Coming Home on a Germ Tube

To begin with, please let me laud Virgin America Airlines. They are efficient and comfortable. On the way out I wanted a bloody mary with Tito handmade vodka. I'm not sure



I am an old person from Arkansas. Part of my linguistic upbringing involved learning correct grammar and later in my schooling correct pronunciation.

"Always seek the truth, then you're nobody's fool"

I've again been diligent on my news watching.  I've been reading the same political stories across the board from different perspectives so that I can ascertain the FACTS.

I am learning a lot about spin.  It sounds a lot like Educationese.  Instead of saying "he beats his head against the table and frightens other students," we might say "student fails to engage positively with his peers" which sounds a lot nicer.  

About today????? Today was described by people closely watching on the outside as both breathtaking and surreal.  

Tomorrow the next clown car rally gets going.  

Always seek the truth, then you're nobody's fool - Susan Embler

I Want to Run an One Room Schoolhouse One Day

I'm so excited that I get to and spend time with dear relatives in the near future.  It's going to be challenging because I've already been tried and judged.  The issue is known and impeccably packaged and on the table.

It's politics.  

I"m a pariah.  They still love me because they have to and think I'm probably stupid.  I still love them regardless and I know they are under informed.

I'm stupid and they are ignorant and OH aren't we going to have fun.

I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.

The opening shot goes across the bow within 30 minutes of me getting home. Last time I responded that we'd all have a better time if we didn't discuss politics.  My parents did teach me manners.

So odd, at my "advanced" age that I still have apprehension about visiting the home of my parents.
I hope that we will have a lot of good old fashioned reminiscing and tell some tales.  I'll work on shooting pictures of the family albums with my phone and upload to the web.

I hope to God that there is not some kind of media shit storm while I'm there.  LA is already weird.  Add that to the FOX NEWS burned into the corner of the TV set......

The beach is only a half mile away.  I can run away from the house and go drink Margaritas at El Torito and call my mother to pick me up or Uber to drop me off.  If it is a Big Ugly Tweet, I bet I can get mom to buy.

Oh Glorious Weather that astounds me

There is a terribly old and trite statement about the weather in Texas.  If  you don't like it, wait fifteen minutes. Rimshot.

I have a late spring birthday (tomorrow) so I can remember volatile and extreme weather that peppered my birthday celebrations.  It makes me happy. I have an aunt called Stormy (whose birthday is in a month). I internalize the storms and the winds and the rains.    

Weather in Texas can be so spectacular.  I can tell from the weather radar that I am in the lull between the storms.  Texas is known for thunderstorms that can produce all kinds of effects and vary from longitude to longitude.  We have been blessed during this first wave of hellation. No trees are down, no hail to speak of.  The yard has washed out into the street. Again.   

Personally, I think we get a big break because of urban heat. I live near a confluence of two major interstates and very often the weather seems to break around home.  This is fortunate because the local infrastructure is prone to flash floods. 

I would be reluctant to get out and drive around in the near future except for family emergencies.  I would go through ravaging floods for one of my offspring, but they're really all very bright and know better than to go out when the local creeks are overflowing their banks. They grew up around here and played "The Tornado Game. "  

I see a glow over my neighbor's roof. It's kind of funny. This time of year the sun gets in my eyes for a few minutes as it ascends and the declination changes I catch glare from over the neighbor's roof. I can see a brightening of the roofline which is different from early afternoon. I can see an atmospheric glow of light over the rooftop but it is not in my eyes.  

Things cleared for a bit, but I still hear thunder and the cloud cover seems to be eating the sunset.  

Thunder is a residual line of backstory. 

We are between the embrace of racing weather systems.  

Unhappy Camper

It's hard as a teacher to give parents bad news.  Most of the time the parents are not surprised.  I've had a challenging year with some of my students.  To begin with, it's hard to fail art.  You have to be a real jackass.  You don't fail art because you are bad at art,  you fail art because you don't even try to put a mark on a piece of paper.  We have students of all ability levels.  We grade on effort.  You can be the worst talented person on the planet, but if you try the assignments and show effort you'll make an A.

I got a call from a counselor today about student a.  The counselor said that student a needed my class to graduate.   This student had a failing grade the first semester and an even lower failing grade the second semester.  Um, all of the points that he got all year were sympathy points.  If I look at his overall effort for the year I could with great kindness give him a 7.   For the year.  The counselor said I needed to talk to a parent so that this student didn't show up for graduation rehearsal tomorrow.

So, I had to call the parent to tell her that her student had failed the class and she said she knew he had because of a meeting she'd had with school people.  I reminded her that I'd sent her emails during the year but she denied getting any. I found an email that she had replied to, so I guess she doesn't remember well.  I guess, she never looked at his report card that did not reflect a single passing grade all year.  It's a little late to get irate about it.

I gave her the courtesy of a phone call as requested by my administration.  I told her that I had tried to work with her student and would have enjoyed working with her student and she said "I'm sorry YOU are so boring."

Huh.

Student a came in tardy almost every day.  He laid his head down and slept pretty much every day all year. I would wake him up and he'd go back to sleep.  I got a sketch or two out of him all year.  I graded him accordingly.  I reported to administration that I thought he was under the influence.  All he would be accounted for was with being sleepy.

Somehow it is MY fault because my class is boring according to the student who was a total lump all year.  Our class space is precious.  So many kids wanted his seat in the class.  Our classes fill up so fast.  We have to turn children away who WANT to be in our program.

This is the kind of thinking that drives dedicated educators out of the field.  Blame the teacher because the student didn't/wouldn't do the work.  Damn.

We need teachers.  We need individuals who understand the value of an education.  We need to help our community understand the need for education.  We need to support our teachers who are in the trenches.

It's a Gestalt thing.  Also my rant. Pardon me.

Happy Camper

It is nearing the end of the school year. Things are exciting.  The seniors are all stoked about graduation.  And well they should be.  Graduating from high school is a major accomplishment.  I am privileged as a teacher.  I can count the top four and six of the top ten graduates as my students.  Does it get better than that? I taught several of them for multiple years.  Wow.

I am so grateful to share my educational experience with so many great kids.  I know they will do amazing things.