Mr. C.’s Random Thoughts

When I was a senior in high school, Jane Child released a real popular song, “Don’t Wanna Fall in Love.” It was the classic one-hit-wonder. By the time I decided to that it was worth buying, it had disappeared.

I stumbled on it today on the Internet. Child’s website is here and (oh joy!) it has an MP3 of “Don’t Wanna Fall in Love” here.

I don’t know if it’s really my style of music anymore but I really enjoyed it in high school.

Bask in the nostalgia!

One of my students brought a box with him to class today.  He had brought it to show one of his other teachers and I asked what was in it.  I was totally blown away to find out that it was a box full of letters between his grandfather and his great-uncles (at least, that’s who I think they are), from when they were young men during World War II.  It is hard to conceive that those letters were written around the time that my parents were born.

There is something about a handwritten letter that has started to escape our culture.  There’s really something about them that simply isn’t present in something as…modern as an e-mail.  It could be that writing a letter is more labor-intensive, that the act of putting pen to paper transmits a portion of the writer’s personality, that a letter is somehow more permanent.  It doesn’t go away when the electricity is turned off and can be given to grandsons decades later.

So, sometime this weekend, write a loved one a letter.  Not an e-mail, not a cutesy Hallmark card.  Take a blank sheet of paper, a pencil, and 15 minutes.  You never know who may end up with a part of your personality years from now!

Who will you write your letter to? 

If you’re into audiobooks (and who’s not?!?), check out www.librivox.org.  It has tons of free audiobooks from literature that is in the public domain.  You can listen online or download the audiobooks as mp3’s.

A friend e-mailed this to me and I thought some of you would get a laugh out of it (and, of course, some of you will probably take offense):

SCHOOL ANSWERING MACHINE
This is hilarious - no wonder some people were offended! This is the message that the Pacific Palisades High School (California) staff voted unanimously to record on their school telephone answering machine. This is the actual answering machine message for the school.

This came about because they implemented a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children’s absences and missing homework. The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children’s failing grades changed to passing grades - even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough schoolwork to pass their classes.

The outgoing message: “Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school. In order to assist you in connecting to the right staff member, please listen to all the options before making a selection:

To lie about why your child is absent - Press 1
To make excuses for why your child did not do his work- Press 2
To complain about what we do - Press 3
To swear at staff members - Press 4
To ask why you didn’t get information that was already enclosed in your newsletter and several flyers mailed to you - Press 5
If you want us to raise your child - Press 6
If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone -Press 7
To request another teacher, for the third time this year -Press 8
To complain about bus transportation - Press 9
To complain about school lunches - Press 0

If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his/her own behavior, class work, homework and that it’s not the teachers’ fault for your child’s lack of effort: Hang up and have a nice day!

While hilarious, this story is also untrue.  Click here for information on the Palisade Charter High School.

The photojournalism in this story really stirred me.  (Beware–if you are easily disturbed, you should not open the picture slideshow.)  Can you imagine what went through the soldiers’ minds when the reality of the circumstances was discovered?  Now that I’m a parent, images of children in fear and pain affect me more deeply than they used to.

The picture discussed in the story reminded me of the picture of Kim Phuc from the Vietnam War.  Nick Ut, the photographer who took the Kim Phuc picture, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the picture.  The Kim Phuc photo was taken the month I was born, June 1972. 

The other picture I remember seeing from Vietnam was the execution of Viet Cong Nguyen Van Lem, carried out by Nguyen Ngoc Loan.  As I was reading an article about the picture, I was surprised to find out that its photographer, Eddie Adams, later regretted the effect it had on the executioner.  He felt the picture, which was undoctored, told only a half-truth and Loan was unfairly maligned by people who failed to comprehend the context in which the picture was taken.  Even though he also won a Pulitzer, he later apologized to Nguyen Ngoc Loan for the damage it did to his honor. 

I wonder if the pictures taken by Chris Hondros will also receive awards for the powerful messages they convey and what part of history they will be a part of 35 years from now.  I also wonder if he feels that his pictures tell “half truths” or whether they are accurate depictions of the events in Iraq.

What do you think?

Congratulations to the following students who placed at the UIL District Academic Meet on Friday!

Computer Applications  (Coach:  Mr. Culbert)

• Kevin Elliott - 1st Place, Regional Qualifier
• Kelsie Reece - 4th Place, Regional Alternate

Computer Science - 1st Place Team (Coach:  Mr. Culbert)

• Kevin Elliott - 1st Place, Regional Qualifier
• Dru Buttram - 2nd Place (Tie), Regional Qualifier
• Daniel Hollingsworth - 2nd Place (Tie), Regional Qualifier

Current Issues & Events - 1st Place Team (Coach:  Mrs. Smith)

• Cache McClure - 1st Place
• Justin Styer - 3rd Place
• Tyler Mahan
• Dusty Bryan

Journalism - 1st place team (Coach: Mrs. Smith)

News Writing

• Matthew Hadley-1st
• Sarah Pletcher-5th
• Kalyn Ortiz-6th

Feature Writing

• Kylee Olson-1st
• Michael Froschheiser-2nd
• Krislyn Wurtz-3rd

Editorial Writing

• Justin Cure-3rd
• Shelbie Belott-4th

Headline Writing

• Justin Styer-1st
• Sarah Pletcher-3rd
• Kalyn Ortiz-6th

Speech -1st Place Team (Coach: Mrs. Lovett)

Informative Speaking

• Tyler Mahan-1st
• Ellen Brock-3rd

Persuasive Speaking

• Will Walker-1st

Poetry Interpretation

• Blaze Bulla-1st
• Robyn Charles-2nd

Prose Interpretation

• Elise Decker-1st
• Rafeea Almas-4th

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

• Kylee Olson-1st
• Isaac Atchison-3rd

Mathematics (Coach: Mrs. Freeman)

• Kevin Elliott-3rd

Number Sense - 2nd Place Team (Coach: Mrs. Freeman)

• Anthony Matlack-2nd
• Josh Backus-4th

Ready Writing (Coach:  Mrs. Jiwa)

• Jonathan Lopez-2nd
• Austin Jones-4th
• David Norman-6th

Science - 2nd Place Team (Coach:  Mrs. Hopson)

• David Norman-3rd
• Lindsey Shehan-4th
• Austin Adair-5th
• Kaytlin Huseman-6th

Biology

• David Norman-1st

Chemistry

• Kaytlin Huseman-1st

Spelling & Vocabulary (Coach:  Mrs. Meyer)

• Josh Zinn-4th

Click here to go to FamilyWatchdog. It is a site that maps registered sex offenders.

I was surprised to see how many Canyon has.

Acheived this morning:  made a student cry.

Of course, she was crying because she was laughing so hard.  If she had been drinking anything, it probably would have come out her nose.

Isn’t that a pleasant thought to contemplate?

It’s definitely not in December!

The most wonderful time of the year is when you can look up into trees that were completely bare 24 hours before and see the beginning of a green blush.  This is really my favorite day of the year.

My second favorite day is the one where:  (1) you don’t have to wear a heavy coat or even a jacket, (2) you don’t have the scrape the windshield or go out 15 minutes early to start your car so it will be warm and the windshield melted by the time you’re ready to leave, and (3) you don’t have to mess with jackets, hats, mittens, or scarves for the kids.