I Hope You Remember This From My Gubmint Class.

 Yeah, I still will call it govmint, because, that's about how 75% of us in East Texas pronounce  the word " government."

Milton, and I hope he reads this, said this from my class, and I know I must have said it hundreds of times in my teaching career......" If you don't vote, don't gripe." 

The polls will be open for early voting from today until Friday Oct. 30th. The election is next Tuesday, Nov. 3rd, with the normal polls open 7am to 7pm.  

I plan on this being my last blog, this cycle, on getting out the vote. 

Remember if your candidate doesn't win this go round, there is always an election in 2, 4, 6 years.  

Address to Buna ISD Faculty and Staff-

 It's like a British hoodlum music reunion this morning at the Compound, as it's Oasis, The Verve, The Clash playing here in Lemonville. It makes me wonder how the computer decides what I need to listen to in the morning.....

Yes Buna teachers and staff, I still worry about you. And yes, it seems like I may get a little gripey with you, and I know, most of you are doing the best you can do, often going above what is expected of you. 

Trouble is once you go there, you are expected to go all out, and it is often a recipe for disaster for the teacher. Teacher " Burn-out" is real. I know, I reached it the year I retired. Mentally, and too a less extent physically I was done.  

I keep hearing stories of the district being short teachers for certain positions and teachers and paraprofessionals, thus people being assigned to teach at positions often not on the campus they applied at. 

I know they signed a contract saying pretty much " Wherever you are needed in the school district."  But, I could just about see me being assigned to teach say 3rd graders. I'd have them balling their eyes out for a 2 weeks, thinking that Beelzebub his-self has been sent to grade 3. 

But I had no business in classes with little kids. 

Then, there is the question of people being actually certified in the new positions to which they have been assigned.  

And while parents are supposed to be notified about their kids supposedly being taught be instructors without certification, do you actually know who? 

Parents, if you really want to know, you can look up on the Texas Education Agency's website if a teacher holds a certificate, Follow this link/   ( If you want to check and see if you are doing it right, look me up, I still have a " valid" certificate. ( Thomas, Kerry, Don)

I know my last year I taught a World History class. Never had I done so before in 31 years of teaching. AP European, yes, but World History, no. 

As I have said before, that first phone call from a parent complaining about me teaching about Egyptian, Roman, Middle Eastern religions convinced me, " Kerry , ole son, it is time to call it a career. "  

Teachers, hang in there.......It is 4 weeks before you get a week off for Thanksgiving........And after that it is 3 weeks before you are off 2 weeks for the Christmas Break.

We will worry about January when it gets here......Just remember, and I am serious about this, I am praying every morning for the teachers in Buna Schools. 

Faculty, hate it at Buna ISD, get out, there are actually better districts. Do everything you know how, to get out. Buna is not what it once was, I will get blow-back, but if you are honest with yourself, you just know it is not. 

   

 

Proud of Buna? End of Times? I Owe an Explanation to Y'all............Upcoming Story Concerning Buna Teachers

It's Friday....Someday if you get to retire, it will be like every other day that ends in "Y."

So, lets wrap up the week. 

-I see that over 700 people as of Thursday in the first week of early voting have voted at the Buna early voting site. I'm proud of you who have already voted. 

I love those of you who are adding photos of yourself with a voter sticker.

 If you have not voted, let me remind you that you have this weekend, including Sunday voting after church. I think polls open at 12 Noon on Sunday. (  Sorry, I do not fish, hunt, mow, or vote on Sunday. That is just me, it doesn't mean I wouldn't get my ox out of the ditch( Luke 14:5), or opposed to someone else voting, however, my strict Presbyterian Grandfather sort of instilled that in me.)

I was a bit surprised, I saw people standing in lines in Harris and Dallas Counties, so, when I voted about mid-morning yesterday, I was surprised I was the only voter at my polling site.  

- In the past 2 days, I have seen so called experts say the chance that the war in Iran could go nuclear was now at about 25-35%. That in my opinion is too high, that alone has me concerned. 

Nuclear weapons start going off, who else might decide to use theirs?  Russia? North Korea? India? The one Pakistan might have given or sold to Iran? 

- So, I was asked why I had started a site on Substack?

Blogger is in the middle of change. They are establishing a set of rules that should not effect me, but they are so broadly written, I can see me getting caught up and not even be trying. 

Plus, the Substack site has a podcast site. YouTube, Rumble are more complicated and I think I will try and go the Substack route. It is just a little more serious, little more political, historical......And most of my writing is local politics. 

At some point, I will probably transfer most of my messaging to Substack, but right now, many of you are wary.  So, I will be placing the blogs on Blogger for some time to come. 

( I appreciate everyone who has so far donated to the Substack. Will probably invest all donations back into the Substack/blog. I am not a very good business person. I’ve not even set up my financials on Substack. Studied economics for years, and the person I slept with for the last 45 years is understands actual finance much better than me. Mine is all charts and graphs theory………Or I could take it, and try and find the best “ Chippy” ( That’s what the Brits call fish and chips shoppes) in Yorkshire.)

 - Finally, I am working on a blog concerning Buna ISD teachers. 

Morale apparently is shot. Many are afraid to say anything, just trying to keep a teaching position. Many are thinking about either leaving at Christmas, getting out of the school business for now, perhaps forever, and others, are already putting out feelers for other teaching positions for the 27-28 school year. Just trying to make the school year. ( I have been there. My last year at Magnolia ISD was literal "Hell on earth.")

We will explain why in an upcoming blog.  

 

 

 

 

Well, Buna, Deweyville, Kirbyville, Evadale, etc...... It Seems, We Made the Big Leagues........

 No, not getting my childhood dream of pitching for the Houston Astros......

I have been getting emails and at first I thought they were just baloney, but they were, it turns out, were real proposals.  

I was approached by a gaming/ gambling site about placing an ad on my site for Q1 2027.  ( I think it is because I have been working on my podcasting site. No, it is not up yet, it is harder than I thought....Then again, it is like the sport of cricket, watch it long enough, mess with it long enough, and you figure it out.) 

Not a lot of money, but still an offer. 

The last "business" or "businesses" I will deal with are gaming industry  

I see dealing with the gambling industry pretty much as dealing with the Devil his-self.  

Gaming is going to ruin a lot of young people in this country and with it now sponsoring all of the major sports, I am watching less and less sports on broadcast/cable stations. The other day, the " Worldwide Leader in Sports" had a cartoon showing how to place various types of bets. Don't tell me who that is  aimed at, " Get them hooked young."

I am not above a sponsorship, but you know, some stuff, well, we just won't go there. 

And I might be easy to deal with, trade sponsorship for say BBQ pork ribs or fried chicken.  

But, we are still non-sponsored, non-advertised site.  

And to the gambling sites.....

Feck you, and the clap dripping mule you rode in on..... 

 

A Reminder... And How Long Before Buna ISD Does This....Get Ready, It Is Coming.......

 Thanks to everyone for your prayers especially for St. Deborah, she is having bit of a time with COVID right now. I am doing better, but still not right. 

I am thinking that we will have a strain of COVID every year now, just like the influenza. 

I am older than 60 and I took the first 3 COVID vaccines and wish I had not. At least the last one. I am wondering if some of the mental and physical problems I am having are due to taking the shot? 

- Today, early voting starts in the State of Texas. I will not tell you how to vote on state elections, but encourage you to vote. 

Early Voting is from Oct. 19-30

Mail-in voting , last day to apply in Oct. 23rd  

The Election is on Nov. 3, 2026

Early voting sites in Jasper Co. link- 

Early voting sites in Orange Co. link- 

( The other counties can be found on the County Clerk's site.) 

 - I know in my school district, the LCM ISD is asking for a bond. And we have not paid off the last one. 

A bunch of goop about needing this, needing that, I know the district had $1 million dollars a few years ago in some slush fund, so much,  they now have artificial turf on the football field.   

And how taxes shouldn't go up, and if they do, they won't go up that much. And did a song and dance on it. 

Get ready people in the Buna ISD. 

They are going to hit you with a bond. 

They want all schools together off FM 253. Buna Junior High over with everyone else, probably an administration building over there too.  

In the package will be a state of the art football field. Turf field and all. 

I know when I vote, I will be voting " No" on the LCM ISD Bond. 

It's not the right economy to be asking to spend more money.  

 

 

 

 

Again, I Wonder How Long Before Someone in the Buna Schools Goes Here?????

 So, the Grand Prairie ISD, near Dallas, cancelled the performance of " Little Shop of Horrors." 

It seems the lead male role was won by a female actor. And the school district  was afraid the production would be in violation of Texas Senate Bill 12. Which restricts so called " Drag Performances." 

Then, they added as sort of an afterthought that the musical's themes included an " abusive relationship." 

Good grief, do some of you actually know Shakespeare's plays?  

They include the following in which....

Women/girls dressing as males..... 

Twelfth Night-Viola disguises herself as a young page Cesario dressed as a female after being shipwrecked, which triggers a complex romantic triangle involving Duke Orsino and Countess Olivia.

As You Like It-  Rosalind flees to the Forest of Arden and disguises herself as a young man named Ganymede

Cymbeline-  Princess Imogen adopts the male persona Fidele to escape court life and survive a plot against her life.

 Two Gentlemen of Verona- Julia dresses as a male page to follow her unfaithful lover. 

And then, men dressing as women 

The Merry Wives of Windsor- In the play, Falstaff dresses as a fat woman to escape from a  mad husband.

On the actual Elizabethan stage where Shakespeare's works were premiered, all female roles were played by young male actors, meaning a boy actor was playing a female character (like Viola) who then disguised herself as a boy (Cesario) a double layer of gender-switching. 

What the actual cornbread feck? 

Did no one in the Texas Legislature read any Shakespeare? Or know anything about it? ( Answer....No.) Most are lawyers....

And I know Shakespeare was being sarcastic when he wrote about Dick the Butcher saying " The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." (Henry VI, Part II)  

But sometimes I wonder..... 

- Then and this is being lead by New Braunfels ISD, there are the what I call " Book Burners." 

Books like-

Canterbury Tales

To Kill a Mockingbird

Jane Eyre

Tom Sawyer 

Now, New Braunfels itself did not ban all 4 of the above, but there are  districts in this state who have banned at least 1, NBISD just leads the state in the number banned. Makes you wonder what is going on in that ISD?

And trust me, don't think there is so parent in Buna ISD who finds something wrong with a book, like something as " making their kid think." " Or a textbook that discusses the founding of Hinduism, or Islam." Never mind there are over a billion people in the world who follow each of those religions.( I got a phone call from a parent who got upset that I taught about Greek, Roman, Japanese religions in World History, saying, "When I had Coach XYZ, he didn't."  Well, Coach is no longer with the district. I told them call the Superintendent. of Schools. " Maybe they'll fire me"..I remember at the end of the call, I was ugly and told them, "I wish you would." I had my points at that stage and would have gone, happily, willingly....If she did call, I did not hear about it.)

No fooling, I wonder what this nation, this state is going to look like in 25 years.....I am sort of glad, my time on this rock is in the home stretch.... 

 

 

 

 

Buna High School Football- Please, Just Stop It.....

 My Facebook was full of gritchin' about the 2 point conversion at the game on Friday. 

Come on, the other team score 40+ points. Buna was sort of lucky they were still in the game. Traditionally, when a team score 40 points against you, the ballgame is over.  

What perhaps upsets me is that I don't see this kind of fire concerning what a school is supposed to supposed be about, academics. 

There were board members talking more about this, than anything other than propaganda about the school.  

Perhaps it is because there are non-Buna employees/citizens involved and are easy targets to blame? ( The referees)

The State of Texas can't get people to referee or umpire sports now. And I see why after this weekend. 

It you are so upset, go to a school and learn to umpire behind the plate, or be a volleyball line judge....They can use you.

People are losing their minds over a damn game. It's the, or should be, " The Toy Shop" of a school. 

Here are the number of kids I taught who made a long term made a pay for the rest of their life living playing a sport. 

1

That's out of about 3700 kids I have taught in my life. 

That is 0.027% of my students in a 31 year career. 

That percentage is the same amount as I have former students who are now Jewish Rabbis.  

Buna ISD can't even it seems, fund a CTE program. I figure the chance of a kid becoming involved in the restaurant, hotel, hospitality business is far greater than a kid playing ball for a living. 

In the end whether the team goes 10-0 or 0-10 and you being on that team, an employer could care less.  Can you cook? Can you cut hair? Can you weld? Can you fix a Toyota Corolla?

The school itself is a mess.  Don't tell me otherwise. People don't want to move to Buna for the academics. Heck, folks are leaving, old Buna surnames. 

Maybe you need to work on that first.