Labor Day weekend dead ahead

And with it comes the unofficial end of summer 2017.  Seems like it just began.  Things ought to seem different this year for me.  No turning leaves (or will there be?); no cool October nights. Wonder if the skanks will trash my house on Halloween.

I am so relieved to not have to deal with them anymore.

My first bi monthly check came from lake County: $1200.  Gross was $1900.  So I'm drawing $3800 a month.  Thought it would be more.  Might inquire.

Ain't that the truth?

I sure do miss him.

Whew!

Gotta stop talking to certain people.  The head of the science department took me aside, privately, to ask about an encounter I had with one of the assistant principals.  I had shared that, in confidence, with the head of the discipline committee.  Now it seems it's common knowledge.

I had made a general statement, that the office staff and one assistant heard. when I went to the office to request a referral form when a student came into my classroom and threatened one of the students in my class.  At first, they didn't want to give the form to me, saying they didn't have any. I was unconvinced and told them that they can talk all they want about "soaring" (we heard it every morning) but if teachers aren't supported then it won't happen.

They gave me a copy of an old referral form.  The district has yet to issue new ones.
Those who gossip WITH you will gossip ABOUT you.  I had hoped I had left this kind of thing behind.  Seemingly not.

Discipline is apparently weak at CLMS, but I've been through this before.  I will not let it  hijack my efforts in the classroom and I will not get myself into the middle of disputes.  I let myself be drawn into that in my early years. No more.

And they don't.  The right wing had no real use for "religion" from the beginning.

They just want the power, the money and the votes it brings them. Too many "Christians" are dumb enough to fall into their trap.

Radical elements of the right are preying on them and most don't even know it.

They lure them under their spell with abortion and gay rights issues, not to mention gun rights. Meantime, they are picking their proverbial pockets with so-called "tax reform," justifying paying them starvation wages while the price of nearly everything goes up and threatening to torpedo their future financial security by disabling both medicare and social security, not to mention depriving them of decent healthcare coverage, all in the name of protecting the profits of the insurance moguls and big Pharma.  What's disturbing is that they don't even see the need to hide their true intentions anymore, so delusional are many in our culture.

Madness.

Went to Clearwater this weekend...

Got to see Winter and Hope of "Dolphin Tale" fame, in the flesh.  What a thrill.  Went out on a boat to see wild dolphins, up close.  We actually saw some.  Fascinating.

Meantime, back in Clermont, things are going along swimmingly.  Rain, rain and more rain.  Not an issue for me.  It makes for better sleeping at night, something I seem to be doing better than I did back in Carolina.

My feet are swelling.  Gotta get a handle on that.  Not sure the cause.  Message Dr. Jorden, my cardiologist; they recommend I see a GP.  They must not fear heart issues.  I've no shortness of breath for such or chest pains.

Don't miss Carolina.  Not at all.  Odd.

Traffic here can be an issue but back home, it was also, in spots.

People here continue to be friendly.

I gotta be careful

I know how easily I am drawn up into disputes and controversy.  Don't want to go that with this time.

Parents in Lake County are very political and very outspoken, I am told and I know, from experience elsewhere, that school administration is easily intimidated by such.

There's been a lot of pushback against the discipline code (revised) at Clermont middle, mostly concerning the dress code and the detention for not having student IDs.  The district has told us to stop issuing detentions for not having IDs. There's also been some loosening of the dress code, recently.

Apparently, discipline has been an issue this past year or so. Not good.

I've seen it all before.

I am determined to make this work.  That's bottom line. I need to, for more than just financial reasons. I've come back home to the faith of my birth. Probably am completely through with St. Paul's, in Greensboro and will not darken the door there again.

Unfortunate. I was a member there for decades.Knew a lot of people and was very involved there. Can't do that anymore.  The place is a hostile environment to me thanks to Pope Urban VI and the knights.  That too, is sad.  Used to be that the K of C was one of the only things holding me to th Catholic faith.  It became something that drove me away.

Blessed Sacrament is a very different place from all that.  It is very welcoming and the pastoral staff there does not reside in the 14th century.  Neither do they back away from addressing current issues, like bigotry and social justice.  No more ranting about abortion or "liberals."  No more telling us to "vote correctly." what a blessing. No pun intended.

I no longer find myself looking in the rear view mirror or glancing over to my neighbors to see if trouble is heading my way. Don't need to worry about my mailbox being knocked down or my tire stems cut. None of that.

I've no roach problem...yet although I have dispatched the few I have seen.  My bathroom floors are stable and when it rains (which it does every day) I don't find myself wondering if the ceiling will cave in.

Yes, I will have to deal with those problems when I return but it's a decided relief to not have them looking me in the face every day and night.

People are, for the most part, quite friendly here.  Already met three residents who hail from the Tar Heel state.  No one comes up into my yard and taunts me.  My vehicle has not been slimed.

Traffic in Clermont is heavy, at times and stores more crowded.  That will take some getting used to. But I no longer drive past St. Pius X or the Greensboro Science center and am reminded of the trauma I endured there.

In essence, I feel like my time here in Central Florida has been therapeutic,  and healing for me. It's been something I have needed for some years.  I see that now.

It's even been helpful to be away from the NC mountains.  Never thought I would ever say that. I associate them with my connection with the Griffins. Mike pressured me into the white water kayaking thing.  A major manipulator, that one.  I did right in moving away.

How is it that I so often learn my lessons in retrospect?

This afternoon, as I left Blessed Sacrament, I met up with the local K of C; am going to give them another try.  Am thinking it was just the social dynamic of the one in Greensboro. Too many right wing radicals. Perhaps it will be different here.

Whew! A lot has transpired in the past few days....

This may wind up being a one year thing....if it lasts that long.

And it was inevitable I fear. Things were going too well.  Nothing serious has happened, nothing big...just a bunch of little things.

I've grown used to having chalkboards; first time since 1984.  Never mind that there is no pencil sharpened in my room and I have an antiquated projector mounted on a table and no smart board. If the bulb burns out, there are no replacement bulbs in the school.  The roaches I find in my classroom, some mornings, are big enough to put saddles on.  I have to sweep them up because if I don't the ants will come in and carry them away.  I've accepted that I am limited to 1500 copies.  They did give us consumable science books, but they are huge and heavy.

All that I have just kind of accepted in course.

But after a science meeting where the other sixth grade science teacher and I were subjected to the third degree by our science department chair, I am wondering about some things.  It was intense. Right now I feel a little hemmed in.  You see, the science test scores fell from last year and now there is a full court press on getting them back up.  She wants things done just so and I don't feel comfortable about that.

Not sure where to do with this.  Don't want to overreact.  I do that enough.

The solar eclipse was an inspiring event.  We watched on NASA TV.  We didn't have any of those eclipse  glasses and I didn't trust them no way.

They say they'll be another in 2024.

I am left to wonder if I will still be here. Yeah, I am to that stage in life where that's a wonder. I'd be 75.
















Meantime, back here in the USA, crazy is running amuck!

Trump held another campaign like rally in Phoenix and said and did some more crazy things, belittling the press.

Hitler did that.

There's more talk of alt right violence.  Truly, they aren't the only ones. I am hearing chatter from the radical left about the same thing.

Are we headed for another civil war, the kind with bullets? Each day that passes, there is more and more discussion of that.

Mad.  Utterly mad.







This is the way the world ends?  This is the way the world ends?  Pooofff, with both a bang and a whimper.....

How did we ever end up here?  How could we, as a nation, have become so delusional, so foolish? Wish I knew...

Had my faith restored this morning

The celebrant at mass, this morning, at blessed sacrament, told us that there is no place in the church or in the world, for hate and bigotry. He reminded us that we, as Catholics, were often met with intolerance, and thus should be particularly sensitive to such things. Pope Francis espoused a similar message, recently. Finally, a catholic priest who doesn't live in the fourteenth century and  spout right wing drivel at mass.
I think I've come home.

Completed my first full week...

think I might be getting some of my stamina back.

I have five classes, there advanced and two regular level.  They've entrusted me with some of their biggest talent and I hope to be up to the challenge.

The advanced classes are small, 11, 14, and 17, thus providing me with the opportunity to really meet the NASA challenge of training up the next generation of explorers.  It's an opportunity I've have almost never had before .

Not missing NC as much as I feared I would. NOT YET.

Might go over to Clearwater, this weekend to visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, home of
Winter and Hope, the dolphin stars of the motion picture Dolphin Tale.

Remain determined that my "job" won't absorb my whole life this go around. The longest I have remained at school after the students left, so far, has been a little bit over an hour.

I haven't done any writing lately. That isn't good and I need to change that.