I have a friend -- a former teaching colleague who teaches high school English and inspired me with her example of starting a blog.
I enjoyed reading her comments, but unfortunately, it has dwindled to where she wrote only once in 2010 and so far, only once in 2011.
Below is her comments from the sole 2010 musings -- along with my response(s). Hopefully, she will write additional essays in 2011.
Linne's blog:
Maybe this describes you too. I am a "someday" writer with lots of ideas but no stamina for actual production. Oh, I know I have lots of excuses. Today I graded College Prep English "How to..." papers that were supposed to include cultural revelations, 7th & 8th grade Reading papers from Sign of the Beaver using constructed response, and Leadership papers on ideas for giving speeches to 6th graders....it was a looooong afternoon. Sigh. Oh, and I wrote a VIP letter of recommendation for college application. So, yeah, I am busy, but I am always busy, so I think I have to rename busy and just call it not so interested in writing. In my head I am going to be a published writer someday, but in reality I'm not working very hard to get there. Somehow, that doesn't bum me out nearly as much as it should. I'm content with someday. It is kind of like the thought of a lovely dessert at the end of a great meal. I'm just working through it.....
posted by Linne at 1:42 AM on Dec 11, 2010
My responses:
Response 1:
Kim said...
I started to express my hope that you would get your just dessert, but then realized that that sounded more like a threat.
Actually, I was glad to see that you had started writing again, even though you can see by the date of my response that I didn't catch on for quite a while.
Linne, your words are interesting and entertaining, and you have a fascinating and descriptive self-awareness, albeit in a somewhat sporadic and haphazard manner.
Truthfully, I don't find your writing boring, and I do find it worth reading.
Here's to hoping you'll write more, whether you get your just dessert or not.
Kim
July 8, 2011 10:29 AM
Response 2:
Kim said...
It occurs to me that perhaps an even more neglected area than blogs are the comments to blogs.
I am guessing that there probably won't be too many other responses, and that in fact, I will probably be the only one to respond.
Hopefully, that won't be the case.
Kim
July 8, 2011 10:31 AM
Response 3:
Kim said...
I think I have found a way to insure that there will be more than one response to your blog in the hopes of having some sort of discussion as a result of your writing -- and typical of being a teacher, if you want something done, you usually need to be the one to do it yourself.
Soooooooooo, all right, I will be the one to do it.
Sooooooooo, yes, I agree with Kim that Linne should write more and that her unique style is entertaining and thought provoking.
However, I am not sure that I agree that Linne is haphazard and sporadic in herr style, but as she says, she is often busy.
Kim 2
July 8, 2011 10:33 AM
Response 4:
Kim said...
Whoa, wait a minute, I think I have to step in and say that I tend to agree with Kim 1 more than with Kim 2 in terms of Linne being busy.
As she herself says, one can always have things to do and find reasons not to write. If she truly aspires to be a published author, somehow she is going to have to find or make the time to write.
Just my thoughts,
Kim 3
July 8, 2011 10:35 AM
Response 5:
Kim said...
Well, I was not trying to be critical of Linne when I referred to her writing as haphazard and sporadic, but rather was suggesting that that is part of the freshness of her words -- that they are not tied down to being thorough, but that there is a freshness of speaking in the present.
I suspect that even she would agree that her writing is to some degree "of the moment" and that if she were to try to write about the same thing a day later, that her blog might well have diverted into some completely other direction and arrival point.
I did not intend for my comment to be seen as negative.
Kim 1
July 8, 2011 10:38 AM
Response 6:
Kim said...
Kim 1,
Well, yes, I see your point, but also, I think you can see that without your further explanation, how it looked like your comments sounded critical of my friend Linne, and naturally, I felt the need to come to her defense.
Kim 2
July 8, 2011 10:39 AM
Response 7:
Kim said...
Kim 2,
I understand and I find it admirable, that you wanted to defend your friend.
But having known Linne for some time, I have to say that I have great confidence in her strengths and abilities to stand up for herself, and I don't really think she needs someone to come running to her defense.
In fact, I am hopefully and somewhat confident, that she saw my comments in the manner they were intended without even having to read my futher clarification.
Kim 1
July 8, 2011 10:42 AM
Response 8:
Kim said...
GUYS, GUYS, Guys, (well, I am assuming that both of you are guys, even though you have a girl's name -- unlike me -- who was named after Rudyard Kipling's book: Kim, since my dad grew up in India as a missionary kid)...
Anyway, did it even occur to you that Linne might not even read these comments? After all, as Kim 1 suggested, comments to blogs are the one thing that probably get read even less than blogs.
Kim 3
July 8, 2011 10:44 AM
Response 9:
Kim said...
Oh, well, I guess we'll just have to see.
Kim 2
P.S. And yes, I am male too.
July 8, 2011 10:45 AM
My Conclusion
It is my suspicion that there will be even less responses to my blog than to Linne's. Fortuntely, or unfortunately, Linne has at least one weird friend who responded to hers.
Giving a Fairer Perspective
I think that in all fairness to Linne, it would helpful to include her sole 2011 blog contribution as well, so that you can see a better example of her fresh, entertaining writing style.
First, imagine that there is a picture inserted here of Linne cropped closely to show essentially her eyes along with cloth above and below the eyes as if wearing something mandated from the Middle East.
Linne writes:
Yeah, I'm trying to "Smize" or "Smeyes" which is what Tyra Banks says is smiling with your eyes, but I'm afraid she might tell me not to quit my day job. I have decided not to be offended with the world for not following my blog. I haven't been a regular blogger and friends who hoped that I would post often when I first began writing some three years ago were disappointed time and again with my lack of interest in the blog. I like the idea of putting my thoughts out into the world, rather like a message in a bottle, but the world has moved on to Twitter and Facebook and my blogging is not as relevant. I suppose blogging is somewhat arrogant after all. I read part of someone's blog the other day and I was so bored by this person's musings that I wanted to scream. If I wasn't so polite (yes, I think I am too polite even though my family fears to take me out to dinner just in case a foolish waiter makes a mistake on our order) I would have posted on her blog how BORED I was reading what she was writing and that she should just GET TO IT.
So, I've decided that since no one is reading what I am writing that I should just be able to say whatever I want and that my cool picture should reflect my new, carefree, abandoned attitude. To be frank, I am not very honest in my blogging. Oh, I try to be candid, but I don't really write about the deep stuff, the stuff that matters most. Ho hum, this is my opinion on books: Read them. Yawn, these are my thoughts on education: Parents are a critical component to success. Tap, tap, tap with my foot, foot, foot: Honesty is disguised as earnestness.
So here goes a few impolite truths for your reading pleasure:
1. I am fed up with whiny teenagers and most teenagers fit this category - in and out of my church. Good night! I give a cheery word to every dang teenager I encounter and I get back a lot of grunts and sighs. Get over it teens! You have food and a home and clothes; you should be thanking my generation for your unearned prosperity. Many of you act entitled and spoiled and I am OVER it. Next time I'm naming names.......
2. Dieting sucks. I hate not being able to eat without gaining weight and I hate being overweight. I suck at dieting. As soon as my brain tells my stomach that I am dieting, they both get in cahoots to sabotage me. Yesterday, I just decided to finish the peanut butter so that it would cease to be a temptation. Yeah, I know, I could have thrown it away, or put it away, but you don't get a butt my size without justifying a few things along the way. I'm not huge and I'm not skinny - I'm just average. Ugh.
3. My husband is going to be really sad with me, but most world news bores me to tears. Ok, not Japan and the earthquake, but Europe definitely and Italy especially. Berlusconi's antics annoy me beyond reason and I'm about as impatient with him as I am the sullen teenagers. France's Burqa bans make me want to scream and the whole European Union makes me uneasy.
Ahhhhhhh what a breath of fresh air. Maybe my new blog title should be, "Ask Linne what she really thinks."
posted by Linne at 7:23 PM on Mar 13, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Too Important to Trust to the Government
An infamous libertarian in southwest Idaho died -- but left a legacy: a billboard on the edge of town that cycle's through various diatribes.
Currently one states that "education is too important to be entrusted to the government."
What an amazing summation, or confession of complete failure! If one looks past this yet one more clever, all-too-easy and increasingly familiar barrage of criticisms toward the American government, the depressing aspect is that an increasing number of our citizens have become so cynical that more and more, they genuinely do not trust -- or at least, don't seem to want to trust or support our government.
This begs the question: has the American experiment finally failed?
America was established on the premise that "we, the people" could collectively determine a course of action that was fair, just and favored to at least a majority of our citizenry -- in a manner that the minority would accept the will of the majority -- knowing that they had the right for dissent and the opportunity to revise, add or delete previous actions if they could but convince a new majority of their self-perceived superior position.
In other words, rather than be left to the mercy of one omnipotent and fallible individual, that we believed in our collective wisdom to find the best course of action, along with the ability to continuously revise and improve as became warranted -- based on the abilities of people from within our ranks to convince a sufficient number of others collectively in order to create a new majority -- subject of course, that these new revisions similarly were subject to even further, later revisions or deletions.
Ours was a unique, grand experiment, that through a republican form of electing leaders to represent the masses (holding these leaders accountable to the people they both lead and represented by means of setting timelimits for office that could only be continued if re-elected) that we could best serve and maintain justice than any single monarch could.
We recognized that inherent in this republican form of democracy, there would be disagreement and not all would always get what they wanted -- but this was acceptable in the knowledge that compromise and amendment would often be needed in order to wield a majority so that those whose arguments held merit would most likely be able to help at least to some degree in the forming of our decisions. Inherent in that, was the belief that ultimately decisions would achieve a level of effectiveness and justness as a result of our collective wisdom.
The blanket statement that education is too important to be left to government implies that either our government is not motivated to seek what is best for we the people, or is not capable. Either way - if this is true - democracy in America has failed.
The implication -- assuming it is consistent with the other diatribes -- is that education should be run by private enterprise. That somehow, the profit motive as controlled by Adam Smith's "invisible hand" would be the best way to establish an educational system for empowering our citizenry for coping and competing in today's global market and world of technology.
What saddens me and worries me most is that energy and time spent on attacking the government does not seem to be an effective or constructive way of deriving necessary revisions, adjustments, additions or deletions. It does not seem to be the smartest method for trying to ascertain wise choices. Rather it seems devisive, counter-productive and destructive as it promulgates contempt, anger, intolerance and discouragement.
I don't believe that we can truly afford this degree of destructiveness nor lack of constructive effort to fully confront the immense challenges that we all face. I don't believe that with the immensity of what we face that we can spare any significant segment of our citizenry withholding efforts to work collectively toward solution.
Yes, we need diverse ideas and perspectives, but we need unity in purpose. We can not afford to fall short.
We absolutly need an educational system truly capable of equipping our citizenry as we rush to meet the challenges we face in this new global economy. And therefore, we all need for our educational system to be altered and improved. But we need to seek continuously a sense of unity, and strive to find areas of agreement from which to continually build upon.
I belive that because education is so crucial to the welfare of our citizens, it is exactly the government who should most be responsible and involved in its development and implementation. And implicit in this, should be the constant realization and consensus that any time the government falls short in its effort, it should not be abandoned, but rather should be confronted and utilized all that much more.
Currently one states that "education is too important to be entrusted to the government."
What an amazing summation, or confession of complete failure! If one looks past this yet one more clever, all-too-easy and increasingly familiar barrage of criticisms toward the American government, the depressing aspect is that an increasing number of our citizens have become so cynical that more and more, they genuinely do not trust -- or at least, don't seem to want to trust or support our government.
This begs the question: has the American experiment finally failed?
America was established on the premise that "we, the people" could collectively determine a course of action that was fair, just and favored to at least a majority of our citizenry -- in a manner that the minority would accept the will of the majority -- knowing that they had the right for dissent and the opportunity to revise, add or delete previous actions if they could but convince a new majority of their self-perceived superior position.
In other words, rather than be left to the mercy of one omnipotent and fallible individual, that we believed in our collective wisdom to find the best course of action, along with the ability to continuously revise and improve as became warranted -- based on the abilities of people from within our ranks to convince a sufficient number of others collectively in order to create a new majority -- subject of course, that these new revisions similarly were subject to even further, later revisions or deletions.
Ours was a unique, grand experiment, that through a republican form of electing leaders to represent the masses (holding these leaders accountable to the people they both lead and represented by means of setting timelimits for office that could only be continued if re-elected) that we could best serve and maintain justice than any single monarch could.
We recognized that inherent in this republican form of democracy, there would be disagreement and not all would always get what they wanted -- but this was acceptable in the knowledge that compromise and amendment would often be needed in order to wield a majority so that those whose arguments held merit would most likely be able to help at least to some degree in the forming of our decisions. Inherent in that, was the belief that ultimately decisions would achieve a level of effectiveness and justness as a result of our collective wisdom.
The blanket statement that education is too important to be left to government implies that either our government is not motivated to seek what is best for we the people, or is not capable. Either way - if this is true - democracy in America has failed.
The implication -- assuming it is consistent with the other diatribes -- is that education should be run by private enterprise. That somehow, the profit motive as controlled by Adam Smith's "invisible hand" would be the best way to establish an educational system for empowering our citizenry for coping and competing in today's global market and world of technology.
What saddens me and worries me most is that energy and time spent on attacking the government does not seem to be an effective or constructive way of deriving necessary revisions, adjustments, additions or deletions. It does not seem to be the smartest method for trying to ascertain wise choices. Rather it seems devisive, counter-productive and destructive as it promulgates contempt, anger, intolerance and discouragement.
I don't believe that we can truly afford this degree of destructiveness nor lack of constructive effort to fully confront the immense challenges that we all face. I don't believe that with the immensity of what we face that we can spare any significant segment of our citizenry withholding efforts to work collectively toward solution.
Yes, we need diverse ideas and perspectives, but we need unity in purpose. We can not afford to fall short.
We absolutly need an educational system truly capable of equipping our citizenry as we rush to meet the challenges we face in this new global economy. And therefore, we all need for our educational system to be altered and improved. But we need to seek continuously a sense of unity, and strive to find areas of agreement from which to continually build upon.
I belive that because education is so crucial to the welfare of our citizens, it is exactly the government who should most be responsible and involved in its development and implementation. And implicit in this, should be the constant realization and consensus that any time the government falls short in its effort, it should not be abandoned, but rather should be confronted and utilized all that much more.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
My Colonoscopy
I posted the following on Facebook on Thursday, March 3, 2011 in reference to Wednesday, March 2nd:
Colonoscopies can be a pain in the butt -- in my case, figuratively rather than literally. I had put mine off for almost 7 years, but finallly got the job done yesterday to fulfill a promise I had made to my wife after she was diagnosed with cancer last April.
Truthfully, other than the fear, the only hassle was going the day before without eating.
While my recovery took an hour or so longer than expected, once home, I was headed in to town within an hour and a half for dinner and concert with friends.
I encourage anyone else who is avoiding it to get it done -- the peace of mind is well worth it!!
Colonoscopies can be a pain in the butt -- in my case, figuratively rather than literally. I had put mine off for almost 7 years, but finallly got the job done yesterday to fulfill a promise I had made to my wife after she was diagnosed with cancer last April.
Truthfully, other than the fear, the only hassle was going the day before without eating.
While my recovery took an hour or so longer than expected, once home, I was headed in to town within an hour and a half for dinner and concert with friends.
I encourage anyone else who is avoiding it to get it done -- the peace of mind is well worth it!!
My Testimony at the Idaho House Education Committee
The Honorable Chairman and Members of the Idaho House of Representatives Education Committee,
I am Kim Wardwell, a teacher in the Caldwell School District.
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1979 & ‘80 in Paraguay, South America, when it was a dictatorship, I developed a deep appreciation and passion for the preservation of the democratic process in our American republic.
It is to that very point that I wish to speak in opposition to Senate Bill 1108. Previously as a high school social studies teacher, I saw many students come to realize and appreciate the brilliant foresight our founding fathers had in building in a system of checks and balances which still is fundamental in our American way of life.
I fear that if SB 1108 is enacted there will no longer be a genuine set of checks and balances to insure that our educational system stays healthy. I foresee that as district superintendents and state legislators have to cope with financial continual annual pressures, that without a system in place for checks and balances – our system will erode and deteriorate to the point where it eventually is no longer viable and robust, no longer able to produce an educated society able to compete sufficiently in the global market.
I fear most the removal of seniority as a protection for teachers. I can readily see the financial point of view of administrators in Idaho that older teachers cost local school districts about twice as much as beginning teachers. We cost more in terms of health premiums and medical expenses, and physical limitations can start to be more of a challenge, even though we continue to improve mentally, emotionally and educationally.
Without the check and balances of collective bargaining, there is little to keep superintendents from succumbing to the temptation of removing older, more expensive teachers as an expedient way to balance the budget? * I believe it won’t take too long for Idaho’s future potential teachers to decide to pursue other careers. Or even if their passion leads them to want to teach a few years while they are young, energetic and relatively inexpensive – they will realize they better get into a profession in which they can have a more reasonable expectation of being able to earn and receive full retirement benefits before they start a family and are locked into a 30-year house mortgage.
With such expediencies, I question how in the long run, we can truly expect to compete in the global market.
Honorable Members of the House of Representatives, I urge you to protect and maintain the checks and balances that collective bargaining has provided so that we can truly discern which cuts need to be made, and which are cuts of expediency that ultimately will do more harm than good.
I urge you to either vote no or significantly revise SB 1108.
Thank you for listening to me.
*Note: After a brief talk with Senator Melinda Smyser prior to the House Ed Committee hearings, it was pointed out to me that the local districts for the last 7 years or so have “pass through” money – similar to what we had when I taught in Washington to where local districts receive additional funding for teachers with additional education and years of experience. In Washington, basically, the local district pays for the base salary, and all of the additional money is paid by the state for experience and additional education.
But when questioned on this very point by House Ed Chair Nonini, I commented that I had referred to pressure on both the local superintendents and the state legislators in dealing with the continuous annual budget issues, and that the expediency of getting rid of senior teachers could be tempting at the state level as well.
I am Kim Wardwell, a teacher in the Caldwell School District.
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1979 & ‘80 in Paraguay, South America, when it was a dictatorship, I developed a deep appreciation and passion for the preservation of the democratic process in our American republic.
It is to that very point that I wish to speak in opposition to Senate Bill 1108. Previously as a high school social studies teacher, I saw many students come to realize and appreciate the brilliant foresight our founding fathers had in building in a system of checks and balances which still is fundamental in our American way of life.
I fear that if SB 1108 is enacted there will no longer be a genuine set of checks and balances to insure that our educational system stays healthy. I foresee that as district superintendents and state legislators have to cope with financial continual annual pressures, that without a system in place for checks and balances – our system will erode and deteriorate to the point where it eventually is no longer viable and robust, no longer able to produce an educated society able to compete sufficiently in the global market.
I fear most the removal of seniority as a protection for teachers. I can readily see the financial point of view of administrators in Idaho that older teachers cost local school districts about twice as much as beginning teachers. We cost more in terms of health premiums and medical expenses, and physical limitations can start to be more of a challenge, even though we continue to improve mentally, emotionally and educationally.
Without the check and balances of collective bargaining, there is little to keep superintendents from succumbing to the temptation of removing older, more expensive teachers as an expedient way to balance the budget? * I believe it won’t take too long for Idaho’s future potential teachers to decide to pursue other careers. Or even if their passion leads them to want to teach a few years while they are young, energetic and relatively inexpensive – they will realize they better get into a profession in which they can have a more reasonable expectation of being able to earn and receive full retirement benefits before they start a family and are locked into a 30-year house mortgage.
With such expediencies, I question how in the long run, we can truly expect to compete in the global market.
Honorable Members of the House of Representatives, I urge you to protect and maintain the checks and balances that collective bargaining has provided so that we can truly discern which cuts need to be made, and which are cuts of expediency that ultimately will do more harm than good.
I urge you to either vote no or significantly revise SB 1108.
Thank you for listening to me.
*Note: After a brief talk with Senator Melinda Smyser prior to the House Ed Committee hearings, it was pointed out to me that the local districts for the last 7 years or so have “pass through” money – similar to what we had when I taught in Washington to where local districts receive additional funding for teachers with additional education and years of experience. In Washington, basically, the local district pays for the base salary, and all of the additional money is paid by the state for experience and additional education.
But when questioned on this very point by House Ed Chair Nonini, I commented that I had referred to pressure on both the local superintendents and the state legislators in dealing with the continuous annual budget issues, and that the expediency of getting rid of senior teachers could be tempting at the state level as well.
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