That's Why They Call It The Blues

When you grow up in the Deep South, as I did, you become accustomed to a few things, such as great Jazz and Blues music, smiling politely and saying yes ma'am, and this little bug called the craw fish. Being away from the South, for nearly two decades, leaves this Southern girl feeling a bit discontented at times. This discontentment brews and manifests itself into a longing to get a taste of my childhood on occasion. The perfect opportunity for satisfying this yearning came in the form of the Tall City Blues Festival of Midland.

Jesse, Annie and myself arrived at the festival gates around noon on Saturday and were greeted to a beautiful cloudy cover, with the sound of a soulful crooner and a cooling breeze. Within the breeze, music swayed like effervescent bubbles, infused with the smell of spicy craw fish. I knew at this point in time, I was exactly where I needed to be.


The three of us, with our four pounds of craw fish and iced tea, meandered to a spot on the cement under the trees. While sucking the heads and chomping the tails, we listened to a peppy little tune called Slow Down Sugar by John Lisi and The Delta Funk. I noticed a man, dancing away, and well, I wasn't the only one, because John Lisi called out to him, "This music makes you want to jump right out of your flip flops!"

For some of us, The Blues remind us of home, for others, it can bring on a certain melancholy, while for a few it may elicit feelings of love and passion. Whatever it brings forth in you, that's what the Tall City Blues Festival was all about, bringing people together to appreciate The Blues.

Fly Away LIttle Birdie

Do you ever take inventory of your life and look back a year, two years and wonder have you actually moved forward? I suppose if you did not plan to move forward, but only to maintain, then that question would not apply to you.

Let me take a walk down memory lane for a minute or two, please indulge me. Two years ago, 2009, I was working for TYC in Pyote, was twenty pounds heavier, in much more debt, finally coming to the realization that my marriage of eight years disintegrated; depressed, floundering, just maintaining.

2010, I found more pleasurable employment within a school district that is closer to home. I resolved to lose those unwanted twenty pounds and did. I cut up my credit cards and started paying off debt, over fifteen thousand to date. Made peace with my failed marriage and filed for divorce; hopeful, determined, gaining ground.

Here I am though, halfway through 2011 and I find myself floundering once again. No, I'm okay with debt, still gaining ground. And no, I'm not gaining weight again, still exercising and eating healthy. Not even giving the failed marriage a second thought, I survived and have put it behind me. So, why am I feeling...a bit discontent?

I think it's the ideology and dogma of others that has infiltrated my otherwise peaceful forward moving life. I can not for the life of me, convince my son to finish his entire senior year here in Wink. He's discontent. I understand discontent and finally, today, I decided that I am no longer going to fight it. I gave him my blessings and wished him well. So, I am preparing for having my son, after his 18th birthday, move to Midland to live with his new friends. Good luck my dear one, I love you and wish only the best for you.

Raise Your Hand For 5% No Exemptions Necessary

It's really simple, we can begin to lower the debt by getting rid of a bloated and overindulgent tax system. Why is it that we have all these rules? Why can we not have a simple flat tax rate for everyone, regardless of how many dependents they have; how much they donate to charity, or how much interest they pay on certain loans?

If you made $100,000 annually, would it not be extremely simple to know, that no matter what happened that year, you would pay a flat tax? The amount of the rate is still debatable. See, Congress would still have something to argue and complain about.

Don't corporations hire lawyers and accountants to figure out which loop holes benefit them the most? Does not the government have well over 115,000 employees on the full time payroll to process and collect taxes? Tons of people E-file, which I think is fantastic, that's not the problem. The problem is enforcing all the rules. Spending countless hours to ensure you got all your tax breaks. Please, give me a break...pass a flat tax and get rid of the loop holes and deductions!

Back to the rate, let's say that it's 5% across the board. So, if you make $120,000 (like a friend of mine does in Lewisville) then your tax payment would be $6,000. I bet he'd like that, because now his tax payment is $40,000. He's single, no children and owns his own home...no breaks.

I have another friend that makes $1,200,000...which is a considerable sum. He's a small business owner. Under my plan, he would pay $60,000, which is a fantastic break for him since he now pays well over $250,000 in taxes under our inflated ridiculous tax code.

The way I see it, middle America and small business owners finally get a break, big corporations have to pay their fair share, government spending is cut and millions of trees would be spared. I figure it's a win-win for everyone!

Oh, I know what you're thinking...Corporate America would pack up and leave. Let them. I would love to see a come back of the mom and pop businesses. Customer service would increase exponentially, automated systems would go bye-bye (and good riddance!), and people would act more like...well, people. Let's take our humanity back!

Am I being unreasonable? Is there something I'm missing? If I am...I'd like to know. Educate me on this matter, because I can't figure out why it would not work.

Escape From Houston

It's been quite the summer, and it's not entirely over yet. I made some small trips around Texas and New Mexico, remodeled the kids' rooms and started the Insanity workout. Both my children took solo trips, Princess Annie to Denver for a couple of weeks and Justin to New Orleans for a few weeks.

Justin's return trip from New Orleans was muddled at best. Somehow he managed to procure a ticket to the Warped Tour in Houston, which meant that his flight home would be from Houston, not Dallas.

Jesse booked Justin a trip to Houston from New Orleans via Grey Hound. It was Justin's first bus ride, seven hours of pure bliss. I think everyone should experience bus travel at least once in their life time.

After arriving in Houston, the experience becomes convoluted. Any and all plans to meet up with his "friend" and her mom were nixed. In my personal opinion, I'm thinking that there never was a "friend" and mom, but that's a different story altogether.

So, let me bring you in where I was brought in. A call comes in from Justin at about one AM, telling me that the worst has happened and then...I lost his call. For a mother, the "worst" entails a ton of horrible things that I'll not hash up at this particular point in time.

All I could gather from the call was that he was stranded in Houston, after spending his last fifty dollars on a taxi to the wrong airport and now he was trying to use the Metro Bus to get across town to Intercontinental.

Since I don't know your name, and my only way of getting this to you is via the internet...thank you, big nice man, that stayed with Justin and guided him through the streets of downtown Houston.

Justin did find his way to the correct airport and to an outlet in the terminal in which he could plug in his phone and call. As he related the story, fatigued, weary, relieved, stressed...I realized that we were fortunate.

Justin experienced the worst and best in people that night. He also found a sense of composure that enabled him to use resources he had never tapped before. He may have lost his luggage that night and all his earthly possessions, but he found so much more.

The Queen Of Wink Is Missing

Yikes! It has come to my attention that the Queen of Wink has vanished! Wait, hold on a minute...I am the Queen of Wink!

A few days ago, I became utterly disgusted with Facebook. Not so much the social networking vehicle itself, but just the whole convoluted pretentious idea of the Facebook way of life.

Like Durango stated in his blogging of the missing Queen of Wink, I am an avid user of Facebook. Being an avid user, does take an enormant amount of time. (I realize that enormant isn't really a word, but it should be)

Seeing that I have an enormant amount of painting, cleaning and reorganizing to do and only an innormant (again, yes, I know) amount of time to complete these tasks before the kiddos get back from visiting their sperm donors, I've decided to take a much needed hiatus from Facebook.

I am a person, that will admittedly admit, that I have a very addictive personality. If there's junk food in the house...I'm going to eat it. If there's alcohol in the house...I'm going to drink it. And...if there's an avenue to being non productive, let's say by spending enormant amounts of time on Facebook...well, by golly, I'm going to waste that time on Facebook.

The only obvious path of least resistance is to "put away" Facebook for a little while so that I can focus all my energy on more important things. Such as playing Scrabble on Pogo.com and...uh, I mean...of course, remodeling the bedrooms.

My Little Princess

"I hope when you read this, it kindles your heart and puts a smile on your face." That's what Sarah writes in a letter to her father from the movie, A Little Princess. It happens to be, A Little Princess, that is, one of my most favorite movies of all time. I enjoyed Shirley Temple's performance, but I relish the remake from the 90s.




I guess you're wondering why it is that your hard earned tax dollars are paying for me, a reading teacher, to show this movie to my students in class. That I'm not using my time wisely, and not teaching up until the very last second of the school year. You can be relieved that the movie does tie in nicely with our end of the year projects over India and that the things that the students have been reading about will now have visuals.

Speaking of end of the year projects, my students presented their findings on Monday. For the most part, the presentations were enjoyable and quite entertaining. I also could assess right away whether learning took place. You'll be happy to know that a whole lotta learning took place.

My gifted and talented class were tasked with creating an invention or improving an already created product. Here are some of the inventions that were presented: A Fancy Ball, which can be 6 different balls in one! The Master Mind! Never peel an orange again and have sticky fingers! An I Spy Rock Star Comic, featuring Gene Simmons from KISS and Marilyn Manson. I don't imagine fortunes will be made, but we had an entertaining afternoon dreaming about the possibilites.

Very few of my students had even heard of The Little Princess, but one surely did and grinned a huge smile while saying that she loves the movie. My favorite parts of the movie are those that include Levinia, the two faced horrible bully and the man from India, Rajah. Although, completely different characters in mannerisms, they both bring something that we all need. A little bit of pain and meaness inorder for us to truly understand and appreciate a little bit of joy and kindness.

Reading Time On A Friday Afternoon

This is the Friday before the last week of school and while my classes have been finishing their super cool end of the year projects, I've been milling around the room and straightening things up a bit. In doing so, I came across a Time magazine from November of 1999. I became interested in this particular magazine because of the cover. On the cover, in big bright lettering I read, "Low-Carb Diets...Meat-loving, bread-banning regimes are the rage. Do they work? Are they healthy? Here's the skinny."

Well, this had me all twitterpated, because finally, I was going to find out if these low-carb diets actually worked! So, as I perused my way through the articles in search of the answer to my long awaited question, I came across a section titled Milestones. When I think of milestones, it usually brings to my mind important, fulfilling moments in one's life. Such as, getting your driving license, graduating from high school, or getting married. But one of these articles, just didn't fit the description.

"Died, Carla Hochhalter, 48, mother of Anne Marie, 17, a student paralyzed in the April shootings at Columbine High. Hochhalter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound; in Englewood, Colo. At a pawnshop, Hochhalter asked to see a .38-cal. revolver, then surreptitiously loaded the gun with bullets she had brought with her before shooting herself in the right temple. Just days before, her daughter had finally regained some movement in her legs."

I resided in Denver during the Columbine shootings. I could never make myself go by the school that transformed into a momento filled display of people pouring their grief out onto the sidewalk like water from an overfilled tub. Most of us were able to push those memories out of our minds, gone...vanished, but what if...what if, you woke each morning to a constant reminder of those wretched hours being relived time after time. Wishing that it were only a rancid nightmare, but waking to the reality of a child, paralyzed.

I don't know for what reason Carla ended her life, I can only imagine that it may have had something to do with the tragedy at Columbine. I used to think that parents that took their own lives were selfish, but in my wisened older more mature stage of my life, I choose this belief instead, "Don't judge until you've had the same exact experience." And since, we really and truly can not have the same experience as another person, then it's not for me to say

Hmmm...still trying to find that low carb diet article.

Just Another Friday

Mmm...the possibility of sleeping in, but it's never a reality. As usual, I rose before six and started my morning coffee. Facebooked for awhile, and looked around at the eventual mess that I would have to clean. Thinking to myself, just another half hour of sipping coffee before I tackle the day's work.

Annie had a couple of friends sleep over. They're still asleep, some on the floor, others on the couch and her in her big overstuffed Lazy Boy chair. As hard as she tries, she never manages to stay up and is most often the first to slip off into slumber. I tell her that it's better to not have to do the day sleep deprived, that's not much fun.

I find myself on the verge of completing a lot of small goals. Some I have been attempting for quite a while and others I have just started. I tend to have too many "things" going and never seem to get them completely accomplished, but I fear that's going to have to change.

Today's agenda, although not exciting, is one that must be adhered to. Oh, just simple stuff, such as cleaning out a closet or two, clearing out the carport and cutting a bit of hard West Texas grass. See, obviously, not exciting.

My son is working on his English research paper. Being an English teacher, I don't often come across student writing that knocks me off my feet. You may think that I'm going to be a bit biased, but then you wouldn't know me very well, if you actually thought that. I don't fill my kids' head with unworthy praise. In my opinion, giving them proper praise and encouragement, let's them know that when I really like something they have done...then it means it's really great.

My son has taken on the big question of Free Will vs Determinism. Quite a task, I know and a question that's been around for eons. His approach to writing this paper is rather unique, or maybe it's not, but I've not read a junior research paper ever done like how he has decided to write. I'll let you be the judge and jury and share his first page:

Your alarm goes off, you groggily hit the snooze, at exactly 3 minutes after, it goes off again, and you turn it off, remove the covers and stagger out of bed. You then begrudgingly drag yourself to the kitchen for your morning cup of Joe. Water is poured into the glass pot, the filter is then added along with the coffee grounds and now you patiently wait for your coffee to brew.

As you silently watch your coffee being dripped into existence, you can't help but go back to when you were a child watching the rain and how it would drip from the swing set to the brown patch of dirt beneath it. A soft gurgle brings your mind back into reality. The coffees done, you grasp the pot and pour it into your superman coffee cup. 2 teaspoons of sugar and just a dab of milk, you slowly then ease the cup to your mouth and take a small rewarding sip followed by a much greater one after that.

You look at the clock that's centered on the coffee maker (6:17), you still have a few minutes before you need to get ready for work. So now, you're left alone with your thoughts, you start to remember the argument you got into last night with your girlfriend, about missing dinner that makes you feel like crap. She swears she can't breathe without you, when sometimes you feel you can't seem to breathe with her.

You finish the last of your coffee and start getting ready for work.

Take shower, the steamy water assaults at your body as if attacking an unsuspecting prey, it feels good, a quick and easy way to wake up and deal with the day to day routines of life. That's when you're struck with the thought, is everything we're doing being controlled by a higher power? Do you have a say in what happens to you?

Before you let yourself wonder too far, you grab yourself back into what you perceive as reality.

Brush teeth, the minty paste on the white wire like bristles from your toothbrush enters your mouth and clean and polish your teeth. Is it maybe God that oversees you and governs your every action? You remember back to a time when you were taking a philosophy class at the University of Texas in Austin. Professor David Sosa, you believe his name was. "In a way, in our contemporary world view, it's easy to think science has come to take the place of God. But some philosophical problem remain as troubling as ever. Take the problem of free will. This problem has been around for a long time. Since before Aristotle in 350 B.C., St. Augustive, St. Thomas...these guys all worried about how we can be free if God already knows in advance what you're going to do."

Before you can ponder on this any further, you quickly rinse your mouth out and begin getting dressed for work.

You head to your car, but you can't help but wonder about what else Professor David Sosa said. "So now you might be tempted to just ignore the question, ignore the mystery of free will. Say, Oh, well, it's just an historical anecdote. It's sophomoric. It's a question with no answer. Just forget about it. But the question keeps staring you right in the face. You think about individuality for example, who you are. Who you are is mostly a matter of the free choices that you make. Or take responsibility. You can only be held responsible, you can only be found guilty, or you can only be admired or respected for things you did of your own free will. So, the question keeps coming back, and we don't really have a solution to it. It starts to look like all our decision are really just a charade."

To be continued...

DOOM & GLOOM...What Now?

The impending government shutdown, I'm sure, is the number one blog fodder this week. So, I thought I would "jump on the band wagon" and join in! I really hadn't given it any thought, until my seventeen year old son, called me with worry in his almost manly voice. He really was afraid. Afraid of anarchy and rioting and chaos...

I listened patiently as he expressed his concerns and woes. Then, I used my motherly calming effect and told him that any government job related to protecting the people and our property would continue. That only nonessential government bloated cheese whiz stinky repulsive jobs would be temporarily shut down. Oh, I wasn't that harsh, but I had to relieve his fears.

Then I went on to tell him that it's happened several times before, this government shutdown thing. I'm thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of about sixteen or seventeen times. That it's just a "stall" tactic, a "scare" tactic, a "bullying" tactic that the political pansies play with each other to get their way. Basically, congress is throwing a big huge hissy fit.

Well, he calmed down a bit and decided to not leave the country. He was already thinking about going to Australia, where it would be safe. Is this being tested on the TAKS? Hey, TEACHERS!!!! Leave your stupid ridiculous idiotic fear ridden psychotic thoughts at home!!!! I don't need your end of the world bullshit infecting my already emotionally hormone challenged teenager. Damn, and I get reprimanded for offing Santa???

TAKS Season and Texas Cuts Education

It's the beginning of TAKS Season again. I wonder how many casualties we'll have this year? Will the socio economically disadvantaged be left behind or will it be our English as a Second Language students? From what I'm hearing, we in the great state of Texas will all be left behind, due to pending budget cuts.

According to our state legislatures, the administrators of education need to trim down their education budgets by 10 percent. Of course, the powers that be, believe that this "trim" back would be the cutting of "unnecessary" non-teaching jobs.

“Local school district officials are in process of making some very difficult and very painful budget decisions. Leadership is about making choices. We strongly urge them not to be shortsighted by sacrificing the classroom in favor of bureaucratic education establishment.”

But isn't that exactly what our state government is doing? Sacrificing education in order to keep the status quo of bureaucratic education establishment? Isn't all the unnecessary spending actually due to the increasing efforts to improve an antiquated system of assessment? Aren't we now, changing directions and creating a whole new testing system, titled the STAR? When is this testing madness going to END? Oh, yeah...that's right, it became law under George W. Bush.

"HEY, President Obama! Do us a favor and REPEAL the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND!" Want to make your presidency count for something or are you really the puppet of the Republican party after all?

HEY, Honorable Shapiro...I'm thinking that maybe our lovely state government should do a bit of cutting back as well. How about you fellas and gals make your own phone calls, pick up your own lunches and dry cleaning, mail out your own letters and important documents, lick the back of a few stamps, make copies of valuable propaganda rhetoric, kill a few more trees in the name of TAKS, vacuum the carpeting in your offices, clean the windows, take out your trash, scrub the toilet down the hallway and a few of those other "can't survive without" functions. Then and only then, I'm sure you will possess the ultimate wisdom, the empathy and passion to address the state budget deficit. Since when did becoming an elected official allow one to be an elitist?

Oh, and don't think Shapiro was working alone, she had a bunch of support, here are a few of the names: Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston), Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Austin), Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Southside Place), Sen. Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock), and Sen. Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls). And if you'd like to watch the atrocity of a crime against the children of our great state...be my guest. Once you're there, click on Press Conference: Senator Florence Shapiro.