This Caught My Eye

Damian Whitworth has an article entitled, Is History So Horrible? The website is from England so the arguments deal with a different educational system, but some of his arguments make sense here too. 1. History needs to be taken more seriously, that the emphasis on math, science, basket weaving, feeling good about yourself, etc has shoved history out of the elementary and middle schools, by the time students encounter history classes they don't have a solid basis for understanding. 2. It needs to be presented in an interesting manner 3. There needs to be hands on, field trip, real world instruction.

My only complaint with the article is that those talking about improving education think the panacea for improving education is more technology. Makes you wonder how Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Jesus, Confucius, and all the other great teachers over the centuries educated without smart boards, DVD players, and Sesame Street. The problem with technology is that it gets old very fast. In the 1950's there was a movie called Black Board Jungle. A teacher who had trouble getting his students to pay attention shows a cartoon with a 16mm projector, and miracle of miracles the kids are interested. By the 1960's all schools had 16mm projectors and many teachers only function was to turn them on and fix the film when it broke. By the 1980's all those old reel to reel films were transferred to video. In the 1990's it was computers. Today we have DVD players for movies and documentaries, computers to surf the web, power point presentations provided by the book publisher so you don't have to come up with your own lecture, and many other new gadgets. And for each of the new technologies ( all of which I gladly use) the students were interested in for about one or two years, and then it becomes routine and they shut down. Isn't it time we stopped treating students like a baby in the crib that has to be pacified with rattling car keys?

 By the way I'd like to have a copy of the DVD on the battle of Hastings and a link to the video game.

Name in the paper

I attend Southwest Writers Workshop every month to meet and greet a large number of writers in this area, they have monthly competitions and an annual competition on 33 different genres. Each meeting has a guest speaker and I've written a number of posts where what one of these speakers has said inspired me in one way or another.

Another writers group I go to sometimes is Writers 2 Writers. It meets on the second Monday of every month from 6:30 to 7:30 at a west side Hastings, and though I always intend on going most of the time I hit my self in the head just before I go to bed that night and say, "Oh shit, I forgot again."

About four months ago I told David Correll, who coordinates the group I'd give a presentation. Last night was when I gave it on how to write a hook. When I got there David was really happy. He'd tried for years to get the local paper to say something about these meetings and Sunday's paper had a one paragraph blurb in the living section, last page with the book reviews mentioning that I would be speaking. I'd read the paper, even read the book reviews, but the right hand column that listed book signings and other things I skipped. When I got home I looked at the page again, read that column and sure enough pm Prescott (sic) was mentioned. Did the paper think my initials reflected the fact that the meeting was held in the evening? Oh well, at least they spelled it right.

It was an enjoyable evening. I gave a hand out on what makes good hooks, explained the time I showed Optimus to a Zondervan editor how he cut my first paragraph to ribbons which opened my eyes to why a good hook is so important. A number of those who came (around twelve) shared their first page. They had lots of questions and I even had a handout of cliche opening sentences for them to practice writing a hook from. Unfortunately no one wanted to buy one of my books. The problem with writers groups like this is that they all have a book to sell, but are not all that interesting in buying.

Good Weekend

Saturday did some shopping for DIL, Mom and wife. In the evening I met with a couple of bloggers that normally leave comments at my Captain's blog.

Sunday Grinnygranny and I played a round of golf then had dinner at Mom's. Over all a really good weekend.

Merit Education

Just about everyone thinks they know how to improve education, and they all start by mentioning merit pay and raising test scores.

In the NY Times today some republican retard was praising the charter schools of Harlem for raising their test scores, he even mentioned that they did it by teaching standardized testing in their curriculum. See previous post on gaming the system.

Now on Huffington Post Joel Klein has his lame brain idea of how to improve teaching. Here's his formula:

1. Lower entry barriers for incoming teachers
2. Set up longitudinal data systems to evaluate teacher performance
3. Use outcome based measures to assess teachers
4. Assess and document impact of probationary teachers
5. Makes tenure based on progress measurements and assessments 
6. Bonus and merit pay for teachers in inner-city schools and hard to find subjects like science and math
7. Tenured teachers periodically reassessed on student achievement

Half of this bullshit is pure gibberish and the other half is unrealistic. All of these assessments and measurements of students would still impact a teacher's evaluation years after the teacher had them in his or her class.

Let's take item 1. Lowering entry barriers. It's a mixed bag. Intel has a big plant here and after every lay-off a number of those out-of-a-job use the schools as a back-up. They don't have to do the usual year of pre-student teaching and student teaching. We have an apprenticeship program that lets them come into the classroom. The program changes every year so I'm not sure on all the particulars, but they are supposed to have a mentor teacher keep tabs on them for two years. Those with college degrees in other fields can also go through this program. Some retire military and other business professionals have become teachers this way. They're about as mixed a bag as baby teachers coming right out of college. About half last less than a semester. They find out that about fifty percent of teaching is trying to get the students to: be quiet, stop texting, get their heads up off their desks, stop writing grafitti on the desks, stop talking back and calling me filthy names. Some quit and others find better jobs. Those that can get control of the classroom do just fine. If retiring military were NCO's they do better in the classroom than retired officers as a whole. Officers have never had to deal those under them talking back. A good number of those coming in this route teach only long enough to get an administrators degree and then leave the classroom for the admin ladder.

Items 2-5 and 7 is the attack of the anal retentives. The numbers crunchers want to micro manage the classroom. The classroom is not a laboratory filled with rats or guinea pigs, and I really wish the politicians and colleges of eduction at our universities would stop treating them like they are. Sometimes what we learned from a teacher doesn't kick in for years afterwards. The teacher you hated the most at the time will become the teacher you admire when you reach a higher level of academia and they prepared you better than the teachers you really liked. A hard C has more value than an easy A. Standardized test scores don't gauge this. When all teachers are forced to game the system and teach only how to pass a standardized test instead of the subject the miracle of learning will die. We'll only graduate robots without the metal skeleton.

Item 6 is laughable. Inner cities don't have the tax base or political base for this to happen in the real world. And if you did implement it all those wonderful, successful teachers leaving the suburban, upper middle class schools for the extra pay, would get fired as their measurements and assessments would reflect the ability of students they're teaching.

Snide aside: If all these computerized data measuring systems were correct, wouldn't coaches like Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, Don Shula. Wouldn't they have won the Super Bowl every year instead of once or twice a decade? I wouldn't matter what kind of athlete was on the team, how much talent they had, the coach is who makes champions. Point being teaching and students are a symbiotic relationship just as coaching and athletes. It takes both working together to make learning possible or winning games possible.

There is nothing on this list that mentions the responsibilities of parents or students in their test scores. These test scores will determine if a teacher makes tenure, or keeps their jobs. How stupid is that?

I've got to brag

Of course my new grand daughter is the most perfect child on the planet. That's because we don't have to get up with her in the middle of the night, I don't have to change diapers, and we only get to hold her and feed her in the evenings. Grinnygranny and Auntypesty were nearly in a knock down drag out last night over who would get to hold her and feed her. She's going to be one really spoiled kid.

Yesterday it was ninety degrees so after school I went to the golf course and played nine holes. I played the back nine and I'm usually happy if I get one par per nine holes. If I'm speaking Greek to non-golfers realize I'm a golf fanatic.

I did my usual bogeys on the first five holes then I don't know what happened. I parred the fifteenth hole (back nine remember). I thought I had my quota and was happy. The sixteenth hole is a short par three and I par it regularly so it was no surprise when I got a par there too. I'm really happy. Then I come to the par 5 seventeenth. This is the hole that is the bane of my existence. It has a water hazard surrounded by tall cottonwoods on the right protecting the dog leg and a gully to the left with Salt Cedars at the bottom, you hit wrong either way just get out a new ball. Many times in the last ten years I've picked up after the tenth stroke and haven't even made it to the green, I've parred it twice. Well yesterday I had a nice drive down the middle of the fairway, a good second shot and as a real surprise overshot the green on my third. The ball was on the second fringe, but the pin was down hill so I putted and it went in for a birdie (one below par for non-golfers). Unfortunately I was playing alone and no one saw it. I did my usual bogey on the last hole, but to have a round with a couple of pars and a birdie has me walking on air.

This winter has been dry and mild leading to mid to late summer scores. I'm getting pumped for summer already.

P A N I C

Wow after sixteen schools closed in our state, delaying all district and state competitions, now the CDC says, "Oops!"

NM got it easy compared to Texas, that really went over the deep end.

Then I read this tidbit, can't remember where right now: It does no good to close schools if the students still come into contact with each other either at day care or the mall.

Mexico had a problem and took sensible measures to solve it. That didn't mean the US had the same problem or needed the radical steps that were imposed. This over reaction is going to do more harm in the long run than any good that might have been gained.

Most reports I've read say the real problem with this flu will come in the fall, and by that time there should be a vaccine.

That said, I give my sincerest condolences for the loss of a Texas teacher who died from this flu and don't wish in anyway to diminish the loss her family feels at this time.

Media Overreaction

Do you get the feeling like this flu possible pandemic is closer to chicken little?

The news media always trot out the Spanish flue of 1918 and the millions that died. One of the textbooks I use places the number at 20 million, the paper last week said 57 million died world wide. Then they mention the Hong Kong Flu and Asian flu in the 60's and 70's where the number was 2.5 million world wide. The other number thrown out is that every year 35 thousand die in the US every year from the normal, common variety flu.

What all this increased attention on the boogeyman flu says there are good things happening in making people aware of infectious diseases. That washing hands often, or cleaning them with anti-bacterial foam, gel, wipes or spray is what we should do all the time, not just when there's a panic.

The down side, is that when this is all over, and it turns out to not be nearly as bad as predicted the general public will become cynical and shrug off all the precautions they've been using.

Prudent precautions need to be taken all the time: washing hands often, keeping counter tops and other surfaces wiped down, getting exercise to keep your immune system working properly, seeing a doctor if you get a high fever with a cold (if you can get in to see him/her within two weeks).

Closing an entire school district of 80,000 because the state had 26 confirmed cases? I don't know seems a little over the top for me.

Monday I get ten e-mails from the school nurse about this flu. I spent about fifteen minutes in all my classes explaining what I'd read in the paper over the weekend. I have students bring in cleaning wipes as their school supplies every fall. I passed out plenty of wipes had them wipe down the desk top, the metal frame and their hands, which I tell them every fall they should do as a matter of course throughout the year. Monday they listened. By Wednesday a few students would come in get a wipe and clean their desk. Today every class comes in and cleans their desks and wipes their hands. I'm getting low on wipes, but I think it's a good thing. If nothing else I'm not having to clean off graffiti.

It has reminded me of college. With only a thousand students at Wayland almost everyone would go to the SUB which had a snack bar. You could always tell which students were taking micro-biology. Most everyone would come in sit down with their order and eat. m-b students would wash their hands, clean the table, clean the chairs, cover the food exposed to air with napkins and were very fun to watch. By the next semester they were over their germ phobia and would be back to normal.

I do hope this "sky-is-falling-in" panic taking place doesn't turn us into Mr. Monk's, at the same time since I started watching that show I have kept my hands much cleaner. 

Making the Grade

All the news outlets today are grading Obama's hundred days. They're grading him on the economy, foreign policy, style of dress, blah blah blah.

Grading him against what? or whom? All assessments must have a standard. That's the problem with all the people giving him grades, they all use a different rubric.

Was he able to turn the economy around? He's done more in 100 days than W did in eight years, but then one step forward is better than a million steps backwards.

Did he get as much legislation passed as FDR? No, but FDR had more months to write the legislation and get his ducks in a row, he wasn't inaugurated until March back then, not January. His first hundred days ended in June, and there's always a flurry of legislation passed just before summer recess.

Still it does make me think of school and if I follow that grading analogy a hundred days would be the equivalent of the very first grade of the very first week of school. He has four years, the final report card won't come out for quite some time. Granted no one wants to start the school year off with a failing grade, but it doesn't mean you'll fail the course. Getting an A on the first grade is also no guarantee that you'll pass the class.

I liked Madeline Albright's comment where she compares this to the first hundred yards of a mile. (I was a miler in high school and college, she's talking my language) The first hundred yards of a mile only gets you into the rhythm of the race, it doesn't determine the outcome.

Baby Boom

We're having a baby boom at my school, and it's not just the students (wish I was kidding). In my department two fellow teachers became fathers on April 21, and yesterday. There are two other teachers expecting soon. Life renewing itself. A wonderful thing.

Proud Grandpa

Abigail is soooo tiny and soooo cute.

Congratulations Are In Order

Bruce, my older brother, is now a grandfather. I beat him by six years. James William Clark born to my niece. Mom is getting a full dose of great-grandkids this year as Bruce's son's wife is expecting toward the end of summer.

Gaming the system

Alright enough about my granddaughter. I'm sure she'll be mentioned many times in the months and years to come.

Over at the Captain I posted a link to the entire transcript of last Friday's Bill Moyer's interview with David Simon of HBO's The Wire. It is an eye opening interview. One of the statements he made concerned an episode of the show on schools and testing. There was a clip in which one of the characters who left the police force to become a teacher figures out that all the statistics being gathered from the testing was just a way to manipulate the newspapers and people into believing that the schools were doing a better job than they actually are. In short gaming the system. That's caused me to reflect on the last twenty seven years of teaching. Bare with me as I go down memory lane.

When I started teaching the only standardized tests (outside of ACT or SAT's) were given to 3rd, 8th and 11th grades. Every summer the numbers would be released in the paper and the only people who used those numbers were real estate agents who could inflate the prices of the houses in the districts of the schools that had the highest numbers. Other than that nobody did much with them.

When George I was elected president and the cold war ended the republicans shifted their boogey man from Russia to American schools. Reagan laid the groundwork with his Presidential commission which produced a report called: A Nation At Risk. This is when the drum beat for yearly testing started. Naturally the NEA and AFT were against this, the argument being that teachers are hired to teach the subjects, if testing were to be done yearly teachers would be forced to teach students how to pass the tests, not history or English, or Algebra, etc.,which is why there is the constant shrilling about how the Unions are against improving the schools. Tell a lie loud enough and often enough and sooner or later people start believing it. Our legislature responded by creating a Competency Test that all public schools students must pass to get a diploma. If you don't pass it you get a certificate of attendance. The test is given to sophomores which gives them two years to make up any part of the test before graduation, and if there is still a part of the test not passed they have until they are twenty-two to pass it. Most pass it the first time. The GED is twice as hard as this test, and a passing grade is kept in the 40% range. In other words: Big Waste Of Time and Tax Payer Dollars, but the politicians could pat themselves on the back and boast that the were improving education in this state.

 The other demon in education is dropouts. There became a concerted effort to identify "students at risk" of dropping out. While teaching 7th and 8th grade English we had so called experts in identifying these students come to our school, take them out of class and give them a pep talk, and somehow all the money that paid these experts salaries was supposed to be translated into few of these students not quitting school. Meanwhile we were picketing before and after work hours to get a two percent pay increase that year.

By the Clinton administration even the democrats were joining the testing bandwagon. New tests came in, more grades were added to those needing to be tested, and as our school buildings deteriorated, as teachers retired and fewer and fewer college graduates looked at a starting teacher's salary and concluded that there was no way in hell they could pay off their students loans and live with this small an amount, more and more money was being drained away to pay for all the new tests. More faculty had to be hired to coordinate and administer the tests, fewer weeks were being spent on instruction and is now devoted to testing.

Then APS hired a superintendent who knew how to game the system. He negotiated a contract that specified that if certain goals were met he got bonuses. One of those bonuses was if the drop out rate was lowered. And he did it. He changed the way drop outs were counted. Previously a school would have the count of freshmen who enrolled at a certain high school and subtracted all those students four years later who graduated from that high school. The difference was your drop out rate. If you had six hundred freshmen and four years later your graduating class was three hundred you had a 50% dropout rate. Really pretty simple.

Dr. A had the dropout rated calculated by how many seniors enrolled and subtracted how many graduated at the end of that school year. So if you enrolled 330 seniors and 300 graduated then you only had 30 dropouts and that came to less than 10%. Amazing how he got his bonus that year. The newspapers and tv anchors were all singing his praises. He lowered APS's dropout rate by 30% in one year. It's stunning how easy it is to trick MSM with cooked books.

The Der Decider was elected. No Child Left Behind was hailed as a milestone for education. We began calling it "Leave No Child A Dime." Testing now comes with consequences. If schools don't reach a certain level of proficiency they lose money, teachers can be reassigned to other schools, the state or federal governments can come in and require better training so on and so forth. Every year the proficiency goes up until all schools will have all students at a 100% proficiency by 2012. The perfect recipe for every year letting the media squeal about how terrible our schools are. It is an impossible standard to meet, and then Bushco pulled the rug out from under it by refusing to fund all the federal mandates that had to be met. Even neocon heaven Utah screamed foul.

For the last eight years and counting from February to April there is very little instruction going on. It's all testing. Freshmen are tested one week, all other students stay home. Then Sophomores, get the picture. In the fall we have two practice testing days where we simulate the testing to get them ready. We have thirty minutes added onto one class every Wednesday were all student have to answer a math question, then we discuss how to get points on the test even if you don't know the answer! It's easy, each question has four points, you get one point if you rephrase the question, one point for attempting to figure it out, and two points for getting it right. Even if you get every question wrong if you do steps one and two you have a 50%. I'm not making this up.

On our In-Service days for two years years we had a testing cheerleader come with fancy posters, snappy phrases, and the secret of how we could get our students to pass these tests. They won't let us know how much was spent flying this guy here to give us this pep talk, or how much we spent buying his fancy posters that we all had to put up in our rooms. Want to know the big secret? Have the students underline key question words like who, what, when, where, why, and how. Then on the multiple choice answers cross out the answers they knew to be wrong so they could focus on the two answers that come close to being right. There's big bucks in selling snake oil to superintendents today.

The reason given for all of this testing was that it would identify the schools that need the most help and the government would come in to set things right. As David Simon points out it's really all about gaming the system. Are the students getting a better education today when most schools can claim that their test scores show improvement? Or has it just taken a few years for the schools to know how to manipulate the statistics.

The Joys of being a Grandfather

New baby's are wonderful, but they're even more wonderful as grandchildren. Abigail is precious, but with E, C, auntypesty, grinnygranny,  and Mom being there to feed, rock, change diapers it's so much less work for me than when my two came along.

And have things changed since they were born! C had a nice hospital room which had a real wide ledge up against the window, there was a twin mattress on it and E spent the night in the room. A whole lot better than a recliner or chair to sleep in. So far the only one having a hard time is Daniel, who can't understand why he has to be quiet so much. Three year olds are not naturally quiet.

Another perk of being a grandpa is that you can get out of the house and play golf.

I walked the full 18 holes yesterday, normally I walk nine or ride 18. It was tiring. This was the first time I played Kirkland AFB's course. It was nice. You just have to know someone with base privileges to get in. The two guys I've been playing with most of the winter invited me to join them, which was nice. The grass around the greens is coming out. During the winter you can usually putt onto the green, my chipping game is really rusty, but it's still a lot of fun.

The header is the latest painting by Anne Littlewolf. I just love her work.

Baby Time

Grinnygranny and I have a new granddaughter, named Abigail. She arrived at 10:26 this morning. Mother and child are doing well.  7lbs 2oz.

Waiting

E's girlfriend went in last night and the doctor was going to induce labor. We haven't heard anything yet. Will post when our new granddaughter arrives.

Pleasant Day

I hope everyone had a nice Easter, or memorable Passover.

We had a simple meal. Mom came over and we had a pleasant time talking about many different things. Living alone Mom likes to have someone to talk with.

We watched the Masters and it was very entertaining, though we were rooting for either Tiger or Michelson to pull off an upset. Kenny Perry had it in his grasp and let it get away.

Feeling better

• Grinnygranny has had a cold for two weeks, she's still congested, but feeling better, and I came down with it Monday. I got through classes and stayed home the rest of the week. We did have Friday as a holiday. It was good that those three days were testing and I didn't have to leave lesson plans or worry about a sub being eaten alive by my students. Intestinal flu the a couple of weeks ago and now this. We are tired of not feeling well.
  
• I felt good enough yesterday to play a round of golf, but was real weak the last few holes.
  
• Today we've been getting something rather unusual around here -- rain. We need it badly, it's been very dry this year.
  
• Went grocery shopping this morning. Mom's coming over tomorrow for Easter dinner. We thought about going out, but when all the clan is together that becomes expensive.
  
• Thursday C thought her water broke, E took her to the hospital. It turned out to be a false alarm. Next week the doctor plans to induce if the baby doesn't decide to come on her own. It won't be long now before we become grandparents again.
  

Must Read

Stop by at Michael Manning's blog to wish him a happy birthday. He has one of the most touching posts I've read in many many visits to blogland.
He's a Steve McQueen aficianado and every year has a Film Festival that honors him. His insights into McQueen's life and movies is always eye opening. After having read his posts I've seen Junior Bonner, Bullit, and Le Mans, flicks that I missed growing up. Grinnygranny and I have really enjoyed them.

The Value of the Mustang

Auto bailouts and breakups are filling the news lately. Obama's Car Czar forced the dimwit at GM out. Chrysler could disappear as far as I'm concerned -- see previous post at Captain's Log. It was bought from Mercedes by a private consortium that included Dan Quayle. Now there's a recipe for disaster. Maybe Fiat can salvage it.

Notice of the Big 3 only Ford has not asked for a bailout. Why? I'll tell you why. The Mustang.  

GM and Chrysler have a competing sports car to go against the Mustang, but they've both been stupid on the price.

The Mustang is a sports car if you put in a V8 engine and fancy it up. The GT and Cobra are really hot. They sell for 30 grand and up. But it's also an economy car. With the V6 and basic package it gets good mileage and sells from 18 thousand to 24 thousand. That's why everywhere you look Mustangs are all over the road.

GM in a fit of pure insanity killed the Camero, and when it decided to bring it back took four years after the design was released to bring it to market. It was in the Transformers movie and two years later you still couldn't buy one. That's just plain stupid. Now that it's finally hitting the market they sell for Fifty grand. Why not just buy a Corvette? Do they really need two top of the line sports cars?

Chrysler brought back the Charger, but made it a four door killing whatever sporty or economy value it could have had and upping the price. When they finally brought back the Challenger they priced it from 45 to 60 grand.

Both of these cars, and I'd love to have either one, start at what the Mustang sells for at its top end. If the Mustang started at this price you wouldn't see many of them either. 

That was the genius of Lee Iocoa who came up with the car in 1964. A people's sports car. The Camaro and Challenger were developed to compete with the Mustang, which they did from the mid sixties until the mid eighties. Pontiac's version, the Trans Am was about the biggest selling car of the seventies thanks to the Smokey and The Bandit movies. 

If either of these car companies had a lick of sense the Challenger and Camero would be priced around 20 thousand with a V6 or Turbo 4 cylinder engines and they would sell like hot cakes, just like the Mustang. In fact many people might trade in their Mustangs to get the next best sporty economy car. But Corporate thinking is too dense to figure this out. 

Where's the next Lee Iococa? 

Faith

Mom has started visiting a church here whose premise is unity. I haven't gone with her, and I'm not sure I will, but the idea of being inclusive in theology instead of exclusive appeals to me.

When the moral mafia stole the Southern Baptist Convention and started economically raping it in 1978 at first many of us fought tooth and nail to keep it from happening, but their cutthroat and nasty tactics won and those of us who were on the losing side either left creating the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Mainstream Baptist organization like my brother, or stayed in the churches being forced to bite our tongues as the leadership in our local churches became rabid Republicans, pro-life, mercantile, zombies.

I endured eight years of those in my Sunday School classes calling Bill Clinton the anti-Christ and how he ruined the presidency and another eight years of inane, sycophantic praising of everything W. Is it any wonder that I started playing golf on Sundays?

I wish I could fellowship with other believers of like mind, but there's not many Mainstream Baptists in New Mexico. I'm not ready to go interdenominational. The concept of "Let's focus on what we agree on and not talk about what we don't" is a little too watered down for me.

In that vein, I once had a good friend. He gave me some of the best advice I ever received as a teacher. The principle was giving me loads of grief that year and I was as stressed out almost to the breaking point. He saw how depressed I was in the teacher's lounge, in fact the principle was riding him even harder than me that year so we had exchanged our gripes. He looked at me and said, "Remember you're permanent, she's temporary."

Those words put the rest of the year in perspective. I relaxed, the year ended and then next year said principle and I got along much better.

The man in question was a Mormon Bishop. Theologically you don't get much further apart. We had many conversations about our faith, but not our theology. He would talk about all the hospital visits he was making, the squabbles he had to settle in the congregation and how much stress it was to be a bi-vocational church leader. 

At the time I was music minister at a small church and I had plenty of similar comments.

He died of a heart attack the next year, slumped over in his garden doing the one thing that helped him relax. His funeral is the only time I've been in a Mormon church. Listening to the eulogies of his friends and fellow congregants was eye opening. They told a story of a man who fiercely questioned all the beliefs of his church and became grounded in his faith.

I experienced the same journey from the Baptist perspective and found my faith. I recognized that in him and he the same in me, which made us such good friends.

Theologically I have no idea which one of is right and won't until it no longer matters on this spiritual plane.

What I've concluded is that those who have questioned their beliefs and become comfortable in their faith have a certain serenity about them, and get bugged by others who try to coerce them into conformity with dogma. Those who have been brainwashed into their belief have this incessant need to argue, convince, cajole and ultimately force others to believe as they do as validation for a faith they have little confidence in.  

Relaxing Break

Spring break is over and Monday it's back to the old grind, for another eight weeks.
The diet didn't work out. Grinnygranny and I gave up after two days.
I have spent a few days just taking it easy and destressing, haven't even looked at the novel.
Yesterday I got in a nice round of golf. The weather hasn't been too good for it. Hopefully this weekend it will warm up and not be as windy.

I did run across an interesting article at Ethics Daily. Michael Helms a pastor in Georgia says that some people spend too much time going to church thinking that is was a Christian should do, than actually living the Christian life. In his words:

Studying about missions is different from doing missions. Hearing a sermon about doing for “the least of these” is different from doing for the least of these. Talking about evangelism is different from doing evangelism. Many have become keepers of the aquarium instead of fishers of men.Dropping money in the offering plate to send people to Africa or the Middle East is different from interacting with and ministering to someone of another race or culture in your own community.

Great thoughts.

Breathing time

Spring break this week. I'm going to try working on my novel, get some quality golf in and start a new diet the wife and mother are dragging me into. Be back next week.

Soul Searching

Governor Richardson signed the law making New Mexico the 15th state to put capital punishment in the history books. 

I've had many opinions concerning the death penalty over the years. 

• It's easy to think in black and white when your young and life hasn't muddied the water for you. In high school when we'd debated this issue (yes my class had opinions and we voiced them at the top of our lungs) the argument I bought was that murderers and such were a cancer on society and society had the right to cut it out. Nice and tidy, good analogy, pure and simple.
• In college, Jim Vanderbilt, a trainer for the men's basketball team, who I knew for two years, left to attend another college. My junior year the news was filled with a horrific story of a state senator's daughter murdered. Jim hit the news a few weeks later when he was arrested for the crime. It took the jury in Amarillo thirty minutes to convict him and thirty minutes to sentence him to death. My first experience with Texas assembly line capital punishment. It's also not as black and white when there's a face on the person sitting on death row. When your senior year as you leave a classroom and walk past this person's obviously distraught wife who is coming in, that returned to finish her degree. For a number of years I had no opinion either one way or the other on this issue. I was way too conflicted. 
• When I became a father and looked in the crib of my son and later my daughter along with the love and pride came the realization that if someone did anything to harm them I'd be just like that father in Amarillo who'd move heaven and earth to see them punished. That kind of ended my conflict temporarily.
• In the 1980's New Mexico had a death penalty melt down. 1. Four members of a biker gang who were on death row were let loose because the real killer found God and confessed to cleanse his soul. He had proof of his crime. 2. Tony Anaya was elected governor. As liberal as they come. He was morally opposed to the death penalty and announced that no one would be executed while he was in office. When he lost re-election in 1986, Gary Carruthers, the newly elected governor made it clear the four men on death row at that time would suffer their sentence. Tony Anaya then announced that he could not in good conscience leave office and let this happen. He commuted their sentences to Life. Every few years it hits the news that one or more of the men are up for parole. It is always denied. 
•  Anaya commuted these sentences in Nov. of 1986. That same month a 9 year old girl was found raped and strangled in Artesia, her name was Dena Lynn Gore. The family of the killer turned him in, Terry Clark, who had been convicted of raping a 7 year old just months earlier in another town, but was out on bail pending appeal. We now have the Dena Lynn Gore law that stops violent criminals from being free on bond after conviction. Terry Clark was told by his attorney that if he pleaded guilty at his arraignment in early December, that should he be sentenced to death before the new governor took office, Anaya would commute the sentence. He pleaded guilty, the judge set sentencing for February and he was sentenced to die, too late for a commutation. At the time I was glad the judge held off on the sentencing and he got what he deserved. A part of me still does.
• The next year a college student was abducted in front of her home, held for over a week, drugged and forced to make porno films. They found her body under a culvert. The outrage was palpable in the press. Three men were arrested for her murder. Two turned states evidence and testified against the person they say put them up to it. Johnny Zinn, who worked at his uncle's bakery not far from where we lived. Rage turned to complete shock. That bakery was a fixture of the whole town. Everyone had eaten either at the bakery or what they had baked. The family had money, though the bakery was quietly closed. He was convicted, but at sentencing was given life. *note, both Terry Clark and Johnny Zinn are white as were the victims, race was not an issue*. I was totally taken by surprise when the sentencing verdict came in. This should have been a slam dunk for the death penalty. I learned that money and good attorneys really do make a difference. 
• In the 90's I started teaching law and decided to do a unit on the death penalty. With computers and the www it's been pretty easy getting material from both sides. Teaching in the following years at two high schools known for major gang problems it's not unusual that some of the students in my class have more first hand knowledge of the criminal justice system than I would ever want to know. These students may give their other teachers trouble, or sleep, but in my class -- at least for the criminal justice part -- they are full of questions. Most have family either in prison for murder, or have had family members murdered. No I don't come to school in an armored car and wear kevlar, they're just kids who've experienced more in fifteen or sixteen years than I have in over fifty. Surprisingly they all favor the death penalty, even if it would apply to their own family. I've not done a scientific study on it, wouldn't want to; it's a general observation from a raising of hands both before and after the unit and from reading their extended response questions.
• In 2001 Terry Clark requested all further appeals on his behalf end. Fifteen years after he pleaded guilty, Millions in state dollars spent on the endless appeals plus the cost of all those years of incarceration, the state was finally going to see justice done. Most of the people in the state had to be reminded or informed about the crime. It was like ancient history. The newspapers ran numerous articles on the crime and the history of the death penalty in the state. With the exception of the five years I was exiled to Texas going to college and seminary, I've lived here since 1963. It never dawned on me that this was going to be the first execution to happen in all that time. The previous execution took place in 1960 by gas chamber. It was mentioned that we switched from hanging to the gas chamber in the early 1950's (to make good use of the nazi's preferred means of killing people), and that this was the only time it was ever used. Millions of dollars spent at tax payer expense in 1950's money to be used only one time. That boggled my mind. Terry Clark died by lethal injection. A much cheaper means of execution, not counting the cost of fifteen years of legal bills the state coughed up for both sides of the appeals.
• That's when the math hit me. Why don't good fiscal conservatives do the math, at least for this state. Texas has it down to a science in cutting costs and railroading people to the gurney. It costs $35,000 dollars per year to house an inmate in maximum security. Life without parole, given the offender is in his late teens or early twenties, say thirty years before they die of natural causes on average. That comes to $1,050.000. Round it off to one mil. Now Terry Clark was costing taxpayers his room and board for 15 years so out of the one mil we still payed five hundred grand. In essence we spent millions of dollars to shorten his miserable life so we could save half a mil. Even if he lived another ten years we'd have only saved another 350 thousand. The state won't mention exactly how much we payed for all those legal appeals, but it would be a pretty safe bet at the going lawyers fees to be well over 5 possibly 10 million bucks. Did we get a lot of bang for it?
• I'm not without pity or heartless concerning the pain the Gore family went through in all those years and still do. And as I said earlier when looking down on my children, now my grandchildren, I'd still want any and all things done to those who would hurt them in this way. But in my soul searching I've concluded locking the animals up in a pen for the rest of their lives to protect society from their crimes is more important than my need for revenge, and that society shouldn't have to foot the bill for whatever closure I might or might not feel in watching someone put to sleep like a rabid dog.

Knocked for a loop

Came down with a bug and have been out of it for a couple of days. Grinnygranny has had her hands full.

The only good thing about the last few days is that I had it this week and not next week. It would have been a real bummer to get sick during Spring Break.

Just two more days and hopefully I'll be recovered enough to get some good golfing in. Paako Ridge has opened up and I can't wait to get back up there.

Women's History Month

March is Women's History month.

There are many notable women to remember. Last week at Southwest Writer's Workshop Shirley Raye Redmond, author of numerous children's books and magazine articles, gave an interesting speech about Nellie Bly. I thought I'd pass along some of the fascinating adventures and accomplishments of this remarkable woman Ms Redmond spoke about.

She was born Elizabeth Jane Chochran in 1864. Choosing journalism as her profession she picked the name Nellie Bly from a Stephen Foster song.

At age 21 she spent half a year in Mexico writing on the conditions there under the dictatorship of Profirio Dias for the Pittsburgh Dispatch. Threatened with imprisonment for her articles she was forced to return to the U.S. Her articles were later released in a book entitled Six Months In Mexico. Leaving Pittsburgh she went to write for Joseph Pulitzer and the New York World.

Most people remember Hearst for his editorials that led to the Spanish American War, or perhaps the fictionalized version of his life in the movie Citizen Cane. He started what is called "Stunt Journalism" and Nellie did some memorable stunts for him.

The first one was to spend ten days in an insane assylum. Her articles shocked her readers and started improving conditions in these institutions. Ten Days in a Mad House is a compilation of those articles.

After reading Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days. She talked Hearst into letting her try to do it even faster. The clincher was telling him she'd only take one bag for the entire trip. (No heavy trunks costing a fortune is luggage fees or porters to escort her) When she reached London news came that another woman, Elizabeth Bisland, was traveling in the opposite direction for Cosmopolitan Magazine. In France she was greeted by Jules Verne, who wished her well (the excitement this contest was creating greatly increased the sales of his book).

On the trip she faced many hazards. What almost ruined it was coming into the U.S. from Asia. There was a two week mandatory quarantine. The captain of the ship, who had done everything possible to get her from Japan to San Francisco in record time, talked the doctor into doing a quick exam (he made her stick out her tongue) and let her get off the ship. New Mexico nearly killed her. A bridge near Gallup was under construction. They'd just taken all the pins holding the rails down when the train went over it at full steam. The bridge held just long enough for her train to reach the other side before collapsing.

She beat the other reporter arriving from the 24,000+ mile trip in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Accomplishing this unchaperoned made her a role model for women's independence.

Nellie left journalism and married a wealthy industrialist 44 years her senior. In 1904 she invented, patented and started manufacturing the 55-gallon drum still in use. After her husband's death she was forced out of the business and returned to journalism, where she reported on WWI in the trenches on the Eastern Front. After the war she devoted her time to charitable organizations, mainly orphanages. She died of pneumonia in 1922 at age 57.

Wikipedia list these as her legacy:

Bly was the subject of a 1946 Broadway musical by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen.[6] She was also the subject of a musical entitled "Stunt Girl" by Tony Nominee Peter Kellogg and David Friedman.
The Nellie Bly Amusement Park in Brooklyn, New York City, is named after her, taking as its theme Around the World in Eighty Days. The park recently reopened under new management.
Nellie Bly is a character in the computer video game Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams.
Nellie Bly was one of four journalists honored with a U.S postage stamp in a "Women in Journalism" set in 2002.[7]
She was the subject of a musical play performed at the Albany Civic Theater.
From early in the Twentieth Century until 1961, the Pennsylvania Railroad operated a parlor-car only express train between New York and Atlantic City that bore the name, "Nellie Bly."
Nellie Bly's investigation of the Blackwell's Island insane asylum is dramatized in the 4D experience shown in the Annenberg Theater at the new Newseum in Washington, DC, which opened in 2008.
The comics and other versions of the charecter of Lois Lane has Nellie Bly as her idol and role model for lady journalist.[citation needed]
Provides the hinge of a scene in which Abbey Bartlet declaims Bly's achievements to President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing episode "And it's surely to their credit". [8]

Hard Times

Are we going into a recession or a depression. That depends: if you are out of a job, losing your house, car, etc it's a depression, if you are still working, making ends meet, even if just barely, then it's only a recession.

I still see many posts, articles and such talking about the U.S. and even the world beginning another Great Depression. There are some similarities, but there are also some big differences.

During the Great Depression the stock market tanked, banks went under, unemployment was over 20%, deflation bankrupted farmers creating the dust bowl and low food supplies, and people were starving. (William Manchester in his book The Glory and the Dream mentions that 40% of the men who showed up for induction into the military for WWII were unfit for duty due to poor eyesight (beri beri) and bowed legs (rickets) attributed to malnutrition while children. He concludes that had Hoover won election in 1932 and his policy of non-intervention continued we would not have been able to field an army in the 1940's.)

Today the stock market is tanking, the banks are going under, unemployment is rising, but I don't foresee mass starvation in the near future (at least in the U.S.).

Here's what we have today that was not available in 1929:

1. FDIC -- the banks may go under, but those who  have money in the banks won't lose it (unless you have more than 100 grand in it.

2. Social Security -- It's not much, and those who have to live off of it entirely struggle mightily, but with Medicare the elderly are less of a burden on their children and are not left out in the cold. They took a huge hit from 1929-1935.

3. Unemployment Insurance -- Again it's not much, and most likely won't save mortgages, but your not cut off without a dime to your name like people were back then.

4. Welfare, food stamps, free and reduced lunches for school children, and other social services in place now that our (great) grandparents didn't have.

5. A speedy response. What made the Great Depression so damaging was nearly four years of Hoover refusing to admit there was a problem and that the if there was, the market would fix itself. Obama's stimulus package may not be as large as Krugman and other economists think is necessary, but it's at least timely and more may be on the way if needed. Even the pork everyone is complaining about in the budget just passed and signed yesterday, that money will help stimulate the economy. Just about any spending that keeps people employed or creates jobs helps.

6. We have a stable food supply, it may not be as safe as we want it, but our biggest problem nutritionally in this country is not malnutrition it's obesity. A luxury not present 80 years ago.

7. The great fear is that as the Great Global Depression ended only by World War II and that this one might spark another great war. Certain factors are lining up for this. A) Europe is having economic problems, maybe even worse than us by some accounts, but they have formed a union and are not split into rival camps. There's less fear of National Socialism there at least.

B) Russia, China and Japan are too dependent on U.S. returning to a stable economy for their economic health, and any warlike actions bring up nuclear responses. C) the only trouble spot is the Middle East, but what's new there? It was a problem when the economy was booming and will continue to be a problem until the end of the world.

The closest parallel to what we are experiencing is Japan's lost decade, as painful as that was it didn't have the same problems as The Great Depression.

This is also at my Captain's Log site.

Nail on the Head

Frank Shaeffer, has an article in the Huffington Post that hits the nail on the head. Read it.

Friend's Loss

I received this e-mail from my spiritual twin, Anne Littlewolf today. She is in great pain right now from the loss of her pet Raven, a Wolf/Malamute cross.

Well, the news is sad, but thought I would let you know that Raven passed into the spirit world this afternoon. She was chasing deer and some vigilante shot her before she had a chance to respond to Deryl's whistle. He was trying to call her back, but she was what she was and I don't think she ever got the chance to hear the call. Right now it doesn't much matter. Our sweet friend has crossed over and we're very sad to lose her. She was a great teacher and companion who taught us joy, outright grinning joy of sunshine and streams, running just because you could, laughing at people, sharing with her family of horses, cats, dogs and anyone who'd rub her tummy. Gold fish crackers were her passion, and she never did get the cats to like her, try as she may -- I guess somethings are pretty near impossible. I am grateful for her life with us as is Deryl, but right now he's crushed beyond description because he lost a dear friend. Me too. But Raven graced us with her life and we lover her still, and are grateful to the Great Spirit Creator for the love in her heart.

Raven, a superb friend, companion and gift from the wild.

Springing into action

The weather has been so nice the last couple of weeks it's  hard to want rain or more snow. That's what we need, but the forecast for the next few days is cooler weather with strong winds. That makes for high fire danger in the mountains and grass lands.

I bought a couple of rose bushes a while back, they've been sitting in the vestibule waiting to be planted. I planted them in the back yard yesterday. They were already leafing out. I'm just going to have to keep an eye on the nightly temperatures to keep them covered if it gets down to freezing. Yesterday morning it was 51 degrees when we got up, which is what made up my mind that it was time to plant them.

The local community college library discarded a bunch of books and the school librarian grabbed a box full. She had a student bring me the box. She's so nice. It does pay to get on the good side of some people in a school. 

My students have Chinese banners on the wall of the library as well as Viking ships they made from many different materials and runestones (on brown butcher paper). She appreciates having things to display so she gave me the books. Most of them were law books, (4 volume set Judicial Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice)  which really helps my law class. There was a 100 years of National Geographic book with great pictures, three volumes the Complete Atlas of World History, Penguin Atlas of Recent History, numerous books on Socrates (Law classes use the Socratic Method), and social and legal issues.  A gold mine.

I've made transparencies of the maps of Europe from 1848 - 1914 to have some visual aides as I'm starting to cover the unification of Germany and Italy. History teachers love maps.

Two more weeks till Spring Break!

Good Day

Grinnygranny and I were loading up to spoil a nice walk with a little white ball when I heard something overhead. A hot air balloon was coming over the house (happens all the time). Mom was in the balloon. Someone in her Bible study class owns a balloon and took her and a few other people up today. They landed in the field behind the house. We went out and helped get the envelope off the bushes.

Had a nice round of golf, had a nice dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.

When we got home Mom came by to chat for awhile. 

When I finally got time to check my e-mail Anne Littlewolf sent me another painting she just finished (it's on the header) she calls it Ancient Power. Does kind of look menacing doesn't it?

Overall an enjoyable day of rest.

Mom and I are taking Auntypesty to see her doctor tomorrow so I'm taking the day off. There should even be enough time after the appointment to get in another round of golf. Need to get in as much golf while the weather is this good. Come March it starts getting really windy and more storms come through.

Juniper pollen season hit last week. Hat tip to Michael Prescott who had a blog post a few weeks ago extolling the virtues of Nasalcrom. I started using the stuff Friday when the Zyrtec D I've been using wasn't doing anything to stem the tide. Nasalcrom says it takes one to two weeks to be effective, but it really helped today, which really did make this a good day overall.

Feeling better

Blood pressure's down, vein at the top of my head not throbbing, rant is over. Nothing rankles me more than all the arguments about public school. I'm sure other professions (police, firefighters) feel the same way: everyone wants to change the system but they won't talk to the people in the trenches.

Sometimes things boil up and you have to let off steam.

Looks like we're going to have a nice weekend. Grinnygranny even mentioned going out to golf again yesterday. Suddenly it's a wonderful world.

Rant

I usually do my ranting over at the Captain, but this issue hits close to home. This is a continuation of a comment I left at Michael Prescott's blog.

President Obama in his speech last night brought up performance pay for teachers. In the 27 years I've been teaching this issue always comes up. Most of those years it was called merit pay. It sounds good, but that doesn't mean it makes sense. Both the NEA and AFT oppose merit pay because it assesses students in order to determine if teachers are successful. The reasoning is that students are our product and therefore their performance should be a measure of our ability.

What is wrong with this reasoning:

1. A human being is not a widget. Inanimate objects, even animals can be manipulated to perform a verifiable function. Humans have free will.

If we followed through on this reasoning we'd be imprisoning every parent of every criminal saying that they didn't raise their kids right. Sometimes the best of parents can be disappointed by a child that chooses to turn to drugs, crime, suicide and another child becomes President (think Jimmy and Billy Carter) and a great humanitarian.

2. It's my job to teach. What I and every teacher is hired to do is teach the subject(s). Critics of educations always want to bring up good teachers and bad teachers. A) who determines this? B) what's the standard?

In my opinion a bad teacher is the teacher who doesn't cover the material. That is their job. If you're a math teacher teach math, so on and so forth. You'd be surprised how many teachers spend their time on other issues or extra-curricular duties and never cover the subject. Not only are they bad teachers, they're frauds. Critics focus on the presentation, inspiration, motivation good teachers bring to the classroom. Guess what as important as this is, not every student in their class is impressed with the presentation, or inspired or motivated. No matter how much of a song and dance you do there's always going to be the kid you says, "This is boring."

Over the years I've known truly great teachers that have accomplished Herculean feats year in and year out walk into the teachers' lounge shaking their heads complaining there's one class they can't get to do anything.

3. It's the students job to learn. When all is said and done it's not the schools, it's not the parents, it's not the teachers, it's the students who must want to learn. Until and unless they want to get the grade; until and unless they want learn; nothing anyone else does will work.

Schools, parents and teachers can provide incentives or consequences to guide the student in the direction we want them, but Free Will still has the upper hand.

4. There is no great mystery about what it takes to better educate our children and help them to succeed. Study after study has proven it: LOWER CLASS SIZES. What this country since 1980 has lost the will to do is provide the necessary funds to build the number of classrooms and hire the number of teachers to do it. Students need more attention from their teachers, to know they care, get more help. In large groups it's too easy for them to give up or hide even with the best of teachers.

 Merit pay is just a band-aid thrown to fix an amputated arm.

Weight lifted

Last week I had six weeks grades due, next step (parent conferences), and pre-registration. When I turned everything in Friday it was like 900 pounds fell off my shoulders. The walk home that day was like I was floating on air. I felt so good in fact that I played 18 holes of golf on Saturday and Grinnygranny and I did nine holes on Sunday. The fact that it was in the 60's with clear skies also helped. This week so far has been much more pleasant. Stress is a funny thing, sometimes you don't know how much you're under until it's lifted.

By Thursday of last week I was starting to say to myself that this wasn't fun anymore and maybe it's time to retire. I'm glad this was only one week long and I now have a better perspective.

Sadness

This years Academy Awards are really hard to watch. I won't dwell on the mediocre movies, lousy songs etc.

It's the part of it where they show clips of those who've passed away. This was truly a sad year for entertainment. The passing of Charleton Heston alone would make it a dark year, but to also lose Paul Newman and Sydney Pollack. Giants are now gone that will never be replaced.

Endurance

Paul Krugman asks the question today in his NYT op/ed: Who'll stop the pain?

He's an economist and the article was in my mind more reassuring than pessimistic about the current melt down we're facing. He does equate financial problems with pain, though. It seems our culture and for their political lives our elected officials feel that money is happiness.

Make no mistake lack of money is hardship, but comfort is not happiness. Sometimes hardship is its own reward and happiness comes more in the bad times than in the good.

Ask any couple married for many years who now have a nice home, comfortable retirement and good health when they were the closest and most loving and they will remember fondly the first struggling years when they worked the hardest and needed to rely on each other the most to survive.

Parents are at their wits end with three o'clock feedings, changing diapers and constantly crying babies, but after they've grown up and (for some lucky ones) leave home; that's the time they remember fondly. Maybe it's nostalgia kicking in, but by and large it takes a full year of practice and a grueling schedule to win a championship for that fleeting moment of euphoria. Ten years later it's not always that winning moment that is remembered as fondly as the struggle it took to do it.

Maybe we've had it too easy for too long and we've gotten complacent and bored. It takes a shakeup like this to help us focus on the important things in life.

Long Day

Stress is piling up with no end in sight and that has me a little bummed out. It was nice to have an extra day to rest this week but it wasn't nearly enough. 

John Thayer, fellow teacher in my portable, his wife had a baby Friday. She was in labor 44 hours and six hours of pushing. He was back at school yesterday and today for pre-registration and six weeks grades. As we were leaving he was going home to get some sleep. Good luck.

That poor kid is never going to hear the end of it. I've mentioned him earlier, but not by name. He has three CD's on Itunes and more on his website. For my few faithful readers, check him out. If you like his folk songs download a few. He could use a little extra right now.

New blog find

My blog friend in Steamboat Springs alerted me to Anything Adirondack.

I love this post of his (Anything Adirondack):

Politics is alot like driving a car. If you want to go backwards you put in "R" and when you want to go forward you put it "D".

President's Day

Yahoo was running a list historians came up with ranking the presidents. The came up with Lincoln, and surprisingly had W ahead of Millard Fillmore. I think Fillmore has never lived down his first name. In keeping here's my list and reasoning of the best presidents.

10) James K. Polk: He did it by picking a fight, but the Southwest part of the country was added under his tenure. What would the history of the U.S. been without the gold found in California?

9) John Tyler: He set the precedent for the vice president succeeding and filling out the rest of a dead president's turn. The constitution was rather vague on this. Tyler's insistence that he finish out Harrison's term became the model followed ever since.

8) Theodore Roosevelt: Do we ever need a trust buster like him today, and the first president to try and preserve our natural treasures for future generations. He was a good century ahead of his time.

7) Thomas Jefferson: There were many problems in his tenure, mostly beyond his control, but doubling the size of the country with the Louisiana Purchase created manifest destiny. 

6) James Madison: Father of the Constitution, but his presidency is remembered more for his wife than for him. Dolly Madison created the office of the First Lady.

5) John F. Kennedy: No president before or since went to the brink of total planetary destruction. His finding a way to defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis makes his thousand days very important.

4) George Washington: He set the stage for the office for centuries. His impatience with congress set the precedent for making the office take the lead in legislation, his warning of avoiding entangling foreign alliances held until WWII, and stepping down after two terms. All other countries that have adopted our style of constitution have had the first president destroy the document and become a dictator. He's the one who made our experiment work.

3) Abraham Lincoln: Here's where I disagree with the other historians. He saved the union, but he didn't free the slaves. The emancipation proclamation only freed the one in the states in rebellion. The thirteenth amendment passed after his death ended slavery.

2) Harry S. Truman: Years after leaving office he was asked if he ever second guessed his decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. He answered he'd been told that using this weapon would save one million American lives. He signed the order, ate dinner, went to sleep and never missed a wink the rest of his life. Perhaps the most fateful decision any president ever made. Agree or not he made it, and the war ended.

1) Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Republicans never miss a chance to slime the opposition. There is much made today about how the New Deal failed. Really! The elderly today aren't living on Social Security? It may not be much, but it's better than starving to death. Bank investors count on the FDIC to guarantee their deposits. Many of the other aspects of the New Deal have been gutted since Reagan, and now it is coming clear just how important those regulatory agencies were and need to be restored. The New Deal made the post WWII boom possible and our prosperity depends on an SEC that does it's job. An FDA that does it's job. We don't need a new New Deal, we just need to restore it for consumer confidence to be restored. We need to know that the con men aren't running Wall Street and our banks anymore.

Three Day Weekend

Not often you get three notable things in one weekend, but there's Friday the 13th (today), Valentine's day (tomorrow) and President's day (Monday). Grinnygranny has to work Monday which makes her a little jealous of my teaching days off. I'm hoping the weathers good and I can spoil a nice walk with a little white ball.

Movie Suggestions

With Valentines coming up I've come across a number of sites suggesting the best movies for a romantic evening. Not to be outdone, here's mine. Keep in mind I'm a history teacher. Still what people forget about in studying history is that all the people mentioned had the same human emotions as we do today. They loved and were happy or they loved and were doomed by it.

This is not a chicks flicks list, or a guy flicks list. This is a list that compromises action, epic and romance on a grand scale. Something both can enjoy.

10) The Lion in Winter: And you thought your family was dysfunctional? With all the scheming and plotting at the core what comes through is that Henry and Eleanor really do love each other, they just love power more.

9) Taras Bulba: The son of a Cossack who falls in love with a Polish Princess and betrays his people. If that isn't love what is?

8) Shogun (2 1/2 hour version): During the summer I like to watch the whole mini-series, but the shorter version centers on the love between Blackthorne and Mariko.

7) The Egyptian: Story of an Egyptian physician who loses everything to a courtesan while overlooking the woman who loves him and then redeems himself.

6) Cleopatra: history's eternal doomed lovers. You don't get any better than Antony's and Cleopatra's death scenes.

5) Spartacus: Hey the whole rebellion was over a girl.

4. Stealing Heaven: This is a little known film without big name actors concerning the story of Abelard and Heloise. A truly touching story.

3. Dangerous Beauty: A wonderful story about courtesans in medieval Venice and the love of a wealthy Senator for the most famous one in history.

2. Friendly Persuasion: A family of Quakers trying to stay true to their faith during the Civil War is funny, touching, heart warming and just down delightful. Jess and Eliza's disagreement over bringing a musical instrument into the house ( and its resolution) is a true classic.

1. Gone With The Wind: The greatest romantic epic ever written and filmed.

Goodbye George

George Terrell, a Marine Corps veteran of World War II and a 1951 graduate of Northeastern University with a B.S. degree in Mathematics and Physics, has spent his working lifetime in various technological and scientific undertakings. After 45 years living in Foxboro, MA he now resides in Socorro, NM. After 10 years spent in preparation, he has adopted the writing of fiction as a post retirement career.

Biography provided by the author, October 2002

When I first went to a meeting of Southwest Writer's Workshop one of the first people I met was George Terrell. If you're a member and have books you can place them on the sellers table and he was the one who came up with the idea of letting us sell books. He was always right by the table. He had numerous books placed there. He wrote science fiction, historical fiction, plays, screen plays. An overall great guy. I bought one of his books, I'll Never Leave You, about women pilots that ferried planes from the U.S. to England during WWII. He knew a number of these women and was extremely proud of this story. I gave the book to Mom and Dad. It was one of the last books Dad read and they loved it.

Today his spot at the table was empty. He passed away Jan 20.

Maybe not a loss to the literary world as John Updike, but quite a loss to all the writers around here.

Surprised

I was talking to the teacher that shares the portable. I have one of his CD's and we were talking. He has 6 CD's on Itunes. A student told me he found my novel in a store in the local mall. I wasn't aware any bookstores had copies of Optimus. I'm going to check it out this weekend. I'm hoping it's a new copy and not a used one.

Revolutions

Today I started the French Revolution in my World History classes. We have a saying around our school. "Never piss off the history teachers: we teach about revolutions!"

Does anyone else consider it so stupid that if you show a woman's bare breast in paint (in reference to Lady Liberte'), it's art and somehow okay, if it's a picture of a pygmy in Africa in the National Geographic or Smithsonian, it's education, if it's in a magazine that revels in and glorifies the beauty of the feminine physique it's pornography and evil. There seems to be a disconnect here.

Some Really Good Friends

Here are a number of bloggers I read. For those who come by without leaving comments, maybe you can check them out too.

Though she doesn't blog the painting above is an Anne Littlewolf.

Michael Manning: He used to have a Friday Movie night and might start it again. He does interviews and the last two were very informative. One was with the former CEO of Continental Airlines and the last one was with Barbara Leigh, actress. He also posts about kids with cancer. The man has a huge heart and was gracious enough to leave comments on Penni's caringbridge site.

Russ at privatebuffoon: Is a retired statistician, who lives here and we met last year for a golf match. He used to post under a different blog, but now that W is out of office he's changed the name. He usually ends all his posts with "stop the madness"

Irina Tsukerman: A law student that comments on every subject under the sun. Very refreshing. We had a small little debate on my Captain's Log over closing Guantanamo.

Out of the Cornfield: From Colorado, he's a little more blunt in his opinions than most, but he has good things to say.

Thurman Hart: At expatriated Texan. I wrote a post some time ago entitled The Philosophy of the Sociopath. I've noticed that many viewers that drop by come in on that post via his site.

Scott Horton's No Comment Blog: Not a day goes by without me reading this site. He posts art, poetry, quotes and analyzes them. As well as keen insights on legal issues of the day. He always seems to connect the art with politics of the day. There is a reason why it's called no comment.

Michael Prescott (no relation): Is a mystery writer and I've read of few of his books. He tosses up a topic and the comments from his readers are very deep and insightful. He focuses a lot on the paranormal, but other topics come up as well.

Bian at anaudienceof1: He used to be a prolific poster, and if you check out my Optimus blog I've posted his review of my novel. It was nice of him and extremely appreciated. He fell in love, got married and now posts only sporadically, but he's still worth a look, even if he is on the dark side of education as an administrator.

Paul Krugman: The pulitzer prize winning economist that is an absolute must read in the New York Times opinion section also has this blog. He is a little heavy on charts and graphs, but his explanation of our economy is always top notch. He was the only voice of sanity for eight long years of insanity.

Yikes: Is a lobbyist in DC. She is very insightful politically and I have mentioned her on numerous occasions, usually as a hat tip for something on her site.  

Stop by, try them you'll like them.

Busy Day

A lady I work was giving away a computer work station. E and I went over and picked it up taking it to my classroom. It is huge, but we got it in the door. The solid oak wood has been taken off the welded metal frame and I'll need to go over and put them back on tomorrow and then try to find a place to put it. It should let me get rid of a few computer tables and give me some nice shelves for books and things.

Sidewalk Art

Anne Littlewolf e-mailed me some fantastic pictures of Julian Beever's sidewalk art that he does all over the world. The 3-D images are breath taking. I'm going to be putting some of them up for a few days.