School starts and a new AG is coming

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: Last Monday (Aug. 20) was the first day of classes at a neighborhood elementary school. While driving slowly (due to construction) toward an intersection where the school is located I noticed a couple of mothers walking small children with knapsacks on their backs away from the school. Probably toward home. These mothers were smiling at the children talking fast and animatedly about probably their first day in school. In my first days of school, I walked one block straight up the street with other kids from the neighborhood. Parents did not walk us to school in the late thirties or early forties. Doing so today is both an expression of parental love and a safety measure for the little ones. I also smiled and drove on to Costco.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL: South Carolina Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who golfs with President Trump, tells us that the President will likely replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions after the mid-terms in November. Trump wants an AG who will weaken or shut down Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller”s investigation. Sen. Graham should make it clear right up front that the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he is a member and potentially Chairman in the next session, will extract a promise from any AG nominee that he will not interfere, slow down, or put an end to the Mueller investigation, regardless of the cost or time it takes to complete it. The goal is the preservation of Democracy, not playing golf with the President. 

Welcome to the NewYear

Fireworks have been fired off for about 15 minutes somewhere near my apartment in midtown Mt. Pleasant, S.C. I suspect from the brilliant flashes in the sky and the noise this is an organized event by the government or some organization. In any event, it is a celebratory prelude to the coming of the New Year.

I wish 2018 is an even better year than 2017; that as a Nation we enjoy peace, prosperity, and mutual respect for one another; that as persons we will live in good health, and enjoy the benefits and pleasures offered by families, friends, jobs, schools, and fresh opportunities. 

Welcome, 2018!

 

Making Dad proud...Daughter is an author

Many years ago on a pleasant January day in Hanahan, SC, (near Charleston) I came home from work one evening and was confronted by my wife and youngest daughter, our fifth child. Would I adjust the training wheels on the child's bicycle so it could be a real two-wheeler? We bought the bike as a Christmas gift and within a couple of weeks she had mastered riding it so the training wheels were no longer necessary.
"Are you sure, I asked?" Wynn's little face lit up and she assured me she could handle it. I smiled, went to the garage, got a wrench and the training wheels were history. I stood on the walk outside the front of house and enjoyed the moment as my daughter successfully wheeled off toward the house of her best friend.
Last evening this same daughter, now an outgoing, exuberant adult, wife and mother, teacher and businesswoman, sent an e-mail announcing her book, How To Be a Great Teacher: Create the Flow of Joy and Success in Your Classroom, had been published and was available at Amazon.com five days ahead of schedule.
Wynn taught school, kindergarten through fourth grade, for several years and then created her own business, The International Academy of Bee-Sharp Teachers, to help teachers improve their skills and make learning better and most enjoyable for students. She attracted the attention of McGraw Hill education representatives and joined them in similar goals. Now, after several years of traveling all over this wonderful country and interacting with teachers, principals, students and parents she has published a 108 page softcover book that ought to be in the hands of every primary school teacher, principal, and school board member, as well as parents involved in their children's education. If it takes a village to raise a child, then this book will help teachers do the work and parents to know what to expect.
The girl who could ride without training wheels, Wynn Cooper Archibald Godbold, is riding on different streets now but I am still enjoying the moment of her success.