TEFLON: EVENTUALLY THE TOXIC FUMES ARE DETECTED

When I learned today that VISD had finally reached the conclusion that their TEFLON person in the district had to be put on Administrative Leave, I was so pleased that finally the superintendent had realized how truly toxic the whole situation was.  I do feel badly for the students and parents who work so hard and enjoy the drill team experience and blindly believed everything was above board.

Whenever a parent devotes money, time and energy to keep their child involved in an extra-curricular activity, they shouldn't have to worry whether the person in charge is putting the children's well-being above her need for recognition.  Competitions were very expensive and yet the competitions were not true indicators of talent, since the team was the only one to compete in their category. 

Fund raisers might not be a problem for students who came from families with connections at work, church and social organizations who could buy raffle tickets, sponsorships, etc. But  for the families who struggle to met their household obligations, buying/selling the merchandise was a major financial strain.  Didn't matter who you were, the fundraising was expected.  Didn't want your child to have to work at the TKB event, because beer was sold and consumed, then too bad for you. How does this say that the director cared about the students? 

If a family couldn't afford all the financial obligations, then they should just pull their child from the team?  Soon we would be left with the elite and maybe that was the plan all along.  Oh, now I understand the name of LEGACY...rich, elite and above the rules. 

Sounds like it's time to regroup and rename the team.  The "DDDR" is the Legacy?  Really, then I guess it stands for "Did Debbie Do Right?"  And the obvious answer would be a big, fat, dingle-berry, "NO!"

TRUE LEGACY:THROWING GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD

 

I love pictographs that pretty much tell a story.  On the left, we have a picture of a bull rider and on the right we have a picture of how profitable this bull riding experience has been for VISD's dance team members.  Parents and students worked very hard for many years to help at this bull riding event, so that the profits could pay for the dancers' expenses.  What has come out very recently, is that the bull riding event, where beer was sold, was NOT a profitable event for the drill team members after all. 

Hmmm, who made money on this event and why was it used by VISD for the last many years?  Did the fact that Bo Davis is related to the director come into play?   It would seem to any reasonable person that maybe if one year didn't turn a profit then it would be questionable whether all the hard work the dancers and families devoted was worth it. Give it one more chance?  Sure, but if no profit was shown, then it looks like other ways of making money would be used. 

How does one person have so much power to keep the bull riding event as a perceived help?  Was no one looking at the books, or where the Stepford dancers/families just believing all the hype? 

RUMOR: MORE THAN DEMI'S DAUGHTER'S NAME

So, a few weeks have passed and it has become clear that the rumor concerning embezzlement of funds from the drill team has been exposed as a rumor.  Why did The Victoria Advocate allow the accusation to be posted on their website?  There is a person who sits and zaps comments that are not allowed, yet this was allowed to be seen by many people throughout the Nation.  Amazing what stays on the paper's website and what is zapped before the ink is even dry.  Come on Advocate, don't feed us lies, rumors and innuendos, we have politicians for that duty.

"NEW MATH": ANOTHER LIFE LESSON

When I was in Junior High, my mom left my step-dad and we moved from south Texas back up to Cleveland, Ohio.  Enrolling mid-semester in a five-story urban school created problems for all.  The counselors tried to find classes that would equal the classes I had back in Texas, which was the first obstacle in my educational process.  Showing up to unfamiliar classrooms was embarrassing enough and the material in some classes sounded like it was being taught in a foreign language. 

Math has always been a challenge for me, but luckily I was enrolled in a class with an understanding teacher.  He would work problems on the board all period and then at then end he would write three problems on the board for our homework assignment.  I dutifully copied those problems down and as I left the classroom, I quietly told him that we hadn't covered that back in my old school.  He smiled and said for me to do my best and when I caught up, I could turn in the work.

Each day I would go home and open up my binder and stare at the three problems.  I would try many approaches to solve the problems, asked my mom for help ("Honey, I haven't been in school for over twenty years") and then return to class without solutions.  At the beginning of the class, students would turn in pages of homework, which only added to my frustration.  How could I be so dumb?  Everyone else understood how to do the work?  How did the students get pages of work out of three problems? 

By the end of the week, I gulped down my nervous stomach juices and turned to the girl next to me and asked, "How do you get so many pages of homework out of three problems?" 

To her credit, she didn't laugh, but merely said, "What are you talking about?  Three problems?  What three problems?"

I pointed to the board and said, "Those three problems from yesterday." 
On the board was written:
PP 114-115 A, B, F
PP 116-118 C, D, E
PP 119-120 F, G, H

She explained, "That's pages one hundred fourteen through page one hundred fifteen and you do all the A, B, F problems.  Then you go to pages one hundred sixteen through page one hundred eighteen and do all the C, D and E problems.  Finally, you do the same thing with the last pages."  From then on I understood the math a whole lot better.  You see where I went to school in Texas, my teacher used the abbreviation pgs. for pages and not PP. 

When I am stumped why someone doesn't understand something that is so clear to me, I try to remember how maybe they haven't had the same life experiences as me and they don't understand the shorthand I use. 

SWEETNESS: TIMES TWO

When we went to brunch Saturday morning, the sweetest things in Cracker Barrel weren't on the menu.  My Grandlove and Heart passed the waiting time by coloring and checking out the activities nearby.  Once the food arrived, our little guy loved the meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, baked apples and biscuits.  As I looked across the table, I imagined that I was my mom and was transported back in time.  She would love our little guy, since his disposition is very similar to his mom's and in her Nana's opinion our little girl was perfect. 

"YOU DON'T KNOW": BECOMES, "YOU DID KNOW, AFTER ALL, MOM"

Today, I received an unexpected gift.  It was a simple, yet complex gift.  My daughter finally understood why I used to tell her that I couldn't go to sleep when she was out at night.  I worried about her safety and even though she poo-poohed me at the time, I would explain that until she was once again safely home, I couldn't sleep, so the curfew was to be honored. 

When she told me that she finally "got it", I asked her why and she explained that a drunk driver was in jail after killing someone.  This is not the first time (and I know it won't be the last) that a drunk driver escaped unharmed after killing someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  It's just that now my daughter works in the place where that drunk is kept until trial.  So after all those years of sticking to my guns and praying for my daughter's safety has led us to this day.  The day that my daughter has matured into a place of understanding and appreciation.  I am grateful for her clear thinking and hope she remembers my way of parenting when in a few years she is watching over a precious boy who will want to go and explore the world. 

Stay strong, be firm and love him with the knowledge that the brain doesn't reach full maturity until the twenties.  Good luck, Sweetie.  If you thought, colic was tough, wait until he's thirteen and, "You don't know" is thrown at you.

TEFLON: CONSEQUENCES ROLL RIGHT OFF

It has finally become crystal clear, why certain people in our community can get away with all that they do; they are been adorned with Teflon instead of the normal skin cells.  This coating comes in very handy when "normal" rules and regulations are too trivial or ordinary to be followed.  Rather than wearing off the Teflon coating, each time rules are repelled the coating in strengthened. 

From a young age, some people knew that they were better than others and relished the idea that they would not need to follow previous procedures.  When she was elected to a popular spot in the senior class, unfortunately someone of color would be in the picture with her.  No problem, have separate photos taken and placed on different pages in the yearbook. 

She was given the position of the dance team director for one of the high schools, then she carried on with the same name that has been around for decades.  That is understandable; however, when that school no longer existed due to consolidation, then the drill team name was to be changed to include both schools.  Girls from both high schools would be on the same drill team and the colors of the uniforms would be changed to match the consolidated school.  Style of the uniforms (dingle bells on matador hats remained) basically stayed the same and the original, albeit obsolete name remained on board, on line, on cars and on everyone's lips.  VICTORIADORES.....Past, present, future?  DDDR? 

The Raider Bells drill team had a history, and they were classy enough to go along with not insisting that RAIDER BELLS were maintained.  Class, you ask?  Yeah, it takes true class to move on, follow the rules and build new memories.  When the drill team director at Memorial thumbed her nose at authority figures concerning the name VICTORIADORES, this added another layer of her non-stick back.

MTV wanted to come and make a film about the drill team and this director so much wanted it that she stepped way out of line.  She didn't even receive a slap on the wrist for all the rules she broke.  She didn't lose her job, her authority or prestige in the town.  People rallied around her and supported her love for her girls and all her dedication for each and everyone. 

Costs to have a girl on the drill team were sometimes too much for families and if they complained, the wrath from others was laced with disgust at the lowly who actually struggled financially.  When the team needed money, BULLS, BEER and KICKING were enlisted.  Was anyone keeping up with the amount of funds that were made, because when the two schools split, half the money should have gone to EAST HIGH SCHOOL?  All the money that parents raised last year should have been split, since the team was split into two schools. 

Here were find the latest incident of rules, regulation and blow back sliding off of the TEFLON back of the drill team leader.  It has been reported that she has been arrested for embezzlement of funds.  Isn't that interesting!  No report on the blotter section in the Victoria Advocate.  The only comment concerning this has been deleted from the Advocate's website. 

I will not post on The Victoria Advocate, because the brain-impaired TSTORM will have my account deleted and he is so not worth it.  He will not hear anything that is based on facts, just the rah-rah that keeps everyone away from the facts that we need boots to wallow through.

When I saw Chris Cobbler in Hasting renting a movie and getting a breverage today, I was so tempted to ask him about it, but I didn't feel like having to do the Heimlich or listen to him stammer around the truth.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HEART

This is a picture of my external hearts....my daughter and her precious little son.  If she looks scared, that would be pretty true, since she had only been a mom for a little over three months.  Her mothering skills have become stronger and more sure with each passing day.  I admire the fact that she has taken all that she has learned and tweaked it into her own way of parenting.  It's difficult to remember that it's been twenty-nine years that I first looked at her tiny face and fell in love.  So many things have happened in our lives and yet the one constant is that my love for my daughter has grown each moment.  She does know where all my buttons are and she has engaged them more than once.  Even during our tense times, our learning times, I have never doubted that I have been blessed those so many years ago when I first saw that tiny, rosebud mouth and held her.  Colic, teenage woes, hospitalizations, surgeries, illnesses temper trials, college adventures, relationship difficulties, life plans dashed across the rocks of disappointment and all the times I was told, "You don't know" have only added to my appreciation of the strength of our bond.  I love her more than life itself and that was even before she blessed us when our little Grandlove.  He's the icing on the cake. 

Happy Birthday, my sweet girl.  You have brought so much joy, love and support to our family.  May your blessings always outweigh life's struggles.

SO MUCH RAIN: SO MUCH FUN

Bentley absolutely loves the rain, mud and digging.  He feels that it is his duty to dig as much as he can, as fast as he can and for as long as there is mud.  The end result is that half of our yard winds up embedded in his thick fur.  Baths consist of water, shampoo and scrubbing.  For him baths are tolerated and not enjoyed.  He did smell wonderful after he received his bath and then his hour long comb out made his coat shine.  He goes to "his happy place" during the whole grooming process, and I try to make it as pleasant as possible.  He is so different from our Cubby, who hated moisture in the yard and adored his baths, brushing and grooming. Bentley is a good boy and makes us laugh every day.  We were saved by this little boy, with the crooked smile and happy tongue.