Tag Archives: School

Spring Break!

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Duchess, the natives are revolting!
Yes, I know and jolly disgusting too.

By the time that you are reading this post, Anne will be on spring break, (Woo Hoo!) and not a moment too soon. Both teachers and students look forward to their breaks. Student deportment is always an issue, just before a break. This spring break was no different.

Thursday, was a rough day. She sent two students to the office and both of them were subsequently suspended. Her sending was only the last straw that broke the camel’s back. A third student later complained to her that she had suspended those two students. I would have made a smart aleck reply, “I’m now looking for a third.” She didn’t.

Anne is the most understanding person that I have ever met. I’m glad that I married her, because she totally understands me. I am so not worthy. This is my promise to her, if she wants to spend all day, or all nine days, bicycling, knitting, quilting, or playing combinations of Sudoku, Solitaire and Mine Sweeper, I shall not comment. I’ll not mention the T-word. She has earned any pleasures, guilty or not. I pray, she takes this opportunity to rest, recover, recharge.

Now that I’ve said all of these kind things about Anne, I feel somewhat chagrined, to mention the following details. Suffice to say, even Saint Anne’s patience has its limits. One of the students that was eventually suspended, was disrupting the class, with fake coughing. Anne asked, “Are you dying?” The student said, “Yes”. Then Anne said, “I hope you don’t die, because I hate filling out paperwork.” The student responded, “Oh, if I die, my mother is going to sue you.” Anne asked, “If you die?” The student said, “Yes”. At which point, Anne was thinking, I’m sure that Brown & Crouppen are just salivating to take this case.  

According to Christian (Catholic and Eastern Orthodox) and Islamic traditions, Saint Anne was Mary’s mother, or Jesus’s grandmother. Not much more is know about her. Normally, this would be an opportunity, for me to make things up, but I’ll resist. Saint Anne is the patron saint of Detroit (who knew?), there is a connection to my Anne there. Saint Anne is also the patron saint of horseback riding, which could be construed to also include modern bicycling. A common form of art depiction, has Anne teaching the Virgin Mary how to read. Teaching? Could it really be so simple? It is to me. 😉

Signs of Spring

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Crocuses

Thursday night, Anne and I went to go see the Maplewood High School production of “Steel Magnolias”. This play is about the bonds between a group of Louisiana women, and is set in a hair salon. It was written by Robert Harling, and the story was based on his sister’s death. The title suggests female characters that are as delicate as magnolia flowers, yet as tough as steel. The play was nice. I had never seen this story before. It always seemed a little too girly. There were a few opening night jitters, but the cast and crew pulled it off fine. I must admit that I fell victim, to an attack of “eye allergies” towards its end. You girls know what I mean, so please pass the tissues.

In the movie “Grease” Principal McGee of Rydell High, began each school day’s morning announcements, with the ringing of chimes, “bing, bong, bing”. She then went on to give her daily announcements with unintended humor. That was theater, but sometimes real life is also funny. Maplewood’s morning announcements, has the principal closes with the exhortation, “Hats off, pants up, love yourself.” The first two phrases pertain to the school dress code. No hats are to be worn, and the sagging of pants is not permitted. The third phrase is encouraging self-respect, and not self-love. If you can remember back to high school, no exhorting was ever required for that act. If this doesn’t keep RegenAxe banned at Maplewood, I don’t know what will.

I think that I know the real reason why high school culture is so pervasive throughout American culture. “American Graffiti” is at the summit in the film genre, but there is a mountain of other works available as supporting cast. It is because high school combines both the banal and the sublime. This dichotomy drives straight to the heart of our culture, Jersey Shore versus Carnegie Hall. Each has its place in high school, they seem to coexist under the same roof.

Pictured with this post are crocuses, heralds of Spring. Also pictured are magnolia buds. Both species are early Spring bloomers. Blooming so early in the season requires a certain hardiness, a certain amount of steel. A few weeks from now, any good wind will litter the ground with magnolia petals, but here in Saint Louis, the month of March, will be the belle ball for all magnolias, both for the delicate and steel varieties.

Star Magnolia Buds

Maplewood Soul Food Supper 2012

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New MRH-HS Commons

Anne and I went to the annual Soul Food Supper on Tuesday night at the Maplewood-Richmond Heights High School. This is the school district’s regular celebratory dinner party for Black History Month. The menu consisted of fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes, corn bread and pie, this is a menu that may not be totally good for you, but it is certainly tastes good.

Before we could even go into the cafeteria, for the supper, I had to checkout the high school’s new commons. The first photograph with this post, attempts to capture an overview of the commons area. When Dan and Dave went to this school, this area was a squalid little parking lot. With the second photo, I had some fun with a couple of the lawn artworks. Blue is short for the Blue Devils, the name for the high school’s teams. Retiring superintendent, Dr. Linda Henke‘s administration has never been very comfortable about devil worship. 😉

Blue

The Soul Food Supper seemed at times like a revival meeting. After the MRH Jazz Band finished their intro set, the evening’s program proper commenced. Leading off was Curtis Finch, an American Idol contestant. He had made it into the top sixty of that contest. He sang the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. We all stood for his song. Calyn Brantley McNeal made a presentation about her father, a Major with the Tuskegee airmen, of WW II fame, the so-called Red Tails. Things really got moving, when the Word of God Christian Mass Choir took the stage. Finally, the audience rose again and we all sang together, “We Shall Overcome”.

Politics was part of the supper’s interstitial conversation. Missouri is losing a US Representative and this has cast redistricting into chaos. Drawing the new map is now in the hands of the courts. The paper that morning, announced that our representative, who is slated to lose his seat, had filed for the only other safely Democratic seat in the Saint Louis area. He would run against the other Democratic congressman in the Saint Louis area. At the supper, our longtime friend, Gina Mitten, announced that she had filed for State Representative. She filed for the neighboring district to ours, but since none of this gerrymandering is as yet cast in stone, you never know how things will end up.

Storms passed through the other night, almost a year to the day of our own storm damage. Here is a link to last years storm photos. This year, the deadly and damaging winds passed to the south of us. Unfortunately, like flowers blooming and birds singing these horrible storms are also harbingers of spring.

Petroglyphs Sunset

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Petroglyphs Sunset

This photo is a reprise of the same sunset previously featured in the “Desert Sunset” post. It is also the same locale, Three Rivers, just from a different point of view. It was a beautiful sunset, and bears repeating. The following bulleted items will have to pass for today’s news and views.

  • There was another opportunity to hit the beach again, but it went to someone else. Beach you ask? I’m talking about New Mexico, sand, white sand at that, sun, plenty of sun. Water, you ask? Yes, we have water in the desert, both kinds, bottled and tap. You can drink the bottled water, but not the tap, because the tap water is laced with arsenic.
  • Likewise Anne missed out on a night in the museum, next month. This year’s sixth grade field trip is to Chicago and features a night in the Field Museum. I wonder if Ben Stiller will be there? Anyway, at least she doesn’t have to worry about trying to sleep on the museum’s hard marble floors.
  • Anne has gotten all flexuous since I have returned. She joined a student-teacher yoga class at school. Last week was her first session. All of the adults hang out towards the back of the room, with the students in the front. I on the other hand am working on burled oak, for the embodiment of my physicality.
  • Finally, Anne got switched today, from elementary school art class to third grade to cover for a teacher with stomach flu. Then one kid went home after throwing up. I’m so glad that Valentine’s Day is over now, blown kisses and virtual hugs are no where as romantic as the real thing. After the sick kid left, there was still some bellyaching about school work.
  • “I’m going to say this to the world”, was a snippet of a phone conversation that I overheard this morning. I was in Starbucks, waiting for my frothy beverage to be served. It was uttered by a Clayton businessman, frothy beverage already in one hand and cell phone pressed against his ear in the other. He made this statement as he walked by me, on his way out the door. What he was going to say to the world, I have not a clue, but I was struck by his unusual phrase. Usually, I would say something like, “I’m going to tell everyone.” Everyone, being my small circle of acquaintances. His phrase smacked of pretentiousness, but isn’t this what I try to do every day on this blog, say something to the world?
  • I was walking by a large flat screen TV that was tuned to Fox News, when I overheard one of the talking heads telling the other talking heads, “The despised President Obama, …” Since when does fair and balanced news reporting include the use of epithets? On any other blog writing night, this would be enough of a spark for a major political crank off, but tonight it comes too late to mind, to be more than a winter night’s farcicle.

Brains? Yum!

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Anne has taught in the elementary school the last couple of days. This means that she has to get up the earliest of all the schools that she teaches in, because the elementary school starts first. This tends to result in sleep deprivation. This morning, she was about ready to squirt out the door, when I was just getting up, still wiping the sleep from my eyes. She was in those frantic last few moments of preparation, when one races about gathering up the flotsam and jetsam of possessions, filling pockets with wallet, keys and cell phone. She must have reached an epiphany [Anne claims her next actions were in response to my appearance], because she turned to me, arms outstretched level before her, hands bent limp at the wrists. She walked haltingly, swaying body and head from side to side. All the while, she repeated one word, “Brains”, “Brains”, and “Brains”. Was this the inception of the coming zombie apocalypse? A quick kiss on the lips and she was out the front door. Had I been spared? Had I been infected with a Judas kiss? What about those poor sixth graders that she was charged to teach today? What about their brains? These thoughts were racing through my mind; when she again threw open the front door. It is so easy to do that now. Arms still outstretched, still in zombie mode, her mantra had changed to, “Lunch”, “Lunch”, and “Lunch”. She shuffled into the kitchen, grabbed her lunch sack, one more kiss and then she was truly off to school.

Anne on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge - Night Girl in the Bright Sunlight

To combat the coming zombie apocalypse, we will need super-heroes. I have a pair to offer up, Anne and me. If you could stop laughing for just a moment, I can explain. We could be the Diurnal Duo, individually, Night Girl and Day Boy. We’ll offer round the clock protection from the likes of zombies, the Sandman and the Rack Monster. The Rack Monster is that beast that pins you in bed and prevents you from getting up, especially, when you really need to get up, like to go to work. Like all real super-heroes, we have super-powers. Night Girl can stay up late into the night, but tends to weaken in the morning’s early light. She frequently wrestles for hours in the morning, with the Rack Monster. Conversely, Day Boy is up before the sun rises and is good to go without a nap all day long [Anne: Hmm, most days]. Unfortunately, come sundown, Day Boy’s eyelids have been known to droop. This doesn’t exactly make him the life of dinner parties. Still between the two of them, we’ve got you covered 24/7. We still have a few things to figure out, like our back story. Every super-hero needs a back story, but we’re still working on ours. We also need a method for you, members of the threatened public, to be able to contact us in case of an emergency. We were going to use a giant search light, with the silhouette of the moon and the sun stenciled on it, but by day, Night Girl, and by night, Day Boy, both agreed that the light, it burns. In the meantime, in case of an emergency, make a comment on this blog, stating the nature of your emergency, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. For the time being, we are only accepting supernatural emergencies, for all others dial 911 or something. Operators are now standing by, please call, I mean comment.

Ladybug! Ladybug!

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Ladybug! Ladybug!
Fly away home.
Your house is on fire.
And your children all gone

All except one,
And that’s little Anne,
For she crept under
The frying pan

The preceding rhyme is the Americanized version of the traditional English verse, which dates from at least the mid-18th century. In the English version, the American Ladybugs become Ladybirds. They are also sometimes called Doodlebugs, but that is another story. The second verse is new to me, but maybe some of you were already aware of it? Ladybug or Ladybird, these brightly colored insects are commonly viewed as being lucky. This being a Friday the 13th, it seemed appropriate to broach the subjects of luck and superstition. The following explanation of the Ladybug beliefs comes from Wiki.

There were superstitious beliefs that it was unlucky to kill a Ladybug, and that the verse would make them fly off. Another superstition states that you should chant the verse if a Ladybug lands on you: if it then flies away again, your wish will come true. Ladybugs are useful as eaters of aphids, which would otherwise damage plants. They can also be a nuisance, but there would be logic from a farmer or gardener’s viewpoint in trying to shoo them away rather than kill them. This could be the rational basis for teaching children to respect them.

The photograph with this post was taken far from home. This picture captured only a fraction of the hundreds of Ladybugs that were crawling all over this split rail fence. We found them, years ago, in a Redwood grove, just north of Santa Cruz, CA.

Ladybug! Ladybug! Post

The motivation for this post comes from a real house fire that occurred in neighboring Maplewood. At the intersection of Sutton and Flora stood a three-story, Victorian house, a home, a dentist’s office and a local landmark. It caught on fire last night, was thought to have been put out, but reignited this morning. Anne heard that the roof had collapsed, so I can only surmise that it is a total loss. Fortunately, no one was home to be hurt. The fire is believed to be accidental. While we have no personal connection with this building, we have seen it many times and appreciated the beauty of its architecture.

Closer to home, where Laclede Station Road passes underneath the New I-64 and soon becomes Wise, an armed robbery occurred this week. An MRH student was robbed at gunpoint by two men, who were driving a Grand Marquis [no relation]. The robbery occurred on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Anne walked through this area, twice. We learned of the crime on Thursday and were understandably distressed. This is the second major crime to occur within “spitting distance” of our house, within a month.

Finally, Dr. Linda Henke, superintendent of the MRH School District announced her retirement, at the end of this semester. They say that bad luck runs in threes, and Dr. Henke’s retirement is bad luck for MRH, but as someone who can see the light of retirement at the end of the tunnel, I can only wish her the best of luck. She has been superintendent for twelve years and has successfully transformed the school district from one that was in trouble to one that we can all be proud of. Good luck, Linda!