A Home Without a Dog

Tega

I cannot remember a time in my life where I did not have a pet. Most of the time that has been a dog and most of that time there have been two dogs. (I am allergic to cats) That ended yesterday.

After the death of Elsa several months ago, Tega became my last dog and was single. I had made up my mind that when I felt I could not longer give two dogs what they needed every day, I would keep the pack at two. Tega and I became that two. 

Tega came to me after spending too much time in a shelter after being returned too many times by adopters. The first one I remember was the vet tech. She was going to love Tega and she was going to deal with all her quirks. Right? Until Tega's quirks did not align with the vet tech who insisted on keeping Tega's nails cut to the quick because no dog she owned would have long nails. This resulted in her husband trying to hold Tega while this was happening. He ended up getting bit and she was returned to the shelter. 

The last time she was returned after a couple of years. The young man was in tears but Tega continued to bust out of his rental home during thunderstorms and he could not afford to continue to replace doors in his home. He wouldn't keep her in a kennel while he was working. He thought that was cruel. What was cruel was seeing her face when she was returned. She had no idea what she had done wrong. She was devastated. I promised her then I would find her a home that would keep her forever. I had no idea it would be three years later and would be with Elsa and I. 

She was okay with most people and most dogs. She adored my son and really liked men more than women. She could be bitchy and would show teeth if she was tired and wanted to be left alone. She was not fond of children. I believe when she was sleeping and snarling, showing her teeth, she was going after all those things she was afraid of.

She was terrified of thunder. She because obsessed with trying to get away from it, especially if she was alone. She would literally attempt to chew and claw her way out of anything she was in. The only thing she felt comfortable in was a hard sided, airline crate. If I was at home, she would hide in my closet which was where she slept. There was no drug, no thunder shirt, nothing that would calm her until the thunder passed. 

She developed neurological issues almost a year ago. One of her eyes was covered by her third eyelid so she began hitting things on her left side that she could not see. She began losing weight and stumbling around. I had to stop her walks because she would stumble so badly, I was afraid she would fall and I would not be able to get her up and back home. She lost control of her bowels and would go outside and inside several times, then poop when she laid down. 

A week or so ago, she stopped eating. She would nibble and once in a while eat one of her favorite snacks, but the weight loss became even more noticeable. The photo at the top of the page was take the day before she died by her Auntie Violet.

 I am in no rush to get another dog. I am going to take my time and wait until I am ready.  I will, of course, adopt another senior. Another one that someone has thrown away for stupid reasons. I think a boy this time, but he/she may pick me. The house feels empty. I have been cleaning but the dog hair still clings. I am sad but I know she is running with her old buddies from Satchel's Last Resort, Elsa, Buckeye and Brody, playing chase and catching balls. She won't lack for anything. I am at peace with that. 

My book would be banned for sure

 

I tell a lot of stories to my students. Most of them are G rated because they are my students but I also find it necessary to be honest with them when it is possible. The ban on what teachers can and cannot say in their classrooms ties in perfectly with the book ban that doesn't exist and several other vague laws designed to fire up voters of the red type and keep parents on edge about what their children are learning.

I was lucky in that we did not have social media or even computers when I was educated in the same public school system that I teach in today. Many things that happen in high school today happened back then. There is just no record of it because we had no cell phones or anything else to use to document stupid teenage actions. 

I could start off my book talking about teens having sex in inappropriate places. The place I am thinking of was a science lab at the old Lakeland Junior High School by my best friend's brother. I won't use names but anyone who knows me from back then would know him. He got caught not once, but twice. So when one of the students or two, or three, get cause in a compromising position, I am not as aghast as many of my co-teachers were. 

How about my friends who were twins? She inappropriately got pregnant, her daughter was raised by her father and she is dead from drugs. Her brother, who I heard was gay which I did not know in high school, died of AIDS at the beginning of the virus. 

When our students are suspended for vaping in the bathroom, I remember the smoke billowing out of the bathrooms in Lakeland High School or the crowd behind the football locker room where cigarettes were not the only thing being smoked. 

I would have to include all the rock and roll concerts we went to with no parents. My first was the Monkees when I was 12. By the time I had graduated from high school I had seen everyone from Led Zeppelin, Cat Stevens, oops, can't talk about him because he converted to being a Muslim. The Rolling Stones at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville when my Mom thought I was spending the night with a girlfriend. I never told her about that one. 

How about my friend who liked a guy who was of another race? Her parents sent her off to church school and took her out of public school so she could not associate with the "wrong" group of kids. I saw her after high school. She had not changed and no longer spoke to her parents.

I could talk about hanging at Joker Marchant stadium with the Lakeland Tigers, many who later became Detroit Tigers. Driving my 1962 Impala all over the state of Florida during the summer I turned 16 to watch them play.  Playing Spades and drinking beer; what trouble could 18 year old girls get into 2 years later. Once again, no names. It was fun. 

Better yet, how about hanging with Merle Haggard and the Strangers on a couple of road trips. Talk about fun. But much of what we did is probably not for student ears or their eyes, should I happen to write a book. 

Did you know I used to fly whenever I wanted to go somewhere. By myself. all over the country. No fear here. How many nice people I met, many became friends for life. 

I had a subscription to Ms. magazine for years. I worked on Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign.. I went skinny dipping in many of the lakes in Polk County. I was the first female student to take auto mechanics because only boys were allowed. That took Daddy arguing the point of equality to the school board. I cheered at the dinner table when Roe v Wade was ruled on in the Supreme Court. I was a wild child. 

But I didn't think so at the time. I maintained a good average in high school. I was student president of the Tempo club, which was our version of the student PTA. I was secretary of our DCT class. I had some of the best friends in the world, many who have gone on to do good things. 

But they would ban my book. They would say it was indoctrinating kids. They would say how inappropriate I had been as a teen. What they can't know is how independent I am or how smart. They don't understand raising a child alone or struggling when getting laid off from a job you thought you would retire from. Going back to school and paying for it yourself so you could teach school because you loved the kids. Working 3 jobs so I didn’t lose my house after the layoff during the recession.Guess who was President?

There are still tons of stories I could tell but this just a blog.  Yep, my book would be banned. 

Still aging but not as gracefully

 I remember when  I could fall asleep anywhere. Once I was asleep, I slept for hours. As a teenager, I could hit the bed at 10 and sleep until noon the next day. That has all come to an end as I age.

This morning  I woke up at 1:30 a.m. I tossed and turned until 3:00 and decided I wasn't getting back to sleep so I got up, had my one cup of coffee, turned on Netflix and grabbed the computer.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, "1 in 3 adults worldwide have insomnia symptoms. and about 10% of adults meet the criteria for insomnia disorder." There are two kinds, acute and chronic which mean pretty much what you might think. Acute which is short term and chronic which is long term. 

I have never slept the way most people do. My sleep habits usually have me sleeping about 5 hours a day, which is pretty good for me. I never understood people who sleep for 8 or 9 hours. Or nap. What the heck is a nap? If I fell asleep during the day, I felt like crap when I woke up. No refreshing sleep feeling in my house. 

Lately, if I can manage 3 solid hours a night, it was a good night, but that is not enough. My average night consists of 2 hours, bathroom break. 1 hour, bathroom break. 2 hours, bathroom break. and on and on. I am not sure if something wakes me so I have to take a bathroom break or if I have to take a bathroom break so I wake up. 

I have often heard that growing older was not for the weak. The older I get, the more I find this to be true. The is very frustrating for someone who has always been the energizer bunny who existed on 4 hours sleep a night and could then run races for the other 20. 

The stomach meds I must take twice a day for the heartburn which became the GERD which turned in to Barrett's Esophagus from the many acidic and fatty foods that I crave all the time which my body cannot handle with no gall bladder and the above conditions. Every day I must take them

The steroid inhaler which causes the weight gain so I can continue to breath after years of smoking, throwing caution to the wind. I still want a smoke every day and if it was possible, I would still have one. Required twice a day for the past few years. 

The loss of hearing in my right ear due to a Parotid tumor which was diagnosed two years ago. They are benign and they grow very slowly, but it is there and I know it and I cannot hear sometimes out of my right ear. Doctors say this is not the tumor but TMJ, another symptom. I don't believe them. 

I am still mobile and still working. I still love doing yard work and getting my hands dirty. I would love to do more, but my energy level is not what it was when I was in my 30s. My aging is not as graceful as I would hope, but it is aging and it happens to us all.

We shouldn't have to, but we can

 Floridians are in a state of denial if they believe that all this news coverage about another class that won't be offered to our students is nothing more than a political shaking of the fist by our governor who wants to be king. 

I took an African American History class way back when in the 70s right after the integration of the schools in Florida. I was the only white person in the class. I had a wonderful teacher named Thelma McCann and I learned so much that I can still call upon it when teaching my students. 

Although I believe the AP African American history class should be offered to the students, we do have a way to teach the same history without the college credit. The issue is having available teachers who principals will allow to teach the subject matter. 

The following courses are offered in CPalms, the state repository of classes and standards set by the state.:

1. Examining the African American Experience in the 20th Century   (#2104310)

2. African-American History   (#2100340)

3. African-American History   (#2100335)

4. African-American History Honors   (#2100336)

5. Great Men and Women of Color Who Shaped World History   (#2100345)

The problem, once again, is having students who want to take the class, which would not count as a history class, but as an elective, having a teacher to teach the class and the support of the principal. It really comes down to numbers. Honors would allow for a little extra on your GPA, but no college credit. 

The governor wants to elicit anger and get people upset. He is succeeding. Smoke and mirrors work every time in the nasty world of politics. 

A student with two teachers

 I made a monumental decision this week. I picked a retirement date. I have been fighting the good fight for teachers almost 10 years. Along the way I have had some fabulous students and some that needed lots of work. I have loved them all, even the challenging ones. I have never tried to "indoctrinate"  a student to believe the way I do or think the way I do. I have tried to support them in all their endeavors and give them the tools to think for themselves and evaluate everything. Always ask why. Those questions are important.

The photo at the top of the page is my senior yearbook. I thought I would tell you a little story about my high school experience because the people in power right now are trying to take that away from children.

I had been educated early in Department of the Defense schools. You can imagine that those might be pretty conservative. They weren't or I don't remember them to be. I learned to read and write, explore and ask why.

When I moved home and became a student at Lakeland High School, I had a variety of classes. They ranged from Black History/Literature to Business Math. I had a language class in German and one in American Short Stories, World Geography and Psychology. The two that I am writing about actually are about the teachers, opposites if you will, and what I learned.

Beverly Burnsed was a ball of fire. as a teacher. She taught Current Affairs and Language, was the sponsor of Student Government and coordinator of Student activities. She was the tennis coach and she was liberal as the day was long. She signed my yearbook, "Best of everything, Jean, for now and always. Mrs. B." When she left teaching in 1976, she was elected to the Florida Legislature where she served for 12 years and sat on 10 committees. In 1988, she left the legislature and served as Assistant Secretary of State until 1992. She then became the first female vice-president of FSU, which she had graduated from to become a teacher. She retired in 2006 and died in 2019. She was an important teacher to me.

Switch now to my Americanism vs. Communism, a class which was required by the state at the time. Remember, the Cold War was still going on and we hated communism. I believe they ended that class shortly after I had to take it. Mr. Dennis Mason was my teacher. He was also the sponsor of the chess club and the Key Club. If I remember correctly, he was a Vietnam veteran who had been injured and walked with crutches. He was pretty conservative, kind of like my father, also a vet was, but like Mrs. Burnsed, he never tried to force his beliefs on us. He taught us the truth. We talked in class about the war. We discussed the world and the subjects. I don't know if Mr. Mason is still living. He didn't go in to politics as far as my research would show. I hope he is alive and doing well. I hope he is still talking about both sides and compromise. 

I cannot believe what parents are doing to teachers today and I cannot believe that this is how students are going to learn to make decisions on their own. 

I am not sure where this will end. I hope it does not continue to split the country the way it is doing now. I am going to sit back and watch from my recliner. Thank God for Dennis Mason and Beverly Burnsed. They allowed me to learn. Too bad teachers are so handcuffed today by rules and regulations that have more to do with politics than education and that students' education will suffer.

Summer did not bring teaching peace of mind

 Teachers try and regroup emotionally and physically during the summer. This is done in different ways for different teachers. In my case, I try and do lots of PD, lots of pool time and time spent with my dogs.

This year, I found relaxing very hard to do even with meeting all my goals of summer. I did the PD. I lounged in the pool. I spoiled my dogs. I also was exposed to Covid-19, even though I am vaccinated and boosted and wear my mask most places, I came home from a trip to DC and tested positive. This caused me to miss important first days of school and left me feeling a little tired with a feeling of breathlessness that I am having to take medicine for. 

I also came back to a shitstorm of political proportion from both counties I am associated with. I know the conspiracy theory folks, ultra conservative, abortion is murder, stop indoctrinating our students are fighting hard on one side to take over the school boards of the county in which I live and the county in which I teach. 

I know we are fighting hard to retain some semblance of normalcy but even the teacher's union has backed a known person who only wants political control and does not really have our students in his vision. It saddens me but it also makes me angry.

I am old enough to retire should I want to. I turned that old in July. I had always planned on teaching until I was 70, but my understanding at this point is, several of these groups who think we teachers are indoctrinating their children, have vowed to come after any teacher who does not believe the same way they do. They were actually having classes in Tampa a few weeks ago on how to track teachers like me through their social media so they could make sure they were fired from their jobs. All this while Florida is suffering from an extreme shortage of professional teachers.

Now veterans can teach and their families, many with only a high school education. What is going to happen when a snarky teenage girl comes home crying because a teacher insults her in her mind or a snarky teenage boy who accuses one of these macho veterans of putting their hands on them in a negative way and they felt threatened so they ran home to mommy and daddy. Think that won't happen? Just wait. 

So no masks, no real history, nothing that may hurt someone's feelings or you can be sued. Don't mention slavery and make sure the kids understand that everyone was not bad just because they owned humans. They were our founding fathers so we need to revere them. Not discuss their bad sides. 

I am lucky. I teach at a Title 1 school where the parents are much more concerned their children are fed and educated. They don't really care how we do it as long as it gets done. They want to know when their child does good or bad and for the most part, are highly supportive of us. In all my years of teaching, I have only had two parents actually object to something I had taught. 

I may not make it to 70. I am going to try. But these alt right parents who think they own the world and get to make decisions for everyone's child, not just theirs, need to take a pill and chill. You are getting your 15 minutes of fame. Let someone else step in. 

Summer Brings school for teachers

 

For the past two years many school teachers have taken online seminars over the summer to try and keep up with some continuing education which is required for most teachers. If you are like me, you take so much professional development you have extra hours to spare.

I begin next week taking something called Social Studies Workshop: Teaching Social Studies to ELLs which should help me engage my English language learners with history. This is put on by my district and we will be in class from 9-3, Monday through Thursday. I am excited.

The week after I will be in Orlando at the AVID conference. AVID is Achievement Via Individual Determination is a non-profit organization that provides professional learning for educators to close opportunity gaps and improve college and career readiness for high school and middle school students, especially those traditionally underrepresented in higher education.

I then return home until July 10 when I fly out to San Diego for a week at the University of California at San Diego to study SE Asian Art, which should help me formulate better lesson plans when my world history classes resume. 

The final week of the summer I will be in Washington, DC at the Cato Institute. Their Sphere Summit is for teachers to work on Teaching Civic Culture together. I attended the very first one and this one is more developed for secondary school students. They take applicants on a rolling basis and I am excited that I will be able to attend this program because of the valuable things I learned the last time I was in Washington. 

In between, I will spend as much time as I can outside, in the pool and yard and being with my dogs. Summer is a time for teachers to refresh but it is also a time for them to develop better lessons for their students. 

Any of those fools who think we have summers off should just walk a mile in a teacher's shoes. We all know that is not going to happen so have a great summer and I should be back the end of July or so with a column on how summer went and what we are preparing for in the fall. Enjoy!