The Voice of Reason's blog

I have long been a believer in the power and beauty of words; I even did a post about the healing power of poetry a long time ago. Finally, it looks like words are beginning to believe in me. My first book has been accepted for publication.

The book of poems is called ain't it grand: the transmogrification of Sapphire Erin, and through the arrangement and topics of the poetry, tells the story of a kind of "transmogrification" in a way of living, and looking at life, through the eyes of a character named Sapphire Erin.

The publisher is PublishAmerica, a company which specializes in finding and publishing "undiscovered" authors.

The book could be available in as little time as four months from now, if everything continues moving forward at a rapid pace as it has so far.

I know it’s been a long time since my last post, but I finally have something new and good to say about Mr. Collins’ case (see my previous posts for the full story there.)

Mr. Collins decided to decline the public hearing. He officially retired, there was no hearing, and everything quieted down for a while, and it would've seemed the administration had won.

I was looking through a magazine for administrators and educators today, and found an article about a school district that has a new policy on how to deal with "ineffective" teachers. The "delicate" (as the article put it) subject of firing or "letting go" teachers is of great interest to me right now (the details of why are in my other recent blog posts), so I pursued the article.

I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday who shared some distressing news. Her mother works at a nearby elementary school. According to her, the special education program for the mentally disabled there has been dissolved.

Tonight, the school board reviewed the case of Mr. Michael Collins. We weren't allowed to hear their deliberations, but at the open forum, everyone was trying to crowd into the choir room, where it was being held, and a fire marshal told us that wasn't going to work--there were hundreds of people there, the parking was full and then some, and everybody wanted in on it.

There seems to be rash of "either/or" philosophies going around concerning what, for ease of labling, I will refer to as "abstinenece education." I believe this policy is actually what's holding us back. "We must teach ONLY abstinence," they say, or, "We must teach ONLY 'safe sex.'"

This is a paper I wrote for English. I don't remember what the original assignment was, but this is what I came up with. The ending is a little cynical, but sometimes a cynical viewpoint is good; it can be a catalyst for change.

It's been a long time since my school has done something this stupid.

A whole year, in fact.