May 6th the school district organized teams and St. Olaf College hosted the annual American Cancer Society's "Relay for life" at the St. Olaf Football field.

Relay members, after gathering donations, walked or ran around the track, listened to music, and visited with others concerned about the fight against Cancer. The track was lined with white bags with candles and bearing the names of remembered friends and relatives lost or struggling against cancer.

The event began with a walk recognizing cancer survivors, many I talked to, who had participated in the past said it is always the most moving part of the event. There were a number of performers encouraging the walkers with music, a number of them St. Olaf student groups.

I was happy to see Ray Coudret Northfield teacher with his group Scattered Skies performing several sets. Molly Peterson who works in the School District office and lost her husband to cancer, did a lot to organize the teams of educators who walked and ran in the event. There were many others from the college and community who took part and enjoyed the beautiful spring evening.

I walked in memory of my uncle, Chauncey Bly, who died in the early '90s and as I walked I thought of him and his long life of service. He was someone who grew up not far from the track I walked around, someone who studied to be a doctor and worked a number of years researching a cure for cancer, the very disease that took him in the end. He was one of six children, four of whom survived to adulthood, four remarkable Northfielders.

The oldest my aunt became a nurse and was sent by Lutheran mission to start a clinic for victims of Leprosy in the Pescador Islands between Taiwan and the mainland of China. Youngest of the four was my father. My uncle Ted served in the Navy joining near the end of the Second World War, he retired a Lt. Commander and worked as an engineer all time doing various volunteer work and still volunteers his time to help others.

My uncle Chauncey oldest of the boys but always Marjorie's younger brother skipped a grade in school to be in her class. He was always pushing ahead and excelling when others might not have survived, a man of rare courage. As a boy, he and his parents and siblings and others hid in the cellar of their home in Hsinyang, Honan, China avoiding the war for control of the province going on outside. During a moment of silence he snuck out to gather bullets that lay strewn all over the yard. His mother was horrified that he could have been killed, but he carried the small box of broken shells and lead shot all the way back to Minnesota where they remained in my attic (I live in the family home) until he came to retrieve them a couple of years before he died. He had lost his hair from the radiation treatment but was not slowed by the pain or the embarrassment. He told us the story of his visit to Beijing in the midst of the Tiananmen Square student protests. He stood in the Square shoulder to shoulder with the students his video camera running as the tanks rolled in. As people panicked and began to run away he rolled the camera in his jacket and made his way through the crowded streets back to his hotel. In college he had been a champion swimmer after recovering from a bout with polio. Later in life he was the President of a small college in Greenville, Pennsylvania where he ended his life.

Then as the darkness descended the candles in the bags were lit creating a beautiful silent memorial as walkers circled the field in the glow. I left soon after that tired but refreshed in the memory of my uncle's long struggle to live a life rich and fulfilled in spite of cancer's threat.

I believe late donations can still be sent to St. Olaf's Cancer Connection: Attn. Ashley Miller, 1500 St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN 55057

Posted by David at 5/08/2005 08:24:00 PM | Link   

 

5%5/5/'05@5pm. The golden mean? Well almost, on Thursday, May 5th hundreds of supporters gathered in Bridge Square to hear Roger Jenny and the Northfield band play, as well as, several speakers advocate for the position that our Governor and Legislators should agree to a funding increase of 5% for the next two years. This increase would improve the deplorable situation so many of our public schools face of having to cut staff and programs because of inadequate funding. Speakers included group organizer, Julie Pritchard,
Northfield Mayor Lee Lansing,
Parents United's Mary Cecconi, Northfield School Superintendent Dr. Chris Richardson,

Northfield teacher of the year Earl Weinmann,
and Northfield High School student Frank Flavell. Speakers reminded listeners that the school districts across the state have been neglected and underfunded by the state and federal budget for a decade, forced to raise property taxes through excess levies or cut back on programs, teachers, and administrators. Those who attended were encouraged to send a postcard to State office holders, which stated the following:

I attended the 5% on the 5th Rally in Northfield today and ask that you support an increase to the education funding formula of 5% per year, for two years.
-Because the Minnesota Constitution enumerates only one responsibility for state government; to educate its constituents.
-Because increases in education spending have been off-set by inflation, health care costs, and unfunded federal mandates.
-Because school boards all over this state have made desperate cuts, resulting in increased class sizes and decreased quality.
-Because a well-educated populace is a vital resource to a state's economy and welfare.
I ask that you support a biennium budget that increases K-12 education by 5% per year.

If you were unable to make the rally please contact the Governor, Rep. Cox and Sen. Neuville to urge them to make education a priority in Minnesota once again. The current house bill, which Rep. Cox (who voted against amendments to improve the allocation of money) supported, does not do enough and takes money from poorer districts to help wealthier ones. As Lori Sturdevant writes in a recent StarTrib article:

"I'm following the Robin-Hood-in-reverse stuff," said yellow-stickered railroad worker Bernie Hagen, 60, of rural Albert Lea. He'd come to the Capitol for the second time this year to witness passage of a House GOP-designed K-12 bill "that would take from the poor districts and give to the rich," Hagen explained. "I don't think that's right."

Hagen was referring to the dark side of the House's $622 million increase in school spending. It doles out the cash in a way that's relatively kinder to districts with smaller shares of high-cost students (the disabled and economically disadvantaged). That would stabilize schools where all of the children are above average, while allowing teacher layoffs and/or property tax increases to keep on comin' elsewhere.

Posted by David at 5/08/2005 07:42:00 PM | Link   

 

Does everyone's calendar fill up with all that's happening in the Spring? I can't hope to do it all. But try to do some of them. At my work seniors are trying to finish up all of their credits to graduate. Others struggle to keep their minds on school while everything warms up.

Earlier this month Barb Wornson (on the right), one of our most creative teachers, - what am I saying they are all immensely creative - and her projects and parenting classes our annual Empty Bowls soup dinner. This is a project Barb started several years ago which benefits the Community Actions efforts to fight hunger and poverty in our area. Barb and this year with the help of Mary Weaver, encourages local potters and local art classes to donate hand made bowls to the project. Then an evening is planned where the bowls are put on display and the public is encouraged to buy a ticket entitling them to a hand made bowl and a bowl of soup and fresh bread donated by Hogan Brothers.

The soup this year was delicious. I sampled three different soups Minestrone, Cheese Tortellini, Chicken wild rice, there was also Tomato Bisque.

Students helping this year were Brandon Matson, Alvaro Herrera, Kayla Anderson in the kitchen, Danielle Gates and Felicia Neves at the ticket table and Cassie Larson and Cassie Sirek Handing out the hand made pottery. And excellent turnout netted about $800 dollars. Jim Blaha said a few words of appreciation to Barb for her efforts. Sadly Barb may not be teaching with us next year due to the budget cuts, but she insists no matter what she will keep the Empty Bowls tradition alive.



Students exhibit their art at NHS Ala Carte celebration of the arts.

Here one of my students Megan Braun exhibits her work. The town is bustling with activities as well from banquets to arts auctions and plays like the Arts Guild production of Blithe Spirit to the Historical Society original production of This Town a new historical play

by Teresa J. Oden, helping to celebrate Northfield's 150 years. Soon to open will be the High School production of Tom Stoppard's, "The Real Inspector Hound."

It is also a time of cleaning up and getting yards ready. I helped with the Community Day of service with a crew of teachers cleaning up Oddfellows Park.

We are trying to finish our classes at the same time pack and get ready for the move of our program. Budget cuts have greatly down-sized our program and administrators have decided to uproot us from our home of the last five years to move to Longfellow school, being vacated by Kindergarten classes. "Don't get too comfortable," says head of student services, Gary Lewis, as we once again become as homeless as some of our students. I guess I better pare down my book collection so I can travel light.

Of course, April means the legislature is busy and getting busier. Some might say getting busy spinning their wheels. It seems there is agreement that the state needs more revenue but lots of disagreement about what kind, and how much. Things are very different this year in the House with such a narrow majority. It will be interesting to see what they can get done. This coming Thursday at 5pm an important Rally in Northfield gathers people in Bridge Square to urge for a 5% increase in education funding. Come listen to several offer words of encouragement, Mary Cecconi, Director of Parents United, Supt. Chris Richardson, Northfield Teacher of the Year, Earl Weinman, and student, Frank Flavell. Our two legislative members Cox and Neuville seem to have made it pretty clear they will not try to challenge the Governor on his no new taxes pledge.

As I ask myself the question, 'What kind of future do we want for our state?' the Governor's stand rings in my ear as a paraphrase of Shelley's Ozymandias, imagine a time in the future when all that remains are the stone arches of a casino or a baseball stadium and you might meet. . .

. . . a traveler from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk , a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command,
Tell the at it's a sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stampt on these lifeless things,
The hand that mockt them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Tim Pawlenty, Governor of things
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

We should be thinking about a future where we pass on to our children what they need and instruct them in the ways that will teach them to invest in their children. I believe we have been given a calling. To create a world that is humane and just. A world created for the betterment of people's lives not for the advantage of a few.

As Hubert Humphrey said, "The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped."

We are called to help and protect them not throw them into uncertainty or despair by cutting the safety net they rely on. 30,000 lost their health insurance in the last biennium more will lose if the current proposal goes through. What our current leaders don't seem to understand is that we made these investments not because we are generous but because we need to invest in each other. It makes good sense to do so. We are called to fund schools for the future, not cut them so only a few will have opportunities.

I have tried wherever I am to make that place more humane by my presence but I fail sometimes. Fail by losing touch with what it means to be humane and by retreating into myself succumbing to the fears that are ever present in life. That failure is painful, but I keep trying, hoping things can change. Hoping that by a smile, a handshake, a greeting, and an interested question I can communicate with the humanity in the other before me. But I know that some may see in my grin the teeth of some past wounding perpetrator. I try to assume that everyone's motives are good. They probably are, but in the complex inter change of human perception and experience we so quickly find ourselves at cross-purposes.

My father is my constant example, he lived a short 'rich' life, and even though he was denied most of the things we are told we should most value. He had a different set of values. He had dreams and wanted to succeed in his career, but he accepted rejection and failure not as a definition of who he was but of a reminder of the darkness that is all around us and we cannot extinguish but only light up with the fire of our good will. My father took great delight in his family and even though his medical bills impoverished us, he provided for us and gave us that necessary light. He took great delight in his small self-created world by being a scoutmaster and passing his values to young men who flourished in the light of his attention and he sent them on their way like small hand made boats skimming across the surface of still water.

The story of our people is a story full of examples of unsung heroes who made a difference who invented something, who advanced the lives of their neighbors and received nothing for it not even the credit and they went on doing it. We will continue in this even if only the rich and powerful win the day. Each one of you in your own way contributes to the story of our future as it can be.

April is a time I find awakens all kinds of things in me not only clearing the tulip bulbs in the garden but also writing poetry - it's national poetry month after all.


TRIMMING THE BLACKBERRY BUSHES

1
Trimming the blackberry bushes leaves my hands raw
As it means digging down under the roots of shoots that have
Leaped over the tulips to start a new colony pulling them up

I see I didn't get to the asparagus patch hopelessly covered by briars
Then I think of the story my eighty-five year old friend wrote about
His efforts to save the dying Japanese tree in his front yard because

He couldn't bear to destroy the nest wrens had built in it
This was a story that happened perhaps eight years earlier and
He decided he had to do his best to care for the tree feeding and pruning

He found it profound to consider this interaction with the natural world
How tenuous all our lives seem and how absurd an old man tending
An old tree so that wrens could be wrens and he could delight in it

He wondered how long it could go on who'd fall first and so he continues
His wife of sixty years now gone and so most of his capacity for joy gone
But he continues nurturing and the tree keeps blooming and the wren sings

2
Late in the day when the stream of sunlight is more vertical than horizontal
And the sky has that cast of Prussian blue I see an eagle soaring circling slowly
I call to him under my breath and watch as he finds me and circles overhead

It makes me think as I gather the dead cane from the phlox and the hyacinth
And poke in the black earth trying to reclaim the garden of what will keep me alive
Perhaps it is the tenderness others show me or the delight in music and friendship

Perhaps it is a walk along the riverside in the cool air and the warm sun
Perhaps it is a kiss a caress a word or two or the thought of something
I missed or did not say some gift not given or word of thanks held on to

Perhaps it is the moon wrapped in white mist that fills me with such longing
Alone in the dark wondering if I close my eyes will I wake in the morning
Or fall into the stream with Li Bai dreaming of a sad bliss that eludes me

Posted by David at 5/01/2005 11:10:00 PM | Link