"Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!" - Frank Sinatra

Good afternoon peeps!!  Yes, it is snowing here in the east! It seems as if Mother Nature said, "OK, I've held off long enough...it's time to sock it to 'em! Now ordinarily I would be welcoming the snow this time of year, because it adds to the atmosphere of the season. However, since I became a homeowner eleven years ago; not so much! I am now responsible for keeping my walkway cleared of snow, or risk being fined. I am thankful for my daughter Donya and her partner Michael, for taking this daunting task upon themselves!

Snowfall in New York City is a pretty sight for about a day. After a day, it can be downright ugly! Mixed with exhaust from buses and cars, and sometimes dog poop plus street garbage and other discarded what nots...eeewww! And another thing, why does it have to happen on a Saturday as opposed to a Monday? By Monday, it's usually melted and with that, any chance of schools being closed are also gone! But wait, I don't have to worry about that, now do I? I am retired!!! Last year at this time I wasn't. We finally did get one snow day last year, but the Mayor waited so long to notify city agencies, that some people had already left for work when the word finally came! Speaking of snow, here are some of my favorite "weather songs." As always, please chime in.

Playlist of weather songs:

1. Baby It's Cold Outside -  Vanessa Williams and Aaron Neville


2. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Frank Sinatra


3. The Rhythm Of The Rain - The Cascades


4. Sunny - Bobby Hebb


5. I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash


6. Raindrops - Dee Clark


7. I Wish It Would Rain - Temptations


8. I Saw You (and him) Walking In The Rain - Oran "Juice" Jones


9. I Wanna Go Outside In The Rain - Dramatics


10. I Can't Stand The Rain - Ann Pebbles


11. Stormy Weather - Lena Horne


12. Stormy - The Classics Four


13. Windy - The Association


14. Sunshine Superman - Donovan


15. It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls


16. Have You Ever Seen The Rain? - Creedence Clearwater Revival


17. I Love A Rainy Night - Eddie Rabbit


18. Rainy Night In Georgia - Brook Benton


19. Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot - Buster Poindexter


20. Frosty The Snowman - Burl Ives

"The Name Game" - Shirley Ellis

Good morning peeps!! Part I:
What's in a name? Apparently, everything! Did you know that what you name a child can influence their personality, behavior, achievements, vocations,  levels of creativity, and more? I have been thinking about my own choice of names for my three children, and their personalities. Sorry Rhett children but in order to write this piece, I will have to do some "name dropping." I am not trying to invade your privacy, but to accurately state my position on this topic, I must do this. I named my first born; a son, Shannon. I considered Sean, but a friend had her son first and named him Sean. So, I had to think again. I decided not to name my son after his father; James, because I wanted him to have his own "unique" name. Looking through a newspaper, I saw the name Shannon. I instantly liked the sound of it, so Shannon it would be! Mind you, when I first saw the name, I was not even expecting! I tucked it away for future consideration. I did concede and gave my son his father's first name as a middle name. Upon researching further, I discovered the origin of the name. It is Gaelic and contains the root of the word "wise". Maybe that explains why my son was reading The New York Times at the age of two, and had knowledge of Egyptian culture well beyond his years! My second born was a daughter and my husband and I both had our favorite name choices: mine was Tonya and his was Donny and Starrene. I vetoed Starrene, feeling it was more suited for a cat! However, I did promise to use it if we were to have another daughter (secretly thinking he would forget the promise, and never planning on a third child). We combined Tonya and Donny, and came up with Donya! For years I thought we had made that name up.  I later found out the name was derivative of the Spanish word for lady: Dona (there is a Tilda over the n) and a variant of Donna; an Italian word for lady.  My daughter is quite an accomplished lady indeed! A sister/friend of mine liked the name so much that she named her granddaughter Donya as well. In recent years, I have come across more Donyas with the same exact spelling! Ten years later, I had a second daughter (oh-oh, I'd hoped he had forgotten my promise)! He remembered! So, Starrene it was! Supposedly, the name came from some comic book space queen he had read about as a teen. I relented because I would call her Starr! Well, let me tell you...she has always shone! Her personality is sparkly and she loves the spotlight!

Part II:
Did you know that teachers often make assumptions about children based the child's name? I am guilty of that...yes I know it's wrong to prejudge, but it's the reality of the situation. For example, whenever I got a student with the prefixes La, Na, Qua, Sha, or De before their names, or tique as a suffix. I knew I would be dealing with behavioral issues. Think what you want to think about it, but I was more often correct than not. Another predictor for me were names that contained an apostrophe separating the beginning consonant from the rest of the name, as in T' Shanae.That would be a double whammy name! I would not make any disparaging comments, single them out or deliberately focus on their names as predictors of their success or failure. I did try to gain their trust so that we would start out on a positive tip. Sometimes it worked, but as I stated earlier, these were usually the most difficult of my students! I have yet to figure it out! I also don't think it is wise to name your children after characters from horror movies! One of my most recent difficult students was a little boy named Damien! Need I explain? I think not! I don't think I operated on The Self-fulfilling Prophecy Theory, that predicted failure because I had realistic expectations for all of my students! I realistically expected them to perform to the best of their ability, and to leave with more knowledge than they came with.  No brag...just fact!


Part III:
Some people assume that unusual names are only heard in the so-called "ghetto." Well, some names that are presumed to be "ghetto" are really of African, Native American, or Arabic origin, so what makes them  "ghetto" names? A possible answer is that since these name are primarily given to African-American children, they are labeled "ghetto." Names like, Aisha, Keisha, LaKeisha are more likely heard in communities of color than other communities. How many of us don't know a Keisha? Well, you might be surprised to learn that "Keisha" is derived for the Hebrew name "Kezia", which is from the Cassia tree! The addition of La in front of Keisha was added by free people of color in Louisiana! In my early days of teaching, I was a pre- school teacher in a day care center. I have a distinct memory of a little boy in my class named "Akhenaten", which is Egyptian for devoted to "Aten." I also knew a girl for my daughter's dance class named Nefertari; also Egyptian. I could but won't go on and on to illustrate that not all so called "ghetto" names are really that. Ethnic? yes...ghetto...no!

Part III:
That being said, there are some names that truly are Ghetto! If you name your child after cars, perfume, liquor, pets or dead Latin phrases for example, that's Ghetto! Here are some actual names I know of that were given to children: Moet, Alize, Aviance, Quo Vadis. I also knew a girl named Vendetta!...Her mom must have really been angry with her baby's father or maybe she named her Vendetta to get even with someone in her life? I am not letting celebrities off the hook either! They may not be called Ghetto names, but they sure qualify as "different" in my book.
Examples:
Moon Unit and Dweezle Zappa; children of Frank Zappa (was he high?)
Seven, Puma and Mars; Erykah Badu's (fits her personality)
Rumer and Scout; Bruce Willis and Demi Moore
Bluedaydreamer; Big Gipp
Apple; Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin
Brooklyn Mowgli; Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz
Pilot Inspektor; Jason Lee
Suri; Tom Cruise (a cute name)
Shiloh Nouvel; Angelina and Brad
Blue Angel; The Edge of U2
Fuschia; Sting (do rock stars love colors?)
Bluebell Madonna; Geri Halliwell of The Spice Girls
Camera; Arthur Ashe
Memphis Eve; Bono
Jett; The Travlotas; ( a cute one)
Sage Moonblood; Sly Stallone
Willow; The Will Smiths; (I love it!)
Ocean; Forest Whitaker; (makes sense a Forest would have an Ocean)
River and Leaf Phoenix; (the children of former hippies?)
Prince Michael first and ? (Micheal had more than one Prince)
Fantasia; (has a fantastic voice, but named after a Disney movie? really now!)

Part IV:
Back in the day, especially in the south, people often feminized male names and gave them to their daughters. I don't know why, but my theory is that this was the mother's way of convincing the father that the baby is indeed his or to let other women know that the man was taken, by virtue of a child having his name. Just a thought. How many Jamesettas'or Johnny Maes' do you know? Another trend was to name children after presidents or other great leaders; especially post slavery. My father was named Warren Harding. I am sure we all know Theodore Roosevelts, George Washingtons and Frederick Douglasses! my mother named me after an actress she admired: Beverly Garland. I have a sister named Ricksine (?) and a sister named Shira. Shira is a Hebrew name meaning poetry. Is Shira a poet? You bet! She wrote some prolific song lyrics in her younger years, that can be heard on an album that she recorded at the tender age of sixteen. One cut from the album; "The Line Of Time And The Plane Of Now" can be heard on MySpace as part of the compilation CD; Women Of The Canyon.

Now, it's your turn...what are some "different" names you have come across or just know someone with?

"Teach Me Tonight" - Dinah Washington

Good morning peeps!! I recently retired from teaching and I have been reflecting on my decision. I decided that the stress and day to day shenanigans of an overbearing, anal retentive (her own assessment of herself) supervisor; extremely disruptive and emotionally disturbed youngsters, and an inordinate amount of testing and paper work, was more than I could endure at this point in my life. So, even though I was receiving a six figure salary and was at the top of the salary scale, I left the profession.

For twenty seven years, I tried to do my best to teach, nurture, inspire, encourage, motivate and prepare young children for a lifetime of learning. I loved it at times and at other times, I felt overwhelmed; overwhelmed because I had to do more than just teach. Often, the children needed plain old mothering and understanding; someone to hear them. I was all that and more! I can say this because many students and their families told me this...and I appreciate it. Although I am a Special Education Teacher, I had parents of General Education students, asking to get their children in my class! They were often disappointed when I had to explain that their child didn't qualify because they hadn't been diagnosed with any disability. I've had former students return and tell me that their time in my class was some of their fondest childhood memories. I've had students slip and call me "mommy" very often.

I have letters: "crush letters", "I wish you were my mommy" letters, "thank you from parent letters", typical boy/girl letters, etc.; possibly enough for a book! I've experienced violent students who were intent on hurting (killing) other students and in some cases, teachers; I've had to talk a ten-year-old into giving me the butcher knife he had in his backpack, which he intended to kill another student with. I have had to console a student who was being sexually abused by her own brother; I had a student whose mother and teen-aged brother were murdered in front of his eyes when he was ten! I have never been assaulted by a student but I have been cursed at by a six or seven year old! Oh yeah, and bitten on my arm! I've had to diffuse many a volatile situation; confiscate weapons, pills, etc etc etc. I have had to deal with difficult parents, flirtatious fathers, and in the beginning of my career, a male principal who tried to hit on me and other teachers. He was eventually fired on allegations of sexually abusing an eleven year old female student, and was never heard from again!

I have few regrets though, because it must be what God intended for me. Even though I went to a school for fashion designing (I liked to draw and design clothing), as a child, I was always reading and teaching younger children trivia; my siblings can attest to this. So I guess I was destined to teach! I will never stop being a teacher.

However, my reason for writing this has less to do with my experiences, but more to do with what's been in the news about teachers lately. Shameful situations that, if  true, make teachers look bad and is not good for the teaching profession. I understand the stress of the job; believe me I do, but these recent incidents, if true, are beyond explanation! Two female high school teachers in Brooklyn, New York caught naked in an empty classroom by the school's janitor? Another female teacher from that same school accused of having sex with a male student! A Milwaukee teacher accused of cutting off a little girl's braid, with the explanation that she was stressed out?...what??? If that had happened in NYC...that teacher would have been sent to the infamous "rubber room;" a holding center for teachers who've been accused of wrong doing, but whose cases haven't been proven yet. I have a colleague who has spent the latter part of his career in the "rubber room" (sent there on two separate occasions) on full salary! And he has a PhD! Teachers...hang in there! What you are doing is so important!

Please, I know you are dealing with a lot of stress; but please, please, please...think about what you do and what you can stand to lose. A school is not the place to act out your sexual fantasies and you know good and well you should not touch any child in an aggressive manner! Cutting off a child's braid? Are you kidding me? If this is true, you need to be removed from the classroom, because this indicates some emotional instability on your part and you need to get counseling...quickly! Weigh in here my daughter, the psychologist. I'm putting on my Dee-jay  hat again, to dedicate these songs to my fellow teachers.

My play list for teachers

1. Teach Me Tonight - Dinah Washington's version

2. Wonderful World - Sam Cooke ( I taught this song to my class and the bilingual kindergarten class for their moving up ceremony, two years ago and they loved it!)

3. ABC - The Jackson Five ( I had my Kindergartners march in on this on their "moving up" day )

4. 1-2-3 - Len Barry

5. School Is Out -Gary "U.S." Bonds
6. School Days - Chuck Berry
7. Back To School - Bo Diddley
8. Brick In The Wall - Pink Floyd
9. Be True To Your School - Beach Boys
10. Charlie Brown - The Coasters
11. Don't Be A Dropout - James Brown
12. Hot For Teacher - Van Halen
13. To Sir With Love - Lulu (gave me goosebumps when I first heard it!)
14. Teacher's Pet - Doris Day
15. Hot Fun In The Summertime - Sly And The Family Stone
16. Swingin' School - Bobby Rydell
17. Rock 'n' Roll High School - The Ramones
18. I Love College - Asher Roth
19. College Drop Out - Kanye West
20. My Old School - Steely Dan

"Back Door Santa" - B B King

Good morning peeps!! Ever notice how R and B singers add their own soulful flavor to traditional Christmas songs? Some even redo traditional songs that become classics like, "White Christmas" by The Drifters, which in my opinion, is the ultimate R and B Christmas song! What? With Clyde McPhatter doing  his signature falsetto lead tenor, and the legendary Bill Pinkney coming in with a booming bass! One of my fondest childhood Christmas memories is of company coming over on Christmas Eve to party, and my mother and father always having the latest music playing. White Christmas was a sure 'nuff  tradition in my household! I can remember my singing uncles performing this and other songs, as my cousin Ernest played his guitar! Uncle Elmo sang bass as my mother did Clyde's part. Boy, those were good times! So, in the spirit of Christmas...here are my favorite R and B Christmas songs. Please as always, add your favorites! These are in no particular order.

1. White Christmas - The Drifters

2. Merry Christmas Baby - Charles Brown

3. Silent Night - The Temptations

4. The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole

5. This Christmas - Donny Hathaway

6. Do You Hear What I Hear? - Whitney Houston

7. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - J5

8. Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt

9. Little Drummer Boy - The Supremes

10.Back Door Santa - B B King

"I Wish" - Stevie Wonder

Good morning peeps!! There is something about this time of year that makes adults feel nostalgic. It often manifests as a feeling of sadness, a sense of loss, a desire to return to simpler times in our lives; or maybe even a feeling of elation for some, who anticipate reuniting with family or friends. For me, it is all of the above. Sadness because I'm reminded that time waits for no one and our lives are moving forward, into the realm of the unknown; global warming, financial uncertainty, ongoing warfare, threats of terrorism, etc. Not a pretty picture! Sense of loss because some of us no longer have our parents or other beloved family members, who were such a part of our childhoods, and with whom  we spent many a holiday season with. A desire to return to simpler times in our lives because someone else was captaining our ships and we had little to worry about. As Stevie Wonder sings it: "When my only worry, was for Christmas what would be my toy." A-h-h-h...I Wish! However, as Kool and The Gang sings: "Cherish The Loves We Have..." No, we can't go back to our simpler lives; our joyous childhood days; our blissful innocence. We can only make the best of our lives in the here and now, so here's to you all...Happy Holidays!!!

"Little Red Riding Hood" - Sam The Sham

Good morning peeps!! Did you know that fairy tales, nursery rhymes and folktales are some of the most violent, misogynistic, homophobic stories there ever was??? You didn't did you? After years of teaching and reading these stories to countless numbers of innocent children, I have now had the time to really analyze and dissect the hidden and not so hidden meanings in these beloved tales. I will now present my take on the meanings of those suspect fairy tales! Disclaimer: this is all tongue in cheek.

"Three Blind Mice, See How They Run, They All Ran After The Farmer's Wife, Who Cut Off Their Tails With A Carving Knife, Did You Ever See Such A Sight In Your Life As Three Blind Mice?" Now for the real deal:
The three blind mice were three black guys wearing shades. They were all getting favors from the farmer's wife, who was white. One day, the farmer came home and caught them in action, so the wife yelled, "they violated me" and she took off running after them with a carving knife! She was planning on doing a Lorena Bobbitt, but they got away...and that's the truth!

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, you know; the story of the young woman who ended up living with seven male "little people"; most of whom were old enough to be her grandfather! Give me a break! The real deal is that Snow worked for an escort service; was hired by these old geezers, and tried to take care of all seven at one time. She was paid handsomely for this by the way.

Cinderella: really about a dysfunctional blended family, headed by a domineering step-mother, two homely, frustrated step-sisters and an absent, weak willed father. But we knew this already.


Goldilocks and The Three Bears: Home invasion...plain and simple!

Little Miss Muffet: An innocent little girl eating her curds and whey was lured by a pedophile to sit on his lap! Sat on a tuffet indeed! Umm-hum; we know what a tuffet really is, don't we? The shame of it is that he was her own relative!

Mary Had A Little Lamb: "and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go, he followed her to school one day..." The real deal is that Mary has a stalker, who wore a lamb's costume. Unfortunately, Mary's order of protection didn't prevent him from stalking her. Mary eventually hired a body guard!

Hansel and Gretel: Child abuse and pedophilia...she wanted to eat them!

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater: "Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater, had a wife and couldn't keep her, he put her in a pumpkin shell, and there he kept her very well" First of all, Peter was a philandering husband; as in Tiger Woods trifling. What does it mean that "he had a wife and couldn't keep her?" He was rich!! The Pumpkin shell is a metaphor for the mansion in the gated community he put her in, so he could carry on with his other women. He just knew his wife was none the wiser, but she was on to his exploits. Little did he know that his wife was having her own trysts...with Little Boy Blue!" Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn was a code for, Tiger isn't home, so come on over..."

Little Red Riding Hood: Home girl was a fast little thing, who used to dress up in a red cape with a hoodie. She would sneak out of the house and go across town to meet up with her boyfriend, Wolf. When her mother became suspicious, Red claimed she was going to visit her sick grandmother. Her mother wasn't stupid, so she had Red followed. When confronted, Red threw her boyfriend Wolf, under the bus. He got arrested for kidnapping, home invasion and other charges. Little Red got over once again!


Wee Willie Winkie: "Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town, upstairs and downstairs in his nightgown"...come on now, isn't this one self-explanatory y'all?

And finally, Jack and Jill: you and I know they did not go up that hill to fetch any pail of water!


And may you live happily ever after!

"The Christmas Song" - Nat King Cole

Good morning peeps!! "Silver Bells, Silver Bells, it's Christmas time in the city"...New York City at Christmas time is a sight to behold! In the hood you see festive decorations, signs in store windows luring you in with the promise of 50% off something that was marked up 400% in the first place; people rushing around trying to pick up that elusive toy that they probably really can't afford, but their child has got to have. You leave the hood; go downtown...there you see the wide-eyed tourists looking shell shocked! Macy's windows decorated cleverly; mesmerizing you...enticing you to come in and shop till you drop. Fifth Avenue. Park Avenue. Lexington Avenue. Grand Central Station. Penn Station. Rushing, pushing, shopping, gazing, wandering, meandering, spending. Crowded streets, street vendors, pick-pockets, hustlers, homeless. The only thing missing right now is snow! What? No, wait...I hope it doesn't snow! Gone are the days when I marveled at the beauty of pristine, white snow! Now, I worry about having to clear it from in front of my house! Ahhhh...Christmas in New York!