Pieces & Parts

Did you watch?  Jamie Oliver's new show, Food Revolution, began last Friday.  I did, and I'm hooked.  It's no secret that school lunchs leave a lot to be desired.  It's time that everyone sees how unhealthy they truly are. 

I work in a school that has almost 70% of the students qualifying for free/reduced lunch.  This means they also get breakfast.  For far too many, these are their only two meals of the day.

Guess what they eat.  The favorite choice for breakfast is pop-tarts and for lunch, it's french fries.

We've been working on eating healthier at home.  Buying meat and eggs from a local butcher who only buys from local farmers.  He has a huge sign up in the store that none of their meat has any additives or hormones added.  I choose to believe. We buy regularly from the farmer's market when produce is in season here.  The pickings got light over the winter, but I canned a lot of our locally grown apples and froze bags and bags of fresh corn. Next year, I plan to preserve even more.

This year Jim is talking about putting in a garden as a project for him and Sera.  I told him you grow it, I'll cook or preserve it.

We're far from perfect with this, but we're trying.  Ice cream is much too regular a part of our diet and those Girl Scouts made a few bucks from us, but we're working hard to improve.  Too many children don't have these opportunities. 

Can you imagine a 5 or 6 year old child not being able to identify a tomato? I can see not knowing what a beet or an eggplant is, but a tomato, a mushroom, or a potato? That is one of the things this show highlights, and it's appalling.

We wonder why so many schools are struggling to educate our young?

Maybe their brains are starving from lack of nutrients?

Update:  Another link you may find interesting, Fed Up with Lunch:  The School Lunch Project.

On a Pedestal

Every morning we have the radio on in the car. It’s set to our local NPR station. For the first half of the ride, we don’t listen as Sera keeps us quite entertained. During the second half, we catch a little news on our way to work.

This morning we heard Frank Deford’s opinion piece on whether or not athletes should be held to a higher standard than other famous people. While I think this could be a worthy discussion, he sure picked two bad examples.

Tiger Woods

and

Charlie Sheen

Both have been in the news lately for less than stellar reasons. One is an athlete, and one is an actor. I concede that the media has given Tiger Woods a much more difficult time.

I don’t think the reason is because he’s an athlete. Let’s look at their reputations. One has a 20+ year reputation as a wild child who is a womanizing, drinking, drug abusing, party guy. One has built a reputation as a golden boy who does no wrong and rarely fails.

Who was on a pedestal? Who were we just waiting for the other shoe to drop?

Is it any surprise that the story with legs is Tiger’s and not Charlie’s?

Responsibility, Persistence, Goals - REVISED

REVISED: The speech is now available on line. I'll add it to the bottom of this post.

Those are the words that apparently are going to be used to mind-control our youth. Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard of the brouhaha that has developed over the President's plan to give a speech tomorrow at 12n et. His speech is being aired live on C-Span and at the White House website.

I have to confess that this whole thing just blows my mind. People are claiming that schools are being required to air the speech, that it's all some nefarious plot to brainwash our children into supporting President Obama's agenda.

First, no one is being required to do anything, unless you're referring to the schools who've been told they cannot air the speech in their class. Apparently a speech speaking to children about education is not appropriate?

Secondly, I don't claim to be an expert, but if speaking for 20 minutes were enough to completely impart a message to my students, they'd all have As. My job would be a piece of cake. I wouldn't waste my time repeating the same lesson and presenting it in multiple methods. I wouldn't speak, demonstrate, and give them written handouts. I could just say the words, and they'd all know it. Man, wouldn't that be great?

Twenty minutes isn't enough time to convince our youth to twist their parents' arms into supporting health care or any other goal the President has. All parents can rest assured that they're safe from being bullied by their children.

Twenty minutes is enough time to reinforce a message they've heard before. A message that, hopefully, they're hearing at home and at school already. A message that many, however, don't hear at home, and don't listen to at school because they think it isn't relevant to them. They haven't seen it in their own lives, but now it's different. It's a message that you can look differently from others. Your skin can be darker. You can be raised by a single mother. You can come from a difficult background. And you can succeed.

Agree with him or not, Barack Obama is a President whose background is vastly different from any President who went before him. And very similar to one that children are living with every day.

Maybe it's because I teach in a school with a high low-income population. My students come to school every day from homes that are less than ideal. Sure, I have some students whose parents are married, have their own room, hot meals on the table, regular doctor and dental visits, and everything that every child deserves.

Far too many, however, have a parent in prison or just gone. A mother working the streets or making meth in the family home. They come home to empty homes and empty refrigerators. Instead of working on homework, they're taking care of younger siblings. Or worse, they've decided that it's not worth their time because they can make great money selling that meth mom makes. Talk about your family business.

Children in these circumstances do still dream of a better life. They set these huge goals and are convinced this is the answer to their dreams. What does it matter that they can't make the high school team, they'll still be the next LeBron James. They hear about the adventures of Kobe Bryant and Chris Brown and think this is acceptable behavior. I remember students talking about how Kobe was "set up 'cause they want to take a brother down" and how Rihanna "had it coming" because Chris Brown is so cute that she should have treated him better. Their dreams are all about basketball and rapping. These men are their heroes.

Something different happened last year though. All of a sudden these students started wearing political t-shirts and campaign buttons. You and I know that they weren't listening to speeches, checking past voting records, and determining the candidates position on various issues. They were excited to see someone who looked like them. Someone who had set goals, been persistent in his focus, taken responsibility for his own success, and risen to a level they never dreamed possible.

Do I want them to grow into voters who continue to make their decisions this way? Of course not, but it was the first thing for so many that actually engaged them in the process. The first time they realized they could be part of the process. Until they know they can set their own goals and that their future can be what they want it to be, the only process they understand is how our criminal justice system works.

To hear this man speak to them directly, to talk to them about putting education first, that to succeed at their goals they must take personal responsibility could make a huge difference in their lives. Obviously, it won't sway all our students. Those who don't want to hear this message won't. They don't hear it when it's said by people in their daily lives, and this won't make a difference. But it will for others. Others who've also heard this message, but never believed it was for them. This could be their turning point.

And for the students whose parents are appalled by everything our President does, these 20 minutes will not erase your lifetime of influence. Surely these beliefs you express are strong enough to handle 20 minutes. Unless you're worried that they might hear the words and wonder what was so heinous about the message that they start to question.

Is that the real fear?

Educating means giving our children all the facts and allowing them to make their own conclusions. Sometimes they'll agree with us; sometimes they'll disagree. Sometimes they'll go through their rebellions when they disagree with anything you believe in just because you believe it. And then sometimes they come full circle back to where they started and decide maybe you were right after all.

If you disagree with our President, don't ignore his words. Don't block what he says. Read the speech that is going to be released today. Watch his speech tomorrow. If not live, then in one of the many taped versions that will fill the Internet. Greet your children when they come home from school, and discuss it. Talk about what you agree with and what you don't.

That's one of the greatest things about our country. We don't have to all agree. I think, however, that we do all agree on taking responsibility, setting goals, and being persistent in working to attain those goals.

I'm going to include here the suggestions posted by the Dept of Education. It is my understanding that the main controversy was a suggestion in the prek-6 section for students to write a letter to the President saying how they would help reach these goals. The letters were then to be returned to them at a later date to review their progress. That suggestion has now been changed to write a letter to themselves to assuage those who are convinced that addressing the letter to the President is an unreasonable request.

Menu of Classroom Activities
President Obama’s Address to Students Across America
(PreK-6)

Produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows, U.S. Department of Education

September 8, 2009

Before the Speech
· Teachers can build background knowledge about the President of the United States and his speech by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama. Teachers could motivate students by asking the following questions:
Who is the President of the United States?
What do you think it takes to be president?
To whom do you think the president is going to be speaking?
Why do you think he wants to speak to you?
What do you think he will say to you?
· Teachers can ask students to imagine that they are delivering a speech to all of the students in the United States.
If you were the president, what would you tell students?
What can students do to help in our schools?
Teachers can chart ideas about what students would say.
· Why is it important that we listen to the president and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?
During the Speech
As the president speaks, teachers can ask students to write down key ideas or phrases that are important or personally meaningful. Students could use a note-taking graphic organizer such as a “cluster web;” or, students could record their thoughts on sticky notes. Younger children could draw pictures and write as appropriate. As students listen to the speech, they could think about the following:
What is the president trying to tell me?
What is the president asking me to do?
What new ideas and actions is the president challenging me to think about?
· Students could record important parts of the speech where the president is asking them to do something. Students might think about the following:
What specific job is he asking me to do?
Is he asking anything of anyone else?
Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?
· Students could record questions they have while he is speaking and then discuss them after the speech. Younger children may need to dictate their questions.

After the Speech
Teachers could ask students to share the ideas they recorded, exchange sticky notes, or place notes on a butcher-paper poster in the classroom to discuss main ideas from the speech, such as citizenship, personal responsibility, and civic duty.
Students could discuss their responses to the following questions:
What do you think the president wants us to do?
Does the speech make you want to do anything?
Are we able to do what President Obama is asking of us?
What would you like to tell the president?

Extension of the Speech

Teachers could extend learning by having students:
· Create posters of their goals. Posters could be formatted in quadrants, puzzle pieces, or trails marked with the following labels: personal, academic, community, and country. Each area could be labeled with three steps for achieving goals in that area. It might make sense to focus first on personal and academic goals so that community and country goals can be more readily created.
· Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals. Teachers would collect and redistribute these letters at an appropriate later date to enable students to monitor their progress.
· Write goals on colored index cards or precut designs to post around the classroom.
· Interview one another and share goals with the class to create a supportive community.
· Participate in school-wide incentive programs or contests for those students who achieve their goals.
· Write about their goals in a variety of genres, such as poems, songs, and personal essays.
· Create artistic projects based on the themes of their goals.
· Graph individual progress toward goals.

Menu of Classroom Activities
President Obama’s Address to Students Across America
(Grades 7-12)

Produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows, U.S. Department of Education
September 8, 2009

Before the Speech
· Conduct a “quick write” or “think/pair/share” activity with students. (In the latter activity, students spend a few minutes thinking and writing about the question. Next, each student is paired with another student to discuss. Finally, the students share their ideas with the class as a whole). Teachers may choose to ask the following questions:
What ideas do we associate with the words “responsibility,” “persistence,” and “goals?”
How would we define each term?
Teachers then may choose to create a web diagram of student ideas for each of the words.
· Have students participate in a “quick write” or brainstorming activity. Teachers may ask students:
What are your strengths?
What do you think makes you successful as a student and as a person?
· Teachers may engage students in short readings. Teachers may post in large print around the classroom notable quotes excerpted from President Obama’s speeches on education. Teachers might ask students to think alone, compare ideas with a partner, or share their thoughts with the class. Teachers could ask students to think about the following:
What are our interpretations of these excerpts?
Based on these excerpts, what can we infer that the president believes is important in order to be educationally successful?
· Create a “concept web.” Teachers may ask students to think of the following:
Why does President Obama want to speak with us today? How will he inspire us?
How will he challenge us?
What might he say?
Do you remember any other historic moments when the president spoke to the nation?
What was the impact?
After brainstorming answers to these questions, students could create a “cause-and-effect” graphic organizer.
During the Speech
· Teachers might conduct a “listening with purpose” exercise based on the following ideas: personal responsibility, goals, and persistence. Teachers might ask pairs of students to create a word bank at the top of a notes page that has been divided into two columns. On the right-hand side, students could take notes (trying to capture direct quotations or main ideas) while President Obama talks about personal responsibility, goals, or persistence. At the end of the speech, students could write the corresponding terms from the word bank in the left-hand column, to increase retention and deepen their understanding of an important aspect of the speech.
· Teachers might conduct a “listening with purpose” exercise based on the themes of inspiration and challenges. Using a similar double-column notes page as the one described above, teachers could focus students on quotations that either propose a specific challenge to them or that inspire them in some meaningful way. Students could do this activity individually, in pairs, or in groups.

Transition/Quick Review
· Teachers could ask students to look over their notes and collaborate in pairs or small groups. Teachers might circulate and ask students questions, such as:
What more could we add to our notes?
What are the most important words in the speech?
What title would you give the speech?
What is the thesis of the speech?

After the Speech

Guided Discussion:
· What resonated with you from President Obama’s speech? What lines or phrases do you remember?
· Whom is President Obama addressing? How do you know? Describe his audience.
· We heard President Obama mention the importance of personal responsibility. In your life, who exemplifies this kind of responsibility? How? Give examples.
· How are the individuals in this classroom similar? How is each student different?
· Suppose President Obama were to give another speech about being educationally successful. To whom would he speak? Why? What would the president say?
· What are the three most important words in the speech? Rank them.
· Is President Obama inspiring you to do anything? Is he challenging you to do anything?
· What do you believe are the challenges of your generation?
· How can you be a part of addressing these challenges?

Video Project:
· Teachers could encourage students to participate in the U.S. Department of Education’s “I Am What I Learn” video contest. On September 8, the Department of Education will invite students age 13 and older to submit a video no longer than two minutes in length, explaining why education is important and how education will help them achieve their dreams. Teachers are welcome to incorporate the same or a similar video project into a classroom assignment. More details will be released via www.ed.gov.

Transition/Quick Review
· Teachers could introduce goal-setting activities in the following way to make the most of extension activities:

“When you set a goal, you envision a target that you are going to reach over time. Goals are best when they are “Challenging,” “Attainable,” and “Needed” (CAN). For example, a good goal might be: ‘I want to boost my average grade by one letter grade this year so I can show colleges that I am prepared.’ But, every good goal also needs steps that guide the way. These steps keep you on track toward achieving your goal. For example, my first step might be improving in all of my subjects by one letter grade. My second step might be completing 100-percent of my homework in all of my classes during the first week of school. My third step might be taking an extra hour to study for all of my tests during each marking period. My fourth step might be attending a tutoring session or getting an adult to help me whenever I do not understand something. My last step might be the most important: asking an adult in my life to check on me often to make sure that I am completing each of my steps. Your steps should add up to your goal. If they don’t, that’s okay; we fix them until they do!

Let’s hear another example of an academic goal for the year and decide what steps would help to achieve that goal…

Now I want you to write your personal academic goal for this year and the steps that you will take to achieve it. We can revise our steps each marking period to make sure we are on track.”

Extension of the Speech

Teachers could extend learning by having students:
· Create decorated goals and steps on material that is the size of an index card. The index cards could be formatted as an inviting graphic organizer with a space for the goal at the top and several steps in the remaining space. Cards could be hung in the classroom to create a culture of goal setting, persistence, and success, and for the purpose of periodic review. (See the “Example Handout” section.)
· Create posters of their goals. Posters could be formatted in quadrants, puzzle pieces, or trails marked as steps. These also could be hung around the room, to be reviewed periodically and to create a classroom culture of goal setting and for the purpose of periodic review.
· Interview and share their goals with one another and the class, establishing community support for their goals.
· Create incentives or contests for achieving their personal goals.
· Write about goals and the steps to achieve them in a variety of genres such as poems, songs, or personal essays.
· Create artistic representations of goals and the steps to achieve them.

Here are prepared remarks that President Obama is to deliver at noon ET Tuesday a
Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia.
Source: The White House

Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across
America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to
school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at
4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."
So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today
because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about
responsibility.
I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to
learn.
I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.
I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards,
supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your
education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has
something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that
is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles
in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English
class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to
come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it
until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an
education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of
your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re
learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest
challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to
cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.
So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to
college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle
Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life
who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s
written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make
your own future.
That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when
she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.
I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain
cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of
which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.
And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when
bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.
That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.
Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful
without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do
differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard
work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about
people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do
anything less than their best.
It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a
revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who
overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man
on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter
and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.
So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are
you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes
here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this
country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have
the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your
classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But
you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Flashbacks

Last weekend was the 30th reunion of my high school class. I've been looking over all the pictures on Facebook.

I've never been to one of my high school reunions. I remember hearing about the 10 year reunion, but I don't remember why I didn't go. It probably seemed too early to me. I'm sure I didn't think I'd been "successful" enough to go back.

I moved to Indiana about the time of my 20th reunion, literally. I moved up here around Memorial Day weekend. The reunion would have been in early June. When the 25th came around, we were in raising money for adoption mode. I wouldn't have made the long & expensive trip down there. Now it's my 30th, and I didn't really think about going.

It's funny because in the last few months, I've become Facebook friends with many of my old classmates. I was very happy to see they had posted so many photos in the last few days, and I have spent hours looking over them.

They've given me the oddest feelings. I look at these faces. Some are familiar; most are not. I look at the names. Same thing. For the most part I think who are these people? I don't even know what I would say to them if I'd gone. I'm sure they're all very nice, I just don't know them. How can we have gone to school together for three years?

The other day I exchanged messages with the one friend from high school with whom I am still in contact. She didn't attend either. We're both in the midwest and our Florida high school is quite the trip. I told her that the feeling I had when I looked at all the pictures was that I would have felt strange and out of place at the reunion. Then I laughed as I realized that I pretty much felt strange and out of place in high school. No wonder those are the feelings that came up.

My high school was the 10th school I attended (I think, I feel like I'm leaving some place out). I was pretty used to being the new kid in the school, and I was again. The first few months saw me spending a lot of time in the library, but soon I made my group of friends. I had a great group of friends in high school. I became very involved in drama and felt like I had a pretty good high school experience. Yet I see those faces and wonder why I don't remember more about them?

I left that town about a year after I graduated from high school. There was nothing wrong with the town other than it didn't fit the wanderlust that had hit me. I wanted more excitement, but then who doesn't at 19?

Most people remain connected to a town through friends and family. By the time my 10th reunion was scheduled, I'd lost touch with all of my high school friends, except for Lori, and everyone in my family had moved away. There was nothing to bring me back.

I'm sad about that.

When I look at the photos of people having a good time reminiscing and reconnecting, I envy them. The curse of the nomadic life that I've led is that you leave people behind, and it becomes too easy to keep doing that.

If you give me a week's notice, I could be packed and ready to move anywhere. It used to only be a few day's notice, but a husband and child add a lot of baggage. I would move on without a second glance and start over (as long as that husband and child were with me).

Though some might consider this an admirable trait, I'm no longer as proud of this ability as I used to be.

I now find myself envying those who have long, deep ties to a community. I envy those who live near family, who have generations of roots surrounding them, who still know their best friend from kindergarten, who have a support system who could be at their side within moments, and who can also be right there to support their loved ones as well.

I've now lived in this community for 10 years. This is the longest I've ever lived anywhere in my entire life. Prior to this, the record was 5 years. Obviously, this is also the longest I've ever worked at the same job. What's odd though is that somewhere along the way, I quit assimilating.

With so many new schools, new towns, new jobs, etc..., I became quite the expert in finding my group and making friends. I can't do it anymore. I forgot how. Don't get me wrong, I know quite a few people around here. In fact, I've met some wonderful people around here. But I find that I keep them at arm's length. I'm sure there's some deep psychological reason. Maybe I've had to say good-bye to too many best friends, so I just don't let myself have one anymore. I miss having a best friend. I miss having a girlfriend I could call at any time who would meet me somewhere for a drink or an ice cream binge where we moaned and groaned about our lives.

In my life now, my husband is truly my best friend. When I need my girl bonding, I have my sisters. But since none of them live within a 12-hour drive, it doesn't really completely fill that best girlfriend need.

Wow, I have meandered everywhere. This post started with my high school reunion and ended with me missing having girlfriends. Oh well, I guess this is what happens when I quit posting for a while. Everything gets all bottled up, and then I purge.

I don't know the answers. I'm not even sure I know the questions. I do, however, wish I had gotten to know so many of those faces from my high school better. I wish I had let them get to know me. I wonder how many of them even remember me?

Take Responsibility, Too

Here it is not even 24 hours later, and I'm inspired. It was my morning drive that did it.

Months ago, Jim noticed a trend and shared it with me. I accused him of exaggerating. I hereby officially apologize and now totally buy into it. I did notice these occurrences when he pointed them out to me, but it took two recent events to completely validate his totally unscientific observation.

About two weeks ago, I was driving from my school to Sera's preschool. To get there, I have to drive down Main Street in the small town where I work. All small town main streets are similar, but none more so than those in the midwest. If you've seen one midwestern small town, you've seen them all. Narrow streets with a stop light every other block. Cars parallel parked on either side, yet they've squeezed in that extra lane to accommodate traffic.

Through the rearview of my mirror, I noticed the car behind me as it weaved its way through the traffic. I always wonder why they bother since they're just going to beat the car they've passed to the light at the end of the block. This car was worse than most. It was cutting cars off as it switched from lane to lane. I prepared as it came behind me expecting the same. I was not disappointed as the car quickly cut in front of me before screeching to a quick stop at the crimson light. I noted the license plate style before it sped off milli-seconds after the light turned green.

This morning, the roads glistened with the aftermath of the torrential rain from a few hours earlier. The rain hadn't quite ended, but had tapered to a heavy drizzle. It is spring, so even at 6:30 am the dark is starting to recede. Winter's dark mornings have finally come to an end. Since I didn't have to drop Sera off this morning (different long story, she's fine), I went to work the way I used to before adding her preschool to my routine. This stretch of road isn't as heavily travelled and has no stop lights. There are a few curves, but several straight stretches where there is plenty of space to safely pass a car. With little oncoming traffic, there were several opportunities to do so, yet the car behind me didn't pass. I was driving Jim's Tracker this morning and was going as fast as I felt comfortable driving on this rain-slickened road in the still dark, but lightening morning. Granted, at 45 mph it was about 5 miles below the posted speed limit, which is why I was expecting to be passed.

She didn't pass me. Instead she decided to attach herself to my bumper. At least I thought so when she got so close I could no longer see her headlights in my rearview mirror. She drove that way through several passing opportunities and then through the light at the major intersection we crossed. She turned left when I did and followed through the residential area, where I obeyed the 30 mph speed limit, all the way to downtown. We finally separated at the light where I went straight, and she turned right. Since I was waiting for the light to change, I was able to see her license plate.

You might wonder why the license plate of both these cars is important. It's important because it's the trend Jim noted. The most reckless and dangerous drivers on our roads all share this same license plate style.

While I applaud their sentiment, I question that maybe they aren't taking the responsibility to be a safe driver in their own hands. These drivers carelessly risk their lives, and more importantly, my family and my life. It does beg the question of whether they're putting out so much trust that they've forgotten their role in the equation.

What do these license plates all have in common? They all proudly proclaim:

In God We Trust

The Beauty Within - UPDATED

Last night, I saw an amazing Youtube video. I was going to link to it here this morning, but all the links I found weren't working properly. I'm hoping that's no longer the case.

When I had a chance, I was going to sit down and write my thoughts with that link, but now I don't need to.

Have you ever read a post and thought to yourself that's exactly what I wanted to say? But they said it much better than you ever could?

Here is that post.

UPDATE:

I found another link. I still recommend that you read the post I linked above.

More News

Knowing that this is happening in the county that was Sera's first home just makes this all the harder to read. That's nothing, however, compared to how difficult it is for those experiencing this first hand.

This is the primary school in Liangping County. The middle section remains standing while the sections on either side have collapsed. If you look closely, you can see the blackboard on the remaining wall.

Rescue workers digging through the rubble. The latest numbers state 5 deaths and over 100 students injured.

What can we do? Here's the scoop from Jenny Bowen of Half the Sky:

Hello again,

During the past several hours Half the Sky has been working hard to get more information about the children impacted by the Sichuan and Chongqing earthquake. We know that it is not only children in welfare institutions who are in trouble. We know that hundreds of children have been separated from their families, have lost their parents, are hurt, traumatized and in pain. We know we must help; we have been working to figure how best to do so.

We have just a little bit of news. There have been hundreds of aftershocks, one reported to be as strong as 6.0. Children have again been evacuated from the Chengdu institution. Relief workers have arrived in the epicenter, Wenchuan. The Ministry of Civil Affairs (this is the ministry that HTS works with and also the agency responsible for disaster
relief) has been unable to reach orphanages in the most affected areas:
Mianyang, Zitong, Deyang and Aba. There are other welfare institutions in the affected areas but no others that house children. Each of the four institutions above houses about 100 children. We believe they will need help. We will continue to watch and wait.

Many of you have asked us to set up an emergency relief fund, like we did during the winter storms. Given the nature of this disaster and the fact that help for children may well be needed outside welfare institutions (where we have a direct line) we have waited to set up such a fund until we had absolute assurance that we could put a system in place to deliver the aid where it is most desperately needed.

Half the Sky takes the designation of a donor-restricted gift seriously – that’s our promise to you. We understand that when you make an emergency donation, you put your trust in us. We have spoken very carefully about this with our colleagues at the Ministry of Civil Affairs. We now have their promise as well.

In cooperation with the ministry, we have now set up the Half the Sky Children’s Earthquake Fund. Your donations to the fund will be used to provide emergency and long-term relief to children affected by the disaster. Relief will include emergency shelter, food, and medical care for children orphaned or separated from their families. It will include temporary or long-term foster care or, when necessary, temporary institutional care.

We have a commitment from the ministry that we will receive regular updates on the use of funds and, most important, the well-being of the children.

Within a few hours we will have available a dedicated donation site. In the meantime, if you wish to make a gift to aid children in Sichuan and Chongqing affected by the quake, you may donate through our website, www.halfthesky.org. Please note that your gift is for earthquake relief.

I will give you more information as I receive it. Please don’t write to ask about the situation in specific locations. I will tell you everything I know.

Thank you for caring so much about the children.

with love,
Jenny

Jenny Bowen
Executive Director
Half the Sky Foundation
www.halfthesky.org

Half the Sky was created in order to enrich the lives and enhance the prospects for orphaned children in China. We establish and operate infant nurture and preschool programs, provide personalized learning for older children and establish loving permanent family care and guidance for children with disabilities. It is our goal to ensure that every orphaned child has a caring adult in her life and a chance at a bright future.

Earthquake

I went back into my archives to pull out this map I had posted before we travelled to China. I circled all the cities where we stayed. If you look closely at the Chongqing circle, you'll see than Chengdu is just north. This area was very badly affected by the earthquake in China.

Sera is from a small village called Liangping. Liangping is in the northern point of Chongqing Municipality and was badly affected by this earthquake. It's the site of the collapsed school that, as of a morning report, had killed four elementary school students.

I know Sera has relatives in this village. She could easily have relatives in the school. I've been upset all day at the thought of it. I know that the organizations that provide help in China will be rallying soon. As soon as I have word, I'll post links for those who'd like to help in the relief effort.

Just Beautiful

I don't have many regrets in life. One that I do have, I can't control. I regret that I can't sing well. A friend in college used to say that if you can't sing well, sing loud. We embraced that philosophy back then. If I could choose any voice to have for my own, I'd choose hers. I'll just be grateful that I can listen and enjoy.

Just the Facts, Please

Over the last few years, I’ve become one of those people who get the majority of their information on current events from the Internet. I still read newspapers and watch the local and national news, but I usually find they aren’t telling me anything I didn’t read online days before, particularly on a national level.

I’ve come to rely on the newspaper to keep up on what business are opening or closing in the area, a few comic strips, local restaurant reviews, and stories that involve my school or students. As I like to remind my students, if I see their names in the paper, I hope it’s because they’ve excelled and not because they’ve been arrested or in an accident. The local television news serves pretty much the same purpose, but add weather information to the list.

If a typical 30 minute news show is actually 20 minutes of programming, then there’s about 5 minutes of information that I find valuable. The other 15 minutes drives me insane.

When did tabloid coverage become so acceptable in news? It’s been gradual over the years, but lately it’s become so bad that it’s almost unbearable.

One story that is all over the Internet, newspapers, national, and local news is the story about baby shampoos. They all led with the point that a certain chemical was found when babies were tested immediately following a bath, shampoo, or lotion application. When you went past the lead, the story was there wasn’t enough information to show cause and effect. Is this a story?

Can’t you see this commercial? A meteor is heading straight for Earth. Details at 11. When you tune in, the anchor continues by stating that it will miss by seven billion miles. It’s the same story. Begin with an inflammatory lead, and then follow up by saying it won’t affect anyone.

Now I don’t know about the dangers of baby shampoo and lotion, there may be a real story there, but it sure isn’t being reported. I’m willing to bet that thousands, if not more, people don’t ever listen to the rest of the story. They’re now panicking at the thought that giving their baby a bath is going to cause them some physical harm.

Another example of the tabloid mentality that has hit the news occurred a few days ago on our local station. One of their new reporters has definitely been too influenced by tabloid journalism. She overly dramatizes every single story she reports. A local soldier returned home recently and met his newborn son for the first time. The story made the news because he was home on leave due to his son’s illness. The baby is hospitalized. This story is enough on its own merit to tug at your heartstrings. She ends her report by stating how much the boy resembles his father using William Shatner’s delivery method. Her word choices and method of delivery seem to imply that there was doubt about the child being fathered by the soldier. I do not believe that was her intention. She was just going for the melodrama.

And I guess that’s my point. Why do we have to have melodrama? Isn’t life dramatic enough on its own without adding this false hype? Just give me the facts, please.

Take a Moment

This morning we received a phone call from Jim's principal. One of Jim's students died yesterday from an aneurysm. She was 14 years old.

A was a sweet, bright, pretty young girl with her whole life ahead of her, but like most 14-year-old girls, she was insecure about herself. She has friends who loved her dearly and a family that is heartbroken.

It's moments like this when you realize that you should reach out to those around you and let them know how much they mean to you.

Of course my heart is with her mother. The thought of losing a daughter fills me with a pain that brings me to my knees.

Monday is going to be a very difficult day in Jim's classroom.

Mixed Bag

I have all these thoughts that pop in my head for blog posts. Unfortunately, they come when I can't even jot them down. When I sit down to type, all thoughts flee.

Sera just amazes me on a daily basis. We usually get to school around 6:50-7:00 AM every morning. We go into the daycare and visit with the woman who works in Sera's room and her 2-year-old son until 7:10-7:15 when the students arrive with their children. Sera knows that I leave within 5 minutes of everyone else getting there.

This morning, one of the little girls came to me to get her coat off. As soon as I had the coat off, Sera walked up to me and said, "bye-bye." I told her she was right, it was time for me to go. Then I asked if I could have a kiss. She tilted her head up, kissed the air, and waved. I laughed and gave her a kiss and left. I pass by the department chair's office on my way out the door. I stopped and laughingly told her that Sera had kicked me out. She commented on how wonderful that was. She said that showed that Sera was secure and knew that she could trust me to come back. Whenever I leave Sera, I kiss her, tell her to have fun with her friends, and that I'll be back in the afternoon to pick her up.

This afternoon when I picked her up. I got my usual joyful greeting. After I picked her up and kissed her, I put her back down so I could sign out and get her coat. She had a different plan. We've been walking a lot lately and she's learning to hold my hand. It's usually me holding her wrist to make sure she doesn't take off into the parking lot or something. Today, she grabbed my hand and started walking towards the door. She was pulling me as she walked. She had never done that before and thought it was hysterical. She's becoming such a big girl.

She and Jim dropped me off at Target and headed out to buy his weekly supply at the comic book store. The couple who own the store had their son while we were in China, so we're always sharing stories. I bit the bullet at Target and bought a potty chair. They didn't have a big selection, so I just bought what they had. I figure I'll need one for each floor, but one will get us started.

We decided to stop at our favorite local Chinese restaurant for dinner. We have a gazillion Chinese restaurants here in the Midwest and most of them are awful. They have these awful buffets filled with pre-cooked and frozen Chinese-style foods. They're just gross. We have one near our house that's owned by a young Chinese couple. The husband does all the cooking along with two other men. They don't speak any English that I've ever heard. The wife runs the front. She waits on the tables and acts as cashier. Occasionally, they'll hire a local high school kid to wait tables, too. They have two young children. Their daughter just started school. Their son is a toddler. They sent him back to China about a year ago to live with family. He'll be there about another year and come home. This is not unusual, and they did the same with their daughter.

We used to stop at this place for lunch after our Mandarin class. She would practice with us and help correct our pronounciation. When we got a referral, we went to this restaurant to celebrate and share our picture. When we came home from China, this was one of the first restaurants we brought Sera to eat.

The last time we were there, we forgot Sera's sippy cup. It was waiting for us tonight. As soon as we were spotted, the cup was handed over to me.

We almost always order off the menu. I love their Szechuan Shrimp, and Sera loves their Mai Fun Noodles. We usually eat there when the place is empty as we'll often stop for dinner on the way home after work. Most people aren't eating dinner at 4:30 PM. Tonight, we showed up around the time most people eat. I'd never seen the place so busy before. Every table was full and people were lined up waiting for to-go orders. We had planned to split an entree, but Jim checked out the buffet and told me I might want to consider it. He knows how I feel about buffets. If he thought I'd like it, I'd give it a try.

It was fantastic. Every item I tried was freshly made, not the nasty pre-cooked frozen slop. The dumplings were good. The chicken and broccoli was delicious, and the fried shrimp were even good. I love shrimp so much that I'll even eat buffet fried shrimp. They're usually popcorn and the only flavor is the breading. Not these, I'd say they were 35-40s. They also had a big bowl of boiled shrimp available, and they weren't overboiled.

I fixed Sera a plate with noodles, mushrooms, melon, Mandarin oranges, and jello cubes. I gave her some of the chicken and carrots from my plate. She chowed. She was eating everything on her plate, when I picked up a fried shrimp and bit it off the tail.

When Sera wants something, she reaches towards it and says, "thank you." I've offered Sera shrimp every single time I've eaten it. It's one of my favorites, so of course I want her to love it, too. She's rejected it every time. Tonight, she reached for my shrimp saying thank you. I asked her if she wanted a bite, and she said yes. I let her bite off the end of a shrimp and she reached for more. I ended up cutting up four shrimp and putting them on her plate. She ate them all. Then she went for Jim's and ate four more. I went back to the buffet and got some more. She ate them, too. In fact, when we were leaving she reached back towards the table and took one last bite for the road.

I'm not a huge buffet fan, but I have to say, it sure makes eating out a lot easier with a toddler. We all get our food right away. We can pick and choose things she'll like and give her the variety she likes. We don't feed her just one thing at home, why would she like that at restaurant? Most kid meals have one item with french fries. She's not a huge french fry fan, so I usually get her steamed vegetables. That's hit or miss at best. Some places do a great job. Some places serve vegetable mush. Some serve them practically raw. And some serve them with no seasonings of any sort. Sera doesn't do bland.

As to be expected, showing up during a busy time meant we got lots of attention. A woman came up to me while I was getting our food and asked if she could ask me a question. I knew what was coming. She asked me if it was difficult to adopt a child like that. I'll admit that I was startled by her phrasing. My first instinct was too recoil and correct her. Then I looked at her. She had a friendly face and warm eyes. Her hair was badly in need of styling (but then so is mine) and her clothes looked worn. Her speech pattern and choice of words told me that she wasn't a highly educated woman. I realized that she meant no harm. I answered her question and the ones that followed. It turns out that she adopted her daughter 11 years ago. Her daughter is multi-racial. Her next words hurt when she said that back then no one wanted kids like that and she was glad to see more families with children "like that." Her word choices were hard to hear. I was so grateful that neither her daughter nor mine heard her, but I could also tell her heart was in the right place. We parted and I went back to my family. I know we'll have many encounters in the future, and it will always be hard.

If you are one of the two people left in the world who hasn't been here (FreeRice) yet? Well, don't say I didn't warn you. It's addictive!

Pass The Story

UPDATE: She's been found, and she's safe. I can't bring myself to say she's well. I just hope she gets all the love and therapy she will need.

This story is beyond heartbreaking. Police in Nevada recently received a sex tape of an unidentified 4-5 year old girl and a male. More information is available here and here. Police are looking for any help in identifying either. Please help get the word out.

The Key To Your Child's Scholastic Success

This week I had parent conferences at school. I have a light load of students this trimester, only 78. I usually have closer to 100. I also had the highest number of parents show up for conferences this year, 29. That's huge! I've been lucky to break 10 some trimesters.

Of those 29 students, can you guess how many had As and Bs?

26

Three of the students had Fs. Those parents I really needed to see. The other 26 were nice to see.

Of my 78 students, can you guess how many parents besides those 3 I needed to see?

Only about another 10, but it would have been really nice to see them.

Do you really think it's a coincidence that the students with the highest grades are the ones whose parents come to conferences?