Columbus, Magellan, and. . .Armstrong

   It's that time of year again, when almost every newspaper and news program recounts the lists of famous people who died this year. CBS Sunday Morning did a particularly good job with theirs (truthfully, they do a good job with almost everything) and, as I watched it, I came to a sudden realization.
   I teach fifth grade and part of what I teach, whether my supervisors like it or not, is explorers. Columbus, Magellan - the guys that roamed the seas in search of what was really unknown. My kids come to know Columbus through stories, paintings and porrly animated shorts. Same for the others - merely pictures in an otherwise useless textbook.
   But Sunday I finally took notice of Neil Armstrong. Not that I wasn't aware of who he is or what he did. But I came to think of him as an explorer - just as significant as the others that came hundreds of years before him. The last man to truly be the first to set foot on a completely foreign land - or planet for that matter.   And, thanks to technology, future generations won't have to rely on distorted paintings or bad animation. They will have the real deal - Neil Armstrong himself - to tell the story and to be celebrated.
   We celebrate so many things - we remember so many people - that I think it gets harder to separate the truly important from the far-less-significant. Not that anybody's life is insignificant, especially to those that love them. But to be blunt, when I see a celebration of Whitney Houston's life - a life not cut short through illness or accident but rather a life consciously thrown away - and I don't see the star-studded celebration of the life of Neil Armstrong, I have to come to the conclusion that we've lost all historical perspective.
   One hundred years from now, when perhaps there is a colony living on the Moon, perhaps one of their holidays will be Neil Armstrong Day to mark that day in July when their home was "discovered." Celebrate with a parade and a day off from work and school. Remember Armstrong for the significance of his achievement - much like those explorers that came before him.
   By then, I figure, both Whitney Houston and I will have faded from memory. And that, perhaps, is how it should be.

Possibilities. . .and a notebook

I wrote the following on the first page of one of the best gifts I've ever gotten from a student - a new notebook.


I told a story once. Most of it was made up. It was meant to get my kids excited about writing. I had asked them to bring in a notebook - a writer's notebook, I called it. And we were going to fill it with all sorts of things.
   And then I told the story - a story of how excited I got at the sight of a new, fresh notebook. How I couldn't wait to open it. To write in it. To create things in it.
   Most of the story was probably nicked from other things I'd heard writers say about notebooks. I didn't care. I made their stories mine.
   It must have been pretty believable. At least to one student. Because, three days before Christmas break, she gave me this present. A fresh, clean, never-written-in notebook. And I had no choice but to be excited.
   But the excitement was genuine. Not necessarily for the notebook, but rather for the look on her face when she gave it to me. The look that said "Here. Here is what you told us you love the most."
   What she couldn't have known was that it's not notebooks that I love the most. It's possibilities. A notebook can become anything. And so can a student.
   Maybe, in the end, that's why I teach. Not for the tangible rewards but for the possibilities - of what might be.
   And so that's how I came to possess this notebook. And, as much as possible, I will try to fill it with stories of school and students. And possibilities.

Newtown

Being that I'm an elementary school teacher, I have taken the events at the school in Newtown, CT very personally. None of us who are teachers can ever be fully prepared for everything that might happen on any given day, but I have always hoped that the most tragic thing I'd have to prepare for was a child throwing up in my classroom. Seems that that has gone out the window now.
     I work with children every day. I see their good days and their bad days. I make them laugh and I dry their tears. I find their missing notebooks and textbooks, make sure they have lunch and try to make their day as fun and meaningful as possible. And now I thank God that I don't have to explain to my students why their classmates won't be in school on Monday. Or Tuesday. Or ever.
    If there is any justice in the afterlife, this shooter will burn in the fires of Hell for ever and ever. And those that were taken from us so quickly will look down on those that are left behind and somehow give us the strength to get through each day. And we in turn will pray for their souls and pray for those that have the power to act to limit the access to guns and look for some way to make sense of the events of this day.

"Net Worth" isn't the only thing. Or is it?

Paul Ryan decided to release two years of tax returns the other day, which indicates that he has a net worth of somewhere between $2 million and $7 million. Not a bad haul for a career politician, but certainly not Mitt Romney money.

Mitt - he has a net worth somewhere north of $250 million, including his gargantuan, I-don't-know-how-he-did-it IRA account worth some $20.7 million.

And President Obama is no slouch, worth about $11 million, which is good money for a guy living in federally subsidized housing - even if the housing happens to have  Pennsylvania Avenue address.

But the guy most of us can probably relate to is our own Vice President, Joe Biden. If the published reports are true, and I don't hear Mr. Biden saying they're not, he actually has a negative net-worth. That's right, the first figure in his net worth statement isn't a dollar sign, but rather a minus sign.

Other than his pension, it looks like Mr. Biden is flat broke. Or more accurately, about $500 grand in the hole.

A lot of people find this to be an embarrassment. Some have come out and said that this is part of the problem in Washington. We have a VP who clearly doesn't know how to handle money so no wonder our economy is so bad.

I disagree. I see a guy who has pretty much the same struggles that most of us have. A good paying job but not a lot of savings. A lot of expenses, his share of heartache, and a financial situation that I'm sure he's not proud of. But he presses on.

I'm sure that, when his time in public service is through, he will be asked to sit on a corporate board or two. And he will make public speaking appearances. And he will try to build up that net worth some. But in the end, he's going to be living on his pension and not a whole lot more. Like a lot of us.

I've never been a big Joe Biden fan. But I do have to admire him more now, because in him, I see a lot of similarities with people like me. Working because we HAVE to, not because we WANT to. Working to keep our heads above water, keep the bill collectors at bay, and maybe have a few bucks left over to buy a nice thing or two.

Elections shouldn't hinge on things like this. And maybe this one won't. But isn't it nice to know that, in a town where numbers are thrown around like so much Monopoly money, there's a guy who probably probably buys the store-brand potato chips? Or clips coupons? Kind of makes you think that there IS hope for the little guy.

Daytime Emmys - Code Blue, Code Blue

There was a time, back when I made real money, when I used to treat my wife to tickets to the Daytime Emmy Awards. It was a big deal - a night in the city, fancy dress, and the awards show at Radio City Music Hall, or the Theater at Madison Square Garden. The show was on television back then, and I'd actually find myself watching to see if I could catch a glimpse of her.

My, how the mighty have fallen. Clearly the demise of the soap opera has precipated the demise of the prestige of the Daytime Emmy Awards. Now, they have categories like best legal show. And, seriously, in the daytime drama category, isn't every remaining soap opera going to be nominated - there are only four aren't there?

But even worse than the dearth of categories and importance is the ceremony itself. It's on right now as I'm writing. It's on HLN. For those that may have missed the latest alphabet soup that is cable television, HLN is Headline News. Headline News!! Having the Daytime Emmy Awards on HLN is like the NHL broadcasting on local access channels (which probably is not far in their future if they don't settle their contract soon enough).

And the setting - it looks slightly larger than my neighbors sweet 16 party! It looks like there are about 11 tables. Unbelievable.

Much like the wasteland that has become daytime television, these Emmys are bound to be relegated to the wasteheap of lost TV programs. Which is too bad. It was once a nice night out.

What's on your "TODAY" list?

   I finally saw that movie "The Bucket List". You know, the movie with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson about the two guys who are dying and make their list of all the things they want to do before they die. I guess a lot of people found that movie to be inspiring.
   Me - I found it to be upsetting. I guess what I found so upsetting is just how damned selfish a bucket list could be. I mean, it's all about you. And what you want.  As if there was nobody in the world that cared about you - or that you cared about.
   I also didn't like that it was all about "someday." When? Next week? Next month? The ever popular "before I die?" Well who the hell really knows when that's going to be. I mean, the roof could fall in on me right now (really - it's pouring like mad out there and this is a lot like the "house that Jack built")  and BAM!, that's it.
   And then, what do you leave behind with your bucket list - a list of unfulfilled dreams and your family, shaking their heads at your casket, saying "Gee, if only he had lived longer, he may have actually (fill in your dream here.)"
  Of course, the opposite is true too. You could live a long time - in which case you might actually achieve everything on your bucket list. Now what? Start over? Or end it all?
   Me - I'm against all of this. Instead I propose a "Today List." Not a "To-Do" List, which usually consists of bullshit chores you have to do - most of which you don't - but rather a "Today" list. All of the things you WILL do today - things like "Today I will kiss my daughter" or "Today I will read that book all afternoon" or "Today I will do nothing at all - and like it."
   A Today List of all the things you will do, or are grateful for, or will do for others not for the personal reward but rather for the simple reason that it feels good - or is the right thing to do - or just because.
    Rather than  a Bucket List item of "Someday Go to Paris" a Today List item of "I will eat at that neat French restaurant on Main Street". A Bucket List is a list of long-range targets - a Today list is right there for the taking. Not someday. Today.
    And, if the roof DOES fall in on your head, your family may still be standing there at the side of your casket, shaking their heads and missing you, but at least they won't be lamenting all that you didn't do. That is, unless your Today List said "fix the roof."

Davy Jones - Rest in Peace

At some point, as you get older, it gets redundant to say that a piece of your childhood has been lost. I mean, how long can things hold on. Cars wear out. Buildings crumble. Stadiums fall down. Icons pass.

But today, I truly did lose a piece of my childhood with the passing of former Monkee Davy Jones. I’m not the least bit ashamed to admit that, growing up, my two favorite groups were the Beatles and the Monkees. I mean, I practically invented Karoake standing on the back step “stage” of my old house in Queens, plastic guitar in hand, lip-synching to the “More of the Monkees” and “A Hard Day’s Night.” In fact, to this day, they are the only two albums from my childhood that I have actually had to replace due to simply wearing them out.

Granted, the Monkees started out as a blatant way to capitalize on the Beatles popularity, but given that we’re still talking about them and playing their records 45 years on should indicate that they were clearly more than just a made-for-TV spoof. The bottom line is that, in their time, the Monkees were a probably more novelty act than musical act, but in OUR time, they were a time capsule to all that we loved about growing up.

They were irreverent. They were handsome. They work cool clothes. And they had an absolutely bitchin’ car. They didn’t seem to work too hard, and when they did, they played rock and roll. Who wouldn’t want to be a Monkee.

And, hell, Davy got to kiss Marcia Brady. Not once, but twice (“how about the flipside?” he asked.). Davy and Marcia Brady – an image that is burned permanently into the core of my memory.

It seemed that most of the Monkees tunes that still stand out for me were “Davy” songs – “Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow”, “Valleri”, “Daydream Believer”. I don’t know why, but his voice somehow appealed to me (again, he was British as were the Beatles, so I probably made some sort of connection there.)

As the years went on, I guess, most of us never really thought about the Monkees. They were always there, like electricity. Somehow you never think about electricity until the lights go out. And today, one of the lights of my childhood has gone out.

Rest in peace, Davy. Thanks for being a big part of my childhood and for making the maracas a cool instrument to play.