YES, MOST OF THE KIDS are gone and a week of quiet is always a nice respite. But unless you're a teacher, the much ballyhooed Spring Break isn't for most adults. In addition to trying to make a huge effort to finish mudding, taping and texturing CJ's room and repairing a dainty little chasm in the dining room wall (don't ask!), I have also decided to expand my blog empire.
Today I launched "Ahab's Revenge", a daily look into my seven-week "Targeted Excercise and Metabolism-Raising Menu Program, my effort to finally smote the great white whale I have become since I jumped behind the keyboard of a digital profession some 14 years ago. Tomorrow we will unveil "On Stage Tonight", a once-or twice weekly review of one of the 150 or more live concert recordings I picked up during my days in that industry and (gratefully and joyously) still find in my mailbox in my mailbox from time to time, compliments of friends I met along the way. This will, of course, necessitate a reduction in visits from The Three Dot, but hopefully not too much so. I do love my Lounge...
WHILE LAST FRIDAY marked the annual showing of "The Movie" for our EB 5th graders, the day before brought forth a celebration of another kind; the annual, District-wide, Fifth Grade Musical, "Let Freedom Ring" . Each year, fifth-grade students from all 12 Idaho Falls elementary schools plan, rehearse and prepare for a night of song, and commentary to celebrate the freedoms that being an American affords us all. These amazing young students, with the help of District Elementary Music Specialists Leo Eaton, Kathy Wells, Linda Jones, and Jennifer Korenke selected and performed 12 songs that provided a complete look at just how lucky we are to live in this great land. We'll get some video clips of a few of the highlights posted, hopefully tonight. Check back, because it really is inspiring to see that, all the party affiliation crap aside, our schools are still teaching our kids what is important...
BACKSTAGE PASS DEPT: Though there wasn't enough time to seep through the layers and procure passes for our pseudo groupies Patti and Pam, word is the two had a fab-o time from the sixteenth row at last week's John Mayer show at the HiP. The girls made it back safely to Patti's that night and plans are for a dozen-or-so AVHS Class of '78 grads, all women mind you (the guys never get invited to the good mini-reunions), are getting together tomorrow night at a top secret eatery in WC. Have fun gals, and drive safe...Next up on the Mini-Reunion schedule: '78 grads Rob and Michelle LaVeira-Flores' daughter Renee will be tying the nuptial knot in Lake Tahoe on June 19. Don't be surprised if an impromptu gathering of AVHS alums descend on the CHICAGO/DOOBIE BROTHERS show at the Harvey's Ampitheater that evening...
AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR...Early comments are that Duke 's win on Sunday saved the Final Four from becoming a class in mass boredome and a ratings disaster. I can understand the latter, as the ratings for the last weekend of Madness in March is made up casual fans and office "bracket watchers". The Devils being the only #1 seed to survive, it's a sure bet that without them, the Neilsen Numbers would equal the number of Harry Reid supporters at a Tea Party rally. But boring? Not on your life. That only one top-seed is still on the floor for the final songs at the Big Dance makes this one of the best closing weekends ever. So here's the deal: I'm taking Butler, and let slip the (Bull)dogs of war!...
Showing posts with label public education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public education. Show all posts
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Fear and Loathing in the Fifth Grade
After six predecessors and as many fearful, "longest walks of their lives" down that mile-long corridor to the library, today our family marks the final step across the threshold to adulthood and eternal uncertainty, as our eleven year old gets his turn at...The 5th Grade Sex Ed Movie.
Yesterday afternoon, our youngest, Charles, returned home from his day of matriculation, lost and bewildered, as though he had just watched a super-slow motion video of a family of chicklings being transformed into road kill by a Mack truck. After repeated inquiries I sat beside him and, putting my arm around his shoulder, said, "Charles, did something happen at school? What's wrong, buddy?" Looking up with tears streaming down both sides of his not-yet adolenscent face, he replied,
"They're showing that movie at school tomorrow, and I don't wanna see it".
I don't recall having the same abiding fear of "the movie", which was actually a filmstrip (complete with the "beep" to turn to the next graphic), when we got it 38 years ago. But things have changed quite a bit in regards to how the public education system helps our young men begin that journey from pre-pubescent lover of all things sports or action-film related to neighborhood studmuffin.
First off, where my sixth grade class got the whole shi-bang as a class in one 60-minute filmstrip, now they seperate the information into two years; 5th grade focusing on body changes and personal hygeine, 6th grade on sexual development and reproductive roles. The film/discussion class are now also seperated by gender and the parents are invited to come along for support and participation.
Looking back, I think both changes in teh presentation are excellent ideas. Not only does it break the information into more age appropriate levels, but the seperation of boys and girls serves two purposes; removing the uncomfortability of inevitible eye contact with the cute little red headed girl during a discussion on insemination and the more relaxed, gender specific audience making it a little more likely that questions will be asked instead of staring at the clock and hoping the torturous experience will end soon.
I also think it a stroke of genius to invite the parents to participate. This also offers two wonderful opportunities; to have some input into how this information is for presented to your child, and also to take what, as yesterday's conversation proved, can be a highly emotional and borderline terrifying event and transform it into a strong, positive bonding experience. The tradition in this household is that "The Movie" is immediately followed by an extended lunch period at the pizza parlor of the child's choice (although I think maybe Lisa and Caroline did Olive Garden, but I don't really remember, having completely erased both her fifth and sixth grade "movie days" from my mind for all time and eternity, having protested, to no avail, that she should have been made to wait until she was at least 30 to be exposed to such corruptably influential information).
Some things, however, have not changed. I recall during the summer in between 5th and 6th grade, some older kids on the block who had already been subjected to and survived "the filmstrip" told us tales of imagineable horror and eventual embarassment beyond description. That time honored tradition continues today. I asked Charles why he was so upset by having to see The Movie, imagining that instructions inside a box of tampons would prove more embarassing to an 11 year old boy than anything he would hear or see tomorrow, and that in fact, all the children had been made keenly aware of the content of tomorrow's class.
"Dad!", he bellowed, "I don't wanna see a movie of people...doing it! That's just sick!".
Explaining to him in excrutiating detail about what tomorrow would be about and how there would be little if any mention of sex or sexual activity and certainly no video of such things, he relaxed and a few minutes later was happy and smiling at the kitchen table attacking his math homework. Go figure.
Last night, I thought about my little guy's fear and loathing at even the ridiculous suggestion that he would be forced to sit with his class and watch two people having sex, and it made me think about when I was in the 5th grade. Our teacher, Mrs. Tout had us make these racing cars out of dish soap bottles, which we could decorate to our liking. The three self-ordained "top dogs", Bill Connelly, Mark Santos, and Shaun Reilly, adorned their racing machines with the number "69", making sure everyone in class knew that was the coolest number and then made a point of asking every boy in the class if they knew what it meant.
As I recalled this oddly memorable moment of my upbringing, I thought about how my youth was vastly different from that of my children. We didn't have MTV or network sex. When I was 11, Mike and Carol Brady were a big deal because they weren't in single beds. Our Madonna was Karen Carpenter, our Brad Pitt was Paul Newman. And where today, unsupervised children can pull up the Internet and find hardcore sex clips in an instant, we had the underwear section of the Sears catalogue.
That grimacing look of disgust on Charles' face as he explained the reason for his angst yesterday, at the moment made we want to laugh. Thinking back on it, however, I smile and am grateful.
Not that he will always find physical intimacy to be disgusting; there will be other "talks", and hopefully, the lessons of love and respect and privacy I have learned will override the "locker talk" he will no doubt overhear. But as I watched him eating his breakfast this morning, the daily commics dutifully splattered with milk and his hair loking as though it had never been introduced to the prickly end of a hair brush, I thought to myself...
He's 11. Maybe a year or so more filled with the fear of "girl cuties" isn't such a bad thing.
Yesterday afternoon, our youngest, Charles, returned home from his day of matriculation, lost and bewildered, as though he had just watched a super-slow motion video of a family of chicklings being transformed into road kill by a Mack truck. After repeated inquiries I sat beside him and, putting my arm around his shoulder, said, "Charles, did something happen at school? What's wrong, buddy?" Looking up with tears streaming down both sides of his not-yet adolenscent face, he replied,
"They're showing that movie at school tomorrow, and I don't wanna see it".
I don't recall having the same abiding fear of "the movie", which was actually a filmstrip (complete with the "beep" to turn to the next graphic), when we got it 38 years ago. But things have changed quite a bit in regards to how the public education system helps our young men begin that journey from pre-pubescent lover of all things sports or action-film related to neighborhood studmuffin.
First off, where my sixth grade class got the whole shi-bang as a class in one 60-minute filmstrip, now they seperate the information into two years; 5th grade focusing on body changes and personal hygeine, 6th grade on sexual development and reproductive roles. The film/discussion class are now also seperated by gender and the parents are invited to come along for support and participation.
Looking back, I think both changes in teh presentation are excellent ideas. Not only does it break the information into more age appropriate levels, but the seperation of boys and girls serves two purposes; removing the uncomfortability of inevitible eye contact with the cute little red headed girl during a discussion on insemination and the more relaxed, gender specific audience making it a little more likely that questions will be asked instead of staring at the clock and hoping the torturous experience will end soon.
I also think it a stroke of genius to invite the parents to participate. This also offers two wonderful opportunities; to have some input into how this information is for presented to your child, and also to take what, as yesterday's conversation proved, can be a highly emotional and borderline terrifying event and transform it into a strong, positive bonding experience. The tradition in this household is that "The Movie" is immediately followed by an extended lunch period at the pizza parlor of the child's choice (although I think maybe Lisa and Caroline did Olive Garden, but I don't really remember, having completely erased both her fifth and sixth grade "movie days" from my mind for all time and eternity, having protested, to no avail, that she should have been made to wait until she was at least 30 to be exposed to such corruptably influential information).
Some things, however, have not changed. I recall during the summer in between 5th and 6th grade, some older kids on the block who had already been subjected to and survived "the filmstrip" told us tales of imagineable horror and eventual embarassment beyond description. That time honored tradition continues today. I asked Charles why he was so upset by having to see The Movie, imagining that instructions inside a box of tampons would prove more embarassing to an 11 year old boy than anything he would hear or see tomorrow, and that in fact, all the children had been made keenly aware of the content of tomorrow's class.
"Dad!", he bellowed, "I don't wanna see a movie of people...doing it! That's just sick!".
Explaining to him in excrutiating detail about what tomorrow would be about and how there would be little if any mention of sex or sexual activity and certainly no video of such things, he relaxed and a few minutes later was happy and smiling at the kitchen table attacking his math homework. Go figure.
Last night, I thought about my little guy's fear and loathing at even the ridiculous suggestion that he would be forced to sit with his class and watch two people having sex, and it made me think about when I was in the 5th grade. Our teacher, Mrs. Tout had us make these racing cars out of dish soap bottles, which we could decorate to our liking. The three self-ordained "top dogs", Bill Connelly, Mark Santos, and Shaun Reilly, adorned their racing machines with the number "69", making sure everyone in class knew that was the coolest number and then made a point of asking every boy in the class if they knew what it meant.
As I recalled this oddly memorable moment of my upbringing, I thought about how my youth was vastly different from that of my children. We didn't have MTV or network sex. When I was 11, Mike and Carol Brady were a big deal because they weren't in single beds. Our Madonna was Karen Carpenter, our Brad Pitt was Paul Newman. And where today, unsupervised children can pull up the Internet and find hardcore sex clips in an instant, we had the underwear section of the Sears catalogue.
That grimacing look of disgust on Charles' face as he explained the reason for his angst yesterday, at the moment made we want to laugh. Thinking back on it, however, I smile and am grateful.
Not that he will always find physical intimacy to be disgusting; there will be other "talks", and hopefully, the lessons of love and respect and privacy I have learned will override the "locker talk" he will no doubt overhear. But as I watched him eating his breakfast this morning, the daily commics dutifully splattered with milk and his hair loking as though it had never been introduced to the prickly end of a hair brush, I thought to myself...
He's 11. Maybe a year or so more filled with the fear of "girl cuties" isn't such a bad thing.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Monday Recap
MANY OUTSTANDING MOMENTS during Granpda Weekend. Aiden hangin' with Huck; like Rick and Louis at the end of Casablanca, the beginning of a beautiful friendship. The heart-melting smile the first time the little cowboy turned the light switch off by himself (it doesn't take much to entertain a 10 month old). The classic Bubblebath/Rubber Ducky Hour to bring a quiet end to each day. But for this extended four-day weekend, nothing topped the precursor to yesterday's mid-morning nap. 10:30 hits and like clockwork, a rabid case of the "crankies" set in...imagine Chucky having a really bad day. But a diaper change and a chilled bottle of 2010 Infamil Private Reserve...which usually sends him right into Sandmanland and...Mr. Cranky Pants still wants more. So, I fix him another bottle and when I return, he's not the least bit interested; instead, perfectly content to lay in my arms and have me rock him to sleep with a couple of less-than-stellar James Taylor covers, Long Ago and Far Away and Sweet Baby James. Fortunately, the lad has no musical ear yet, so my ick-apella lullabys were enough to put him to sleep...and I got to walk around the rest of the day with a case of the uber-warm fuzzies...
THE OSCARS FOR this family is as follows: didn't watch it, weren't all that interested in who won. I remember back in the days when Oscar Night was a "big" deal; in fact maybe the first actual "Must See TV". Mostly I remember the hosts. I recall Bob Hope when I was younger, then the Carson Years of the late 70's/early 80's, followed by the Billy Crystal/Whoopi Goldberg 90's, probably the longest stretch of great Oscar nights, highlighted of course by Crystal's opening sequences that were always funnier and more creative than any of the movies nominated. If the Academy was smart, they'd pay Crystal whatever he wanted, give him 100% control and sign him to a lifetime contract. As for last night, my thanks to gal pal Patty Santin for her live updates via FB chat while I was sitting at the keyboard catching up on work I put off to spend the last four days with Mr. Smiley Face...
AL GORE DEPT: Here in IF, two years ago we had our last substantial snowfall on June 11. Last year, May 21. Yesterday, March 7, was our third consecutive day with temps over 35 and the second in a row over 40, and in every yard on our street, it was hard to find more than a melting snowman's worth of the white stuff. Being a NoCal boy, I'm as happy as Tiger Woods in a hotel room full of b-cup bleach blondes, but I am wondering how the anti-GW crowd will explain this one. Maybe passing it off as a reasonable result from all the extra driving we've been doing since our community-minded friends at the oil companies lowered pump prices to less than $3 a gal? Uh....yeah! I am sure the eco-folks are glad the guys at ExMob are finally starting to see the light...
NEXT UP, MARCH MADNESS: Today, my 13 year old heads back to school, while the 11, 15, and 17 year olds have the day off. Reason: The elementary and high schools on this side of the Snake are on Trimesters, while the Junior High, located directly next to and across the street, respectively, from each, is on a Semester schedule. Public Education at its finest...Always a day late and several million dollars short, our local, county, and state governments, along with a couple of dozen large corps are hosting a mini economic summit and jobs faire at the Civic Aud. here in IF today. Among the scheduled speakers will be Idaho Governor Butch Otter and IF Mayor Jared Fuhriman. Coming on the heels of last week's Labor Dept. announcement that new job losses were 7.2% less than expected last month, do ya think if they'd had job faires like this all over the US two years ago, we might have avoided this whole economic slump all together? Personally, I think if the gov required the banks to either lend every last cent of bailout money to businesses for expansion or give it back, with interest, we'd have all been back in black months ago...Final madness of the month: my good friend Stacy Beintema, late of arch rival Foothill High in Pleasanton and the Grupe Co. of Stockton, CA, where in 1984 she lured me into the maelstrom of property management when I began my slow departure from the peace and quiet of the rock and roll biz, turns...a year older...on the 15th. Once again, the Ides have it, and I'd say she's doing ok. A retired SJCO cop for a hub (and a fabo guy in his own right), two awesome kids (one war hero and one recent Fresno St. grad who is taking the "girls always fall in love with men just like their daddy" WAY too seriously), and a fulfilling career helping people stay alive at the American Cancer Society. Not bad for a salty (not) old gal who still doesn't look a day over 35. Happy Birthday, B...
THIS WEEKEND WAS also my brother Bob's 48th birthday. He, his lovely wife Susan, and their daughter Alex celebrated a week early in Maui, where they took a much needed vaca. Not surpisingly, I received notice on their 3rd day in paradise that they had been "Bartmaned" again. It seems everytime these two leave the continental US, disaster ensues. Nine years ago, nary a month after their wedding, they hopped a honeymoon flight to Ireland (the lengths my lil' bro will go to play a new golf course!). In the middle of their trip...9-11. Last Saturday, it was the Chilean earthquake and the very real, albeit temporary, threat of tsunami waves overrunning the islands. In the end it was an oddly enjoyable afternon for them and the thousands of other tourists bunking beachside to pack up, cart their rental cars up to high ground and watch the tide come in and out until the all-clear was given. The NTSB has politely requested the next time they are looking for a get away spot, they should try Kansas. Happy Brithday, Bubba...
AND SO ANOTHER week begins. Senioritis has already started setting in on school teachers (along with some students), geese are starting to head back to Canada, ticked they missed the Olympics, and I'm sticking pins in voodoo dolls of my friends back in Cali who are enjoying their home golf courses while, because of the snow that remains, I'm lucky to scare up a good game of Wii Golf. But we live, we love and we pray for the best, all the while remembering how blessed we are just to be able to experience the madness.
THE OSCARS FOR this family is as follows: didn't watch it, weren't all that interested in who won. I remember back in the days when Oscar Night was a "big" deal; in fact maybe the first actual "Must See TV". Mostly I remember the hosts. I recall Bob Hope when I was younger, then the Carson Years of the late 70's/early 80's, followed by the Billy Crystal/Whoopi Goldberg 90's, probably the longest stretch of great Oscar nights, highlighted of course by Crystal's opening sequences that were always funnier and more creative than any of the movies nominated. If the Academy was smart, they'd pay Crystal whatever he wanted, give him 100% control and sign him to a lifetime contract. As for last night, my thanks to gal pal Patty Santin for her live updates via FB chat while I was sitting at the keyboard catching up on work I put off to spend the last four days with Mr. Smiley Face...
AL GORE DEPT: Here in IF, two years ago we had our last substantial snowfall on June 11. Last year, May 21. Yesterday, March 7, was our third consecutive day with temps over 35 and the second in a row over 40, and in every yard on our street, it was hard to find more than a melting snowman's worth of the white stuff. Being a NoCal boy, I'm as happy as Tiger Woods in a hotel room full of b-cup bleach blondes, but I am wondering how the anti-GW crowd will explain this one. Maybe passing it off as a reasonable result from all the extra driving we've been doing since our community-minded friends at the oil companies lowered pump prices to less than $3 a gal? Uh....yeah! I am sure the eco-folks are glad the guys at ExMob are finally starting to see the light...
NEXT UP, MARCH MADNESS: Today, my 13 year old heads back to school, while the 11, 15, and 17 year olds have the day off. Reason: The elementary and high schools on this side of the Snake are on Trimesters, while the Junior High, located directly next to and across the street, respectively, from each, is on a Semester schedule. Public Education at its finest...Always a day late and several million dollars short, our local, county, and state governments, along with a couple of dozen large corps are hosting a mini economic summit and jobs faire at the Civic Aud. here in IF today. Among the scheduled speakers will be Idaho Governor Butch Otter and IF Mayor Jared Fuhriman. Coming on the heels of last week's Labor Dept. announcement that new job losses were 7.2% less than expected last month, do ya think if they'd had job faires like this all over the US two years ago, we might have avoided this whole economic slump all together? Personally, I think if the gov required the banks to either lend every last cent of bailout money to businesses for expansion or give it back, with interest, we'd have all been back in black months ago...Final madness of the month: my good friend Stacy Beintema, late of arch rival Foothill High in Pleasanton and the Grupe Co. of Stockton, CA, where in 1984 she lured me into the maelstrom of property management when I began my slow departure from the peace and quiet of the rock and roll biz, turns...a year older...on the 15th. Once again, the Ides have it, and I'd say she's doing ok. A retired SJCO cop for a hub (and a fabo guy in his own right), two awesome kids (one war hero and one recent Fresno St. grad who is taking the "girls always fall in love with men just like their daddy" WAY too seriously), and a fulfilling career helping people stay alive at the American Cancer Society. Not bad for a salty (not) old gal who still doesn't look a day over 35. Happy Birthday, B...
THIS WEEKEND WAS also my brother Bob's 48th birthday. He, his lovely wife Susan, and their daughter Alex celebrated a week early in Maui, where they took a much needed vaca. Not surpisingly, I received notice on their 3rd day in paradise that they had been "Bartmaned" again. It seems everytime these two leave the continental US, disaster ensues. Nine years ago, nary a month after their wedding, they hopped a honeymoon flight to Ireland (the lengths my lil' bro will go to play a new golf course!). In the middle of their trip...9-11. Last Saturday, it was the Chilean earthquake and the very real, albeit temporary, threat of tsunami waves overrunning the islands. In the end it was an oddly enjoyable afternon for them and the thousands of other tourists bunking beachside to pack up, cart their rental cars up to high ground and watch the tide come in and out until the all-clear was given. The NTSB has politely requested the next time they are looking for a get away spot, they should try Kansas. Happy Brithday, Bubba...
AND SO ANOTHER week begins. Senioritis has already started setting in on school teachers (along with some students), geese are starting to head back to Canada, ticked they missed the Olympics, and I'm sticking pins in voodoo dolls of my friends back in Cali who are enjoying their home golf courses while, because of the snow that remains, I'm lucky to scare up a good game of Wii Golf. But we live, we love and we pray for the best, all the while remembering how blessed we are just to be able to experience the madness.
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