2011 was a blessed year. A lot of good things happened to me and to my family. So, I decided to narrow those good things down to three categories and to choose one highlight for each category: Hamilton County Council of PTAs, Tennessee PTA, and work.
HCCPTA: At the Principal Dinner, I was installed as the president-elect of the council and was presented with my National PTA lifetime achievement award certificate.
TNPTA: This was tough--so many good things to choose among. The successful planning, designing, and creating the new website was a huge accomplishment.
Work: Another tough one to choose only one thing, but this is my top one in this space -- co-authoring an article in the peer-reviewed Journal of Library & Information Services In Distance Learning (See the ERIC entry here)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Don't go back to fill-in-the-blank and waste another year
A Facebook friend recently had a newsfeed item of liking a YouTube video from REM of the song "Don't go back to Rockville." That video rekindled some memories from the eighties for me. I remember driving the two hours from Cincy to Indy to catch a REM concert.
This song is about love in the wrong places/spaces. One partner goes back to Rockville to work at a factory to make more money rather than staying in the relationship back where nothing is happening for jobs. Over 25 years later, not a whole has changed it seems.
The hook line in this song has been going through my head and for some reason I started substituting Rockville for other cities.
Don't go back to Knoxville, and waste another year, or
Don't go back to Nashville, and waste another year, or
Don't go back to Anyville, and waste another year.
Even though this is a REM song, Natalie Merchant in a 10,000 Maniacs cover did a soulful, emotive cover. Reminds me of an alternative country-rock cover. The embedded video below doesn't show anything but it gives you a chance to listen to Merchant's delivery of song full of sadness wrapped around a hope for a better life.
This song is about love in the wrong places/spaces. One partner goes back to Rockville to work at a factory to make more money rather than staying in the relationship back where nothing is happening for jobs. Over 25 years later, not a whole has changed it seems.
The hook line in this song has been going through my head and for some reason I started substituting Rockville for other cities.
Don't go back to Knoxville, and waste another year, or
Don't go back to Nashville, and waste another year, or
Don't go back to Anyville, and waste another year.
Even though this is a REM song, Natalie Merchant in a 10,000 Maniacs cover did a soulful, emotive cover. Reminds me of an alternative country-rock cover. The embedded video below doesn't show anything but it gives you a chance to listen to Merchant's delivery of song full of sadness wrapped around a hope for a better life.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Aunt Mavis: To Houston From Kansas
My Aunt Mavis passed away this week. She was a girl who grew up on the Kansas prairie and made Houston, TX her home. I looked forward to her visits as a young lad because Aunt Mavis could regale me with her stories of her youth. She was a very good storyteller.
Back then, there was no Internet, no cable television, only one tv station by antenna on a good day, a few radio stations, and the nearest neighbor was measured in miles, not feet. So, visitors from a big city like Houston was always a treat for me. But Aunt Mavis brought that big city and country living to me. She, without knowing it, gave me the first glimpse that yes living out in the middle of a Kansas prairie didn’t restrict my dreams.
But she had that laugh that always made a good story better. And she told some whoppers! I think her favorite subject to tell stories on was her brother Max. I never met Max as he died before I was born. And I never met the mother of my Dad or Aunt Mavis either because she had died at a young age too. And my Dad’s (Aunt Mavis’) other brother Uncle Duane died, and their father (my Grandpa Dave) died when I was very young. So for me, Aunt Mavis was the only other connection to my Dad’s life before he was married.
One day I received mail. Getting mail in those days was like finding a treasure. Aunt Mavis had sent me a big book about space exploration from Houston’s mission control store. I was hooked on space exploration learning ever since. I was fascinated with the information about Apollo and its launches, and at the time, the planned launches. I still love learning about space. Thank you Aunt Mavis for providing that spark.
And Aunt Mavis could write. She wrote a rough draft of a novel that she sent to me to read. The novel was based off the experiences of living in the country and the struggles of gaining that personal identity that all teenagers struggle finding.
Now to one of my favorite Aunt Mavis stories. This story was about her brother Max and when he had the mumps.
It seems Max had the mumps and being a young boy was ordered to stay in bed no matter what. Max was spending his bedtime over at his cousin’s house in a town on the other side of the county from the farm. It seems that Max liked the company of his Aunt and cousins while temporarily bedridden. But Max was following the doctor’s order—no way was he getting out of that bed.
Well, it would seem that one day during Max’s stay, a mighty storm was rolling across the plains; a storm that could create a tornado. Now Aunt Mavis and the others at the farm were heading to the cellar for protection because there is nothing like a powerful storm gaining more energy and strength on the Plains.
The mighty storm did create a tornado, and it was heading for the town that Max and his cousins lived.
“Max, Max,” his cousin cried running into the bedroom. “Get out of bed and head down to the basement!”
“You know the doctor’s order,” Max replied. “I can’t get out of this bed.”
His cousin replied, “Well, you stay in the bed if you want to but there is a tornado heading this way and I’m going to the basement!”
Needless to say, Max didn’t stay in bed!
Thank you Aunt Mavis for keeping history alive with your stories and with your wonderful way of telling stories so well.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Farm Aid IV and Paper Sacks
The recent announcement by Guns N Roses about their first US tour in five years reminded me the first time I saw them. It happened to be the last time Steve Adler played drums for the band.
In April 1990, I was living in Covington, Kentucky, a suburb across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Covington was like the neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks as far as Cincinnatians were concerned. Or in this case, on the wrong side of the river.
However, Covington was considered one step-above its neighboring Kentucky cities on either side: Newport and Ludlow. I was always amazed at the bridges connecting Covington and Cincinnati. Two of them are still fresh in my mind.
The monster-sized, double-decker Brent Spence bridge makes no one forget this multi-laned, multi-Interstate bridge. I-71 takes a sharp left into Cincinnati at the end of the Ohio side of the bridge, and I-75 veers towards the northwest. But the classic bridge to me was the Roebling Suspension Bridge. With its steel grated deck and huge suspension wires and classic limestone bridge moorings, this bridge was a blast to drive over. Although, one day it swung violently back and forth. No one could figure out why. But it was never shut down because of it.
Back to Guns N Roses. My friends and I bought tickets for Farm Aid IV held on April 7 in Indianapolis. The concert would be held in the Hoosier Dome. One of the performers for this charitable concert was Guns N Roses. The Hoosier Dome was later renamed the RCA Dome and then later torn down for the favor of the current Lucas Oil Stadium.
Farm Aid really hit home for me. Family farms were part of my roots and anyone helping them out got my support. Still chanting: Farm Aid, Farm Aid, Farm Aid!
So, my friends and I decided that instead of staying at the Crown Plaza Hotel the night after the concert, when we had reservations, we went up the night before the concert. Well, actually, early morning by the time we drove the two hours from Cincinnati to Indianapolis. Unknown to me in those days before the World Wide Web and smart phones, there were two Crown Plaza hotels in Indianapolis. The reservations were for the one in the Indianapolis suburb. We had arrived at the downtown hotel two blocks away from the Hoosier Dome.
We not only convinced the hotel clerk to give us a room, but also at the lower rate of the hotel in the suburb. Really that was surprising since our “luggage” consisted of brown paper grocery sacks, and our clothing choices certainly did not match the other hotel clientele. But at 3:00 in the morning, they probably figured it was an easy charge on my American Express card. That card got me into a lot of places back in the 80s when AMEX actually had some clout.
Well, when we left the room next morning, with our paper grocery sacks under an arm, I decided to check out. Guess who was checking out beside me with her bright red hair--Bonnie Raitt! And who was behind me in line? Lou Reed! All of the stars for the concert had stayed in the same hotel. And hotel security could not believe three guys with paper grocery sacks tucked under arm actually were allowed to stay in the hotel and were, in fact, mingling with the stars.
Well, after talking with a few managers in the hotel lobby because everyone was curious why we were carrying paper grocery sacks, we were able to give our tickets in the nosebleed section to some random people on the street. We got free VIP tickets for down in front of the stage! Sweet luck!
After dropping our sacks into the trunk of my car, we went inside the Hoosier Dome and saw some great acts. 14 hours of great acts.
Beside the aforementioned Guns N Roses (live performance of “Civil War”), Bonnie Raitt, and Lou Reed; we also saw Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Neil Young’s live solo of “Rockin in the Free World”; John Mellencamp and his live performance of “Pink Houses”; Stealing Horses; a highly energetic Joe Ely (worth just seeing him); the rhythmic speech of Jesse Jackson; at the time an unknown named Garth Brooks; John Denver; Bruce Hornsby; Don Henley; Willie Nelson; and surprise guest appearance of Elton John! Elton John performed “Candle in the Wind” dedicated for the AIDS victim, Ryan White, who died hours after the end of the concert.
The concert was a fundraising success. But to me it was a success as a participant who not only supported a good cause but also got to see up close some great musical acts. Farm Aid IV is still a vivid memory.
In April 1990, I was living in Covington, Kentucky, a suburb across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Covington was like the neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks as far as Cincinnatians were concerned. Or in this case, on the wrong side of the river.
However, Covington was considered one step-above its neighboring Kentucky cities on either side: Newport and Ludlow. I was always amazed at the bridges connecting Covington and Cincinnati. Two of them are still fresh in my mind.
The monster-sized, double-decker Brent Spence bridge makes no one forget this multi-laned, multi-Interstate bridge. I-71 takes a sharp left into Cincinnati at the end of the Ohio side of the bridge, and I-75 veers towards the northwest. But the classic bridge to me was the Roebling Suspension Bridge. With its steel grated deck and huge suspension wires and classic limestone bridge moorings, this bridge was a blast to drive over. Although, one day it swung violently back and forth. No one could figure out why. But it was never shut down because of it.
Back to Guns N Roses. My friends and I bought tickets for Farm Aid IV held on April 7 in Indianapolis. The concert would be held in the Hoosier Dome. One of the performers for this charitable concert was Guns N Roses. The Hoosier Dome was later renamed the RCA Dome and then later torn down for the favor of the current Lucas Oil Stadium.
Farm Aid really hit home for me. Family farms were part of my roots and anyone helping them out got my support. Still chanting: Farm Aid, Farm Aid, Farm Aid!
So, my friends and I decided that instead of staying at the Crown Plaza Hotel the night after the concert, when we had reservations, we went up the night before the concert. Well, actually, early morning by the time we drove the two hours from Cincinnati to Indianapolis. Unknown to me in those days before the World Wide Web and smart phones, there were two Crown Plaza hotels in Indianapolis. The reservations were for the one in the Indianapolis suburb. We had arrived at the downtown hotel two blocks away from the Hoosier Dome.
We not only convinced the hotel clerk to give us a room, but also at the lower rate of the hotel in the suburb. Really that was surprising since our “luggage” consisted of brown paper grocery sacks, and our clothing choices certainly did not match the other hotel clientele. But at 3:00 in the morning, they probably figured it was an easy charge on my American Express card. That card got me into a lot of places back in the 80s when AMEX actually had some clout.
Well, when we left the room next morning, with our paper grocery sacks under an arm, I decided to check out. Guess who was checking out beside me with her bright red hair--Bonnie Raitt! And who was behind me in line? Lou Reed! All of the stars for the concert had stayed in the same hotel. And hotel security could not believe three guys with paper grocery sacks tucked under arm actually were allowed to stay in the hotel and were, in fact, mingling with the stars.
Well, after talking with a few managers in the hotel lobby because everyone was curious why we were carrying paper grocery sacks, we were able to give our tickets in the nosebleed section to some random people on the street. We got free VIP tickets for down in front of the stage! Sweet luck!
After dropping our sacks into the trunk of my car, we went inside the Hoosier Dome and saw some great acts. 14 hours of great acts.
Beside the aforementioned Guns N Roses (live performance of “Civil War”), Bonnie Raitt, and Lou Reed; we also saw Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Neil Young’s live solo of “Rockin in the Free World”; John Mellencamp and his live performance of “Pink Houses”; Stealing Horses; a highly energetic Joe Ely (worth just seeing him); the rhythmic speech of Jesse Jackson; at the time an unknown named Garth Brooks; John Denver; Bruce Hornsby; Don Henley; Willie Nelson; and surprise guest appearance of Elton John! Elton John performed “Candle in the Wind” dedicated for the AIDS victim, Ryan White, who died hours after the end of the concert.
The concert was a fundraising success. But to me it was a success as a participant who not only supported a good cause but also got to see up close some great musical acts. Farm Aid IV is still a vivid memory.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Critique of Hamilton County Commission Redistricting
So the Hamilton County Commission finally decided on redistricting for county commission districts. This is not an easy task. But it is an important one for anyone eligible to vote. Why?
County commission districts set the parameters for the county election office and board to determine what the precinct lines will be. The precincts will be used to determine what city council districts will be and what state house and state senate boundaries will be. Some pretty hefty stuff not to take lightly.
So I have some problems with this redistricting plan passed by the commission.
First, I disagree with the premise that county commission districts could not crossover the Tennessee River. Really, in this day of the Internet and texting and automobiles, we can't have county commissioners and school board members living on the other side of the river?
Now, I can understand that districts 1 and 9 should not have crossover lines over the river. The foresight of not having a river bridge north of the Thrasher Bridge is just astounding.
But district lines for districts 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 could certainly cross the river at will.
I have a problem with three eastern districts in the county being way more people than in the western districts. And part of this blame lies within the convenient fear of not crossing the river. This reluctance has created three districts with more than 40,000 people in each and three districts with less than 35,000 each. That disparity in representation is significant to me.
I do support the objective of creating two majority minority districts. This would be districts 4 and 5. District 4 is an interesting ethnic blend. Over 4,000 district 4 residents are Hispanic and about 28,000 are African-Americans. That leaves about 9,000 who are neither.
But I thought the eastern, fast growing districts in 7, 8, and 9 had an interesting ethnicity: combined the three districts have over 13,000 African-Americans and over 5,000 Hispanics. I think the county commission district missed an opportunity to have a stronger Hispanic voting bloc by not adding East Lake and Ceder Hill current precincts to District 8. Someday, there will need to be consideration for doing that type of planning.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the ethnic-challenged-district that is District 1. The lack of ethnic diversity by a huge percentage might give the perception of racial gerrymandering even though we all know in Hamilton County that is not the case. Maybe the lack of a bridge over the Tennessee River in the northwestern part of the county that is tucked underneath the Cumberland Plateau has created a visible trace of being cut-off. But a mere 1,200 people out of 34,000 plus are identified as either African-American or Hispanic in District 1. It's easy to see how representing one district has a wide gulf of difference for representing another district. And again for me, I have a problem with that concept in the redistricting plan.
Friday, September 16, 2011
New People, New Leaders in Hamilton County PTA Council
Last year, I led a group that restructured the Hamilton County PTA Council. And what a change that re-structuring brought for PTA leaders and students in public education!
The council has four new officers who never served an elected office on the council before! And almost every committee chairman is a new council leader! This is awesome in that PTA leaders are being trained and developed to become the new council officers of tomorrow!
It is always good to see growth in PTA leadership on the council. New people bring new perspectives as leaders.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
The Rising
One of Bruce Springsteen's finer musical achievements, his album The Rising written out of the tragedy that was 9-11. The song "The Rising" is about a fireman who loses his life saving others that day. This video has the powerful lyrics: "Can't see nothin in front of me" start the song about the firefighter crawling in the darkness of 9-11.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Copyright Faculty Guide
One of the top things I have accomplished this year was working with my colleague Pam Temple on a libguide that helped identify copyright/fair use and issues for the Chatt State faculty.
Libguides make wonderful information objects that can be shared on many social media platforms and allows for content to be embedded or uploaded.
Here is the link to the libguide: Copyright and Fair Use for Faculty
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Hamilton County School Board and 2011 Superintendent
So, the Hamilton County school board has appointed an interim superintendent who wants the job on a more permanent basis. Not anything earth shattering here.
So, the Hamilton County school board wants to be able to hire a superintendent with only 15 days notice and without doing any type of search: national or regional. While possibly not the best way to search for a new superintendent, that is the system I grew up with in Kansas.
In fact, it was not unusual for a school system in one county to hire a good leader principal in another county as superintendent. That always added fuel to the football rivalry.
And I don't recall a public notice ever going out before anything liked this happened.
So, it finally happened in 2011. I wondered how long it would take for people to realize that the school board could appoint a local school leader as superintendent, or even a rising star school leader from Bradley, or Dade, or Walker, or Marion counties. And learned that person can be signed to a four-year contract or more.
Are there people outside our region who can be Hamilton County school superintendent? Of course there are. That should never be forgotten. But local leaders have an important value to the people of this county and area. And that has been forgotten.
The unfortunate thing is how all of this happened. There wasn't any collusion among five voting members of the school board? It sure seemed that way. There wasn't any steamrolling of this through the board ignoring the concerns of those not voting in the majority? It sure seemed that way. This can not be a proud moment of how this was done for the five school board members who supported these changes.
And how it was done could lead to ramifications down the road. Will districts 8 and 4 ever collaborate on an educational issue during this superintendent's term? If not, what ideas will never be hatched from this never-to-be collaboration?
In physics, there is an opposite reaction to an action. The same is true on a school board, whether it is now or in the next decade.
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