Today would have been Mike's birthday (September 19)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Glenn Rezabek - Professional
As I recall, Glenn had a career change a little later in life so he was a first-year teacher when he became our Chemistry teacher. He was absolutely committed to what science was all about and every day was wearing the same lab coat he is shown wearing in the yearbook.
But Glenn was not a fashion fob, and when you look at the narrow ties being worn on Mad Men I recall the very wide ties that he wore daily. At some point during the year somebody got the bright idea that we should all wear wide ties to school, obviously to mock his own collection. I won't forget the funny look on his face when we walked in, but it was only a one-day event and then we moved on.
We should forget the ties. He was a pro, and loved what he was doing. I'm not sure any other teacher had any greater commitment.
But Glenn was not a fashion fob, and when you look at the narrow ties being worn on Mad Men I recall the very wide ties that he wore daily. At some point during the year somebody got the bright idea that we should all wear wide ties to school, obviously to mock his own collection. I won't forget the funny look on his face when we walked in, but it was only a one-day event and then we moved on.
We should forget the ties. He was a pro, and loved what he was doing. I'm not sure any other teacher had any greater commitment.
More "Mad Men" - 1965
Each new show that I watch makes me smile. I don't know where they get the office furniture but it is so 1960. The clothing - men and women - is a flashback. I won't make comment on what the women are wearing but it is certainly historically accurate. And the men?
The lead character, Don Draper, is normally smoking, drinking in the office, AND wearing or carrying a fedora hat whenever he comes into or leaves the office or home. And I have heard the style is coming back. Sure enough, one day recently I was walking through our local Target store, and there they were, the Don Draper Fedora Hat. A big display of them. Turned up sides and rear, and down in front.
My folks wanted me to wear a hat because they were convinced that it would keep me from catching a cold. Even though modern science has debunked that theory and has instead determined that colds are caused by viruses, we weren't smart enough to know it at that time, so I wound up with a hat. Normally it sat on a shelf and I avoided wearing it, and finally they decided it wasn't worth arguing about. Pick your battles. They chose others. But if I had only known Don Draper, you can bet I would have worn it everywhere!
The lead character, Don Draper, is normally smoking, drinking in the office, AND wearing or carrying a fedora hat whenever he comes into or leaves the office or home. And I have heard the style is coming back. Sure enough, one day recently I was walking through our local Target store, and there they were, the Don Draper Fedora Hat. A big display of them. Turned up sides and rear, and down in front.
My folks wanted me to wear a hat because they were convinced that it would keep me from catching a cold. Even though modern science has debunked that theory and has instead determined that colds are caused by viruses, we weren't smart enough to know it at that time, so I wound up with a hat. Normally it sat on a shelf and I avoided wearing it, and finally they decided it wasn't worth arguing about. Pick your battles. They chose others. But if I had only known Don Draper, you can bet I would have worn it everywhere!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Our Elementary Teachers
Who would know where they are today?Kindergarten - for me it was Helen Coyle at the Country School
1st Grade - Miss Stover
2nd Grade - don't recall, but I believe it included the word Rose either in the first or last name.
3rd Grade - Olive Rasmussen
4th Grade - Shirley Mitchell (see photo at left - Chuck Hendrickson and I were Candle Lighters at her wedding)
5th Grade - Andrena Hanson (for some of us)
6th Grade - Andrena Hanson Opheim (for some of us)
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
"Mad Men" - the Era of Real Men
My favorite TV show today is "Mad Men", the AMC-TV original series set around a Madison Avenue ad agency. It is so retro including orange and lime pillows, siamese cat silhouette wall hangings, constant smoking, 3-martini lunches, suave men, and women who are there only as objects.
If you haven't watched it, I encourage you to do so. Currently the series is set in 1965 so it's moving past us a little but the cultural take is so accurate. The lead character, Don Draper, said it all regarding the relative place of men and women when he said, "I won't let a woman talk to me this way!" And that is so Don Draper.
When I read that quote in a recent Newsweek I could only think of the superintendent of schools in the small town where I worked after college. One of the bus drivers, surprisingly for that era a woman, had apparently done something wrong, and the superintendent was reaming her out for it. She was a strong woman and was holding up well, but finally gave it up, and burst through the adjoining principal's office in tears, obviously now seeing the true path. (Kidding, ladies!!)
The superintendent sauntered into the principal's office behind her, stood with his hands on his penguin-shaped hips, rocking slightly, and said, "I never met a woman yet I couldn't make cry!"
To read this very interesting article in Newsweek, just click on this link and it will take you there. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/12/baird-it-s-not-mad-men-it-s-mad-women.html.
If you haven't watched it, I encourage you to do so. Currently the series is set in 1965 so it's moving past us a little but the cultural take is so accurate. The lead character, Don Draper, said it all regarding the relative place of men and women when he said, "I won't let a woman talk to me this way!" And that is so Don Draper.
When I read that quote in a recent Newsweek I could only think of the superintendent of schools in the small town where I worked after college. One of the bus drivers, surprisingly for that era a woman, had apparently done something wrong, and the superintendent was reaming her out for it. She was a strong woman and was holding up well, but finally gave it up, and burst through the adjoining principal's office in tears, obviously now seeing the true path. (Kidding, ladies!!)
The superintendent sauntered into the principal's office behind her, stood with his hands on his penguin-shaped hips, rocking slightly, and said, "I never met a woman yet I couldn't make cry!"
To read this very interesting article in Newsweek, just click on this link and it will take you there. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/12/baird-it-s-not-mad-men-it-s-mad-women.html.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Dumb as Your Father
Reading a recent email from Richard Holstad, I am reminded of one of our teachers who apparently did not have eyelashes. At least that's the story I was told by female classmates who often would flutter their eyes or stroke their lashes in front of her to tease, I suppose. She would have qualified as a spinster in that day and age, a term not often used today.
In my first teaching job out of college there was a spinster teaching at the junior high level who was well known for her straightforward nature. She had been in the school system for years, and it surprised no one when one day she called out a student in front of the class for being "Dumb, just as dumb as your father and his father before him!"
They don't make 'em like they used to. I suppose that's good.
In my first teaching job out of college there was a spinster teaching at the junior high level who was well known for her straightforward nature. She had been in the school system for years, and it surprised no one when one day she called out a student in front of the class for being "Dumb, just as dumb as your father and his father before him!"
They don't make 'em like they used to. I suppose that's good.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
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