March 11, 2008
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1 Howdy.
2 A winter's day. Something like that.
3 Some updates:
4 For those of you interested in the YB Theatre, I think I forgot to mention that Debbie Rocha is teaching dance at YB now.
5 Debbie is Paz's wife and has been a choreographer for years, so it's nice that YB has dance.
6 I honestly don't remember the last time I was in the Theatre at YB. I understand they have a new stage floor, new curtains, and mirrors on the back wall.
7 You heard that last part correctly. Not sure how that works out, but it probably works great for dance.
8 I don't know how it works out with plays. They may have a black traveller, but I don't know.
9 I've driven past YB and even been to a Camp Everytown party over there earlier this year, but it's really difficult thinking about going back into the Theatre.
10 I hope everything is okay over there. Last I heard they had a Fall show, a resident director, and are in between shows as of now.
11 That may have changed, but my info is sketchy at best and I've been a bit too busy up at the Chill to see too much of anything these days.
12 And it's not looking good for lots of things these days in education. Suddenly there's a huge 10% cut and everyone is scrambling around worried about their jobs.
13 Yesterday, Steve Barnhill, who has 18 years in, asked me if he thought we were safe.
14 I don't know. Honestly. I like to think so, but any time there's cuts it's nerve wracking.
15 I get to help set up a huge district meeting tonight up at the Chill.
16 Suddenly my nickname for the place has become ominous.
17 They're expecting over 500 people in our cafeteria, which has a fancy name, Cougar Hall. That's my realm, and they're invading tonight.
18 The beauty part of working up there is that it's pretty easy to head for the hills.
19 I'm hoping I can set up and jet outta there.
20 I'm just not the sort of person who can take time to go to a Board meeting and shout and scream and cry about things.
21 Years ago I did that and pointed fingers at a District muckety muck and called him a bold-faced liar, right in front of God and everybody.
22 I remember Ocamb-Winters on one side of me and Galindo on the other, and they were almost pulling on my sleeve to get me to sit down. I was ready to go for some guy's jugular, I swear.
23 Metaphorically speaking.
24 That was a million years ago. I found out that due to a lot of politics and lying that my poor little Language Arts classes were going to be dissolved in mid-March, taking some wonderful students suddenly away from their teacher. I saw the entire thing as a political move, but they didn't understand.
25 It had to do with the District getting even with the Union over class-size issues, and I suddenly saw how ruthless those things could get. I managed to schedule something in the Theatre that involved my Language Arts classes, which prevented them from making the changes so they couldn't use the "we've already made the changes" argument at the meeting.
26 When they used it, I stood up and told them that the changes HADN'T been made yet and that they could still stop the changes from occurring.
27 When I called a District guy a liar, he pointed at me and shouted, "You're way out of line!" I shot back, "YOU'RE out of line, lying to everyone in this room. You can prevent the move TONIGHT and everybody in here knows it!"
28 My, oh my. I had some cajones back in those days. They never DID change from their strategy, but it was a bit of a moral victory for all the people in the audience. Galindo thought I was going to have a heart attack that night.
29 Tonight is totally different. There will be changes, that's for sure, and I'm quite certain that much of it will be political. Those things never change.
30 But I think I'll just throw a stage out there, and a mic or two, and then I'm gonna head for the hills.
31 This one is going to get really ugly. It will give new meaning to the epithet Chill-on-the-Hill.
32 Layoffs.
33 I'll keep you informed.
34 B-r-r-r-r.
35 Peace.
~H~
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