Dear California,

Dear California,

I apologize for what I said before. I didn't mean it. I was just upset. The fact of the matter is that you are going to make it very easy for me to not only become fully certified in your fair state, but to become a reading specialist as well. Becoming a reading specialist is my dream job--I get to work with curriculum, struggling readers, AND provide professional development to teachers--and I am so very thankful that you are willing to fully accept and embrace my Arizona teaching certificate AND reading endorsement without making me jump through that oh so firey hoop of student teaching. I am glad that you can make it easy for dedicated teachers such as myself who completed Teach For America instead of a traditional teaching program. And, just so you know that I am giving credit where credit is due, it should be known that Arizona has made it very easy for me to acquire a reading specialist endorsement (I sent a lovely fruit basket to Arizona yesterday).

Now, Massachusetts is no friend of mine. MA has Harvard and a lot of famous dead white men, and certainly our country would not be what it is today were it not for MA. However, they are just jerks jerks jerks when it comes to teacher certification. Not like you, CA. Plus, your Commission on Teacher Credentialing folks are much more friendly and laid back than the DOE folks in BOTH AZ and MA. I envision them as wearing Birkenstocks underneath their corporate-looking cubicle desks and driving Subarus with bumper stickers that encourage recycling.

Thank you for having the largest population of non-native English speakers in the U.S. Thank you for all of your outdoorsy goodness. Also, thank you for providing a home for this dance company. As soon as Peter and I get settled in San Francisco we plan on producing copious amounts of blue-eyed, California-loving offspring who can grow up to become upstanding taxpayers, and who will enjoy helping to clean up your beaches and forests in their spare time.

Love,

Brooke