The Stress List

Just last weekend, while I was taking a walk, one of my neighbors asked me, "So, how many days?"

(For any new readers who may have stumbled onto my blog this week, I am an elementary music teacher. Translation: "How many days are left until summer break?")

I couldn't answer.

"Umm . . . nine? Wait, eight and a half . . . no, seven and a half . . . no, eight and a half . . . no, seven . . ."

I went on like this for several minutes. By the time I settled on an actual number, I was halfway down the cul-de-sac and out of earshot.

Some of my colleagues had the numbers of days, hours, minutes, etc. figured out months ago.

Not me. I don't count down days. I still don't know how many days, and I'm out next Friday. You could probably figure it out quicker than I can with just this bit of information.

I count down the time left by the items on my infamous Stress List.

I am by no means saying I am busier or more stressed out than anybody else in my line of work.

One of my favorite life lessons comes from writer and actor, Mindy Kaling:

I do not think stress is a legitimate topic of conversation, in public anyway. No one ever wants to hear how stressed out anyone else is, because most of the time everyone is stressed out. Going on and on in detail about how stressed out I am isn’t conversation. It’ll never lead anywhere. No one is going to say, “Wow, Mindy, you really have it especially bad. I have heard some stories of stress, but this just takes the cake.”

From: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

In an interview on NPR , she also added to this sentiment:

And it's a little narcissistic, in fact, to talk about that, because everyone is stressed out no matter what job you're in. Nobody is like, "Yeah, I'm doing really well — work is just a total snooze and so easy."

My Stress List is not the way I brag about how stressed out I am. It actually keeps me from going on and on about my stress.

It's the reason I hear comments like, "Wow, you are so poised," or "I don't know how you do what you do. You are so busy!"

(Nobody ever says anything like this, but if they knew about my Stress List . . .)

My Stress List takes me from this . . .

To this . . .

I love making lists, but I'm not this old school anymore. My Stress List is on my phone now.

On my List, I keep track of everything that gives me butterflies when I think about it. It can be as simple as making a phone call to a parent or the music store because I hate #adulting.

As I finish each item of Stress, I check it off my list. And I breathe a sigh of relief, not only because the Stress is over, but also because it's sooo much fun to check things off a list!

Two weeks ago, I had twenty-two items on my Stress List. I have been able to check off eighteen Stresses in less than fourteen days.

Don't ask me, "How many days left?"

I don't know.

Ask, "How many stress items left?"

Four. I have four items left on my Stress List.

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

This Belle Reminisces

I finally saw the most recent film adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. I felt a little guilty that it took me so long to see it.

Most people expected me to rush out as soon as it hit theaters. But I didn't. I wasn't even sure until I was seated in the dark auditorium, slumped down in my chair, hiding under my hoodie, that I would see it at all.

For months, I couldn't go shopping without seeing toys from the new film adorning the aisles of the stores. I spent ten minutes standing in Walmart, sighing and staring at a weird Belle doll with a distorted Emma Watson-ish face.

I couldn't even make it through the movie trailer without ending up as a puddle on the floor.

Why, you ask, was I such a blubbering mess about this movie?

Present day: Waiting for the movie to start . . .

Once upon a time, I was Belle, although you wouldn't know it from all of the wrinkles on my neck and forehead.

I saw the cartoon in the early nineties with my family. The animation was considered cutting edge at time, with sweeping panoramas of the "provincial town," and the Beast's golden ballroom. I remember tearing up several times because of the beauty of the landscapes.

Every girl dreamed of being Belle, and over a decade later, I got my chance. I portrayed the headstrong, smart, well-read heroine, in the musical production.

Of course, the smart, well-read, headstrong Belle definitely paralleled me (ha ha!). But her story was similar to mine in another significant way. I was portraying a girl whose mother had died.

My own mother had passed away a couple of years earlier, and I could relate to the sense of loss and mourning that runs throughout the show. I can say with certainty that my performance in Beauty and the Beast would have been one of my mother's favorites.

Boise Music Week teamed up with Make-a-Wish, and I was "Belle" to some courageous children.

Back to my 2017 movie-going experience:

Many of the songs that were part of the theater version were not included in the new movie. It followed the cartoon closer than it followed the stage musical. However, there were Easter eggs to the Broadway production in the incidental music, most likely an attempt to pacify us theater nerds.

"Kevin Kline is Maurice?" I whispered when he appeared on screen. (My mother had loved Kevin Kline ever since his performance in Sophie's Choice.)

Then I swore.

"Don't swear in a PG movie!" My husband, Dan, hissed.

That's when I started to cry and never really stopped. It was sooo embarrassing.

LeFou was implicitly (or maybe more than implicitly) gay. Toward the end, the Wardrobe dresses some of the men as women, and one of them appears to be more comfortable with this identity. The Wardrobe (the wonderful Audra McDonald) waves and says, "Be free!"

Apparently, these additions have been a source of controversy, but I was like, "Go, Disney! Piss off those conservatives!"

"I was thinking about that whole 'Be Our Guest' scene, and Emma Watson probably had to sit there and smile at nothing," Dan said after the movie. "At least you had real people around you."

I made some wonderful friends, and, recently, I have had to say goodbye to some of my Beauty and the Beast friends.

Within the last two years, the gentleman who played Maurice, the orchestra conductor, the choreographer, and the music director, who was a bit of a mother figure to me since my own loss, all passed away.

Unlike Emma Watson during the "Be Our Guest" scene, I did have real people around me. People I truly cared about.

People I will never forget.

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

Focusing on the Funny Stuff (RE-POST FROM 4/7/13)

Around this time of the year, school morale starts to slip. The teachers are stressed, and the kids are crazy. So to keep myself saner than the children are behaving right now, I decided to focus on the humorous side of my profession. Here are five funny things that happened last week:

Crazy Choir Kids
The Monday after spring break, all of my students seemed asleep, and it was a very calm day in my classroom. I assumed my Tuesday morning choir that meets before school would be just as peaceful. I was dead wrong. They were kind of like wild zoo animals. It was like they were super excited to be back in choir which was slightly flattering. These are the same kids who, when I announced that choir was going on break for a week, moaned sadly and begged me to still have rehearsals. I thought they would be happy to sleep in. I guess I was dead wrong then too.

Liquor Store Landmark
I'll admit this one is more disturbing than funny. One of my fourth grade students was telling me about a new arcade in town the other day. When I asked her where it was located, she replied, "By the liquor store." I didn't even know what a liquor store was when I was in fourth grade. And I still couldn't tell you where most of them are in Boise as an adult. What a landmark for a nine-year-old to have.

Even Kindergartners Think I'm Short
Because spring is on the way, I am not wearing boots or loafers as often to school. This means I lose about two inches off my height since my shoes of choice right now are ballet flats. One kindergartner remarked on Monday, "Mrs. Duggan, you look short today." Short even to a five-year-old.

Yoda Shirt
On Friday, one of my first graders was wearing a Yoda-holding-a-lightsaber t-shirt that read, "I do all my own stunts." The funniest thing was this kid is the littlest guy in the class. He looked a bit like Yoda next to all the other six-year-olds.

Zombie Tag
Our principal made an announcement on Friday regarding playground behavior. It's spring, and kids are starting to "forget" the school rule. His final plea to the students? "No more Zombie Tag!"

When I told my husband Dan about this new thing called Zombie Tag (I'm still not sure what it is), he said, "That sounds like fun. Do you get to bite people?"

Enough said.

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

A Little Project Called Music Videos (RE-POST FROM 5/28/2016)

I received a beautiful letter from a graduating senior this week that thanked me for my influence on him as his elementary music teacher. In this letter, he talked about how much he had enjoyed the sixth grade music video project. I was reminded of this blog post I wrote last year about that very experience. Enjoy this reread from 5/28/2016!  

I don't mean to brag, but I have discovered the way to keep sixth graders engaged (and my sanity preserved) through the end of the school year. I'd like to introduce you all to a little project I like to call, "Music Videos." I should come up with a snazzier title, but it's the end of the year and I'm tired.

I made up the music video project during my first few years of teaching, before I even owned, a camera, an iPad, a Smartphone, or anything on which to record the kids. MTV and VH1 actually showed music videos at the time, and YouTube didn't exist. The students acted out their videos for their classes, and checking a song for appropriateness was a matter of praying that the CD jacket had all of the correct lyrics printed.

I am more twenty-first century now. I actually record the videos for posterity and share them on our school's Google Drive. I can find almost any lyric to any song via the good ole InterWebs, not to mention look up the meaning of most of today's slang terms because, let me tell you, there are some doozies.

What began as a "do-your-own-thing-while-Mrs.-Duggan-cleans-out-her-files" project at the end of the year thing has taken on a life of its own.

Now that it has become tradition, the sixth graders ask about making music videos at the beginning of the year. The younger kids look forward to watching them the last few weeks of school. The fifth graders ask, "Do we get to make these next year?"

The parents know all about the project now and ask me to send them access to the files every year. Last year, several kids and parents were upset because the videos weren't shown at the special sixth grade breakfast celebration. One parent has already assured me that she is in charge of setting up everything properly this year.

The sixth graders spend their lunches, music class times, or any available common breaks in my room making videos. In other words, sixth graders, girls and boys alike, choose to hang out in the music room every day until the end of the year. It is the cool place to be.

I had an extremely theatrical group of sixth graders this year. Last year, my sixth graders made twelve videos. I thought that was good, and they were fairly well-prepared and creative.

This year, I recorded twenty-six videos. I haven't had a lunch break for two weeks.

They created their own props. They wore costumes. They acted out entire scenes.

The other morning, one boy dragged a refrigerator box into my room.

"Can I use some scissors? I need to make a car for my video."

Three groups made Star Wars-themed videos. One boy even created a "special effects" model with Legos and a mini Death Star.

"Man, my old school digital recorder just isn't cutting it anymore," I told my husband, Dan, the other night. "I should have asked for an HD video camera for my birthday."

Then there were the sentimental videos. Four of my girls sang One Direction's “History.” (We changed the mini bars and champagne references.) I had sweet-voiced soloists who sang Taylor Swift's “Safe and Sound” and the Nightcore piece, “Sad Song."

“You girls made me cry," I said as I turned off the recorder. "These songs are about the friends you’ve made through the years, saying goodbye, and moving on.”

“That’s why we chose them,” the girls said, "for the memories."

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.