To teach in school you've got to stay in school

About two weeks ago I answered an ad from a local college looking for a part time speech teacher. Seemed reasonable. I have some hours in speech type courses, have already taught at the college level and for over two decades I’ve earned a living by preparing and delivering speeches.

Turns out that I’m not qualified to teach speech. According to the accreditation division for colleges one must have 18 graduate hours of speech courses.
I didn’t want to be head of the department. This wasn’t even a full time job. Sheesh.

Spider Solitaire

Was it Samuel Clemens who remarked that the difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and lightning bugs? I maintain that there’s an even greater difference between having something to say and having to say something. I’ve got a number of things to say so I hope to post more regularly. I thank Laughing Jack for not being pushy about this. Perhaps the duties of fatherhood have affected his online excursions, too.

When introducing folks to the computer I like to get them involved in the games. Not the fancy stuff – just the games that come with the operating system. I tell them that these aren’t just games they are simulation experiences to develop skills in mouse control. If I had a boss, I’d probably try that line on her, too.

One of my favorites is “Spider Solitaire.” I play the middle game with 2 suits. And I play the same game until I win or choose to move on to something else. In my book anything less than 130 moves is a GREAT victory.

I’m convinced that there’s an opportunity to learn about life from this game. Usually the connections are fairly obvious. But sometimes those obvious moves don’t allow ya to win. Sometimes you have to go in what appears to be the wrong direction in order to finish the game. This is like the switchbacks on a mountain trail.

"Psalm like it hot"??

It begins: "What Elvis was to rock'n'roll, David was to the Blues." Interesting point of view from U2.

"Psalm like it Hot"

Remembering the Alamo

I’ve been immersed in the Alamo. In searching for a connection to one of those hallowed Texians (James Northcross) I’ve been studying history. THE authority most often quoted by students of the Alamo is Dr. Amelia W. Williams who began with a Master’s Thesis on those slaughtered at the Shrine of Texas Liberty. At the urging of her professors in the early 1930’s she seems to have made the Alamo her life’s work. Her opus (a reprinting of her doctoral dissertation in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly) is titled “A Critical Study of the Siege of the Alamo and of the Personnel of Its Defenders.”

As a result of her extensive research in the state archives, Dr. Williams became the gatekeeper for the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. When the Daughters Alamo Committee was asked to add the name of Nathaniel Massie Kerr to the Alamo list, Williams responded: “I think Nathaniel Kerr was as true a hero as his brother.” Nathaniel Kerr died of an unknown illness in San Antonio on February 19, 1836, just days before Santa Anna’s army arrived. Nathaniel’s brother, Joseph, died in the March 6th battle and his name is enshrined in stone. The Alamo Committee was going to add Nathaniel Kerr to their list of defenders, but Williams’ words stopped them. “But according to my historical training, I am compelled to exclude his name from my roll.”

Note that in a 1941 letter to the editor of the Texas Almanac, she says of her own work: “I cannot vouch for all the names on my list being accurate. . . “ She further suggests: “In fact, it is my opinion that the entire list should be carefully and painstakingly worked through. Such a job will require a very great deal of work, a thorough knowledge of the problem, a complete verification of all former lists, or disproving certain names as belonging on the list.”

In 2003 the Republic of Texas Press published the painstaking examination done by Thomas Ricks Lindley. In Alamo Traces New Evidence and New Conclusions, Lindley affirms the contributions of Dr. Amelia Williams. But he also demonstrates her foibles. Stephen Harrigan says the work is “a methodical piece-by-piece dismantling of what we thought we knew. . . “

Walter Lord, author of A Time to Stand, claims: “in a way her [Williams’] thesis has been the worst thing that ever happened to the history of the Alamo. Not because she did so little work, but because she did so much. The sheer bulk of her research has discouraged later students from checking up on her and has led them all too often to take her statements at face value.”

Quotes

It seems that a large part of Jay Leno's monologue consists in quotes from and comments on current events. Tonight he mentioned that with all the hurricanes we've had this year that it might might not be a good time to be taking "God" out of the pledge of allegiance.

Henry Mintzberg a professor of management at McGill University noted that attention is now being focused on a leadership style called "quiet leadership." This led to: "Maybe really good management is boring."

Sunshine

What is the strange power of sunshine? In its glow the marvelously effective ideas of midnight melt into useless mush.

Shim . . . Shimmy . . . Shimei

This character came to a bloody end at the hands of an especially efficient enforcer named Benaiah. Consider his tale:

At one point his family had ruled the land. His handsome kinsman reigned as king with sons aplenty. But it all seemed to fall apart after the king had shown kindness to a young peasant lad. The scheming fellow had weaseled his way into the king’s own family and begun to beguile the whole kingdom. When the king had finally seen through the plot, the shrewd villain had escaped and thrown in his lot with the neighboring (and enemy) kingdom. In a pitched battle Shimei’s people had lost and both his kinsman and the heir to the throne lay dead on the battlefield.

With an amazing chutzpah the villainous fellow then initiated a civil war that claimed the lives of many more of Shimei’s kinspeople. Eventually the schemer had seized the throne, ruling over not just the kingdom, but Shimei as well.

After surviving several scandals this usurper had finally gotten his comeuppance. His own son had rebelled and had the villain on the run. Shimei seized his opportunity. As the king fled the capital Shimei positioned himself along the escape route pelting the old king with rocks and unleashing a torrent of curses. With an apparent disregard for his own safety, Shimei continued to vilify the usurper despite the threats from the fellow’s bodyguard. Surely God himself had seen to it that this schemer would pay for his transgressions and Shimei would extract his own revenge.

At least that’s the way it seemed to Shimei. You and I know that wasn’t quite right. The usurper he hated was actually King David, the "man after God’s own heart." How did David handle his bodyguard’s offer to get rid of Shimei?

"Let him curse . . . who knows, maybe God will see the trouble I’m in today and exchange the curses for something good."

So they did. (2 Samuel 16)

David was returned to his throne and Shimei lived in peace – until he broke the conditions Solomon had imposed after David’s death. Then Benaiah was called upon to dispense justice.