November 24, 2010
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The Daily News1 I’m totally out of sorts.2 What else is new?
3 For some weird reason, our school is having a full day. That’s fine, because most offices and businesses TRY to have full working days the day before Thanksgiving, and most fail miserably. The unwritten rule is that after lunch the day before Thanksgiving, all production in America ceases.
4 Wherever you work, the only people serious about actually being productive are badgers and weasels.
5 It’s always a riot to me, because those are the same people that are up in everyone else’s business on normal days.
6 They somehow actually believe that anyone gives a hoot about productivity between noon and five the day before Thanksgiving.
7 Dude.
8 You walk in after lunch today and start talking business, you get a rather rude hand gesture the second the door hits you in the ass.
9 Still, I’m in a bit of a quandary as to why our administration decided to make this a full working day.
10 When I did the school calendar a few years ago, I assumed this day was a minimum, and put it on the calendar as such.
11 I honestly don’t think anyone noticed, until the that Wednesday rolled around.
12 My principal at the time was keen on “minutes”, since everything is accountable, but even SHE seemed happy that I made that little mistake.
13 I openly confess that it was deliberate, and that I single-handedly gave the whole school the afternoon off.
14 Which is interesting, because this year they had a minimum day on the day before Veteran’s Day. This made no sense to me. Why not just switch them out?
15 Having been at the top of this institution, I can only guess that someone wasn’t thinking ahead. That’s the only conclusion I could make, because had I been in on the meetings, I can guarantee that today would be cut short.
16 Mind you, I’m not criticizing our admin. They work ridiculously hard, but occasionally forget those sorts of things. When I was up there, I was always happy to remind people that every now and then you have to understand human nature.
17 And human nature dictates that after lunch the day before Thanksgiving, everybody who works is set free, and there is very little that bosses can do to stop that. Goofing off on the day before Thanksgiving is the order of the day. It’s the law.
18 In schools, the students were checked out after noon, YESTERDAY. I foolishly had them watching a film about Socrates, and they were to take notes. By the last period of the day, they were chatting, making noise, comparing notes, and doing everything BUT watching that old miserable miser.
19 My scholars moved to the video and were riveted, but everybody else KNEW that it was after lunch on the TUESDAY before Thanksgiving, and that there was nothing anybody could do about it.
20 It’s sort of like Turkey Anarchy. If they could only unite like that against the Illuminati, we’d none of us have a thing to worry about.
21 Some things are just crystalline.
22 I had this really amazing video about the film Troy that I was going to show today, but I know darned well that after lunch, they will, without a spoken word, decide that the next three hours belong to them.
23 And the badgers and weasels will give them tests, while the more human of us will realize that sometimes morale is a part of learning.
24 For the past two days, I taught about the Golden Age of Greece using this awesome PBS film called The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization. They were pretty riveted for two days, but when Socrates appeared with his bulging eyes, flaring nostrils, and philosophical banter, they checked out.
25 I don’t know how many people “back-in-the-day” listened to his balderdash anyway. If you were dying of the plague, you don’t necessarily want to hear some guy telling you to examine your life.
26 I always thought the story of the demise of the Greek empire was amazingly sad, yet inspirational, and that the story of Socrates was the symbol of the fall of wisdom and intelligence.
27 My afternoon students thought it was a time for cookies, cupcakes, shits and giggles.
28 And frankly, I don’t blame them. The cosmic ocean waves were in their favor, and it became evident really quickly that the day-before Thanksgiving rule crashed and splashed any hopes of anyone even attempting to do something today.
29 Except for the badgers and weasels, who will fail miserably.
30 For the record, I’m going to ACT like I was amazingly disappointed in yesterday, show the last five minutes of Socrates’ poisoning, and then I’m going to pop in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, just for shits and giggles.
31 That’s the way I roll. That’s good teaching. Sorry if I’m not a badger or a weasel.
32 I think it’s money well spent.
33 You all have a lovely Thanksgiving. It isn’t about pilgrims or any of that nonsense, it’s about family and friends. Live it.
34 Peace.
~H~www.xanga.com/barrington
Hmmm. Shits and giggles, ya say…
