In Toto

The snows have melted and will only appear in thin blankets for the rest of spring; tiny leaves and the whorls of plantain are growing again.  Driven by increased daylight, the birds are yelling their heads off to determine territory, tipping tails to attract mates.  Many pass through the edge of the city along the waterways towards a further destination, others are happy to stay here where there is abundant food especially by the mill that is still in operation making breakfast cereal.  Even the houseplants have lifted their heads and sighed contentedly.

I took a bag out to the parking lot along with rubber gloves to begin on the melee of trash that seems to increase with each season of two-legged tenants, and I don't mean the sparrows.  Today: Bag One.  How does anybody pick a cause?  There is so much to do.  You can't spread yourself thin, or you break like a saltine crumbled over a bowl of tomato soup.

You know, maybe you've read of the teacher who has been suspended for writing about students on her Facebook page.  I will not defend any of that, but I also wonder how to bring a burgeoning situation in public school to the fore.  It all seems to be a big secret that everyone is frightened to speak of, for fear of losing a job.  We need help, and most adults, parent or not, have no idea of the process of a school day.  Or am I naive, and has this been going on since Dewey decimaled his first subject?  Research is tangled and oblique, usually couched in roundabout terms that don't help anyone except the publisher.  I don't think people, the population, the everyday fella, has a clue.

What is keeping this academically hindering circumstance so hidden?  Someone, some politicians somewhere know.  Teachers are taking the brunt for poor student achievement, and damned for alleged extravagant salaries.  Gee whiz, come on in and see what we do, understand that I have gone to school for two degrees and am now in debt for over $43,000 and will be paying that back for most of the rest of my life.  I have to work summers to keep up. Does anyone imagine that I took this career up because I am a lazy, conniving so and so who wants summers off?  My salary will never be what it should be. That's not why I'm here.  

Messes need picking up, and sneakers need knotting.  Night is here and the ease of the weather sliding into a warmer rhythm revives the living, the air is easier to breathe, the sharp ice crystals that peppered your tender sensibilities are memory.  It all goes on, which is wonderful.  Every day the sun rises and sets, moon cycles, birds return, people come and go.  Sleep well, toss some seed to the birds who have come back, there is little enough for them to eat while they fuss and build nests for their babies.  Innocents, us all.