I dedicate this site to my mother. She was a columnist and an author with the uncanny ability to find humor in the daily ins and outs of life. She faced every challenge with a witty optimism, including the cancer that ended her life too soon.
Every Thanksgiving, Dan and I run in a 5K called the Turkey Trot. It used to be a sort of family affair until the time we had to run in twelve-degree weather. Now my father, Dan, and I are the only relations crazy enough to brave the cold. Personally, I like running or - in my case - light jogging. Dan, on the other hand, will run, but he doesn't really enjoy it.
"Don't you feel good?" I always ask Dan after a brisk morning jog.
"I feel tired. And cold. And sweaty."
I wonder - has he just returned from an invigorating run, or is he coming down with the flu?
As fate would have it, Dan is the better runner. He beats me every time.
For this particular Turkey Trot, the participant guesses his/her race time, and the runner who comes closest to his/her predicted time wins a turkey. Dan, possessing a slightly competitive nature, tried to win the turkey the first year and was frustrated when he came within seconds of his guessed time.
We're not even sure if there is a turkey awarded or if it is just some weird dangling carrot. Most people leave before the last person crosses the finish line, so no one really knows who wins the turkey anyway.
All of the runners and walkers also get free swag. One year, it was a sweatshirt, and another year, it was a choice between a beanie or a headband. But some years, the race is so well attended that they run out of swag. They promise to mail it to you, but we are still waiting on our sweatshirts from four years ago. This year, they are mailing us headbands. We are not holding our breath.
Of course, Dan and I don't run in this event for the free stuff or for the promise of a turkey. I do it because it is a fun, new family tradition that has developed since my marriage to Dan. It takes place in the town where my family lives, so it gives me a chance to spend some extra time with them. It is also nice to preemptively burn off those calories that I will be consuming later that afternoon. I don't really know why Dan does it; maybe he just likes to do whatever I do.
This year, I tried to get to the bottom of why he did, in fact, participate even though running is not his favorite hobby.
But I gave up when I asked Dan, "How do you like our annual Turkey Trot tradition?" and he replied, "I don't hate it."
Of course, when I told him I might be entering a Christmas fun run with my school, he asked, "Can I join too?"
Perhaps he enjoys it more than he likes to admit.
The Turkey Trot when it used to be a family affair
Thanksgiving is in a few days, and if you stalk Facebook the way I do, you have probably seen the daily gratitude posts that pop up around this time of year. For example, the status reads, "Day 1: I am thankful for . . ." and then the person proceeds to tell - you every single day throughout the month of November - for what they are grateful.
The "30 Days of Gratitude" Facebook page states, "Did you know that, according to scientific research, people who focused on appreciation and
gratitude were considerably happier, less likely to complain about
physical ailments and even more likely to exercise and offer assistance
to others?"
Well, I wanted to be considerably happier and less likely to complain about physical ailments. But I was pretty sure I couldn't come up with something every day for thirty days without sounding like a total sap. Plus, the stress of having to post a status everyday was guaranteed to cancel out the promises of increased considerable happiness and decreased complaints about physical ailments.
So I decided to blog about a few things from the past couple of weeks for which I am deeply grateful.
I am thankful that the kid with debilitating stage fright during a recent music program made it to the bathroom before he threw up. I am also thankful that he made it to the stage in time to say his line and that he didn't blow chunks mid-dialogue.
I am thankful that Props 1, 2, & 3 failed. Yay, Idaho, for not just taking what the preferred political party spoon fed you at face value. It showed real integrity on the part of Idaho voters.
I am thankful that no one saw me fall on my butt the other day while I was trying to pick up the car keys I had dropped on the sidewalk in front of my school. I am also grateful that no one turned me in for public intoxication because I wasn't drunk - really. I was just weighed down by a huge backpack and two other shoulder bags. Such is the life of a music teacher.
I am thankful for my tech guy husband. I have a 24/7 IT guy on call at my house. That's amazing. And my tech guy is very quiet, so I can pretty much talk as much as I want. He also helps me with all of the tech set up and manual labor at my school music programs and doesn't complain one bit. Of course, that could have something to do with the quiet-no-talking thing he has going on.
I would like to be thankful for world peace. Unfortunately, that doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon.
I guess there's not much more to say other than, Happy Thanksgiving, people!
Thank you, Idaho voters, for understanding that the public education system is non-partisan. Thank you for being informed and voting against Props 1, 2, and 3. Thank you for doing what is best for Idaho students because, regardless of what some political leaders (with limited experience in the field of education) may say, we teachers really do love our students and want to provide them with the best possible education. Now it is time to make a more collaborative effort and develop a plan that will truly benefit Idaho's public education system.
Here is my plug: Don't forget the arts!
In this climate of Common Core and STEM and Race To The Top, don't forget that beauty and aestheticism and creativity are essential to a nation of well-rounded, productive citizens. Integration is wonderful. But don't forget, art for the sake of art is just as valuable.
For further reading on the Props 1, 2, and 3 issue:
Check out my blog post from last week and Kevin Richert's editorial from this week.
A few weeks ago, I picked up a couple of "Vote No on Props 1, 2, & 3" yard signs. My husband, Dan, and I have never decorated our lawn or our cars with political statements around election time.
But, as a school teacher, this issue directly affects me. And as a teacher of the arts, an academic discipline that is constantly marginalized in the current test-taking culture, this issue really could be the difference between having a job and not having a job. Unlike most of my votes in the red state of Idaho, this one could actually count.
Anyway, I came home with two signs and posted one of them in my yard. I didn't know what to do with the second sign, but I figured I could keep it in the garage as back up. I was a kind of paranoid about crazy people vandalizing the sign or kicking it down in the middle of the night. Like I said, I had never espoused political views from lawn before.
When Dan came home from work that afternoon, he greeted me with, "So we're those sort of people now."
I told him I had a spare sign in the garage.
"What are we supposed to do with a second sign?" he asked.
"I don't know. Give it to a neighbor?"
Later that week, Dan and I were taking a walk and saw a "Yes, Yes, Yes for Education" bumper sticker on the back of a neighbor's truck, right next to a Tea Party decal. ("Yes for Education" is the opposition if you hadn't already guessed.)
Dan stroked chin and said, "Hmmm . . . I think we found a use for our second sign."
Of course, we would never do that. It sounds pretty illegal.
Then I was recruited for a "Vote No" commercial, and the inevitable finally happened. I took a stand.
When the commercial first aired in Twin Falls, my dad called me, cracking up.
"You got political," he said, in between bouts of laughter and hilarity.
A little background information: My father is the one whose lawn is decorated with candidate signs. And he is always championing some sort of social cause. Right now, he is working on Kiwanis International's Eliminate Project which provides tetanus vaccinations to women and children. (There's a plug for you, my partner in social cause crime.)
"I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," I responded as he continued to chuckle.
In the faculty lounge (our school's "Free Speech Zone"), I overheard one of our maintenance and operations workers asking, "What do you think the outcome of these props will be?"
Another staff member replied, "Well, my sixteen-year-old son came home the other day with a warped textbook. Something had been spilled on it, and it was tattered and beaten up. And I thought, 'Even better if that was a laptop!'"
Prop 1: Limiting Negotiations "They" say "they" are busting up the 1920's mafia-style unions.
"Union" is a taboo word here in Idaho. But the teachers' union in the right-to-work state of Idaho does not have nearly the amount of power that "they" would like you to believe. In fact, our so-called union is an association made up of teachers. We have voluntarily joined this so-called union and pay union dues because the association negotiates things like class sizes, prep times, and extra duties. Also, the rhetoric about "teacher tenure" is misleading. Teachers are not tenured in the college professorial sense. The "tenure" refers to continuing contracts. We can be fired. But we get due process before we are let go. Hmmm . . . sounds like a fairness issue to me.
Prop 2: Merit Pay "They" say "they" are giving "good" teachers bonuses.
First of all, none of the "bonuses" we are getting make up the salary decrease we have experienced in the last few years. And second of all, NEWS FLASH: Teachers don't go into teaching for the money! Plus, we Boise District teachers are baffled as to how the merit pay "bonuses" were determined.
According to the Idaho Statesman: "The state set a measure for rewards based on how well students perform on the Idaho Standards Achievement Test. Individual districts had the option to add criteria, such as student graduation and dropout rates, the number of students taking AP classes and more."
However, according to Idaho's new academic accountability system, the Five-Star Rating System, many of the Boise schools that received four stars will receive less in bonuses than some schools that received three and even two stars. And the majority of the schools getting maximum bonuses? High SES (socioeconomic status) schools. Hmmm . . . sounds like a class warfare issue to me.
Prop 3: Laptops for Everyone "They" say it will catapult our kids and districts into the 21st century.
Since when do kids need to be catapulted into the 21st century? They all know how to use technology quite effectively. And handing a bunch of laptops to kids who already have access to SMART Boards, iPads, smartphones, iPods, etc. in schools across Idaho is hardly cutting edge technology. Plus, the lease agreement (yes, the districts won't even own these mobile devices) is almost three times the dollar amount originally proposed by our Superintendent of Public Education, Tom Luna. Hmmm . . . sounds like a fiscal responsibility issue to me.
For more information, please visit the Vote No website.
