Journal: September 20, 2005

Yesterday was another slow-moving, airless day. By early afternoon, my students and I were almost entirely immobilized by the sticky heat. When I tried to introduce Shakespeare to the 8th grade, they nearly dozed off in unison, and the 9th grade spent most of the class time wiping perspiration from their faces. Whenever I looked outside, even the trees seemed to be standing perfectly still in a warm, late-summer stupor.