Teacher behavior does not go gently into the night, or: Once a teacher, always a teacher!

  Let's talk bands! My top three, that is, my all-time favorites, are the Beatles (of course!), the Police, and Little River Band. I'll never get to see the first two, not now, not ever. But the third is touring, including right here in my little home town.
 I bought a ticket as soon as I heard! Couldn't wait! So excited!

In fact, the venue, or place of performance, was one of our landmarks--the Strand Theater, built in the 1920's, and completely refurbished over a dozen years some time back. OK, great! I wore a thick, lovely gauze dress, the first dress I've worn in years, for the occasion. Ooops, I needn't have bothered. Most other audience members put on their old, torn jeans, t-shirts, or short shorts and tank tops. There were a few, like me, who dressed for the occasion. Hmmm, so far, disappointing.

My seat was in that upper balcony level, you know, for the faint of heart who fear heights. I held on as the usher showed me the way. Another weird thing: My seat was among three other patrons. It was odd how we clustered like that with empty seats all around us. Then, ug, then, the good ol' boys came in and were seated behind our cluster. Four of them--and those who think a theater is just an extension of their dens or deer stands or wherever guys hang out and talk in whatever voice that blusters out. And what came out were curse words used in good ol' context--that is, not in anger, but like "the" or "just" or any other everyday word.

I thought, This talking won't last. They will mind their manners when the band comes on. They didn't. Blah, blah, blahty-blah-blah. On and on. Normal voices--that is for good ol' boys. One even declared that he hoped he didn't spill his Jack and coke (drink). Oh great. I've heard of people getting drinks spilled on them during various performances. Finally, I turned around--yes, Teacher Mode came on. "This isn't your living room, Boys," quoth I. They stopped for a minute. Stunned by the Teacher Voice, I suppose. I've been told I can spew in a most condescending tone. Nope, their silence didn't last. Blah, blah, blah returned. At least they didn't cuss me of spill drink on me.

Even so, I picked up my things and moved down a few rows to the empty section, a whole tier lower. Ah, quiet around me. Then four women and a man moved to the row in front of me. I moved down. The two women near me talked the entire time. More blah, blah, blah. Laughing, giggling, singing along (which was fine, even expected). I worried that they, too, would spill their drinks--not on me, however, but on the floor of that fine Shreveport landmark.

Then there's the band. Little River Band. So great in their '80's heyday. The sound system was not set correctly, at least not to my ears. The instruments took precedent. Too loud, way too loud! The major problem was the voice mikes were not on the same level of volume. I could not understand half of what they sang. I know a live performance is not the same quality as a studio production, nor did I expect it to be. But I did expect to hear their voices at least at the same level as the instruments.

Then they had to urge the audience to clap and sing along. They lost me when they invited the audience to party. It's Friday night! That was the moment it all seemed like a nightclub with an audience most interested in their own little worlds, when the band seemed like an old, tired touring band. I kept thinking, This is not enjoyable.

I stayed for 40 minutes, then picked up my things and left, promptly forgetting I had ever been in a place where I could hear my third all-time favorite band.

I plan to buy a new CD.

(Note: I did not take the photo.)

A review of "Rome, Sweet Home"

Scott Hahn, Kimberly Hahn, and their road to Catholicism turned out to be much more problematic than I had anticipated. I've heard of this couple so long that I assumed, wrongly, that their conversion was easy. It was anything but easy. "Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism" is their story, told by both alternately, of a difficult conversion.

Kimberly came from a family of Presbyterian ministers and herself planned to be a pastor. After meeting Scott, dating for a while, separating to settle as friends, then finally deciding to marry, at that point, Kimberly wanted more than anything to be a pastor's wife. That was the major discrepancy in their story, but in following the biblical command of submitting to the husband's leadership, they had no choice. A woman cannot lead a church.

I recently joined a Catholic book club with this book as our first reading. As a former Protestant myself, I waded through the vitriolic anti-Catholic words that Scott and Kimberly spewed prior to acknowledging the rightness of Catholic beliefs. One club member grew angry in reading the section, but having heard those accusations against Catholics all my life, I knew exactly that mindset (not a pretty sight, mind you).

Scott had the distinct advantage of having time to study every night, earning degrees, having detailed debates with other students, professors, and great scholarly minds all over the country. Each time he tried to disprove a Catholic belief, he found each to be true. First Luther fell, then other Protestant leaders, until Scott was faced with his conscience: convert or live a lie. Kimberly could not join him. Not yet.

I felt sorry for Kimberly, raising children, leading study groups, crusades, but not going where Scott was headed. They wavered in their marital connection. As one member of our group pointed out, she was not sure just exactly when Kimberly was convicted. Nor is it clear.

If anyone asked what was the most benefit I gained from this read, I would say: The book made me want to locate my old study books on the early church and reconnect with the Word of God. That's more than worthy of any book. The rest is lagniappe.

My Bucket List

It's final! I am retired! However, to maintain my current level of living, I must find another job. OK, that figures. I worked so very hard as a teacher. That was a hard, hard job, a hard life. There, got that off my chest, so to speak! Now, for the fun part. Let's make a list--you, too--of all the things we want to see and do before, you know, the bucket gets kicked, the Rapture comes, or the Aztecs are right.

In no particular order (but as they come into my head), items for my bucket list:

1. I would love to go to Iceland and take an auto trip around the island. I want to see glaciers and puffins (are they in Iceland?) and museums. I want to drink tons of coffee like the characters do in the Nobel winning novel by

2. I want to join the local quilter's club. That's been my plan for two years now and I still have not joined. I want to go to Dallas on a quilt-shop-hopping trip to buy a few pieces.

3. Related to #2 is making one example of all the items I've marked in all my magazines. What fun!

4. I want to have an adventure with my former Pretend Children.

5. I want to go to Nova Scotia with my sister.

6. I want to have enough money to repair all the broken things on my house, especially, no, not especially, because all these items have equal intention in them. I want my swimming pool in working order so my family can come over for a pool party with a cookout and all!

7. I want my house put back into order.

8. I want a fun job without the stress of being responsible for children's behavior.

Coming soon: Life after retirement!

It's time for goodbye....

I've packed all my things and took with me all things indicative of my personality. The library no longer reflects me...well, the bright paint on the desk and file cabinet I could not remove, the two trashcans I painted. One of my favorite teacher friends from years ago repeatedly said, "I'm going home soon." She finally did. And now I've gone home. I retired from teaching and school libraries and rooms full of children and noise. I was tired and easily annoyed. That's how I knew it was time. So I said goodbye.

(Next post: the joy of teaching)

An excellent travel tool for the kiddies and useful for parents, too!

This review is about: National Geographic Kids Ultimate U.S. Road Trip Atlas: Maps, Games, Activities, and More for Hours of Backseat Fun (Paperback)

Of all the books at my recent book fair, "National Geographic Kids Ultimate U.S. Road Trip Atlas" was my favorite. I'm the librarian/chair of the book fair, thus I familiarize myself (more or less) with every book on the case shelves. As a cartophile (map lover), I immediately grabbed this book and Aha! thrilled to its pages!

I evaluate such a book of the 50 states by what is written about my home state, Louisiana. I begin there/here. Each state is allotted two pages. The state map fills one page and information and state symbols the other. The little roads are missing--after all, it takes a big fold-out to include those--but all the state and federal roads are intact. How do I know? A rather narrow state road, 28, runs between Federal Highway 171 and Interstate 49. So what? My grandparents lived in a small community, Simpson, along 28. No, Simpson didn't make the map, but 28 is there.

What is included for each state are these items:
1. 5 Cool things to do here (In Louisiana you can visit the Rose Garden in Shreveport, take a Bayou Boat Tour, visit the Aquarium of the Americas, go through Cajun Country, and tour the French Quarter of New Orleans. A green line exactly locates each place.)
2. A summary paragraph about the state
3. Roadside attractions, like Mardi Gras World, a museum showing how a float is made
4. Odd information: Did you know that alligators must stay at least 200 yards away from the Mardi Gras parade route (Are you chuckling?).

Each state is set up similarly. Imagine how children can have fun with this--and learn during the summer on those ghastly road trips. The U. S. Road Atlas is most beneficial.

I just flipped open to a particular state. Question: Which state is divided into two parts by the Chesapeake Bay? Yes, if you live near this region, you can answer that. I could not have answered the question. Or this one: In which state is the Wild Horses Assateague State Park? Answer to both questions is Maryland. OK, one more about Maryland: Which state gave up some of its land to form Washington, D.C.?

At an incredibly low price, you can have this book for your children, your students, or, ahem, for yourself. I bought (with library funds) 10 copies for a project I plan to do soon with my middle elementary students.

I gave my sister, a frequent driving traveler, a copy for her long two-day trip back and forth from Virginia to Louisiana. She has already found some things to do in a couple of states through which she drives.

The back of the book contains a number of activities for the kiddies.