Colorado Conservative

Where Did The Rage Go?

You may have noticed that lately I've been posting on all things except the outrages of the day. 

Well it's funny.

I never really realized how bombarded I was by news and politics while I was a reporter.  It seems pretty silly now, but I guess I just thought that everyone got the exposure to politics that I had.  Now that I'm away from the setting, I see that most people could care less about it.  Most people have jobs that don't involve covering the latest nasty dish, or slimy official.  Sure, many still follow the stories, but not to the extent that a newsroom gets steeped in them.  It sticks and stays with you, not so much like an odor, but more like the feeling of impending...well impending something.

Getting out of the news business was hard, but the rewards are becoming quite apparent.  At DSST, I'm worried about kids, and forms, and coaches, and fingerprints.  I'm not really aghast at the world as much as I was.  A weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  I can choose not to talk politics if I want...a luxury not given to reporters.  My eyes have been opened to life not in the middle of the fray.

I don't mean to sound like I don't care about the news of the day, or the latest outrage.  I just need to get used to the change of pace.  I'm still a news junkie.  Always will be, but it's kind of nice not to be absorbed by the news.

I still get angry, I just don't have it bearing down on me.  For instance, yes I believe Cindy Sheehan is an idiot as well as a anti-semite, and she will pay for her dalliances.  She already is.  Not only did she lose her son, but she's lost her husband, and almost her mom.  She will look back at her folly and regret much.  So I don't get to angry about Sheehan because her life is in tatters, mine is not. 

I almost feel sorry for her...almost.

But don't worry.  I'm sure things will come up that get me hot under the collar, and when they do you can bet I won't hold my tongue.

Now, back to kids and forms.....

Come Monday...

Work up bright and early to get to school...heh...no matter how much I try not to, I still giggle at the thought that 6:30a is early......try 4:30a sometime...then try it for two years.

I did wake up to a neat article about the Denver School of Science and Technology.  Check this out...

In fact, I found I liked much about DSST, a Denver Public Schools charter high school. I like that the soda machines sell no soda, that the building is full of natural light, that every student is assigned a teacher adviser and that each advisory group is named after the college from which the teacher graduated. Purdue. Cornell. Princeton. CU-Denver. Gonzaga. Bowdoin. University of Southern Colorado.

I like that the campus is closed and that everything revolves around the school's six core values: respect, responsibility, integrity, courage, curiosity, doing your best. Teachers, administrators and students devoted the first two full days of school to discussing what it means to embody them.

I like its diversity: 234 students, 38 percent female, 44 percent low-income, 35 percent African-American, 35 percent white, 24 percent Hispanic, 3 percent Asian. At morning meeting - a daily gathering of students and faculty - I see a Muslim girl in a hijab, meet a Latina born in Mexico who is definitely not liking this no-jeans thing, a talkative white girl with a fresh belly-button piercing - better keep that hidden - and an African-American girl who reads 200 pages a day.

I like that too.  I also like the fact that these kids are held responsible for everything from being on time to doing homework to treating others with respect.  Needless to say, there are many within the Denver Public Schools who don't really like us too much.  We've raised the bar high....too high for many.  Just high enough for me.

Big Day

Today is the first practice for my soccer team.  Yea!!!!  It feels so good to be able to get on the field rather than just do administrative stuff all day.  I can't wait.  Today will be just a scrimmage, then Monday will start the real practices.

Concert Fever

So I get a call from my parents a couple days ago asking "What time the concert was?", and I had realized I'd forgotten that we'd given my dad Chicago/Earth, Wind, & Fire tickets. ....ooops.

The concert was last night at Red Rocks and very fun, but I have to say I'm totally wiped out.  I could use a nap, but there's no rest for the weary athletic director *sniff*.

Lost 80's Evening

Soooooo...I'm dragging a bit today.  Why?  Well the remnents of Blogger Bash are still lingering, but the real reason is that my friend called me to go to a concert last night.  Not just any concert but a "Lost 80's" festival.  Suspicious, I asked my friend who was playing.  The answer made me drool.  The two bands we missed, Dramarama and Missing Persons.  Flock of Seagulls came next, but weren't too impressive.  That was o.k. because the two bands I was here to see rocked.  English Beat was really good.  They are definitely one of my favorites and didn't disappoint.  I have to say, however, that it was DEVO that rocked the house...Oh yes friends, DEVO was awesome.  Great music, great show, great outfits...just super!

So the next time you see DEVO coming to town...go...just go....

Now off for a nap before some cleaning.  How about THAT for an evening YEEEHAAWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

Wha' Happen?

I've just woken up on what I thought was Sunday, but apparently I missed it.  Monday'  It's MONDAY?!!!!!  My goodness!  What were they serving at the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash?  Thank goodness that Stacy took pictures.  And, by the way Stacy, you are VERY photogenic!  I seem to remember there were a lot of folks there.  The usual suspects of course!  Even my professional agitator showed.  Too bad I wasn't there for any of his famous "debates", they're hysterical.  One blogger that made a very big impression on me, as well as everyone else there was Rae.  Coming from another state is very cool...especially if the state is in the Rocky Mountains...like Utah, thus making her "eligible".  Another well done Blogger Bash!

On another note.  As my headache grows in magnitude, I remembered that I was chastised for my light blogging lately.  Well let me tell you, this new Athletic Director job is murder.  I'm so busy ALL the time.  Makes me yearn back to my days in the MSM.  We didn't do any "work".  But there is a light at the end of the tunnel which may or may not be a train.  On August 25th, the Fall season begins and I'll have more time...maybe...to blog.  I will definitely work at trying to keep new stuff coming.  To make matters worse, I'll be starting Grad School at the University of Denver in September...Busy times 10.  But this will be a good thing.  One class I must take is a website design class.  This blog will be the benefactor of that....As will you. 

SO keep checkin' back cause I'll be right here!

Now back to work...no..NO....NOOOOOOOOooooooo!!!!!!  My PDA has just lost all my contacts.  I can't believe it.  Not back to work anymore...back to the fridge for a beer. 

It must be a Monday.

Causing a Ruck-us

I used to play rugby....badly...but this is not as uncommon as you would think.

They wouldn't be quiet. They wouldn't sit down. They snatched mini-bottles of liquor from the beverage cart, and then they urinated on the floor.

To United Airlines officials - and likely the other passengers on the packed flight from Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon - their behavior was downright barbarian.

In fact, they are Barbarians.

The rowdy passengers, the airline said, were members of the Denver Barbarians Rugby Club, which had just placed seventh of 12 teams in a national tournament in Pittsburgh.

United spokesman Jeff Green said the rugby ruckus erupted on Flight 299 to Denver.

"The flight attendant crew wound up cutting off at least some of the members from the rugby team from liquor sales," Green said.

"And they weren't happy about that," he said. "They became very disruptive."

I remember travelling with my rugby club to Dallas for a tourney.  The flight seems very familiar except the attendants were way more tolerant as we drank the flight dry.  Even on the way back, we brought beers on the flight and one guy peed on the causeway to the plane.  Had they tried to stop it, I can imagine a very similar situation.  Rugby players can be quite disruptive, but having them on a plane can  be a good thing. 

Remember, Mark Bingham was a rugby player, a good one.  I'd always like a rugby player like that sitting next to me....

When Education Goes Good

So the CSAPS have come out again and folks are up in arms again about the test and how it really doesn't prove anything, and that "teaching to the test" actually hurts kids.  Well let me let you in on a little secret.  My school, The Denver School of Science and Technology has proved that CSAP tests can be improved with great teaching.  Check out this story from the Rocky Mountain News...

In Denver, a new charter high school is proving that success is possible with older students.

The first class of freshmen at the Denver School of Science and Technology had the highest passing rate of any DPS school in ninth-grade math, beating state and district averages.

The same group was second only to the Denver School of the Arts - a school rated "excellent" by the state - in ninth-grade reading and writing.

But the Denver School of Science and Technology is no elite program. School officials said about 50 of the 130 freshmen entered the school with below-grade-level skills. Fifteen percent had grade point averages of 1.5 or below out of 4.0.

"We have kids from what most people would call the lowest-performing schools in the city," said Bill Kurtz, head of the school. "I think it's hard to say our student population is a whole lot different" than that in other Denver high schools.

Forty-two percent of DSST students qualify for free and reduced- price lunches, an indicator of poverty. That's fewer than some DPS schools, such as Abraham Lincoln and West, but more than others, such as Kennedy, George Washington and East.

Kurtz said the school's small size helps. It will include just ninth and tenth grades this fall. But he also points to a "high expectations, high support" environment, where students are expected to do well and are given the support to make it happen.

High expectations mean every freshman takes physics. All students are expected to complete homework. If they don't, they go to the "college prep" after-school program.

"If a student does not do homework that day, or they do only eight of 10 math problems, they have to go to college prep at the end of school to finish the work," Kurtz said.

Earlier this summer, 100 of the 130 students in this fall's freshmen class spent three weeks working on remedial math and English.

"It's an example of we're willing to do what it takes to get kids to perform and to get kids educated," Kurtz said. "It's not just words - we really do believe all of our kids can achieve."

As you can see, my new school was able to take underachieving kids and succeed in both teaching the CSAP test as well as preparing the kids for the future.  It is time for some folks in the education community to stop complaining about testing kids and start taking some responsibility for their own failures.  DSST is proof that teaching underprivilaged kids can be successful.

This Is Always Great News

Great news for my drinkin' shoes...

Golf + Reporters = Trouble

I do have to mention, the Denver Press Club Golf Tourney is today.  My tee time is around 11:30.  We probably won't win because Bill Johnson always brings ringers, but that's o.k..  Anytime I can have fun mashing my nibblick around a course I'm happy.