A Dark Cloud Hangs Over Morgantown

Unless you live under a rock, then you are well aware of the disaster that is currently happening at West Virginia University. The names Garrison and Bresch will forever be intertwined with scandal and dishonesty. I haven't yet decided on my stance as to whether I believe that Garrison should resign or be forced to resign. I'm struggling with that decision. However, one aspect of the situation that I have a definite opinion about is what happened at the graduation ceremony this weekend.

I was appalled at the behavior of the students and the teacher at graduation. The Gazette reported that they "politely" refused to shake hands with Garrison. There is nothing polite about improper HOME TRAINING! No matter what one's stance is on the situation, one should not be disrespectful. One might not respect the man in the position, but one better damn well respect the position, the office, the sanctity of a graduation ceremony, the degree, and most importantly, THE UNIVERSITY!

An Afternoon Drive

If I wasn't going to hell before, I might definitely have a reservation now.

I'm driving home from work today. As always, I listen to the rerun of the morning's
The Howard Stern Show. Today's guest was Steven Guttenberg (Police
Academy, Cocoon, and most recently Dancing With the Stars). Howard
tells him that he knows one of his ex-girlfriends, and according to her,
Steven can do some pretty amazing things in the bedroom. Having the
juvenile sense of humor that I do, I mean come on shit and fart jokes
are the best, my ears perk up and my attention has been caught. SG
gets a bit embarrassed and tells HS that it really isn't what he
knows/does, but that he was blessed with some really, really good
genes as have all Guttenbergs that have come before him.

I'm like...really? I mean really? I'm suppose to believe that SG is
packing some major heat?!

I really should have been paying more attention to driving, my
surroundings, and what was going on around me. I am going through
driving motions at this point. My car is getting me home. I'm now
invested in this conversation.

SG admits to having a 10 inch penis when erect!

I'm shocked!

I'm also now aware of the fact that I am behind a bikers' brigade on
Kanawha Blvd and they are driving sooooo damn slowly I can hardly
handle it, but...

SG then admits that he quite the man in the girth arena as well.

I ignore the bikers. Back to penis talk. This conversation was going
somewhere.

Then I notice that there is a cop in front of the bikers. What the
hell are the bikers doing a poker run in the middle of the day? And
why would a cop be leading them?

SG has a 10 inch penis! No way!

I half ass look in the rear view mirror...I see a litany of cars with
their lights on with little flags on the top of them.

WHILE LISTENING TO SG AND HW TALKING ABOUT SG PACKING THE MAN MUSCLE,
I HAVE MANAGED TO INADVERTENTLY BECOME THE SECOND IN COMMAND IN A
FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR A FALLEN BIKER!!!!!!

Not knowing how to completely and tactfully get out of said situation,
I had to run EVERY red light on the blvd AND make the turn onto
Greenbrier Street with the procession. I think quickly, said a small
prayer to Jeebus above asking for forgiveness, and did a hail Mary turn
on to Quarrier to get home. I think they all saw me! In fact, I know
they did.

If only they knew that SG was packing a 10 inch penis!

Metaphors Be With You

I'm a word geek. Always have been, always will be. I love figures of speech-similes, metaphors, hyperbole, analogies, all of 'em. It's only natural that I am an English teacher and an avid reader. The odd part is that I have a list going of my favorite figures of speech. Some of them don't even make sense, but make for great imagery.

"She was as sexy as boots on a rooster." -Student

“Oh, Jason, take me!” she panted, her breasts heaving like a college freshman on $1-a-beer night. -random website

"I am a sky scraper; tall, lean, and people are just bustling to get inside of me." -teacher mistake when giving an example of extended metaphor.

"She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef." -random email

"She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up."

"The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can." -Wayne Goode, Madison, ALASKA

What are your favorite figures of speech??? Come on geek out with me.

NKOTB

Question: Can they REALLY still be considered a boy band when they are all pushing 40???

Teacher Friends

"In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years." ~Jacques Barzun

I'm missing my teacher friends desperately right now. I have fantastic colleagues and I have wonderful friends that I see throughout the week. However, I don't have any teacher friends here in Charleston. I became quite spoiled when I live in Berkeley Springs. I worked with the best of the best in education. Not only are they some of the best teachers I know, they are the best of the best in human beings, and I miss them, our conversations, and the way in which we provided free therapy for one another when dealing with the daily woes and waves of the business and practice of education. I miss collaborating with them. I miss not having to say anything, but being understood and understanding with a glance exactly what just took place in the classroom. I miss having people around with which to get incredibly excited at the potential of possibly changing the world. I miss the way in which teacher friends can help to rejuvenate one another. I miss it all.

I'm out of touch.

I really must start writing again. I'll put that on the to-do list. Really, I will.

BSHS Commencement Speech

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Good evening, friends, family, faculty, staff and graduates of the 2007 class of Berkeley Springs High School. I am honored to be among you tonight. The lines I read are from a poem that Dylan Thomas wrote for his father. Thomas’ father was a robust and militant man most of his life. He had a hard edge to him. He was ambitious, honorable, and courageous. Thomas was disturbed when his father became blind and weak with old age. He was not the man that he had grown up knowing. He wrote the poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” to help empower his father to not give up his fight, but to continue on in his fierce natured ways. The idea of his father simply giving up and lacking the ambition to continue scared and upset him deeply. I understand that fear. I have shared those similar emotions with Thomas. Though they aren’t fears of death and dying, they are fears of apathetic attitudes and forgotten lessons. These feelings emerge every August and every May; when a new group comes in the classroom door and an old group goes out.

Every year I have 100-150 students walk through my classroom doors and that isn’t even counting the students that I don’t have in class, but am in daily contact with. The thought of the daily contacts with students is mind numbing. My first thought in August is, “OK, I have 9 months with these kiddos. We have our work cut out for us.” I ask myself, “How can we meet test scores, teach the curriculum, and in the process teach students how to think like life long learners? How can we ensure that these young adults will continue to fight for their lives, their believes, their plans, their goals, not just here, but more importantly after they leave our classrooms? How can we help them guarantee success? How do any of us make a difference in the lives of another, especially with only 9 months?”

The answer is: I have no idea. I can’t guarantee any of it. However, I can guarantee that I work really hard to help you discover the gifts inside each of you that will enable you to attempt to do all of those things. I can guarantee that when you walk into my classroom I will challenge you. I will challenge your beliefs. I will challenge your thoughts. I will teach you to challenge yourself, to reevaluate your own thoughts and beliefs. I will challenge you to dig deep within yourself to find accountability, personal success, relevance, empathy, dreams, and a hunger to do the right thing even when it seems that you can’t or it would be easier not to. I’ll guarantee that I will teach you to rage against the dying of the light and not settle for less that what you deserve. That I will guarantee. In return, I guarantee that you will challenge me daily as well.

Tonight is May 25. I told you I normally get weary in May. I, like Dylan Thomas, fear that students will no longer feel ambitious or want to take on the world after all of the hard work. I am fearful that the time we spent together will be lost and forgotten. It isn’t the idea of ME that I am fearful they will leave behind; it’s the life lessons- that is what I worry will not transcend onward with them when they leave the comfortable confinement of these high school halls. Tonight, I don’t feel that way. Two years later we are together again, still learning, still feeling, still challenging, and most importantly, still raging.

Though the Dylan Thomas poem that I opened with is technically about life and death, I find it relevant standing here today. I find it relevant because we need to embrace the middle moments. So often we are trying to get to an end or a finish line that we forget about the process, we forget about the middle of it all. The beginning and the end of everything are quite important. However, we must ask ourselves about the relevance of what happens in between the two, and how we must rage with every second of the middle. The middle part is what makes life worthwhile and meaningful. The middle moments are what we live and where we can be an active participant. The middle is where we learn, practice, and perfect our rage.

When I talk about rage, I am not referring to the hate, anger, and violence we see all around us on the news, in the movies, in music, etc. I’m referring to the passion of a positive fight. The passion of belief. The passion behind knowing and believing in right and wrong. The passion behind love. The passion behind choice. The passion behind having the right to decisions and creating opportunities. The passion behind not giving up and giving in. The passion to fail and learn from it. The passion to set boundaries and plans only to revise and start all over again. All of these wonderful middle moments are yours to experience.

As you go into the world, you will begin new chapters of your life, and these middle moments will take place at the most random of times. At times you will experience confusions, sorrow, happiness, helplessness, love, hate, pride, success, all of the emotions in the spectrum. I remind you to identify them, claim the emotion, embrace them, and learn from them. In this process, I ask you not to forget who you are and who you want to become. Remember all of the lessons that we learned together here; look forward to all of the lessons you are about to embark upon. Continue to create a belief system. Continue to stand up for your beliefs and your values. Challenge yourself. Challenge those around you. Continue to grow. Continue to learn. Continue to educate yourself. Continue to give back to your community. Continue to raise the bar and expect more of yourself and more from those around you. Rage against the dying of the light and never settle for mediocrity. Create what defines you. Find what makes you passionate. Find what makes you rage.

Today, not knowing when we will meet again, when you may see one another again, or what the future has in store for any of us, I say the same words to you that Thomas said to his father, “DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT. RAGE, RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT.” Seeing that today is a Friday, I can’t let you leave without saying my closing remarks for the week, just like I have done every other Friday before, “Be safe. Be careful. Be fun. Be you." And to steal a line from Ms. Files, ‘Return with Honor.’ Live with Honor.”
Thank you and Congratulations to the Class of 2007.