Younglings:
I don't normally do the "end of the year" rundown thing, but I kinda want to this year, because 2019 was a bit of a roller coaster ride.
On January 1, we were gearing up to take a motorcycle ride and my shoulder did "that thing" again. I was just putting on a motorcycle jacket. Geez. So I thought, "Well, that's a fine how-do-ya-do to kick the year off." But I have a friend with muscle relaxers and so I just went back to bed. Thanks, Glenn Smith.
February - I turned 50 on the 5th. Not really that devastating. I had a great birthday party with Poppa Don, Memaw and Poppa Bill, and one of my best friends in the whole world, Christine, at a restaurant owned by one of my best classmates, Jason, from Mena. The food was great, Mom made me a chocolate cake with white coconut icing (as is customary), and all was right with the world.
Then Poppa Don took me on a surprise vacation. I had no idea where we were going until we got to the airport. I thought they'd dropped us at the wrong terminal; Poppa Don kept telling me we were flying American, so...why are we at the Lufthansa gate? That's because we went to SPAIN. THE SPAIN. The one I studied for a year and a half to get my Spanish language teaching license. It was phenomenal - my first trip overseas. The trip of a lifetime.
We had spent three days in Madrid, Barcelona, Segovia, Toledo, Salamanca, and Avila - then I wake up in the middle of the night to a Facebook message telling me my best friend, who'd been at my birthday party, had died of complications from the flu. The next morning we toured the Prado but we had to go back to the room so I could break down. I was on this trip of a lifetime and my best friend has died. On Valentine's Day. She hated Valentine's Day. LOL. I didn't know quite how to handle that. She'd be appalled at the Valentine's Day stuff that's already in the stores here in December.
A few weeks later we went to Alabama for her memorial service, where her brother had asked me to speak. Again, it was not easy, but her family and I shared some wonderful memories, and I know she's up there, petting all the cats. I also made a new friend - Christine's friend Carla from when they were in junior high together, before Christine moved to Mena. When we came home, Poppa Don bought a new motorcycle. Alrighty then!
Later on that spring there were some changes made to my job. Changes I'm not so happy about, but I get it. I won't dwell on that.
In May, we went to Georgia to watch Number One, Kobe, graduate from high school. What a party! Mackenzie graduated, too, on the same day, but it's kinda hard to be on Atlanta and Indianapolis at the same time. We spoke to Kenzie and Nathan via FaceTime on Christmas Day and it was so nice to "see" them.
Both Papaw and Great Great Grandma had medical issues during the summer, and later on during the fall. Luckily, they came through each and are doing much better. Memaw and Poppa Bill are doing very well, and I'm grateful for that.
Poppa Don sold Westark Concerts and is now officially retired. We took a trip to New Orleans and had a great time as always. School started again for me and I was back into the routine. We got the rest of the floors in the Plantation refinished and the house looks amazing.
In September, I went to see KISS for the first (and last) time. Wow. Worth every dime. I went to Detroit, Michigan for the first time and even wandered into Windsor, Ontario for about 15 minutes. Beauty, eh? Then I went to see Heart and Joan Jett (third time for both) and they were phenomenal as usual. Heart kicked off the show with "Rockin' Heaven Down" (coincidence???) and Ann's vocals on "Mistral Wind" - absolutely sublime. It was almost like a religious experience. My trip to the VIP bar might have had something to do with that, but no matter. That was a show for die-hard Joan & Heart fans.
We went up to Fayetteville in October to hang out with Kaytea and Beau and watch the Cate Brothers' 50th Anniversary show at George's. Another really cool moment, despite the pinot grigio that tasted like soy sauce (!!!). Poppa Don and I were wandering around on Dickson Street afterward and ate burritos from a food truck. We enjoyed it so much we're going to do that again in March when the Cates do an encore show. That same day, however, we went to Sallisaw to remember Uncle Alvie, who passed over into the next world doing what he loved - hunting elk in the beautiful San Juan Mountains of Colorado.
We had four of you Younglings (Bozo Boy, Seven, E, and Master Luke) at the house for Thanksgiving and that was fun. We had a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and watched ALL the Star Wars movies in chronological order (and The Mandalorian) to prepare for Episode IX. We decided Baby Yoda is the coolest thing ever, in addition to the possum that visits our front porch and eats the food I put out for the feral cats, of which there are about four.
We continued to do more home improvements - we built a retaining wall around the front yard and took down the old picket fence. We installed some new "gadgets" (locks and gas logs) and will be doing even more touch-ups in 2020.
I wasn't in the Christmas spirit this year. Don't really know why. After fall commencement, we took off for the West in Garth Vader, Poppa Don's "new" FJ Cruiser. We saw lots of snow in Durango, ate some fantastic New Mexican food in Taos (I miss red sauce!), shopped in Santa Fe. (I especially like my jackalope). On the way home, we stayed in Denison to watch Episode IX. I loved it, as I enjoy all Star Wars films. My opinions about the "toxic fans" - save for another blog post, I will.
We celebrated Christmas in Mena with both sets of parents and fun was had by all. It turned out to be a really great Christmas. I got new clothes, a smartwatch, shoes, handmade bedspreads, candles, homemade soap, honey, wine, all kinds of cool stuff. The trip was awesome but it was good to come home to our beautiful house and our oddball menagerie of pets.
But this morning I learned that I've lost another classmate, a man I've known all my life since we were little bitty kids in the Methodist Church at Mena. He used to bring Planet of the Apes action figures with him to Sunday School. My mom and his parents were friends for years. We were editors of the high school literary magazine together. We bought wrote for the school newspaper. He grew up and became Indiana Jones. No, really, he was an archaeologist. A real one. He had a lovely wife, two beautiful daughters, was always remodeling his house, made his own beer, ran marathons. I was hoping to see him at our next high school reunion but now he's gone. He was out running yesterday morning and was struck by a vehicle. He had just posted the other day about the Star Wars Holiday Special. I'm still dealing with Christine, and now Michael is gone, too. Both quite unexpectedly and way before their time.
What the $&%*^??
This is why I've begun to take LIFE more seriously, and put up with worthless horse puckey less and less. I don't worry about the things I can't do anything about. I blow off housework to read or write or do the things I enjoy. I'm going to ride my bike and go to yoga whenever I can. I WILL finish the other books floating around in my head. Do what you want to do NOW, Younglings - you don't even have to wait until a New Year starts.
Today Poppa Don and I rode Papaw's Indian trike over to Office Depot and the bookstore. I bought a latte and tipped the barista three dollars because her cash register wasn't working and she brought my coffee directly to me over at the main checkout. I bought a Lillian Jackson Braun book because Christine loved them and I've decided to collect them (and read them!) all in her honor. Later on I posted the picture of me and Michael as Robin Hood and Little John (respectively) from kindergarten graduation in 1975. This has also made me think of Tory and Darrin and Scotty and Ben and others we've lost from the class of '87.
I'm looking forward to spending a nice quiet New Year's Eve eating my favorite Chinese food, drinking my weekly ration of Coca-Cola, and watching whatever I want on TV because Amazon Firesticks are very, very cool. I'm glad I'm NOT playing a New Year's gig. I'll drink cheap champagne and my feet won't hurt at the end of the night. I'll say goodbye to the "Judge Roy Scream" (look that up if you don't know what that is) that was 2019 and hello to the new Roaring 20s - here's looking at you, kid. This is beginning of another beautiful decade.
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
9/11
Hello, Younglings. It's Patriot Day. And I'm going to tell you why.
September 11, 2001. It was a Tuesday. Kobe, Number One, was only 5 months old. Poppa Don and I were living in Sanford, Colorado. I was teaching high school Spanish and fifth through twelfth grade band.
I got up that day and went to school as usual, just two blocks down the street. Poppa Don was preparing to load up Clifford and head back to Arkansas to work a show; don't remember what that would have been. As I was starting the Spanish 1 class in my upstairs classroom, just before the bell rang, Poppa Don came by to say goodbye, and said when he stopped by the Sanford General Store he'd heard that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings. He wasn't sure if it as just an accident or a possible terrorist attack.
We were on Mountain Time, two whole hours behind Eastern Time, and weren't in the habit of turning on the TV first thing in the morning, so by that time I believe the first tower was starting to fall. He suggested just going about the day as usual, which I did, to not upset the students.
I didn't usually eat lunch in the cafeteria, but I went by there before going to the band hall. I remember a TV being on in there, but I didn't look at it. It was probably just showing a commercial or something similar. We still weren't really sure what was happening so school wasn't dismissed and I got home around three-thirty, and that's when I turned on the TV.
I was shocked. It was surreal, like watching some kind of action film. I remember talking to Memaw, either that night or the next day, and she said, "Where's Superman?" The buildings falling, dust everywhere, people jumping...it was horrifying. My cousin, Maurin, was working in DC at the time at a building site and saw the plane hit the Pentagon. She and her co-workers looked up and thought, "Wow, that plane's flying really low."
Out on the road, Poppa Don saw people lining up at the gas stations, fearing gas prices would go sky high and no one would be able to travel. He remembers the sky that day, clear and blue with no clouds, and no contrails since they'd grounded all air flights that day. How could something so tragic happen on such a beautiful day?
On top of all this, Sanford Schools suffered its own tragedy. A student named Chanci Espinoza, (she wasn't in my classes but I knew who she was), was riding her bike along one of the roads through town with her brother, who was in wheelchair with spina bifada, and a car came by and accidentally struck her. The sun had been in the driver's eyes and she had been difficult to see. I'm not sure if this happened on September 11 or the night before, but I recall someone saying that as Chanci lay in the hospital she mentioned how concerned she was for those in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania. Chanci didn't survive the accident, and we had a memorial service at the gymnasium that following Saturday.
When tragedies like 9/11 occur, and have such an impact on a nation as a whole, artists of all kinds turn to their creativity in order to cope, and to help others cope. I feel it is my obligation as a teacher of music to present some of these compositions to my students every year to commemorate that day, and to never forget.
This year, I have students who were merely infants during 9/11. I encourage them to talk to their parents and grandparents and learn their stories, because they WILL remember that day.
Though there are many to choose from, the two musical pieces I show are the following:
"Undivided"
Bon Jovi's "Undivided" from Bounce, 2003. I was going to grad school in Greeley and working at Hastings when this album dropped, and this was the opening song. I still have one of the promo posters we had in the store. This album was one of their best. (I really miss Richie Sambora.) I love the video. "Bring One Thing That Represents the Best in YOU."
Watch the homeless man, Younglings.
The other is this:
"On the Transmigration of Souls"
"On the Transmigration of Souls," John Adams, an American composer my class will discuss later in the semester. This piece was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2003. I prefer this video, even though it isn't the entire piece, because it features pictures of what happened that day. The piece itself reminds me a lot of Charles Ives' "The Unanswered Question." Though heartbreaking to watch, it needs to be seen. I only show the first three minutes. Any more and I would fall to pieces.
I will have to do this again tomorrow for my AV class. In some ways I dread having to do it all again, but it's my duty as an educator to remind my students how important this day is, and how we must do everything in our power to keep it from happening again. Those were people who just got up and went to work that day in a nice, air-conditioned office to take care of regular, non-dangerous business. Or were just taking an average every day plane ride. And now they're gone, because four men learned to become pilots and flew planes into buildings. No bombs, no guns. Airplanes. And the day after, nobody cared about political parties or....whatever. They cared about each other and mourned the loss of their loved ones and people they didn't even know.
There's a quote from the movie "Starman" where Jeff Bridges' character says, "You are at your best, when things are worst."
Remember that, Younglings. #neverforget
September 11, 2001. It was a Tuesday. Kobe, Number One, was only 5 months old. Poppa Don and I were living in Sanford, Colorado. I was teaching high school Spanish and fifth through twelfth grade band.
I got up that day and went to school as usual, just two blocks down the street. Poppa Don was preparing to load up Clifford and head back to Arkansas to work a show; don't remember what that would have been. As I was starting the Spanish 1 class in my upstairs classroom, just before the bell rang, Poppa Don came by to say goodbye, and said when he stopped by the Sanford General Store he'd heard that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings. He wasn't sure if it as just an accident or a possible terrorist attack.
We were on Mountain Time, two whole hours behind Eastern Time, and weren't in the habit of turning on the TV first thing in the morning, so by that time I believe the first tower was starting to fall. He suggested just going about the day as usual, which I did, to not upset the students.
I didn't usually eat lunch in the cafeteria, but I went by there before going to the band hall. I remember a TV being on in there, but I didn't look at it. It was probably just showing a commercial or something similar. We still weren't really sure what was happening so school wasn't dismissed and I got home around three-thirty, and that's when I turned on the TV.
I was shocked. It was surreal, like watching some kind of action film. I remember talking to Memaw, either that night or the next day, and she said, "Where's Superman?" The buildings falling, dust everywhere, people jumping...it was horrifying. My cousin, Maurin, was working in DC at the time at a building site and saw the plane hit the Pentagon. She and her co-workers looked up and thought, "Wow, that plane's flying really low."
Out on the road, Poppa Don saw people lining up at the gas stations, fearing gas prices would go sky high and no one would be able to travel. He remembers the sky that day, clear and blue with no clouds, and no contrails since they'd grounded all air flights that day. How could something so tragic happen on such a beautiful day?
On top of all this, Sanford Schools suffered its own tragedy. A student named Chanci Espinoza, (she wasn't in my classes but I knew who she was), was riding her bike along one of the roads through town with her brother, who was in wheelchair with spina bifada, and a car came by and accidentally struck her. The sun had been in the driver's eyes and she had been difficult to see. I'm not sure if this happened on September 11 or the night before, but I recall someone saying that as Chanci lay in the hospital she mentioned how concerned she was for those in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania. Chanci didn't survive the accident, and we had a memorial service at the gymnasium that following Saturday.
When tragedies like 9/11 occur, and have such an impact on a nation as a whole, artists of all kinds turn to their creativity in order to cope, and to help others cope. I feel it is my obligation as a teacher of music to present some of these compositions to my students every year to commemorate that day, and to never forget.
This year, I have students who were merely infants during 9/11. I encourage them to talk to their parents and grandparents and learn their stories, because they WILL remember that day.
Though there are many to choose from, the two musical pieces I show are the following:
"Undivided"
Bon Jovi's "Undivided" from Bounce, 2003. I was going to grad school in Greeley and working at Hastings when this album dropped, and this was the opening song. I still have one of the promo posters we had in the store. This album was one of their best. (I really miss Richie Sambora.) I love the video. "Bring One Thing That Represents the Best in YOU."
Watch the homeless man, Younglings.
The other is this:
"On the Transmigration of Souls"
"On the Transmigration of Souls," John Adams, an American composer my class will discuss later in the semester. This piece was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2003. I prefer this video, even though it isn't the entire piece, because it features pictures of what happened that day. The piece itself reminds me a lot of Charles Ives' "The Unanswered Question." Though heartbreaking to watch, it needs to be seen. I only show the first three minutes. Any more and I would fall to pieces.
I will have to do this again tomorrow for my AV class. In some ways I dread having to do it all again, but it's my duty as an educator to remind my students how important this day is, and how we must do everything in our power to keep it from happening again. Those were people who just got up and went to work that day in a nice, air-conditioned office to take care of regular, non-dangerous business. Or were just taking an average every day plane ride. And now they're gone, because four men learned to become pilots and flew planes into buildings. No bombs, no guns. Airplanes. And the day after, nobody cared about political parties or....whatever. They cared about each other and mourned the loss of their loved ones and people they didn't even know.
There's a quote from the movie "Starman" where Jeff Bridges' character says, "You are at your best, when things are worst."
Remember that, Younglings. #neverforget
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