Pictures I Took of the Pride Parade

Getting Ready to Parade
Bert Smith, Democratic Congressional Candidate for US District 5 in the parade

Another Video from the Pride Parade

In the pickup bed are several of our candidates from Oklahoma County who are running for the legislature: Ed Holzberger running for HD 83, Linda James running for HD 90, and Ron Marlett running for HD 84.

I'm in the trailer with some volunteers for the OCDP and the Stonewall Democrats.

Oklahoma City Pride Parade

Preparing for the Pride Parade On the parade route Friday, I took part in the Oklahoma Democratic Party's entrance in the Pride Parade for our gay and lesbian citizens. I like to remember the words of George Washington in moments like these:

As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.

Seattle v. Professional Basketball Corporation (Sonics)

Clay Bennett "Halloween Mask"

Right now, the city of Seattle is trying to keep the Sonics at Key Arena for the remaining two years of their lease. The Sonics owners, called the Professional Basketball Corporation or PBC, want to be able to buy out the remaining years on the lease.

The trial is being done in front of a judge, not a jury, so it's hard to tell how it's going. I think the city will win this one, but I also believe that the Sonics will be in Oklahoma City eventually.

I'm following the trial, not because I am a big NBA sports fan, but because points of law like this fascinate me. I probably ought to study to be a lawyer, but that likley won't happen for various reasons mostly dealing with time and money.

House Divided No More!

Prior to the Oklahoma Presidential Primary, I posted the following picture of our front yard to show how my wife and I were voting in the primary.

Here is the sign in our yard now as we look forward to the election in November. It's time for a real change in our national politics!

Stubborness Is No Virtue, Mr. Inhofe

Sen. James Inhofe, Fool or False Prophet?
Supporters of Sen. James Inhofe like to tout his "stubborness" for refusing to budge from his position that the scientific research pointing to a human cause for global warming, if not global warming itself, is the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." He holds to this despite the fact that all but a handful of the world's scientific community dedicated to studying the problem show him to be dellusional.

The problem with praising stubborness is that it ignores the fact that stubborness is a trait and not a virtue.

When a child refuses to eat his vegetables or go to bed at his appointed hour, his parents do not say to him, "Junior, we admire your stubborness, but we disagree with your decision." Instead, they say, something like, "If you don't quit being to stubborn, we're going to make you wish you had never heard of the word no!"

And those who admire Inhofe's intranscience should look at Inhofe's motives. He wants to lull us into a comforting belief that if we just keep on doing what we have always done, we will somehow magically get something different from what we already have. If we just drill some more as we have drilled before, we will have more oil and lower prices. Of course, this ignores the simple economic fact that we will never drill enough to supply our ravenous appetite for oil. And even if we do tap some of our reserves, other countries will just pump less canceling out any savings we might get from spoiling the last pristine areas in nature and further exacerbating the problem with CO2 emissions.

Be afraid, very afraid of the man who tries to tell you that you can get everything you want without a price, without sacrifice. The Bible called such a man a false prophet, not a public servant.

We can do what we have always done and expect not to get what we always have gotten. We have to change which is scary and sometimes painful. But as St. Paul said to the Romans:

[W]e also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us. . . (Romans 5: 3-5).

Two Oklahoma County Democratic Candidates Win Their Challenges

Last week, those who wished to be candidates for office in Oklahoma filed with the Oklahoma Election Board in order to be on the primary and general election ballot.

An inevitable follow-up to the filings are challenges to the legitimacy of their challenges by their opponents. Usually these involve issues such as residency and party affliation. For example, according to Oklahoma election law, one must be a resident in the district for which one is running at least 6 months before filing. One must also be registered as a member of the Democratic, Republican or Independent political party six months before one can file as a candidate for that party. (Technically, "Independent" is not a party, but the same rules apply.)

These challenges can be very messy since one is challenges the veracity and the ethics of a potential opponent. But the challenge system is usually a necessary evil to insure that those who seek public office do so legitimately.

Sometimes, though, challenges fall out of the realm of "necessary" evils and become, well, something bad. Such was the case with one challenge to an Oklahoma County candidate.

The two challenges we had to our candidates involved the candidacy of David Castillo running for House District 93 who was challenged by Mike Christian who is running for the Republican nomination for that district. This was a straight forward challenge to his residency, no problem with that. The challenge was overturned and David will be on the ballot for the Democratic primary along with Wilfredo Rivera.

The other challenge was against Linda James who runs LL James Printing along with Jack Farley. She is running for House District 90 in western Oklahoma County. Linda's challenge was a lot more nasty. Rep. Charles Key, the incumbent, did not challenge her residency. He challenged the legality of her dwelling place. Linda has for 3 years lived at her business address with the full knowledge and consent of her landlord. Her business is zoned for commercial use, but she also used it for living quarters. Rep. Key went a step further with his challenge and arranged to have Linda evicted from her dwelling place!

To me, this is out of bounds. It is one thing to call into question an opponent's residency. It is quite something else to try and order her to vacate her home in 10 days.

The story has a happy ending for Linda. She has managed to secure new digs within her district, and the Election Board threw out Key's challenge on the grounds that he could not deny the fact that she had lived in the district for the required residency period.

Key, by the way, is an ardent believer that the US government was responsible for the Murrah Bombing and not Timothy McVeigh. He deserves to be thrown out of this race by his own party.

In a follow-up to this story, 3 Oklahoma County House District representatives and one county official were re-elected to their offices by virtue of having no opponent. Rep. Richard Morrissette and Rep. Rebecca Hamilton both had no opponet file against them. Rep. Al McAffrey filed a challenge to his opponent who tried to run against him as an independent on the basis that the opponent filed to change his affliation as an independent 6 months prior to the filing date. Oklahoma County Court Clerk Patty Preseley also did not have an opponent file against her despite the fact that she switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party back in 2006.

Following the Harvest

I just finished reading a novel by former Oklahoma Senator Fred Harris entitled Following the Harvest. The novel is set in the summer of 1943 and follows the experience of a 16 year old boy named Will Haley as he works on a harvesting combine crew that goes from his home in southwestern Oklahoma up through the Texas Panhandle, eastern Oklahoma, Wyoming, finally ending up in North Dakota.

I have always enjoyed "coming of age" stories like this. Seeing a young protagonist go from youth and innocense to maturity and experience seems to me to be the very essense of our lives. The novel also has a real feeling for setting, of time and place. I grew up in or near many of the places described in the novel. Harris has a good "writer's eye" for geography. His description of the Caprock region in Texas matched my own feeling for the area's atmosphere and mood.

I would recommend this book for a pleasant reading experience.

Values v. Ideology

Reading The Audacity of Hope

I just finised Barack Obama's book The Audacity of Hope which I found to be intelligent and insightful. Obama clearly understands that there are no easy answers to the problems we face in this country. He recognizes that conservative, liberals, libertarians, greens all have points of view that need to be considered when we formulate policies and laws in our republic.

One important insight he had has to do with those who govern by their ideologies and those who govern by their values. He clearnly prefers the latter. He uses as an example a time while he was in the Illinois state legislature. A bill had been proposed to provide school breakfasts for pre-schoolers. A fellow member of the Illinois Senate, a Republican, opposed the bill in debate over it claiming that it "would crush their [the pre-schoolers'] spirit of self-reliance." Obama tried to point out that few of the 3-5 year old set were self-reliant, but the man would not be moved. The bill was defeated though a version of it later passed.

Obama writes:

[M]y fellow legislator's speech helps underscore one of the differences between ideology and values: Values are faithfully applied to the facts before, while ideology overrides whatever facts call theory into question.

I think this is a valuable lesson we all could learn whether our ideology comes from the left or the right. I may dislike certain aspects of business: the tendency to view human beings, especially workers, as merely figures in the ledger; the disregard for the environment; the encouragement of conspicuous consumption. However, when it comes time to discuss economic policies, I must recognize that the business owner is also the job producer, and capitalist societies allow us to enjoy lives of dignity better than state socialist societies. If I ask my conservative friends to consider the facts, the so must I.

Expensive Night Out

(Thanks to my friend, Debbie Hogue-Downing for sending this. Debbie and her husband Carl are long time stalwarts of the Oklahoma Democratic Party. Debbie has served in various party offices over her long involvement in politics. Carl brings food to our county meetings.)

Last night, my wife demanded that I take her out to "someplace expensive." So I took her to our neighborhood filling station and bought a full tank of gas!

Remember, when W first took office, gas was $1.46 a gallon. He also claimed that Iraq would be able to pay for its reconstruction after his invasion through their oil revenues.

Free Obama Sticker

MoveOn.org is offering free Obama stickers at the following link: Obama '08.

You can get more with a samll donation.

Consider the Lilies of the Backyard

A year ago, I brought home some Easter lilies from church. Cat waited till the blooms fell off and then replanted the plant. This summer they bloomed for the first time in our backyard.
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.--Matthew 6:28-29

Dirty Tricks Alert!

Who is this guy, and what is he doing at the Oklahoma candidate's filing office?

This picture is from Glenn Hightower. The man is John Angier, campaign manager for Randy Terrill the author of HB 1804 considered by many to be the worst bill on immigration passed by any state in the Union. Angler is allegedly photographing every Democratic candidate filing for office for the benefit of the Oklahoman Republican Party.

RIP Whiner

Whiner with our friend, John Thompson

Today Cat and I had to fulfill a painful responsibility for all pet owners and lovers. We had to have our cat named "Whiner" euthanized.

Whiner was part of Cat's house when we "blended" our houses together. Orginally, his name was "Prince", but soon afterwards Cat changed his name due to his constant meowing, usually for food.

Whiner was about 12 years old, but had been declining lately. He also wasn't taking care of himself at all. He had lost a lot of weight and was having trouble getting around. It got to the point where keeping him alive was cruel.

So we took him to the vet who advised us to end his suffering. So we acted in his best interest. He now rests in our back yard where he enjoyed laying out in the Oklahoma sun.

Goodbye our friend and companion.

The Bush Economy Fails Us

Today, the United States jobless rate jumped to 5.5%. John McCain has been a big supporter of the failed Bush economic policy. Can we afford a 3rd term with these economic policies still in place.

Oh, and oil prices surged higher up to $139 a barrell.

The linked article below includes a quotation from an Oklahoman:

Cheryl Williams, who lives in the Tulsa, Okla., suburb of Broken Arrow, has been looking for work for two years after losing her job as a certified nurse's aide. The 37-year-old relies on $225 a month in welfare and odds-and-ends jobs to support her two kids.

"I have job searched and job searched and job searched," Williams said. "I would like to have a real job."

It's time for change we can believe in.


Biggest Jobless Jump Since '86

Barack and Michelle "Fist Bump"

Barack and Michelle Obama

I not certain why Obama has gotten so much good press over a simple gesture, but politics is a very funny thing. I'm just glad the nomination process is over.

Barack Obama will be a great president, and Michelle will be great as First Lady.

The Obama's "Fist Bump"

Tonight is a History Making Night

Sen. Barck Obama, presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for President of the United States
Barack Obama, an African American, became the nominee of a major political party in America. Tonight I have been a witness to history.

Truly, the torch in America has been passed to a new generation.

Sen. Obama made a great speech to an jam-packed auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota, the site of this year's Republican nominating convention. Over 17,000 listened to him inside the auditorium and another 15,000 were outside viewing a broadcast of it.

At the Technology Conference

HuiChen Durley taught the blogging workshop
Right now I'm at a technology conference run by the district. At this moment I am taking a workshop on how to use blogging in the classroom. Since I alreadyhave a "Blogger" account, I am going to use this blog for the activities the teacher, HuiChen Durley, is trying to teach us.

Oklahoma Letter Carriers' Food Drive Sets Records

This is the food drive my Honor Society students helped out with:

from Brother Bob Bearden:
THE FINAL REPORTED TOTAL
FOR THE NALC Branch 458 LETTER CARRIERS FOOD DRIVE IS …
478,822 pounds

87,000 pounds MORE than last year!!!

Thank YOU, thank YOU everyone!!!

P.S. The overall total from all the drives within our Regional Food Bank area (53 counties) surpassed 600,000#’s!

Goodbye to Old John Marshall High

Today was the last day of school in the building where I have been a high school teacher for 14 years. For 13 of those years, I was on the faculty of John Marshall High School. This last year I was a member of the Oklahoma Centennial High School faculty. John Marshall is in a brand new facility on NW 122nd Street. But for me, this building will always be John Marshall High School as it has been since the school opened in 1948 when it replaced Britton High School.

Next year we will be in a new building, actually a remodeled building. However, I feel it is good to pay tribute to a building that has educated the students of Oklahoma City for 60 years.
Good bye, John Marshall High.

Honor Society Dinner

National Honor Society members enjoy dinner
Honor Society Members
LaTreha Jackson receives a commendation for her work on the Food Drive from Steve Riggs of the National Association of Letter Carriers
Steve Riggs give a commendation to the Oklahoma Centennial High School National Honor and National Junior Honor Society

A Memorial Day Prayer

Remembering the Fallen
My thanks to Pam Paul, who handles the duties of the OCDP Web Page master and Listserv Publisher, for bringing this prayer to my attention when she published it as our OCDP Memorial Day message.

Memorial Day Prayer

Spirit of Life
whom we have called by many names
in thanksgiving and in anguish—
Bless the poets and those who mourn
Send peace for the soldiers who did not make the wars
but whose lives were consumed by them

Let strong trees grow above graves far from home
Breathe through the arms of their branches
The earth will swallow your tears while the dead sing
“No more, never again, remember me.”

For the wounded ones, and those who received them back,
let there be someone ready when the memories come
when the scars pull and the buried metal moves
and forgiveness for those of us who were not there
for our ignorance.

And in us, veterans in a forest of a thousand fallen promises,
let new leaves of protest grow on our stumps.

Give us courage to answer the cry of humanity’s pain
And with our bare hands, out of full hearts,
with all our intelligence
let us create the peace.

Author: Barbara J. Pescan

Source: Morning Watch - Skinner House Books 1999

My Worship Leader Remarks this Sunday

First OCHS graduating class being led into the Cox Convention Center for the graduation ceremony.
Note: Each Sunday at my church, one of the laity acts as Worship Leader. This Sunday was my turn. One of the duties of the Worship Leader is to deliver a brief statement on any topic the Worship Leader chooses. I chose to review my first year as a teacher at Oklahoma Centennial High School since this was the Sunday following our first graduation ceremony.

Last Wednesday evening, I was a part of Oklahoma Centennial High School’s first graduation ceremony. My special thanks to Gail Vines for helping make this a memorable event. As most of you know, this is my first year at OCHS after 13 years of teaching at old John Marshall High School.

It has been a great year, one of my best. I have gotten to take part in many firsts. We organized our first chapter of the National Honor Society, and, along with Brother Bob Bearden, completed our first service project by taking part in the National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive.

Along with this, fellow OCHS teacher Mark Lyle and I developed the “Bison Chess Club” to which several Mayflower members donated “seed money.” I am happy to report to you all that we held our first school chess tournament. Our students have been so enthusiastic about the club that some have asked about the possibility of keeping the club going during the summer months. I can’t tell you what joy that brings to a teacher’s heart.

We look forward to greater things next year because we will at last be moving into our own building. For the past two years OCHS has been using the old John Marshall facility, but next year we will move to our permanent home over on Kelly just north of Britton in what was formerly Eisenhower Junior High, but now with MAPS for Kids money, is being remodeled into a brand new school

I covet your prayers for our students. Researchers say that the number one predictor of a student’s success is the student’s economic environment. The number two predictor is the economic environment of the student’s school population. Our students are largely drawn from the Britton, West Village, and North Highlands neighborhoods. Anyone who knows those parts of the city knows that our students come to school with a couple of strikes against them already. My job is to show them out to get a hit with a two-strike count.

I cannot change the situation into which my students were born. I have control over just one thing: the world I create for them in my classroom. My mission, the sacred mission of all my fellow teachers who call Mayflower our church, is to make that world one of nurture, growth and learning.

I know I speak for all my colleagues in expressing our appreciation for the historical support that this church has given to public education. Fellow teachers, let’s enjoy our summer and renew ourselves for the tasks which lay ahead when once again we will be called on to touch the future

In Honor of Those Who Paid the Ultimate Price

I have always wanted to have a flag for our home to fly on appropriate occasions. Memorial Day, the day we honor those who died defending our country, seemed a great reason to get it done.

May we be wise enough honor their sacrifice by promoting peace and justice in our world.

On the Death of Jack Mildren

Jack Mildren 1949-2008
Jack Mildren,OU quarterback, in 1971

Jack Mildren, great OU quarterback of the 70's and a Lt. Governor of Oklahoma, passed away last night due to stomach cancer. He was 58.

My first encounter with Jack was not very pleasant to say the least. His high school team, the Abilene Cooper Cougars, and my high school team, the Amarillo Tascosa Rebels, were playing in the 1967 state playoffs. Cooper played us on our home field, and the score wasn't close at all. I think they scored a touchdown on their first play from scrimmage and beat us something like 38-6. What made this worse for me was the fact that Jack was coached by my uncle Merrill. Needless to say, I kept a pretty low profile at school the next week.

All was forgiven when Jack decided to play at the University of Oklahoma. My uncle, who played at OU in the 50's was accused of "nudging" Jack to Oklahoma, but Merrill stayed way out of the picture in the recruiting war that broke out over Jack. Sports Illustrated did a feature article on the battle for Jack.

Freshman could not play varsity football when Jack first came to the school, so Jack played on the freshman "Boomer" squad in 1968. Their games drew large crowds, and big things were forecast for Mildren.

However, at first, Jack disappointed many people. Not all of this was his fault. Steve Owens was in the OU backfield, and it seemed as if the entire 1969 season was dedicated to getting Owens the Heisman Trophy. So Jack mostly handed off to Owens, and the team went 6-4 that year.

In 1970, OU switched to the Wishbone attack. Jack, who had been primarily thought of as a passing quarterback, had to act as a 4th running back and do his passing largely in the form of laterals. When OU first switched to the Wishbone, many in the stands booed and hooted at OU's feeble attempt to immitate the Texas Longhorns who had introduced the formation to college football.

Many of those same people cheered OU on during the storied 1971 season when OU went 11-1 losing only to number 1 Nebraska in "The Game of the Century." Jack made "All American" in 1971.

After college, Jack played for a while in the NFL as a defensive back. He then was successful in the oil business before turning to politics becomng the 22nd Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma. He ran for Governor in 1994, but his campaign was sabatoged by a "Dixiecrat" named Wes Watkins who ran as an independent when he couldn't get the Democratic nomination for himself. Later Watkins switched parties and served as a Republican congressman representing the southeast part of the state known as "Little Dixie."

Jack would have been a good governor. He was compassionate and tolerant. Oklahoma would have gone a better direction had he and not the Republican Frank Keating won that race.

I will miss Jack. We were not close friends, but we knew each other through his connection to my family. I had hoped he would get back into politics again, but sadly that is not to be.

My prayers are with his family.

Article in The Oklahoman on life of Jack Mildren. My Uncle Merrill is quoted in the article.

First OCHS Graduation

Some of our class leaders
The graduation line
Wednesday night was our first graduation ceremony at the Cox Convention Center. Our kids were wonderful. They've been through many obstacles to get this far. We wish them the best!

Our NHS Chapter is Chartered!

First OCHS National Honor Society Chapter with Charter
Principal Thompson and I with our First Charter
We received our first charter for the Oklahoma Centennial High School National Honor Society.

Letter to Rep. Mary Fallin

Rep. Mary Fallin

Note: Rep. Mary Fallin, 5th District, Oklahoma, wrote me a letter explaining her eagerness to cut my taxes. She specifically singled out what she called the "marriage, estate, and gift" taxes as targets for elimination. I immediately sat down and sent her the following note by return mail.

Dear Rep. Fallin,

I received your letter written May 15th in which you decry high taxes. You stated that you wished to cut my taxes particulary the marriage, estate, and gift taxes which you termed "burdensome." I am certain that your stance will prove to be very politically popular.

However, as you know, taxes are used to provide services which citizens of our country feel are the responsibility of our government so we may lead quality lives. These services include schools and school lunches, hospitals, safe roads and bridges, health care, Homeland Security, clean air and water, safe food and drugs, air traffic control, armed forces, veterans' benefits, job retraining, national parks and recreation, drug law enforcement, just to name a few.

In your next letter to me, please include a list of those services you wish to eliminate or cut in order to pay for the tax cuts you have promised.

Your interested constituent,
Robert Lynn Green

P.S. I see that the letter you sent me was printed and mailed at taxpayer expense. Is this congressional priviledge something you wish to eliminate?

Kirk Humphries Selected as OKC School Board President

Kirk Humphries, newly appointed chairman of the Oklahoma City Public School District School Board
Former Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphries was selected as chairman of the Oklahoma City School Board last Monday. While mayor, Kirk helped to pass the "MAPS for Kids" bond issue and sales tax that has been used to do a massive building and remodeling project in the city's schools.

The first big task facing Humphries and the rest of the board is to find a new superintendent to succeed John Q. Porter who resigned after a brief time of leading the district following allegations of financial impropriety.

Kirk is well connected with Oklahoma City's business community. This, plus his service on the Putnam City School Board, are his chief assets. His chief liablity from this teacher's standpoint is that he doesn't have much experience dealing a democratic urban school district. He believes in the "school is a business" [false] analogy as evidenced by his statement:

"I believe the customer is always right, and in a school district, the customer is every family in our district with school-aged children."

The problem with this model is that, in a school, sometimes the customer is wrong. For example, if a parent believes that her child should remain in school due to his "special needs" when that child is disrupting class for all his classmates and making it impossible for a teacher to do her job, the parent/customer is wrong.

My Advice to High School Graduates Going to College

Graduation Time!

'Tis the time for graduations both of the high school and college variety. Saturday was rather special. My Alma Mater, Southern Nazarene University, held its Commencement ceremony. I had a niece who graduated this year, and that was special enough, but what made this one very special was that my university gave an honorary diploma to my nephew Spencer Lee who died last year of Ewing's sarcoma cancer after a six year battle with the disease. His mother and father, my brother, was there as well as every member of my immediate family and several other relatives as well.

Afterwards, we went over to Bethany 1st Nazarene Church for a family luncheon. My father and mother who are 80 and 78 respectively were able to come down from Seattle to attend.

Sunday, my wife and I traveled up the turnpike to Tulsa to attend a graduation Sunday service and party for our niece from my wife's side of the family. She graduated from Union High School in Tulsa-Broken Arrow on Friday. On Sunday, her church, Tulsa Central Church of the Nazarene honored their graduates. Her parents, Ed and Cheryl, my wife's sister, hosted a reception her. She will go to the University of Oklahoma and major in Drama and Theatre Tech.

I have but one bit of advice for all high school graduates going to college: Study Scared. When I went to college, I assumed that everyone there was far more prepared for college than I was. I felt I needed to study twice as hard just to keep up with them. And that was about right.

Americans Seek Afforable Health Care in Other Countries

Dying for Lack of Dollars?

I wrote the following letter to editors of The Oklahoman in response to a "Your Views" letter published in the May 17th edition.

Dear Editor:

Rick Olsen claims that the US “already has the best health care in the world” evidenced by the fact that foreigners come here for their health needs. Some do, mostly the wealthy seeking elective procedures and other medicine most Americans cannot afford.

But many American go to other countries for their health care. Many seniors go to Canada and Mexico for less expensive prescriptions. Americans have also found it more affordable to go to India for their surgeries.

And if our health care is the “best,” then why are our infant mortality rates among the highest and our life expectancy one of the lowest in the industrialized world?

First OCHS Chess Tourney Was a Winner All Around

We had our chess tournament on Thursday with eight students taking part. The students enjoyed themselves so much that they asked if we could do it again before school lets out. (Sadly, we can't.) They also asked about keeping the chess club going over the summer. I'll have to look into that one.

I Relate to this Teacher

Grand Avenue by Steve Breen

Tulsa Hosts US Chess Championship

Tulsa is hosting the 2008 U.S. Chess Championship. It began Tuesday and will run through May 21st. Twenty-four players were invited to participate in the tournament.

Ironically, today the Bison Chess Club is holding its first intra-school chess tournament. The quality of play will be far different, but we will have a similar level of enthusiasm for the game.

Another note about chess in our school. This morning I was at my duty station reading a book on chess. A man who is acting as a substitute in our building came up to me and told me that when he has "free time" for the classes he subs in, several students pull out chess sets they have in their book bags and start playing chess games with each other. A colleague bought about 20 chess sets from The Dollar Store and donated them to the club. I've been giving them out to our students who don't have a chess set of their own. Obviously, this has had a positive affect in our school

Took Me a While to Catch This Pun

Frank and Ernest by Thaves

Do you know what word is being "punned" here?