I suspect that some of my readers don’t always have a great deal of interest in reading about the unknown individuals about whom I often write but they should be craving essays about such people. Our world is made of millions upon millions of stories which in total keep life on our big blue planet working the way it should. It is a truth that each and every life is incredibly important and taken together they create the society that affects us all. I most enjoy knowing about the young men and women who are just beginning their adult journeys. Our future depends on them and from my vantage point I see a wonderful world ahead. We should all be quite optimistic knowing that they are taking the reins. Continue reading “A Warrior for Good”
Author: Sharron Burnett
A Woman of 1960
When I was searching for a teaching position at the beginning of my career I had a general interview with a man who was old enough to be my father. He mentioned that he had worked for the school district for his entire career and that he had seen a number of changes over the years. He knew a great deal about me before I even showed up to his office because I had to include a photograph of myself with the application and I had checked a number of demographic boxes including one delineating my religion.
The personnel officer explained that he had decided to interview me in spite of my religion because “the people of the area had eschewed their former prejudice against Catholics.” He went on to provide me with a bit of history including stories about citizens who at one time had firebombed the local Catholic Church in an attempt to drive the parishioners out of the region. He said that during the shank of the baby boom they had to change their thinking a bit because there was an extreme shortage of teachers and so they began to reconsider their ban on hiring Catholics. To his delight he learned that hiring ladies who had formerly been nuns was a boon for the schools because they were well trained and most willing to follow directives. Eventually the district policies became more liberal and even encouraged Catholics to apply for jobs. Continue reading “A Woman of 1960”
Injustice
As educators we do our best but those of us who are honest know without a doubt that we sometimes make mistakes. Hopefully when we do so we are willing to admit our errors and redress them. Unfortunately that doesn’t always happen in our educational system. Children are sometimes unwittingly hurt and nobody does anything to step forward and change things. It’s difficult to upend the system. Most of society is unwilling to do so for fear of being thought of as rebellious or troublemaking. Continue reading “Injustice”
When I Grow Up to Be
I was finally feeling frisky again this past Saturday. My high energy level has definitely returned. In between undergoing major surgery last year and having to wear an air cast for many weeks I had grown heavy and lethargic and perhaps a bit depressed. I’ve been walking everyday of late and going farther and faster with each iteration. I’ll never run again because I have arthritis in both of my knees which flares up time and again but I can do some fairly brisk stepping about. Continue reading “When I Grow Up to Be”
In An Instant
It’s every teacher’s worst nightmare. It’s every parent’s greatest fear. It’s every classmate’s confused terror. A field trip is supposed to be a happy time, an occasion for lifelong happy memories, not a time of great pain and sorrow. Unfortunately sometimes a magical moment turns to horror before our very eyes.
