Pocomoke Middle School

I spend a lot of time thinking about education and education reform and have been semi-following the Today Show's Education Nation feature. But totally missed today, when my middle school was featured! Yay Pocomoke!




Totally recognize the classrooms, gym, cafeteria, library. The principal is new to me, and since she hired 82% of the teachers there, I only recognized one who was my home ec teacher back in the 80s. This was a good school, and the high school was a great school when I was there, despite all the challenges.

And yet, on the same day this incredibly positive story appeared on the today show, two of my cousins have facebook statuses that talk about a stabbing in the fields behind the middle school (can't find any online links). It seems like, as always, there is the good and the bad.

Here's the current online stabbing story.

last

And, we still put breakfast in her hand walking out the door
Had to include both pics, as one was cuter of E and the other better of A

Today was E’s last day of school for the year. Given the snow situation, 2 extra days were tacked onto the end of the year. However, the powers that be did not add additional clean out/wrap up days for teachers, so the unofficial word on the street was please don’t bother coming to school these last two days. Teachers needed the time to clean out their classrooms, pack up their stuff, debrief, plan for next year, and just generally wrap up the school year.

We took her to school yesterday and she was the only child in her class. After school she told us she spent the day with the “babies” in their classroom – ie, the pre-school 3-year olds (or, kids possible 8 days younger than her, as the school cut off is September 30th!). She had fun, they really just played, which is really mostly all they do anyway.

This has been a long year, with a lot of ups and downs. Though not for Elizabeth – it’s been 10 months of mostly ups, so that’s good. It’s her parents who have fretted over the school, the school system, the discipline problems in her class, the other parents. Despite it all, she’s continued to thrive, loves her teacher, loves the teacher’s aide. She’s learned to write her long first name without any help, and can write her last name if given a few letter prompts. We’ve struggled with (too much) homework, terrible institutional school food, getting to school every day reasonably on time, and a myriad other things that make me dread the next 13 years. We’ve loved parent’s nights at school, school plays and performances, field trips (oops, that should be on the dreaded list), and making new friends. We’ve learned the lingo and the pitfalls and promises of the DC public school system.

And so it was a bittersweet walk to school this morning, just as it was 10 months ago when we first set off for school. But today, just E and I went to drop off cards and gifts for her teacher and classroom aide and then return home, so no uniform.

I couldn’t help wondering what E might remember from this year, and thinking about my own first year of school. I’m kind of known in my family for having a good memory, but my memory is for stories – I remember the stories, the specific events, and I remember them precisely. The rest of it – the general everyday-ness – is really just a blur. Elizabeth of course is a year younger than I was after my first year of school, but what will she remember?

I remember I had a teacher with a hard name to pronounce, Miss L, but I don’t remember anything else about her (she must have only taught a year or two in Pocomoke). I remember the classroom next door was taught by Mrs M, who was a little bit scary because she had a mustache. My friend Ryan was in Mrs M’s class (as was my brother two years later), and I remember being glad I had Miss L as in my memory she was younger and prettier, but I couldn’t tell you a thing else about her. I remember there was a rumor/story that Mrs M’s husband had been murdered, but I have zero idea if that was actually the case. I remember I had a huge crush on a boy I called brucestuffy, all one word. Bruce D grew up to be voted best looking in our class, and I think all the girls had a crush on him at one point or another. I remember my ‘boyfriend’ was Kevin P and we played together in class every day. I remember once I was handing out papers and he grabbed my arm and kissed my hand and everyone say “oooohhhhh!” and I was embarrassed. I don’t remember being friends with any of the girls. I remember once I had to sit in the corner and it was mortifying, but I don’t remember now why. I remember looking at a (mimeographed!) worksheet and recognizing that C-A-T spelled cat. I remember once that my mother and brother walked our dog – a big German shepherd named Sam - to school to pick me up. I remember being on the playground talking to Ryan and Kevin P. I have a vague feeling I halfway remember the classroom itself, but it’s more of a half impression in my mind. I have another vague impression of a cool dark hallway and a water fountain. And…that’s it. That’s what I remember from my first year.

I wonder what Elizabeth will remember from this, her first year of school.

Vocabulary

There are times when the Pocomoke in me really comes out. Mostly when I try to pronounce foreign words, but also when I let a little country slip into my vocabulary.

Until a few years ago, I thought that uh oh was actually spelled ut oh. Yes, I did. Because that is how I pronounce it, and how I hear others pronounce it. Ryan and Rich still tease me mercilessly about it.

Anyway, my mom was asking me about Andrew's words and I told her this past week he's picked up at least a word a day. I said I wanted to blog about it, but I was struggling with how you spell his newest favorite word. Not uh oh, but along those lines - I would spell it "unht uh." My mom paused for a moment then said, wouldn't it be spelled "uh uh?" Ummm. Yes, yes it probably would be spelled uh uh and I am probably the only dope in the world unable to spell uh uh. Becasue it has an n and t sound in it! Jut like ut oh!

Anyway, he started saying uh uh on Monday, and it has not abated. He knows no, and we've gotten really good at communication once he started shaking his head yes, but not every.little.thing. is uh uh. Are you hungry? uh uh Do you want a drink? uh uh Do you need a diaper change? uh uh He'll even nod yes while saying uh uh. Yes, he nods, while signing "drink" and yet saying uh uh uh uh uh.

Can I just say: annoying.

He is still doing great with sign language and has thank you down. So we'll hand him something and say, say thank you and he signs it, no problem. Imagine our surprise when on Wednesday he signed thank you and said thank you!

Tuesday night at prayers we concluded with amen and he echoed right along. Aaaaay-men. Just before we say amen we say and god bless everybody. Last night, before I could then say amen he said it.

Today he said daddy, not dada, but I am still mama. And I kind of like that. He's been saying sister for a couple of weeks - dit da! And he is working on Elizabeth. He's actually quite the chatty little guy. There's a lot of babble, but we are beginning to hear the words forming.

There is one looming issue with Andrew: the hair. It's gotten longer and he is regularly called a girl. It's not that long! I was hoping to wait a bit before cutting it, because once you cut a toddler boy's hair he is suddenly a big boy. But the time is drawing near.

Recipe

35+ years of friendship on one side
21+ years of friendship on another
6 adults/3 couples who all get along individually
5 girls ages 3.75-5.5 years
3 boys ages 7 mo-13 mo
2 generous parents who hosted the whole group several times
2 islands
1 house

Add dash of perfect weather, a sprinkling of wild ponies, top off with ice cream, blue crabs and fireworks.

Yield: a great vacation

Note: 3 sick babies entirely optional. Adds complexity. Not recommended.

Bonus: 1 black skimmer (my favorite bird) seen on the last night

(group picture to come soon)

--
It was indeed a great vacation. We spent our first night in a hotel in Pocomoke, then moved into the rental place on Chincoteague. The night before we left we drove out to the beach to say goodbye to the ocean, and talked to Elizabeth about us leaving. No, she said, we can't leave.

We got the house all packed up Monday morning, everyone in the car to go, except Elizabeth, who stood on the steps of the house crying. Yes, come on, we have to go turn in the keys, Elizabeth! No, I don't want to go to our home! Can't we stay in our little hotel room tonight?

She watched a DVD much of the way home. When we pulled up in front of our house, she looked around, realized where we were, and wailed, no, not here!

Tuesday morning she crawled into bed for a snuggle. Mommy? Can't we go back? Back to vacation?

New Zealand Rugby World Cup 2011 here we come! (oh, yeah, plus a weekend trip to Pocomoke before the G's leave the continent.)

PO PO uh oh uh oh

A few weeks ago, my high school basketball team played for the state championship, so of course we went. I called my brother in the morning, and of course he was going, so we planned to meet up. On the way there, we talked about who else we might see, and it occurred to me one of my cousins, whose boys are in high school now, might also be there.

So an impromptu mini-family reunion, and they got to meet Andrew for the first time.


A few other spottings:
- when we drove up I said to Rich, oh park here, next to Craig (my brother's best friend). Next to Craig, he asked, how to do you know that's Craig's truck (which I've never seen before)? Well, pretty obvious, even in a full parking lot - a Raven's sticker, a UNCW license plate holder, to see a Pocomoke basketball game? Either my brother bought a truck and didn't tell us, or it's Craig's.
- Without trying to hard, I saw three people from my class. Only one still lives in Pocomoke (and her son was a team manager), the other two are on this side of the Bay.
- I also said to Rich I bet Ryan's dad is here. You think? He wouldn't drive all this way. Sure enough, a dozen rows back, there he was. Pocomoke people turn out.

Nothing beats coming from a small town.

Sadly, the game didn't quite end the way we wanted, but the boys hung tough. Andrew enjoyed his first basketball game and meeting family and demonstrated his enthusiasm the way he knows best - by falling soundly asleep.

When I was in either 9th or 10th grade, a group of older field hockey players coined the P-O cheer. Which, as all good cheers go, is very catchy but makes no real sense whatsoever. I can say I was there when it started.

My very favorite story about Pocomoke? A little off topic, but I don't know when else I could write it and it makes me laugh to this day. The first time I brought Rich to Pocomoke to meet family and friends, we drove into town and past our old house on Second Street , when I pulled to the curb.

Me: What do you think?
Rich: (in all seriousness) I don't believe you are from here.
M: What?! What about Ryan?
R: him either, I can't see him coming from such a small town.
M: what about Michael? (Ryan, Michael and I were sharing a group house at the time)
R: Michael? Oh yeah, he's totally from here.

Whassup??!! Genius!

Remember this?



Of course you do. And if you knew Rich (and Ryan) 8 years ago, you know they spent MONTHS screaming whaaaasssssuuupp??!! at each other. Heck, they'd probably still do it today if not separated half a world away. Though it has been supplanted with 'chowda!' which is a story for another day (perhaps during NaBloPoMo when we need old stories to post).

Anyway, yesterday I saw something so genius, that despite my private promise to myself not to get too political on this blog, I had to post.



Frigging GENIUS.* If you know me, you know I value the clever almost over ideology (almost!). And this is clever. SAME actors. Closely hews to original script. Hits ALL the hot buttons - foreclosures, Iraq, stock market, health insurance, global climate change and response to disasters - and CHANGE. Appropriately for each character. And did I mention same actors? Brilliant.

In other political news, you may remember that E early on learned to identify Barack Obama, helped a bit by Gee and me. With a little encouragement from Rich, she got John McCain down, too. Last week, while watching the news, she looked up at the TV and said hey, that's Sarah Palin! She did it again this week. First, we definitely watch too much TV. But believe me, no one in this house has been encouraging her to id Palin. She caught on entirely on her own.

On the one hand, as the mother of a girl in 2008, this is sort of the dream, right? The equality dream? Where it is perfectly normal in her worldview to see women and men and people of color doing perfectly normal things like running for the highest offices in the land. What's normal on TV for her is vastly different than it was for me 30+ years ago, and, yeah, that's a good thing. On the other hand......well, it'll all be over soon.

Joe Biden appears to have made no impression whatsoever.

*Edited to add: Aha. Of course just a little digging turns up the history of this viral video. In another coincidence, Rich, Ryan and I went to see Drumline when it came out. Ryan and me to indulge our inner band geek, of course, and Rich to laugh at us. This guy is a genius.

Imitation is not always flattering

Since January, I've been either working from home or looking for work from home. The office in the attic keeps me occupied, and generally I don't have much contact with Elizabeth and Gee during the day. I'll pop down for a drink, or just to say hi, but they spend a lot of time out of the house. Sometimes I run errands in the neighborhood and run into them out and about, which is always fun.

Last week I went out on foot for a quick Target run (oh, how I love the new Target only 10 minutes walk from my house!) and slice of pizza at lunch, and headed home with a couple of small bags. Fifteen minutes after I got home, I was still downstairs, when Elizabeth burst through the door - Mommy, Mommy, I saw you walking with your bags! I looked quizzically at Gee, who said they were eating lunch at the Chinese restaurant when I walked by.

"Yes, mommy, I saw you walking with your bags and you were walking just like this!" And this will only mean something to my parents and brother - my daughter proceeded to do a spot on, perfect imitation of our crazy Pocomoke neighbor Martha walking up Second Street to Newberry's or perhaps the pharmacy to torture our friendly local neighborhood merchants. She nailed it. Butt out, head forward, stern face, legs churning, arms pumping.

Here I thought I was enjoying a pleasant afternoon walk home from Target, when suddenly I've turned into crazy lady former neighbor Martha. Great. Luckily, she's not repeated her imitation. If she does I'll have to get it on camera, but I'm kinda hoping she forgets. Meanwhile, I've really got to work on my walk.

Susan