My friend George (to the tune of The Things They Carried)

I make a lot of trips to South Florida. The definition of a lot is every four to five weeks. It's a six hour drive any way you look at it as I hop in my '06 Toyota (110,000+) to visit my significant other. (I really would like to fly, but his mom keeps finding "throw-aways" from their ritzy neighbors. The value and overall class of these marvelous finds makes me want to "hide-away" all my furniture...I'm serious!) But I digress!

After every return trip on 95North, I try and stop in Palm Bay which is the midway point! The best part about this blip on the map is that my friend George lives there! (The orange and blue text color is homage to his diehard Gator fan status as evidenced by his shirt!) I first remember George around year 5 or 6 of our 13 years of Catholic school education. (No, we didn't fail, but we did begin at kindergarden!) In Jacksonville, all the public schools are named after Civil War folks, like Stonewall Jackson Elementary, and JEB Stuart and Jeff Davis Middle. Then there are the high schools, Forest (George's middle name) and Lee (my middle name because my mother graduated from Robert E. Lee.) George and I felt like we were members of a very exclusive "namesakes" club! In middle school, he played basketball and I was a cheerleader. In high school, he was my Geometry tutor although he didn't help very much. (I can't blame him! Well....) After graduation, I had to choose "career" (which translated to a J-O-B until I finally started teaching) although George was wonderful enough to invite me to many University of Florida events so I could pretend to be an "on-time" college student....for just a little while.

Then marriages and/or domestic partnerships came along, divorces, kids in other states, and our other best friend Edward's ordination to the Catholic priesthood! There were ridiculous tears to "It's a Wonderful Life," hospital visits, all night bowlathons, and memories of my '66 Rambler, a.k.a, the "Museum on Wheels." During today's visit, he talked about his father's health and his heart's desire to start taking on a more parental role with his, well, parents! As I write this I get a little misty, because how cool is it to know a truly non-judgemental someone for 3/4 of your life! Sure, there were months, even a year or two, when we lost touch, when life was just too busy, when here-right-now relationships took precedence, when we were too embarrassed to admit that we had been crawling for a while,...but always when we reconnected, it was like we had just spoken yesterday! Our friendship reminds me of this excerpt from Chapter One of the Vietnam memoir mentioned in the Blog's Title...

"They shared the weight of memory. They took up what others could no longer bear. Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak." I sincerely hope that each of my Blog-followers has a George!

Fall Comes Early as I embrace a NEW HAT!

(Preface: There are many campus locations for FSCJ, our community college that recently grew up and became a state college. Back in the day, I attended KENT campus which used to be base housing doublewides that were rehabilitated into classrooms. Jacksonville does bleed blue because of our many naval bases! In my former life (2009!), I taught ENC 1101 and LIT 2000 in the Dual Enrollment program at the high school. For the past several years, I have been trying to be picked up as an adjunct at my alma mater campus with no luck!) I started a new job in January as a Reading Coach. One of my responsibilities will be teaching CPT skills in a summer bridge program for two weeks immediately after the close of school. The students will be housed at FSCJ, the NORTH campus, which is a few miles from my new high school. Three weeks ago, we had an organizational meeting and as luck would have it, I sat right next to the Dean of Liberal Arts who is responsible for hiring adjuncts! CARPE DIEM! I made an appointment for the very next week to bring in all my paperwork in hopes to teach an SLS (student skills) course and get my proverbial foot in the door. They would be able to place me on the FALL schedule (80%). Last week, MONDAY, May 24th, I got a call. This is their third week of school for the long summer one-night-a-week ENC 1101 course and the professor was recuperating from an auto accident and unable to meet their committment. COULD I TAKE OVER THE CLASS AND START TONIGHT! I had 15 minutes with the Freshman Comp text and happily found a story I knew really well that would demonstrate all the Narrative elements, George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant." After three hours, I was totally wearing this new hat! So....to Xavier, Barry, Cynthia, LaTonya, Trina, Wendy, Kevin, Adonis, Crystal, Rashad, Rosalind, Angela, and Daniel, THANKS FOR MAKING MY FIRST TIME "BLOG-WORTHY"!!!

When "Curb Shopping" Starts Costing!

Since I teach all forms of literacy and literary strategies, you would think I would have a pretty good handle on the cause and effect strategy. I understand how to identify the "domino effects" on a page, but in real life, I obviously need to go back to school. What am I talking about? Cause - I was given a baker's rack. It was a very non-assuming little piece of furniture. It wouldn't take up much space. I would have a spot for my dishes. It seemed like a worry-free endeavor to bring a new article into the home. Worry-free, maybe...but Cost-free, NO! Effect - I have a galley-style kitchen. On one side is the living room, dining room combo and on the other is a laundry room to the left and a multi-purpose room to the right. (In the past, it has served as an office, a bedroom, and a storage area, and now,it's waiting for a facelift and a new purpose.) Nothing seemed to serve as the right venue to showcase the FREE baker's rack! Wait! There was a closet in the dining room that always served as an area for non-seasonal clothing. In Florida, the seasons aren't as defined as they used to be, so it was time to shed some of the old garments! Well, taking the door off required some spackling to repair the holes, which then required a new coat of paint, which then required some new baseboards since the closet would now be an exposed nook, which then required more new paint for the adjoining walls! Should I even share (or confess) how I then bought a new set of dishes to go with the new color sheme? The only FREE things were my former needlework pieces that, coincidentally, were of baker's racks, and I placed three on the walls in the reformed closet. Add two super-sized margarita glasses from a former Tex-Mex restaurant, and the free piece of furniture came with a price tag of over $200! I absolutely learned my lesson and I completely understand cause and effect now, but wait...My boyfriend's mom is on the phone and she found a lovely brass piece that I'm going to love. All I need to do, is.........

Call Me Persephone....or Elphaba!

The main event for high school students is their graduation. It is that moment when they (finally) leave the comforts of high school and enter the (gasp) REAL WORLD! It's also a time for teachers to say farewell for young adults that they have know for four years! For me, saying farewell came in January. When the 2009 school year started, I began my 6th year as a member of the Wolfpack on the Southside of town, teaching AP Literature and other Senior English classes. I couldn't forsee any changes! However, at the end of December I was recruited to serve as a Reading Coach in January as a member of the Trojan Nation on the Northside. That's why I am Persephone. I'm existing in two different worlds! Since I left, I have returned every Thursday afternoon to my former school to work in the computer lab as well as be available for Grade Recovery for my students from the first semester. Here's an excerpt of the letter I wrote when I left the classroom.

...Know that there were more than a few tears in accepting this position because it's very difficult to leave a comfort zone, close friendships, and an ideal class schedule to embrace the unknown. when you think of me, and you should do this often (LOL) remember someone who valued relationships and experiences much more than stuff! The Little Prince reminds us that "One sees clearly only with the heart!"

...Finally, there is a scene in Wicked, when Elphaba (the Green witch) and Glenda (the good witch) are saying their farewells to each other for the last time. They admit that "Because I knew you, I have been changed for good." ME TOO! (FYI...If you haven't been to Gershwin Theater in NYC to see this amazing production, here's a taste of the lyrics and music...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UFpQtOuOnc

I went to two high school proms over the past two weekends and the first week in June I will attend two graduations. Only after that, will I take off my Wolfpack hat and completely become a part of the Trojan nation!

An Eye for an Eye

This is Scotty Love Payne. Because of our proximity to the Tournament Player's Championship course at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, he is named after two golfers, Davis Love III (who won in 1992 and 2003) and the late Payne Stewart. (Adam Scott won in 2004, but Scott entered our lives earlier, so he was never a reason for his first name.) Scott has always been a special cat and he met my daughter when he was brought in to be euthanized. (My daughter is a vet technician and ALWAYS brings her rescue work home with her!) We speak a special language around him that is a cross between Sylvester the Cat and Peter Lorre. To speak correctly, you have to clinch your teeth, slobber a little, speak really slow, and keep your tongue at the bottom of your mouth. (Perhaps we have one foot in the Real World, and another in Fantasy Land. Maybe we have too much time on our hands!) If Scott is a sum of all his parts, then he is still not worth much as many of his pieces don't quite work! Today, one of the parts could no longer be ignored and he had to have his infectious left eye removed. He hadn't been able to see out of it for over a year! We have been cheering him up by singing religious hymns, "Mine Eye Have Seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord," Eagle's favorites, "You Can't Hide Your Lying Eye," 1930 era show tunes, "Smoke Gets in Your Eye," and even a country song, "Don't it Make My Brown Eye Blue." When he heals up he will be pursuing a new career as you guessed it, a Private Eye!