Off With Their Heads!

First, a scene that perfectly sums up my feelings about my presence being requested at civil court for jury duty:

 

(Actually, I'm shocked that the exact scene I wanted was the first one to pop up when normally I have to do some searching for what I am looking for.)

Very few things come through the mail that I dread with every molecule of my body, and a jury summons is one of them. It is easily identifiable so my loathing begins before even opening the envelope. A few weeks ago one of these pesky buggers heralded the need of my services for today. That's right, with two weeks left in the school year I had to miss a day for jury duty. 

Now, I am aware that I could ask for it to be postponed. Honestly, when is jury duty ever convenient? My healthy fear of karma convinced me that if I kicked and screamed and postponed the available options would really suck. So I put on my big girl pants and showed up at 8:32 A.M. (I would have been on time, but I forgot to factor in one of the directions traffic would go to enter the parking garage.)

The "orientation" video was already playing so I found a spot along the wall (I didn't want to crawl over anyone to get to a seat. See how courteous I am?) and simmered while a local TV personality explained how the jury system worked. C'mon now. I get we weren't all A+ students, but knowing the functions of the justice system is required for graduation right? Plaintiff, defendant, judge, bailiff, and jury are in the courtroom-check. Don't talk about the case with others-check. Don't post about the case on social media-check (not a problem since it was an AT&T building which rendered my Verizon service useless). Wait...did you just try to guilt me into appreciating my "right" and "privilege" to serve on a jury? Let me explain something: I TEACH IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL. Can we not count that as my civil service to this country? I mean, maybe if I was in my class instead of a courthouse I would be able to clarify the judicial branch of our government therefore cutting down the orientation video time if not making it unnecessary completely. Just a thought.

When the video ended, I finally asked a lady if I may sit in one of the empty seats next to her. Without moving her bag, she said yes which meant I got to sit next to the man she felt she needed to be two seats away from. I quickly understood why. I mean, maybe his gimmick was coming in unwashed and malodorous so they wouldn't want to keep him. Maybe it worked. It definitely made me lean away and pray for it all to end quickly. My husband asked why I didn't just get up and move. I didn't want to be rude! Sheesh.

I was in the very first group to be called to a courtroom. Yea-not really. Number 43 out of 45 chosen. This is the furthest I have gotten in a long time. I kept reminding myself that if I had to serve at least it would be in civil court and not criminal which would probably take up more time. Then the judge informed us this particular trial was looking at a two week time span. Um...no thank you.

Fortunately, I was not chosen. However, we were not dismissed until 4:45 P.M. A whole day sitting in one room listening to lawyers ask redundant questions to pick SIX of us. Yeah, only six out of 45. We did have one man lose it, walk out, and not return. I think the judge may have let that one slide because the gentleman was clearly a little off kilter. Then we had two women not return after lunch. From what I understand, they now have warrants out for their arrests. Oh yeah, I almost fell in a toilet. So at least today had some excitement to it. 

Even though I usually walk out of a courthouse as perturbed as I was going in (hence the title of my post), the judge said something interesting to us before dismissing us. I actually plan to send him a "thank you" because it kind of adjusted my view. He thanked us repeatedly for showing up since it is more than many are willing to do. He told us he understood the inconvenience of jury duty. He also reminded us that the rights and freedoms we enjoy come with some "burdens." For us, our burden is to periodically be asked to come in for jury duty while others volunteer to be sent overseas and shot at for defending these rights and freedoms. Basically, as Americans we should share the burden of responsibility for observing our rights and freedoms even though some may take on more of that burden than others. He encouraged us to make sure friends and family understood this and did their duty when receiving a summons (or even remembering to vote). And you know, he's right. Some day any one of us could be on the other side of that courtroom waiting anxiously for a jury of our peers to be chosen who will decide our legal fate.

It is an inconvenient burden, but one I'm a little more willing to share...even if I do teach in public school.

The Business of Graduation

For the first time in my nine years of teaching at North, I actually worked graduation. It is surprising that I haven't signed up before because I bleed blue (I attended the high school where I now teach-the school colors are blue and white). Perhaps part of it was that I hadn't really taught at North long enough to know a bunch of the students walking across the stage. Regardless of the reasons, the 4:30 A.M. alarm happened much sooner than I'd hoped.

Fortunately, my nerves and adrenaline took care of keeping me awake throughout the morning (okay, and one can of Pepsi). I was actually anxious about working graduation because I didn't want to mess up so monumentally that students missed a bus or were seated incorrectly or broke a rule without me noticing. Pretty silly I know, but this was a very big day for a lot of people.

It turns out that North runs graduation like a well oiled machine. I mean everything is labeled and/or numbered and scheduled to the minute. As long as I could do more than convert oxygen to carbon dioxide, I was fine.

6:00 A.M. to 7:00 A.M. was spent in the cafeteria of North wanding kids, making sure they were dressed appropriately, and loading chartered buses. Then we were on our way to the convention center for the ceremony.

We arrived shortly before 8:00 A.M. and had about an hour to wait for our 9 o'clock ceremony. While waiting, students had their official graduation pictures taken and could visit with each other until it was time. I ran around and snapped as many pictures as I could with former students in their gorgeous blue gowns. Of course, I had to also have a couple of shots in my fancy-schmancy academic robes. (Pictures are my life. I'm such a visual nerd.)

Then it was time...

Walking out of the tunnel and leading students to their rows was an incredible responsibility. Like walking them out toward their future. It really is an overwhelming experience. I was mostly overcome by the positivity and pride that vibrated from the crowd. It felt like an electric charge of happiness.

Once we were seated, I asked the girl next to me if she was able to tell her family where the best seats were (we had scoped some out the day before during practice). We both looked in the general area she had chosen and noticed a very handsome marine entering his seat. Tears began to well up in her eyes. "That's my brother!" she exclaimed. I asked, "Did you not expect him to be here?" "No," she said, "It's not that. I knew he was coming. It's just been so long since I've seen him." And that's when I cried.

See, that's when all the political crap that dictates public education stopped mattering. For better or worse, that's when the extra tutoring and late nights at events and report cards and referrals and detentions and dances and spirit days and late work and credit recovery and parent meetings and standardized testing stopped mattering. It all came down to this, and that girl had made it. She navigated a system that is criticized by the media and neglected because people would rather fund charter or private schools instead of building back up the public ones. She made it! And while some students might have just barely been eligible for graduation, many showed up and performed to the best of their abilities for four years truly earning that diploma. Very little else in my life beats the feeling I had at that moment when I realized this.

Then the salutatorian and valedictorian gave their speeches. Yes, I'm going to brag because both were my former students (and I got a shout out in one of the speeches). During the speeches, I was so proud of the girls. I can't even imagine how their families felt because I knew it would be so much more than what I was experiencing. I cried again.

Life needs more graduations! Wait, wait...let me rephrase because I don't need to attend a graduation ceremony every time my kids move up a grade level. Life needs more events that create this Happiness Energy. Sure, in the grand scheme of things our graduation ceremony will go unnoticed by almost everyone who didn't have a child walk across that stage today. But for the 500+ young adults and their families today was a reason to rejoice.

It is a good feeling.

The Fourth is Strong with this Post

Okay, okay. I think everyone gets that today is Star Wars Day. What better day to post about my thoughts on the new Star Wars happenings then on such a day? (Insert Yoda voice) Proceed I must hmmmm...

A couple of days ago a co-worker asked me if I was excited about the new Star Wars films. It took zero time for me to respond, "No!" Of course, I then had to explain how I could be a fan of the franchise and not be excited. See, every time Lucas does something with Star Wars he sort of makes it worse. It started when he decided to digitally enhance the original series, and THEN he thought it would be a good idea to make the prequels. I did too because I figured it would be cool to see where it all started since the originals start in the middle of the story. I was wrong. Harsh lessons were learned every time I left the theater in hopes that the next prequel movie would be better. Mainly: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. (You can start at 2:41 and stop at 4:26)




Yes, Simon Pegg, just like f*&^()$ Shaft. (Although, I was a child when I first saw Return of the Jedi so I sort of loved the Ewoks.) What is going to go wrong with these new films? More wacko characters? More terrible acting? I mean, does anyone buy the fact that Christensen's whiny-ass Anakin really becomes the bad-ass Vader. Anyone?

But enough about the past, this is about the future. Disney now owns Star Wars and therefore will insist on making money off of it. This past week the cast was announced. And you know what I now have to do? Look most of them up in IMDB or Wikipedia because I have no clue who they are. I suppose it makes sense since Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford weren't really known either. When looking at it that way, I am sort of okay with a young cast I do not recognize. Still, do I really want to see an aged Luke, Leia, and Han? And do Wookies even age? Droids definitely don't. Right? They were all so happy at the end of Jedi, and I'd like to preserve them like that in my memory. Not as mortals who grow old. That's part of suspending disbelief.

Next, I hear it will occur 30 years after the end of Jedi. Okay, so we are talking New Jedi Order? Will it follow any of the numerous book series? Or will it create a whole new storyline? I've tried to keep up with all the directions things went within the books and finally admitted defeat. What I do know is that Leia has twins and one turns to the dark side. Is that what will happen in the films? Then of course it seems the Emperor is reborn and does finally manage to get his hands on Luke. Can I even handle something like that? Definitely not. Why couldn't we just end the story happily where it stopped? All I really wanted to see happen next was Han and Leia's wedding. I bet that was AWESOME! But besides that? I'm good.

The real question is whether I'm going to lay down $11 a ticket to see these new films in the theaters. The truth is I really don't know. How weird is it going to be NOT seeing the 20th Century Fox logo before the space credits? Disney hasn't disappointed with the Avenger and Muppets, but this just feels different. I just cannot be disappointed again. The prequels were brutal.

Can we just go back to a time when Solo shot first?

C'mon Get Happy

I posted this photo awhile ago on my Facebook. It is simply my oldest child enjoying life. My youngest had an equally adorable moment on the swing while smiling up at the sun. Unfortunately, I couldn't move my phone quickly enough to also get a picture of that. The point is that both my children successfully reminded me the importance of just being happy.

See, I spent a vast majority of this school year rather miserable. There are a million reasons why I was so unhappy. Most of them revolving around STAAR and the absolute crap decisions being made with regards to how my students deserve to be educated because of the stupid state exam. Yes, I was frustrated with everyone who doesn't teach telling me what I needed to do to be a better educator. Yes, I was irritated every time some snake-oil salesman convinced people in positions of power to waste money on unnecessary songs and dances we now have to perform in the classroom. Yes, I was furious that no one seemed to ask students and parents what they were doing to perform better. Yes, I allowed "black holes" (people whose sole mission in life is to drain all brightness out of any situation) to affect how I feel. My life simply continued to spiral down and I felt, as Anne Shirley would say, "I'm in the depths of despair." And what did it get me in the end? NOT. A. DAMN. THING.

That's right. Nothing changed. I stomped. I cried. I screamed. I pleaded. I demanded. And the same amount of "nothing changed" occurred. The only thing that seemed to happen: I remained miserable. I hated my job. I hated my life. And you know what? It really isn't worth it.

Sure, the world is full of downers, and life can really suck at times. However, the only thing I can control in those situations is how emotional I choose to become. Incredibly stoic I know. (Actually, ever since I read Marcus Aurelius's Meditations* years ago, I try to be mindful of my attitude.) Therefore, I can either become another "black hole" or  realize that I can in fact change if no one and nothing around me will.

I'm also aware that there is real comedic genius behind a lot of the cynical views in current culture. Often, I have a laugh at a foible in society or the absurd actions of another. To me, that is fine. The problem occurs when that is the only place I choose to look for laughs. I mean, many a truth is told in jest, and only seeing the world through that lens does eventually bring me down.

So I've just decided to be happy. That's it. I will make decisions with the purpose of making sure the end result is that I am happy. I will also do what I can to help others be happy. There will come a time when none of my options may make me happy, but I can definitely choose the one that won't make me miserable. And even then, I can choose to take the miserable stuff in stride and cope rather than wallow. I'm also going to go back to the things that exist to make people smile: faith**, family, friends, Kid President, Values.com, HooplaHa.com, Action for Happiness, and definitely these guys:

Many people may be tired of this and all its variations, but I'm not because it's just...well...happy:

And if you prefer something old school:



*"Say to yourself in the morning: I shall meet people who are interfering, ungracious, insolent, full of guile, deceitful and antisocial; they have all become like that because they have no understanding of good and evil. But I who have contemplated the essential beauty of good and the essential ugliness of evil...cannot be be harmed by any one of them."

**"You are the light of the world....your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father." Mt. 5:14, 16