Mnemosyne, Muse of Memory

Well, it was a big blow but not a really bad one. The power stayed on and ther roads were clear. School was still on for us. I really didn't want to go to work so it was a help to have very few cars on the commute. Before I arrive I turn off the books on tape and pray. I have done it for every day I have worked there. It is not something I want to stop since anything can happen. Let's start; I called the police to report a bias incident when a white trash boy called an African American the "N" word. I had to call a girl into the office to have her parents get a change of shorts because the ones she was "painted" into revealed more skin and underwear than I wanted to see; the superintendent gave me a long list of things he wanted me to do before our next meeting in two weeks; I had to put pictures of students on the database from a CD ROM; the meter man needed the custodian who I could not find or page; two girls were caught smoking in a stairwell and had to to be given a Saturday detention; I had to order more classroom furniture because of the 12% increase in population from June to September; and I had to notify several teachers that I had to observe them the next week!

This is just a sample of things to be done. I forgot; I also was trying to contact a retired man that could help me with the class ranking system that our database could not do without this help. Lunch is a piece of meat eaten quickly between calls and Internet research. But the best part of the day is encouraging young students that are having a hard time growing up. I usually can communicate with the boys and I shake their hands and pat them on the shoulder when they do well. The girls are unapproachable. Most keep their distance and cannot be helped by me. I leave them to the female guidance counselors. They make me uncomfortable because they dress in skimpy clothes, then get defensive when you tell them to change. They don't want to do anything unless in attracts boys. They will do anything to keep a boy including being groped in public. They will put up with the discipline and the reprimands to keep the boys they want. They have social diseases. They have no self esteem. I believe they would be capable of murder to get the love they crave. Any adult that is attracted to a high school girl doesn't know anything about them. I find them frightening and stay away. I remain polite and smile but I keep my distance.

Back to Isn't abel; it was an expected disaster that did not happen. The panicky teachers drove themselves crazy before the event. I told them that it would hit NC and we would get rain and wind and not to panic. What I predicted on Monday happenned on Thursday night but the panicky teachers remained that way. Some people cannot be influenced by good or reassurance. They have to burn out. Maybe the girls in high school have to run their course too. At least I have realized that I cannot help them. That is a start.

The first person that met me in the morning was the shop teacher. he said, "My family comes first. I have to stay home because I live on the Jersey Shore. I can't come to the Back to School Night tonight." That started the day. The superintendent strolled by mid-morning and said that if I was going to call off the Back to School Night I needed to do it early. I then opened up the acuweather website to see the hour-by-hour predictions for the evening. I printed it out and brought it to the super to tell him that I felt there was no immediate threat but many parents would panic and would not come out, so I was going to find a new time to have the event.

It took a long time to find a date that did not conflict with other district events, but I found one. I then announced the change to the students and faculty, notified the district board office, talked to the cafeteria lady that was providing the refreshments, wrote a letter to be distributed at the end of the day and had the sign outside the school changed. When we left the school, I had my secretary put a special message on the voice mail to say we were changing the Back to School Night. After all that I sped home to beat the weather and the traffic. I took my snow chain list with me incase we have a delayed opening or a closed school the next day.

I found out on the way home that the governor declared a state-wide emergency after 4:00 p. m. I got home before it began to blow hard. I hope we don't get too much rain because the ground is saturated. I checked the gutters and put anything that could blow away under the porch.

Now we get to wait it out. I don't have a generator so if the electric fails I will have a flodded basement. We'll see.

I walked into school on Monday morning and wanted to celebrate the football win but all the teachers would talk about was the impending doom of the hurricane. One came up and said he would leave to secure his boat if it came ashore in Jersey. Another said he had to go help his uncle get the shore house boarded up. Others remember the storm Floyd and how they lost cars and furnaces. They didn't know what to do with themselves.

I just said, "well, if we are all going to die, let's have a good few days together. Let's get to class". They didn't like that. They wanted me to be hyserical too, I guess. I have lived in West Texas where violent weather is the norm not the exception. You tend to be prepared, make sure you have a good cast iron bathtub and relax because there is not much else you can do.