Why do you get on Face-Book?

Have you ever thought the reasoning as to why you or anyone else gets on Face-Book? It is a social media to be social on; you share part of yourself with others and they reciprocate. Can people be not nice on Face-Book? Of course they can, but here is my thought on the entire social media sharing. Let me share a little about myself and what I see in most of you. I am a person who likes to write, yet I really do not like to go anywhere. I like staying at home in my four walls. I was once extroverted but as I have gotten older, I became introverted: I really do not like to talk to anyone anymore period! Even though I sometimes will take a job as a motivational type speaker, I am truly not a procrastinator except once in a while. The past 30 days (though) I have been a major procrastinator, a personal need of just attention—because of unspoken stress and health issues. So I have really been on Face-Book. I hit the “like” button, because I agree. There are a lot of intelligent comments that people write or comments that are funny and make my day with an internal chuckle or two. My standard day consists of work and home. I do go and actually play Bingo on dollar night once in a while. I win too! It is nice to walk away with more than $500.00 in my pocket. But think about it? We all get in a rut on our home turf on a daily basis. We seek something that we need, which is basically to be agreed with or heard—regardless if it is writing or speaking. We also have a need to share without any real strings attached—no real demands of our precious time other than to just let someone know we will pray for them, or we are thinking about them. Each of us already has a lot on our plate going on personally. Many of the games we play on Face-Book are like exercises; they are a stress releases to get us off of our mundane stressors. Some people do not play games and just do not like to, but that is their choice and I we should respect that. There is a key to all of this. When we click that “like” button, we tell someone we “like” or are “thinking” about them. The underlying meaning is that we are acknowledging that person’s presence. To take it one step further, we are letting them know that we are in their lives and we need them to be there with us in ours. Mother Teresa (I have her pictured above) wrote “Everyone lives to be needed.” When we interact with people in person, there are times (be honest with yourself) you question your very existence as to why you are even there. You may actually question why this person may need you sometimes. On Face-Book, you do not really have to question that. You may sit and say your life is fulfilling, well so is mine, but there is always a little voice, a piece of us which we hold to ourselves that questions so much that we do not understand dealing with our very existence and no one is exempt from this--period. Do not insult yourself by attempting to deny that fact. Be human, be real, be yourself: therefore it is okay to snap, be humorous, make mistakes, and it is okay to be human on Face-Book—not some corporate dummy, or someone’s mom, or someone’s sister, or someone’s daughter. But remember, sometimes employers would like to hold it against us which isn’t right, because we are being human and not perfect by any means. Think about what I have written because this is the way I see in myself, and I see in many of you. Take note: The most exciting thing that I have done in the past 10 days: I boarded a ferry and went across the ship channel. Why was it exciting to me? I closed my eyes, and smelled the water, while feeling the warmth of the sun on my face. I could hear ship horns in the distance. I heard sea gulls calling for morsels of food. I could feel a slightly light splash (a few droplets) of water as I leaned over soaking in the moment. I did not hear too much because I was concentrating on the water sounds hitting the side of the boat. Then I realized that this is a wonderful example of what God created for me. The sky has colors I can never possibly paint on canvas—truly bluer than blue. I was happy to the fact I was sharing it with 2 people I love very intently (my children.) I was then totally relaxed and in love with the world around us. My rose colored glasses saw no pollution, no hate, no anger, no pain, no starvation, no death, no blood, no guts, and no gore for the rest of the day. (And no I wasn’t doing drugs or drinking!)

Out-of-sight, Our-of-mind, Memorial Day?

Humans have a very short attention span in life. It generally lasts with the visual, “Out of sight out of mind.” (Thomas A. Kempis) For many of us once something is out of sight and out of mind we do not miss it until a stimulus comes along. Well that day of an annual stimuli is fast approaching. For many of us it is called Memorial Day. When I was younger, I use to think that it was a day for remembering our dead. It was originally called Decoration Day, a southern tradition that was started by the ladies of the south gathering together to decorate the graves of the dead soldiers of their long gone confederacy. Taken note by General John A Logan in 1868, he made it official under General Order Number 11 to where flowers were placed on all military graves, Union and Confederate. Toward the turn of the century it took hold and the rest is history. The interesting thing about all of this is we remember our dead service men and women on Memorial Day and our living service men and women on Veterans Day but is that sufficient. I choose not to celebrate either. Do not go clicking off this article before reading it through altogether. Do not take it upon yourselves to judge me yet. Let me tell you why I choose not to celebrate either. We shouldn’t be forced to say thank you or remember what our defense service person has done for us through a national holiday. It should not be an out-of-sight, out-of-mind experience. The celebration or the nationalism is no longer taught in schools the way it should be. The national pride of being an American is no longer existent in most cases. Think about it. On Memorial Day, most everyone takes off and goes to the lake, a park, or the beach. Some just stay at home and do yard work, sleep, and barbeque. But how many people actually take the time to attend one of the Memorial Services that is put on by collective cities, VFW posts, or some other service oriented group? Not many. How many people take the time to purchase a flag and actually go to cemetery and put it on a grave of a soldier? Not many. Our children are not taught the actual purpose or the meaning of something real. I recently took a poll and 2 out of 15 middle school teenagers and asked if they knew the purpose of Memorial Day. They didn’t. Of these 15 young people, I watched them very carefully; they did not know the Texas Pledge of Allegiance or the US Pledge of Allegiance for that fact. They stood during morning announcements and mumbled. These were not illegal aliens but full fledge US Citizens and they all knew English. When we think about remembering our dead, we should not only remember the good they had done for our country but the actual history behind their service, the purpose regardless whether we believe it right or wrong. For example, I was not a believer in the Vietnam War when I was fast approaching my teenage years. Yet, I supported the soldiers. I will never believe in the wars or conflicts in which our country has been a part of or is a part of since then, but I support our soldiers. Do not think I am contradictory by any means. I support our soldiers because they have done the job they have been hired to do. They have performed to the best of their ability in most cases. But most of all they have attempted to retain some human qualities about themselves in the face of killing or being killed. They have returned to a country and…..just that and…..are attempting to regain what was lost through time. But what was lost can never be retrieved. Those are the soldiers that come to our aid in a national disaster such as a hurricane or tornado. Those are the soldiers that left their spouses, their children, their family and their friends when called to go far from home and fight for freedoms that many us think we have but in actuality they are fighting for something or some obscure idea of money and power between national entities. The soldiers and the average person can’t even begin to understand this concept. It is sad. Those are the reasons I choose not celebrate Memorial Day or Veterans Day. I want to remember what my father did and why he remained my father until I was 32 years old. He was lucky. He was a veteran of the Korean War. His detachment was scheduled and went overseas without him. Why did he live and the others in his detachment die? He was sent to the hospital for an unknown rash during deployment and stayed there for weeks and then discharged honorably. He was highly allergic to wool and in those days the uniforms had a wool material content to them. I can remember (in later years) he tried on a wool suit, he broke out like crazy on his chest and arms. I choose to celebrate Veterans alive or deceased every day I am living. I walk up to the living soldier, a stranger to me, and shake their hand and say thank you – may God bless you for being my defender. I have taken many a flag and placed it on the grave of an unknown soldier to me. If we stop and take the time to remember the things we do and why we do them, then they wouldn’t be out-of-sight, out-of mind. Take the opportunity to honor that foot soldier, the Native American Indian, that Texas Hispanic, that Japanese American, that Chinese American, etc. Many of their ancestors fought for our freedoms as well. Being an American service person means so much more than just being a soldier. It could be that civil patrol man, who is dead now, that spotted the German U Boat off the shores in Mobile Bay. Or one of my grandmothers, who was a look out during the Civil War. The blood of our freedoms in America has no race, color, sex, sexual orientation, rhyme or reason regardless of what our history is. SUVCW and David Merchant. Origins of Memorial Day. 4th Apr. 2009. Web http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html 24th May 2012,

Meeting of Great Minds -- old band members

The Might Marching Panther Band of Murphy High School gathered together for the first time in years. It was limited to students who were under the direction of Larry Keating and the late E B Coleman on May 5. 2012. We honored Larry Keating by gifting a frame of memories, visiting, and sharing wonderful stories from “way passed when.” When I tell you “way passed when”: that would be a time when a lot of some things were considered teenage mischievousness and not illegal acts like they are now. It was truly an adventuresome weekend to say the least. Now done to business! The planners of the first meeting were unorganized. We learned; that is Regina, Maurissa and I realized that we needed help and a lot more people to be involved. So Maurissa and I realized that Regina is the best organized of the three of us, we sort of appointed her leader—president official of the 1st ever Murphy Band Alumni (only under the direction of Larry Keating and E B Coleman.) Why these two men? Why now and why them? That would be what many would ask. To quote Dr. David Crump (while looking at picture of Larry Keating shouting at band students in Ladd Stadium, “Don’t mill around with head down like a bunch of cattle!”

He is correct. We had to look forward to something and look up. That is why each and everyone I have shared the band experience with over 90% are really very rich in self esteem and successful in their own right! We have all done that, looked up for something because we are something spectacular. It may have taken some of us longer to get there but we did it. To quote Kevin J Conlon, VP of Academic Affairs at the Columbus College of Arts and Design, “We were a great band!” Being great at something means we are only as good as we were taught and to be the best you have to have great leaders. We had the best – both the economically affluent and the economically challenged. Our shoes where white as white as our gloves and our hat brims had to be the reflection of ourselves, confident, clean, and to command a performance of superior. I am not saying we were perfect by any means. We were down-right dangerous in most cases! But as I have realized in putting together the memories and finding the people, I find nothing negative so far. Oh I sure there are negative things but I have not looked for them. It has always been my nature in the past to look for the sour, the sorted, and the negative things in most people but why not this group of people? When I go into searching for the missing, I see something special, a common bond, a uniform to wear, and an emotional warmness. We are all politically diverse, different religions, and so many different professions. Even though I try to avoid coming into any contact with my ex-sister-in-law (because of familial reasons) I find myself thinking of her with a little caring compassion, fondly of that rifle captain whom I practice 10 hours of rifle twirling and tossing with to get it right. Oh the aches and the pains we experienced. I also have met some band members that were there before and after I graced those Spanish walls of Murphy High School. I have also been made privy to some very special hopes and dreams, illnesses, and death. I have discovered three band members deceased so far; two that I shared the news with just earlier today. One former student had no idea that our former band directors (Larry Keating) eldest son had passed away, Alan. It does sadden me to think that the world will never realize just what a great musician he really was. But it doesn’t have to end there. Another one was Carmen Garriz Longino (sister to Patricia Garriz) passed away from a lengthy illness and then the untimely sudden death of Joanne Scruggs. But all in all we were special. Not in an angelic way either but in a humanism type realistic way to question, was it real? We really didn’t stick to our own world either. Larry Keating and E B Coleman dared themselves to venture to other countries with us. They led us to the Netherlands, Mexico, Disney World, and other great places all across the south including a performance at the Super Bowl in the “then new” Super Dome in New Orleans, LA. What happened to us all? We grew up. We left the famous halls and went out into the world to see suffering, pain, happiness, work, blood, gore, guts, death, and all the wonderful things that our young people today very seldom can escape at such a young age. We are now a collective group of homemakers, husband, wives, widows, widowers, divorcees, life-long partners, doctors, painters, students, musicians, educators, professors, scientists, entrepreneurs, conductors, business men, business women, technology specialist, nurses, stylists, brokers, surgeons, geologists, photographers, missionaries, appraisers, engineers, conductors, veteran political activists, food managers, insurance adjusters, therapists, food workers, bankers, lawyers, writers, communication specialist, media specialist, real estate agents, architects, and so much more. We are society that once touched each other’s life. These are the people, even though thru a brief moment in history, gave something to a group they happened to bond with. In learning that lesson, they learned to give of themselves throughout life and that is what makes a successful person. These are the richest people in the world. Richer than any sports ball player could ever have it, these were musical talents and performing artists who won life on their terms and conquered. When we meet again, and we will, we will walk away like before feeling wonderfully charged to have been associated with each other at one time or another. We will go back to our lives and give more of ourselves because that was what we were trained today by Larry Keating’s direction and E B Coleman’s enforcement. Oh our parents had a helping hand in there, but these two men will always be considered special to us when our parents weren’t looking. For the future: I would personally like to see the collective group gather and hopefully form a permanent association for the advancement of at least one person a year. That is correct. There is at least one musician that can follow us and that we can see after to become something wonderful. We can give just a little bit more of ourselves. We can start a scholarship fund for a needy musical artist from the Murphy High School Band. I met Stan Chapman, the current band director. Even though he is not our Larry Keating or E B Coleman, he teaches with such a conviction that he too would be a hard act to follow. I also met a few of his band members and they had that “ego” look of greatness in their eyes. In speaking with Alexis Gould Beegle today, she mentioned him in fondness as a dedicated teacher of music. Bobby Keating and Larry Keating spoke of him as a respected colleague and in very high regards as have other former members who have watched the band from afar. Since this scholarship was suggested when we first met on May 5th this year, it will be placed on the table next year with many more of us to make a decision. There is already an E B Coleman scholarship fund from what I understand. Larry Keating stated that when he meets with his band group in Florida, they are thinking about starting a scholarship fund in the name of his old band director. I had to ask if his old band director was still living. Larry replied, “Why yes he is!” (When he answered he had a smile on his face.) According to Larry, he is up there in age. So ladies and gentleman, get ready. Open your hearts. We are going to make a difference in a life for at least one young person to become leaders among leaders like us in society—but to their own tune!

Book Review "Why Read"

Review of Mark Edmundson’s Why Read? “Why should I read? I do not understand the majority of what I do read.” That is a bold opening line for an essay. That was me when I was 29 years old, pregnant, stuck in bed by my physician, watching limited boring television until someone brought me a grocery bag full of all types of paperbacks to read. I learned to read and step outside that “societal box.” The “societal box” is the old custom of the way a southern woman was supposed to be – wife and mother. [Fast forward] the time is 2011 and I have just finished reading Mark Edmundson’s Why Read? It is a very interesting book about why students should read, comparing the educational knowledge and wisdom of the Liberal Arts reader to other professions, interpretations, instructional methods, and more. It is an over-whelming book that I cannot agree with wholeheartedly. I also think this book is too long winded, repetitive, and lacking in the real support of individualism—after all reading is part of life in every aspect whether or not a person is 6 years old or 76 years old. It is humanly impossible for an average human being not to read once they get past the age of 6 years old. (Keep in mind that will always be exceptions to this rule.) It is important not to confuse plain reading with comprehension. Reading, though, is a second nature to every single person able to do so. In this book, I honestly feel that, Edmundson wanted to convey that if we do not read, how can we learn about ourselves—our likes and dislikes in life? (5) This is a great notion that does not pertain to gender, race, culture, religion, or sexual orientation; reading is equally open to all persons. I feel that the core to his argument is the value of liberal reading – such as in a liberal arts program. These are the types of curriculum that train many a collegiate student to go out and take their place in the world with an avant-garde wisdom, dogma, or training needed to be prolific in today’s society—almost in any area. If that being the core of his argument, I am not so sure I agree with it. In the summer of 2002 and summer of 2011, Hardwick Day conducted a study (2700 person telephone interviews) exploring the “lasting effects of college in such areas as career preparation and advancement, skill development, development of personal and professional values and attitude, and community involvement.” (Salem College) Key findings: 1. 75% of Liberal Arts degree people rated excellent compared to 53% of other graduates 2. 70% of Liberal Arts degree people benefited from a highly-qualified teaching-oriented instructor, compared 63% of private and 40% public universities 3. 88% of Liberal Arts degree stated there was a sense of community among students compared to 79% of private and 63% public universities. (Salem College) These results just support other surveys previously conducted that state; the students are happiest and more successful in Liberal Arts Programs, because it gave them an edge in writing and speaking. This was compared to other degree programs not in a humanities type development. (Salem College) I do not agree with this is because of the actual value of the education that a younger person might receive. I am not speaking of financial value but an emotional value of appreciation in literature beyond the collegiate levels. In this book, I did not make a connection other than through the economic, the “pocket book.” It is true general knowledge that there will always be a certain amount of students who will not choose to take a liberal arts program because of the reading. These types of jobs will be in the industry of computers, finance, technical/medical support staff, or some type of science related industry. But will these individuals be opting out to get a good dose of learned wisdom as Edmundson implied? (10-11) Drawing on personal experience, there is not a guarantee with any educational training that a student will be the wiser for having taken it even if they happen to excel to become degreed. For example, just because a doctor is a learned person, doesn’t make them a good doctor or a wise doctor. The same interpretation can be made about nurses, lawyers, judges, teachers, social workers, anthropologists, or police officers. Edmundson did not make any relative point about what is the difference between a liberal arts student reading a Jane Austen novel in a freshman collegiate literature class compared to a nurse reading Jane Austen when they are middle aged? The student may be prompted to compare the characteristic fiber with her own self-discovery for a paper grade. The nurse may approach the characters with her own self-discovery in an imaginary sense. I am assuming that it would be highly unlikely that either reader would spend any quality time to research the actual author since she has become a Hollywood iconic type figure. Both readers would learn that this Jane Austen book was written during a period of romanticism about the English entitled and a slight mixing of the social classes generally in a country side setting. The overall balance obtained would be equal – both being the better for having read it. It doesn’t necessarily mean that either of them is wiser than the other because of the reader’s ages. There also will be people who just do not want to choose a liberal arts program for whatever reason—that are perfectly suited for the profession they have entered into—with the utmost wisdom. Another area of this book that was attractive and a bit comical was pertaining to instructional methods. In a class last summer (that I took), the instructor wrote something along the lines in his syllabus that he will not debate creationism in any sense with any student because this is an anthropology class. “In other words, we teachers strike an unspoken agreement with religion and its dispenser. They do their work, we do ours.” (23) This basically begins the passage “The World According to Jerry Falwell.” Edmundson is correct in his summation, however, someone (from personal memory) forget to tell that to the late Brother Falwell that religion, education, and politics does not make for a happy camper! One word that I feel that Edmundson should have used in addressing religion is objectivity. This should have been enforced with the argument that it is okay to feel the way you do whether other people agree with you or not. I personally do not think this is stressed in educational literature enough. This type of humanities cultivation is imperative regardless of the degree path---something that Edmundson doesn’t stress at all in Why Read? I concur with Edmundson about “Religion is the right place to start a humanities course, for a number of reasons….” (25) One thing that I learned from a Religion 101 class and a class called Mysticism in America (both humanity type classes) is to question our own beliefs and how we came to feel about the way we did. It doesn’t mean that you doubt the word of God. These types of classes without the assistance of people like Oral Roberts, Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham, Jimmy Swaggart, or Joel Osteen can encourage a person (regardless of their age) to research their spirituality, to re-examine ideals, and question about historically religious physical findings with the written Biblical word. It can enhance a person’s (like it did me) understanding of why they are a Christian. It helped me to understand that there are underlying Biblical messages that God really wants us to question our faith with every decision we make in life and how we live our lives. Being well read in philosophies of religions can also help us gain a greater respect for other cultures as well. Edmundson covered a lot of this in his book. The “Final Narratives” section is appealing because of the “what if’s” type question that Edmundson suggests to his students. This section is like the great age of exploration. “I ask about how they image the good life. I ask, sometimes, how they picture their lives in ten years if all turns out for the best. I want to know what they hope to achieve in politics, in their professions, in family life, in love.” (27) The instructional method for reading at this point is vitally important because it details the student’s imagination and gets them to formulate specific feeling of where they are now and tend to be within a specific time period. For each time an instructor questions a student (unless the student has cauliflower for brains) the “brain” is thinking, which enhances the leads to a prompt for writing in a literary type method. “The objective is to help students place their ultimate narratives in the foregrounds and open themselves up to influence.” (137) There is so much that can be related when combining religion and spirituality with sociology, history, psychology, ethics, economics, and sciences that many scholars just do not actuality understand in their collegiate academics. However, Edmundson did not state this evidently; he stated repetitious examples of great authors and the meaning of how they felt on how reading would improve (empower) the average student; the examples do not necessarily connect these areas as a whole. Just because Edmundson gives us an academic explanation, doesn’t mean we are going to understand it. “So far Emerson has made the process of human expansion seem almost automatic, as though it were a matter of natural evolutionary force.” (29) Really! I always thought that we are born, grow, and grow older, return close to helplessness like we were at birth and die. Is that not evolutionary? I, like so many, learn that in literature but 5th or 6th grade science. The soul has nothing to do with this. I am sure that in the 1800s when Emerson wrote it might have been a discovery but in 2011 – oh woo! A student studying Emerson (with this natural evolutionary force) would possibly have the tendency to yawn and fall asleep.

Students who fell asleep in a basic literature class at a North Carolina Technical College. Emerson would have good use to teach future educators to instruct their students the elements for comprehension of historical literature. It is really nice of Edmundson to mention all the great poets and philosophical writers, but is it wise to loan so much to the historical expression and less to the current manner of literature. I am not referring to the word “Pop” or even “pop-culture.” (128) (Pop is not literature but a soda that goes right through you!) One of the considerable awakenings for me in liberal arts or Why Read? is the now compared to then. 20th Century literature “which is more and more taught at universities, usually cannot offer such prospects.” (130) Is the author telling us that Toni Morrison cannot be as effective as Emerson? Does a literary writer need to have written more than 100 years ago to be great? I feel as if on pages 128 to 136 is short changing the intellect of many. Yes it is true that “unlike Faulkner, King did not write ‘works of universal human significance.’” King sure did make a lot of money as a writer and there are several of his books worth looking at in a literary sense. Examples such as Delores Claiborne or Coffey on the mile had a tremendous amount of self discovery as well as being just well written books. Delores Claiborne offered the question of “how far would a mother go to protect her child?” Coffey on the mile is about consequences and actions in a series of books. It eventually became incorporated in the movie Green Mile. If a student walked away “unsatisfied” after reading King then the teacher must have lacked the “universal” insight of “human significance” to be able to teach the valuable form of that author. (133) Teachers should be attentive more so to the current century of literature that would catch the attention of their students. After all what is the purpose of this book? It is to get students to read, to be able to write about their reading experiences, to get them to study and question about themselves, and to learn. The most prepared instructor (or school system) should be able to compromise on their choice of good reading material. For example: if students are going to read a Shakespearian play then they also need to read Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile and other Plays. I agree with Edmundson that students “need to know what’s worth taking seriously, and what’s a noisy diverson.” (134) Television made movies also shouldn’t by any means intimidate educators but enhance their methods. A great example of this is Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, William Faulkner’s Long Hot Summer, Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Homer’s Troy, Sir Thomas Malory’s Lancelot of the Lake, or Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. This is where Edmundson on page 135 should have had an imagination and said “hey look at this method of teaching” which he failed to do. I have actually sat down and read Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I am so glad that I did because it gave me a chance to discuss it with my friends, certain family members, and my children who were all buffs of the movie. Since then many of my friends have read the book to get a greater understanding and are glad they read it. Edmundson doesn’t realize or may not want to cover the subject of “spoon feeding literature” to students. The most insights that I gained from this book is when Edmundson included Orwell (a great literary genius in my opinion) and his essay about Charles Dickens in this book. (96) I like Orwell because he is “dark” in his styles of literature. I have to admit, I have never read Charles Dickens (until recently) and I hope to never read him again after completing Hard Times in another class. I have to say, I now loathe Dickens. I have to agree with Edmundson’s interpretation of Orwell that Dickens really lacked imagination. (97) My point is not every student, reader, or literary critic is going to get the same appreciation of a book as another. If Edmundson thinks that the proper teaching method to awaken the inner self of all students, then this is a great pep-talk book for humanity teachers but far from being 100% realistic. Why read? should have basically stuck to the 4 variables (principles) as to why people do or should read: 1. Academic, 2. Entertainment, 3. Academic Entertainment, and 4. Personal appeal. (8) Instead he elaborated on those principles and stretched the information into 146 pages of useless banter. An instructor in tune with teaching their students and the subject matter objectively – should be about obtaining the knowledge from the students after reading any work—regardless of the matter. Students who obtain a liberal arts degree may very well in fact be more content with themselves for having done so, but not all students are wiser for it. Not all students can handle this type of course load for the reading requirements (as I have stated earlier.) Not all students are cut the same and this is why I disagree with some of the subject matter that he is trying to convey. If teachers would like to learn how students feel about the material that they read, then let them read, let them discuss, let them write about their experiences with the material. Previous opinions of a subject matter are important, but not necessarily that of the student reader who may see things differently than Orwell or Edmundson and for that matter even me. Freud, in my opinion, should be kept out of literature interpretation, because he is a skeleton, an outdated father of psycho analysis. Finally let us not make our literature a thing of the “deep dark psyche” that everyone should have an epitamy of self discover, because humanly speaking why should we. From personal experience in my BLS (Bachelor of Liberal Arts Studies) the easiest was to get a student to read is to present the material and a series of questions. If a student has a problem with this, then maybe the student shouldn’t be in those types of classes. My son is one of those students who would be totally lost in a Liberal Arts program, but my daughter would thrive on it. Does this stop my son from reading? No it does not. He gains extreme personal insight from technical reading and or audio books. If Edmundson would have really thought about all of this, the ultimate introduction for literature is in the earlier grades (as I have stated.) It should be spoon fed slowly to build up an appreciation. By the time these students reach collegiate level, they will be thoroughly trained and read. They will have obtained variant degrees of wisdom and knowledge. Then they can make better choices about what types of careers to choose from and how their character was formed by this type of method. Edmundson’s ideas were similar to mine but with the overwhelming amount of information in his book (Why read?). It was hard to differentiate and absorb. It was geared mainly toward the college levels only which is why I did not totally agree with him. Works Cited Edmundson, Mark. Why Read? Bloomsburg: New York. 2004. Salem College, Liberal Arts Program Study. Hardwick Day: North Carolina. 2002, 2011. Web 23rd November 2011. http://www.salem.edu/news/study-reveals-graduates-of-salem-and- other -liberal-arts-colleges-feel-better-prepared-for-lifes-challenges

A true mentor.

As an adult and parent at 52 years old, I realized that I had never had a vacation with either of my children. This year, I had finally made up my mind that I will take one but with a purpose. I was returning to my hometown. The high school band that I was a member of for [about] 3 ½ years was having a gathering, a reunion. We were honoring a mentor—a very special person, our band director. Only he didn’t know it at the time—Larry Keating. I had once asked his son, Bobby, “Were we really bad students that gave him a hard time?” “Yes” according to Bobby. Well he is correct! We did give him a tremendous of difficulty but no more than we probably would have given our parents. Come to think about it, yes we gave him more difficulty than our parents ever knew about. I started to think, how did Larry Keating survive? There were many lovely faces there; it was like seeing a great wine mixture that had fermented to perfection with age. I looked collectively at years of growth. There were also many missing from this past weekend which some have passed on and some were just unable to attend. But I happened to think about what Walt Whitman had written about Lincoln having his worth in his pocket; a man’s worth is what is in his pocket when he passes from this place to the next. I would like to take it one step further. A man may not have much in his pocket, but it was how the man lived his life. Our memories will die with us and we will take them beyond unlike our physical possessions. Larry was a band director with an associate E.B. Coleman. He directed and E.B. followed through—almost like a god-father would in the Mafia. Larry directed a correction and E.B. Coleman had a board that went across the “butts” of America. We had to respect our uniform, our band, our school, our city, our country and then ourselves. It only took one “pop” and a dare for another before we understood and he would dare us not to cry. We received that message in the deepest sense of the word that registered in our brain whole-heartedly. The lessons we learned was self esteem. Then pretty soon, after the end of the 1st showing, we had an ego—there was no one greater than us with the belief we could do anything we wanted. To put together the ideal show, Larry would have us meet a while as a music instrumental section (like the trombones, trumpets, flutes, etc.) Then we met as wood winds and brasses; then as a whole. Our performance had to be perfect precision because it was detailed which was marked to the beat of the music. I had learned like many others, anything worth doing is worth doing well. Not having a totally functional home life, those actions and words of Larry Keating haunted me when things were really bad for me because of illnesses. I had come to a period in my life that I couldn’t realize tomorrow. Larry came to me and I could see his hands clap and tell me “again until you get it right.” He was a mentor that touched so many and I realized that his purpose in life (that God afforded him) was to motivate many. He did just that! His words from the 70s motivated me to continue living and make a change toward the better. So I was a little late in doing so. Now I am not putting this man too high on pedestal, because God moves in mysterious ways. He is human like the rest of us. He just motivated us to be the best we could be. This is the best lesson that a child could learn. It is a lesson that last a life time. These are the lessons that many speak about “it takes a community to raise a child.” Larry Keating helped to raise more than his fair share of about a 1,000 or more children. What is even greater, he is a live, living and will live more through the eyes of so many. He was our mentor, honorable to us. Today, the big question on the table is “where is the E.B. Coleman Board?” It was the board that touched more butts in America than a standard pair of pants. The board is trophy that should be displayed in the Halls of Murphy High School in Mobile, Al. We knew not the board of E.B. Coleman except with Larry Keating direction in the rising of more than 1,000 children. EBC rest in peace and Larry—thank you.