Randomness in Febrary

I can't believe neither Mr. Schrock or I have never thought of this. No. Wait. Actually I can't believe anyone thought of this. Let's do something different--like have school at a different time of day--meet at 2:00 in the morning and go home after six hours, or meet at 9:00 at night and go home at three. . . .

I can't believe either that we're actually considering this student suggestion. It does not sound like a rational thing for 45 and 55 year old staff members to agree to. But, if the parents say yea instead of nay, I think we may be on track for a Friday night/Saturday morning school day at the end of next week. The big payoff, of course, would be no school on the following Monday.

The February school doldrums must have been particularly unbearable this year. Witness the extent we all seem willing to go to for relief.

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On Valentine's Day Mr. Schrock brought delicious cupcakes adorned with red and pink sugared frosting for everyone to snack on. He also had a "Help Yourself" bowl of heart candy with barely legible messages on his desk. The testing table sported pitchers of icy pink lemonade, a huge bowl of popcorn, and bars that Ida (and others?) had baked. It was a very nice casual celebrating kind of day.

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Yesterday Jared stood at the teacher's desk when I was on learning center duty, methodically tasting one heart candy after another. "I'm trying to figure out which color tastes like laundry detergent. Not that I've ever really tasted laundry detergent, but something I had yesterday tasted how I imagine it tastes."

Jared, later: "I think it's the orange ones. Must be the Tide brand that tastes like that." (Tide comes in an orange box.)

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Ida and Emily gave me a red-foil-wrapped hollow chocolate apple for Valentine's Day. This morning when I bit into it I discovered a very large green and yellow gummy worm inside. I love gummy bears, but this gummy worm was a little bit too lifelike for me to anticipate eating with any relish. I let Victor eat the worm.

But I loved the thoughtfulness of the gift--and the humor hidden deep inside.

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Yesterday's student-planned before-dismissal activity included handing out pared-down props to be used in impromptu skits. One memorable performance was the David and Goliath story acted out by the group that was issued one slightly limp bean bag. The biggest guy in the group (Matthew) stood haughtily in front of everyone, backed by female "Philistines," until "David (Ryan)" appeared clutching the bean bag like a giant gunny sack draped over his shoulder. He shouted something like "How dare you defy the armies of the Lord?" and whopped Goliath with the bean bag, who obligingly feel over "dead." The other Philistines fled in fear.

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I also liked the story where Timmy (Tim S.) begged for a puppy. (Their only prop was a stuffed, floppy-eared dog.) His mother (Heidi) kept reminding him that she wasn't going to agree to getting any puppy whose poopy messes she would have to clean up. The obnoxious wheedling continued until Heidi, like good mothers everywhere, saw the light and struck a bargain about the messes and let little Timmy have his puppy.

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Earlier in the day, we had a segregated chapel, also student-planned. The guys went over the responses from girls on a questionnaire about how the guys are doing in being courteous, taking leadership, providing a wholesome atmosphere, etc. Meanwhile, the girls discussed what the guys said about them and their attitudes and behaviors.

I don't have a report on the guys' session. But I do know from their input for the girls that they were very affirming of their female fellow-students, but not so syrupy that they had no suggestions for improvement. They do not appreciate girls standing in giggling groups while someone tries to organize a game. They also do not like cliquishness and reluctance to let old hurts go. What they do like is relationships unencumbered with talk of "coupling" and slams (even in jest), patience with attempts to be responsible (even fumbling ones), and verbal affirmation when given honestly and even-handedly. They also appreciate the spice and life girls add to the scene. One student surmised that everyone would die of boredom within a few days if there were no girls in school.

For the first time in our collective memory, the girls' segregated chapel ended before the guys'. For them, the subject matter must have been unusually absorbing, or they were being extraordinarily thoughtful and attentive to duty.

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Either the wild goose population has exploded this year in many places, or Reno County is unusually favored. The other morning on my way to school, when I turned off Hiway 50 onto Dean Road at the Stutzman Greenhouse corner, I saw for the first time the extent of the flock overhead that I had been seeing out of the corner of my eye all along. A single flock of geese extended across the south, almost from directly east of me, to a point directly west of me. When I hurriedly counted off ten geese, it came out proportionately to seeing a penny on a dining room table. There must have been tens of thousands of Canada and Snow Geese in this flock.

I hear them late at night from inside the house, or early in the morning before I get out of bed, or sitting at my desk at school, at any time of day. They land sometimes among milo stubble in fields, presumably gleaning leftover grain. That works out well unless the grain and fodder were intended for use as cattle feed.

When I have observed geese closely, it has always been through the lens of my binoculars rather than through the scope over a gun barrel. But this year I can understand especially well the need for observers of geese in the gun barrel category.