Poems

Lights Out!

81 Comments

Today’s post comes from perennial sophomore Bubby Spamden.

Hey, Mr. C.,

I’m really pumped about some new research coming out of the University of Minnesota, which seems to confirm what I’ve been saying for years to the administrators at Wendell Wilkie High – it’s a waste of everybody’s time for the high school day to start at 7:30 am! Me and my friends cannot wake up that early in the morning. We’re just lurching around for at least the first two class periods of the day.

You know how zombies are always looking everywhere for brains because they don’t have any of their own? That’s us!

So now a bunch of high schools are finding a way to start as late as 8:30 or even 9 am, which would be awesome if we could get that at Wilkie. And it pays off!. Test scores are better, and more people are actually paying attention in class, which has the teachers all freaked out. Some of them haven’t been listened to by anybody in years.

At the start of second hour last Wednesday, me and Ashley found Ms. Hecubensen sitting at her desk, weeping. When we asked her what was wrong she said somebody had asked her a question in first hour, and it wasn’t about going to the bathroom. That had never happened before!  And then there we were, asking if she was all right, which just made her cry even more.

That got me thinking. One thing that could mess up the benefits of a later school starting time would be if students just got distracted by social media and stuff and stayed up extra late and came in exactly as tired as before, just one hour later.

So Ashley and me wrote some lullabies to keep that from happening. We used the tune of “Rock-a-Bye Baby” because it’s the only lullaby we know. And we did it during second hour because Ms. Hecubensen is our new favorite teacher.

Since we had that “real” moment together, we know she likes us too much to yell at us.

Rock-a-bye Freshmen, Twitter can wait.
Facebook will always have an update.
Turn off your laptop, lower your lids.
And stop your complaining, you little kids.

Rock-a-bye Sophomores. Texting must end.
None of those people are really your friend.
No one can bully you while you rest,
Your brain needs some sleep to prepare for that test!

Get some rest Juniors, because you can.
Now that you are such fine women and men.
Your sophistication runs very deep
And you can’t be awkward while you’re asleep.

Rock-a-bye Seniors. Lead lying down.
Dream of yourself in a cap and a gown.
Soon enough you will be looking for work
so rock-a-bye Seniors. Sleeping’s a perk.

When should the day begin?

81 thoughts on “Lights Out!”

  1. Morning all. At least one baboon on the Trail can’t seem to sleep past 5:30 or 6… even when it’s dark. Once summer arrives, it will be earlier!

    Like

    Reply

  2. Good morning. I would like to start my day a little later. With my usual bed time, I am a little short on sleep when I get up in the morning. Usually I am awake by 5 or shortly after that and can’t get back to sleep. I actually like getting up early, but I also like staying up fairly late.

    I blame my early raising time on my parents who spent part of their youth on dairy farms where you had to get up early to milk the cows. I think that some how they transferred that habit of getting up early over to me. Also, my Dad told me he liked the early morning when it was quiet except for the songs of birds. I agree with what he said. On the other hand I like the social life that can extend late into the evening. I would like to “burn the candle” at both ends. However, I do need my sleep and I want to find a way to get more sleep by not getting up so early, maybe at 6 or 6:30.

    Like

    Reply

    1. While I was in the early years of my life-long “Christian Education” I discovered a universal method for sleep remedy. Read the King James Version of the Holy Bible. For most people if they start at the beginning with Genesis they usually will not make it to the Flood story.

      Like

      Reply

      3. hey rico, i am getting my bike ready to go. hard a 15 mile trek i considered the other night but was concerned about the refreeze of the roads for the return trip at 930.
        welcome back.

        Like

        Reply

  3. My daughter has been working on a surprising problem. My grandson, four-year-old Liam, is a polite and sweet child almost all of the time, but he is often disruptive at school. This is truly hard to understand, for it is so unlike the way he is most of the time. While working with his teachers on this problem, Molly heard that Liam behaves like a chronically under-slept child.

    Molly and John adore Liam, and both feel guilty about all the time they spend away from him. Those feelings led them to drift into a pattern of playing with Liam after coming home from work, then eating a late meal and putting him to bed at 11 or so. The new program has Liam in bed by 9:30, and he usually falls asleep within minutes. His former schedule was wildly out of balance.

    Like

    Reply

    2. how nice that they figured it out. now if they can get him to bed at 8 when children should be in bed they will be all set. my kids are definite on their sleep needs. the oldest needs 8 hours plus. at age 2 he started going off to bed at 730 and was always asleep by 8 his sister 2 years younger was always up and anxious to interact and was awake when i had fallen asleep. the others are all normal but the first two were the extremes.
      our youngest daughter got to go to grade school on a schedule that had her at the bus stop at 5 minutes after 9 her sister needed to be at the bus stop at 6:55 . the 9 am kid liked her days better but now they both start at 715ish and have adapted but… school should begin at 9. there is no reason to have kids getting up at 6 to get ready to go its mean and abusive. and the schools kicking them out at the end of the day and not having buses to take them home ticks me off too.

      my day… ebbs and flows with the cosmos and there are days when 6 am is too late and when 8 am is too early. i remember in my youth sleeping til noon but there were some extra curricular activities that i hear robbed me of the rem portion of sleep and while i am resentful that that side effect comes with all the wonderful side effects of the aforementioned extra curricular activities i guess there needs to be a price to pay on this earth and a lesson that no good deed goes unpunished is one of the lessons learned along with others along the way

      our friend bubby is such a lazy waste of a life that it makes you sad. i get upset with my kids when they exhibit the bubby mentality and the energy spent to try to do less is exhausting to me to witness. the work ethic of the youth of today sucks and it is a refreshing moment that finds someone with the proper focus going the extra yard to do what is possible rather than trying to figure out was to avoid situations where opportunity to do something (anything) might reside.

      that said the schools have really taken the path of no resistance to the nth degree in the laziness on the part of the administration to do anything for the student other than provide the neccessay elements to receive state funding. my daughter in 9th grade made the huge decision to commit to the world of the arts after discovering that is where her eart lies she is a writer when stimulated that writes incredible stirring provocative prose about topics that come out of nowhere. she is a vocal theater enthusiast and would be the starry eyed youth in chorus line given the chance she loves theater and is heart broken that her mentor at childrens theater is taking a new position in north carolina (do you think winter 2014 may have had something to do with it?) i told her that you must savor the good stuff while its there and try to recognize it before it disappears. she went to the school with all her arts sisterhood and discovered that my warning over the years that arts schools taught singing and dancing but the english math science smoke and mirrors performed there left a bit to be desired. we had two meeetings with the heads of the school and they didnt get it. didnt care, and thought they had a beautiful building with lots of students and it wasnt too hard for anyone and if we wanted higher level classes we should have specified that need. we didnt realize that higher level is what they called engaged brains.

      my other daughter has a brain that works just fine but is still searching for a direction to find her. she studied piano and trumpet at mac phail and was doing good but….. dump the piano, dump the trumpet and when i suggested that she take advanced english to push herself a little and also take trumpet at school without the lessons she agreed. english has been great.(they are reading wonder right now and getting ready for a midsummer nights dream by reading bill brysons shakespeare as part of the curriculum but when she asked if she could switch to chior because the band not working for her i agreed that it would be ok. we went to the band teacher and were told it was not possible. wait til next year. i had a talk with the vice pricnciple the counselor and the teacher and thought i had it straightened out and discovered after christmas break that they had not made the change and would not discuss it any further. really pissed me off. i got her into the before school choir on thursdays and its 2 performances at shoppping mall rotundas as a bandaid but really is it difficult? the bums that show up for work as educators should be released to wal mart greeter status and let some inspiration occur in the learning enviornment . please.

      i am only a little concerned about what time the get them up. its what they get them up for.

      Like

      Reply

    3. My parents had the same dilemma as Liam’s. They kept me up late, too, so they could spend time with me.I had a baby sitter (Mrs.Olson) come to the house to take care of me, so I could stay to late and sleep until noon. When I started morning Kindergarten, it was so hard to get up and change my night owl ways. I see many children with sleep issues, and getting them to bed earlier makes a huge difference.

      Like

      Reply

      1. oh i remember the face my daughter made when she went form the enthusiasm she had for being able to go to the first grade to the realazation shhe was going to have to get up at 6 am to do it. it is one of those moments that will be frozen in my memory forever form the big starry eyed smile to the crunching of th eeyebrows in the acknowledgement of the thought that maybe … no its for sure… this is going to be the deal…. i have to get up at 6??? … arghhhhhhhh!!!!. her thumb shot into her mouth and she had some serious thinking to do…

        Like

        Reply

    4. Darling Daughter has been a late night kid (for a kid) since she came into the world. I have heard tales of children going to bed as early as 7:30 or 8, but if I do that for Miss S she’s up again at 11. So she goes upstairs around 9 and has some time to read, lights out at 9:30. It helps that she doesn’t need to be up on school days until 7:30 and weekends she can sleep in (though mostly she wakes up on her own around 8:30 on weekends). We had a hard time when she had to be up earlier in the morning for school because she just can’t get to sleep any before 9pm – made for an ornery girl if she had too many short nights, and try as we might, even moving the bed time earlier in increments, we could get her into the bed, but she still didn’t fall asleep until 9 or after. Just glad she can get the 10 hours of sleep she seems to need most nights. (So all those parents who would talk about “getting things done after the kid goes to sleep”…um, yeah – I think that’s a myth.)

      Like

      Reply

  4. So Bubby, tell us more about this Ashley….

    MY day can start very early indeed. 5am sounds good. I do prefer that the rest of the world not get involved until maybe 8-8:30.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Agreed. I’ve been here in the office since 6:45 and it’s been nice and quiet. Unfortunately I’ve heard the door open three of four times in the last 20 minutes, which means it’s going to start getting noisy… so I’ll be escaping soon!

      Like

      Reply

        1. Not usually but I’m having a pretty brutal high season this year. Two folks left… learning curve too high for any new hires to be any use right away, so the programs fell on those of us who are left behind.

          Like

    2. father in law was the delta airlines guy at o hare for 25 years. he liked the 4am start time to prepare for the first flights and get things in order, have 5 hours under his belt when the biosses showed up at 9 and then only had to put up with them for a couple of hours before he got to go home. he cooked dinner to be served at 5:01 every night and left the dishes for his wife to clean up. life can be simple.

      Like

      Reply

  5. I remember the days (80s Rule!) when I actually walked to school. Even in grade school, there is no such thing as “Elementary” education. Yes, I did have to walk up a hill. In fact my school WAS at the top of a hill. Good old Garfield Elementary in Faribault Minnesota. A place where you were shunned if you did not pronounce the town’s name correctly. That would be (Faribo). Thanks for the reminder Mr. C and Bubby.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I have fond memories of walking to and from school, though it wasn’t uphill – wish more kids got to do that now.

      Like

      Reply

      1. After 2 years of a very long (about an hour each way) bus ride, the s&h is pretty happy to be walking to school again.

        There was also a proposal to have the school start at 7:30am instead of our current 8:40am. While there would be advantages with the bus service we use-family comment against it was so strong, it was nixed before the scheduled meeting to discuss it.

        Like

        Reply

      2. I have never seen the inside of a school bus. As everyone did in my generation, we walked to school. It was seven blocks. But remember, we did those seven blocks four times a day, since we came home for lunch. So in terms of fitness, we had 28 blocks of brisk walking in our day before we did anything else.

        Like

        Reply

        1. If you were anything like me, Steve, the walk home from school at the end of the day was anything but brisk.

          Like

        2. It seems we were different. I used to rush home and grab my fishing gear, which I kept near the back door of our home I’d shout to let Mom know I had made it home, then I’d run down to Squaw Creek in front of our home and be fishing maybe 15 minutes after leaving school. We’d fish until dusk.

          Like

        3. I know you don’t like to eat fish, so I’m curious as to what you did with all the fish you presumably caught, Steve? Did you catch and release?

          Like

        5. I’m not that far behind you, and, sure, people who lived in town walked to school. But if you live out in the country and have a 16-mile walk just to get to school, buses are the way to go. A friend of mine in high school had about a 60-mile bus ride (one way).

          Like

    2. I was a crossing guard when I went to elementary school and helped younger kids cross streets safely.

      Like

      Reply

      2. I think what I did was called being “Crossing Guard” or it might have been “Traffic Monitor.”? We had little white belts, sort of military in design, that bore badges and proclaimed our authority. We stood at corners with a lot of traffic. When there were cars moving, we held our arms out to stop kids from crossing until it was safe. I have a fuzzy memory of the afternoon a kid named Corky ran under my arms and hit a passing car with an audible thump. Corky spun in two or three somersaults before coming to rest in a pile of leaves by the curb. I was too stunned to speak. Corky brightly announced, “Corky LIKES to go like that!” And with that, he got to his feet and continued to run home.

        Like

        Reply

  6. Ideally7:00 seems to me like a good time to start the day, but I only do that when I’ve gone to bed early… As noted above, it IS hard to quit at the end of the day.

    Like

    Reply

  7. for years i started nmy day with the bathtub running, grabbing the newspaper, brewing up a pot of coffe and smoking a half a pack of cigartettes in the tub listening to the radio readinng the newspaper and getting right with the world. the internet showed up and required participation rather than acclimation and now participation is a 24/7 factor on this universe. the 60 minutes feature on the big brother aspect of society today is disturbing but not surprising. i dont care when it starts it is how it starts that is important to me. the rituals and step by step awakenings are the key.

    Like

    Reply

    1. My mother once told the lady next door it was getting harder to get going in the morning. Mom admitted she must be getting older. The next door lady said, “Awww honey, that sounds hard! Poor you. Me, I just have two Bloody Marys and a cigarette, and I’m good to go.”

      Like

      Reply

      1. i think about that guy at the german hardware show bed and breakfast who came down to breakfast at 8 am looking tough with his two associates. he ordered a beer and went to the buffet where he did grab some solids. his two friends had a brisk conversation and he ate a littel food.ordered another beer and had a littel more food and joined a bit in the conversation, he ordered one more beer before i left and by the time it arrived and i was leaving he was upa nd running on all cylanders. i often wionder what it would be like to go on cruise control under a controlled substance for a prolonged period of time.
        remember brave new worrld where aldous huxley the opium fan’s had his character’s mother go live on the indian reservation where she could sit around all day long and do soma to make her days go by. i wonder if a week or tow of that wouldnt hit the spot. kind of a waste but what a nice waste if could be given the proper circumstances

        Like

        Reply

  8. Yawn. Good morning. (rubbing the sleep out of my eyes…)
    I’m like Jim; I want to stay up late. But there was those cows for a lot of years.

    Daughter needs her sleep but is an expert ‘staller’ at bedtime.
    Son and wife were too alike and butted heads all the time. Daughter and I are too alike and she DRIVES ME CRAZY! (ripping out what little hair I have anymore).

    And we are lucky in the fact she has special needs and we have IEP meetings and a good relationship with the teachers that they were all on board to say ‘Let her sleep a little later, don’t push her (because she’s on her own schedule and deviation from her schedule is darn near impossible) and if she’s 15 minutes late to school it’s not the end of the world.’

    Like

    Reply

    2. I’m second generation dairy farm. My Dad always acted like sleeping in was a sign of moral degeneration, but I got the real scoop from the actual dairy farmer, my grandfather, my dad’s father.

      When my grandparents were first married, they had a hired hand to help out (this was 1931-Grandpa had several interesting farmhands-city men who would do just about anything for pay). Early one morning, they woke up to some noises and realized it was the farmhand starting the day. Well, Grandpa couldn’t have the farmhand starting work before he did, so he got in the habit. It wasn’t too long before be realized that if you got started pretty early, you would also be done early enough to have a night out once in awhile.

      I had no idea how much my grandparents enjoyed a good time, until after my grandmother had died, and Grandpa felt free to tell the stories.

      Like

      Reply

  10. I love early mornings, and it’s a good thing because Daisy likes to get an early start. As Bill discovered, when we were in Mexico, and he and Robin were taking care of her, she has a pretty accurate internal clock that tells her when it’s time to rouse the household. Six o’clock is pretty much when likes to get going. She’s pretty content to sleep most of the day, but she doesn’t miss her early morning feeding time.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Our Ginger is just the same. He starts purring really loud and kneading our backs the minute NPR comes on the clock radio at 5:45.

      Like

      Reply

        1. OUr Princess Beatrice has taken on that job as well. Very persistant she is too. Will take a good mouthful of your hair and YANK! if you are considering rolling over and going back to sleep. Resistance is futile.

          Like

    2. my basset (bless her ancient soul) lives for those food moments. she is torn a little bit between catching my wrath for getting up at the slightest sound of movement for the feeding as the first act of the day. if there is no movement the sun is the clue . daylight savings time takes a few days to sink in. it is interesting how she catches on. my other two dogs like the day to begin but if the ate well (started feeding them scraps rather than throwing them out) they will sleep in and not care ata ll about the first meal coming now or even in the first couple hours of the morning. they graze over the day. the basset eats everything in sight and anticipates the next moment for another morsel at all times of the day or night living exclusively to pounce on a crumb dropped on the floor or snarf a sandwich left in an opportune location as a primary function of existance. my cats yowell for food if ther eis none up and coming by say 8 but otherwise are on chasing mice all night and bringing me trophies and sleeping in the sunny locations that vary as the day progresses and the weather fluxuates. you know fish arent so bad. ben how are the chickens?

      Like

      Reply

      1. Don’t know about Ben’s chickens, but Helen’s girls are pretty vocal if they are not let out at the crack of dawn. I think that’s why I’m their favorite ‘sitter.’ I can’t bear the thought of them sitting in their coop, unhappy about missing the outdoor delights of early morning, so I hoof it down the block to let them our at daybreak.

        Like

        Reply

      2. My basset is good to sleep until 8 or 9am most days. He’s not food-driven, which is odd for a hound. He can (and does) occasionally leave food in his bowl all day. He sleeps in Daughter’s room and only gets ansty about being let out when he really needs to go out. Once that’s done, he’ll go right back to sleep.

        Like

        Reply

      3. My have an ‘open door’ policy with my chickens so they’re free to come and go on their own. We have a good watch dog, Zoe, who keeps an eye on things and I’ve been luck not to have trouble with raccoons the last few years. Or other critters bothering them.
        Last spring there was a lot of coyotes around about 6AM… we’ll see if that happens again.

        I do have a light on a timer to keep the egg production up and I moved the time ahead 1/2 an hour last weekend… I’ll set it correctly tomorrow. They don’t care one way other the other about the “saving” part of that. Reminds me of a joke:

        A fellow is driving in the country and notices a farmer holding a large pig in an apple orchard. As he comes to a stop he notices the farmer is hefting this large pig up to the branch of a tree so the pig can take an apple in it’s mouth. The farmer continues to hold the pig as it eats the apple and then uses all his strength to lift the sow to another apple on the branch. Amazed at the what he has witnessed the fellow parks his car and walks over to the farmer. Driver: “I couldn’t help but notice all effort you’re putting in to feeding that pig.”
        Farmer: “Yeah I really like this sow. She’s one of my best.”
        Driver: “Well it seems there might be a more efficient way to get the apples to her. What if you set her on the ground and shook the apples from the tree? She could eat them off the ground. Just think of all the time that would be saved.”
        Farmer: “Your probably right, but what’s time to a pig?”

        Like

        Reply

      4. I had a gift of a very recently deceased mouse at about 4:30 one morning this last week. I don’t wish to seem ungrateful, but I’d prefer to receive gifts later in the day if at all possible.

        Like

        Reply

    3. Dogs have amazingly accurate internal clocks. I used to walk a dog named Spook when All Things Considered came on. Spook would show up silently when it was time to go, and I don’t remember him missing 4 PM by more than a minute.

      Like

      Reply

  11. It appears that I’m about the only Baboon here who’s on a totally different time clock. It has me wondering if this is the reason all of you seem more intelligent than me? My routine is bed at 3AM; arise at 10AM. I also admit that the main reason for this backwards sleep schedule is that there aren’t nearly enough activities to fill a given day. I’m not a hobbyist (well, I guess one could call my relentless opinion-posting on a few web sites a “hobby”?) and rarely leave the cottage except to run errands, lunch occasionally with a friends, or go dancing one night a week. My routine is to turn on cable (MSNBC) at 4PM, then begin 3-4 hours of watching the news (which often provides opinions for the next day’s posting), then check out PBS, Lifetime movies, or stupid reality shows. Mine is a very quiet, simple life without any strife or goals at this stage. Sometimes, I think that I’m far too contented. Funny thing is that last spring when I had the grand mal seizure and was banned from driving for 3 months (I only made it 3 weeks), I nearly went crazy! I found this quite odd given the nature of my lifestyle being an at-home dweller. I like it here unless someone tells me that I don’t have a choice!

    O/T – can anyone tell me how to change my picture??

    Like

    Reply

  12. Left to my own devices, I will stay up until 11-11:30 and wake around 8am. Sort of a midway point between the crazy schedule from my theater years and my present “Corporate America” schedule. Actually, truth be told, I would laze in bed until 10am or later, reading, sipping coffee, and hanging out in the warmth of my flannel sheets. And, like Daughter, I have a hard time going to bed early. I guess I can’t blame her night owl tendencies on anyone but me…

    Like

    Reply

    1. Who said anything about getting out of bed before 10 AM, Anna? Beginning the day by lounging in bed, sipping coffee, and doing the various puzzles, qualifies, in my book, as an acceptable way to start the day. I’ve been known to walk the two blocks to let out the chickens at daybreak in my PJs.

      Like

      Reply

  14. I think the day should begin whenever you feel ready. For me, this can be anytime between 4:30 and 10:30 AM. I have gone through phases when it’s been impossible to sleep past 4:30 or so, and then i just ease into the day very slowly with lots of coffee. Generally I think 7:30 is reasonable. I don’t see any reason to make it a requirement, though. Don’t get up if you don’t feel like it, unless there is a compelling reason. And if your compelling reason keeps getting you up too early, maybe you can find a different job.

    Like

    Reply

  16. Today I am up very early. We have to be at church at 7:00 since our bell choir is performing this morning and we have to set up. It is way too early. Naps will be taken this afternoon.

    Like

    Reply

  17. OT: There’s an article in the Sunday Strib travel section about Mankato/St. Peter, has a paragraph about Rock Bend festival, Krista, and it does manage to convey that it’s FREE. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

        1. “Discombobulated” is a wonderful word we just don’t see often enough. I’m glad I could play a role in making it happen, today.

          Like

  21. I have never been an early morning person. There have been periods in my life when I got up fairly early – but that did not mean I was ready to be civil and to carry on a conversation.

    For the past several months, my body clock has been wacko. Ever since I did night duty with the twins a few times, it’s become almost impossible to get to sleep at a reasonable time – and so, the nights I can’t get to sleep now go until 4 or 5 am instead of the 2-3 am I used to think of as a night of insomnia. It is awfully hard to get up while it’s still morning when you get to sleep that late. I would prefer to get up any time between 7:30am & 9:00am – assuming I get to sleep several hours before that. But, no loud, cheery conversations until I’ve been up for a while, please.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment