A VERY Rainy Fishing Trip - One of the Best Ever

   Early this week, Channel 12 said today's chance of rain was 100%.  Yep, for SURE it was gonna rain.  Well, my daughter, Moriah, has been asking me about going fishing since the last time the weather comfortably allowed for it (October-ish) and we had really embraced the idea last weekend that we were going this weekend.  That said, I had several rods and reels packed when I picked her and her brother up and added theirs to the pile in my SUV as we headed for a friend's pond.

   Now, when we got there, it was raining, I mean RAINING, like Noah on a Tursday raining.  I had stopped and gotten some night crawlers for Mack to use (you ever take a six year-old fishing?  You're gonna want to get some worms) and he was thrilled just taking the top off the box to see if the worms were alive.  Much to his delight, they were.  Moriah stared at the rain drops pick-marking the surface of the pond and turned to me, "Let's get going, Dad.  I don't think we should wait it out; once we get started, it'll lessen up, or we'll get used to it.  That's how irony works, anyway."  My heart swelled with the kind of pride you can only understand as an obsessed parent whose child has embraced that very same obsession.  And, she used "irony" the right way.

   So, we tumble out of the Toyota into the rain and we start casting (well, Moriah starts casting, I've got a few minutes of baiting Mack's hook, explaining that the process is not fatal to worms, and then I blew his little formative mind by cutting the worm in half so we now had two sentient, active, squirming lumbricus terrestrii.  He looked at me as if I had opened a new door to the secrets of the universe; which, in essence, I guess I had).

   After the brief science lesson (which, by way, ended with me saying something akin to, "because they just do, I don't know why.") Mack and I joined Moriah.  We fished for a while, I pretty much just kept lines in the water and worms on Mack's hook while Moriah used her favorite spinnerbait.  A little while into it, Moriah called me and let me know she'd snagged that spinnerbait on some downed cat tails.  As I made my way over to her, I cast my Carolina Rig out and gave it a couple of reel and tugs before handing her my rod while I worked to free her lure (it ended up being too well-snagged, so we lost the lure - I need to replace that ASAP).  As I worked on her line, I heard her yell, "Daddy, you got something!"  

   I looked over and saw the line from the rod in Moriah's hands moving through the water.  "No, YOU'VE got something!  You're holding the rod!" I smiled, "Reel it in, Sweetheart!"

   She did, and it was a bass running about 2 pounds.  It was the only thing we caught that day (although Mack really got good at casting in the two hours we were there - going from just letting his line drop right next to the dock to casting out to the middle of the pond by the time we packed it in for the day).

   The best part was that I was the one who had to call it a day for us.  The kids would have stayed until we were soaked to the bone (we almost were anyway, though they had raincoats, thank goodness).  They want to go again soon, and I'll need to get some more worms for Mack, because he's going to release the ones he kept into the wild over the next few days.

   The wagon's going to roll on, but it's always ready to stop at a fishing hole, especially when the kids are on board.  Thanks for riding shotgun with us!

Miss Virginia Dogwood

This piece was originally published in the Central Virginian Newspaper on January 16, 2014

   On January 11, 2014 it rained in a way that causes one to post on Facebook how much it's raining while looking out the window for an old man in a gopher wood boat full of animals in pairs.  The temperature gamboled playfully between freezing and almost seventy degrees Fahrenheit.  In the midst of this climatological confusion, several dozen young ladies prepared themselves for the Miss Virginia Dogwood Pageant that would take place at the Louisa Arts Center.

   The weather was soon forgotten by both the contestants and the audience.  Talents were displayed, questions were asked and answered, and thank yous were offered.  Through it all was a reminder that the event, which is a qualifier for the Miss Virginia competition which, in turn, leads on to the Miss America pageant is more than what so many consider a beauty pageant.  That night, Delesia Watson was crowned as the new Miss Virginia Dogwood, the title of Miss Virginia's Outstanding Teen went to Carlehr Swanson, Haylee Landry was named Outstanding Pre-Teen, and the Little Miss title went to Adyn Douglas.  I have to tell you, that night was far more than a beauty contest; there was a pageant held at the Arts Center.

   Sure, when the businessmen in Atlantic City first conceived of the Miss America pageant in the 1920s, it was a marketing gimmick.  They needed to get people to their town, so they put together this contest where guys could see all these pretty (single) girls from all over the country.  The marketing ploy worked and the pageants, having done their job as a tourism booster, faded away until they were resurrected in the 1930s to combat the economic devastation of the Great Depression.  In the late 2000s the Miss America Pageants were moved to Las Vegas, but Miss America is back home in Atlantic City where it's no longer a marketing gimmick, but is an avenue for many young ladies to fund their education and also open doors in careers in the music and broadcasting industries.

   Now, why am I writing about this in the Chuck Wagon?  It's because I was given the opportunity to co-emcee the event with Rebecca Gogue, a former Miss Virginia Dogwood herself (I emceed the Miss Virginia Dogwood Pageant where she won the crown) who is pursuing a career in the recording industry.  During the event, I was simply awestruck at the talents, poise, and confidence of the young ladies on stage at the Louisa Arts Center that rainy Saturday night.  

   Look, you all know I have no problem talking (droning on and on) in front of a group...but singing?  Dancing?  Playing piano?  I'd rather shave a porcupine.  But these girls perform with a style and panache which is laudable and more than a little enviable!  I mean, I can't seem to master the words to Blinded By the Light in English while one of the contestants sang an operatic piece in German.  Yeah...it's just a beauty contest, sure. 

   Many of the girls who participate in these contests already have their undergraduate degrees and are pursuing post-collegiate degrees, (in fact, the current Miss Virginia is a doctoral candidate).  The scholarship money awarded from the pageant is often used to pay off student loans or pay for the board tests mandated to apply for many grad programs.  Sure, just a beauty contest, right?  Kind of like saying the Winter Olympics is just a snowball fight.

   Of course, there are those who will argue that the swimsuit portion of the pageant makes it all just about beauty being skin deep, but I think they're wrong there.  The swimsuit competition focuses on the need for balanced nutrition, for making healthy choices, and for being proud of the results of those choices.  It's not a meat-market, and shame on those who think that.  As my co-emcee, Rebecca Gogue put it, "It's about more than how you look in a bikini, it's about health - all areas of health, and about being comfortable in your own skin."

   When the crown was placed on the head of Miss Delesia Watson (Louisa's own!), all the rehearsal time, the rolling in and out of the Steinway piano, the calls and texts, the checks and double checks of entry forms and fees, the printing of programs, the pictures by Rick Myers (his photography is breath-taking, by the way), the selection of judges, the seating of auditors, the welcoming of M.C. Gravely (the Field Director for the Pageant), the setting of marks and levels for music, the practices and opening by Performing Arts 2000...it all culminated seamlessly in the moment when the crown was passed on by outgoing queen, Ashna Sharan (whose Bollywood-style dancing had wowed the audience earlier in the evening).  Just a beauty pageant?  No...no, I don't think so.

   For the young ladies who competed, for their parents and those who support them, for the judges and those of us who got a peek at the back stage chaos that become on-stage poetry, the event is truly one full of opportunity.  And, as Miss Virginia Oustanding Pre-Teen, Anna Graham told me, making opportunities out of what some see as obstacles is what the Miss Virginia organization does every day.  Powerful words from such a little girl.

   Honestly, I can't sit here and tell you that I wasn't once guilty of applying all the stereotypes to beauty pageants that are so often tossed around.  The girls are airheads, just eye-candy, pretty wrappers for empty packages.  But I have seen that those stereotypes (like most) are born of ignorance and a lack of appreciation for what goes on at these pageants.  These young ladies are dedicated, courageous, confident, and worthy of the titles they hold.  Think I'm wrong?  Okay, come to a pageant, then we'll talk.

   The wagon rolls ever onward.  Thanks for riding shotgun with me!

Pinball Wizardry

   In an age when the XBox One and PlayStation 4 seem to rule the landscape, places like Seattle's pinball museum is a must-see for many tourists (I kid you not).  Lest you think it's just "old folks" who go, a University of Washington law student from Chicago picked it as one of the places to take out-of-town visitors to show them a place he considers, "very Seattle."  And, before you think, "well, it is Seattle, you know?" these kinds of places have been popping up all over.  Las Vegas had the most well-known pinball museum, but there's another one right up in Baltimore (just a few hours north of this blogger's seat).  To get a more complete look at the article about the Seattle museum, visit hhttp://news.yahoo.com/seattle-pinball-museum-part-silver-ball-revival-074101866.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory. To check out the Baltimore pinball museum, well, you can only go online because the museum (the National Pinball Museum, mind you) is seeking a new building, but the site is: http://www.nationalpinballmuseum.org/homepage.html ..

   So, why the sudden nostalgia for pinball?  I mean, I have an app on my iPad that'll let me play pinball on about a half-dozen "machines" and, if I make some in app purchases, I'll literally double that number.  One of the first things I did on my first windows PC was find and play the pinball game.  If I can do all that, why do I care if there are real places with real machines?  Why?  Because of the feeling.

   Playing pinball on a computer is kind of like watching Wheel of Fortune.  You get the experience, but not the feel.  You get to see the puzzle solved, but you never spin the wheel.  

   Think about it, when you're at the controls of a pinball game, so much is translated to your hands.  Each thump of the bumpers being hit courses through the pressed metal of the machine to your fingers.  The metallic launch of a ball after it's been "captured" briefly by whatever mechanism the makers of the game built into it to allow the game to have some sort of plotline, truncated or derivative though it may be.  The chunk of a new ball being dropped into the straightaway in front of the plunger; that chunk being one of the most universally hopeful sounds to every man, woman, and child who has ever stood at the buttons controlling the paddles of a pinball machine.  That "chunk" is the onomatopoeia of hope, in many ways.  It says that no matter how badly that last ball was played, this could be the one that earns a free ball, breaks the high score, and earns you a place among the constellations as an immortal among pin-ballets.  And if it gutters out before you even flipper it once, the gods of pinball may see fit to offer you a do-over.  That never happened to me playing Tetris.

   The Who never wrote a song about a kid being a wizard at Atari or ColecoVision or at the controls of a Texas Instruments computer (yeah, they made home computers before focusing mostly on calculators and we had one at the Moss house - yep, we avoided buying a Betamax player, but had a TI-99/4A).  Before I travel too far down the road and we cover the Commodore 64 and the advent of the analog-pretending-to-be-digital "blip," allow me to get back to the human appreciation for the analog.

   We, as human beings like the convenience of the digital world, but need the contact of the analog (I am somehow made to think of Woody Allen's Sleeper here and the machine the similates...Uhm...you know).  Just as we need to hold hands, touch an arm, rub a shoulder; so also does the touch of the flipper control buttons and the impact of the bumpers and all the things described in the paragraphs above combine to provide that contact we so intrinsically need as human beings.

  Really, we need both physical and emotional contact.  If only our physical needs are met, that can prove as stunting or fatal as only meeting emotional needs.  I don't cite moribund studies about the same to back me up (though I found some online).  If your think about it, pinball does both.  The sounds and pixilated images that are part of the game appeal to our need for affirmation or feedback that transcends the physical, while the physical interaction we have with the game meets our need for contact. 

   "Chuck, you are really over analyzing this pinball thing.  It's just a game.  You play it, you're done.  That's it.  There's no interacting."  Oh yeah?  Why do Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft all have feedback devices for their controllers?  Why has the video game platform revolutionized itself by becoming a way to do our outside activities inside?  Maybe I do over-analyze, but so do the people who put new games in your hand every day.  You want to talk about over-analysis?  How about the Call of Duty games where the CGI characters' bootlaces bounce when they run?  How many man hours did THAT take?

   Look, I'm not suggesting that a return to pinball is needed to allow mankind to recover part of its soul.  It is just a game, after all.  But, what a metaphor for life, right?

   I just realized this whole blog flies in the face of the movie Her.  Oh, well.  Sometimes Joaquin Phoenix and Spike Lee are just on a different side than I am.  How many times has THAT happened, right?

   Like a ball that has just caromed off a pinball flipper, the wagon rolls on.  Thanks for riding shotgun.  Next game's yours, if you want it.

If You Want My Opinion on Phil Robertson's Comments...Too Bad.

   Duck Commander founder (and Duck Dynasty patriarch) Phil Robertson's comments about homosexuals have certainly caused an uproar in America.  People are taking sides, yelling about freedom of speech, threatening to boycott A&E, angrily lambasting Cracker Barrel  on social media sites, and generally making quite an issue out of the comments of this self-proclaimed Redneck from Louisiana's comments.  Even Jesse Jackson has gotten into the act, but you'll have to Google that yourself, I won't be writing about it here.

   Now, let me make it crystal clear that this blog will NOT be about my opinion on the subject (in fact, you won't come away knowing how I feel one way or the other about what Phil Robertson said), but instead will be about my surprise at the shock and outrage I'm seeing throughout the nation because (as I said before) a self-described Bible-thumping Redneck thumped his Bible.

   Whether you agree with Phil Robertson or not is completely irrelevant here.  When he was being interviewed by GQ he referenced the Bible (I Corinthinthians 6:9&10) and made statements about the moral ills of homosexuality, adultery, liars, and a flurry of others that the Apostle Paul had written about in the letter to the church in Corinth (and letters to various other churches) some 2000 years ago.  Letters attributed to Paul join other letters and stories in the canonized New Testament of the Bible. Now, Phil was expressing his opinion that the sentiments in those writings were and are truth, remember, he believes the Bible to be the inspired Word of God.  Then, of course, Mr. Robertson included some language (that I won't include here) that, in what may have been a vain attempt at humor, was tasteless and insulting; that's where it stops being a quote and starts being his beliefs - of course he did say, "It seems to me...," thus making his a statement of opinion.

   Agree with him or not, he has the right to express his opinion.  You might well see his opinion as backwards or archaic, but he has the right to it.  If you are likewise committed to the Bible, are an atheist, or sit somewhere in-between in the land where agnostics and questioners wander, that's your business and I am not writing to prosteletize or debunk, either way.  I'm more interested in the facts here.  At least, as I understand them, and the reactions thereto.

   I do feel it's important that before we start arguing freedom of speech, we be sure we know about what we're talking.  It's not so much that Phil Robertson's freedom of speech needs to be defended; he was answering questions in an interview, no one is threatening him with jail time or a fine because of what he said.  The issue of his forced hiatus from Dick Dynasty is a private one (it's playing out publicly, but it's private in nature).  The party suspending him from production is a private entity, not a public one, so freedom of speech isn't really what we're talking about here; if it is, then that Incognito character needs to be reinstated to the Miami Dolphins active roster immediately.

   And A&E has the right to suspend him from their show, too.  Is it a ridiculous thing to do?  Probably, but it's their show, their product, and they control its production.  (Though Entertainment Weekly is reporting the suspension was really more for show than punitive measures and that A&E spokespeople have noted that they're hoping the fervor over the issue will die down over the holidays http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4485646/ .)  Before you think that A&E is changing its tune because it's deciding to support Phil Robertson, be real in your thinking, they're acting on the direct influence of their wallet.  The Robertson family has openly stated that they would just as soon pull the plug on the show as let Phil be removed from the cast.  Believe me, A&E has no plans to cut its nose off to spite its face (not like American Hoggers is suddenly going to be a runaway hit that'll replace Duck Dynasty in the line-up); and the show won't lose many viewers over this because, frankly, the comments didn't really stir the anger of their regular demographic.  And, hey, if the ratings for Duck Dynasty were to suddenly hit rock bottom, A&E would let the first family of hairy faces and duck calls walk away.  Many of those in that demographic of the Robertsons refer to the family as refreshingly conservative in a sea of Hollywood liberalism.  Again, public opinion, not mine.  

   Turning to the American institution that is Cracker Barrel Old Country Store...are they pulling Duck Dynasty stuff off the shelves or not?  They said they were, then they said they weren't, then there were whispered reports that they weren't ordering any shipments to restock DD merchandise in a subtle "clearing out" of Duck Dynasty items.  Who knows?  All I know is that the country fried steak there is great, so's the chicken and dumplings.  Well, maybe that's not all I know.  I also know that they are a business and they (like any business) can pull whatever item off their shelves they want to, whenever they want to pull it.  Does that mean I agree with their decisions?  No.  Does that mean I'll stop eating there?  Probably not, because my dad loves it and has never seen an episode of Duck Dynasty.  And, even if they pull every Duck Dynasty item off their shelves or come out publicly 100% against the ideas expressed by Phil Robertson, Cracker Barrel restaurants around the America will still have buses in the parking lot because it's an easy place to find good food at a decent price and there's other stuff in the gift shop.  I guess that was a long-winded way to say, "who cares?"

   I do want to touch on the issue of people being stunned by these statements that Phil Robertson made (because I have yet to see where anyone has).  Uhm...as I said, Robertson's a Bible-thumping Redneck.  He and his family are ultra-conservative and that's part of what A&E loves about these folks.  They say crazy stuff, do crazy things, and their antics are always capped off by some sort of reflective statement by Willie Robertson at the end (whose voice is heard over a family meal which Phil Robertson blessed as the camera panned the length of the table).  The Robertson family patriarch has made no bones about the fact that he believes (whether anyone else does or not) the Bible to be the Word of God, and that it is absolute, unquestionable truth.  Now: knowing that, A&E is surprised and "disappointed" by Phil's statements in his GQ profile?  Really?  They were surprised that a fundamental Christian expressed fundamental Christian views?  Think they would be surprised if they went to a Chinese restaurant and found there was Chinese food on the menu?  Even the man himself said that he thought little of the comments, but others made a big deal out of them (http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/12/23/duck-dynasty-patriarch-phil-robertson-says-will-not-give-after-homosexuality/).  The only people surprised here were the show's producers (though myriad people were outraged).  A&E seems to love it when the Robertsons say something considered crazy or out of vogue or off-the-cuff (especially if it's Si or Phil) until now.  Interesting that it's their desire for the Duck Dynasty folks to be unpredictable until that unpredictability gets reported on news outlets around the country.

   Phil Robertson made a statement of belief.  His family and supporters have said over and over again that they agree with him and applaud his strength of faith.  His detractors and those who disagree with him have declared him backwards and ignorant.  Who's right?  Right now, you who are reading this are saying you are, regardless of your point of view.  Who do I think is right?  It doesn't matter what I think, because, frankly, someone voicing their opinion is how we got into this mess in the first place...so you don't have to worry about me giving mine.  

   I am intrigued by one possibility...if a noted gay celebrity were to make derogatory statements about heterosexuals, would it be news?  Probably not, and not because of a double standard necessarily, but because there probably wouldn't be the merchandising juggernaut that is the Duck Dynasty brand involved.

   And one more thing: Do you think Phil Robertson's statements made anyone change their thinking?  Those who share his opinion already have it.  Those who disagree with him already do.  All this has really done is polarize sides even further in what is a very polarizing issue and the irony in this is that both sides prefer to remain polarized.

   Once again, my opinion does not make any difference here, which is why I'm not giving it.  I'm truly not interested in reading comments trying to read into this to guess what I think.  If you think I'm on your side (regardless of your side) after reading this, you've read it wrong.  I'm not interested in judging or joining either side.

   I'm sitting here struggling with whether or not to publish this blog.  I guess it's because I'm afraid there'll be those people who will see this as some political commentary, or a call to social action, or a declaration of some sort; but it's not.  It's a simple examination of the facts and of the reactions and over-reactions to the same.  Frankly, I think such an examination  is due; an honest look free of emotion allows us to make decent decisions, not ones we'll regret in a matter of weeks.

   I'm going to keep the wagon rolling, folks.  Hope you'll keep riding shotgun!  I always appreciate it when I have you on board.

Why the Star Wars Universe Needed Jar Jar Binks

  Yep, another Star Wars post.  Takes my mind off of things to write this and I had a few hours to kill.  I might prattle here, and for that you have my apologies.  Happy New Year.  

   Like so many Star Wars fans, when I suffered through the character development of Jar Jar Binks, I was angry.  I actually took him personally.  I mean, HIM, his very being was, as far as I was concerned, was an affront to my childhood memories.  Seriously, I went back and looked at some of the older movies and really had to ask myself why in the name of all things Jedi George Lucas had inflicted the moronic-beyond-lovability Gungan on those of us who had spent decades waiting for the Star Wars prequels.

   Then, the other day (no, I haven't been dwelling on it for years, it just sort of settled upon my brow as I was watching the Big Bang Theory last week), I realized that the exhaustive and exasperating development of Jar Jar as a laughable stooge was necessary.  See, we had to see him as an idiot, as easily tricked and manipulated.  This made it far more believable when he filled his brief role in the second of the three prequels in which he is duped into motioning that Chancellor Palpatine be given the emergency powers.  That motion gave Palpatine the opening he needed that would eventually make his transition to Emperor logical, and thus allowing him to revive the Sith and its devotion to the Dark Side of the Force.

   See, we had to see Jar Jar as an idiot, as a dolt.  Good-natured and pure of heart, but a dolt.  After we knew him to be a dolt, his actions that, quite literally, put the galaxy spiraling on a course of darkness and loss, were really not to be laid upon his shoulders.  Honestly, a character more able to see reason and manipulation may well have sidestepped the disastrous manipulation that led to Jar Jar's suggestion that emergency powers be granted to the Supreme Chancerllor...but Jar Jar Binks was not such a character.  Jar Jar Binks was a trusting soul and a foolish one, which is what Lucas needed. George Lucas created a character who almost single-handedly destroyed the Star Wars mythos...but that same character actually proved pivotal in the creation of The Star Wars inverse.  The very lore to which he so nearly laid waste really came to its climactic "creation moment" because of him.  That's a kind of insane genius, Mr. Lucas.

   The Star Wars universe didn't just need Jar Jar Binks for some misguided comic relief, but also for its lynchpin; Jar Jar was the catalyst by which the universe was born.  Don't get me wrong, I still can't stand to hear him speak, but this does lend a new perspective to things...and isn't that what Star Wars did for science fiction films as a genré anyway?  Give SciFi a whole new perspective which it's still growing into?  Kinda makes one's head spin.

   The wagons rolls ever onward; thanks for riding shotgun; and, these aren't the droids you're looking for.

Year-Round School? Well, We Want Lifelong Learners, so why not Year-Round Teaching?

http://m.timesdispatch.com/content/tncms/live/#

   For so many years " Summer Break" has been part of out lexicon in America that the very idea of year-round school is so outlandish as to seem as laughable as America and Russia being trade partners.  Oh, wait, we are.   Why is that?  Because times change, folks.

   The break during the summer existed not to allow theme parks to hire our teens and families to revel to Disney World, but to allow the (in the Mid-Nineteenth Century) largely agrarian society of the United States to make use of its children as free labor in a work force needed to plant crops and get things ready for the fall harvest.  Later, schools in the southern region needed the break because air-conditioning was a luxury most didn't have.

   But, now we're over a decade into the Twenty-First Century...kids aren't helping plant family farms and most schools have some kind of air conditioning.  Those things being true, perhaps it's time some localities (most, perhaps) start thinking about year-round school (see the linked article).  I mean, there's no harm in considering the benefits, right?  Teachers no longer have to spend their first few days or weeks finding out what concepts have been lost over the summer and then reteaching those concepts in sort of a reverse cramming session as the prior knowledge that has been lost is rebuilt.  The fluidity of the attainment of concepts and their mastery can also be more effectively aligned in a year round setting, at least it is for me when I'm reading a book or trying something new, I'm better off if I stick to it until I master it, not if I arbitrarily stop what I'm doing because I've hit a magic date that indicates a deadline has been reached.

   Economics and vacations play roles here, too.   You want a cheaper vacation rental?  Well, yeah, who doesn't?  If you have year-round school, you get an extended break more than twice a year and that means you have a chance to get a better rate at the beach or mountains or whatever because you're going to rent during the " off season."  How about vacations?  When I was in college, my folks took us to Disney World one more time as a family.  It was Christmas when we were down there and there seemed to be more than a few people down there who, like my parents, wanted to see blinking lights on Palm trees during their Yuletide.  After several hours of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with people of questionable hygienic practices, I asked one of the ladies at the monorail station at the main entrance/exit of the Magic Kingdom what the best time of year was for a visit to Mr. Disney's testament to America's love of make believe and six dollar hot dogs.  Without missing a beat she told me it was around President's Day.  A more sub-tier holiday I can't imagine, except maybe Arbor Day.   But, my point here...if you're looking for a good time to go on vacation, how about a time when most people have their kids in school and can't go away?  I mean, that's just a side benefit to the idea.

   Now, I know I'm going to make some of my peers less than thrilled here, but teachers may be some of the most vocal in opposing year-round school (like the atricle cites at the opening of the blog states, teachers and administrators who don't like the year-round schedule can request a transfer).  If teachers balk at the idea of year-round because it messes with their summer, then I must be frank in saying that perhaps those teachers are the ones who give credence to the old joke that teachers'  only teach because of their three favorite things, which are, "June, July, and August."

   Now, lastly, I'll say this, when I was getting my Masters I was in a cohort with some folks who worked at a year-round elementary school.  They loved it.  The kids there loved it, and so did the parents.  And, what impressed me the most was that the school (the only one one the county with a year-round schedule) had the highest SOL scores in the division each and every year that I kept up with my cohort s in the program.  That's the most important thing, isn't it?  When you're a school, the most important thing is student achievement...and it was high in this system's school with the year-round schedule.

   You can draw any conclusion you want to if you spin enough data, but it seems to be that when I stop trying to find a spin, I see just a positive result, and that's the bottom line for me.

   The wagon rolls on...thanks for riding shotgun.

   

The Coattail-Riding Name-Dropper or the Orwellian?

A cryptic title, but one which is accurate, in my opinion.  Virginians vote tomorrow, and never in my memory since turning eighteen have I had a less clear choice to make than between Terry McAuliffe or Ken Cuccunelli.  It's unclear because neither choice makes sense.

Now, I'm a staunch conservative (not Republican, saying all Republicans are conservatives is like saying that all tires are suitable to mount on your car, but they sell tires at Petco, don't they?), so you'd think I'd be all pro-Cucinelli...but Cuccinelli seems to be more focused on some sort of make-everybody-have-the-same-moral-doctrine-as-me platform than on making real leadership change.  I don't know that I can get on board with that.  I wasn't sure if Cucinnelli wasn't my real choice until he had the Duggars from the reality show (is it 19 and Cointing now?) with all the kids come stump for him.  That kind of sealed it for me.  It's not so much that I feel like the Republican Party may have hitched their wagon to the wrong horse here as much as they gave said horse the reigns and let it pick the road down which to trot blindly while the folks in the wagon try to figure out how to raise tolls behind them before the dust settles from their passing.

Then I look at Terry McAuliffe who has all the morals of a Clinton and none of the political marks on his belt to back it up.  He's quick to point out his connection to the Clinton's and his undying support for Obamacare (and it's good that his support is undying because, if it were sick, he'd never get it looked at under the Affordable Healthcare Act).  If it were Reconstruction, McAuliffe would likely be refered to as a "carpetbagger."  But, it's not, so he isn't.  But he is a man driven by profit (as are most people, no judgment on that, but here comes my frustration) while telling Virginians he is interested in them.  Unlike so many of his liberal peers, I don't see home as a socialist, I see him as a profiteer.  I don't trust him and can't see casting a vote for a man I don't trust.

Here's the conundrum for me, I can't tell you how important I believe it is to vote.  Those who don't vote and then complain are, in my humble opinion, no better than the people who yell at the screen during movies; their opinions and advice are irrelevant and they annoy the rest of us.  For years as a teacher I have stressed the importance of voting and I will continue to do so...but I have no real definitive choice here.

Well, what to do?  Vote Libertarian?  Sure, and also see if Peter Pan or the Tooth Fairy are running for office.  Here's what I'm gonna do in as meaningless a gesture, I'm going to write in my dad, Paul Elliot Moss, Jr.  Dad's the finest man I know and he, more than the two gubenatorial candidates who seem bent on drawing my attention away from The Big Bang Theory, deserves my vote.  Will he win?  No, but that will mean he's like every other Virginian tomorrow.

The wagon rolls on, folks, and I plan on building no new tolls behind me.  Thanks for riding shotgun.