If you haven't seen it yet (and are able to), I highly recommend it! I believe that tomorrow's matinee performance (starting at 2 PM) will be with the second cast (directed by one of my DDF seniors). Tomorrow's final performance will start at 6 PM and will feature the primary cast; however, both shows should have different endings. Please come and support our drama program and our DDF team!
I've had wonderful help with the DDF (drama, debate, and forensics) concessions from some of my DDF parents yesterday and today (and likely tomorrow as well). The team was so good, that I was willing to step away from the table and watch tonight's performance of Clue. I had a great time! The cast, set, costumes, lighting, sound, and crew have all put so much effort into their outstanding performance. I was quite literally laughing out loud often throughout the play. I had multiple favorite moments and performances.
If you haven't seen it yet (and are able to), I highly recommend it! I believe that tomorrow's matinee performance (starting at 2 PM) will be with the second cast (directed by one of my DDF seniors). Tomorrow's final performance will start at 6 PM and will feature the primary cast; however, both shows should have different endings. Please come and support our drama program and our DDF team!
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I've been absolutely blessed to work with so many utterly fantastic educators in my 26 years as a teacher. One of the absolute best, so much so that he was named Teacher of the Year for the State of Alaska, is James Harris. Unfortunately, I had thought that we (as a school, a district, and a state) had lost him forever when he left SoHi (and KPBSD and Alaska) to return to the contiguous United States. I was thus beyond thrilled when I was informed that he had applied for the recently vacant assistant principal job at Skyview Middle School. He had his interview there today (and actually flew up here to present himself in person), but I was unfortunately unable to see it (or those of the other candidates).
I sincerely hope that Skyview has the good sense to hire him. While he is amazing in terms of overall pedagogy, organization, and communication, it is his connections with students that had me absolutely in awe when I worked with him. For that matter, staff members (including admin) often asked him for suggestions advice--even well after he left. I'm not to proud to admit that I was one of them just this past year. I had questions about the last time our school went through accreditation, and he was able to answer them almost immediately (despite his busy schedule), providing me with everything I asked for and some things that I didn't even know that I would need. As I said, I did not see any of the interviews and cannot speak to the quality of the other two candidates (as I don't even know who they are). However, it would be such a tremendous boon to Skyview, our school district, and our community to have James back with us again! Most importantly, our students would have the benefit of having such a fantastic educator to look out for them and their needs! Tomorrow starts the run of SoHi's spring play: Clue. Performances start at 6 PM on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with a bonus matinee at 2 PM on Saturday. There are two separate casts and four different endings. Tickets are $10 at the "gate." I believe that, after paying full price for one performance, one can get into the other performances for half price--but I'm not positive about that. Proceeds go directly back to the drama program.
Meanwhile, my DDF (drama, debate, and forensics) team will be selling baked goods, chips, and water as concessions for all four shows up through intermission. It's a mix-and-match offering with each item costing $2 and a group of three items going for $5. Proceeds go directly back to the DDF program. The students have been working hard to get this play ready. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I hope that you get to see it too. Late yesterday afternoon, my little finger on my left hand started inexplicably hurting. It felt sort of like I had jammed it somehow, but I had no memory of doing anything remotely close to that. By the time I went to bed, it was difficult to bend. I went to sleep with the hope that I would wake up with it feeling fine again.
Unfortunately, when I woke up this morning, it was substantially worse. It went beyond being difficult to bend to unbendable as swollen up around the bottom and middle joints. Strangely a spot of discoloration appeared near the bottom joint as well. It was Janelle who suggested that seemed like I had a spider or insect bite and that my problem was likely a reaction to that. That seems like the most likely scenario. Throughout the day, the pain and mobility have played a see-saw game between the two of them. There was a point that hitting the "A" key while typing was a particular difficulty. Thankfully, it seems to be getting better again. I don't like how even a little amount of pain in a relatively unimportant region of my body can affect me so much through the day. It makes me realize how difficult it must be for those with chronic pain and discomfort--the effort that getting through the day can take, especially to do so with any level of a positive attitude. When the problem is beyond discomfort and edges into survival, one can understand why people in such desperate situations would resort to even more desperate measures. This is yet another reason why we need to be more cognizant of the pain of others. In a sense, I'm grateful for this miniscule issue with my pinkie if it helps me (even in such a minor way) to be more compassionate to my fellow human beings. My Earth day thoughts got eclipsed by the trailer that dropped today (I'm ignoring an possible symbolic irony here). I've been burned by movie trailers before, so I'm trying to keep my excitement in check now that a new trailer is available for the only Disney Marvel movie to come out this year: Deadpool & Wolverine. I will say that this trailer is not making it easy for me. In fact, I think that even Janelle seemed excited when we watched the trailer together this morning.
As it is clear now that Hugh Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine will be more than just a cameo in this movie, I'm now thinking of adding an entirely different movie marathon to my summer plans: Wolverine and Deadpool (see what I did there). While it would be possible to just watch the three Wolverine movies (those were the only movies referenced in the announcement for today's trailer), I think that this marathon would include all of the X-Men movies up through Days of Future Past (the last one with Wolverine) followed by Deadpool, then Logan, and finally Deadpool 2. I have no problem skipping Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix, and The New Mutants (which I've never seen). I would skip The Last Stand and possibly First Class except that they play heavily into The Wolverine and Days of Future Past. This would likely need to be a multi-day event, but I will need to figure out run times. I will likely watch them starting on July 22, leading up to the July 26th release of the new movie (with there being a good chance that I would go to the possible evening showing on the night of the 25th). I have three months (to the day) to get pepped up for it. The events of the past two days allowed me to sleep in beyond my normal weekend schedule. In a way, it was like a mini-vacation. In both instances, I stayed in bed longer than I planned and then had to rush around a bit when I finally did get up, but the additional amount of rest made up for any later mild panic.
It was particularly strange to not go in to church today. Aside from some of my travels, I have rarely missed a Sunday mass--even if I've gone to mass the previous Saturday. Stranger still was that Trevor had to head out on his own today since he had to work during Connor's Confirmation yesterday. It felt a little odd that one member of the family was at church while the rest of us were lounging at home. I'm hoping that this restful feeling follows me into this next week. My evenings from Wednesday through Saturday are going to be rather packed. Even tomorrow after school might be a little hectic. All told, I think I will be glad for the time that I had to sleep in. I pulled out the parka and the wool socks for today's portion of the track invitational. I had to rush to do so as I slept in substantially later than I had planned. I remember waking up at 8 AM, thinking that I could close my eyes for just a little bit more and suddenly finding that the clock was reading 9:30 AM. Thus, I was a bit groggy while up in the stands. Thankfully the wind was hardly present--a sharp contrast to the day before.
We had to leave the invitational before it was over, but after all of Connor's events, so that we could go home, get ready, and get back into town for Connor's Confirmation to the Catholic Church. In addition, I was sponsoring a different young man for his Confirmation. The archbishop was there to officiate. There were a few minor hiccups as events did not quite go the way that they we rehearsed, but it was an overall nice mass and Sacrament. The homily today focused on Jesus' role as the Good Shepherd. As the archbishop discussed how Jesus used the metaphor of a shepherd to tie in Old Testament references as well as giving His audience something familiar, I wondered what sort of metaphor would be used today. Perhaps a veterinarian would work as someone who deals with animals but would still be commonly known. Maybe a daycare employee could cover the role of being someone who is protecting the defenseless while still guiding them--there might be an issue with leaving the others unattended to go after the one that is missing (not to mention having one go missing in the first place). As neither of those (nor others that I contemplated) seem to work, I wonder if Jesus decided to come to Earth 2,000 years ago just to have better metaphors for his parables. One other side thought from the homily today was that the archbishop kept using the phrase "fired up." Now, I couldn't help hearing the Firebat voice from StarCraft II, but I wondered if the archbishop was intentionally using the phrase today since the Holy Spirit is often represented as a flame. Considering that our newly confirmed parishioners were told to "receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" today, I'm hoping that they were indeed "fired up." I'm still warming up from my time watching Connor's first track meet of the season. While the track is clear, snow was still in the fields surrounding it. Unfortunately, the sun spent most of the time behind the clouds and a brisk wind decided to stay around longer than had been predicted. While I was certainly quite cold myself, I was filled with sympathy for the athletes who were competing. Thankfully, we were spared any precipitation this time.
Especially since I dressed in layers today, I was not expecting to feel quite as cold as I did. Tomorrow's weather is looking to be more of the same, so I will likely pull back out my wool socks, boots, and parka for the second half of the meet. There are many things that I love about Alaska, but our spring sports season is not high on that list. Watching hilarious cat videos has brought to mind some of the interesting habits that our cats have used to entertain themselves--and us in the process. Both of them are quite affectionate, but they choose to show it in different ways. Grizz generally waits until I'm in a reclining chair and then perches on the top of my chest like he used to when he was a kitten, nuzzling against my facial hair and purring loudly. Sockeye tends to go to where I'm standing and then flop down on the floor behind me, exposing her belly. If I don't pay attention to her or have the audacity to walk away without noticing her, she will swipe at my leg to get my attention and then roll even more on the ground once she sees that I'm looking her way.
Grizz also invites belly rubs, but he will quickly turn to "danger kitty" and start swatting at the hand that pets him. When he gets the chance, he will run off for a bit and then sneak attack one of my legs with a swift jump attack before dashing off again. Either cat will immediately run to the scratching board (they prefer a cardboard one that we get from PetSmart) if they get aggravated with or ignored by us as if to say, "This is what we could do to you if you're not careful." They also like waiting to ambush me when I come back in from letting the dogs out. Sockeye will lay across my path, demanding belly rubs. Meanwhile, Grizz will jump up to the lower staircase railing and rub up against me as I come through the door. Speaking of the dogs, they all seem to get along pretty well; although, Starbuck will start chasing the cats if they get too rambunctious--not to stop them, but to try and join in the fun (and usually chasing the cats into hiding). They certainly liven up the house. I hate playing politics, but public education is losing the fight in the public arena. Decades of abuse from political pulpits have been taking their toll. Not only is funding well below what it should be if adjusted for inflation going back years, let alone decades, but the anti-public education rhetoric has been ramping up on nearly all forums. Meanwhile, we are continually put into scripted lose-lose scenarios.
If teachers speak up, they are immediately accused of just trying to protect their jobs. If unions step up, they are attacked as socialist institutions. If students speak up, politicians claim that they are being used by the teachers as pawns. Meanwhile, we often cannot tell the entire story. Protocols and even laws designed to protect children limit what kinds of information that we can provide. Let's say that my son gets assaulted by another student at school. I have to remember that the other child involved requires the care of the school as well. Just as my son's record cannot be made public to anyone who wants to know, so to is the information regarding the child that assaulted him. It might not seem that the other child got the punishment that I might have wanted, but I don't have the right to find out the circumstances around the life of that other child. Not having that information frustrates people and makes them feel that the school is doing nothing, when the truth is often vastly different. Not that educators are perfect. I know that you might have never made a mistake at your job, but I've done so many times--and I'm constantly learning from them. Sometimes, there are honest mistakes regarding a situation. Sometimes, I act in the heat of the moment and later regret my action (or even inaction). School principals, too, are not perfect. Even those educators with decades of experience can still trip on the many pitfalls that are imbedded throughout our profession. Younger or less experienced staff, faculty, and administration should also be granted some level of forgiveness. However, we are also still doing amazing work. Despite all of the negativity focused on us, despite the lack of adequate funding, despite the limited resources, we are still making a profound difference in our students' lives. For a stunning number of students in the Soldotna area, we are the adults who protect them from abuse, our school is the only safe place that they have, and even our school meals are the only food that they get. With all of that, we are still providing them with an education that prepares them for the ever-shifting and challenging futures that await them in the many different directions that they all go. Is public education perfect? It is far from it, but how do people expect us to improve when we aren't even provided with the funding to sustain the status quo? Honestly, I'm not certain what people expect from us when we are continually required to do more with fewer resources. One thing is clear: we need to end the negativity being directed towards our schools and revitalize our supporters. A democratic republic such as ours requires an educated citizenry for it to properly function, let alone flourish. Too many people have been complaining about the way our society is headed, but have been allowing (or even making) attacks on the public education system rather than working to support it, ironically unaware that they are the very source of the problem. Well, I managed to spread out my eating of candy from my Easter basket long enough that I only finished the last bit of my dark chocolate bunny moments ago. Last year, I had delayed long enough that the other Easter baskets had already been returned to their storage in the garage by the time I was done. I recall that I had kept adding in candy that I bought for the post-Easter sales into my basket as it seemed like a convenient place to keep it. Considering my high blood sugar, I probably shouldn't have purchased that extra candy last year--which is why I didn't get it this year.
Last week, one of my daily writing prompts asked that my students write about a family custom that is a part of their lives but that someone from outside their family might as odd. I specifically thought about my family's tradition of each member having their own Easter basket which is full enough of candy that it can last for several weeks--although, the boys seemed to have emptied theirs much sooner. It does seem to be an odd way to celebrate the anniversary of Jesus' resurrection. Still, it gives us yet another reason to look forward to this time of year. At least, until the basket is empty. Donald Trump has done everything he can to be immortalized in history. He is the only President to be impeached twice (let alone in only a single term in office). He is the only President to weaken the U.S.'s ties to NATO since its formation. He is the only President (or even Presidential candidate) to claim that a U.S. election was rigged (even Breckinridge, Douglas, and Bell didn't do that for the 1860 election which led directly to the Civil War). He is the only President to be in office as the Capitol was breached by rioting insurgents (not to mention that they were there at his specific request). He is the only person to have served as President to have been taken to civil court (let alone having been found guilty). Today, he became the only person to have served as President to have to attend his own criminal trial.
If you are wondering why this particular criminal trial has gone to court while the three others are waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on whether a President is immune to all criminal prosecution or not, you should know that this criminal case predates Trump's time in office. Once he became President, he stopped law enforcement from continuing its investigation (and other investigations) and pardoned at least one of his conspirators who had already been found guilty. The trial has already been significantly delayed due to a variety of legal tactics that Trump's extraordinarily expensive lawyers have played out. Now some people seem to feel that Trump has been unjustly targeted with these multiple indictments against him. They wonder why such a big deal is being made of this single $130,000 payment when he is a billionaire. I remind them that Al Capone--who was certainly guilty of extortion, murder, and worse--was only able to be thrown into prison due to tax fraud. In Trump's case, these court cases are the ones that are iron-clad. As is, the people prosecuting the cases have had their home lives torn apart, requiring protective services for them and their families as Trump has continued (even, most recently, in spite of gag orders) to attack them verbally in ways that his more rabid followers have taken as orders to terrorize, vandalize, and even hunt both the people and their families. If he was any other person, he would already have been placed in prison for his open contempt of the court system, let alone his threats towards judges, prosecutors, witnesses, and juries. It is my belief that there is another couple of history-making titles still coming his way. In the section of the first letter of John that was today's second reading, he warns, "Those who say, 'I know Him,' but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them." Throughout time, there have been those who have committed terrible of acts of violence while claiming to do so in the name of Jesus. There have been people who hold up the Bible in their hands while preaching hatred and bigotry. Doing so puts them fully into the grip of the devil even as they claim that they are doing God's Will ("Deus Vult!").
In today's Gospel, Jesus appeared to His disciples again after His resurrection and "opened their minds." By His doing so, they were finally able to "understand the Scriptures," seeing how the writings of the past connected to show that Jesus' death and resurrection would bring about "repentance" and that "the forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all nations." People keep wanting a warrior Messiah, but that is not the path that Jesus took, nor wants us to take. Those who believe that violence is the means to bring about the Kingdom of God are lying to themselves as well as to anyone who listens to them. They are so ready to "kill" or "die" for their beliefs, but forgiveness and reconciliation are the paths that Jesus commands us to take. That is the truth of God's Will. We had another fantastic prom at Soldotna High School tonight. I spent the evening working the coat check, so I had the opportunity to see most of the students as they either came in or left as they were dressed up for this memorable night. In short, while there was a bit of drama that I noticed, the event seemed to be a great success. I kept hearing from people about the quality of the decorations and choices of food. The students stayed in larger numbers for longer out on the dance floor than I remember from other dances. Nearly all of the students whom I asked the question "Did you have a good time?" answered extremely positively.
I had fun too. Sure, my ears are ringing, my legs are aching (not from dancing, just from standing), and it is well past my bedtime. Still, seeing the excitement and even joy on our students' faces filled me with joy as well. |
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