Mystery Lady

I am recording this post for my own benefit and not for any one else to read or critique.

Today as I finished the organ postlude after the church sacrament service a little lady that I did not know came quickly up to the organ to speak to me. It usually take a few minutes for me to cancel my stops, clear the area of all music, disengage the organ and lights, and secure it for the next organist and meeting.

This lady did not introduce herself necessarily but told me she was visiting the church service from another area. She indicated she was astounded at the organ accompaniment, prelude and postlude today. She said she wanted to compliment me on my organ skills and abilities. She went on to inquire as to how long I had been playing organ and how long it had taken me to become so good!! Say what????? Since I don't consider myself accomplished or polished I was somewhat floored. She went on to say that in so many church services you hear organists play who are really pianists and it shows in how they try to play an organ. And that it is obvious when an organist understands the instrument (organ) they are playing!!
She kept asking me how long I had been playing organ and I told her finally that it had been many years and further that it had taken a lot of work and time.

I thanked her but still have no idea who she was nor why she was in our meeting. Something for me to reflect on for a while.

Frustration(s) WIth My Furry Children

I write out of frustration today. This learning to be a veterinarian nurse is a complicated educational path!! I am constantly confused and am totally in sympathy with veterinarians now. Their patients can't speak and their owners attempt but not always understanding what their furry children feel may not be able to convey the correct message. The point to all of this is that I don't understand my furry children and their needs. I try -- oh, so hard, I do try but without much success.

My older furry child has diabetes as I have written before. I understand diabetes somewhat from a human standpoint and I understand the difference between Type I and Type II. My furry child has Type I. I find myself "in a strut," so to speak, trying to get her to eat her food so that I can give her the insulin I am told she needs. Furry child has a mind of her own and doesn't always want to comply with her humanoid's time frames. Thus, my continual frustration with all of this.

In a perfect doggie world my Piper should eat the food offered to her and within a thirty minute time frame I should administer her insulin. Twelve hours later the same procedure should happen again. Well, whoop-dee-doo!! Piper thinks this is poppycock!!! She will just do it her way, thank you!! Most mornings of late I have to bribe her to eat so I can give her the needed insulin. About mid-day she is truly hungry and will eat everything in sight that she likes OR she will stand in front of me and wag her little tail over and over while I question her about what she wants!! I don't like for her to eat bunches of carbs so I try to limit any kibble she might be attracted to consume. This keeps me running to be sure my other schnauzer, Kami, has nothing anywhere that Piper might pick up and consume. It is almost like a house of horrors!!

Today, I am up at 6 AM with these two "hounds!" I eat my own breakfast and then I prepared theirs. Piper smells of hers after I bribe her to come out of her "condo" and walks away. What is in her bowl? To entice her to eat I have given her the WD canned food for diabetic doggies, some chopped chicken breast that I cooked and prepared and I even add a little Oscar Meyer bacon bits. She walked away, folks!! My younger one, Kami, had a little kibble, some chopped chicken breast, and a little of the Oscar Meyer bacon bits. Kami is a little more compliant. She ate all except for part of the kibble. Sometimes she will eat all of her kibble, sometimes not.

I continue to learn....I hope...I can solve this puzzle!!

Views of the Newz

What an interesting week we have had in the old North State! Early in the week it was announced that a former governor had passed away. He was one of the GOP's finest if measured by the fact that he seemed to be a gentleman and he loved his home state. When compared to politicians of today -- at least the ones who occupy the offices and dominate the legislature today, he ranked at the top and most of these clowns are scrambling to see who can blow the others out of the bottom. Of course, it was dutifully noted that he was governor at a time when both houses were of the opposite party and he had to learn to work with them -- quite the contrast with today. But learn to work with them, he did. In so doing he made life long friends with people of both parties and won respect from all. So he was eulogized and laid to rest -- er, I mean cremated and his ashes interred.

As the week wore on a certain cooking diva was charged with using the forbidden word that starts with....well, you know. So she is in real trouble with P R issues and thus has fallen out of favor. She has been dumped off of all her cooking shows, I guess she could be deemed "undesirable" by all at this point. It seems she was answering questions honestly as to whether she had ever uttered certain words and she dared to admit she has/had! I am not certain when her crucifixion will be held but the sooner the better. She has apologized publicly and put it out there that "she has sinned" and is begging for forgiveness but there "ain't none fer her!" RIP Cooking Diva! Oh, and this is not the first time she has sinned. She had earlier gotten in trouble because she has always cooked these yummy, sinful, fattening, forbidden, delicious foods and then it was exposed that she is a Type II diabetic. Right away she had to stop indulging so the news media got her for that one, too. That helped with her de-throning!

The last exciting newz I will discuss is the Omaha baseball fiasco! Two of our major locals qualified. First, when they got there they beat up on each other. Then UCLA beat up on one of them and sent that group home. A few days passed and UCLA beat up on the other group and sent them packing! Now they both are back here in the southeast having their wounds tended to. We just all hope the fierce fearsome athletic director at the school in our town doesn't decide to cut away the baseball coach because his group got whooped in the process at the great Omaha happening! That is about it for the newz for this week!

MY DAD, Talkin' Bout MY DAD

My Dad, Talkin' bout My Dad, that I must do with this post. No politics today, but about the man I admire who was my father. This Sunday is Father's Day, the day set aside to honor our Dads. My Dad was Harry Edward Lemon. A true southern gentleman with blondish hair and blue eyes. A man whose eyes would water and tears would form even at the age of eighty when he talked about his father. He was an honorable man in word and deed.

From my Dad, I learned many lessons of life that have formed the fiber of who I am. My Dad was an honest man to a fault!! I remember a time when as he aged worried that he might have cheated Social Security in some way. Nothing could have been further from the truth and I can't recall what issue caused him to worry with this but is was not true. When I think of folks who dishonestly draw Social Security in great numbers and feel entitled, I always reflect on my Dad. My Dad modeled a faultless work ethic for his family. He worked hard and worked long hours. He was a perfectionist at his work, doing a wonderful job and always being so neat. I recall him saying he would like to work until he could "no longer carry his weight" meaning couldn't do the job according to acceptable standards and then he would retire. I believe he was perhaps seventy-eight when he last worked. He was weeks short of his eighty-second birthday when he passed away.

My Dad taught me to drive -- on a straight shift car. It was quite an experience. He had been driving since he was a youngster and had only brothers. He probably thought I should think like a guy, I'm not sure. But he would take me up to the ball field not too far away and have me drive up a hill over and over so that I could properly learn to use the clutch. Getting all of that synched was not the easiest task for me but he had me prepared well enough to pass when we went for the test. Just another of those life skills he taught in helping me to be prepared with the skills to be able to live alone should I ever need.

It was hard to imagine how our Mom would manage without our Father. He was about ten and one-half years older than she therefore it seemed inevitable that someday she would have to face that. It was so painful for her when he passed away that it was difficult to encourage her to keep pushing forward. She was not in the best of health and passed away three years later. They made quite a wonderful pair that we are privileged to call Mom and Dad. We miss them and can always say that we were born "of goodly parents!"

Common Core vs Right Wing

I think I have finally made some conclusions, of my very own, about the issues surrounding the opposition I keep hearing in NC concerning Common Core. Last week the lieutenant governor weighed in with opposition which sounded more political than grounded in substantial reasoning. I concluded that he had been listening to a certain radio personality and right-wing, Tea Party folks before launching his complaint.

Having been an educator in the schools of NC for more years than some of you can count and having worked with curriculum for many years I am more than familiar with core curriculum standards and the flow of skills developmentally. With that said, my understanding of the point of Common Core was to unify nationwide verbage (common language) used in teaching skills, the flow of curriculum, and to more fully develop the depth of understanding of concepts to enable our students to become better problem solvers and thinkers. and not merely students who quote back facts. By developing students in this manner we better prepare them for the twenty-first century and to be productive citizens. What I have said here is true for the curriculum part of Common Core as I understand it. I can not see how this could be bad for any student. Helping a student to explain his or her learning(s) is not evil!! It actually solidifies learning.

I believe the opposition I am hearing comes from testing, accountability, and data collection (use) that has been attached in some manner to Common Core. One person (who is not my FB friend) fired back at me that I did not understand CC. This person more or less accused me of not understanding or of agreeing with the mining of student data (data mining is the term right wingers have attached). The individual told me I needed to go back and do more study of Common Core. I knew to "let it go" with the individual at that point. There also seems to be some opposition to the following/tracking of student data throughout school years. I was confused as to why this would seem new to anyone as it is a well known fact that students' cum folders in NC Schools follow this type data throughout their school journey. Tracking students' data isn't a part of the actual curriculum....I am about curriculum.

Therefore....after the sifting of the yelling and complaints through my aged brain I have concluded that there remains nothing wrong with the Common Core Curriculum per se. What is questionable is the use of the data being collected. I don't know how the federal government might be involved with CC. I can't imagine why the government would be interested in or want to design curriculum. In spite of what some would have you believe we do not live in a dictatorship.

Let me add one more thought to this. One political official asked this week, "Why do schools do all of this testing?" The answer is so obvious that I was astounded that a head of state would ask. Schools / States do all of this testing (evaluation) because it has been mandated by politicians throughout the years. It is a part of that accountability politicians demand of schools and teachers. They dangle $$$ over high test scores and don't want to pay educators equitable compensation for the extremely taxing hard work they do. Not only do they not want to compensate educators (teachers primarily) adequately they deprive them of the rightful respect due the profession.

My say, not yours, and frankly I do not care if you disagree. I truly believe every word I have written here..

Everything Old is New Again????

So....we are getting a new NEW tax plan in North Carolina!! You know those states who have no income tax??? Well, in NC we are emulating...no, that is not quite right..we are remodeling our income tax plan!! Wow weeeeeee!! What a fight we are having each and every day in the legislature as these reps attempt to do the dirty deed! It makes your head spin!

I would love to see someone lay this new proposed tax plan out (sort of spread sheet fashion) for a common citizen just to see the impact on their taxes in a hypothetical year. ( I would like to see whether it actually has ANY impact at all.) What is being argued is like going to a zoo for a day! When the zookeepers in the legislature get finished it would seem that we have just moved taxes all around. "Things" that were never taxed before are going to be taxed ( as in services); the tax on income is being changed to a flat tax rate which obviously will favor some folks ( I think), then there are these other little hitches being added to this crazy changing by the day proposal.

It is being said that part of this plan is to levy a state tax on Social Security benefits. This proposal makes so much sense that it makes no sense at all!! The number of elderly folks who need every penny of the Social Security they draw to live on in the state of North Carolina, is probably phenomenal. When or IF they are required to pay out part of it in state taxes, they will no doubt need some other kind of benefits to make up the difference. Just an example (of what seems to me) of just moving needs and taxes from one area to another for the sake of saying we have changed something!!

There are many other things happening with this income tax proposal. As I gain knowledge about this craziness I will update my blog.

My Warped View of Politics and Education

SO ....where do I rank myself politically? I wish I really knew, probably somewhere over the rainbow! I am rather conservative about most things but when it comes to education expenditures, nay not so!! Thus, I am rather disgusted with what SEEMS to be coming out of this legislature. It does not sit very well with me to read in the newspaper that some appointed state employee has been given a $30,000 raise but the cuts to education are alarming with not relief in the future but more of the same.

My View goes like this:: Politicians need to get themselves out of education. They know little about what they are doing except controlling the purse strings. What needs to be realized is that educators are not crazy in their requests... usually.
Teacher assistants are needful in kindergarten and first grade. I would like to see a legislator try to run a kindergarten classroom for a week without an assistant. Often first grade is just as difficult. You need to be an octopus to handle the needs of these youngsters on most days. Try taking them to lunch or onto the playground. Just transitioning from one place to another can be a trial. Can you imagine what it will be like with increased class size? Just imagine for a moment what it is like heading out to lunch with 28 or 30 little bodies trailing along, some crying, some needing their noses wiped, some who forgot to go potty, one who can't get his zipper up, some who forgot their lunch money, or left it on their desk, one who shoved another, another who tripped his friend and got pinched in the process, one who made the wrong turn, two whose shoes are untied, and one who just wants to tattle?? Any volunteers??
In North Carolina legislators don't think teacher assistants are needed. I worked in a middle school last year as a volunteer and I constantly was aware of their need of an extra body on staff to do lots of tasks to help teachers sometimes just to chase down that student who didn't come back from the bathroom or one who escaped the building. My teaching experience was largely in elementary school and I saw the need for every teacher to have some type of clerical help such that they could get on with the teaching, record keeping, and planning needed.

Every university needs to add another requirement to be allowed to major in education. One needs to have a bladder enlargement such that you do not need to empty except early in the morning and after 5PM!!

What is it that makes charters or private schools so appealing? One factor not to be denied or overlooked is small class size. SO with the "legislature guys and gals" at the same time we are offering tuition to "privates" they increase class size in public schools. Does something smell?? Indeed it does!

The next really intelligent thing the NC Legislature does is pull funding for Masters pay!! Super smart folks! Then the Lt. Govie decides to take on Common Core ... in the legislature yet!! I am no authority on Common Core but neither do I think this bunch of politicians are!
The big answer to it all might be to get the federal government out of education by funding the needs of North Carolina schools in North Carolina. Then you can throw out Common Core and go back to using the NC Standard Curriculum.

Just my view folks....you don't have to like it!!