A week in review

I usually go out to hear live music on the weekends. I have two venues I go to regularly for music. One is Dream Mecca Studios/Daniel Day Gallery at 3025 6th Ave. S. This is one of my favorite places in town. Good owners, a pleasant place to spend time, nice art on the walls and always full of good people I enjoy being around!! Plus, the music is almost always enjoyable.

Last Friday I went to the Gallery to see a band called 2 Blu and the Lucky Stiffs. A blues band. They began playing and it was good music. They are a very good blues band. At some point, early in the evening an older gentleman by the name of Curtis Files walked in. The band knew him, as did many people in the audience and the band asked him to sit in with them. He joked around with the band, telling them that if he sat in it wouldn't be "Country Boy Eddie style". Everyone laughed and the band played on. A little while later Curtis got up to join them. After several minutes of him telling them what key to play in and what tempo, he began singing. He never told them to play any particular song, but just told them to play. They began playing. He began singing the song "Going Down Slow". Google the lyrics, as what happened next was sort of eerie and surreal. Remember, noone knew what Curtis was going to sing and he choose to sing this song, that is about a mans health going down. He sang the first verse, with an appreciative crowd watching and listening with the respect an older blues singer deserves. He got the line that goes, "Tell my mama to pray for me, mama forgive me for my sins" After he sang those words, he gently collapsed to the floor. A young lady in the crowd and a friend of mine began CPR. 911 was called and he was taken to the hospital. We heard alter that he had passed away. We all believe he left this world after that line. I don't think he was alive when the paramedics took him out.

The following week, was full of post and tributes to him on Facebook. Those people that were there posted picutres of him from that night, as well as our accounts of the event. Those who were not there posted questions and thier personal tributes to Curtis. You tube videos from performances of past years were posted.

I took it as a sign that I needed to go to Mr. Gips in Bessemer, which is a Juke Joint in the backyard of Mr. Henry Gipson, another local celebrity on the blues circuit. I ahd been wanting to go for several years and felt this was the time I needed to go. Mr. Gip and Curtis were friends. I now have been to Mr. Gips, and it is indeed a magical place and I will be going back!!

Last night Curtis' band played at Dream Mecca Studios/Daniel Day Gallery. Many local blues musicians sat in and there was a large crowd of people there to remember Curtis in the best way we could; listening to Blues music and celebrating his life.

A friend of mine put it in these simple terms, " he left his earth, not languishing, but doing what he loved, surrounded by people who loved what he did". Can you think of a better way?

Raising money for my class

A week ago I found a Functional Skills program that comes in the form of 20 iPod touch that I want for my classroom. However, the cost seems out of reach, $3500. It is hard to do fundraisers with my students--they are not big salesmen and often the parents don't have the desire to try to see things. I already had two small fundraiser planned to raise money for transportation to our Special Olympic events. The idea of trying to raise that much money seemed a bit overwhelming.

I made a post about this program on Facebook and a friend of mine encouraged me to send out private messages asking each of my friends to donate $10.00. After giving it some thought, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try. I spent Friday evening and part of Saturday morning sending out private messages to 20 people at a time.

Saturday evening I went to my favorite venue for live music and by the time I went home I had $150 toward the project. The following week I received a $50 dollar check in the mail from a friend who is not on Facebook ( I assume some friends who are shared the info with him), $15 dollars from another and then a $100 dollar check from a lady I shared mutual friends with. So within a week time, I have raised $315 dollars. It will be interesting to see if any comes in this week! I may post a link to my blog on Facebook, so those who have donated can see where we are in the process.

Also, some musician friends, Gary and Jane Morris (also known as New Rain) contacted me with an interesting proposition. The will be playing in Birmingham the weekend of December 10th. The 10th they will be playing at a place in Hoover called Up Top. They were planning on charging a $5.00 cover that night. They have offered to donate $2.00 of each cover charge to my class. So, I encourage EVERYONE to come out and hear some good music and contribute to this cause!!! They will also play the next night at my favorite venue, Daniel Day Gallery. Personally, I encourage people to come to both shows!!

This past Saturday there was an all day event at Daniel Day Gallery and I had my class make buttons to sell at this event. We made $69.00 at this event and the gallery wants more buttons.

Today we started selling Alabama and Auburn buttons at school and are also doing a coin drop for the Iron Bowl. (people drop coins into the jars for each team and my class will graph the amounts each day, showing which team is getting the most support from our school). Today, being the first day, we only raised 24 dollars. We will be doing this every day for the next two weeks.

I have some other ideas for fund raising and I plan to apply for some grants. It may take a while, but we will get this program!!!

A Day at Railroad Park with the Pups

 

Chloe

Skeeter

Sitting by the water

Watching Trains

I Believe Skeeter found it all amusing!!

Chloe got hot and decided to cool off a bit!!

These are pictures from a day at Railroad Park with my pups.  I am trying to socialize them with other people and let them have new experiences.  I also like doing things that will tire them out, so they will sleep at night!!

Adventures in teaching.

I teach a self-contained special education class at a high school. Even though we are a high school we have grades 6-12. My students come to me in 6th grade and stay till they are 21. We become a family in our years together. I stay in touch with many of my former students. My students all have either Autism or moderate levels on intellectual disabilities. We certainly have some adventures. Many people have told me I should write a book about my years in the classroom. I am not disciplined enough to write a book, so I figured I would begin blogging and perhaps at some point I can put the blogs together to make a book.

Today I will just give some background info on me. I am 43 years old and have been teaching for 20 years. I would have 21, except that I took a year off to work on my doctorate in special education. I decided in 4th grade that I wanted to work with students with disabilities. I received my Bachelors of Ed. from Livingston University(now University of West Alabama). I also received my Masters of Ed. form there. I later received my Education Specialist from the University of Alabama. Several years later I received my Doctorate in Special Ed. from the University of Southern Mississippi.

I have taught at 5 different schools over the last 20 years. I started teaching at Linden Elementary School in Linden Alabama. There I taught a multi-handicapped class. I had students ranging from age 4 to 21. That was an experience. When I moved to Jefferson County, I began teaching at Hillview Elementary, where I taught a self-contained class with students from 3rd grade to 6th grade. I taught there 4 years. After my four years there I moved to Pittman Middle School in Hueytown, Alabama. Here I taught another self-contained class for students in 6th-8th grade. I was there for 4 years, then left for a year to go to the Unviersity of Southern Mississippi. When I returned to Jefferson County, I took a job at Linden Elementary School. Here I taught in a pull-out resource setting. I stayed in this job only one year. I loved the school, but my love is the lower functioning students that are served in a self-contained class. After that year, I transferred to Oak Grove High, where I have been ever since.

Last Tuesday, I was teaching my students a math lesson. We were all gathered around the table in group studying how to read graphs. One student with Down Syndrome, Missy, kept putting her head down and trying to sleep. It was a struggle to keep her awake during the lesson. After the lesson I gave the class a bathroom break. After several minutes, all my students were back in class, except Missy. I told my para I was going to go check on her. I went into the bathroom and only one stall was occupied. I called out her name and received no response. "Missy" I called out again. No response. I knocked on the door "Missy, are you okay". Still no response. I knocked harder, calling out again. Still nothing. I kick the door. Still no response. At this point I am worried. Is she okay? I go back to my classroom and ask my para to join me in the bathroom. She knocks and calls out. Still nothing. After a brief discussion, I stand on the toilet in the stall next to her and look over. There she sits, pants around her ankles, head on the tissue holder, sound asleep. Now, we know from experience that when Missy sleeps, she sleeps hard and is very difficult to wake up. Sandra, my para, goes back to our room and gets a broom, which we use to reach over and unlock the door. So, into the stall I go. Now, just picture, me trying to wake up a child sleeping on the toilet with her pants around her ankles. Gently shaking her, calling out her name....... yeah, 4 degrees and THIS was NEVER covered!!!!

Christmas and health scares

Recently my hematologist, whom I go to for hemolytic anemia, noticed some abnormalities in my blood. Enough that he ordered a bone marrow biopsy. I almost blew off the biopsy--the thought of it terrified me immensely. I also made the mistake of googling the procedure and that worked me up even more. Finally I scheduled the biopsy--the first day of my two week Christmas break. Now, I must admit, it wasn't as horrible as I had imagined. Of course the Demerol I insisted they give me relaxed me somewhat. When the "Biopsy guy? came in, I had to laugh and say something to him, as I recognized him from 2 years ago as a man I was sitting near at a local coffee shop who was rather intoxicated and loud and extremely funny. Once I said something, we realized we had several friends in common and that led to some small talk, which also helped to relax me.

Then came the waiting. Waiting. Waiting. and once again my imagination began to run away with me. I kept thinking, "It's bad news and they don't want to call me right before Christmas, so they are waiting." Sure enough, the first working day after Christmas, they call--answering the phone, I was holding my breath, waiting for the bombshell. Whew, it never came. The doc said" Well, the biopsy doesn't look horrible." He went on to say that there were no indications of Leukemia and that my red blood cells may be showing some early signs of displasia. Hmm....the white blood cells are what caused them to order the biopsy, so I found that strange. Although my red blood cells are white I've been seeing a hematologist since 2006. My doc is retiring on the 31st of this month, so I will see a new doc in January to go over the results of the test thoroughly and see if we are going to follow a treatment plan of any sort. At least the worrying is over for now.

Autumn

I spent this past weekend camping in Flat Rock, North Carolina. We had a lot of fun at the Flat Rock Music Festival. I'm home now and back at work. Last night I found myself feeling melancholy. The air changes when fall is here and it makes me feel a little sad. Not sure why, I love fall days, but nights and early morning seem to depress me. I sat on the patio yesterday afternoon with my dog Sparky and four of my 6 cats. We all just sat out there enjoying the crispness of the air and the slight breeze. The sun was shining and felt so good after all the rain we have been having. Yet, once darkness fell, the melancholiness set in. This morning was no better. It's no longer light outside when I get up, which is very depressing to me. It was 51 degrees and I just seem to have a hard time getting motivated in the dark. I need sunshine--lot's of sunshine. Perhaps I find fall sort of depressing because I know winter is right around the corner. Spring and summer are my months!!! Maybe it's time to start counting down till Spring. However, I don't want to wish my life away!!! I have another festival to go to this weekend. Haven't decided if I am going to camp or not. If it is raining, I am not camping. If it's nice, it should be good camping weather. Music will end at 11:00, so camping would be better than driving home, although it isn;t far from home--about an hour or so. I guess this will be the last festival of the season. There is one more the following weekend, butI don't think I can afford another one. wish I could. I do love camping at music festivals. We'll see. Still need to buy the part for the heater, so I need to budget my money accordingly. I will be going to homecoming at the University of West Alabama on the 30th of October. That should be fun. The alumni homecoming party is always fun. Probably won't do the football game. I suppose I need to quit rambling and get some work done.......................