Everybody Needs A Hero

Posted on by November 28, 2009
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Teaching at any level requires an energy level many people do not have. Teachers don’t even have it at the end of many long days. People who don’t understand this like to mention vacation days and summers off, usually with “that look” on their faces. They don’t understand. When teachers get home, they’ve got all the home duties PLUS a good four hours of grading, preparing, and planning. I’m sure there are teachers, somewhere, that go to bed before midnight with everything done while still finding time to participate in their own family’s doings and getting all those household chores done. I personally don’t know any, but they’re no doubt out there.

Teaching – done right – isn’t an 8-hour day. It’s not even a 12-hour day for some of us.

How many people would willingly put up with some of the stuff teachers have to put up with? I mean besides you uppity folk who throw summer in our faces, and who can’t understand why another adult would not appreciate the adorable way Corralleighna stomps her foot, scratches, and uses Uncle Daddy’s cuss words in that little baby voice when she doesn’t get her way? So cute.

Teaching- done right- is standup. Every time the bell rings, the teacher has a new audience. Each audience is different and must be approached and handled individually. The better classrooms are like an interactive Rocky Horror midnight showing; there is as much action from the audience as from the headliners. However, just as a good interactive audience knows when to sit quietly and wait for instructions or permissions, a good classroom knows when to do the same. Badly behaved audience members are escorted OUT; what a shame our badly behaved class members don’t get the same. But I digress.

Key word there:  interactive.  A demo is not interactive.  A demo is just a demo.  Students should be interactive participants, not deadpan watchers of a demo. (Unless the next step is interaction.)  Instruction, participation, interaction, and then the student does the demo all by himself/herself, with full understandingof what’s happening, and eager to show someone else.

To some people, such skills come naturally.  To others of us, these skills must be taught.

We all need a hero to keep going. Without these heroes, we have no proof, sometimes, that “it” CAN be done and done right and done so well we’re left gaping in awe.

There is that one someone in each profession who is so good at what he or she does, so awesomely absolutely good at it, that we think of this person as a kind of professional idol. A celebrity in our field. We strive to – not imitate, for that never works in any profession – but to use as a good example of what we are ALL trying to do. . . that person who has figured out how to do “it” right, whatever “it” might be. Every profession has an icon.

Here is mine:

Good Business, Bad Business, Monkey Business, Laura's Business

Posted on by November 24, 2009
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longwinter Mamacita says:  Laura Ingalls Wilder’s wonderful semi-autobiographical Little House series contains some of my very favorite titles of all time.  If you don’t have the complete set in your home, TELL Santa Claus to bring it, and no two ways about it.  Every home needs these books.  Our society needs these stories to help us remember what’s really important.  These books are also a much better way to learn how people actually lived back then than a history text.  Facts, sure, but Laura tells us where they got calico, butter, lamp oil, and fuel, so the pioneers could stay alive long enough to begat US.  Modern PC cops have labeled these lovely books “racist,” “sexist,” and many other “-ists” of that time period, not having the brain cells to understand context. . . . but I digress.

Let’s talk business.

I fully believe that customer service and social media are connected at the hip, and that a business that treats its customers right will see those customers come back again for more of the same – merchandise AND treatment.

This is not a new concept.  Pa Ingalls understood it, over a hundred years ago, and Laura remembered his retold conversation well.  Here it is, straight from The Long Winter, the sixth book in the series.  See if you think this is all that different from business today.

Some background, for you poor undereducated souls who haven’t read the book:

The Dakota town was buried in snow; no trains could get through, the stores were sold out of goods, and the people were starving to death.  Two young men had, in the face of yet another blizzard, risked their lives to leave town to find something for the people to eat.  They found a settler and bought some of his wheat, paying for it with money given them by one of the two storekeepers in town.

When Mr. Loftus, the storekeeper, put the wheat out for sale, he had marked the price way up, and the townspeople were protesting.

Mr. Ingalls told him that they thought he was charging too much for the wheat.

“That’s my business,” said Loftus.  “It’s my wheat, isn’t it?  I paid good hard money for it.”

“A dollar and a quarter a bushel, we understand,” Mr. Ingalls said.

“That’s my business,” Mr. Loftus repeated. . . (he) was not going to back down.  He banged his fist on the counter and told them, “That wheat’s mine and I’ve got a right to charge any price I want to for it.”

“That’s so, Loftus, you have,” Mr. Ingalls agreed with him.  “This is a free country and every man’s got a right to do as he pleases with his own property.”  He said to the crowd, “You know that’s a fact, boys,” and he went on, “Don’t forget every one of us is free and independent, Loftus.  This winter won’t last forever and maybe you want to go on doing business after it’s over.”

“Threatening me, are you?” Mr. Loftus demanded.

“We don’t need to,” Mr. Ingalls replied.  “It’s a plain fact.  If you’ve got a right to do as you please, we’ve got a right to do as we please.  It works both ways.  You’ve got us down now.  That’s your business, as you say.  But your business depends on our good will.  You maybe don’t notice that now, but along next summer you’ll likely notice it.”

“That’s so, Loftus,” Gerald Fuller said.  “You got to treat folks right or you don’t last long in business, not in this country.”

. . .”What do you call a fair profit?”  Mr. Loftus asked.  “I buy as low as I can and sell as high as I can; that’s good business.”

“That’s not my idea,” said Gerald Fuller. (the town’s other storekeeper) “I say it’s good business to treat people right.”

And looking at all the men of the town, and realizing that every single one of them despised him, Mr. Loftus relented and lowered the price considerably.

Unless you’re WalMart, and have driven out every other store in town, this concept is still viable.  Treat people right, and they’ll come back.  Take gross advantage of them, and they won’t come back if there’s any other place to buy their needs at all.

I won’t go into how WalMart and its ilk are making it difficult, if not impossible, for a small business to compete and survive, but I still believe that word of mouth, ie social media, is the best and most effective marketing tool.  WHERE THERE IS STILL A CHOICE OF STORES, most people prefer to give their money to the one that treats them fairly.

Word of mouth.  It’s all over the people’s conversations, online and real life.  Savvy honest businesses would do well to heed it.  To get good feedback, a business must first give good service.  To do that, a business must find out what the people want, and then give it to them.  Etc.

Times are hard right now.  People are struggling.  A business that takes advantage of that fact now might, yes, have its customers over a barrel, but as soon as they can, those customers will take their money elsewhere.

What we need to make sure of right now is that we HAVE an elsewhere to go to.

P.S.  Don’t waste your time watching that dreadful TV series; it’s a travesty.

P.P.S.  Visiting all of Laura’s homes makes for an excellent road trip.

P.P.P.S.  Ever wondered what the real Laura looked like?  Here she is as a young girl and again as an elderly woman.  She was beautiful, inside and out.

Wilderlaura

Ten Things Tuesday

Posted on by November 24, 2009
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Ten Things Tuesday Mamacita says:

1. I do not like this holiday overlap so prevalent today, yet my tree is up and ready. Inconsistency, thy name is Jane.

2. I host Thanksgiving for my family, and I look forward to it with an avidity that is actually frightening, and would probably scare ’em all off if they knew how much I love having them here in my house.

3. When I do not feel useful, I do not feel as if I existed.

4. I carry grudges against people who have hurt someone I love for a long time.

5. I used to be our local school system’s Number One Advocate and Fan, but now that I know a little more about their priorities and methods, I genuinely believe they are Satan’s minions. No exaggeration.

6. I have been listening to Christmas music since Halloween.

7. If I never hear another modernized, rap-style version of “Santa Baby” again, it will be too soon.

8. Sometimes, someone’s rendition of “We Three Kings” will make me cry. The good kind.

9. I hope no ladybug beetles fall onto someone’s plate during dinner on Thursday.

10. My nephew loves to mow, so I’m kind of hoping he’ll bring his mower and let her rip on my grass when he comes. The weather has been so warm, the grass keeps growing.

11. I’ve gone down eight sizes since this time last year.

I was never good at math; it’s the only thing Barbie and I have in common.

If You Love Something, Give It Away: The Maestro Program

Posted on by November 22, 2009
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Mamacita says:  A huge thank-you to Super Cool School for posting this video.

Billy Madison‘s speech made everyone in the room dumber, but  Itay Talgam not only makes the world smarter: he makes the world smile.  Somehow, watching this gentleman makes me feel better about the world, and even about. . . me.  And that, my friends, is some kind of miracle.  Mr. Talgam, you rock.  Wow.

If social media is all about building trust-based community, music must then  be an embodiment of social media.

Enjoy.

Quotation Saturday: Stupidity

Posted on by November 21, 2009
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quotationsaturdayMamacita says:  What’s that?  STUPIDITY?  How intensely politically incorrect!

Gotta love something that’s politically incorrect!  Well, I do, anyway.  Euphemisms are for the weak.  Euphemisms cheapen our language, and draw our attention away from important things.

1. Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe. — Albert Einstein

2. Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do. — Bertrand Russell

3. A word to the wise ain’t necessary, it’s the stupid ones who need the advice. — Bill Cosby

4. Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped. — Elbert Hubbard

5. With stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. — Friedrich von Schiller

6. When people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together. — Isaac Asimov

7. The dumbest people I know are those who know it all. — Malcolm Forbes

8. First, God created idiots. That was just for practice. Then He created school boards. — Mark Twain

9. A stupid person should keep silent. But if he knew this, he would not be a stupid person. — Muslih-ud-Din Saadi

10. Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. — Plato

11. Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives. — Oscar Wilde

12. It’s too bad that stupidity isn’t painful. — Anton Lavey

13. There is no sin except stupidity. –Oscar Wilde

14. The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity. — Voltaire

15. Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider! — George Carlin

16. The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. — Harlan Ellison

17. Stupidity is the deliberate cultivation of ignorance. — William Gaddis

18. In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He did not also limit his stupidity. — Konrad Adenauer

19. Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn’t misuse it. — Pope John Paul II

20. There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. — Frank Zappa

21. Stupidity is evil waiting to happen. — Clay Bond

22. When stupidity is a sufficient explanation, there is no need to have recourse to any other. — Mitchell Ulmann

23. Always you have to contend with the stupidity of men. — Henry David Thoreau

24. Stupidity should be painful. — Anonymous

25. You can educate a fool, but you cannot make him think. –Talmud

26. He who is born a fool is never cured. — Proverbs

27. By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed. — African proverb

28. Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power. — P.J. O’Rourke

29. Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity. — Frank Leahy  dilbert

30. Here is true immorality: ignorance and stupidity; the devil is nothing but this. His name is Legion. — Gustave Flaubert

31. I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it. — Edith Sitwell

32. …right now there’s no rehab for stupidity. — Chris Rock

33. In politics stupidity is not a handicap. — Napoleon Bonaparte

34. It is because nations tend towards stupidity and baseness that mankind moves so slowly; it is because individuals have a capacity for better things that it moves at all. — George Gissing

35. Never attribute to malice, that which can be reasonably explained by stupidity. —
Spider Robinson

36. No sooner does man discover intelligence than he tries to involve it in his own stupidity. — Jacques Yves Cousteau

37. Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. — Martin Luther King, Jr.

38. One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain’t nothin’ can beat teamwork. — Edward Abbey

39. Strange as it may seem, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and formal education positively fortifies it. — Stephen Vizinczey

40. Stubborn and ardent clinging to one’s opinion is the best proof of stupidity. — Michel de Montaigne

41. Stupidity is a talent for misconception. — Edgar Allan Poe

42. Stupidity is something unshakable; nothing attacks it without breaking itself against it; it is of the nature of granite, hard and resistant. — Gustave Flaubert

43. The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty. — John Steinbeck

44. There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity. — Robertson Davies

45. You can never underestimate the stupidity of the general public. — Scott Adams

46. Why, sir, Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an excess of stupidity, Sir, is not in Nature. — Samuel Johnson

47. When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. — George Bernard Shaw

48. A stupid child is ruin to a father. . . . — Proverbs

49. Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives. — -Oscar Wilde

50. There are only two races on this planet-the intelligent and the stupid. — John Fowles

51. I like to think of anything stupid I’ve done as a ‘learning experience.’ It makes me feel less stupid. — -P.J. O’Rourke

52. It is not always easy to diagnose. The simplest form of stupidity – the mumbling, nose-picking, stolid incomprehension – can be detected by anyone. But the stupidity which disguises itself as thought, and which talks so glibly and eloquently, indeed never stops talking, in every walk of life is not so easy to identify, because it marches under a formidable name, which few dare attack. It is called Popular Opinion. — Robertson Davies

53. Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge. — -Horace Mann

54. The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism. — -William Osler

55. We’ve arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces. — -Carl Sagan

56. A stupid man’s report of what a clever man says is never accurate because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand. — Bertrand Russell

57. You can be sincere and still be stupid. — Charles F. Kettering

58. Most fools think they are only ignorant. — Benjamin Franklin

59. A good man can be stupid and still be good. But a bad man must have brains. — Maxim Gorky

60. Life is tough, but it’s tougher whenyou’re stupid. –John Wayne

I suppose I should be ashamed of myself now, but I’m not. In fact, I feel purged and refreshed.

What did I leave out? Let me know.

Dear Parents: Every Child Deserves An Audience. Stay In Your Seat. And Shut Up.

Posted on by November 20, 2009
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auditoriumMamacita says:  I’ve posted about this subject before, but with the approach of holiday season, it’s on my mind again, so I’ve written a new post about this same thing.

We’re tired.  We work all day and in the evenings, we deserve a few hours to rest, eat, and just, well, unwind. We deserve some time to ourselves, to put our feet up, watch some tv, sigh a lot, and just BE.  We deserve  some time to do these things before we go to bed and get some sleep so we can do the same things again tomorrow.  Undisturbed downtime.  Yes, we deserve some of that.

If you are a parent of school-age children and this is your typical evening, shame on you.

If this is what you choose – yourself – instead of getting up off your, um, couch, and heading out to watch your child participate in something, shame on you.

Shame on you, too, if you stay in your seat just long enough to watch your own child’s part and then leave as soon as you can to get home and commence your well-deserved unwinding.

EVERY CHILD DESERVES AN AUDIENCE.  children singing

For over twenty years, I attended school concerts, spelling bees, science fairs, plays, and other things, and for over twenty years I watched families pack up and leave the very minute THEIR child’s part was finished.  These people paid no attention to the fact that the show was still going on while they were loudly bustling themselves up the aisles, out the doors, and across the parking lot so they could beat the rush getting out of the place, and get HOME where they could, finally, after an extra-long day, unwind.  After all, they deserved it, didn’t they?

No, they didn’t.  In fact, what these people want or think they deserve doesn’t even enter into the equation here.  It is the children who matter, not the adults.

The smallest children had the biggest audience, but as soon as the lower elementary’s part in the concert was over, these were also the very people who couldn’t leave fast or soon enough, paying no attention whatsoever to the older children still on stage.

The upper elementary children had a smaller audience, and even those parents often required their kids to find them as soon as their part was over so they could go home and get what was left of that well-deserved downtime-before-bedtime.  TV is important, you know, and a kid’s show isn’t, especially when it isn’t even MY kid up there now.

By the time the middle school kids were onstage, only Grandma, Mom, a few antsy siblings, and those families with class remained in the audience.  The older kids played mostly to empty seats, because the once filled-to-overflowing, standing-room-only auditorium had emptied like a kicked anthill.

Yes, sometimes a school concert means a late night.  You can’t deal with that once a year?  Poor you.  Your younger children can’t deal with it?  Take turns going out in the hallway with them.  Let them fall asleep.  Your kid can’t deal with a disrupted schedule once a year?  Are you sure you’re talking about your child?

There’s FOOTBALL that night?  Lost is on?  Good parents know that’s not even a negotiable point.  Your children come first, or you’re a bad parent.

If you have small children whose part in a concert is usually first, try to picture YOUR child singing his/her heart out before an empty auditorium.  Think of how those children must feel when you’re packing up and leaving while they’re on stage singing much-practiced songs meant for you, and you obviously care more about yourselves than about children who aren’t yours . . . .

Oh, and before I forget:  even though I pretty much covered the subject of proper theatre behavior in another post, let me repeat a few things here:  While you’re sitting in your seat, watching a concert, shut up.  Nice people do not talk or otherwise make noise in a theatre. Nice people are quiet as mice in a theater, as well.  (Note the spelling difference.  Look it up.)  In both places, nice people are quiet.

Stay for the whole thing.  I don’t CARE if you’re tired or bored out of your mind.

Put your child in those other children’s places.  Remember, YOUR child is someone else’s child to everyone else in the universe except you.  You don’t want other people treating your child like that, do you?

Stay for the whole concert.  You’re bored?  Too bad.  You hate this stuff?  I don’t care.

Don’t detract from the glory and wonder and delight of children singing together just because you’re too selfish to even try to listen properly and enjoy it.  Don’t make children feel that their hard work was in vain because all YOU can think about is that if you leave now you might get in on the last quarter of your very important game.

Anyone of any age who does not show respect to those onstage is a rude, childish beast.

I can’t say this enough:  Every child deserves an audience.  STAY IN YOUR SEAT until the entire thing is over.

Yeah, poor you.  Poor you with a child who has the ability and the desire to participate in the arts or the sciences.  Millions of parents would give anything they’ve got to be in your shoes, and you would rather throw it away than take advantage of it.

How much would y’all bet that these same parents find no difficulty whatsoever in sitting for hours watching a sport?

I was often bored, watching an overlong school concert.  But I stayed for the whole thing.  I stayed for the whole thing because those children were far more important than anything else I might have wanted to do that night.

Why are so many parents so childish and selfish?  Childhood is such a brief fleeting moment in life; what kind of parents would CHOOSE not to watch every possible microsecond of it that’s possible to watch?

I think we all know what kind of parents would make that choice.

Children singing their hearts out while adults are walking out so they can get home and watch tv.  Such people are beyond my comprehension.

Children are singing for us; why don’t we even want to listen?

Oh yeah.  Football, Lost, recliners, and entitlement.