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Excavations in Education

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Today’s post comes from perennial Sophomore Bubby Spamden of Wendell Willkie High School.

Hi Mr. C.!

Well, today is the re-beginning of school, and in spite of everything I’ve thought and felt over the past few months and the complaints I’ve made and the different ways I’ve tried to get out of returning to Willkie High, I have to say I’m excited to be going back!

Why?

Well, people like making connections and having routines and seeing old friends and making new ones. And the daily rhythm of being a high school sophomore is a pattern I have perfected! I’ve got my backpack and my notebooks and all my pens and pencils and stuff and I’m ready to go. I’ll collect all the papers my teachers hand out and I’ll take their assignments and bring them home. By this time I know them all by heart. My favorite one is the unit on Stonehenge. We do it every September and I get a real kick out of the idea that Druids dragged huge heavy rocks hundreds of miles to make something big that we still don’t understand and when we look at it all we can do is scratch our heads.

The lesson? People have always done stuff that’s kinda weird.

Anyway, I’ll really try to play by the rules this time and get my work done and handed in on time, but before long I know I’ll start to wonder why I have to study so hard for all these standardized tests and I’m sure I’ll get tired of it, because that’s what I do.

And then around the middle of October, I’ll go into my backyard at home, sneak behind the equipment shed where we keep the lawnmowers and rakes and stuff, and I’ll dig a deep pit.

And then I’ll dump all my assignments and papers and materials into the hole and I’ll cover them up with dirt. And I’ll do this every single week all the way through to the end of school, so when Mr. Boozenporn and all my other teachers ask “Bubby, where’s your homework,” and “Bubby, didn’t you take that assignment home?” and “Bubby, why don’t you get things done?”, I can shrug and say “Oh yeah, it’s probably just buried under some other stuff somewhere.”

That’s how I manage to stay a sophomore year after year at Willke High!

I know it seems like kind of a waste, but the way I see it, someday some cultural archaeologists will come along and dig up all that stuff so they can piece together the history of education in America! Or at least the history of education during this particular time in America, which is bound to seem as strange and mysterious to them as Stonehenge seems to us today.

Your predictable pal,
Bubby

How does your routine change after Labor Day?

57 thoughts on “Excavations in Education”

  1. Good morning. There will be some changes in my life after Labor Day because I have grandchildren who will be going back to school. Thus, plans that involve them will be a little different. During the summer one of our granddaughters spends some time staying with us. We still might have her here for visits during the school year, but only on weekends.

    After labor day work in the garden changes somewhat. The only crops left to plant are garlic, shallots, and spinach. I started planting spinach in fall a number of years ago when I learned that it will produce a very good early spring crop if planted in late summer or fall. Also, several years ago I found out shallots can be fall planted and that is another crop that will go into the ground after labor day.

    After Labor Day I will try to wrap up any outdoor projects that should be done before cold weather sets in. Painting, outdoor home repair projects, and landscaping projects will be on the to do list. Hopefully I will be able to get these done while still taking some time way from them for recreation including a short vacation or two.

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      1. Steve, I don’t claim to get a lot of those things done that I mentioned. I have good intentions. However, in the end many thing take a long time to get off the to do list or just remain there.

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        1. Jim, I think you are a superior person to me. I’m not sure I even have many “good intentions” these days beyond amusing myself. Most of yesterday was spent reading the story of the most thrilling rescue in US military history. I woke up hoping to enjoy that book, and I did, but that probably isn’t worth much on the Good Intentions scale.

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  2. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    Are there any other women out there who remember the rule “white shoes and purses Memorial Day to Labor Day”? That was a traditional change inflicted by the fashion police of the day. It always comes to mind. I also forgot to send my Mother’s Birthday card for tomorrow, her birthday. I’d better be sure I fix that today!

    Things I love: apples and squash which are in season, mums in big pots, two of which I bought yesterday

    Undesirable changes: Halloween decor which starts NOW–too early. (Op-ed: Merchants need to sit on their hands a bit.), Daylight becoming rarer. Sigh.

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    1. I suppose I might be old enough to remember the white shoes & purses rule, but I grew up with nary a thought of fashion in my head. I suppose that is because my mom certainly didn’t, and still doesn’t, care a bit about fashion. I certainly don’t hold that against her, but I suppose it would be good in some situations if I didn’t think that if I’m wearing new tennis shoes that I’m dressed up

      I can’t think of much that I would hate wearing more than white shoes and a white purse.

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  3. We started the school routine last week – five days under our belt already. Though this year, the added twist will be remembering which weeks are safety patrol weeks (so we need to leave a bit earlier) and which are weeks to take the bus.

    It’s nice to be back to the more regular schedule of school – at least for me, the primary driver and to-er and fro-er. Summer day camps are fun, but make scheduling my grown-up world dicey. We will have a bit of that to work with once we get all the after school stuff nailed down: piano lessons, band, Girl Scouts are all established – but there have been requests to add to this. Will see where that leads us (thankfully not – at least so far – to 7am ice time at a hockey rink).

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  4. My routine changes with more after school appointments for my child clients, later evenings in the office, and more requests for therapy, Husband is starting a new routine today,. His first day on the reservation is next week. He will work three weeks a month, three days a week. The tribe is providing housing for him for the two nights a week he stays there.

    My dad’s routine is changing somewhat, in that he is eating less and less, sleeping more, and feeling lousier by the day. He doesn’t think he will be around much longer, and I think he is right.

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    1. good luck wiht your dad, it is wonderful that he has such a comfoortable place to do his swan song. do you have hospice care lined up for when the time comes. with you and your husband working more and the end nearing it would be nice to have the finishing touches in place,.

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      1. LIke most essential services out here, Hospice is very understaffed and I expect we would have to do a hospice/nursing home placement if it comes to that. I plan to apply for FMLA just in case. He is already “signed up” for palliative care nurse visits, but he has been too active and has been leaving the house too much to qualify. We may be getting there soon,though, as he is going to coffee less and less and doesn’t feel he can leave the house most days. He is popping nitro pills like crazy with very little exertion.

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    2. Renee, I sort of know what you are going through with your father because I had to deal with a similar situation. At this point there might not be much you can do other than making your father as comfortable as you can. Best wishes to you on taking care of your father at a time when his health is failing.

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  5. my girls all got up at 6 to begin 9 months of unnatural behavior. we just finished the natural life of noon wake ups and days at the beach and camps for areas of interest.
    i was informed that next summer the actor will intern at a hospital. she want to be a pediatric surgeon, if you want a change in the weather hold on a minute. if you want a change int he family dynamic you dont need to wait so long.
    mom works till nine two nites a week. daughter have schedules for stuff booking my thursdays and saturdays . i think i get to suggest stuff for the other 5 days of the week. im sure that will go over big.

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  6. Morning all. I had to leave my shorts and zorries at home today… back to “regular” clothing at work. Teenager started school last week, so like Miss S, is feeling settled in. Choir starts up again this week, so that will be a chance as well. AND, it’s finally late enough in the summer that I don’t have to cut the grass every 4-5 days!

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    1. i had to laugh, my son wore black slacks with a crease in the leg a white shirt and italian shoes.
      hes looking good. now hes open to the sportscoats in my warehosue with the shorts and casual attire mothballed for another 9 months.
      oh yeah for those of you who dont know. he works at the same company as vs. different buildings but same company. i ma impressed with the company. so is he.

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  8. The big change here is that we soon will see the end of the season for Grampa’s Pool. Every third or fourth day, my front door flies open and Liam rushes in grinning and saying, “Grampa Rampa!” I reply, “Liam, Wee-um Pee-um!” That always cracks him up.

    I used to think Minnesota’s weather began in Oregon and then moved east. That just isn’t true, though. Much of Minnesota’s weather is sucked up from the Gulf and has nothing to do with the complex flow of dry air from the Pacific that slides over the mountains of western Oregon before reaching me in Happy Valley. We, for example, face a week of delightful summer weather in the next days. It culminates in a 90-degree day this weekend. In other words, we haven’t quite left the time of good swimming weather.

    I’ll be sorry to see the swimming season go when it does. It has been perfectly fascinating to observe my grandson in the pool. He is the friendliest, most social kid in this wide world. When he gets to the pool, Liam silently observes the other folks there. He seems to be studying them to learn what kind of approach will work with them. When he is close to them later on, he seems to know how to greet and talk to them. On our last swimming trip, Liam struck up a conversation with a huge guy in his late 40s, a former football player who seemed to enjoy conversing with a four-year old. Then Liam struck up a friendship with that man’s painfully shy daughter. I can’t imagine where this gift for meeting folks will take Liam, but I never tire of watching him befriending strangers.

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      1. We don’t want to make him self conscious, which a tape recorder might do, so we try to use memory to record things. He is quite the little parrot, repeating what he hears. The other day he looked serious and said, “I have a lot on my mind.”

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  9. After Labor Day? Since we’ve only had a handful of real summer days, to me it’s felt like we went from endless monsoon to early fall. l’ve never seen a summer to brief or unsummerly before. The only change for me is wearing sweat suits and ceasing to water my flowers outside.

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  10. Well, I felt the summer was long enough and summery enough, but I know my idea of what constitutes summer is not a popular one. I would be happy if summer temps never got above 80 (between 65 and 75 is ideal, with a few cool, rainy days of 50-60 thrown in), with a breeze and cool evenings.

    My after-Labor-Day routine will not change much until a couple weeks from now. Daughter-with-the-twins will move into an apartment when she’s done painting it; that could take a week or two. It’s a 10-minute walk from here, so I know I will see them frequently, but my cooking and dirty-dishes responsibility will diminish drastically. Youngest daughter leaves for college in Seattle later in the month, arriving by the 21st, And when both of those things happen, my daily life will be different. Food bill will go down – way down. Grocery shopping and other errands will be quicker and less frequent. I will be able to use the car more often, if I want. Yeah, I think I might like some of these changes.

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    1. ljb – I am with you completely about the summer. This one was just about perfect as I did not have to put my window air conditioner in the window at all – it is still sitting in the closet! Now if we could get rain without thunder to appease the Irish Setter, then it would be spot on!

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    2. ljb I used to have exactly the same preferred temperature zone you do. I thought 65 was about as good as it got.

      I don’t want to become tedious on the differences between MN and OR, for that is a topic with limited appeal. The other night I found the weather so delightful my skin almost sang with pleasure. I made it a point to check out the temperature that felt so good. I didn’t believe what I learned at first. It was 84 degrees. But–and this is a big but–the air was dry, I was in the shade and there was a mild breeze. I used to stew in my own juices at 84 degrees!

      Your other changes sound promising. Kid care, cooking and shopping are okay, but they can get to be a drag when they fill the day, especially if you sense that others take your efforts for granted. Enjoy the changes.

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      1. Yeah, I’m definitely ready for a change in the daily routine. However, I know I will miss the twins when they move. They really are delightful a lot of the time. And they make me laugh.

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      2. add temp and humidity together and 145 is where they get uncomfortable. i was a kid in albuquerque when it was 104 with a 4% humidity and thought it was great out. my new mexico aunt thought we were nuts

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    3. my theory is 10 days of each
      hot cold rainy humid windy and that leaves 300 other days. thats about waht we get on average but never in the order we expect.
      i need to button up the house for the winter. get snowblowers started and motorcycle tucked away with riding mower.
      fix cracks in driveway, blow out sprinkler system (thanks for the reminder,. i need to reserve the blower).

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  11. My tomatoes need a routine of heat. They have yet to ripen. It has been way too cool here. We planted the butternut squash way too late, and they will need heat as well. The celeriac are getting huge. Beets are good, cranberry beans are getting fat, and the Savoy cabbage are beautiful. Poblano peppers could use more time and heat, too.

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    1. I don’t grow tomatoes, but my basil plants are pretty small this year. The lemon basil is a decent size, but the sweet genovese basil not even knee high.

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    2. Yes, while it’s been a great summer for me, it has not been a great summer for my straw bales. I have lots and lots of tomatoes, just none of them are red yet. Hopefully I’ll get some before it starts getting too cold at night!

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  12. I think you did an outstanding job on picture that goes with the blog today, Dale. The picture of the person looking at us, I assume that is Bubby, is great and the background that shows Willkie High is nicely done.

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    1. i think now that dale showed me what bubby looks like i will have to readjust my thinking. i dont know how i had him picturd exactly but it was different for sure. i like the face with a name but…….

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  13. I can now wear a shirt with sleeves while out in the open air. Don’t have to run around the house pulling shades down for ‘climate control’. Got a think blanket back on the bed. School volunteering starts up again Friday. Already seeing calendars and Christmas cards at Half Price Books. 😐

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  15. I look forward to some sort of fall vacation, preferably to somewhere natural. I plan on playing golf earlier in the afternoon to beat sunset, and a bit later in the morning on weekends to let it warm up a bit before teeing off. I start thinking about fall chores, battening down the proverbial hatches for winter, etc.

    But day to day, everything is pretty much the same.

    Chris in O-town

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  16. It means that there will be no further Fair opportunities for another year. That saddens me.

    Still, this is my favorite time of year. Usually September features nice weather and good food from the garden. The year ripens about now.

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    1. i have a friend who is heading up the minneapolis worlds fair in 2023. if you want to get involved in palnning for the fair with him i can introduce you. im thinking about getting involved. should be a kick.

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