High Five Fifty

Blink.

Wait, I 'm fifty? Whoa, I am fifty.

So did I hit fifty or did fifty hit me?

I would say that if one has been negligent and is sitting at fifty going where the hell did life go, then fifty hit him. But if at fifty, one is sitting around a bonfire with a cold drink, say a Crown and Coke, and has friends sitting with him, and has two good kids and a fun and spirited wife, then he hit fifty. He was living life and working hard and playing well with others so the journey had been good.

I am the latter of the two. I hit fifty, a milestone. And life is good.

Other milestones have come this summer. My son will be heading off into the college world, and my daughter will be entering the high school building (8th grade is in our high school) where I trek among curriculum, students and chaos. Heidi and I also celebrated 23 years of marriage. Good milestones on my journey. Yet, with them, I have many more to milestones to reach.

At the age of fifty, I have been in the classroom 19 years. I have had a good career, but I am not done yet. I still get excited about the beginning of the school year. I revel in the text, emails and posts I get from students. I received a ton of birthday wishes on Facebook. I was blessed with some personal notes of how I had made an impact on students' lives. One of the fun parts is the students who harass me about 2001: A Space Odyssey that we watched in my SciFi class. I get an occasional note about a recently seen reference to the movie (Muhaha). And over the summer, visits from students were rejuvenating to what I do. I love my job!

The writing? I am still engaged. Paul, my best friend and co-author, are in a final hard-copy edit of our book, Cry of the Eagle. It will be done soon. My blogs? I am struggling there a bit. As you may note, I have not been to Tarzan in a long time. I still crank out a poem or two. Did one for Brenda's retirement, my son's graduation, and one for Grace. As some may know, I give out personalized collections of poems to students at graduation time called Wordz.. What is cool is how many former students I see tell me they still have their copy. Plus, I have been playing on Twitter with short poems of 140 characters, a bit of a challenge. All part of playing with words.

And today, I am at my computer writing. I have work to do, some bills to pay and a messed up basement, but I am writing. I am enjoying putting these words on this post.

So, I would have to say. I did not hit fifty, nor did fifty hit me. It was more of a high five. A sign that things are good, but still still have more to do.

High Five! After all, it is a jungle out there.

2010 Barbaric Yawp of the Year

Being that a yawp is a “loud, harsh cry,” and that Tarzan had his loud cry resound over the jungle, and that Walt Whitman wrote, “I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world, and being that this is my blog, I have created the Barbaric Yawp of the Year. This award recognizes a person’s yawp (voice, work, actions, life), and how it was heard “over the roofs of the world” (affect on others).

But first a few things as to the why. I like award shows that recognize the accomplishments of the past year. I like Time magazine’s Person of the Year. I like those American Film Institute’s Top 100 Lists. I like heroes and heroic stories of literature and of real life.  And I like those moments where the time is taken to say “Thank you.” So it boils down to, I like recognizing those people, movies, books, stories, pictures and moments that show excellence, heroism, courage and humanity that inspire us to achieve more.

For example, I give a Barbaric Yawp to the movie Dead Poets Society that illustrates the barbaric yawp. I give another Yawp to To Kill A Mockingbird for it is a great work of literature and gave us the noble and courageous Atticus Finch who was also named American Film Institute’s number one movie hero. I give a Barbaric Yawp to veterans and soldiers. I give a Barbaric Yawp to my brothers and sisters for they each have earned one through their lives and individual stories. I give a Barbaric Yawp to the student who stood in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square, the fireman who cradled the body of a two year child after the Oklahoma City Bombing, the “Man in the Water” from the Air Florida plane crash in DC, and to New York firemen who’s first day on the job was 9/11. The list of Barbaric Yawps is long and overdue, and I will share more of these stories later.

Anyway, now to the 2010 Barbaric Yawp of Year.

Rob Kunik.

It will be almost a year since we lost Rob. His influence on students, peers and family was and is still present. He was a good teacher, husband and friend. His yawp was heard by many. He challenged students with reading diverse text. He stubbornly held them to high standards. He loved his kids and family passionately. He fueled dreams and caused laughter. He had the courage to confront. He was a man of books and sports, a good example of a renaissance man, a Tarzan. His yawp was heard over the rooftops of the world. I would say more, but knowing Rob, he wouldn’t want me to prattle on.

The yawp that some of his students return to him is, “O Captain, My Captain.” Yeah, he liked Whitman and was a fan of Dead Poets Society. So, stand on a desk and give a yell.

It’s a jungle out there. 

Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle

Tarzan! He is the ultimate man in literature. Yes, literature. Throw away those images of the Tarzan movies of old with the, "Me. Tarzan. You. Jane." Tarzan was quite educated, as well as, strong, noble and fierce.

If you have read Edgar Rice Burroughs and the 24 books of the adventures or Tarzan, you know Tarzan to have taught himself to read by recognizing "bugs" below pictures in the primary readers left behind by his parents. You also know that he was eventually found, taken to society, and educated by his friend from the French Foreign Legion. Yet, he returned home to live in the jungle where the rules were simpler. They may have been the laws of the jungle, but they also seemed to give Tarzan a nobility beyond civilized man.

And, now we look at the 21st Century, a new jungle, savage and dangerous, yet filled with wonder, beauty and truth coming to us at the speed of digital photo-energy. So, like Tarzan, let us go cautiously forward and find the treasures. Let us respect all the denizens of the jungle, avoid the dangers and predators and stand tall to cry out into the wilderness our presence.

Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle!