It's strange that there are some posts that won't show up for four years on Facebook memories. It was interesting to start my day by reading some from that past couple of Leap Days as I normally have a pile of memories to reexamine, but today I only had the two--and one of them was a reflection about Leap Days. It sort of feels like I should write something more significant to pop back into my life four years from now. However, as nothing appropriate has come to me, I might as well complete my regular end-of-the month wrap-up.

We started the month in extremely cold temperatures. They were low enough that I was determined to finally write my own version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside." I've been singing a line or two of "Puppy, It's Cold Outside" for years as I let the dogs out, so it was nice to finally put down a full draft of the song.

That first weekend saw our final regular season DDF tournament of the school year. It had the most amount of schools that we had seen yet, so we didn't get as many placements, but my team still had fun.

On returning, I spoke at a school board meeting for the first time this year. Then I spoke again. And then I spoke again. It was all cordial, but I seemed to want to make up for lost time. 

This month I was asked to start DMing (running a campaign for a Dungeons and Dragons game) again. I sent out a survey to find out interest, and we recruited a new player to the group. We finished the adventure (but not the campaign) that we were currently in before rolling up characters and getting in some light role-playing on The Savage Tides campaign that I decided to run. 

My DDF team helped to run and clean up from the second annual Little Sweetest dance at SoHi. It was adorable on so many levels and also quite well attended.

I completed the new Prince of Persia game.

We had an unseasonably stretch of warm weather, causing an early break-up.

We had our "Spring" Parent/Teacher Conferences. Returning from which, I found that I needed to dig a trench in the dog yard to keep River and Starbuck from jumping the fence and escaping now that the roof snow had fallen.

Janelle and I went on a double date to our first Frozen River Fest.

My DDF team attended the three-day State Championship. We only had one placement in one event, but the students and I still had a great time--even if I may be involved in a bit of controversy as a result.

We also received a few pieces of fantastic news that I won't be allowed to explicitly talk about on social media for a while. 

Final Fantasy Rebirth is available to play. My first bit of time with it suggests that I'm going to get a great deal of enjoyment out of playing it.

I didn't think that one extra day would make much of a difference, but February certainly managed to pack in quite a bit this year. 

There are a number of things coming up for which I am tremendously excited about. Some are small; some quite a bit larger. Some are in the near future (as in minutes away); some are in the works for later in the year. Some can be talked about online; some cannot--but I'm happy to talk about them in person; just ask me.

In just a few minutes, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth becomes available for me to play. I deeply enjoy the original game and felt that the first part of its remake lived up to its legacy and then some. Everything is indicating that this game will be even better.

This weekend, Dune 2 comes to the theaters. Like the FF7 Remake, the first movie was an excellent adaptation of the first part of the novel. However, it's the second part that is more interesting to me, and again, all signs point to this sequel outclassing its predecessor.

Next week, Janelle and I head to Michigan for my mother's 75th birthday party. We will be unfortunately late to the party even if our flights hold to their current schedule, but I am looking forward to seeing many relatives and friends whom I have not seen in a while. It's going to be a quick trip, but well worth it.

On news of highly anticipated events that are farther out, I am holding to my promise to not post about them online. However, as I said before, I'm more than eager to tell people about them in person. Seriously, ask me when you see me. 

I'm currently in an email discussion regarding to what degree student expression in a presentation to other students should be limited or even censored. At issue are performances at the recent State Championship that included foul language which would cross into R-rated areas and traumatic or explicitly graphic descriptions of terrible events. What is allowed as freedom of expression? What should be limited regarding how that expression might cause new trauma in an audience of high school students and community members?

There is a similar discussion going on about online forums. What community standards need to be upheld when it comes to scams, online bullying, hate speech, disinformation, or sexually explicit images? There are very few people who believe that there should be no limitations at all. Instead the question is what counts as acceptable to the broader public, especially in forums that are accessible to children or teenagers. 

Unfortunately, there are people who go to extremes with their censoring, banning ideas that go against their personal sense of ethics (usually only a small part) despite many people not sharing their views. In the case of my email argument, I feel that I might be getting lumped with that side as I am lobbying for stricter guidelines when it comes to student performances. Still, I want my students to feel safe in going to watch other student's events, and I want their parents to feel safe in allowing them to participate in the DDF program. 

It's a delicate business, and I rushed in with my usually lack of subtlety. Still, I feel that it needed to be addressed openly rather than just whispered about. We all want what's best for our students, but we don't all agree as to what that might be.

There's still a bit more work to do, as we still have a fundraiser and an end-of-year dinner to run, but today was the last official DDF practice of the school year. I will continue to have unofficial meetings during lunches on Tuesdays, but this was the last after school meeting. It was quite the meeting too! Not only did I hand out the feedback from the State Championship, but we were invited by Bob Bird to take part in an interview during the second half of his Talk of the Kenai show on KSRM. Four of my students and I took him up on the offer, filling the hour rather easily.

I am glad that the season ended on such a high note. In December, I was despairing that the program would continue past this year due to the apparent lack of interest. Instead, we had a sudden flourish with three new welcome additions to the team in January that helped to reinvigorate the program (and myself). They really bonded over the past couple of months and are already making plans about next year's season.

There might be some bumps as the content and language in some of the performances from other schools at State made me feel the necessity to write the coach and tournament organizer involved. I know that this puts a bit of a target on my back, souring an otherwise fantastic experience. Still, even with difficult drives to and from some of the events, long days at them, and piles of work to catch up on afterwards, I feel that the overall benefits far outweigh the challenges. 

I'm looking forward to next year!

I don't believe that today's first reading about Abraham nearly sacrificing his son Isaac was about God testing Abraham's faith any more than I believe that the story of the Noah's Ark is about God drowning a world's worth of unbelievers. When reading the Bible, and book of Genesis in particular, one has to take the time period, people's understanding of the world at that time, and the literary devices used at that time into account. While Noah's story is one of a vengeful God (as were similar writings of the time), it is more about the faithfulness of Noah saving him from a catastrophe. The other people weren't saved because they failed to heed the warnings given to them that their end was imminent yet also preventable. Here, too, Abraham is determined to show his absolute loyalty to God by sacrificing his beloved son (poor Ishmael) as was a common practice at that time in the region, but is stopped by God's angel. 

In both cases, the stories were more about the establishment of the purpose of Jesus rather than the idea of being utterly devoted to God. For Noah, as I noted last week, the story prefigures the saving waters of baptism. For Abraham and Isaac, this sacrifice of a beloved son is a reflection about today's Gospel reading where God calls Jesus His beloved Son just before He would be sacrificed on a hill near where Abraham took Isaac. The allegories of the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New Testament to show the scope of God's plan.

The Old Testament readings have language about God smiting and demanding sacrifice because that was the form for literature at the time. Noah's story is told almost exactly as Utnapishtim's from ancient Sumer--the same land that had the practice of sacrificing the oldest child and where the Israelites spent generations in captivity. The early writers transformed the rites and myths of these neighboring religions into something more powerful. They were then fulfilled by the arrival of Jesus and His message of love and redemption. 

 Congratulations go to one student for making it to the ExComm semifinals and to another for earning 4th place for her performance in solo acting!

Note that today’s events went long, we are likely not going to arrive in Soldotna until about midnight. I’m only to Girdwood. More information will have to wait until tomorrow.

Today was  the full day at the championship. Events began at 8:15 AM and continued until 10 PM (although, we don’t have policy debaters, so we were able to leave at 9 PM). Some of my students went from event to event with only one or two rounds off. One of them (who only competed in one category) didn’t have to debate until 8 PM due to a bye in her fourth round. 

The energy and collegiality of all of the students and coaches here is fantastic! Many coaches were buoyed by news of the Alaskan House’s vote that passed a significant (if still lower than inflation of costs) increase to school funding. Unfortunately, the increase was still not enough to save our Juneau educators from an ill-advised consolidation of their high schools. 

I had the opportunity to talk to coaches from a variety of schools today. Even though I’m nearing the end of my second season as a DDF coach, there is still a great deal that I don’t know, let alone fully understand. However, these coaches did manage to shine a light on a number of areas that had been obscured to me before. 

I’m also so impressed with my team. Even though they’ve learned that they haven’t made it into the few final rounds have been determined so far, they have remained positive and friendly. Most of the events still have one more round before finals are determined. The competition has been really tough, but my students have had some good rounds. 

We will see what tomorrow brings.

We left at the beginning of school to head up to Anchorage for the first day of the Alaska State Championship for drama, debate, and forensics (public speaking). The trip itself was interesting. We were stopped by a recently fallen tree that some other drivers were able to remove with the chainsaws that they had in their vehicles. It then turned out that the pass defied the weather forecast and dumped enough snow that it was up past the bottom of Tifa’s (my Kia Sportage’s) doors. Plows had not yet gone through, but enough vehicles had gone before us to leave a bit of a path. 

The trip to Anchorage took almost 45 minutes longer than I had expected, but I had intentionally left early enough to give us a time buffer, so I still had my team get lunch and relax a bit at the Dimond Center before heading the Bettye Davis East High School. As I had also let the tournament director know that we might be late if the road was difficult, my Readers Theater (RT) team got to go last in their group, so we arrived with plenty of time. There were four rooms with six teams and one with five for a total of 29 teams competing in RT while East was still in session. Once that round (and East’s school day) was over, we were able to bring the rest of the team (two more students) into the commons to check in and receive the opening remarks and instructions. 

The rest of the day was just for debate, and I am down to just one debater. Thus, after the opening, the rest of the team headed out with my team chaperones for shopping, a gangster-themed escape room, and dinner. Meanwhile, my debater had three straight rounds in which to compete. I was able to finish some grading that I brought along (none of my competitors want to have me watch them perform). Once my debater was done, the rest of team met up and we checked in to our hotel. 

The RT team needs to be back by 8 AM tomorrow, and that will kick off our most hectic day, so I’m going to get some sleep. 

The short read of any school budget meeting in the state of Alaska is this: the base student allocation needs to be increased at an amount related to the rate of inflation over the past seven years for schools to function as they have been functioning. If anyone wants improvement, the increase will need to be even higher. Anything short of that will bring about cuts to programs and services after years of cuts already being made.

Those legislators and our governor who have continually voted against or vetoed cost of living increases to state funding for the past seven or more years are an ongoing threat to our state's children. We need to start holding them accountable. 

Our week of near record highs has made a mess of the roads. The dirt road that we live on was like a freshly "zambonied" ice rink. I was grateful for Tifa's (my Kia Sportage's) all-wheel drive as I easily made it up to the top of the hill near my house. I was a little worried that I would slide into the truck that regularly parks at the stop sign at the end of our road to wait for the morning school bus, but not only was that not an issue, the truck was parked a full vehicle-length from the stop sign.

On the way back, it was the softening slush on my driveway that caused the largest issue. Again, Tifa made it through with little trouble, but I am now a bit concerned about Trevor making it safely up the driveway without getting Mera (his, formally my, Prius) stuck. I routinely was able to get her back to the garage in the past, but this will be Trevor's first attempt in these sorts of conditions--although, he did manage to get her out fine.

While I know that we've passed the mid-point in February, it still seems too soon to deal with these kinds of conditions that usually don't appear until late March. We're supposed to get another bout of below freezing temperatures soon, but the roads (and driveways) are already a mess due to this weather. Perhaps this means that the track season will have an easier start.

My DDF team already has its State Championship this week. Issues with eligibility and an already wonky schedule have made planning for it a little difficult. I'm glad that I had someone take care of hotel booking earlier in the month--even if I might now have more rooms than I actually need. I only just sent out my informational email about the event's schedule, and I'm feeling like I'm forgetting something.

My team is still smaller than I would like (especially after eligibility), but at six students (please, Lord, let all of them be healthy this week), I have 50% more people going than last year. They're a good group of young people. The sophomores in the group (it's only composed of sophomores and seniors) are already talking about their plans for next year's season--which is encouraging. 

I sincerely believe that every one of my competitors has a solid shot of placing in at least one of their events. Still, I will be happy as long as they end up having fun one way or the other. 

Today's Second Reading references the covenant made by God to Noah in the First Reading. Peter's first epistle tells us that the waters of the Flood prefigure Baptism as a type of redemption. This is further shown when Jesus allows Himself to be baptized by John before going out into the desert to face the temptations of the Devil. Like Noah, Jesus comes out of His forty days of trial with a dedicated purpose, proclaiming a new covenant with God.

The period of forty days indicates that our troubles do not vanish overnight. We need to build our own resiliency as we face the trials in our lives. This is one of the reasons to observe the forty days of Lent. Sadly, the tribulations that we face in life can often last for much more than forty days. They are not merely a symbolic battle, but a long-term spiritual war that can devastate us if we do not rely on God to help us through it.

I believe that He will see us through the difficult times that seem to crush down upon us. We will come through them forged into something new, ready to proclaim our own new covenant with God. For this, God would have us joining Him when looking at the gathering clouds to find the rainbow within them.

I have never attended one of these events before, but was enticed to do so by one of my friends that we bring our wives for a double-date. The festival is held at Soldotna Creek Park and includes live music, food trucks, and variety of craft brewers which people can sample if they get they pay for the full entrance fee. There are braziers around the area to help keep people warm for the four hours that the event takes place.

In general, it's not my sort of thing. I don't drink nor particularly like country music, so the two main draws don't really work for me. I do like food trucks and socializing with people. For Janelle, she needed assurances that the craft brews would be more than just beer, but once she discovered that there were wines, she was game to go. I'm glad that we did.

The weather was nicer than I expected; although, I do regret that I forgot to put on my wool socks. Not only was it nice to hang out with my friend and his wife, we ran into a surprising amount of people whom we knew--many from the school. I also managed to get a solid amount of cheese curds in the process. For some reason, I was treated a little strangely when I bought the large lemonade (which was also quite good).

We now smell of wood smoke, but it was a pleasant date night. I added the year to the title as this might become an annual event that we attend.

As I expected, COVID has become a part of our daily lives; however, I didn't expect that it would still be hitting people quite so hard by now. We've had a large number of our students and staff get floored by this disease in the past few weeks. No fewer than three of the parents I spoke with at conferences (out of only a little more than twenty who attended) talked about how badly their family had recently been hit by the flu or COVID. In two cases, it led to visits to the urgent care to get steroids to open up their lungs.

It's not overloading our hospitals the way it did at the height of the pandemic, but it's certainly still making its presence felt. Students who contract it are often out for days and are still tremendously lethargic on their return. At this point, I consider our family quite fortunate so far, but I am also waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I would like for it to wait until after spring break if it does choose to visit us at all. Next week is the State Championship for DDF, and I need my students, our chaperones, and me to be healthy for it. Two weeks following that is when Janelle and I are heading to Michigan, and I would certainly prefer to not bring any illness with us in either direction of our travels. Now, I'm not saying that I would then be fine with being sick, as I would prefer to avoid the experience entirely. Rather, there are times when having the illness hit would be much worse.

I pray that everyone who is struggling with it recovers soon and that the rest of us can avoid it altogether.