"Guns and Cigarettes" by Atmosphere

A meeting I had on Tuesday left me feeling helpless and frustrated. I think it left everyone in the meeting feeling helpless and frustrated.
The meeting wasn't supposed to be about how teachers feel about curriculum and testing requirements, but that ended up being the main topic of conversation. Teachers feel like they can't teach. They feel like their hands are tied and they feel like their principal's hands are tied and she feels like her District's hands are tied and the District actually does have its hands tied and is getting really tired of walking around, unbalanced and angry at a state government who is just doing what is mandated by a national government.

Presidential Election 2012 approaches. When Americans debate, education should be a topic that's bigger than Jesus and bigger than wrestling, bigger than the Beatles and bigger than breast implants, bigger than guns and bigger than cigarettes.

It should be a topic that's bigger. But it's not.

(The Defeat of) Jesse James Days

The 7th of September, 1876 was a bright and sunny day. Actually, not one person talks about the weather in all the accounts I have read regarding this subject (read: the only account), but the sun was shining when I was in Northfield watching its Townspeople defeat Jesse James, so... 

It was around 2 o'clock. The Townspeople of Northfield, Minnesota were gently perusing the downtown area. Hazel and George, pictured below, had just lunched at the local cafe and were on their way to the grocer's to pick up some lemons, sugar, and Oreos. Lemons and sugar to make homemade lemonade, and Oreos for a new recipe Hazel had been hankering to try. 

No one was particularly alarmed when three men wearing khaki trench coats entered the vicinity...

...especially not Nick Gustafson, a Swedish immigrant:

Suddenly, it was made known to all that a robbery was taking place at the bank! Well, that's what Jesse James and his posse would have liked to hear. Instead, they probably heard something more like this: "Hey! Someone is trying to hold up the bank but Joseph Lee Heywood is refusing to open the safe!" The Townspeople of Northfield (read: Townsmen) immediately went to exercise their right to the Second Ammendment and save their bank! Unfortunately, James had brought the whole gang and soon the shooting began.

Hazel and George run for their lives:

Nick, only understanding Swedish, doesn't make it off the street in time:

The Townspeople ended up chasing the scoundrels out of town! They won! Hooray!

The photo below is proof that Hazel and George did, in fact, make it to the grocer's (read: Econo Foods). I don't actually know if they made lemonade or bought Oreos. 

I do know, however, that my friend Elly and I at least got the Oreos (regular and peanut-butter filled, Double Stuf... was that seriously even a question??) to test a SUPER AWESOME MEGA-COOKIE RECIPE: Oreo Filled Chocolate Chip Cookes!

In case you are blind, they were DELICIOUS cookies.

Elly is a VISTA. So is our friend Soraya, with whom we consumed the above cookies. I enjoy their company immensely because not only are they quality human beings, we also have a common understanding of the experiences we, as VISTAs, go through. 

Stories:

Elly works for a school district that constantly destroys any attempt to offer assistance to students living in poverty. Most of these students come from immigrant families. The school board refuses to sign off on any and all programs Elly (could be) a part of because they believe it would be unfair to the "other" kids. (Read: the rich kids). The kicker is, Elly's programs would be available for EVERYONE. The richer kids just probably wouldn't need to take advantage of the extra help. Frustrating? Very. For someone who cares about Education as much as Elly does, I don't know how she keeps from pulling out her hair. Every day. 

Soraya spent an afternoon painting with children at a fundraiser. One little girl immediately assumed Soraya spoke Spanish, but not necessarily in a positive way. Her reasoning? "Your skin is brown, so you speak Spanish." Soraya explained that there are all types of skin colors and even more shades of brown, something she found to be a delicate topic. She found out five minutes later that it really wasn't that big of a deal: "Can I hold your hand?" Color = forgotten.

Soraya works with people who speak Spanish, but she interacts with people who just speak English as well. One day, a woman looked over the bulletin board in Soraya's office while she waited for something. The woman came across a document written entirely in Spanish. In an extremely abrasive tone, she asked Soraya, "Why does it have to be all in Spanish?" Soraya explained that it wasn't something this particular woman needed to know about. "But I should be able to know what it says!" the woman argued. It was information about the Mexican Consulate. For Mexican Immigrants. The woman was American. Welcome to the typical American Immigrant's world, Soraya wanted to tell her, but she didn't. She's really nice. 

Good food, great conversation, even better people. And when did trench coats fade from khaki to black? Not that I'm complaining. I mean, Neo would definitely not have looked like "The One" if he had been wearing a khaki trench coat. I'm just asking.