Creature Bug

Local school politics

A couple weeks ago, we were driving pass the local high school and Jules noticed people out on the sidewalk waving signs. She tried to read it, but then we passed by and she hadn't caught all the words. "What are those people waving?"

"Vote yes for schools," I told her.

And then I explained that we were voting on whether or not we should give Daddy's school more money.

"I vote no," she said.

"Really? Why?"

"Because we'll give money to the school but then they'll just give it right back to Daddy. It's just easier if we keep it in the first place."

I briefly basked in the fabulousness of my pragmatic daughter...

...and then gave her a tiny civics lesson on how taxes work. (She ended up agreeing that we should vote yes, but said maybe we could just keep our money so the school wouldn't have to worry about giving it back to us. I told her that was a very sensible idea.)

Despite the people waving signs and all the many roads dotted with Yes For Schools signs, the levy failed.

And despite the people waving signs and all the many roads dotted with Yes For Schools signs, I completely forgot that this was something I should be voting on. I'm sure I got my ballot in the mail, but I can't for the life of me find it.

(Sidenote: Ballots in the mail--while very convenient--are also very understated and easily forgotten for someone like me who rarely ever sends actual mail. Or remembers deadlines. That's why all my bills are auto-pay because I cannot remember to actually pay them. And, yes, I know that there are tips and tricks for remembering this sort of thing, but I don't care because I am stuck in my ways and will not be convinced to readjust my ways. Sorry about getting all boldy there, but it's a pet peeve of mine when people tell me how dangerous it is for auto-pay because yada yada yada you may end up bankrupt. Or something. If I didn't do auto-pay I would still end up bankrupt...from all the late fees. The end.)

Mail in ballots and auto pay ASIDE...

The levy failed.

I might not know, and perhaps not care much, if Jason hadn't told me that (1) the levy makes up 20% of the district's operating budget (because the state dramatically slashed school funding) and (2) it's a real possibility the district will have to declare bankruptcy if the levy doesn't pass when it comes before the voters again in April. Bankruptcy means another school district would take over, which would mean all the teachers would be fired and then rehired as needed.

Jason told me these two things last night as I stood in the kitchen cooking dinner. I admit it, I laughed in disbelief. And I laughed in belief too.

I can't imagine another local school district coming in and then not hiring back most of the teachers who are already at the school. Sure, they wouldn't hire everybody back, but I feel pretty confident that they would hire Jason. Because he's an awesome teacher.

But his awesomeness aside, he might not get hired back.

And then...I don't know what then. He starts looking for a job, I guess.

I'm not worried about it because I don't have the energy to spend on something that I feel 90% sure won't happen.

I'm not really sure what the chances are of the levy passing in April. We still have a sizable population that continues to struggle with the effects of the recession, so their personal budgets are limited. We also have a significant population of folks who strongly oppose taxes of any kind--education, library, fire department, you name it they don't want to pay for it--and lots of families who homeschool or send their kids to private school. Heck, we send our girls to the local private school, so aside from Jason's job we don't have a lot of personal incentive to vote for the levy because of the increase we'll see on our property taxes. I'm pretty sure most of the people I see on a daily basis won't vote yes in April because...well, there are lots of reasons, and I'm not going to presume to know what their reasons are.

But even if Jason wasn't working in the local school district, even if he was working in another school district, I'd still vote yes. I'd vote yes because my cousin's kids are in the school district. I'd vote yes because people in our church work for the school district. And I'd vote yes because I think public education is worth spending money on. I think having a good education is one of the best things you can give to a population. And for all the people who say, "School districts should just manage their money better," I say, look at the budget and figure out where the cuts should be made. I know that our school district had an outside auditor look over their budget and determine that they were making the best use of their resources as they possibly could. I can't speak to other schools, but I can speak for ours.

For legal reasons, lots of budget items can't be cut--special ed or fewer bus stops on roads that don't have sidewalks, for example.  No, the cuts would be made in arts funding, in teacher training, in security, and programs designed to help at-risk kids. The class sizes would get bigger, the school year would get shorter, and the students wouldn't get the education they deserve. People complain that today's youth lack critical thinking skills, but the solution isn't defunding education.

Sure, I'm biased on education. Jason and I are both teachers.

But I'm biased on education because I think it's important, and I think it's something a community should take pride in.

It's true, I'm not a poster child for public education. In my K-graduate school years, I attended two years at the local public high school and did my post-grad work at a state university. Otherwise, I'm a product of Christian education, for which I am grateful.

Regardless of that, Sydney and Jules and Addie and I will be waving our Vote Yes for Schools signs in April. We'll stand on the sidewalk, smile and wave.

Maybe cuteness will count for something.

And hopefully we won't have to think much about any of this after April.

a little i that changed the world

Do you have a little i in your house?

We have five iPods, one of which belongs to Sydney who has known how to operate one before she was even in school.

We have the computer that has programs like iDVD and iWork (and, okay, I don't use that last program).

Yesterday I bought two songs using iTunes.

I'd like to get the new iPhone. Jason would like to get an iPad.

I talk about the Mac ads in my class when we're discussing audience analysis.

The little i is everywhere--a cultural icon, a brand that signifies something great ("insanely great!")--thanks to the innovation of one big I.

Even though I don't usually get emotional over the world losing businessmen, the world lost more than a business man today. It lost a creative genius who figured out what we wanted before we even wanted it.

"Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Thank you, Steve Jobs.

The real trouble with America's schools? Meeps.

Weird news of the day:

Danvers High [Salem, MA] parents recently got an automated call from the principal warning them that if students say or display the word "meep" at school, they could face suspension.

Meep doesn't mean much, unless you are Beaker — the hapless, orange-haired assistant to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew on "The Muppet Show."

While meep may be nonsense, what it represented was no laughing matter to the high school's administration. High school Principal Thomas Murray said students were using it and other words to disrupt school in a particular part of the building on Cabot Road. The term later became part of a disruption some students were planning online.

I taught high school enough years to know that anything--even, uh, meeping--can get out of hand. But still. It's so silly.

If only this was the most serious thing our schools had to worry about.

Meep meep.

Unsettled

When I got home from school today, I asked Jason if he had heard about the shooting. Yes, he said. His mom told him when he had gone to pick up the girls from school.

"How'd you hear about it?" he asked.

"NPR." I have an 80-minute commute home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There's little world news I don't hear these days.

"NPR?" He was momentarily confused, and we realized we were talking about different things.

I was talking about Fort Hood, of course.

He wasn't, and had confused me talking about shooting with the topics of guns in general.

He was talking about a local school where our friend works--and where Jason subbed a couple weeks ago. A kid brought a loaded gun to school. In his backpack. Which he may or may not have intended to use. (This news report says he wasn't going to use it; our friend says otherwise. Either way there are some serious issues going on at the school.)

Today feels crazy.

I know my grandma--who loved the Army and the life it gave her--would have been so sad about Fort Hood.

I am.

I was born without a social security number

First things first:

• Thank you all for your thoughtful comments about our dear Daisy. Although I cried my eyes out when I wrote that post, since then I've been able to talk about our sweet pup without crying. There's still sadness, but when I asked Sydney if she was still sad about Daisy, she said, "Yes, but I'm so happy about my new Cinderella nightgown" [that she got at Magic Kingdom]. So there's that.
• I'm still working on uploading Disney pictures to my Flickr album. I do have some posted, and hopefully will get to telling some stories.

And now:

Every year, the librarian at my school emails all the faculty and staff an article that gives us some insight into this year's (traditional) freshman class--for those students who were born in 1991.

"Members of the class of 2013 won't be surprised when they can charge a latté on their cell phone and curl up in the corner to read a textbook on an electronic screen. The migration of once independent media—radio, TV, videos and CDs—to the computer has never amazed them. They have grown up in a politically correct universe in which multi-culturalism has been a given.  It is a world organized around globalization, with McDonald's everywhere on the planet. Carter and Reagan are as distant to them as Truman and Eisenhower were to their parents. Tattoos, once thought 'lower class,' are, to them, quite chic. Everybody knows the news before the evening news comes on."

The "Mindset List" is compiled by Beloit College, and they've been doing this for twelve years now. I think teaching must keep me feeling younger than I am because I managed to read through the list and not feel *too* old. Except the above reference to Reagan. I have very strong (and sentimental) feelings toward him.

Here are some of my personal favorites from the list:

1. Dan Rostenkowski, Jack Kevorkian, and Mike Tyson have always been felons.
2. The Green Giant has always been Shrek, not the big guy picking vegetables.
3. They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
4. Tattoos have always been very chic and highly visible.
5. They have been preparing for the arrival of HDTV all their lives.
6. Rap music has always been main stream.
7. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream has always been a flavor choice.
8. The KGB has never officially existed.
9. Babies have always had a Social Security Number.
10. They have never had to “shake down” an oral thermometer.
11. Bungee jumping has always been socially acceptable.
12. They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P.
13. American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.
14. State abbreviations in addresses have never had periods.
15. The European Union has always existed.
16. McDonald's has always been serving Happy Meals in China.
17. Christopher Columbus has always been getting a bad rap.
18. They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen.
19. Women have always outnumbered men in college.
20. We have always watched wars, coups, and police arrests unfold on television in real time.
21. Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Latvia, Georgia, Lithuania, and Estonia have always been independent nations.
22. There have always been flat screen televisions.
23. They have always eaten Berry Berry Kix.
24. Disney’s Fantasia has always been available on video, and It’s a Wonderful Life has always been on Moscow television.
25. Smokers have never been promoted as an economic force that deserves respect.
26. Elite American colleges have never been able to fix the price of tuition.
27. Everyone has always known what the evening news was before the Evening News came on.
28. Britney Spears has always been heard on classic rock stations.
29. They have never been Saved by the Bell
30. Someone has always been asking: “Was Iraq worth a war?”
31. Most communities have always had a mega-church.
32. There has always been a computer in the Oval Office.
33. Official racial classifications in South Africa have always been outlawed.
34. Conflict in Northern Ireland has always been slowly winding down.
35. There has always been blue Jell-O.

Any here stand-out to you? For me...21 and 29. No Czechoslovakia? No Screech? Amazing.

Read all 75 here.

Week 239: This day

I woke, not early, but early enough. My first decision was to skip MOPS, even though meeting with those other moms is a highlight of my week. My second decision was to record over last night's episode of House, even though we hadn't watched it yet. No matter. I'll watch it later, and what I most wanted to record was the event of the morning.

We sat on the couch, the girls and I, watching NBC's coverage that was fairly uninteresting for Sydney and Jules, but plenty interesting for me. As the Presidential motorcade wound its way through Washington, D.C., I read If You Give a Cat a Cupcake aloud to the girls.

As the former Presidents walked onto the platform, I taught the girls how to say President Obama.

As the inaugural address was given, I gave Sydney a brief version of history's events that made today so very significant.

And as President Obama walked off the stage, we three girls prayed for our new leader, Jules's hands clasped in prayer, her eyes shut tightly, reciting "Obama" every time she heard me say his name.

They probably won't remember this day, but I will. Not because of the why or the how, or the ends or the means, or the political winds of change. I'll remember it as the first inauguration that has made me cry. I'll remember it because of the who, and because of the many men and women who came before, believing that this day should come. A generation ago, one man had a dream. Many generations before that, another man had a dream. And for a brief moment this morning, as Obama's hand rested on Lincoln's Bible, I couldn't help but feel those dreams tying us all together.

   

That, my friends, is worth remembering.

 
(images from BBC.co.uk)

"So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

'Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].'

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations." (from Obama's inaugural address)

Election Reflection

Probably the only thing the girls will remember about last night is that they heard fireworks in the street. The rockets went off just as we got out of the car, arriving home from the library. "Fiya-wuks," said Jules as she clutched a new library book in her hand. "Wow," said Sydney.

We tried to keep Sydney awake last night to watch part of Obama's speech, but the lingering effects of daylight savings time wore her down, and she fell fast asleep.

Not that she would have known what it was about anyway. We don't talk politics with her; she doesn't know what or who the President is; she knows about elephants and donkeys, and that's where her knowledge of civics ends.

Someday she'll understand why this election was historically important, but she'll understand it in a completely different way than I do. And quite honestly, as someone who has endured only minor prejudices, and certainly not on any life-changing level, my understanding is limited as well.

What I do understand is that a generation ago, we were a nation even more divided than we are now. A generation ago, what happened last night would have been impossible. I was proud to be an American last night, even though it wasn't one of my votes that propelled Obama to victory. My eyes welled up as I thought how emotionally poignant the moment must be for him, and how his grandmother didn't live to see it. That is a bittersweet ending indeed.

Obama has a tough road ahead of him, as would anyone who steps into the role of President in January. Nevertheless, he got this far, and I'm hopeful for the change he'll bring. I know I won't agree with everything he does, or all the policies he creates, but I'm still thrilled to live in a country that will soon have its very first black President.

That is nothing short of amazing.

Political Parties...and not the kind with balloons

This past week alone I've had a discussion with my brother and s-i-l about the election, listened to some interesting stories on NPR about the election, even dissected part of the rhetoric from last night's debate (ala this Slate article) in my class today. Couple that with 29% of you asking for some deep thoughts from me, I thought I'd share a little bit of the political discourse rumbling through my mind. Of course, I'm not sharing everything because after I wrote an honest, forthcoming post and read it to Jason, he said, "Are you sure about this? You don't do well with mean people." So. You'll have to settle for a shorter, less revealing post. That's how this sensitive, thin-skinned momma rolls.

I have purposefully stayed out of the political discussion because my views don't fit neatly into any political party. I am pro-life, pro-gun control, pro-environment. I don't believe the words "under God" should be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, or that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. I don't think that minimum wage should be a living wage, or that Oregon's classrooms should be English language-only. Embryonic stem-cell research isn't a gray area for me; capital punishment is. I am a registered Republican, although of the things that define me, it is far down on the list. I am, generally speaking, a conservative.