Poem: Will's Magic Potion Advert

Imagine that William Shakespeare were alive today. He might be writing the text for advertisements, catchy jingles that people will remember when shopping. Now imagine he got a job writing for the next diet craze...

**********************************************************

Blubber, blubber
Toil and trouble
Cellulose burn
Under skin and stubble

With Death by Chocolate and  
Cold Champagne,
Pickled herring,
Your BMI Bane!

When Fate brings heart attacks
That soar and surge,
Will a deadly rose help you
Poison and purge?

Grecian Formula for your hair,
Contact lenses for your eyes,
But what fool-proof plan appears in your head
To handle those rotund thighs?

My Cure-All Potion is what you Need,
100% Risk-Free Guaranteed.
It will make those stones just melt away,
Without making your wallet bleed.

Trust me.

Poem: Burning

We burnt gasoline and oil
Driving to work
Driving to school
Driving to stores, museums, the movies
Driving to gas stations
To buy more gasoline

We burnt diesel
Driving trains
Driving tractor-trailers
Moving coal, lumber, sheet metal
Moving cars to people
To use to burn gasoline

We burnt, burnt, burnt
Until the offspring of our burning
Burnt the ground in Africa
Killing plants
Killing animals
Killing crops, crops, crops
Until millions of people starved

****************************************************************

Background:

I wrote this poem after watching a science show that discussed the drought in northern Africa in the early 1980s. You see, the rains usually travel from southern Africa to northern Africa once a year, and people in such countries as Ethiopia depend on the rains for their survival. The seasonal rains stopped in the early 1980s, and the subsequent drought killed millions of people. Then, in the late 1980s, the seasonal rains returned. For the longest time, we didn't know why.

Then, some scientists stumbled across the reason while researching the effects of particulate pollution. To sum up their findings, the air pollution generated in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s traveled across the Atlantic Ocean, and disrupted the rain cycle in Africa.

After watching this show and thinking over their evidence and conclusions, I sat astounded for several minutes. Who knew that the world was so interconnected? Who knew that Americans had accidentally killed millions of Africans simply through driving cars?

I felt sickened at the thought, and a little guilty because I love driving around. So I wrote this poem, to capture the mood.

ECP: A Call for Geeky Art

I am a geek.  I love my new Android tablet!  My husband and I wired our house for Ethernet, even though we also set up a wireless router.  I watch Nova ScienceNOW, and I research the shows afterwards.  I get the NASA newsletter, then I drag my kids to astronomical events, though “drag” is the wrong word because my kids are geeks too.  We discuss things such as how frozen water on the moon increase our chances of setting up a successful moon base, and how thorium/fluoride reactors solve the power problem, being so much safer than uranium reactors.  Plus thorium is abundant not only on Earth, but on the moon and Mars as well.

And for shopping, I love ThinkGeek.com!!!  This place has everything for geeks - coffee mugs with a caffeine molecule on the side, T-shirts that proclaim “Stand back!  I’m trying science!”, replicas of the 10th and 11th Doctor Who sonic screwdriver...  For the record, I prefer the sonic screwdriver that Tenant used - it includes an pen snub with invisible ink and an ultraviolet light to view message written with such.

Last week, ThinkGeek.com issued a call for geeky art.  They received a letter from Christina Nemeth, who is currently stationed overseas with the Air Force.  Christina would like to decorate her boring, plain office walls with pictures of monkeys!!  Monkeys - The official mascot of ThinkGeek.com!

So I am passing this call on to you, East Cobb.  If you have artistic skills, or you just like to draw monkeys (though other primates are welcome), please consider sending something to Christina.  She can use all the monkeys and cheer that’s available.  

Contact information is in the ThinkGeek.com blog.

ECP: Arguments for the Balanced Calendar

As the balanced calendar ended this year, several Cobb parents decided to collect some data to determine how successful or unsuccessful this year was.  The evidence is clear - the balanced calendar is not the “vacation” calendar that some people in the county want to believe it is.

I am not copying their data here - but if you want to read it we’ve uploaded it to the East Cobb Patch.  You can find the information here (Wendy - please link the data here).

Basically,  these areas showed improvement this past year:

• Test Scores:  Test scores are up this past year.  In fact, the ITBS scores, which have declined since 2007, went up again.
• Student Absenteeism:  Student were absense less last year - approximately 7.5% district wide.  In the first semester alone, about 75% of the school reported a decrease in student absenteeism.
• Teacher Absenteeism:  Teachers were absent less as well.  Not only does this favorably effect the kids - who don’t need to adjust to substitute teachers, but it saves the county money in substitute costs.  Cobb School District saved over one million dollars in these fees, and that after lowering the payout for substitutes from $79/day to $69/day.
• Student Morale:  This is less concrete, but from experiences with my own kids, and their friends, last school year I witnessed significantly less burn out, and a better attitude  towards school the entire year.
• Teacher Morale:  Again, this is a less concrete measure.  But I know several teachers, and every one of them enjoyed the breaks as much as the kids.

So, with what appears to be overwhelming data, why is there such a controversy?  Where is the data for the traditional calendar?

Supposedly, Kathleen Angelucci and Scott Sweeney have data to show the benefit of the traditional calendar, but as far as I know no one has seen this data.  Do you know what I think?  I think that they simply want the traditional calendar, so they have lied to us about their data.  Because every time anyone requests this data,  Angelucci and Sweeney give that person either the silent treatment or  the run around.

I think lots of people out there want the traditional calendar, not based on facts or logic, but because it’s close to the calendar that they remember as kids.  It is easy to get nostalgic about school, and believe that things were “better” when we were kids.  But honestly, we’d still be living in grass huts, wearing leaves, walking around barefoot, and eating bugs if we never changed.

One argument for the traditional calendar is that the kids need a long enough summer, with the mistaken assumption that the balanced calendar shortchanges kids.  But let’s be honest here, the balanced calendar left a ten week summer!  Typically, an American school district has 2-3 months, which translates into 8 to 12 weeks.   So our 10-week summer break falls smack dab in the middle.  Why, then, do people think our break is substantially shorter?  My guess is the timing of the summer break - from late May until early August, instead of mid-June to late August.  In summary, it's not as though the kids aren’t getting a summer.  They are simply getting a summer with different start and ending dates.

The other argument for the traditional calendar would be potential tourism dollars lost for local businesses.  First, my child’s education is more important that tourism.  Period.  Second, we Georgians don’t typically use our own tourist locations in August - we can go there during the cooler times of year.  Third, the week long breaks in September and February actually open up more possibilities for tourism in a time other than summer.  And finally, our children’s education is more important than tourism.  (This needs to be restated; it is that important.)

The traditional calendar also has a large negative.  There have been several studies that show children who receive free or reduced lunch actually lose significant ground academically during the summer break, but children who do not receive a free or reduced lunch either lose a little ground or gain ground academically during the summer break.  This means that the 46% of children in Cobb county lose ground all summer.  Why would we want to increase the time in summers?  So that the “haves” can outperform the “have-nots” even more?  

In conclusion, I ask everyone out that who supports the traditional calendar to ask yourself why.  If you have some actual reason, with data to back it up, please post your reasoning here in the comments.  We supporters of the balanced calendar would love to learn why you believe that way.  But if you simply like the traditional calendar for the sake of tradition, don’t bother.  You’ll never convince us, and we’ll never convince you.  

Poetry: Right Brain

I am going to write a poem.
I am so tired of topic sentences,
Supported by details,
Restated in conclusions.

I don’t need prose.

Blocks of black syllables,
Linked by transitional devices,
Indented neatly,
Three to a page,
Depress me.

I need a poem.

Not rhymed or in pentameter,
Snooty sonnets or cutesy cinquains,
No ostentatious villanelles,
But free verse
Winging to heights invisible
Then dropping, dipping, drowning,
Now reviving
And soaring high again.

I will not use binder paper.
This poem will be torn from my life.
And the paper will be creased,
Ragged at the edges.
It will not need a title or a date;
Nor, in the upper right hand corner,
Will it need my name.

ECP: War of Cobb County Street Signs

Cobb County does a good job with street signs.  There are big, yellow signs announcing small roads, upcoming curves or hills, blind driveways, and other potential road hazards.  Speed limit signs abound, alerting motorists as to the maximum legal velocity.  Stop signs delineate who has the right of way.  And those cute, little green street signs pleasantly mark every corner, assisting those both with and without a sense of direction.  Or a GPS.

Only now the street signs are losing a war.... with PLANTS!!!!

That’s right - plants.  Historically, these green villains tried to take over each summer, growing new limbs, leaves, or vines up, over, and around our street signs.  And historically, Cobb County’s Army of D.O.T. Workers stood in the way.  Diligently, they drove their trucks around the county, hedge trimmers and hatchets at the ready to remove offending plants in their attempts to mislead motorists. These brave men and women fought offensives from kudzu, poison ivy, various bushes, and the most malicious blackguard of them all - the trees.  And before now, our Army always prevailed.

But not these days.  Budget cuts removed funding for what the plant-loving politicians call “extraneous expenses”.  The results are clear - the rapscallions have begun to win the war.

At first it was small.  A cluster of leaves hanging over a yellow sign, making it difficult to read.  Or maybe a stray vine, climbing up a metal support post.  Then the plants stepped it up, as whole branches grew out over sidewalks, visually blocking motorists from even knowing a street sign is there, nevertheless reading it.   And the worst has happened.  The stop sign for a small cul-de-sac in my neighborhood is now gone.  Oh, you can see the metal skeleton of the stop sign, amidst the bruising botany.  But the sign has been eaten, Charlie Brown style, by a tree.

So, what can we do about this?  How can we save our street signs?  

Maybe we could call our county government, and see if we can convince these green-loving people that street signs need love too.  Or we can fight this ourselves.  If you see the army of plants using your yard as a base of attack, do something about it.  If a plant in your yard is attempting to cover a street sign, trim the infringing branches, removing the trespassing vines.  And help our local street signs do their job.

Thank you.

ECP: CCSD Changes Its Facebook Policy

Last Sunday, at 12:29pm, this post appeared on the Cobb County School District Facebook page:

Due to recent offensive and/or inappropriate posts, CCSD Facebook page posting permissions have been changed to allow only comments on posts made by CCSD. Facebook does not provide an option for comments to be screened prior to posting, and the district does not have the resources to provide constant monitoring of the site. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Then on Monday, the CCSD removed all posts from their Facebook page that did not originate from the school district.  

This change in policy caused an uproar on Facebook, as people wondered why this happened.  Was the school board behind this?  Is the school district now censoring the community?

To get to the bottom of this, I called the school district office and spoke with someone in their communications department.  The answer about “why” turned out to be fairly mundane.  According to the School Board Policy Manual, section IJNDB, section F: Employee Created Web Pages and /or Blogs:

The District Web site and individual employee Web pages/blogs will not:

a. Contain public message boards or chat-room areas. ...

b. Allow the display of unsolicited comments from the general public. Any solicited

  public feedback should be reviewed by the employee before posting....

Translated to English, this means that the school district cannot have an open posting policy on Facebook.  So what can we, the community do, if we want to communicate about the school district on Facebook?

Make our own Facebook group.

So I did.  Last night, I created a group called “Cobb County School District Unofficial Community Page”.  Anyone is welcome to join the group, and anyone can post to the group.  Please feel free to post articles, opinions, events, and other information, just as you would have to the CCSD Facebook page.