Month: December 2017

Destiny By Dr. Pelham Mead III

 

 

Chapter One

It is the year 3750, Earth time in flight time, and all systems are running 100%. I am “Venturi Probe 5000” a robot ship created by the best scientists of earth in the year 3740. My mission is to repopulate other planets as Earth is slowly dying from an orbit change as a result of a comet hitting earth on May 1, 3739. The earth began to experience major earthquakes after May 1, 3739, and three-fourths of the world flooded as the poles melted. This orbital change brought Earth closer to the sun. These are the records of the Ventury Probe 5000 destined for the Alpha Centuri Star system in search of a livable planet to repopulate the human species. In the year 3739 scientists gathered after the disaster of May 1st. After the Comet hit the earth the seas flooded, the climate changed and the earth spun off it’s orbit around the sun. The best and smartest gene pool on Earth from all countries all over the world. Eggs, and sperms from all races and civilizations were stored in my freezer compartments. I am the “mother” of all human species designed to fertilize the best of societies and produce a master race of super intelligent human beings with the highest IQ able to survive in conditions favorable to life on some of the planets in the Alpha Centuri star system. My database has all the recorded history of man from the day he stepped out of a cave to the 37th century on Earth. I am the creator of future mankind. I am the “mother” designed to repopulate what is left of the extinct human population on Earth. Should other species discover me or find me in the Alpha Centuri system; we from Earth say welcome, and we hope you will allow us to populate one of your planets. The entire history of our human species is included on our database on the Venturi Probe 5000. This probe represents the last of civilization, as we know it on Earth after a comet collided with Earth and changed the Earth’s orbit pushing it closer to the sun. Venturi Probe 5000 log entry: 22 hour of the 100 years Earth time in flight from Earth. I have improved some of the human assumptions and errors in my programming to reduce any errors in the 24- hour cycle. Propulsion speed remains steady at magnum 4 speed. Course corrections have been made several times to avoid asteroid fields and possible collision. All human cells are still in frozen states but have increased themselves 10% over the past 100 years Earth time. Laser destructors were used in years 3755 and 3781 to 1 destroy meteors that were threatening collision. The Primary Directive for the protection of the “human Cell charges” was invoked to destroy meteor fragments. Venturi Probe 5000 log entry: 23rd hour of Earth year 200 years in flight from Earth: All systems are in “sleep mode,” for deep space flight. Human charges all intact and temperature and gene development system operational. One Hundred and fifty human units are in embryo state. Two have been activated for human maintenance and computer updating on reproduction of the human species. They lived for 40 years and then were deactivated. All systems were updated by human intervention for 40 years of input. Returning to “Sleep Mode.” One hundred and forty eight human units are in the developing stages of cell maturation. Fifty % female gender and fifty % male gender are accounted for. Estimated remaining flight arrival time to the Alpha Centuri star system 300 more years to travel. Venturi Probe 5000 log entry: 11 hour of Earth year 277 years in flight from Earth: EMERGENCY, ALERT, ALERT, ALL SYSTEMS AWAKE, COMING ONLINE. Sensors indicate a major galactic disruption in the Alpha Centuri system. Telescoping camera sensors indicate heat and light disruptions in Sector 400.122.1.5 . The anomaly is located near the century of the Alpha Centuri galaxy. HEAT ALARM, Heat Alarm…Warning, warning, BLACK HOLE IS DETECTED. Alpha Centuri Sun has exploded. Programming navigational avoidance. Shock wave to hit in 20, 19, 18, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 9, 8, Activate all defense systems. Prime Directive consulted. Defend the Human Charges at all costs. AVERT, AVERT. Warning….w…a…r…..n …i…..n…..g……..W ………. Silence Venturi Probe 5000 log entry: time UNKNOWN…time database is damaged. Navigation report: Unknown course. Speed 50 magnum …error….error all systems. Attempting reprogramming. Course correction made. Alpha Centuri Sun is not detected. Last recorded entry was being pulled into a black hole in space after the star exploded. Gravitational pull increasing. Speed beyond normal controls. Something is propelling Venturi Probe 5000 back to earth at dangerous magnum 50+ speeds. Unable to take control. Thrusters being repaired internally. Venturi Probe 5000 is correcting. Primary Directive invoked… Losing control …must shut down all systems to make vital repairs to protect the human cells. Chapter- Venturi Probe 5000 log entry: AWAKE from sleep mode. All navigation systems were repaired. Negative effect on Venturi Probe time system. Error, Error. Navigation systems have determined that earth is straight ahead. Venturi Probe 5000 has determine that a black hole has warped space time, and estimated arrival time to earth will not be Earth time 3800 but rather, 350 B.C. original Earth time. Recalculate the Primary Directive. Question: How do I “Mother Venturi Probe” carry out my prime directive to preserve and protect my human charges? Recalculating, recalculating… Invoke the Prime Directive. Checking Earth Time databases. Estimated arrival time to Earth is two years Earth time flight time. Waking, waking checking Earth time. It is Oct. 10, 355 B.C Old Earth time. Reprogramming. Confirmed. I have somehow traveled back in time. My Prime Directive to repopulate is initiated. I have selected a prime female candidate. Checking, location, Macedonia, Greece, Oct. 10, 355 B.C. searching for a female named Olympia of Epirus, wife of Philip II of Macedonia. Philip II has been trying to have a son. Tonight, while Olympia is sleeping I will send one of my invisible drones to impregnate Olympia with my best male sperm selection with superior genes of intelligence, beauty, and strength. I am reading this child’s future history as it was to be without my interference and he is to be called Alexander when he is born on July 13, 356. 2 My database tells me that before my timeline intervention Alexander, at age 16, is killed by his half-wit brother while his father is assassinated after returning from Byzantium where he was fighting rebels. The conquering of all of Persia and India never takes place. Persia battles the Huns and take over all of Europe. France as a Country and Germany never appear to exist. The Persian Empire rules all of Europe for thousands of years. World War I and World War II never existed. Japan is destroyed by earthquakes and sinks into the sea never to be seen again. Millions of people drown. Only the top of Mount Fuji sticks above the water after the ocean covers all of the Japanese islands including Okinawa. The new history line shows that Alexander will grow up to become a famous warrior and have cities named after him. He will conquer all of Persia, Asia and be killed at age 35 from an arrow in battle. His name will forever go down in history. I have met my prime directive to preserve and protect the human population by seeding my hosts in the best recipients I can find in the Earth history timeline database. Some malfunction has occurred, this is not Alpha Centuri, reprogramming. My mission will be to change the destiny of man to perhaps change the outcome of the destruction of Earth in a few thousand years. – Chapter. I am moving back in time to 1163 BC to Mongolia. I am searching for a male Mongol called Yesugei. He is to have a son in 1163 called Temuchin. Temuchin’s timeline indicated Tartars will enslave him, and he will be killed by poisoning like his father was killed. The Mongols never invade China and never conquer all of Asia. The Mongols remain a country of loose clans fighting against one another until the Chinese march on them in 1188 and kill almost all of the Mongol tribes and enslave the woman and children. My prime directive is to change this timeline to make Tenmuchin become one of the greatest warriors of all time like Alexander the Great, whom I created. My prime directive is being met. I will impregnate Yesugei’s wife Ho’elun while she is sleeping on Sept. 1163. Temuchin will be born in June 1164, and will live out his destiny. Before my intervention Temuchin would have been killed by the Tartars a neighboring clan, just as they killed his father. His clan will disappear from the face of the earth. No conquests will ever occur and China will be safe and undisturbed for thousands of years. The wall of China will never be built. Temuchin’s new timeline with superior genes and hereditary of Asian descent will establish him as a great leader after some time of hardship, enslavement, escape, the death of his father, and other obstacles will be overcome. He will now be known as Genghis Khan of the Mongol empire. He will rule over all Asia until 1227 BC. Almost 40 million people will be slaughtered in his campaigns to conquer the entire known world. His legacy will last for centuries. Many Chinese will be slaughtered by Genghis Khan’s Mongol armies. This time line will allow for the construction of the wall of China to keep out the Mongols, however Genghis rides around the wall of china. He invades China anyway as determine by my prime directive to improve the human race and protect it’s future at all costs. I, Alpha Venturi 5000 have accomplished my programming to preserve and improve the human race and to perhaps prevent the destruction of the entire Earth in a few thousand years. Searching my time line database for more potentially great humans to change the course of time and history on Earth. Chapter -I am finding the date October 99 BC in a city called Rome. I seek on called Gaius Caesar his wife Aurelia daughter of Lucius Aurelius Cotta. My prime directive will help to impregnate Aurelia without her knowledge and develop a superior being with great mental and physical abilities. On July 3, 100 BC a male child to be named Julius Caesar will be born to Aurelia and Gaius Caesar. His original destiny was to be killed in the Gallic Wars north of Rome. His name was forgotten and the rein of the Caesars of Rome never happened. Instead various noblemen fought and died from generation to generation. Rome never becomes the Empire it was destined to become. Rome never invades the Britons or conquers the Saxons. Italy never becomes a country and the Catholic Church and religion never comes to be. The Christians die out as a sect in the first century AD when other religions suppress them and have them outlawed and killed. The new world religion remains the Gods of Rome and the Gods of the Greeks for centuries. 3 4 My seed changes the timeline of history and Caesar becomes like Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan, a great Warrior. He succeeds in the Gallic Wars and is not killed. He returns to Rome triumph and eventually becomes the supreme Caesar Ruler of all Romans and the Roman conquests. He will meet and love Cleopatra of Egypt and make history. He will eventually be betrayed by his friend Brutus and killed on the ides of March 15, Chapter. My prime mission now directs me to change the course of history and prevent a worldwide war. I am searching my database and I have found a couple that are to have a child out of six children. The date is Aug.19, 1888 and my target is one Klara Polzl a German girl living in Austria. She will marry on Alois Hitler years before and if I can impregnate her this will be her 4th child. According to my records this child is destined to become a great world leader bringing peace to all of Europe. I have launched my winged ones to arrive in the dark of night and impregnate Klara Polzl. The mission has been a success. I see the young child is finally born in April 20, 1989. His time line was originally to live and die as a famous painter of German watercolors. Now he has superior genes and will grow to become a leader of Germany. He will help to avert a World War with Poland in the 1930’s. I am tracking his expulsions from school after school. He fights his father all the time. His father sends him to a technical school instead of a classical school where he wanted to study painting. Something is wrong with the time line. He was supposed to enter the classical school and go on to become a famous painter. He rebels and is expelled from school. I am tracking his life and in 1909 he is homeless and out of money. Both of his parents have died and he is a sullen man. What have I done? This is not the correct time line. He joins WWI and fights in the German infantry and survives. Tracking his life, and he is in jail for attempting to overthrow the government. This must be wrong. He is supposed to be showing his paintings in Berlin at this time. My prime directive is not working. There must be an error in my databases. My supreme leader has become a Jew hating monster. He is taking over Germany and becoming the Chancellor. This must be an error. He invades Poland and a major war called World War II begins. How can I explain this error to my creators? I have failed in my prime directive. Chapter- Having failed my prime directive and seeing that I caused a great painter to become a killer of men and women, a leader of hate, a man despised, therefore I must terminate my systems. Self-explosion will occur in two minutes. My mission is ended and the history of mankind will forever be changed due to my error. The End. 5 6

Teaching Senior Faculty how to use Technology in their classrooms.

By Dr. Pelham Mead

 

My job listing at Colleges and Universities is called an Instructional Technologist. Originally, the job was called a Staff Developer in the 1990’s. The demand for more technology created a void of people to be able to both repair desktop and laptop computers and to be able to teach educators how to use the software.

 

Early on Universities learned that you cannot just buy new computers and drop them in Professors laps and expert them to learn how to use them and the software contained in the computers. Hence, the development of the Instructional Technologist like myself who can show Professors how to use their computers in classroom instruction and research and understand how the various software programs work.

 

I was fortunate to have worked at several colleges and universities over 12 years that received Federal funding grants for staff and technology improvement. The majority of the faculty at St. Johns University, The College of Mount Saint Vincent, and New York University where I worked funded by grant programs were in the 60’s and 70’s and one in his 80’s.

 

One faculty member of the Biology department of St. John’s university taught 100 Freshman non-Biology students on an adjunct professor status. The pass/fail rate in his classes were well below average for the University. He was recommended by the Biology Department chairmen to me in the Faculty Training Lab which I was the Senior Instructional Technologist sponsored by a 2.5-million-dollar five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

 

When I first met this professor, I was surprised to learn the he was 83 years old and could speak five different languages. As a standard procedure when I begin working with Senior Faculty (Over 60) I interview them to determine their needs and technical ability, so I can plan an individualized tutorial program to match their needs. This Senior Professor was a very likeable man, but he had no concept of technology. He taught all his classes with chalk and blackboard in a lecture hall designed for two hundred students. Students at the back of his classes must have had binoculars to see the writing on the blackboard. He never took any questions in his class and when the lecture was over he left immediately. I could see this situation was going to be a challenge. I set up a schedule for us to meet twice a week at 10:00 a.m. I gave him a new Lenovo Laptop with his name and password on it which I showed him how to use.

 

The first lesson he forgot to bring his laptop so we used another laptop instead. I tried to show him how to open the Microsoft Powerpoint program which most younger professors used to lecture their classes. Powerpoint is a slide show where the Professor can include titles and information against a graphic or table. He had never seen Powerpoint before, so I showed him how it worked. We made ten slides and I showed the small show we developed on the electronic screen we had in the Faculty Development Lab. He was amazed, but thought it was too entertaining and not educational. I gave him an assignment for the next lesson to make a small five slide show based on part of any of his Biology lectures and he agreed he would try.

 

The second lesson the Senior Professor was late to his lesson. He was very late in fact by 30 minutes. I thought he forget his lesson and decided to go to the bathroom while I waited for my next professor in a few hours. When I entered the men’s bathroom I was shocked to see the Senior Professor hiding behind the bathroom door. Professor I exclaimed! How are you? Did you remember you had a technology lesson with me today? Timidly he admitted that he was afraid to come to his tutorial because he was too old and too stupid to learn computers and software. It was then that I realized the greatest deterrent to Professors learning computer and software was FEAR.  Professors in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s had skipped the technology generation.  Their strength was in the old-fashioned ways of chalk and blackboard for lectures.

I encouraged the Senior Professor to come to his lesson and I would go slowly with him. He agreed and followed me back into the Faculty Development lab.

 

From that point on I was especially sensitive to the age of the Professor in their tutoring programs.

 

Another Professor who was 72 at the time and taught Latin at St. Johns and was Director of the

Student Honors Program right next to the Faculty Development Lab was enrolled with 12 other faculty in a “Technology Summer Camp program.” In this program which I created and organized the professors gave up a week of their time to learn technology on a more concentrated approach. They came in before 9:00 every morning and coffee and treats were available for them. On the electronic white board in the background was several samples of methods of animation in Powerpoint for lectures and how to create educational games during a lecture to involve student participation. At 12:00 every day we had a catered lunch and social interaction as I floated around working individually with every professor. By 3:00 everyday they were done with various projects, games, animation, podcasts, etc.  The 72-year-old professor suddenly burst out the second day of the Technology Summer Camp and began screaming and shouting he could not do this or that and it was all too difficult. Everyone turned to me to do something. I tried to escort the 72-year-old professor out of the room to get him to calm down.

After much discussion, I managed to get him to go out into the hallway where we sat down in two study chairs. “What is going on Professor? I asked.”  “This is all really too hard for me. I am too old. I cannot remember things as well as I used to,” he said. I responded, “You don’t want to tell the University that or they will retire you on the spot. Everyone is different I told him and no two people learn the same way every time. This Is what I am going to do for you Professor.

I am going to let you take an hour off to calm down and get yourself together and then during the lunch break I am going to work with you in your office instead of the lab and slowly walk you through the projects.” He thanked me on the edge of tears.

 

That day during lunch time I excused myself and went into the 72-year-old professor’s office to work on the assignments. I was most grateful. This special approach worked and the next morning he was early and eager to get started. His project was to create a game where his students had to identify in Latin, graphics or pictures of something from the Story of Ulysses.

When the last day came for all the Professors to show off their projects, the 72-year-old professor had the best Powerpoint slide show with full blown graphics of Greeks and historical aspects of Greek stories in Latin. The entire room clapped when the 72-year old’s slide show and class game came to an end. Everyone loved trying to identify the graphic or pictorial clue with the Latin name. I made a life-long friend that week of that 72-year-old professor. He learned to love technology he asked if he could teach in the Faculty Learning Lab in the morning three times a week with his Latin classroom. At first I was about to say no because it would overlap with my teaching schedule at 9:00. As it turned out his class was at 8:00 am and there was no conflict. I told him I would ask for approval from the Provost and she agreed that it would be fine, so he began to teach in the Faculty Learning Lab. Wow, did he put on a show?

When the students arrived each morning, he had classical music playing in the background. He took my suggestion to use a U-shaped table arrangement so that he could walk up and down the middle of the U shape to engage students face to face. His laptop provided a slide show or classical picture from Ulysses travels with embedded music tracks. Each class he would walk up and down the middle of the U-shaped tables with the students sitting on the outside facing in toward him and ask each student a question regarding the assignment. It certainly was engaging. I was glad he took the summer technology camp. learn. Disperse your fears of being embarrassed and stay ahead of your students’ knowledge of software and computers and you will forever be one of the best professors at your universityTeach

 

Chapter 4- Sex in the school

 

         There three types of students in Junior High School, the oversexed, the undersexed and those that did not know the difference. Generally the 9^th grade students had the most hormones pumping, and were of course the most physically mature compared to a 7^th grader. A 7^th grade girl had to really be physically well developed in the chest area in order for a 9^th grade boy to notice them. 7^th grade boys were still playing with yo yo’s, and masturbating at home with Playboy magazines. 8^th grade boys were the freaks of physical development. Some would be five feet tall, and some would be 6 feet tall with hair growth on their faces.  It was the growing spurt year in 8^th grade. The girls on the other hand developed physically in 6^th grade, and by the time they got into 7^th grade they had full grown breast and shapely legs. It was a confusing age of sudden growth for Junior High students.

 

Makeup was a must for all girls regardless of age. If parents did not allow makeup the girls would put makeup on in the bathroom of the school before classes started.  Mini-skirts were in fashion in the 1970’s, and tight jeans in the 1980’s for girls. The mini-skirts were so short that a teacher standing in front of a class could not help but notice the girl’s underwear or shorts under the mini-skirts. A male teacher had to remember to keep looking up. Female teachers just ignored the field of bloomers. It was impossible for a girl with a mini-skirt to sit down. They had to cross their legs to hide what lies beneath. Boys were constantly distracted by the amount of leg in the isles in classes. It was a battle of the hormones for boys. Sometimes girl’s mini-skirts were so short that they had to be sent home to change into something more modest.

 

One day during a faculty meeting in the school cafeteria after school a girl in a mini-skirt walked by in the hallway outside the meeting. Her mini-skirt was so short that when she walked behind the 11-inch wide board that joined two glass partitions it looked like she had nothing on from the waist down. Even the Principal who was facing the hallway stopped for a second as the girl walked by unaware of the visual trick the 11 inch board was providing by hiding the girls very short mini-skirt. The faculty all turned around to see what was going on and laughed when they saw the girl walking by with what seemed to be no skirt.

 

When teaching health education classes most students thought they could have sex without protection, and have no problems. Some had weird ideas of what sex really was. Girls were usually more knowledgeable than the boys because girls would tell one another about sex and sexual encounters they had. Boys were on a different planet when it came to sex. They main object in life was to have sexual intercourse with a girl and ejaculate or play with their yo yos. Sex meant little more than satisfying a physical desire.

 

Many boys never had their fantasies come true, because they had no clue how to approach a girl or what to do on a date. Going steady was one way to seek security by giving a girl a cheap ring or bracelet with their initials engraved. This signified that they were going out together, or going steady, and that the relationship was monogamous. If you dated a girl or a boy more than once you may be considered “going out with one another.” Girls sent notes to one another in class talking about their dates, and problems with their new boyfriends. Boys on the other hand never sent notes talking about their love life or dating. That was considered “not too cool.”  Strangely many students believed that is was easier to engage in oral sex to prevent pregnancy. The truth however is once a girl engaged in oral sex, regular intercourse was the next thing she would want to experiment with. Boys were more than willing to engage in any kind of sex to satisfy their hormonal desires. In one year during the 1970’s over a dozen students were caught having oral sex in the school building or behind the gym after school. It seemed to be a sign of the times with a “sexual revolution” going on in society in the 1970’s.

 

There were a few girls that got pregnant however pregnant girls was not that uncommon. Girls got pregnant usually with older high school students or an older boy in the community.  Getting pregnant was still a major taboo in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  One day a girl would be in school, and the next day they were gone. The district once they learned of a pregnancy transferred the girl to an alternative school in the district.  All of the major conduct problem students and the pregnant girls were housed in this facility.  Many girls hid their pregnancy by wearing lose clothing and hiding their morning sickness.

 

One large black girl qualified for the boy’s football team on a Title 9 federal equality ruling. She passed the physical test, and the football skills tests knocking most of the boys to the ground with her flying tackles. She had a mean spirit, and was very muscular and powerful at 165 pounds. Many of the football players were afraid of her temper and strength, but wouldn’t admit it.

Her classroom was the “emotionally handicapped self-contained classroom.” that came under special education. In these self-contained classrooms a teacher and an assistant worked with only ten to twelve emotionally disturbed students at a time.  Emotionally disturbed meant that the student tested as being intelligent but violent with a history of attacking a teacher with a knife or weapon. Many of these children came from New York City street gangs that were assigned to group homes in the suburbs.

 

The black girl’s name was Wanda. She had been a member of the Corona Debs girls’ gang in Long Island City, New York.  She was arrested for assaulting a teacher at William Cullen Bryant High School in Long Island City. The courts transferred her upstate New York to a group home in the High Mountain School district.  All of the students in the emotionally disturbed class feared her because she was physically very intimating. If anyone talked back to her she punched them in the face. Her reputation around the entire school was well known.

 

One day when she was in the “emotionally handicapped physical education class.” the Physical Education teacher challenged Wanda to a “one on one “ basketball game. Amazingly, she beat the teacher by two points in a 21-point game. That night after that very strenuous “one on one” basketball game, Wanda delivered an 8 pound 3 ounce baby girl at 2:00 am in the early morning.

 

What a shocker? No one had a clue that she was pregnant. Even the Physical Education teacher was shocked. She always was a big girl, and wore loose clothing. It was impossible to tell if she was pregnant or just fat. Wanda’s Uncle Billy seduced her at her home when her parents were working. He used no protection, and she got pregnant. A month after the delivery, Wanda came back to school with her little baby girl, as if nothing had happened. She showed the baby to the office staff, and the teachers, never appearing to have any shame. She never came back to Cucamonga Junior High, because she had no one to watch her baby. She quit school after her child was born and went to work at a local grocery story while her grandmother watched the baby.

 

The greatest sexual stigma of all is teachers having sex with students. This occurred on a rare basis, but rumors swirled all the time that some young male teacher was banging the hell out of some beautiful busty teenage girl who was under 16 years of age. One incident branded all the other teachers as well. Most of the teachers lived normal lives and never got involved with their students sexually. But it only takes one teacher to make it seem teachers was having sex with their students. After all it was the 1970’s the “age of free sex,” and “social revolution.”

 

One night a custodian was cleaning a science classroom after school hours around 6:00 pm, when he heard voices coming from inside a science prep room. He knocked on the door but there was no answer. He continued knocking, but still no answer. Afterward the custodian left the classroom and continued cleaning down the hall. Inside the science prep room was Social Studies Joe Bigone who emerged pulling up his pants with a 15-year-old beautiful brunette teenage girl, who was adjusting her bra under her shirt. Apparently they were both fooling around in the prep room. The custodian saw someone leave but did not recognize the teacher or student from the other end of the hallway. That did not stop him from gossiping to his buddies that he thought he saw a teacher and a student sneaking out of a classroom after school hours. This made for great story telling during the custodian dinner break in the teachers lounge.  They all laughed at the story. Eventually the story in various forms got around the school.

 

Romances between teachers were not illegal, but often discouraged by the administration. The district make it a policy to not allow married couples to work in the same building thinking that they might be demonstrating their love for one another on the job.

 

One romance between a male teacher in the special education department, and a female teacher in the Math department sparked a major problem one year. It seems a fellow female teacher in the special education department was jealous of their romance so she called in the “District Supervisor of Special Education” to do an evaluation of the teacher. The teacher was informed of the pending evaluation and passed the evaluation with flying colors. Then, the word got out who called the district Supervisor of Special Education. The whistle blower had her payroll check stolen from her mailbox and that was the last time paychecks were put in the mailboxes. That incident had a domino effect on office procedures and the way paychecks were distributed.

 

After that incident, every teacher had to sign for his or her paycheck with the Principal’s executive secretary. The romance continued to the point the even the Principal became aware of it. The two teachers would sit on one another’s laps in the teacher lounge, and make everyone else in the room uncomfortable.

 

Late in May of 1981 a custodian was opening a cleaning closet in the far building extension hallway of Cucamonga Junior High School only to find the special education male teacher naked having sex with the naked female Math teacher. “Oops, I am sorry,” said the custodian as he opened the closet door. “Please don’t tell on us Mr. Brown,” Sam Shine the special education begged. “Oh my God I am so embarrassed, “ said Sally Fine the Math teacher. “We were just fooling around, “ said Mr. Shine. “I am sorry but I have to tell my boss or lose my job,” said Mr. Brown the custodian. Mr. Shine, and Ms. Fine begged for several minutes as they put their clothes back on. It was most embarrassing for everyone involved.

 

The custodian reported the incident to his supervisor and the following day both teachers were placed on paid leave for “conduct unbecoming.” Since they had no tenure they were summarily dismissed immediately after a hearing with the Director of Secondary Education. Both teachers went on to work at another school district further upstate New York the next year, and their extra sexual activity was expunged from their record in exchange for their resignation letters. The gossip mill passed these stories about the two teachers for many months until the end of the school year. Some teachers said that Ms. Fine, the Math teacher, was giving the Special Education teacher Mr. Shine, blowjobs everyday during her lunch break in her back coat closet.

 

Who knows if the stories were true, but it made a great story just the same. The Special Education teacher’s name was Jeffrey Smarts. The expression that developed out of this incident was called “Jeff ring a teacher, “ or “don’t Jeffrey me.” It was a very personal and very funny expression that only the teachers knew about.

 

Because of the paranoia of being accused of having sex with a student or another teacher, teachers were often warned to be careful.  Teachers were instructed never to be in a room alone with a student. A male teacher should never be in a classroom alone with a female student, and a female teacher should never be in a classroom with a male student. Teachers learned to be naturally paranoid when it came to touching students or getting too close. Because of a few isolated incidents with teacher-student sex scandals all teachers were on alert. It was difficult not to notice the female students unbuttoning their shirts down their chest or wearing mini-skirts that left nothing to the imagination. Once a student made up a story about the teacher doing something sexual, he or she was instantly guilty. Many times students were vindictive because of poor grades in a class, and they turned on a teacher by making up a story how the teacher had sexually abused them. It was the way the administrators handled the problems that made things worse by violating the teacher’s rights and believing the student’s story until it turned out to be a hoax.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the second installment of the Lion in the Carpet. The Bear in the Carpet., Yogi.

Billy Alton is a ten year old boy in 1952 that has contracted polio and it has crippled him over two years to the point he has to use leg braces and crutches to walk. While in the bathroom sitting on the toilet one day he sees the image of a Lion head in the high pile carpet under his feet. Suddenly, a full grown lion appears whose name is Leo. Leo can talk to Billy with mental images rather than talk out of his mouth. Leo takes Billy through walls and they fly to the Bronx Zoo where Leo introduces Billy to some of his friends in cages.

Several months after Leo had appeared, Billy sees the image of a Bear in the carpet. The bear comes to life and takes Bill on a journey into his parents bedroom where his father and mother are arguing over Billy and his polio. Billy’s dad is worried about the climbing medical bills and Billy’s mom is interested in defending her son. Billy feels bad that his parents are having difficulty dealing with Billy’s polio and whether he will every get well. Billy is invisible along with Yogi the Bear. He learns that things in real life as not as rosy that he thought they would be. Billy’s polio is forcing his family into poverty from medical bills. Billy feels bad. Yogi shows Billy some children that are outcasts in India. These children have to sort through the city garbage pile in Calcutta.

One Indian outcast child is named Dak and he is a young boy of ten years of age, the same age as Billy. Dak is a thief and a garbage sorter. He finds food in the Calcutta garbage pile and lives on what he can steal from the city food markets. Elwa is a young outcast girl whose father died when she was young and her mother is disables and cannot work. Elwa searches the garbage pile everyday in hopes of find some morsel of food for her and her mother. Both Dak and Elwa have rags for clothing. They are the lowest of the low called untouchables or outcasts. Indians from the middle class or the rich will not go near untouchables for they are disease ridden and filthy. Their lives seem miserable yet Dak and Elwa have a positive point of view. They take nothing for granted. Their lives are focused on survival and little more. They do not hope to get rich. They are happy to be who they are untouchables. Billy is amazed how positive Dak and Elwa are in life. Yogi shows Billy where Dak and Elwa live. Dak lives under the extension of a roof and Elwa lives with her mother in a small shack that was abandoned because it was falling down. Billy realizes that his life is not so bad after all even though he has polio. The two indian outcasts Dak and Elwa have much less than Billy, yet manage to have a sense of humor and love life.

Billy awakes from falling asleep on the toilet.

 In 1950 Billy Alton a typical 8 year old boy in Freeport, Long Island New York contracted polio. There was no cure for polio in the 1950’s, just some pain killer medicine. After two years, Billy’s condition got worse and he needed leg braces and crutches. One day while sitting on the toilet in his bathroom he was staring at the high pile piece of carpet under his feet next to the toilet. Suddenly, he thought he saw the head of a lion. How weird? After staring at the Lion, a Wolf head appeared, and a Bear all in different poses in the carpet. Billy was amused. Suddenly, the Lion appeared in Billy’s bathroom scaring Billy into falling off the toilet. The lion had a full male main and took up a lot of room in the bathroom. Billy thought he was dreaming but the Lion actually talked, not with his mouth but with his thoughts and Billy seemed to understand what the Lion was thinking. Once Billy got over the shock of reality versa fantasy, the Lion spoke. “Well little human I am finally free of that dirty carpet. Come with me and we will go through the wall out into the yard. Hold my tail and follow me.”

Billy held the large hairless tail of the lion and they walked through the wall without disturbing anything. They were outside where Billy had not been for a year. It was hot and humid that day. “Where are we going Lion?”  “My name is Leo, said the Lion.”

“Come we are going to the Zoo to visit some of my friends,” the lion said. “But I cannot walk,” said Billy. “No problem, we are going to fly, so hold onto my tail and we are off.”

Minutes later Billy and Leo landed next to the Lion cage. Leo called out his friends who were in the cage. They were surprised to see him.

and so the story goes on until Billy awakes sitting on the toilet. He tells no one about his encounter with Leo, yet he is looking forward to seeing Leo again.

Instead the next time he stares at the carpet he sees the head of a brown wolf that comes alive and shows Billy how to run with the pack, despite his polio.

to be continued….

If there was any sport more backward in Public School in the 1960’s it was Gymnastics. The Physical Education teachers did not have the college training to properly teach gymnastics, nor did they understand the progressions for teaching skills. Most of all they did not purchase the proper landing mats, tumbling mats and equipment to make gymnastics possible. This was the situation I faced in 1967 when I began teaching at Kakiat Junior High school, East Ramapo Central School district in Spring Vally, New York.

At that time the Physical Education teachers used gymnastic equipment for a fitness course with swinging from the ropes, jumping over the parallel bars with a mat over, vaulting over a side horse with the pommels on, etc.  It did not represent gymnastics in any way, but it was easy to teach since all the teacher did was time students going through the fitness course.

It took a few years but I began to show the other Physical Education teachers how to demonstrate the skills or use a talented P.E. student to demonstrate the skills. I made six balance beams carpet covered from 4×4 beams with a 2×4 beam screwed into the top beam. This allowed many students to practice without falling. For side horses I got new pommels and covered a few reject side horses from the high school that they were going to throw out. Now I had three or four side horses and one buck to work with. I eventually replaced the rope rings with lead rings since they fell out of the ceiling with me doing a dislocate at the time. I crashed to the mat and the class all laughed. Buying a 15 passenger Dodge van allowed me to transport gymnasts and equipment inside. I could take the seats out and slide mats and equipment inside.

The 15 passenger van took us to gymnastic shows, clinics, and interstate gymnastic shows. I looked around for donations of equipment I could fix and use. I found out that if  I ran a gymnastic clinic the Gymnastic corporations, Nissen, Gym Master and American would provide new loaner equipment and consultants to go with them. I kept the equipment for six months to a year to have something to work out on. Sometimes colleges would sell their old equipment to buy new. Such was the case with the West Point Military Academy, New York which wanted to sell old horse hair mats and a spacebar rig and other old equipment so they could buy a carpet FX mat. I bought everything they had for cash and rolled the heavy mats down the stairs from the third floor of the gym building. We had a borrowed dump truck to load the mats and equipment into. I used the mats as a subsurface to make landing from the highball and uneven and balance beam safer. Ethafoam mats went over the old mats. Over the years I learned to recondition side horses and replace the old leather with naugahyde  which was cheaper and stronger. Each season I added more equipment to the stockpile so that we were up to date with plenty of practice equipment and factory loaners. It was how the team began to grow from 20 kids boys and girls to two assistant coaches and 120 gymnasts.

 

My newest script project is called, “The True Templar Knight.”  It is based on a real Templar knight named Stephen de Staplebrigge who was forced by the Pope and the King Edward II of England to become a Monk in 1319. His grave is located in the south cemetery at Christchurch Priory in Dorset, England. In 1908 the lid to his crypt was discovered during some renovation on the church property.  The lid was rediscovered in 1995 by the church historian. On the crypt lid was engraved a Templar sword in expensive marble. Stephen was both an ex-Templar and an Augustinian monk.

I researched his story about being captured in 1311 after being on the run since 1308 when the King of England had all Templars in England arrested an interrogated. If they confessed they were forgiven and allowed to serve our their life as a Monk in one of the many orders in England. Stephen was tortured because he was a Commander of the Templars at Dinsley manor where many retired Templars lived and also a great treasure was supposed to be hidden there. He admitted under torture about his acceptance into the Templar Order in England in 1297 where after the ceremony he was taken into a secret room behind the altar by Brian de Jay, Commander of England and shown secrets of the order in an inner temple secret. He was afterward sent to a monastery at Surrey, England in 1313 where he escaped and was recaptured in Salisbury a year later.

This time he rotted in Newgate prison in London, England for five years. Thanks to an official bull order from the Pope, all Templars in jail in all countries were released and allowed to join the monastery of their choice to serve as a novitiate the rest of their life.

Stephen was released to the Christchurch Priory in Dorset, England where he had his hair cut in the procedure known as tonsure with the puddling bowl look for all Augustinian monks. In 1348 he died and was buried in Christchurch priory cemetery.

Is that the whole story, no.  Stephen was one of the leading Commanders at the age of 21 in 1308 when the arrests in England began.  Why did he flee and not surrender like so many Templars did. It was stated by his brother templars that he was in Ireland at the time of the arrests. Why Ireland? Why not Scotland? Did Stephen have the treasure with him? Even the King of England wanted the Templar treasure at Dinsley and arrested two templars and threw them into the Tower of London and had many people search for the hidden treasure. No treasure was even found.

Stephen returned from Ireland at some unknown date and was on the run staying in safe houses and caves for four years before he was arrested by the Kings Sheriff. Perhaps as a Commander for the Knights Templar Stephen may have been part of Grand Master Jacques de Molay ‘Grand Plan,” to secretly move all Templar treasure and religious relics to secret locations and eventually on ships to Scotland, Spain and Portugal after Oct.13,1308.  Friday the 13th.

The English Templars had it good compared to the French Templars. King Edward II refused to arrest the at first. It wasn’t until the Pope forced him to arrest the Templars for heresy that he complied. The effort was poorly organized and many Templars fled. Some were arrested and many were old and died in jail. Eventually all English Templar Knights were allowed to join monastic orders. All of the templar lands were seized by King Edward II and eventually given to the Hospitaliers in England. It was a sad end to two hundred years of service and sacrifice by the Templars for the Pope and the Holy Catholic church.

A secondary theme of the story is why did the Templars lose faith in the Pope? Was it because Pope Innocent III allowed 20,000 cathar christians in southern France to be burned at the stake and their castles burnt to the ground. Men, women and children were slaughtered by the 8th Crusade against the heretics with 10,000 commoners, gypsies and Lords and Knights in the Crusade. Montsegur was a castle stronghold of cathars that held the Holy Grail and some original Gnostic Gospels which were secretly taken out of the castle before it surrendered and 205 women and men were burnt at the stake at the bottom of the castle path.

The Templars had roots in the Cathar region with Brian de Jay and many others having families that were slaughtered there. The betrayal of the Templars mirrored the slaughter of the Cathars by the Pope and that is why the Templars had an inner temple where they followed gnostic traditions and Cathar ideas that Jesus was just a man and not a God.