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Showing posts with the label celebration

That Whole Holiday Thing

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Moran Ironworks' Entry in this year's parade Holidays serve many purposes, and IMHO, most of them are essential to humanity. I say most because I'm not a big fan of the "it's a holiday so let's get drunk and do stupid stuff" mentality. Otherwise, I heartily approve of celebrating. Holidays bring remembrance: Independence Day, Veterans' Day, Valentine's Day, Father's Day, whatever the "day," we pause to pay tribute to those who do or did their job well. That's a good thing, reminding us there's good in the world and giving us a chance to express gratitude for it. Holidays bring us together: Yesterday our little town, whose streets are usually empty and whose businesses gasp for sustenance, was deluged with celebrants who come "home" each year, supposedly to watch the parade but really to ask "Who's around this weekend?" As a long-time, long-retired teacher, each year I get introduced to dozens o

Why Being an "Old Teacher" Is Cool

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The Fourth of July is like one big quiz for me, and I love it. John and I walk along the street of our small town, which on this one day of the year is so crowded that it looks like New York City after a Yankee World Series win. As we go, people stop me over and over again to say hello, to reminisce, and to introduce me to their children. "This is my old teacher, Mrs. Herring," they say, and I smile at kids who couldn't care less. While we chat, I'm often frantically filing through my memories for a name. Sometimes the family name comes to mind. Sometimes I get a first name, too, so I can say, "Well, John Smith! How are you doing?" Most times the face is familiar but the name won't come (It usually does after we've gone on a few feet--very frustrating). And sometimes I get nothing. It really doesn't have a lot to do with how memorable a student was in my classroom, though teachers do tend to remember the really good ones and the really bad on