Talk About the Weather

The weather has taken a serious turn from late summer into brisk fall temperatures this week and with the change has come the gripes from some camps and the exultations from others. Some people are warm weather people. Some people are cold weather people. Then some people, such as myself, are just whatever it is, deal with it people.

I saw a posting on Facebook from a Southern type who I went to high school with and she was obsessing about the change of season, not in a good way. She was lamenting the change to wearing layers. She had to take a business trip to Minneapolis and was complaining about it being in the high 40's and low 50's at night. Meanwhile an old friend from Minneapolis was raving about the beautiful weather.

The opposite side of the warm weather sorts who complain about cold weather is the people who originate in the Northern climes of the U.S. and whine whenever the temperature gets above 80. I believe the typical statement goes something like, "In the winter you can put on more layers, but in the summer you can't take more off to get cool." Well there are nature resorts, aka nudist camps, but even there when it's hot, it's hot. You sweat.

Human beings are amazing creatures. They came out of Africa many thousands of years ago and have managed to settle on every possible corner of this planet. In the heat. In the cold. In the desert. On just about every island in the several oceans, or at least those islands with fresh water. People are nothing if not adaptable. And yet they constantly whine about the weather.

I grew up in Central Arkansas where the average summer day was 92 degrees and humid. I have lived in Austin, Texas where the heat index is nudged up a notch over that. I spent two years on the island of Guam in the Western Pacific, where it is 88 degrees with 85% humidity virtually every day of the year. I know heat and I can deal with it. Not particularly fond of that 100+ kind of heat they have in the Desert Southwest, but if I had to, I could adapt to that as well.

On the other hand I have spent most of the last 30 years in a region known as the Upper Midwest. I spent the better part of 5 years in Minneapolis and I have seen snow in October and May. I have experienced temperatures of -29 degrees, not counting the wind chill. With wind chill it goes down to -50 or -60. I've trudged through snow thigh deep. I've changed tires on cars when it was -10 degrees. Given my druthers, I'd rather live someplace warmer, but I cope quite well with cold weather too. Despite my native Southernness I have learned to ski cross-country and to ice skate. Not really into snowmobiles or that warm weather twin, the jet ski.

What amazes me is that people get hooked on one or the other, warm or cold that is, and refuse to adapt or to enjoy the little pleasures that go with the other. Frankly there are good things about both, and drawbacks about both. Southerners whine about the cold. Northerners whine about the heat, and say things like, "I couldn't live down South. I really like the changing of the seasons."

I'm here to tell you that I like the changing of the seasons too. I embrace the arrival of fall and the glorious colors of the trees. The first big snowfall of the winter is a cause for celebration. The return of green in the spring is a magnificent sight. The coming of summer and temperatures warm enough to warrant shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops is a sunburned delight. Of course, I lived on a tropical island for two years and went to the beach on Thanksgiving and at New Year's. I don't think I really missed the changing of the seasons. That too was perfectly acceptable, just different, although I thought the importation of Christmas trees to a tropical island was a wee bit odd.

The point here is that people become accustomed to one thing and somehow manage to convince themselves that everything else sucks. Just embrace whatever comes people. Life is here to be enjoyed, whether it's a hot life or a cold life or a life that swings radically from one to the other. Life in Chicago can be cold at times, but I own sweaters and coats. Life on the 14th floor is 72 degrees with a stunning view year round. In summers there are boaters and swimmers and the lake is a beautiful shade of aqua. In winter the lake freezes and melts and makes the most curious maze of cracks in that ice. The wind and the snow blow and the big waves crash on the shoreline. It's all good. I find life entertaining, no matter the weather. That being said, I'm seriously considering retirement in a warm clime where it never gets cold. Want snow? I can visit that.

Gold, Platinum, and Beyond

Babs and I went out for lunch yesterday to enjoy one of the last, fleeting opportunities for al fresco dining. It was a very pleasant experience and then came time to pay the bill. I pulled out that ever ready Amex card and looked around at my fellow diners. I found myself wondering how many platinum cards there were? How many gold cards were there? The logical progress of this line of thinking ended up with, "Why in the hell do I need a gold or platinum card?"

Indeed, why does anyone need a gold or a platinum card? Back in the 1980's, status for many people meant having a BMW and a condo. The color of your card was not so important. Then Amex, Visa, and Mastercard all began offering gold cards. If you wanted to impress folks with the latest status symbol, you had to have a gold card. Pretty soon everbody had a gold card and that wasn't enough. Now you had to have a platinum card. It meant you had arrived. It meant that you carried the latest status symbol.

Once upon a time, it was difficult to qualify for a credit card. In the early 1980's, I was rejected for a Sears Charge card. I was a college graduated with a couple of years of graduate school behind me. I had a full-time job. I had already paid off one set of student loans, one used car loan, and had incurred a second set of student loans from graduate school. Seems as if I was a pretty solid, albeit lowly paid person. Still, no credit card.

When I married my current spouse, she had credit cards, based on the fact that her father had given her a card to get her started, and the longer she paid her bills, the more credit that was offered her, and the more credit cards were available to her. Her father gave her a card on his account originally. She gave me a card on her account, and I subsequently proved my trustworthiness. Pretty soon I was getting credit card offers in the mail. American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Discover. You name it, and I was offered it. I got a Visa. I got a Mastercard. I got an American Express.

I began shopping for the lowest interest rates on carried balances. I changed cards. I was offered a gold Amex card and I was flattered. "Turn in that old green card for a pretty gold card? Show the world that I have arrived? Why not?" Then the Visa and Mastercard people got into the act. I didn't just get gold. I got platinum. Woo! Hoo! "Movin on up.....Finally got a piece of the pie."

Then at some point I realized that everybody has gold and platinum cards. Nobody has plain old blue Visa cards anymore. Nobody has plain old green Amex cards anymore. It means nothing. It's been devalued, like BMW ownership. And what do you get for your gold and platinum colors on your plastic? Gold and platinum colors, for the most part, and a higher credit limit. In the case of Amex, it means you get a higher annual fee and you accrue points that you can redeem for cheesy cheap crap that no one wants. But hey, I got a gold card, and a platinum Visa.

Along came the 1990's and the 2000's and pretty soon every college student was being offered a credit card. Want some status? Better have a $100,000 car, a winter and a summer home, and throw in some $500 Italian shoes. Six figure incomes didn't mean shit anymore. Want real status? Get a seven figure income. Can't even eat a plate of spaghetti and meatballs anymore. Everyone's talking artisanal cheeses, heirloom tomatoes, $150 bottles of wine, and dry-aged steaks. How about some fusion cuisine?

Then it happened. I was in a restaurant in South Beach recently. Turns out it's no longer hip and a status symbol to just live in a condo in South Beach. South of Fifth in South Beach is now the chic area. Condos sell for millions of dollars. I don't believe they allow cars less expensive than a Lexus to even drive down the street there. Conspicuous consumption is alive and well and status symbols have been taken up yet another notch there.

We were sitting at the bar in said restaurant, alright it was Smith and Wollensky's, in the outdoor area overlooking the water. They guy next to us starts talking about his million dollar condo, his outrageous property tax bills and his home on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Comes time to pay the bill and he pulls out (Insert drum roll here.) a black American Express Card. Platinum schatinum. Want to win friends and influence people? Want to keep up with the, no not Joneses, Rockefellers? Get a black card. No, it's not an urban legend. I have seen one with my very own eyes.

So I checked it out online, and here's the poop on a black American Express Card. It's not plastic. It's titanium. It's officially called the Centurion Card. To get one, you must first have a platinum card. You must be able to show that you charge at least $250,000 per year on your card. You must have some serious assets to your name. (Do you own a million dollar condo? Do you own your own company, that generates a lot of profit?) To get this black card, once you have gotten past the previous hurdles, you must plop down a one time fee of $5000, and then pay an annual $2500 fee. Apparently there are some serious percs if you travel a lot. You pay for them, though.

All of this being said, I am seriously considering starting an anti-chic movement, an anti-status symbol. I think I will ask for a downgrade of my American Express Card to the basic green. I want to get rid of my platinum Visa and go back to a simple blue. Will I be able to do the same stuff I do now? Will I get to charge the same stuff, and then pay it off? The answer is an emphatic, "You bet." Who am I trying to impress? Fly under the radar boys and girls. You still have your credit. It's just a different color, and chances are fewer people will be asking you for donations to their causes.

Ever Have a Bad Week?

I had a really bad week this week, and it was so bad that it started last Saturday, when I woke up with a sore throat. Woke up with a really sore throat on Sunday. Woke up with no sore throat, but a full-blown case of the flu, on Monday. Slept most of the day. Alternated between being hot and sweaty and cold and in need of a blanket. Renamed my nose Niagara. More of the same on Tuesday and Wednesday, but to progressively lesser degrees. Felt like crap. Got nothing constructive done.

Decided I felt well enough to return to work on Thursday. Broke out in a sweat that lasted the first two hours. Was cranky all day. Yelled at students who probably deserved it, but showed a considerable lack of restraint in the doling out of said yelling. Oops. Found out that I had returned to work on the day of the big Homecoming Pep Rally and had to escort a group of students to the gym and endure a full hour of drum pounding and the sound of 600 teenagers yelling. Okay, more like 500+, but still a lot of noise. Took out my hearing aid for that. Helped to a small degree. Still loud.

Came home for Thursday night red wine therapy. Babs called and said to go ahead and eat because she was meeting a friend for a drink and wouldn't be home for a while. Had a bite to eat and read. Babs called and asked if I'd pick her up at the bar. Getting late and the closest El stop was in a questionable neighborhood. Got dressed and hopped in the car.

Drove to Lawrence and Broadway and looked for parking not far from the bar. No street spots to be had, legal ones anyway. Saw a strip mall parking lot across the street from the bar. Sign out front that said, "Free parking." Pulled into a spot in the row nearest the street and went across the street to retrieve wife from bar.

Returned to strip mall parking lot approximately five minutes later to find that the car wasn't there. Hadn't noted the more obscure sign high up on a pole in the middle of the lot that said, "Parking only for patrons of blah, blah, blah. Violators will be towed." Group of vagrants drinking in the corner of the parking lot informed us that Lincoln Towing had taken the car and it was only a short walk over to their impound lot on Clark.

Occurred to me that said vagrants probably were paying for their drinks with money from Lincoln Towing for being spotters and keeping non-shoppers out of the lot. Pissed me off greatly. Looked around the lot and saw some 15-20 empty parking spaces and 6 or 7 drunk vagrants partying away in the corner of the lot. Pissed me off further. I occupy a spot in the lot for 5 minutes and my car is gone before I return. Obnoxious drunks hitting everyone in sight up for money and drinking openly in public are allowed to stay, unmolested.

Friend decides that maybe if we buy something in one of the stores and have a receipt, we can get the car because we patronized a store in the strip mall. Leaned against the wall of an apartment building while friend went off on a Quixotean quest. Vagrant spots two white people leaning against an apartment building and goes a half block out of his way to ask for money for the bus. Replied, "Not happening."

Friend returns with a can of Pepsi and a receipt. Turns out to be a fruitless venture. Off to the impound lot. Ever heard a song by Steve Goodman called "The Lincoln Park Pirates"? This is who we are dealing with. Guy behind the bars in the office at the Lincoln Towing impound lot is a smarmy looking prick who looks like he definitely lives in the suburbs and commutes to the city to demand money from city residents in exchange for their cars. Cost me $170 to get the car. The receipt says I left the mall lot and was illegally parked on private property. It also says the Chicago Police were notified. The person notified space was blank. My name was on the Illinois Commerce Commission Relocation Tow Record. My accusor's was not. The name of the guy behind the bars taking the money was not. The name of the police person receiving said report was not. Are there Constitutional issues here? Went home and seethed.

Friday was a non-attendance day for students. Professional development day. I thought, "Oh Jesus. Am I going to have to listen to endless useless crap and then join with a group and make signs on big Post-It Notes to put on the wall and present to the room at large?" Found myself wondering why teachers are continually made to sit in groups and come up with creative solutions for positive change that never actually occur. Found myself wondering if kids were not given so many days off for teacher meetings if they might not learn more. Found myself wishing that they would just leave me the hell alone and let me do my job, to teach teenagers a little something about the world.

During the course of the day Friday got crabby and snapped at a colleague who was spouting Republican inanities while swearing that he isn't a Republican. Let's see, he thinks Ronald Reagan was a demi-god. He thinks less government is better. He thinks Democrats are stupid. There is a word for these people. It's Republican, although sometimes they will try to convince you that they are Libertarians or Independents. He also annoyed me by denying that racism is behind some of the current disrespect for the President. Being in denial does not make it any less true. Whew!

Now it is Friday evening and I would like to put all of this behind me, although the $170 bill will come back to haunt me on the next credit card bill, probably just in time for Halloween and various other hauntings. In the meantime, I think Corn Nuts go well with both red wine and white wine. Tomorrow is another day, and let's hope it's a better one.

Ever Have a Bad Week?

If Pigs Could Fly and Other Livestock Sayings

I've been thinking a lot about livestock these last couple of days, specifically pigs. It seems they have received the credit for the latest bout of flu making the rounds on the planet. Guess what I've been doing for the last two days? Lying on my sofa, in my living room, dealing with, you guessed it, swine flu. Ah, the joys of working in a public school, where teenagers routinely come into the building, coughing, sneezing, and generally mucking up the place with their various secretions. Who gets the credit for this? No, not teenagers. It's not called 16 year olds with an attitude flu. It's the poor pigs who get the credit. Swine flu.

Ever hear of cow flu, sheep flu, goat flu? Of course not. It is true that recently there was a round of bird flu. It primarily affected, well duh, birds, however. The Chinese slaughtered scads of chickens to keep it from spreading, to other birds. It seems that if all the birds die of bird flu, there will be no more Kung Pao Chicken, no more Peking duck, no more....well you get the picture.

More recently, the Egyptian government slaughtered thousands and thousands of pigs, the origin of, ummm, swine flu. This was in spite of the fact that the flu bug had mutated and was being passed from human to human by this time. People don't get swine flu from pigs, or from eating pork. Poor pigs hadn't a chance, especially in a Muslim country where pork is verboten, and swine, in general, are much maligned.

Come to think of it, pigs are often maligned many places other than Muslim countries, and to a much greater extent than other livestock. Of course cattle were blamed for Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease, a little degenerative disease of the brain. How do you get it? From eating cows with "Mad Cow Disease," that's how. Mind you a few herds of cattle have been destroyed, but cattle in general have not been maligned to the extent that pigs have. We still enjoy our burgers, our milk, our butter, our cheese, and most cows are none the worse for the incidents with their cousins. Half the world refuses to have anything to do with pigs. (Think Islam, Judaism, etc.) Hey the Hindu masses in India revere cows as sacred. Does anyone out there know of a religion that finds pigs sacred?

How about sheep? Truthfully, sheep get a bit of a bad rap in the intelligence department. There is the accusation that people who have no original ideas, "follow like sheep." I suspect the governments of the world rather like this trait. And to be honest, most people think sheep are cute and cuddly. Baby sheep, lambs, are compared to children, and are considered those things that need to be protected. Besides, wool makes great sweaters for those long winter days. Pigs? Hmmm. Good for making footballs (Think pig skins.). Go ahead. Kick them around.

No other livestock that I can think of suffers quite as much as the poor pig from verbal abuse. Know someone who has a messy house? "It looked like a pig sty." Know someone who has embarked on a quest with no chance of success. "If pigs could fly." Know someone whose low class demeanor leaves them little room for improvement? "Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." Does any other poor animal suffer this kind of verbal, metaphorical abuse? I think not. And to top it all off, where do you think Spam comes from?

Enough is enough I say. It's time the poor pig takes its place in the pantheon of noble beasts, okay noble beasts at the lower end of the food chain. Is a pig really less than a cow? Is a pork roast less than roast beef? Is a pork chop less than a beef steak? How about ham? (I honestly know a number of Jewish individuals who keep kosher for the most part, but who sneak a slice of ham every now and again. Hard to resist. Don't know enough Muslims to get any significant statistical data on that.).

At any rate, all of you maligners of pigs out there, I have one word for you, and I think you should think about this next time you begin maligning pigs. No it isn't prociutto, though that would be a good second option. The word ladies and gentlemen, is (Drum roll please.) ....bacon.

Now I must return to my sofa and blow my nose. It seems the swine flu has not run its course as yet. "This little piggy went to market....." "Once upon a time, there were three little pigs....."

Mommy, What's an Autumnal Equinox?

Tis a lovely day here in Streeterville and the weather is slowly becoming autumn-like. The light, the air, the color of the lake, the feel, and yes, the attire is changing over to autumn. Earlier this week we experienced what is likely the last gasp of summer, and now we are experiencing the cool-down to autumn. Besides it's Babs's birthday on Sunday and that's always a sure sign of the changing of the seasons.

The question is, "What does it actually mean to be autumn?" (That's fall in the vernacular. Some people have fall. Others have autumn. Some experience the first day of fall. Others have an autumnal equinox. Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto.) Anyway, the first thing that comes to mind with me, is that I can quit pretending to be that skinny kid I once was, and cover myself up for goodness sakes. Been running around in shorts and t-shirts all summer and the expanse that is my middle-aged spread can't be exciting to look at. The legs feel mighty good in the warm summer sun, but those varicose veins are, let's face it, unsightly. Bring on the long pants. Get out the sweaters. Put some real shoes and socks on those feet. Let's not even talk about the black toenail I got from running 14 miles. Didn't hurt. Just plain ugly. So shoes it is.

Know what autumn is? It's that time of the year that I can justify getting out that suede jacket I own. It's sort of a cool factor. Looks cool. Weather's cool. I feel cool when I wear it. Can't wear it in the summer. Too hot. Can't wear it in the winter. Too cold. Can't wear it when it precipitates out. Ruin that sucker. Autumn is perfect. As Goldilocks would assess it, "Just right."

This brings us to that other thing that autumn is. I live right next to Lake Michigan and the lake effect makes it "just right," not too hot, not too cold (That comes all too soon. Read my post about "The Hat With Flaps Factor" from last winter.), but just right. And it doesn't rain too much during autumn here. The forecast for October is sunny and yellow, with periodic falling leaves.

Have to admit that I like living in a high-rise now. No more raking those leaves and mulching and bagging and tedium ad-infinitum. Leaves are for looking at. Why else would there be states called Michigan and Wisconsin? If I have offended any Michiganis or Wisconsinites, well don't take my money next time I come to view your friggin leaves, okay? I have few enough arms and legs left. But I digress.

What else is autumn? Autumn is that time when the new of a school year wears off and a teacher really starts to appreciate the joys of retirement on the horizon. In late summer, the new school year can feel like a new beginning, the opportunity to reach new minds, as yet unscathed by the system. Come autumn, the teacher begins to realize that kids are a pain in the ass, and there's a reason that the school system pays them to do this. Ah what a bittersweet time. The new year hopefulness is gone, but the total despair, that comes later when they realize all of those kids are total shits, has not arrived yet.

Autumn is more than this. Autumn is a warmup, a preparation for the winter that is invevitably coming. Autumn is a time when your sports choices change from "The Cubs totally sucked this year," to "The Bears totally suck this year." That's autumn. For non-Chicagoans, Cubs are a baseball team. They play in the summer. Bears are a football team. They play in the fall and early winter. They both have a history of sucking, Cubs more so than Bears, however. Can there be a metaphor in there somewhere? Cubs still sucking at the teat of the Momma Bear and Bears occasionally asserting their.....well anyway, maybe not.

What is autumn? Autumn is that time, in Dallas, Texas, when people will light fireplaces to snuggle up next to, even though it's 75 degrees outside. Autumn is that time when America will sit anxiously in front of their TV's to see if the new season is worth watching. Autumn is that time when America's shopping malls will put out their winter wardrobes for sale and put Santa Claus crap all over the windows, in the newspapers and magazines, and on signs around the country. Most will wait until the Halloween crap is gone, but some won't. Autumn is that time when you can count on the beer companies making their football season sales push. Autumn is Oktoberfest celebrations that are excuses to sell more beer to twenty somethings (Sort of like St. Patty's Day and Cinco de Mayo.).

Oops, that began turning ugly. I really like autumn, I really do. My birthday is in October. I like wearing sweaters. I appreciate the coolness when I run in the Trick or Treat Trot. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go see if the premier of a new TV show is worth watching and I think I'll have an Oktoberfest Ale. I saw an ad for a sale on winter clothing and I'll be needing that soon. Thursday Night NFL is on. I have to plan a trip to the U.P. to see the leaves. AAAAAAAHHHHH! I like autumn. I really do.

Why Is This Man Smiling?

I was in an early morning class a couple of days ago, talking about australopithecines and homo sapiens and hominids in general while passing out an assignment for students to work on. As I passed her desk, a mere wisp of a 14 year old girl (90 pounds soaking wet, if that much) looked up at me and said, "Why are you always smiling?" She was, notably, not smiling.

At first I didn't think much about this question. I just kept on about my business, smiled at her and said, "Why wouldn't I be smiling."

This waif of a girl screwed up her face and shot back, "There ain't nothing to smile about."

At this point I did think a bit. What I thought was, "This girl's life must really suck to be 14 and so negative and to be annoyed by the mere fact that a guy doing his job (Teaching World Studies) is smiling. " I said none of the above. Kept it to myself. What I said was, "Are you alive?"

Morose Waif responded in an annoyed tone, "Yes."

Then I came back with Mr. Flippant's shrug response, "Beats the heck out of being dead, doesn't it?" The entire class laughed, with the exception of Morose Waif. She didn't say another word, but went back to her work and didn't say another word the entire period. One short moment in the day of a public school teacher.

Then I found myself thinking about this later. Why do I smile? Is it a trained disingenuous response to work? Am I really that happy about life? Is my life so easy and so much better than the life of others that I am able to smile in the face of what others take to be adversity? Or is it just this plastered on thing on the front of my face that shows up there in public when I can't afford to show what I really think? Hmmm.

I went running after work this afternoon. The big waves of autumn have come to Lake Michigan. The lake was green with whitecaps and the waves were crashing on the beach and washing over the concrete running path in Streeterville. A stiff wind out of the north was blowing in my face as I headed north, and yet I smiled. Why? It was 68 degrees. I knew that when I reached the horse trough exactly 2.75 miles north I would be turning around for the trip back and the wind would be at my back.

I look out these windows on the 14th floor and I know that a poor kid from Arkansas now lives in a building on the National Historic Registry and has Eastward views to die for. I was running with a group one Saturday morning a while back and I pointed up to my building as we ran past. A lawyer in the group remarked, "Never lose money on a lake view." That's a smile I can take to the bank.

I work as a teacher in a profession that gives something to society at large. I help kids bridge the gap from childhood to adulthood and find ways to be productive citizens. Some of them even appreciate it later on. That's something to smile about. Of course that job pays a decent wage, has good benefits, and I get about 2-2 1/2 months off in the summer, two weeks off at Christmas, and a week off in the spring. There's something to smile about.

I've lived with the same woman since 1985 and we have a pretty sound relationship. We love each other, but better yet we actually like each other. We're good friends. There's something to smile about.

There are a lot of things to smile about in life. I'm 58 years old and healthy and I can still run 10 miles. I have family. I have friends. I don't have to struggle too much. I have enough money to go cool places when I want. Life is pretty good, on the whole. I find myself in the position of wanting to ease the pain and help those Morose Waifs of the world I encounter any way I can. And I smile through it all. Not really sure why. I can only speculate, but as The Bad Examples said in song, "I'm not dead yet....."

I Really Have Nothing to Say

I taught six classes today, did necesary paper work to justify my existence in Educationland, ran 3 miles at the track in the park, worked for a while on my novel that I'm attempting to write, and now here I am in Bloggovania. And I have nothing to say.

Yesterday I was running along the lake and I saw a woman in front of me, also running and it said "Personal Trainer," on the back. When I run my mind wanders and I sometimes write song lyrics, cogitate to my heart's content, and solve the world's problems while I sweat. Yesterday I made up a dumb joke about an impersonal trainer. Next thing you know I posted it on Facebook as I would normally post real stuff. A couple of people thought I was being real. Oops! Well hey wanna buy some beachfront property in Arizona? I can get you a deal.

Then I posted something on this space about Serena Williams and her outburst at the U.S. Open and I created a stir with that. Oops! Put something out there for the world to see and someone actually sees it and takes issue with it. Sigh.

Over the past 10 months I have posted a lot of different things in this space. Some of it has been innocuous. Some of it has been slightly humorous. Some of it has been thought provoking. Some of it has been a declaration of who I am as an individual. Occasionally it has just pissed some people off. Oops!

I've thought long and hard about this last, the pissing people off part, and sometimes I think that I've just done what I think is what ought to be done. If people get pissed off, maybe I've done my job well. If they don't, then the whole thing is just so innocuous it's a waste of time. Then again, I sometimes think that maybe I could censor my thoughts a little sometimes. I'm feeling apathetic, but I don't care.

Well anyway, today I'm just rambling. I really have nothing to say. I just managed to say it in six paragraphs.

Sports, The Genteel and the Not So Genteel

I am an American guy, and like many an American guy I watch a lot of sports. I like baseball, football, and basketball. In early summer I can't get enough of the Tour de France bike race. I even like tennis. I'm American enough that soccer matches bore me, even though I was taken to a live Pro Soccer match once by a Croatian friend and it was intriguing to watch the crowd. Rugby has a certain fascination. Hey, I know what a scrum is. Couldn't watch it regularly, though. Forget cricket. Way too British for me. Do know what a wicket is, however.

Anyway, as an American guy, I can discuss sports I don't even watch, simply it's a guy thing to do. To relate to other guys at work, you talk about sports. Didn't watch it. Read the digest version in the sports page and fake it. Grew up in the South and never been to a hockey match in my life. I always know where the Blackhawks stand, though. I even know enough to tout the minor league Wolves from the suburbs for those serious hockey fan friends.

Most of these typical American sports, baseball, football, basketball, and hockey can get a bit rough from time to time. Baseball has its bench-clearing brawls. The old standard joke about hockey is "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out." Football, by its very nature, is just brutal. I have seen a few fights break out on an NBA court, and the swearing, threatening, and trash-talking there is elevated to heights that have to be seen to be believed.

Yet I really like tennis. Tennis is genteel. Tennis has always been a sport that descended from pastimes of the aristocracy. There are dress codes. There is expected genteel behavior. Kind of cool, even if Andy Roddick does send serves at other people at 135 mph. People are expected to be magnanimous in victory and gracious in defeat. People don't punch each other out and threaten and trash talk. It's tennis.

This brings us to the ignominious debacle that was Serena Williams's defeat in the Semifinals of the U.S. Open this past weekend. She was clearly losing, and was not accustomed to losing. After dropping the first set she smashed her racket on the court. I'm not talking about just throwing her racket down. I'm talking about a major temper tantrum that resulted in that poor racket being totally bent and broken. Priced a serious racket recently?

Then when Ms. Williams was on the verge of losing the second set, and thus the match, a line judge called her for a foot fault. Williams erupted with an ugly tirade of profanity and threats. "I'd like to shove this f*****g ball down your f*****g throat, etc., etc., etc." She was wielding a racket (Remember the dismembered racket from the previous set?) and waving it in the face of the line judge while engaging in the tirade. The small and mousy-looking little line judge appeared terrified. She reported what was said. She reported what happened. Williams had already received and unsportsmanlike conduct warning for the racket destruction tirade. For a second infraction it results in a one point penalty. It was match point and she lost.

I have no doubt that Serena Williams would have lost anyway. However, being penalized the point that sealed the deal was what she deserved for such behavior. She was fined $10,000 for the incident. That was peanuts. She should be suspended from the pro tennis tour for a while to think it over. Her behavior was unacceptable. This is tennis. Want to act like a low-class bully? Go to the NBA or one of those other pugnacious pro athlete venues. There are some things that are genteel and should remain that way.

Somebody Has to Care

I read the other day that Danish doctors have found that patients with the thinnest thighs die sooner than those with larger thighs. This has absolutely nothing to do with what I want to talk about today, but if there is anyone out there who is obsessing about fat thighs, think about it again. Ask the Doc from Denmark. This one is right up there with the studies that show that a little red wine every day is good for you. Here's to therapeutic wine and fat thighs.

I was prepared to put forth a little rant about how the public schools create these college preparatory high schools and siphon off all the bright kids and leave the lower achievers in the neighborhood schools. Then they blame the teachers in those neighborhood schools for not producing stellar results. You get kids coming into high school reading on a fifth grade level and surprise surprise, they don't do well on the ACT. They don't take AP classes.

Well all of that is true, but there is another side of that. I once thought that I wanted to work in a school where every kid was in the 99th percentile and wonderful things could be accomplished. I even went and got a Master's degree in Education of the Gifted and Talented. Then I discovered that there is a lot of politics involved in getting into one of those schools and I don't have the connections to get there. I also discovered that I'm pretty good at dealing with kids who are on the other end of the spectrum.

The real surprise was that there are a lot of wonderful kids in the neighborhood schools and a lot of people don't want to deal with them and if you give them a little bit of attention and show them that you care, they will work their hearts out for you. You have kids who come from miserable circumstances and end up in schools that are full of other kids from miserable circumstances. The schools full of these kids become recognized at large as a school that is a miserable circumstance.

Yet, as a teacher, if you go in day after day with a love for your subject and a love for kids you have some wonderful moments. Kids you never expected to see blossom do. Kids who hate you one year come back at a later date and thank you for being the hard-ass and making them work, for not letting them behave like total dolts. You have moments when you realize that you're getting through, at least to some of them. You realize that your own passion rubs off, that a little humor can suck in kids to ideas they wouldn't ordinarily consider.

This year I have been teaching for exactly 4 days and I have already had a couple of great experiences in this respect. Last year there was a freshman student, who shall remain nameless, who endlessly wandered the halls, refused to attend class, and cursed and threatened teachers who dared to call him to task. This student, who we shall call Student A, obviously wasn't the brightest bulb in the lot and appeared headed nowhere fast. I was one of the teachers who took him to task.

This year Student A is in one of my classes. He is still a freshman. He was a wee bit late each of the first two days and while I let him know I was displeased with the tardiness, I showed him that I cared, I included him in class discussion, I made him feel like a genuine student. Today he was the first student to arrive in his designated period. He reads at a very low level, but because I include him, because I help him when he needs it, because I'm willing to help him out, he has begun to try like many of the students of higher ability do not. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction and he apparently is learning to like social science and that guy that constantly sent him to the discipline office last year.

There are a lot of stories like this. There are a lot of kids like this. They too are citizens of the U.S. They too need preparation for the future. They have felt like discards for much of their lives. They really love it when someone actually cares and does their level best to help them. That takes a lot of work sometimes, a lot more than it takes to point an academically gifted student in the right direction and letting them discover the wonders of learning for themselves. Everybody cares about those academically gifted kids, though. They are touted as the future of our nation and of our world.

Well guess what? The Student A's of this world are also our future and they deserve an appropriate education as well. Too often they are cast aside on the scrap heap and unless we want them to grow up as a burden on society we better help them out. Somebody has to care for them too. It's just amazing that when you make a connection, what a beautiful thing it is to see that connection blossom into something constructive. You start to realize that it's not really caring because it's the job you're paid for, it's caring because these are really good kids who deserve the best. Student A, you're alright kid. We're going to get you through this thing.

The Unrepentant Liberal

If there's anything I've learned since I set up a Facebook page it's that there are a lot of people out there who seem to think the whole world agrees with them and they can say anything they want and not expect some fallout. Then there are people such as I who tend to be the fallout mentioned above and who have a certain facility for enraging the one's who blithely stated something I consider to be really dumb and in some cases downright offensive. Of course my responses often result in them thinking I'm downright offensive. How's that happen? I'm a pretty nice guy.

Been thinking about this and laid out a few basic facts about myself. Let's see, I'm reasonably well-educated. Got a Master's plus some. I teach school and care about kids. I try to be rational and well-informed about the issues of the day. I care about my country and its citizens. I think everybody should have access to the basic necessities of life. I believe all of humanity deserves some basic respect, regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, or sexual preference. Discrimination annoys me. I believe it was at this point in my enumeration of personal beliefs and traits that it hit me. Oh my God! I'm a liberal! What's more I have the unmitigated gall to profess this without an ounce of shame about it. Say it loud and say it proud! I'm a liberal! Didn't that feel good?

When I was younger someone, someone supposedly older and wiser, told me, "When you are 21, if you are not a liberal, you have no heart. When you are 45, if you are not a conservative, you have no mind." At the time I remember thinking, "Really?" Now I find myself thinking, in response, "Bite me buddy!" I passed that 45 year mark over a decade ago and I still care about humanity. I still favor progressive policies. Somehow in my heart of hearts and in my most rational mode, I find that liberal policies are the best for the nation as a whole and the future of America, if not the world. As Paul Simon once remarked, "Still crazy after all these years." That would be Paul Simon, the musician, not Paul Simon the late Senator from Illinois, although he too was a liberal.

Somewhere during the Reagan era, when I was busy being appalled that America elected this numbskull, not just once but twice, it became anathema to America to profess openly to be a liberal. It became "the L Word." No not lesbian. That's the new "L Word," created by the Showtime series of the same name, and I must admit that I don't shun lesbians, and in fact count a few as good friends. But I digress. I believe my response to Reagan era right-wing nonsense (Who could seriously vote for a guy who said ketchup was a vegetable and trees cause pollution?) was not to continue loudly saying "I'm a liberal," but to join the Democratic Socialists of America and proudly proclaim, "I'm a radical." Hey! Now I'm only a liberal. I've mellowed with age. (Okay, not much. Just got a little more realistic.) Man if you think the "L Word" scares middle America, try spreading around the "S Word" sometime. Scares the pants off them. Brings out the NRA in some of the most peaceful individuals. Interesting study in Psychology for Americans.

At any rate, I find myself in my late 50's, rapidly approaching 60 and I'm not changing my views a bit. I take the late Ted Kennedy as a guiding light in the direction I think I'm committed to. (Not as for male-female relations, but as to social policy.) My views are not so radically different from what they were when I was an undergraduate in the late 60's and early 70's. Furthermore, I seem to have reached a point where my attitude about it is "I don't care what you think about what I think. This is it. Take it or leave it." I can no longer mince words. This is what my life has been about and still is about.

Of course with the advent of Facebook, this has been broadcast to people I went to high school with, family members, and assorted people who have accompanied me along this path. I have managed to alienate a certain number who I never really was honest with before. I have to ask myself, though, "How can they reject me now, when my life was saying this all along? I just verbalized it now." Funny how people avoid talking about things that really matter. Funny how they can go on for decades ignoring their differences, afraid to voice them, to face them, to deal with them.

Then there is this blog. It takes what is inside my head and puts it out there for the world to see. It is an act of bravery, to see what the world thinks of what I think, or to see if they even care. Perhaps it is after all just ego, that I feel my ramblings would matter at all, but even if they don't I remain the same, an unrepentant liberal, ever ready to tilt at the windmills of society.

Do You Want This Man Talking to Your Kids? I do.

As if it weren't silly enough that the Republican Party has resorted to distorting many of the facts about healthcare reform and making up outright lies to fight against it, now they have decided to take issue with the President of the United States addressing school kids and offering a positive message about the value of education. I can only assume that their agenda includes a strident anti-anything response to anything the President chooses to do. This sounds familiar. Hmmmm. Oh yeah, the same thing happened the last time a Democrat was President. Bill Clinton created a situation for himself with the Monica Lewinsky escapade, but the Republican Party took every opportunity to try to paint him as the Devil, or at the very least, the Devil's right-hand man.

As I recall, when Mr. Clinton left office the government was running a surplus, the national debt was being paid down, and we weren't involved in two wars that were sapping the resources of the nation. When George W. Bush left office the government was running a serious deficit every year, the national debt had reached astronomical proportions, and we were fighting two wars that were sapping the resources, human and monetary of this nation. Barack Obama inherited this mess and an economy that was in the worst downward spiral since the Great Depression. Yet the very people who elected Bush twice and supported him are now demonizing a man who is doing his level best to correct the ungodly mess created over the previous eight years. Part of this is their effort to paint him and the Democratic Party in a bad light so they may win the Presidency back in four years. Part of it, I suspect, is thinly disguised racism, and a strong reaction against anything a man of color can present to America.

We're not just talking about simple opposition to liberal Democratic policies. We're talking about making up the most outrageous accusations possible about the President, even when he's obviously doing something constructive. The day after Labor Day is traditionally the kickoff of the new school year for American children. The President is taking the opportunity of that first day to speak to our nation's children about the value of education. Can anyone honestly argue that education isn't valuable?

Yet the Republican Party is accusing the President of trying to indoctrinate our children with socialist thought. Is it socialist to want children to take education seriously? What kind of silly nonsense is this? Those opposing his speech next Tuesday would have us believe that the President is taking every opportunity to brainwash the children of America. If we were to take their argument to its logical extreme, then we would have to assume that public schools are a socialist plot. We would have to assume the people arguing this would want to take their children out of these schools so as not to have them tainted by indoctrination and propaganda. Oh wait, most of them already have done so. Their kids go to private schools or are being home schooled, mostly private schools, though.

Frankly, Mr. Obama isn't even arguing against private schools or home schooling either. What he is arguing is that education is important, no matter where you get it. If you get a good education and perform well in school, doors open for you. You enjoy success in later life. If you do not get a good education, if you do not perform well in school, doors subsequently close for you. If our country is to be successful, it is important that all of our children take their education seriously. The future of our country relies on the success of our children, who by and large attend public schools. There are not enough families who are wealthy enough to send their children to private schools, there are not enough parents with sufficient knowledge and ability to give their children what they need from home to fill all the needed niches in our system.

We need to support our public schools. We need to encourage all of our children to work hard in those schools. We need to ensure that all of our children have the knowledge and skills to be successful. Otherwise the entire country is going down the tubes. Our President recognizes this. This is what he wants to impress on our children. Is this bad? I think not. I think it's time we, as a country woke up and recognized political propagandizing at the expense of the country as a whole.

President Obama did not grow up wealthy. Yet he worked hard and made it to Harvard Law School. He managed to make it to the most powerful position in the country, and possibly the world. He did this in spite of having dark skin, a decided drawback in a country that is in denial about its systemic racism. There are a great many minority children in this country, African-American, Mexican-American, and Native American who can be motivated by this man with his bully pulpit. They can see that it is possible for a man from a minority to work hard and succeed. If he could motivate these children, this could be a boon for the entire country. This could mean more adults with job skills, fewer adults with prison records, and a more productive nation. I would hope that he could also reach white children as well. They too need to hear this message. They too need the benefit of a good education. The children need this. Our nation needs this. The world needs this. Let's stop with the silly crap and allow a great man with great ideas to do his job, and along the way serve as an inspiration to a generation of America's youth.

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's Back to Work We Go!

After a couple of months in the civilian world, I returned to the knowledge factory today, one of the places we call public schools. As is usual, the teachers and staff returned from summer vacation tanned and refreshed and full of hope, anxious to meet a new crop of students in need of knowledge and skills development.

As part of an effort to build staff morale and camaraderie, everyone was treated to Dunkin Donuts, juice, and coffee. This was followed by a call for anyone in the room to stand up and shout out something they had to celebrate. No less than 5, maybe 6 teachers were proud to announce that they had completed their Master's Degrees. One teacher proudly announced that she and her husband had purchased a home. One fifty-something teacher then crowed that her son had purchased a condo and was finally moving out of her house, for goodness sakes. Things degenerated from there. A Security Guard stood and loudly proclaimed, "I'm finally off probation." I had to reflect that although this was a joke, sadly a large number of African-American men of his age can say that and mean it.

The Principal welcomed us all back for 30 minutes and we all wondered, "When is this woman going to shut up so we can get on with something meaningful?" Eventually the presentation segued into our plan for the year and this is what I learned. Our former CEO in the Chicago Public Schools is now the Secretary of Education for the U.S.A., so we have a new CEO who wishes to put his stamp on the system. I don't wish to denigrate the man's program, but what it meant to me today was that I have to learn the meaning of a whole new set of acronyms.

Acronyms 101:

1. ILT-Instructional Leadership Team

2. Fresh Start ILT-Instructional Leadership Team as designated by the joint reform effort of the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union.

3. LSC-Local School Council (Principal, teachers, parents, community members, and one student representative.)

4. IDS-Instructional Development System (A reform effort for underperforming schools as decided upon by the central offices of CPS.)

5. AVID-Achievement Via Individual Determination (A school improvement system that can be purchased by struggling schools.)

6. TIA-Targeted Instructional Area (For the record, ours is 'Writing to Learn.')

7. PP-Powerful Practices (Stuff you do to enact TIAs.)

8. TCT-Teacher Collaboration Team (People you interact and collaborate with. Departments, duh! My TCT is the Social Sciences Department.)

9. HQIT-High Quality Instructional Task (Anything that includes the word rigor.)

10. CAO-Chief Area Officer (Formerly AIO or Area Instructional Officer or some dude that supervises all the schools in a particular part of the city.)

All of this being said, life goes on. Efforts at school improvement come and they go. Teachers and students endure. Things come back again cyclically, usually under another name. Bottom line? There are people who can teach and there are those who cannot. Many of those who cannot realize it early on and drop out of education. Sadly there are others who persist in attempting to teach and are a bitch to get rid of. There are administrators who are good at managing schools and motivating people and there are those who suck. See the above statements about teachers and apply here as well. Unfortunately administrators draw much larger salaries than teachers and become much more of a drag on the system monetarily, and impact whole schools full of teachers and students instead of just a few students as is the case with teachers.

Amazingly, there are some good educational experiences out there. I remember having one really good teacher every two or three years and working hard for them and learning a lot and then coasting until I got another. I expect most of our students have similar experiences. So how will our new CEO affect the Chicago Public Schools and education for its students? Who knows? Let me just leave you with a couple of thoughts about this. He was a Chicago Policeman. He was Director of the Office of Emergency Management for the City of Chicago. He was Mayor Daley's Chief of Staff. He was the head of the Chicago Transit Authority. Now he is the CEO of CPS. He apparently knows a lot about management. Don't really have a clue what he knows about education. I can only be sure of what I know and use it to affect the kids they throw at me. Hi ho! Hi ho!.........