It was a few weeks ago when my mom mentioned that she had run in to an old high school teacher of mine after church one Sunday morning. The now-retired teacher instantly asked what I was up to and where I was living. I'm sure my mom and dad did the best they could in trying to describe what my job entails but I do know that no matter how muddled or not muddled the description was, this teacher whom I had through all four years of high school understood what I did for work and where I was at in my life.
My mom went on to tell me that this teacher said that I was his number one favorite student throughout his multiple decade career of teaching at that high school. That's huge to me that he remembered me -- after all, it's been fifteen years since I graduated. I went on to tell my mom that this teacher was my favorite teacher. Throughout those four years, he taught me countless skills which I use today on a daily basis. To put it into perspective, this teacher taught a variety of what could be considered industrial arts classes for categorizational purposes but in reality he taught technical classes such as drafting, electronics, engineering and even a graphic design class.
My favorite, though, had to be my senior year when he allowed me to take an independent study class. I was blown away that he trusted me enough to grade papers, install computer equipment, add to the computer network and generally fix things in his MacGyver-like classroom which needed attention.
I commented to my wife last weekend, as I was disassembling our behemoth of a television (a 34" Sony CRT [tube-style] HDTV) in preparation of replacing a couple ICs (integrated circuits) which essentially keep the television powered up until you choose to turn it off, that I only knew how to solder electronics because of that teacher my mom had mentioned a few weeks earlier. Let me remind you that the last time I had performed any soldering work was in that teacher's electronics class at what is now the barely-memorable age of 16 years old but I went ahead with the project at hand.
At first I stumbled a bit, having never used a vacuum-powered spring-loaded solder sucker (I used a de-soldering braid in high school) as I heated up each of the 32 legs of the chips which needed to be removed. I fretted about overheating the board or damaging the solder pads but within far too long of time I had the chips fully removed and forged ahead with installing the new chips and was amazed at how quickly I was able to solder in new sockets which would hold the new integrated circuits.
After I ate supper, the big moment arrived. I plugged the television in and pushed the power button. It worked!
Had it not been for that one-semester-long class in electronics when I was 15 or 16 years old, I probably would not have been confident enough to work on this television which weighs in at over 200 lbs. and cost us over $1,500 when we purchased it eight years ago. No television of that quality or age deserves to be thrown to the curb when $22 in parts will bring it back to life. And through all of that, I have this wonderful high school teacher to thank for so much of what I have the confidence and ability to tackle even when that voice in my head is telling me that I'm crazy for even thinking about this task.
Thank You Mr. Lynch. Without those parts of four years spent in your weird but wonderful classroom in the high school annex I wouldn't be able to do many of the tasks which I do on my own. I like to think that the skills I learned in that classroom also gave me the confidence to work far, far outside the confines of my job description in my work life, too. I like a challenge and I like variety when it comes to my jobs and thanks to Mr. Lynch I have that drive to keep learning. With any luck, those years of learning will pan out into an amazing career opportunity in the very near future.
Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Thursday, March 18, 2010
My hairstylist could do without prom
As I was getting my hair did yesterday, the conversation turned to prom season. It's just around the corner and it signals Spring and the approach of Summer. It also means one terror-filled day for hairdressers everywhere.
Her main gripe was with the snippy little bitches who tear a page out of a magazine of a dolled up teen starlet and demand that very same hairstyle. All for 50 bucks. I can relate because I have clients demand a certain look and based on what I'm being paid, they get what I give them. It's a lot like a counterfeit Rolex. It's close but anyone who sees it knows that it's just not the same.
From hairstyles and the bitchy girls who demand that this curl go the opposite direction, we moved towards the excesses of the modern prom. From stretch limos to dresses that A.) cost what my wife's wedding dress did to B.) the skanky, too-short dresses girls wear to formal dances.
Now before you call me a codger or an angry old coot, I'm only 30 years old but just twelve or fourteen years ago when I went to my junior and senior prom, the girls weren't wearing ultra-short, hey, look at my panties-type dresses (and that's if the girls today are even bothering to wear underthings...) or at least my dates weren't.
So what has changed? Has fifteen or so years seen changes so drastic that I should just give up and admit that I am hopelessly disconnected from all things younger? And since when does prom have to be the teenage equivalent of a wedding? I know one thing, my daughter's going to pay her own way if she sees the need for a stretch limo, hundred dollar hairdo and a barely-there dress because the one difference between a wedding and prom is that very few couples have sex in the back seat of their parents' car on their wedding night. The same can not be said for prom night.
Check out MinnPics if you give a damn about the rising river levels across all part sof Minnesota. New photos just posted...
Her main gripe was with the snippy little bitches who tear a page out of a magazine of a dolled up teen starlet and demand that very same hairstyle. All for 50 bucks. I can relate because I have clients demand a certain look and based on what I'm being paid, they get what I give them. It's a lot like a counterfeit Rolex. It's close but anyone who sees it knows that it's just not the same.
From hairstyles and the bitchy girls who demand that this curl go the opposite direction, we moved towards the excesses of the modern prom. From stretch limos to dresses that A.) cost what my wife's wedding dress did to B.) the skanky, too-short dresses girls wear to formal dances.
Now before you call me a codger or an angry old coot, I'm only 30 years old but just twelve or fourteen years ago when I went to my junior and senior prom, the girls weren't wearing ultra-short, hey, look at my panties-type dresses (and that's if the girls today are even bothering to wear underthings...) or at least my dates weren't.
So what has changed? Has fifteen or so years seen changes so drastic that I should just give up and admit that I am hopelessly disconnected from all things younger? And since when does prom have to be the teenage equivalent of a wedding? I know one thing, my daughter's going to pay her own way if she sees the need for a stretch limo, hundred dollar hairdo and a barely-there dress because the one difference between a wedding and prom is that very few couples have sex in the back seat of their parents' car on their wedding night. The same can not be said for prom night.
Check out MinnPics if you give a damn about the rising river levels across all part sof Minnesota. New photos just posted...
Monday, February 8, 2010
The idiocy of Minnesota's schools
My day began in the small Minnesota River Valley city of LeSueur. Of course I had to drive there to begin with which sucked but driving back to my office in the metro sucked much more than I can even begin to describe here.
I busied myself, trapped behind a three-wide MNDot snowplow assault on U.S. Highway 169 for 20+ miles, by endlessly scanning through the FM radio dial. Stopping at one point, I heard a Mankato FM station (Hot 96.7) rattling off a few school closings. I was on the road heading back to my office between 9 and 10 AM and the majority of these school early releases being aired were before noon.
Assuming that most schools begin between 8 and 9 AM, this boils down to a nice half-day for kids in many parts of outstate Minnesota. The confusing part was that more than a few of these early closings were around 9:30 AM! Yeah, that means that after the wheels on the bus went 'round and 'round on roads that were already fairly shitty, they have to turn around 90 minutes later and slip and slide down barely visible country roads to take the little brats back home.
What the hell changed so much in a mere 90 minutes to change the mind of school administrators in these mainly small towns? Did the near-whiteout conditions become a total whiteout? Did they actually listen to a weather forecast and hear the part about another 6 or so inches of snow falling throughout the day complete with some wind to further fuck up the already sketchy situation?
The point is that these schools get at least some money for bringing the kids in to the buildings for even a partial day. And some money for the day is better than none. But isn't the safety of kids, which these school are entrusted with, the highest priority? Shouldn't safety trump money any day of the week? What happens when someone makes a bad call and sends the kids home too late and a bus rolls over on an icy, unplowed road and all 38 kids die? Wouldn't it have been a better call to keep the kids home if the weather already sucked before sunrise and was predicted to keep getting worse as the day dragged on? And, really, how many schools a mere one county south of the Twin Cities will actually stick it out and keep the kids in class for a full day?
But all of the Winter weather makes for interesting photos at MinnPics. Check out the stunning photos of Minnesota today!
I busied myself, trapped behind a three-wide MNDot snowplow assault on U.S. Highway 169 for 20+ miles, by endlessly scanning through the FM radio dial. Stopping at one point, I heard a Mankato FM station (Hot 96.7) rattling off a few school closings. I was on the road heading back to my office between 9 and 10 AM and the majority of these school early releases being aired were before noon.
Assuming that most schools begin between 8 and 9 AM, this boils down to a nice half-day for kids in many parts of outstate Minnesota. The confusing part was that more than a few of these early closings were around 9:30 AM! Yeah, that means that after the wheels on the bus went 'round and 'round on roads that were already fairly shitty, they have to turn around 90 minutes later and slip and slide down barely visible country roads to take the little brats back home.
What the hell changed so much in a mere 90 minutes to change the mind of school administrators in these mainly small towns? Did the near-whiteout conditions become a total whiteout? Did they actually listen to a weather forecast and hear the part about another 6 or so inches of snow falling throughout the day complete with some wind to further fuck up the already sketchy situation?
The point is that these schools get at least some money for bringing the kids in to the buildings for even a partial day. And some money for the day is better than none. But isn't the safety of kids, which these school are entrusted with, the highest priority? Shouldn't safety trump money any day of the week? What happens when someone makes a bad call and sends the kids home too late and a bus rolls over on an icy, unplowed road and all 38 kids die? Wouldn't it have been a better call to keep the kids home if the weather already sucked before sunrise and was predicted to keep getting worse as the day dragged on? And, really, how many schools a mere one county south of the Twin Cities will actually stick it out and keep the kids in class for a full day?
But all of the Winter weather makes for interesting photos at MinnPics. Check out the stunning photos of Minnesota today!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Who is your teen grinding on at school dances???
We've all been to high school dances. For me it was prom in both my junior and senior years. That was the extent of it. The lights were low, the theme sucked and so did the setting - my high school's 80-plus year-old basketball gym. One year I stuck around with my date through the dance and even the post-prom lock-in and we actually had fun. The other year found my date and I having differences and we went our separate ways which lead to us not speaking for nearly a year but we smoothed things over and are damn good friends now. But maybe things could have been different with that last part of the story. Maybe things could have been different if the music was heavier. Maybe if the music had more of a dance beat with some more rhythmic undertones to it there would have been some grinding going on. But let's get real, that was 1996 and I don't remember any suggestive or sexual dancing going on.
Oh, how things have changed in a little more than a decade as witnessed by this video done before Minnetonka High School's 1996 Homecoming dance.
But the dance moves described there make current teen dance trends seem like something from the 1950s. Especially based on this story from the Milwaukee area.
What actually piques my interest are the rules...
• When dancing back to front, all dancers must remain upright -- no sexual bending is allowed. Examples are, no hands on knees, and no hands on the dance floor with your buttocks touching your dance partner.
• There will be no touching of the breasts, buttocks, or genitals.
• There will be no straddling of each others' legs.
• Boys must wear collared shirts and dress pants.
• Girls cannot have dresses that expose cleavage, extend above the mid-thigh, (or) have slits extending above mid-thigh.
I particularly like the phrase "sexual bending". I can guess what it as after being at a few gentlemen's clubs but how is that incorporated in to any sort of dancing that you'd want to do at a high school dance. That's the kind of shit that goes on at a rockin' house party where everyone is drinking and making worse decisions than they usually do.
But what's my stance on "sexual bending" in dancing? Go for it. High school should be fun and "sexual bending" sure beats flat out sex. Remember when you were 16 years old? You were probably a huge ball of hormones pretty much ready to jump on anyone that moves so if "sexual bending" during a dance takes the edge off those hormones then that's a good thing. It's definitely better than a bunch of horned up teenagers who are too embarrassed to buy a box of condoms finding a dark road to occupy their time because they can't dance the way they want to at their own high school.
Sure, my opinion is likely to change in about 15 years when my girl reaches that age but wait until then to call me a hypocrite.
Until then, bide your time by checking out the photos of Minnesota on a daily basis at MinnPics.
Oh, how things have changed in a little more than a decade as witnessed by this video done before Minnetonka High School's 1996 Homecoming dance.
But the dance moves described there make current teen dance trends seem like something from the 1950s. Especially based on this story from the Milwaukee area.
What actually piques my interest are the rules...
• When dancing back to front, all dancers must remain upright -- no sexual bending is allowed. Examples are, no hands on knees, and no hands on the dance floor with your buttocks touching your dance partner.
• There will be no touching of the breasts, buttocks, or genitals.
• There will be no straddling of each others' legs.
• Boys must wear collared shirts and dress pants.
• Girls cannot have dresses that expose cleavage, extend above the mid-thigh, (or) have slits extending above mid-thigh.
I particularly like the phrase "sexual bending". I can guess what it as after being at a few gentlemen's clubs but how is that incorporated in to any sort of dancing that you'd want to do at a high school dance. That's the kind of shit that goes on at a rockin' house party where everyone is drinking and making worse decisions than they usually do.
But what's my stance on "sexual bending" in dancing? Go for it. High school should be fun and "sexual bending" sure beats flat out sex. Remember when you were 16 years old? You were probably a huge ball of hormones pretty much ready to jump on anyone that moves so if "sexual bending" during a dance takes the edge off those hormones then that's a good thing. It's definitely better than a bunch of horned up teenagers who are too embarrassed to buy a box of condoms finding a dark road to occupy their time because they can't dance the way they want to at their own high school.
Sure, my opinion is likely to change in about 15 years when my girl reaches that age but wait until then to call me a hypocrite.
Until then, bide your time by checking out the photos of Minnesota on a daily basis at MinnPics.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Has your college degree helped you?
College is an essential part of an individual's education. While it doesn't guarantee a job in that particular field by any means, it does further your way of thinking. I'm one of those who wishes I had taken more courses and stayed in college longer but I didn't feel challenged so I wrapped things up with a relatively low level degree in a somewhat low paying field but I knew from the age of 14 that it's what I wanted to do. And two months after graduating college I had that all important first job in the general area of what I wanted to do.
I evolved with that job and even after moving and taking a new job in the same field where my focus was originally back to my roots, I have again experienced that evolution. The relatively open management has not only allowed but encouraged my experimentations with social media and writing. They hired me, I think, because my skills spoke for themselves and my boss realized the potential I had so even with what now looks like the portfolio of a high schooler, I was hired. Nearly seven years later I am still doing what I love along with all of the side experimentation and dabbling in other sometimes unrelated areas.
I realized very early on that I needed to diversify to stay viable. So I took on a bunch of IT-related duties. I worked with software vendors and solved problems. I travelled locally to meet with B2B-type customers and made those relationships more efficient for all parties. After moving I did less of that but still solve problems that if left unsolved would grind operations to a halt and effect not only us but service providers we rely on and charge us for time spent on our projects. But in my back pocket, through all of this, I still have that practically meaningless degree as a back-up. Sure, it's probably not entirely meaningless because it's directly related to the very job I've held for over a decade but it's really just a piece of paper saying I've completed courses whose curriculum is basically outdated.
Then a drastic reorganization hit us. Call it change for the sake of change or needed change to see if things can be made to run better but it's been met with plenty of resistance. A colleague found out that projects previously his or her own would be taken away essentially because he or she doesn't have a degree in the particular field we are employed in. My colleague, whom one person is essentially deeming as underqualified, is the best on our team and has proven so time and time again. Consistently going above and beyond and satisfying customers while meeting deadlines and being pleasant to be around. Let me say that again, the best on our team - the best I've ever worked with.
But because this colleague is no longer the shining star because one person has decided that everyone should be equals. A level playing field. All this based on initial conversations without examining work. What I take away is that the best will again rise to the top because every team has grunts and superstars. Equality is nice but it isn't always reality. It takes superstars and behind-the-scenes people to make a team work. We can't all be quarterbacks but one person seems to think so. I have faith that it will all work out in the end and that those superstar-type projects will again return to their rightful superstar but it will be a bumpy road between now and then.
As I've found out via Twitter, degrees are a good launching pad but in the long run it's experience and proof via your work that make you successful. And there are plenty, too, who are damn good at what they do with degrees in totally different areas than what they are employed in. So, while college has value and I'm not saying that you shouldn't pursue a degree in something you're both interested in and good at, that degree isn't the be all, end all. So what if that BFA in Art History is gathering dust as you toil away as a manager. Those skills gained as a manager could launch you in to HR or something more. Or that lowly tech certificate could allow you to pursue a boat load of cool side projects because it's allowed you to be a jack of all trades and getting paid to find your niche is pretty damn cool. Just like MinnPics has been called pretty damn cool. Plus it's the only intensely Minnesota photo blog showcasing the photos of others that I know of so go check it out.
I evolved with that job and even after moving and taking a new job in the same field where my focus was originally back to my roots, I have again experienced that evolution. The relatively open management has not only allowed but encouraged my experimentations with social media and writing. They hired me, I think, because my skills spoke for themselves and my boss realized the potential I had so even with what now looks like the portfolio of a high schooler, I was hired. Nearly seven years later I am still doing what I love along with all of the side experimentation and dabbling in other sometimes unrelated areas.
I realized very early on that I needed to diversify to stay viable. So I took on a bunch of IT-related duties. I worked with software vendors and solved problems. I travelled locally to meet with B2B-type customers and made those relationships more efficient for all parties. After moving I did less of that but still solve problems that if left unsolved would grind operations to a halt and effect not only us but service providers we rely on and charge us for time spent on our projects. But in my back pocket, through all of this, I still have that practically meaningless degree as a back-up. Sure, it's probably not entirely meaningless because it's directly related to the very job I've held for over a decade but it's really just a piece of paper saying I've completed courses whose curriculum is basically outdated.
Then a drastic reorganization hit us. Call it change for the sake of change or needed change to see if things can be made to run better but it's been met with plenty of resistance. A colleague found out that projects previously his or her own would be taken away essentially because he or she doesn't have a degree in the particular field we are employed in. My colleague, whom one person is essentially deeming as underqualified, is the best on our team and has proven so time and time again. Consistently going above and beyond and satisfying customers while meeting deadlines and being pleasant to be around. Let me say that again, the best on our team - the best I've ever worked with.
But because this colleague is no longer the shining star because one person has decided that everyone should be equals. A level playing field. All this based on initial conversations without examining work. What I take away is that the best will again rise to the top because every team has grunts and superstars. Equality is nice but it isn't always reality. It takes superstars and behind-the-scenes people to make a team work. We can't all be quarterbacks but one person seems to think so. I have faith that it will all work out in the end and that those superstar-type projects will again return to their rightful superstar but it will be a bumpy road between now and then.
As I've found out via Twitter, degrees are a good launching pad but in the long run it's experience and proof via your work that make you successful. And there are plenty, too, who are damn good at what they do with degrees in totally different areas than what they are employed in. So, while college has value and I'm not saying that you shouldn't pursue a degree in something you're both interested in and good at, that degree isn't the be all, end all. So what if that BFA in Art History is gathering dust as you toil away as a manager. Those skills gained as a manager could launch you in to HR or something more. Or that lowly tech certificate could allow you to pursue a boat load of cool side projects because it's allowed you to be a jack of all trades and getting paid to find your niche is pretty damn cool. Just like MinnPics has been called pretty damn cool. Plus it's the only intensely Minnesota photo blog showcasing the photos of others that I know of so go check it out.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Jails vs. Schools: which one benefits society?
Back in my old hometown of Austin, MN the school levy referendum failed. It would have raised taxes $84/yr on a $100,000 home. To many, any additional money paid in taxes is too much but this is the same city that approved the construction of a $30,000,000 jail/justice center shared by the city and county. In contrast, the school levy referendum would have provided the school district with just over $1,000,000/yr. in additional operating funds.
Which of the two - schools or a jail - benefits society more in the long run? Schools prepare the next generation for jobs. Those buildings need to be stocked with equipment and teachers who are at the top of their game - they need to be of the highest quality and the best of the best. Schools serve the children of everyone and everyone who has ever reached the age of five has benefitted from schools - the majority benefitting from public schools which are taxpayer funded.
Then there are jails. They are filled with people who didn't see the value or need to abide by our city, state or nation's laws. They are arrested, booked and placed in jail. Some go to trial while many serve their time and consider it their debt to society for doing wrong. In either case, they stay in these buildings on the taxpayer's dime. I see no reason why a jail needs to provide anything beyond the most basic of necessities. The simple fact that jails have televisions anywhere inside them is nothing short of excessive to me. I don't care if the televisions are for employees, visitors, stray cats or those who are locked up - a television is a luxury and is unnecessary if you are being punished for a crime. And housing law breakers in a $30,000,000 building is so far beyond excessive that I can't even think of words for it.
Why do we feel the need to spend $30,000,000 on a building to house criminals when there are millions and millions of square feet of warehouse and commercial space sitting vacant? Is our government so spend happy that even those who many see as the bottom rung of society need a special building to live in at the expense of others? How many cities and counties require their inmates to actually work doing something while they serve their time? I know for certain that in Scott County (Minnesota) the inmates spend every waking hour indoors at the jail. To some the simple fact that they are not allowed outdoors adds to the punishment but I feel that working to pay your debt to society builds more character and could actually lead to a better place for them down the road than sitting around for days on end doing little to nothing.
Yes, inmates, prisoners, criminals - whatever you choose to call them - sit in relative luxury doing nothing while our schools who are asking for far, far less in the way of operating funds have to do without. They do without modern computers and they do without the best teachers because the best teachers realize that they can make more money in private schools.
So, which one - jails or schools - would you rather have your tax dollars spent on?
After you ponder that question, check out the equally compelling MinnPics and take a photographic journey through Minnesota.
Which of the two - schools or a jail - benefits society more in the long run? Schools prepare the next generation for jobs. Those buildings need to be stocked with equipment and teachers who are at the top of their game - they need to be of the highest quality and the best of the best. Schools serve the children of everyone and everyone who has ever reached the age of five has benefitted from schools - the majority benefitting from public schools which are taxpayer funded.
Then there are jails. They are filled with people who didn't see the value or need to abide by our city, state or nation's laws. They are arrested, booked and placed in jail. Some go to trial while many serve their time and consider it their debt to society for doing wrong. In either case, they stay in these buildings on the taxpayer's dime. I see no reason why a jail needs to provide anything beyond the most basic of necessities. The simple fact that jails have televisions anywhere inside them is nothing short of excessive to me. I don't care if the televisions are for employees, visitors, stray cats or those who are locked up - a television is a luxury and is unnecessary if you are being punished for a crime. And housing law breakers in a $30,000,000 building is so far beyond excessive that I can't even think of words for it.
Why do we feel the need to spend $30,000,000 on a building to house criminals when there are millions and millions of square feet of warehouse and commercial space sitting vacant? Is our government so spend happy that even those who many see as the bottom rung of society need a special building to live in at the expense of others? How many cities and counties require their inmates to actually work doing something while they serve their time? I know for certain that in Scott County (Minnesota) the inmates spend every waking hour indoors at the jail. To some the simple fact that they are not allowed outdoors adds to the punishment but I feel that working to pay your debt to society builds more character and could actually lead to a better place for them down the road than sitting around for days on end doing little to nothing.
Yes, inmates, prisoners, criminals - whatever you choose to call them - sit in relative luxury doing nothing while our schools who are asking for far, far less in the way of operating funds have to do without. They do without modern computers and they do without the best teachers because the best teachers realize that they can make more money in private schools.
So, which one - jails or schools - would you rather have your tax dollars spent on?
After you ponder that question, check out the equally compelling MinnPics and take a photographic journey through Minnesota.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
At least it wasn't a donkey punch
"There's no way you can give me a bloody nose."
To anyone of any age, that's a challenge you'd be an idiot to pass on. It's a free pass to ram your fist into a willing victim's nose with the ultimate goal to inflict pain on another person. Of course at five years old the ramifications of this don't really register.
That tale and more are just part of the random and confusing memories of my childhood.
I chalk it up being easily influenced by friends and the bloody nose was no different. The victim in this story was the older brother (yep, older) of my best friend at the time. I don't really recall how we found ourselves in this conversation that could lead nowhere good but it started with the older brother uttering that sentence doubting my strength (and aim).
So I started punching him. Being five years old I am fairly certain that these were not Mike Tyson-like blows but after a few minutes (and probably a rather sore fist) there was blood pouring down this kid's face. Chalk it up to his stupidity (who challenges anyone like that?) and my eagerness to prove myself but the end result as the bus pulled up to the elementary school on Austin's west side was one bloody seven year old and a five year old confused about why he was in trouble. At least the older brother (who was the instigator here) didn't throw me under the proverbial bus on this one.
I know that we both ended up spending the before-school recess sitting in the principal's office for a week and that my parents were "very disappointed" in me. Thus began a couple trends for me. That time spent in the principal's office wasn't the last.
MinnPics is violence-free as I am a reformed guy. Check out the great photography unearthed daily!
To anyone of any age, that's a challenge you'd be an idiot to pass on. It's a free pass to ram your fist into a willing victim's nose with the ultimate goal to inflict pain on another person. Of course at five years old the ramifications of this don't really register.
That tale and more are just part of the random and confusing memories of my childhood.
I chalk it up being easily influenced by friends and the bloody nose was no different. The victim in this story was the older brother (yep, older) of my best friend at the time. I don't really recall how we found ourselves in this conversation that could lead nowhere good but it started with the older brother uttering that sentence doubting my strength (and aim).
So I started punching him. Being five years old I am fairly certain that these were not Mike Tyson-like blows but after a few minutes (and probably a rather sore fist) there was blood pouring down this kid's face. Chalk it up to his stupidity (who challenges anyone like that?) and my eagerness to prove myself but the end result as the bus pulled up to the elementary school on Austin's west side was one bloody seven year old and a five year old confused about why he was in trouble. At least the older brother (who was the instigator here) didn't throw me under the proverbial bus on this one.
I know that we both ended up spending the before-school recess sitting in the principal's office for a week and that my parents were "very disappointed" in me. Thus began a couple trends for me. That time spent in the principal's office wasn't the last.
MinnPics is violence-free as I am a reformed guy. Check out the great photography unearthed daily!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Are we dumb?
My early apologies to MPR's Bob Collins whose post and subsequent update on The Current prompted me to write this and blatantly steal the title from his News Cut blog. I had to do it but I aslo had to think for myself about the question "are we dumb?" because there are varying levels of dumb that many of us see on a daily basis. Hell, even I partake in the dumb from time to time because it's a release. A person can't always be "on" and has to be allowed to just chill.
Unfortunately (maybe) those stringent rules which were supposedly instilled in us by our teachers with their tightly-pulled buns and glasses perched on the tips of their noses become increasingly lax as the years progress. We glean language from the sources we witness on a daily basis whether those be television, music, movies, radio, newspapers, magazines or the conversation with others. I tend to think that those sources contribute to the greater good and create a more rounded person.
The biggest downfall, though, is simply forgetting those lessons we learned in school. I can say that I basically glided through school. I rarely (if ever) took homework home which made that homework simply work. On the flip side (again, maybe) I didn't want to spend an eternity in college. In all honesty I wish I had attended longer but I finished with the degree and education I wanted at the time and sprinted in to the job market.
I'm not here to brag that I am better than anyone else because I know damn well that I'm not. I do have that nagging question in the back of my head that wonders if we are becoming simply dumb. I see it in television as I've watched shows with simple or no plot at all succeed wildly while those with in-depth plots struggle to succeed. Is it a matter of attention span? Did people centuries ago nod off at the mere mention of one of Shakespeare's plays? Will language devolve to the point that txt msg spk (text message speak if you didn't catch it) is widely accepted?
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Schools, spending and Savage
It's been one week since voters across Minnesota dribbled into their respective polling places to vote on the most local of all issues, city government and school board/school bond referendums.
Of course, the big draw was for cities and school districts asking for an increase in school referendums. The money being asked for was for a wide variety of purposes ranging from new school and technology to a general increase in spending money for students.
One area community in the southern Twin Cities (Prior Lake) had a failed referendum which led to the resignation of the district's superintendent. Of course, he states that his resignation wasn't over the failed referendum but instead over the election of a former employee he recommended to be essentially fired. The discussion over the superintendent's resignation has devolved into bickering about how a well-funded school district raises the values of homes in the area while others feel that has nothing to do with home values/prices. (One point of the argument missing is what, if anything, the members of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux tribe contribute to the public school due to the exempt status in the form of property taxes)
I don't care either way. There are highly-valued homes in most any area. Many of the highly-priced homes are priced that way due to their size, quality of workmanship, location to schools (yes, I said it), location to jobs, location to transportation and location to recreation. It isn't only due to schools.
What always gets me, though, is the lofty amounts of funds asked for by our school districts. Rather than perform timely maintenance (it seems) they let their existing buildings deteriorate until an extreme overhaul is needed or a new building is deemed to be the only fix.
The example I keep using is the high school I graduated from. Before I came of high school age, the district tried numerous referendums with the aim of building an entirely new school whose price tag at the time was well over $50 million (I seem to remember the powers that be stating the price tag to be much higher than that).
After three or so failed attempts at forcing a $50-plus million dollar debt down the throats of taxpayers, the fourth time the referendum was changed after, miracuously, the existing 60-80 year old school was found to be sound enough to be remodeled and expanded.
Wow. With their backs against the walls, the school district found a suitable way to make the 2 city blocks long building function for an upcoming new century. For a price of less than $20 million, the school was remodeled, land was bought surorunding it to create a campus setting, 2 new gymnasiums were built and on-site parking was added. That price tag also covered improvements to other schools in the district with energy-efficient windows and improved functionality for new needs and uses.
This was one rare case where an acceptable compromise to school problems was found. Why can't others follow suit? Sure, a new building is nice and often aster than remodeling and expanding existing building and I know that growth does indeed bring a need for new buildings but the near crybaby attitude of the superintendent from the link above is sad. He doesn't want to face the pressures of a city unwilling to pony up gobs of cash in a nearly blind fashion and is unwilling to come face to face with a new schoolboard member whom he terminated just months ago. While he is seen by plenty as a great administrator, his maturity is obviously lacking.
How many others are tired of the seemingly endless spending and begging by schools? While I am forced to do without items I previously had, I have nobody to ask for a large monetary sum. My car needs repairs but should I go buy a new one because it's easier? Sorry, I can't ask my neighbors to pay for a luxury item for myself, why should taxpayers be expected to hand over cash because a school doesn't know how to live within a budget?
Of course, the big draw was for cities and school districts asking for an increase in school referendums. The money being asked for was for a wide variety of purposes ranging from new school and technology to a general increase in spending money for students.
One area community in the southern Twin Cities (Prior Lake) had a failed referendum which led to the resignation of the district's superintendent. Of course, he states that his resignation wasn't over the failed referendum but instead over the election of a former employee he recommended to be essentially fired. The discussion over the superintendent's resignation has devolved into bickering about how a well-funded school district raises the values of homes in the area while others feel that has nothing to do with home values/prices. (One point of the argument missing is what, if anything, the members of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux tribe contribute to the public school due to the exempt status in the form of property taxes)
I don't care either way. There are highly-valued homes in most any area. Many of the highly-priced homes are priced that way due to their size, quality of workmanship, location to schools (yes, I said it), location to jobs, location to transportation and location to recreation. It isn't only due to schools.
What always gets me, though, is the lofty amounts of funds asked for by our school districts. Rather than perform timely maintenance (it seems) they let their existing buildings deteriorate until an extreme overhaul is needed or a new building is deemed to be the only fix.
The example I keep using is the high school I graduated from. Before I came of high school age, the district tried numerous referendums with the aim of building an entirely new school whose price tag at the time was well over $50 million (I seem to remember the powers that be stating the price tag to be much higher than that).
After three or so failed attempts at forcing a $50-plus million dollar debt down the throats of taxpayers, the fourth time the referendum was changed after, miracuously, the existing 60-80 year old school was found to be sound enough to be remodeled and expanded.
Wow. With their backs against the walls, the school district found a suitable way to make the 2 city blocks long building function for an upcoming new century. For a price of less than $20 million, the school was remodeled, land was bought surorunding it to create a campus setting, 2 new gymnasiums were built and on-site parking was added. That price tag also covered improvements to other schools in the district with energy-efficient windows and improved functionality for new needs and uses.
This was one rare case where an acceptable compromise to school problems was found. Why can't others follow suit? Sure, a new building is nice and often aster than remodeling and expanding existing building and I know that growth does indeed bring a need for new buildings but the near crybaby attitude of the superintendent from the link above is sad. He doesn't want to face the pressures of a city unwilling to pony up gobs of cash in a nearly blind fashion and is unwilling to come face to face with a new schoolboard member whom he terminated just months ago. While he is seen by plenty as a great administrator, his maturity is obviously lacking.
How many others are tired of the seemingly endless spending and begging by schools? While I am forced to do without items I previously had, I have nobody to ask for a large monetary sum. My car needs repairs but should I go buy a new one because it's easier? Sorry, I can't ask my neighbors to pay for a luxury item for myself, why should taxpayers be expected to hand over cash because a school doesn't know how to live within a budget?
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