I need a little Christmas. I will spend the next week trying to
feel anything but exhausted while attempting to avoid the flu.
I need a little Christmas. I will spend the next week trying to feel anything but exhausted while attempting to avoid the flu.
After reading the local paper yesterday and today, I came to the conclusion that we have now officially hit rock bottom. It is painfully obvious to me that fact and fiction have been used interchangeably by a number of letter writers. It’s a fact that the Alliance for Academic Excellence is working towards a rigorous English curriculum. It is also a fact that there are many teachers at Gilroy High, college graduates, who have not read most of the 10 books that the College Board says “no high school student should have graduated without having read.”
It is a fact that Cynthia Walker interviewed and quoted a Gilroy High student regarding the student protest of a teacher who was not hired back at the high school. This is a fact which the student’s mother has acknowledged. That fact alone is not proof enough for Harold Williams or Dennis Taylor, because it is also a fact that many liberals dislike the ultra-conservative Ms. Walker. I am one of the liberals who don’t agree with Ms. Walker about 80 percent of the time, but I won’t smear her for reporting factual information that doesn’t reflect well on some people at Gilroy High. It is also a fact that to dismiss this student’s harassment as “a bad day at school” belies a pitiful lack of compassion as to who is in power in this situation.
It is a fact that Principal Bob Bravo stood before the Gilroy High parents at the November meeting and denied that any incident took place. It is also a fact that 20 minutes later, he admitted that he wasn’t sure exactly what happened. It is a fact that at the December GHS parents club meeting, Mr. Bravo admitted that an incident did take place, and it was being investigated. It is a fact that this student, a minor child, was interviewed by an attorney for the school district, without parental consent. This is an egregious abuse of power by the school district. While the parent of this child is keeping a level head, GUSD is treading on dangerous ground. I can guarantee you that I will go ballistic should the district choose to make this mistake with one of my children.
The fiction is in the assumptions made. Otherwise intelligent people blame parents for an editorial in The Dispatch. I don’t believe that anyone on the editorial board at The Dispatch has a child at Gilroy High. A former GHS valedictorian writes in support of her teacher as if parents were demanding his head on a platter. I know of no parent calling for anyone to resign – ever. I met Peter Gray at an honors works group meeting last spring and found him very enthusiastic about the honors program.
Rumors of parents gunning for him are pure fiction. The whole RLAG process was a piece of fiction, but the fact is that criteria will be set for choosing literature. It is a fact that before one book gets chosen, someone will cry foul. It is a sad fact that diversity in Gilroy means majority rules. It is a fact that if you truly want diversity, you have to acknowledge that The Odyssey is written for all mankind, not just for those lucky few who happen to be Greek.
It is a fact that I am done worrying about it all, because Christmas is coming.
Christmas is fact and fiction all rolled into one. In the story of the birth of Jesus there is a minor miracle that never gets credit: there is no mention of the labor process. A couple of weary travelers stop to rest and give birth to the son of God with only the assistance of farm animals. Divine intervention indeed!
When I was growing up, every year my mother would tell us all that “this year it’s going to be a small Christmas.”
There were 11 of us, so the word “small” was really not appropriate. Even if we each only got three gifts, there was no room for walking in the living room. The tree had a wide circle of gifts surrounding it, some from mom and dad, little piles from Santa, and a few stray gifts from friends and relatives.
You couldn’t actually touch the branches of the tree until the gifts were all cleared out. As we grew up, every year, my brothers and sisters would tease my mother to say it; “come on mom, say it’s going to be a small Christmas.” That was the way we knew that it was going to be a real Christmas, over the top like every preceding one.
I have inadvertently followed in my mother’s footsteps. I have told my kids for the past few years that Santa had needier children to give to, or we didn’t have any money for extras, or some such excuse. Every year, there has been a tremendous pile of gifts around the tree. Even in the lean years, we find a way to sustain our love for the bounty of our small Christmas.
