Hodge Podge

I sit here in an elementary school computer lab with a plethera of thoughts running through my head. I am thinking about my son who is recovering from a bout of pneumonia. I am wondering how does the government justify collecting $.56 on each gallon of gas sold no matter what the price. I am also pondering how I want to spend my three day weekend coming up. One thing is for sure that I want to spend some of it relaxing, however, I need to mow which will take care of my walking for two days so I won't have to go to the mall (yes, I am a mall walker). I have Judgement House rehearsal on Saturday so two hours are taken care of.
Judges, Ruth, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone... What do these have in common? Yes they are all books. Yes, I am reading these books and more than likely will finish all three during the next three days.
Christmas is ONLY 63 days away (as of October 23) and I am thinking about outdoor lights this year. It is supposed to be a nice weekend so I might put up the porch lights. Then again, maybe not. I definitley will be playing the tunes of Christmas though. I also might do some research for a new post in my Disney blog. For those of you who are not aware I also have a blog about Disney called Confessions of a Disney Addict... . But for now I will end this post as usual with This Week in History the October 19-25 edition

October 19, 1216: King John of England dies and his nine year old son Henry becomes king.

October 20, 1818: The US Canadian border is established at the 49th parallel by the US and Great Britain

October 21, 1529: The Pope names Henry VIII of England Defender of the Faith after defending the seven sacraments against Luther. Ironically in five years (1534) Henry VIII will break away from the Catholic Church and form the Church of England...

October 22, 741: Charles Martel dies and his kingdom is split between his two sons
October 22, 1957: My brother John Dragstrem was born...

October 23, 1707: The first Parliament of Great Britain meets

October 24, 1929: Black Thursday first day of the Stock Market Crash that led to the Great Depression

October 25, 1760: King George III is crowned

Until next time good bye from the Mad Genius...

Area 51

Today I turn fifty-one. Hence the name of the post. Today also is the anniversary of the "discovery" of America by one Christopher Columbus. There is no doubt that a member of Columbus' crew spotted land on this date in 1492. There is no doubt that the landing and exploring of the islands of the Caribbean began a period of European dominance in the Western Hemisphere that has lasted for over five-hundred years.
Columbus was not the first European on American soil. There is a plethera of evidence that the Norse "Vikings" visited Greenland and parts of Canada some five hundred years before Columbus bumped into America. So, do we ignore or downplay Columbus' part of history? No, we cannot ignore the facts. Should we deify the man NO, there has only been one man that came to Earth already deified.

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:
October 12, 1492 Columbus lands in the Caribbean for Spain thinking he had landed near China in the Indies he named the natives he found Indians
October 12, 1964 My birthday...

October 13, 54 Nero succeeds Claudius as Roman emperor

October 14, 1066 William of Normandy defeats King Harold in the Battle of Hastings
October 14, 1912 Theodore Roosevelt is shot during an assassination attempt in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

October 15, 1917 Mata Hari (double agent spy) was executed by the French government

October 16, 1859 Abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry

October 17, 1777Americans win huge battle at Saratoga
October 17, 1931 Al Capone begins prison sentence

October 18 1767 English surveyors draw Mason Dixon Line
October 18, 1867 US obtains Alaska (Seward's Folly)

Have a wonderful week!

I Hate Being Sick!

I know who likes it? Well I don't and that is all there is to it. However, I really hate it when I am just sick enough to feel icky, but not sick enough to stay home. The last week I have had this @$#* cold and it has slowed me down. I haven't been able to smell things like food or my wife's perfume. The bad thing is that my nose began to work when low and behold my youngest decided to load his pull-up last night. I can't smell apple cider but I can smell that? Where is the justice? Really, my biggest complaint with this bout with a cold has been, how exhausted I have felt. I wasn't able to muster up my semi-daily walks to keep off the pounds. I have managed to get to work and I did make it to Judgement House rehearsal but I paid for it afterwards.

Speaking of Judgement House it is on Halloween night and Sunday along with the following weekend in November atWoodlawn Baptist. I play Satan this year like last year and some peole don't think it is a stretch. After I am done here I am going to work on my lines so I can get my evil on. Now it is time for this week's version of THIS WEEK IN HISTORY...

October 5, 1813 US defeats British in the Battle of Thames breaking the Britain Indian alliance and protecting Detroit during the War of 1812

October 6, 1927 The first talkie The Jazz Singer premiers
October 6, 2001 My daughter Corri Rae Dragstrem was born

October 7, 1765 The Stamp Act Congress meets in New York

October 8, 1871 The Great Chicago Fire begins
October 8, 1956 Don Larsen pitches a perfect game for the New York Yankees in the World Series

October 9, 1888 The Washington Monument opens to the public

October 10, 1911 The Panama Canal opens
October 10, 1973 Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns
October 10, 1992 Pete and Jule Dragstrem were married in Mason City, Illinois

October 11, 2002 Former President Jimmy Carter wins Nobel Peace Prize

That ends TWIH and we'll be back next Monday on a very special day for me!

Fear Equals Reverence and Awe...

I am being upfront with all of my readers that this post is biblical and built on my observations and research. If you are offended by the Word of God in the form of the Bible I suggest you not read this. With that said for those of you still with me here I go.

In my daily bible reading I am currently reading Psalms and Proverbs in 31 days. It has come to my attention that God asks us to "fear" Him multiple times throughout both books and after a little research I see it is a recurring theme throughout the whole Bible. I must admit that when I was younger and would read "fear the Lord" I wondered why I should be afraid. I can truthfully say I was perplexed and when I found that He asks us to FEAR Him over one hundred times in both the Old and New Testaments I was inquisitive. For those of you who don't know the word fear has multiple meanings and the one the bible uses translates into "to revere and stand in awe of Him..." Which for me makes more sense than to be afraid of Him.

My favorite verse is Proverbs 1:7 which is "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction." As a teacher in a public school I would always write someting like Respect is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction... DON'T BE A FOOL.

Now that I am done the Mad Genius is ready to carry on the tradition of a This Week in History starting with September 28...

September 28, 1781: The Battle of Yorktown begins.(last major battle of American Revolution)
September 29, 1981: Frank Peters Sr. (my grandfather)  passes away ten minutes after his first great-grandson was born Ryan Joseph Dragstrem (my nephew)
September 29, 1982: cynide laced Tylenol claims sixth victim
September 30, 1938: Munich Pact signed (Hitler appeased)
September 30, 1951: David Dragstrem (my brother) is born...
October 1, 1890: Yosemite National Park established by Congress...
October 1, 1949: Mao Zedong proclaims Peoples Republic of China
October 1, 1971: Walt Disney World Resort officially opens
October 2, 1967: Thurgood Marshall sworn in as first African American Supreme Court Justice...
October 3, 1863: President Lincoln proclaims official Thanksgiving holiday
October 3, 1990: East and West Germany unite after 45 years
October 4, 1965: Pope Paul VI becomes first pope to visit US

Walt Disney World...

The Church Guy!

What a week, I got to perform a "mock" wedding, I witnessed a fourth graders version of the wee wee dance and I rehearsed my role as Satan in Judgement House. Just another regular week in the life of "CHURCH GUY!" Let me explain. Thursday Spetember 17, 2015 I was given the name by a little boy in my class. Another teacher wants to invite him to her wedding in April and contacted his dad about it and the father must have told the boy about it. Well in his mind it meant that the boy and the teacher were getting married because at breakfast on Thursday he told the teacher, "Guess what? We are getting married..." and then he turned to me and said, "and you are going to be the church guy." He then informed me that I was to say do you take this woman... so I was aware of what "church guy" meant. Being the fun group that we were we organized a wedding and I officiated.  I don't think I will ever live that name down and I don't want to.  By the way the boy who got married also performed the above mentioned dance. I wish I could have photos for you but I didn't have my camera with me and I couldn't post them anyway because of confidentiality.

As I am here watching the Night of Champions on the WWE Network I am reminded that tomorrow is Monday so it is time to finish this post. So in traditional fashion here is your Week in History...

September 21, 1780: Benedict Arnold commits treason.
September 22, 1862: Abraham Lincoln  issues Emancipation Proclamation
September 23, 1806: Lewis and Clark returns to St. Louis
September 24, 1789: US Supreme Court established with the Judiciary Act of 1789
September 25, 1957: Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas was desegregated...
September 26, 1580: Sir Francis Drake becomes first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe...
September 27, 1940: The Tripartite Act is signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan...

Have a great week...

The "Church Guy" saying bye bye...

Observations and Wyatt

I am a day behind in writing this so I will make it short with some observations from the weekend and yesterday. First of all let me begin by saying I work with "exceptional children" or as they once were labled special ed. I work in a third-fifth grade cluster class with children who teach me everyday. One of my biggest lessons came early this school year "Mr. Dragstrem, books are for reading (then a long pause) NOT eating or burning..."  I have that lesson written up on my message board by my desk. Another lesson I have learned is to "just deal with what the good Lord gave you..." We have children who have lost their mother or are from a broken home and on top of that they are either autistic, physically disabled, mentally disabled, or a combination of all three. These children get off the bus or out of their car with a smile on their face and a great attitude. This leads me to my youngest child Wyatt.

Wyatt is fondly called our "last" child. He has the chronological age of eleven but the developmantal age of around four. He has a brain disorder called pachigyria which is a form of "smooth brain syndrome." His disorder causes seizures and developmental delays in some children it cause SEVERE delays which makes Wyatt seem "normal" I air quote normal because NO child is normal. Each child comes with their unique abilities and burdens. With Wyatt his smile and ability to brighten my day when he squeals "dad" like he hasn't seen me for a long time even though I seen him not five minutes ago. There are days I wish I could see the world through his eyes. We went to a park on Sunday and he got the opportunity to get his feet wet in a creek and walk in the crisp air. We saw birds, fish, and chipmunks on our nature hike (he was in his wheelchair and loved when we would go over a little rough patch along the trail).

Enough of my observations here is my "Week in History" list... Happy Constitution Day on the seventeenth...

Wyatt and his happy outlook...

September 14, 1901: Teddy Roosevelt becomes the youngest United States President on the death of William McKinley.

September 15, 1862: Confederates capture Harpers Ferry during Civil War.

September 16, 1620: Mayflower departs from England (100 days until Christmas)

September 17, 1787: US Constitution is signed.

September 18, 1793: US Capitol cornerstone is laid.

September 19, 1881: President Garfield dies becoming the second assassinated President

September 20, 1519: Ferdinand Magellan sets out on trip to circle the globe....

Have a Magical Week!

Reflections 9-11

September 7, 1776 World's first submarine attack during the American Revolution...
September 8, 1664 New Amsterdam becomes New York
September 8, 1974 Ford pardons Nixon
September 9, 1776 Congress renames the nation to United States of America
September 9, 1850 California becomes 31st state...
September 10, 1833 Andrew Jackson closes Second Bank of the United States
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on US soil...
September 12, 1940 Lascaux cave paintings discovered...
September 13, 1814 Key pens Star Bangled Banner

I began this entry the way I usually end my other ones. Why? It is because I am going to concentrate this post on one of the above historical events. It is one of those events that come around for each generation where we can reflect on it while it occurrs and know this will be remembered forever. It was like Pearl Harbor and the JFK assassination.

On September 11, 2001 I was student teaching at Havana High School in Havana, Illinois (not Cuba). One of my students asked me if I heard about the plane that hit the World Trade Center in New York, which I hadn't. It was just ten minutes later that the principal got on the PA and informed the school about what had happened in New York and that there was another plane that had just hit the second tower. We kept on hearing updates throughout the day and tried to grasp our minds onto the tragic events of the day and what it would mean in our small Central Illinois community. A girl asked me tha question and I really couldn't answer it until I saw her waiting in a long line for gas along with what seemed like the whole community as the price of gas spiked to almost $2 a gallon (wow have times changed).

That night we had a football game in Beardstown tht all that day we assumed it would be cancelled but it wasn't so after the gas station I had to go to Beardstown. We won the game and then I headed home alone as the rest of the team and the coaches rode the bus I drove to my home in Mason City to my son and wife who was pregnant. The drive home was surreal. The radio was filled with sowhmber reflections, there was very little lighting on the roads only the porch lights of the few farm houses until I got closer to home.

In the days that followed planes were grounded, games were cancelled and the country had come together as it does during times of crisis. Church attendence skyrocketed, People wondered if there would be more attacks. When you looked into the sky you saw no jet trails only clouds and blue sky. One funny thing that happened about three weeks after 9-11 to me on a Saturday as I was driving to a football game when I saw a plane come out of the sky and begin its ascent I pulled off the road and was about to jump into a ditch when the plane began to dust the crops. I probably have seen dozens of crop dusters in my life but this one I irrationally thought  was some kind of terrorist attack.

Now we are coming on the 14th anniversary of that terrible day when we lost our trust in mankind for awhile.  Until next week God bless you and goodbye...

 

Goodbye August, Hello September...

As I write this at my kitchen table I am reminded by the calendar that September is almost upon us. Where has 2015 gone? It must be true that the older you get the faster the time seems to go. It is, as of this post, only 117 days until Christmas. I write this post a little differently than my others for this blog. It will become a hodge podge of observations and thoughts of mine.

I don't think I can ever think of September again without thinking of 9-11-2001. It is burned into my memories and my association of the month which also houses the beginning of fall, and my oldest brother's birthday. I won't wax poetically or reminence about that tragic day because I am planning on doing that in my next post. When I was younger, I refuse to say "when I was young..." because that is admitting to the world that I am not young. I am young, I may be chronologically old when compared with most of the people I work with and all of the students I have and had. However, even though my age will have a five as at least one of the digits for awhile, I don't choose to act that way. Actually, the aforementioned co-workers and students will agree with that statement. I am a Disney Addict (as another blog I write testifies to) and this is usually the time that I begin planning our family's pilgrimage to Walt Disney World during our Spring Break (usually in April) however, we are planning to go in November of 2016 next time so the official planning process won't begin until after the New Year. I won't explain the planning process in this post because this blog is not necessarily a Disney blog. Just understand that the magic number is 180 days (just like a school year except continuous)

I realized that I failed to finish my "when I was younger..." thought when I began my explanation of my chronological versus my psychological age. When I was younger September felt so far away from Christmas and I can see it still does for the children I care for everyday at work and home. However, for me when we reach September I know that Christmas is just around the corner, not in the materialization manner but in the feeling manner. One thing that has changed since my younger days is the ability to hear the sounds of Christmas. In the 1970's in order to listen to Christmas music in September or earlier you had to dust off the LP's or 45's and hope you had an understanding family. Today all I have to do is tune into my iPod or my Pandora stations and pop in my earbuds and I can hear "White Christmas" "Jingle Bells" and/or any of my other favortite seasonal songs without the scratches or skips of the old records. I can even watch holiday classics on my TV through my iTunes and Apple TV.

For those of you who are still with me I am going to share how I became not a Disney Addict but a Christmas addict as well. I am a firm believer that Christmas is the celebration of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. However, I also view Christmas as a connection to my inner child. My infamous Christmas countdown began as a project at daycare which I worked at one summer. In July it is not uncommon to see Christmas in July ads at stores well at the daycare we were doing a Christmas in July unit with the school-age children and I had them figure out how many days it was until the actual Christmas on December 25th. When we figured it out we began to keep track of it each day throughout the rest of the summer (we would use sidewalk chalk and write on the slats of the playground fence) I kept it up ever since and if you have seen my Facebook page you would already know this. Christmas music year round for me started in the late 1970s, for some reason I wanted to listen to the stereo and play Christmas records, I am not sure why. Since then I have always been accused of jumping the gun on the holiday tunes. I actually do have a rule in which I will not publically play (in my classroom or on my car stereo) Christmas music between January 2-March 1. March 1 is the 300 day mark for those of you who were wondering why March 1. However, any other day is fair game especially after September 16 which marks the 100 day until Christmas mark.

Enough about me here are some events that have made history for the dates August 31-September 6...


This Week in History
August 31:

1864

At the Democratic convention in Chicago, General George B. McClellan is nominated for president.

1997

Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a Paris car crash along with her companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul while fleeing paparazzi.

September 1:

1894		By an act of Congress, Labor Day is declared a national holiday.

September 2: 

1666		The Great Fire of London, which devastates the city, begins.
1789		The Treasury Department, headed by Alexander Hamilton, is created in New York City.

September 3: 

1777		The American flag (stars & stripes), approved by Congress on June 14th, is carried into battle for the first time by a force under General William Maxwell.
1783		The Treaty of Paris is signed by Great Britain and the new United States, formally bringing the American Revolution to an end.
1838		Frederick Douglass escapes slavery disguised as a sailor. He would later write The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, his memoirs about slave life.

September 4: 

1479

After four years of war, Spain agrees to allow a Portuguese monopoly of trade along Africa’s west coast and Portugal acknowledges Spain’s rights in the Canary Islands.

1781

Los Angeles, first an Indian village Yangma, is founded by Spanish decree.

1820

Czar Alexander declares that Russian influence in North America extends as far south as Oregon and closes Alaskan waters to foreigners.

September 5:

1972		"Black September," a Palestinian terrorist group take 11 Israeli athletes hostage at the Olympic Games in Munich; by midnight all hostages and all but 3 terrorists are dead.
1975		President Gerald Ford evades an assassination attempt in Sacramento, California.

September 6: 

1522

One of the five ships that set out in Ferdinand Magellan’s trip around the world makes it back to Spain. Only 15 of the original 265 men that set out survived. Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines.

1901

President William McKinley is shot while attending a reception at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, by 28-year-old anarchist Leon Czolgosz. McKinley dies eight days later, the third American president assassinated.

Have a wonderful week! The MAD GENIUS signing off...

They Are Here!

Last week was a week of work-days and today August 24, 2015 is the first day of class with students. After meetings and more meetings we are ready for the real thing. The school in which I am working is in the process of becoming a global school so the halls and outside  of the building looks like the UN gift shop has thrown up its excess inventory.

I cannot go into specifics of the students we have this year except to say they are delightful. I am going to work with them on Google Earth learning their address and other geographic details. Now for THIS WEEK IN HISTORY (August 24-30)

August 24, 79: Mount Vesuvius erupts and decimates the citizens of Pompeii
August 24, 1814: The British army sets ablaze the Executive Mansion which we refer to today as the White House.

August 25, 1944: The city of Paris, France is liberated from the control of the NAZIs by the Allies.
August 25, 2009: Senator Ted Kennedy dies

August 26, 1862: The Battle of 2nd Bull Run begins during the Civil War
August 26, 1920: The 19th Amendment is adopted which allows women the full right to vote.

August 27, 1908: Future President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) is born, ironically 100 years after the birth of Andrew Johnson who would become President very much the same way as LBJ did after the assassination of the sitting President.
August 27, 1941: In a bit of diplomacy the Japanese Prime Minister requests a meeting with President Franklin Deleno Roosevelt (FDR).

August 28, 1955: The Death of Emmett Till
August 28, 1963: Martin Luther King Jr. leads a March on Washington and delivers his famous I Have a Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

August 29, 1533: Conquistador Pizzaro executes the last Incan emperor.
August 29, 1968: Hubert Humphrey is nominated by the Democrats in Chicago, Illinois.
August 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina slams into the Gulf Coast.

August 30, 30: Egyptian Queen Cleopatra commits suicide.
August 30, 1967: Thurgood Marshall confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice.

Ted Kennedy's gravesite

Until next time have a great time... Signing Off THE MAD GENIUS!

Opening Day

Sorry baseball fans, which I am one, this post will not have very much to do with the best sport ever. It is about the opening day of the 2015/2016 school year in the district I work in. I am entering my thirteenth year as an employee for the Newton-Conover City School District (NCCS). I am entering my first full year as a teacher aide after twelve years in a Social Studies classroom at Newton Conover Middle School. I am not going into why I am now an aide and not teaching, although as an aide I do a lot of actual teaching, except to say that it was fully my decision NOT the district's decision although they were very receptive to my wishes.

I sit here in the classroom which I will be working this year on a day very quiet and reserved compared to the following days in which most of the teachers will show up and meetings will commence. Students arrive in a week and during this time classrooms will transform into wonderful, inviting places for a wide variety of children to come and learn. Not only will they learn the basics (the three R's) they will also learn social skills, manners, and they will hopefully feel they come to a safe environment. Some of the students I will have the pleasure of working with haven't grow up like I did in a home in which I never doubted my parents love for me, I never wanted for food, shelter, and clothes.

One thing I used to do in my Social Studies classes was a Today in History bell-ringer. I would jot down one or more historical events that happened on that particular day and discuss and or as each year we had more technology at our disposal research the events and journal about them. So here it goes for the week of August 17.

August 17, 1786- Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee... is how the song goes for on this day Davy Crockett was born
August 17, 1812- Napolean Boneparte's army defeated the Russians at the Battle of Smolensk.
August 17, 1833- Canadian steamship the Royal William begins the first trans-Atlantic steamship crossing from Nova Scotia.
August 17, 1933- Lou Gherig plays in his 1,308th consecutive game, which breaks former Yankee's Everett Scott's record. (Gehrig would go and play in 2,130 consecutive games)
August 17, 1943- General George Patton and his 7th Army completes the Allied conquest of SIcily in World War II.
August 17, 1945- Indonesia declares their independence.
August 17, 1969- Woodstock Music Festival ends.

August 18, 1227- Genghis Khan dies...
August 18, 1590- Roanoke Colony was deserted beginning the Lost Colony mystery.
August 18, 1795- President George Washington signs the Jay Treaty with Great Britain in attempt to ease tensions with Great Britain.
August 18, 1920- Woman Suffrage Amendment is ratified.

August 19, 1909- First auto race at what is now the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on dirt track for five miles NOT 500.
August 19, 1934- Adolf Hitler becomes president of Germany...
August 19, 1946- William Jefferson Clinton was born in Hope, Arkansas.

August 20, 1911- The first telegram to circumnavigate the globe was sent and took 16.5 minutes to complete.
August 20, 1920- Professional footbal was first organized in Canton, Ohio as the American Professional Football Conference (APFC) the forerunner to the National Football League (NFL).
August 20, 1940- Leon Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico.

August 21, 1831- Nat Turner's slave rebellion began in Southhampton County, Virginia.
August 21, 1858- The first Lincoln-Douglass debate was held.
August 21, 1920- Christoper Robin Milne was born (yes that Christopher Robin of Winnie the Pooh fame)
August 21, 2004- Michael Phelps wins his 8th medal at an individual Olympics giving him the record for most medals won at an individual Olympics.

August 22, 1848- US Grant marries Julia Dent. One "theory" that has popped up was that Julia and Mary Todd Lincoln did not get along in social gatherings so Grant gracefully declined the President's invitation to join him at Ford's Theater that infamous night. If Grant was there the security would have been more tight because most people viewed that there was a bigger threat to Grant's well-being than there was Lincoln's. So, as they say the rest is history.
August 22, 1950- Althea Gibson becomes the first African-American on the US Tennis Tour.
August 22, 1989- Nolan Ryan registered his 5000th strikeout.

August 23, 1784- The State of Franklin decclares independence from North Carolina. Franklin would later become part of Tennessee.
August 23, 1814- As Washington DC was under attack by the British during the War of 1812, First Lady Dolley Madison attempts to save some of the Executive Mansion's (White House) treasures which would be set ablaze by the British. She escapes with some including a famous painting of George Washington.
August 23, 1939- In order to avoid a two front war Adolf Hitler signs a non-aggression pact with Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. Hitler would eventually break this pact which would lead to his eventual defeat in World War II.

These were just a few of the many events that occurred in the global history from these dates. Hope you enjoy the post. This is the Mad Genius! signing off.