Friday the 13th came on Saturday today

I presume my strange title got you to come this far.  And if so, you are probably expecting some recounting of a series of disasters.  There will be a recounting, but it will not be of disasters, it will be of two days, both Friday and the 13th (today, Saturday), which had an unexpected but delightful conclusion.  I will end with that conclusion, and hope you will travel through the two days with me.  It is in part the life of a teacher, and also the life a person here in Washington, DC.  And despite fighting a sinus infection, it will the telling of things that at least inspire me and give me confidence, even in times of sadness and of grave constitutional crisis.

This past week has been Teacher Appreciation Week.  I have received several gracious emails from parents, and on Wednesday our PTSA fed us all a delightful lunch.   But the high point came yesterday.  We received blue envelopes, brought into our room at the beginning of the day from the members of the Future Educators of America.   Inside were slips, written by students, who had, earlier in the week, taken time to fill out notes thanking teachers.  I had 20, some from former students, many from current students.  As a teacher we never are quite sure the impact we have on students, and how they react to the challenges with which we confront (because at times it is a confrontation) them.  Several, from both current and former students, came from those I did not know I was reaching.  I think of two from my 7th period, my final teaching period of the day.   One is from a very gifted athlete who has trouble staying eligible because he reads and writes at best at a 7th grade level in 10th grade.  He is often mentally exhausted by my class and his head is spinning.   But I won't let him nap, and rarely will give him a pass to the health room.   He is still struggling, but now he tries.   And in is note he thanked me for not giving up, for continuing to push him.

That was not as surprising as was one of the other notes from that class.  The person who wrote it is serving a 5-day in-school suspension because his behavior towards my student teacher and me was simply unacceptable.  He is a refugee -- he had just moved from his father in Birmingham AL to his mother in New Orleans when Katrina hit.  He is my only Katrina relocatee.  While he is quite smart, he has spent most of his time attempting to outsmart his teachers, put down his fellow students and prove that he is supercool.   He will be returning south for next year.  While he was in in-school suspension he wrote me a note acknowledging that I demanded more of him that he had previously encountered, and that I was right to insist on him cleaning up his act.  Whether or not the lesson sticks, at least he has learned it.

There were other, more traditional thank yous,  some not unexpected, others totally out of the blue.   And there were several thanking both my student teacher and me, which was nice because yesterday was her last day,and we used some time to say goodbye to the kids.

In the late afternoon I headed to Webb for Senate headquarters.  There was an open house for volunteers, a chance to chat with Jim and his wife Hong, and a great opportunity to see the amount, intensity and quality of volunteer support.  The opportunity to be able to play a part in trying to fix what is wrong with our government is something that gives me energy to keep at the school teaching, which is my normal way of trying to make a difference.

Today I had two very different events scheduled.  The first required me to put on business dress and go to the Dirksen Senate Office Building.  Claes Nobel (of the Prize family) has established something called The National Society of High School Scholars.  Today was the annual scholars day, when many students from around the nation came to be honored, to see Washington DC, to meet Mr. Nobel.  Some also received scholarship awards.  Each student who participates in NSHSS gets to nominate the one teacher who has had the greatest impact on his/her life.  A young lady I had taught as a freshman and who is now a senior had chosen me, even though we had had minimal contact since she completed my class.    About a dozen of the teachers were among the more than 400 who crowded into the room for the 2+ hour ceremonies.  We were honored at the end, given a certificate, and given an opportunity to make some remarks before having our picture taken with Mr. Nobel.  We went alphabetically, and with my name beginning with B I went first.  We had previously heard from former Congressman Mickey Edwards (R -OK) who is involved with Presidential Scholars, one of the organizations that cooperates with NSHSS.  He had talked about his desire to see more quality young people consider public service, and his concern at the lack of comity in our politics today.   And we had heard many remarks about how the young people present were going to be the future leaders, scientists, scholars.

I couldn't resist.  I noted that normally at 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon I am depressed, because it is more than 24 hours since I have been with my students and it will be more than 40 until I am again with them.  But I was delighted to be sharing this experience with so many young people, just as I am honored by the 153 students who let me share their lives each day in my classroom.  I talked about telling them to dream large, even larger than they can imagine. I looked right at Mickey Edwards, who had talked about realizing the impact of his job as a Congressman on the lives of others and told him in my job that was the very definition of what I did, and that I hoped the large dreams might for some of the young people include their being teachers to inspire others.

As I was walking back to my car from Dirksen I encountered the Congressman, and we had a very pleasant chat, as we both focused on how important it is that those who aspire to political leadership model for our society some sense of comity lest we lose the ability to come together as a nation and a people.

From the Hill I drove cross-town to DuPont Circle for a celebration of a different kind.  Langley Hill has a very small meeting room, so for today's Memorial for Tom Fox we used the meeting room of Friends Meeting of Washington, on Florida Avenue.  Because Tom was a musician (he played bass clarinet in the Marine Band for 20+ years), there was music, including group singing at the end.  There was silence, there was speaking.  I sat with a high school classmate who also attends Langley Hill.   Both of Tom's children were there, and his daughter spoke.  There was humor, there was sadness, but most of all there was a coming together.  One young Friend talked about the one serious conversation he had had with Tom, when Tom explained why he had given up drinking hard liquor, after waking up face down in his own puke.  The young Friend said he realized that story might not seem appropriate, and yet it showed how Tom was especially accessible to young people, and did not hold himself out as someone special.  

Our Meeting's Clerk talked about Tom's blog, and how since he was first taken captive more and more people have read what Tom posted from Baghdad, and how even after his death people continue to visit the blog, and to read, and to be influenced.  

There were people who had known Tom for decades, there were some who had known him only briefly.  It was cathartic, but without weeping.  It is not closure, because our memory of Tom continues, and his work, life and death serve as an inspiration for others.  He was an ordinary man.  In the Memorial Minute, which was read during the ceremony, it was recounted what he had filled out for an obituary form with the Meeting before he headed to Iraq.  He put down that his two most significant accomplishments were to be the father of two remarkable young people, his two children.  

I went home.   As I got into my car I spoke by phone with my wife, who said she was exhausted (she had been up all night and then some finishing a chapter she is doing for a collective book) and asked that I not wake her.  I felt like listening to some music and perhaps  writing, so I came home, grabbed my computer and headed to my neighborhood Starbucks.  It had been on one visit here where i had met Chuck Todd, editor in chief of The Hotline, and invited him to come speak to my students.  But this was early evening on a Saturday, and I was expecting there would be few people.  As I walked up I saw a recognizable face and greeted him by name.  He was on the phone and told me to sit down while he finished the conversation.   And thus I had the opportunity for a fascinating conversation with someone who - like me - will be speaking at Yearlykos.   Ambassador Joe Wilson is very gracious, very approachable, just as others who have met him have recounted.  He is a serious man, who views what is currently happening as no less than s serious constitutional crisis.  He is optimistic of the final outcome, although like the rest of us he cannot be sure of the timing of some of the forthcoming events.   Although ours was hardly an off the record conversation, rather than recount the details - since I did not ask permission to and since I would like to return his graciousness in speaking with me  -  he made it clear that from his information there is quite likely to be some very serious events in the next few weeks.  

I have been fighting a bad sinus problem for several weeks.  As the allergens spread with the spring blossoms the situation has gotten worse.   I have slept irregularly, and have had to push to get through my academic responsibilities.  My AP students took their exam Tuesday, and although the two of us had never taught the course before we were lucky - our students came out feeling that they had been well prepared for it.   I have kept going for the various events of teacher appreciation, both within and without of the school.  I have continued my participation in helping a good man move towards another high level of public service.  

I am not a triskadekaphobe, but rather a triskadekaphile  -- I am fond of the #13  - it was what i wore in athletics (as did Wilt Chamberlain when he scored 100 points in an Nba game in Hershey Penna in 1962).  I like Friday the 13th.  I had a Friday, and I had the 13th on Saturday.   There was so much that was positive.  I got to honor a man I admire, and I got to meet a true patriot.   For a teacher, for an American who is concerned about our country, I had a very good Friday the 13th this Saturday.   How about you?

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