES? Nothing in P/T conference mentions the word "child" or student conferencing. Yell at your kid after you get home about his bad report card and how he/she is grounded forever. Please do not humiliate your child in front of his/her teacher. It will never bring positive results. I don't need to hear you threaten to come to school with your kid and hold his hand all through the halls as you walk through with slippers on and curlers in your hair. Please parents take this advice... get the report card, talk to teachers, be as brief as possible, and get home to your children and HELP them with the homework.

Catholic schoolgirl

Here's a photo of me on my first day of school at St. Suzanne, Detroit, Michigan. And this was only the beginning...

notice the church in the background.

Hellooooo Father Fingers!!!!! R.I.P.

BORDERS! BORDERS! Read all about it!

Now available for order at all major Borders Bookstores! CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL---can't find it on the shelves? Order it at Borders! The more readers who order the book, the more money we can donate to domestic violence organizations. Keep women & children safe. Peace & blessings, MK

SNOW DAY #2

I think the only cool thing about living in Michigan right now AND being a teacher, is like last Monday, today is another SNOW DAY!!!!!!! And Valentine's Day! Oh, happy day! Time to do more PROMOTION on the book, play with Xander, and catch up on stuff. Stuff? Exercise? Cleaning? Laundry? Reading? Anna Nicole Smith gossip? Doesn't matter---all that matters right now is TIME. Need more time, have more time, love more time.

Retraction

I promised a student I would make note that she did apologize for her behavior in class. And this was before I told her that I put part of her note on this blog. lol So, J.D.....apology accepted and it's appreciated. Most teens think that us high school teachers are the ENEMY. Even though we are HIGHLY underpaid, we still try to do the best job we can. Thank God today is a SNOW DAY with these brrrrific minus 1 degree temps and I can stay home & play with Xander and do some promoting. Good day for the rest of you to curl up with a good book, CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL....??? and read!

Press Release

Outskirts Press--For Immediate Release

Detroit author and school teacher announces the release of her autobiographical novel, Confessions of a Catholic Schoolgirl. Zeroing in on the Catholic Church controversy, author Michelle Kane reveals the kind of secrets the Catholic Church has been sweeping under the rug for years.
Detroit, MI, January 25, 2007 --(PR.COM)-- “Most people are too afraid to take on the Catholic Church, but not narrator Valerie Bernowski,” author Michelle Kane notes in reference to her latest book. “This is one protagonist who tells it like it is. Nothing and no one is off limits; including Valerie’s dead-beat dad, Ivan, and school pastor, ‘Father Fingers.’”
Based on Kane’s real-life experiences as a Catholic schoolgirl, protagonist Valerie Bernowski’s story unfolds through intertwining chapters of short stories. Readers will get a close-up look into real-life issues; such as domestic violence, divorce, rape, and the little discussed Catholic priest sex scandals.

Buy the book at: www.michellekane.com
A percentage of profits from book sales will go to organizations devoted to ending domestic violence

Read the 1st chapter of CONFESSIONS

Read the 1st chapter at: www.mrbellersneighborhood.com/story.php?storyid=1692

Book now available for purchase!

CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL, a novel--is now available at:
http://outskirtspress.com//confessionsofacatholicschoolgirl

Confiscated Note

So this is a "censored" version of a note that was passed in my classroom during 5th hour this week. Should I be happy my 11th grade students are at least writing something in class????

Yeah this class is pissing me off im about to cry my entire break was f*cked up now i come back to my teacher telling me my voice goes right through her brain. F*ck this s*it! and everyone gets pissed F*ck this s*it!

LMAO...YEAH MY BREAK WAS SO SH*TTY TOO...ANNNND THIS CLASS DOES SUCK BIG ONES..I DUNNO IM SO EMOTIONAL CUZ LIKE IM ON MY PERIOD...WHATEVER THOUGH...IM GONNA DO MY WORK OR SLEEP SO BUH-BYE

SORRY SO SLOPPY LOVE YA LOTS TTYL

Back to school

5 a.m alarm clock
snooze
5:09 alarm clock
snooze
5:18: alarm clock
snooze
5:27
1st cup of coffee
6:10
2nd cup of coffee
6:25
3rd cup of coffee
6:45
drive to work--4th cup of coffee

7:30 a.m.
1st energy drink
25 high students
1st day back from Christmas break

2 emergency chocolates eaten---found in bottom of Christmas stocking

ughhhhh...sleepy....brain stayed awake all night, thoughts spinning in head
body tossing and turning in bed

baby is sick with diarrhea
enough said

Book update!

Confessions of a Catholic Schoolgirl --the book has finally been sent to print! Hurray! Have been so busy editing the thing, holiday stuff, house stuff, blah and blah have not written lately. What's it been---2 months or more? Happy New Year! Now is a good time to return all your crappy Christmas gifts and get ready to buy my book:) More soon...

Autumn

With being overwhelmed, tired, having too much to do and not enough time, I sat on the floor and played with my 16-month-old son today. Consumed with trying to advance my career and stressing out about handling the promotion and blah blah blahs for my book release, I played with the back of Xander's hair and noticed the way the blonde tufts curled up and around my fingers. Soft and silky and shiny. Mommy & Xander played outside and noticed the reds, yellows, and oranges of leaves beginning to change on the trees. The ducks quacked at us as we ran underneath the rays of rare Michigan autumn sun. "It's not getting what you want...it's wanting what you got." Thanks Sheryl Crowe for the reminder.http://myspace.com/readmichellekane

Suspicious in suburbia

So, our yellow lab, Dakota starts barking and going nuts about 4 a.m today. My husband looks out the window and sees our neighbor's car in his driveway. We all fall back asleep. This morning we awaken to a fresh lawn job and run down bushes in our front yard. Neighbor across the street has tire tracks buried in his lawn as well. Next door neighbor's car is smashed in by front passenger side door and grass is stuck in it. hmmmm??? Husband asks NDN how he's feeling and he says he has a hangover...doesn't know anything about tire tracks in lawn, although there's clearly tracks running from his driveway, into his grass, then into ours. Wonder if incident has anything to do with wife & kids in Korea for two months.

Energy Zap

Cups of caffeine: 5
Emergency Chocolates: 3
Energy: 0
Promptness: On time, with 2 minutes to spare before the 1st bell
The students just sucked the life and energy right out of me today, as I almost fell asleep on the way home. One teen boy, (why is it always the boys?) stunk so bad, my stomach started to spin and I had to take three steps back away from him which wasn't enough because I could still smell his B.O.
What non-teachers don't understand is that lecturing & explaining can drain any ounce of energy you have left for all the other million little things you have to accomplish outside of school. Is it Friday yet?

Production

CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL--the novel is finally in production! yay! Now the hard part has begun; designing my webpage, writing the press release, promotion, promotion, promotion! So, sorry about the boring blogs lately...I promise the book edition will be more entertaining! ...and if it's not--you can always try to sell it at a used bookstore. lol Please go buy it when it comes out. Help an underpaid, overworked teacher retire early! Namaste.

Choices

With the students first day back at school, and some of them stinking some kind of funk...(bad hygiene or gym class?), I analyzed the choices I had made about the work/mommy situation. Buy a tiny, old 1200 square foot bungalow in a mediocre Detroit 'burb and stay home with Xander, thus resign from job, or buy brand new 2700 square foot house in plush Detroit' burb and keep job as high school teacher? Hmmm...you know what I did as I have been lecturing all day to smelly teens who wished they were still on summer vacation. And who doesn't wish that? Three co-workers/new-moms have decided not to return to school this year! But it's all good as the plaque on my wall reads, "Teachers: preserve the past, reveal the present, create the future." While napping with Xander today, one ear heard Oprah say, "it's never to late to live your dreams." ...which is exactly what I am trying to do.