Summer’s End and Assorted Info

Summer is officially over at my house. Teachers’ meetings begin today. Sure, the first day of school isn’t until August 28th. But it will be work, work, work from now until then to prepare.

I’m feeling a bit blue about the end of summer, as I do every year. When I was younger I thought it was only kids who hated to see summer vacation wind down. Silly me. Summers in a teacher’s house mean more time to spend together and to catch up on all the things that fall by the wayside during the school year. Sleep. Doctor’s appointments. Home repair. Deep conversations. Fun.

I’m sending out heartfelt wishes for a wonderful school year to all those teachers, admin, and staff who are hitting their alarm clocks this morning and yawning as they pick out their clothes. I’m rooting for you. Thank you for what you do.

*****

Coming up this weekend, especially for those of you who’d like to pretend that summer is not yet over…

The DoodleHATCH FESTIVAL is a smaller version of the FantasyWOOD Festival held last year at the Heritage Farm in West Friendship, Howard County. This year, we're coming to Long Reach Village Center with a variety of kid friendly activities, themed areas, arts & crafts, amazing entertainers, specialty vendors, and food trucks.

There's something for the whole family to enjoy.

Learn more and purchase advance tickets if you wish: DoodleHATCH Festival.

I’m a big fan of DoodleHATCH and have written about them here several times. Lee Andersen, founder of ManneqART and creator of DoodleHATCH, is the 2023 HOWIE Award winner for Outstanding Artist. The Baltimore Sun paid her a visit recently for one of their Three Things articles.

I’ve always challenged the status quo and gone against the grain. I don’t fit the normal parameters. - - Lee Andersen

If you can, take some time this weekend to visit the DoodleHATCH festival and see how Andersen’s imagination has taken flight.

*****

So: Legos. Your feedback exceeded my modest expectations! Look for an entire blog post on that this weekend.

*****

One last thing. A tip of the hat to a HoCoLocal who took on thankless task of trying to explain Restorative Justice on a Facebook page wholly opposed to it based largely on its name.

What? It actually sounds like you have no idea what it really is. Why comment when you have no knowledge?

It occurs to me that a good deal of social media could be elimated if we all stopped commenting when we have no knowledge. Hmm.

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

F ³: We Are Not Entitled

A college student went missing. His family and friends were distraught. The community was encouraged to be on the lookout and spread the word. Days passed. They must have been agonizing days for those who cared about the missing student. Thoughts that foul play had been involved cannot have been far from their thoughts. Then, at last, the student was found. Alive. The news was shared with the public. So. Much. Relief. A family had been reunited with their child. Even though we know that life is complicated, I think it is okay to accept this as a happy ending and leave it at that. But the world of social media says no. For every expression of joy at the news came questions and even judgement. It became clear to me that some folks felt entitled to an explanation. They wanted the backstory. It’s as though they felt that, by enlisting the help of the public on social media, the authorities now owed them all the details. Television dramas often weave curr...

Separate and Unequal

Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not. It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog