Blue Bell

As this blog is a little of everything....Politics, History, Economics, Foods, Whatever.....

I was asked for my top 5 Blue Bell ice creams, and of course, everyone's is different. 

Here are my top 5. 

5. Old Fashion Homemade Vanilla.  Yes, I know boring, but can be used with everything. Pour chocolate syrup on top, put in a bowl with cake or pie, mixed with Coke, or DP....Or just by itself. 

4. Dutch Chocolate- Okay, I know also boring. But as a child I had a severe chocolate allergy. I did not eat chocolate, age 7 until I was a junior in college. Candy? I ate Payday or Peanut patty. No chocolate cake, pie, ice cream.....I eat chocolate now, but very limited. 

3. Pecan Praline and Cream- Again, this is a run of ice cream with nuts. I love them. 

2. Butter Pecan- Self explanatory.  Nut ice cream.

1. Moo-Illenium Crunch- I am sure this stuff was the dessert at the Last Supper. Pecans; almonds, walnuts, chocolate, caramel.....What else does one want?

Buna High School....You Knew It'd Change Someday

 I knew it had changed, but I just ignored it. Again, it changed 10 years after I retired, and even when I was still working at Buna High, I knew someday it would change.

Of course in 2020, Buna High started holding high school graduation back on the football field. 

This is after it was held inside the " New Activity Center" for about 20 years. 

One of the bond selling points for the " New Activity Center" was there would be no more " rain-outs" and we would not have to suffer in Southeast Texas heat and humidity. 

Trouble is, even with Mr. Menard turning the air way down early in the day of graduation, with every living soul living in the Buna ISD ages birth to 110 years of age, coming to the ceremony, the " New Activity Center" was hot. It is just the nature of having several thousand people packed into what amounts to a tin can. 

Then, there was the fact that if you are sitting in the stands, you really can't see the stage. And by the end of the ceremony, your neck is killing you, turned in the direction of said stage. 

When I was still employed by the Buna ISD, I made a suggestion that the graduation be moved back to the field, and was assured by leadership, it'll never be changed back. And the Supt. of Schools at the time was mad at me for even suggesting it be moved back. This was the same Supt. of Schools who was mad that memos from the the UIL Director referred to the academic team sponsors as " Coaches."( He blew smooth up.) Never mind the University Interscholastic League ( UIL) in the book on Rules and Regulations for everything from Athletics, to Music, to Academics, called all the academic sponsors " Coach." And called them " Coach" several times in the rules of each academic event. All 30+ academic events at the time. 

But I digress. 

Am I glad the graduation is back on the field? 

Yes, I am. 

It gives actual meaning to " Walking" when the senior gets to walk down the track in front of the stands. It's a time of pride for not only them, but the family and friends.

Buna ISD....I've About " Give Up" on You....

 So, in what can only be called an act of Machiavellianism, there was so change in the leadership of the Buna ISD School Board of Trustees. 

Accusation of racism against a man I have known for close to 25 years.....I've never seen any racism of any sort in him.

It seems that when we now want to win any sort of fight in this country, we scream racism. We yell it so much now is used to win a fight, even when the other side is in the wrong. It's what the " Far Right" calls " Mythical Racism."

And while there is still racism in this country, not everyone accused is racist. 

And I understand the racism usage. As many of you know, I graduated from Vidor High. I have been called racist by association. Like as a child I could up and move away from my parents? Every job I have interviewed for, I have been asked about it. Even jobs in the Dallas area have asked me about it in the interview process. 

And in my 31+ year career, I tried to treat everyone in my classes the same. I've tried really hard to treat everyone fair....Heck, as many of you know, my daughter in law is Chinese, and there is an element in Vidor that hates Asians worse than people with African ancestry. 

I wonder what the real reason is behind the accusations? It has been alleged that the Trustee demoted " Asked too many questions."

Well Hell, ain't that why they were elected?

I don't know. 

I've been upset at the Board because they are proposing raising the salary of everyone working at the ISD except teachers with 20+ year experience. Their raise will come " later." 

Yeah, just like the auditorium that was to be built on the the < New Activity Center.>

So much for loyalty to the district.  

I don't know. I would be worried about my school district. Trouble is, schools in America are not what they once were. And even with significant raises, people are not going into teaching. That should tell you schools. 

At one time I suggested and " talked up" kids going into the classroom. No longer. Why waste your talent? Why subject your mental stability to the politics and what is going on as a microcosm in society today playing out in the schools. 

 

Buna ISD- Special Called Board Meeting?

 So, it seems a special meeting has been called by the Buna ISD Board of Trustees. More info when it becomes available....

It Used to be About S*x

 Hell, I can't remember when Sports Illustrated(SI) was actually relevant in the sports world. So many online sports pages that beat SI on everything.

It used to be, the SI swimsuit issue was a big damn deal. It sold copies. It got subscriptions. 

I remember when I was teaching in both Magnolia and Dayton, the coaches would " steal" the swimsuit issue from the library and it would wind up in the Field-house. Heck, I remember one librarian in Dayton would hide it behind the counter like it was a Playboy at the local 7-11. You had to ask for it. But that was long before the internet. 

Men who wouldn't dare buy a Playboy or a Penthouse and bring them home, would buy the swimsuit issue. Hell, I am sure that weekend, the wife got a couple of "passes" made at them. Maybe the evening the magazine was purchased.

Yesterday, as I scrolled Facebook, it seemed like every 5th post was photos of Martha Stewart's swimsuit layout for SI....All posted by females. 

A guy who would post a 25 year old female in a bikini on Facebook would either be crucified or considered a creep.

Sorry, folks, but guys are visual. We just are. If we weren't, the human race would end. And finding females attractive now is well, bad. Especially if you aren't a super handsome guy. Hell, guys are afraid to even glace at a female now.

Yeah, the swimsuit issue is now like everything else. Political.

81 year old, a stroke survivor, a trans......

I am 65 now and I find older women more and more attractive, but a woman almost 20 years older than me? Well, that's a " Bridge Too Far." ( Could be I don't care for Martha. Sorry, she's a felon. Pay your damn taxes like the rest of us. Then again, her photos are so air brushed, AI enhanced who knows what she really looks like?)

And a trans? Come on, most men ain't interested in " Chicks With Dicks." ( You want to be trans, that's your business, just don't think I am a horrible person because I don't find you sexually attractive.) 

The stroke survivor? Well, I'd be afraid of getting us all " stirred up" and wind up with a trip to the ER.

Sorry, I often think at night that I don't have that much more time to go, maybe 10-20 years, and hell, that's enough.

I'm Calling Bullsh*t

 It's been a while since I've called it. 

So, yesterday, I look at Netflix and the top TV shows.....Number 1 is Queen Charlotte. Okay, I'll bite.....

Biggest bunch of bullshit fiction I have ever seen. 

That somehow, British Royal Society in the 18th Century would accept a person of color as the queen.....Well, I am sorry this revisionist history has to stop. 

Hell, I watched a little and it is no far from what really happened with Charlotte and George.....Other than George went mad.....And people will believe it is true. 

Say what you want, George and Charlotte didn't have a an interracial marriage that changed history. 

Now the thought that Charlotte was black did not come around until the 1990s when a historian by the name of  Mario de Valdez y Cocom came up with this " theory. "

He claimed that Charlotte descended from an affair between King Alphonso I of Portugal and his Moorish Mistress. This affair allegedly happened in the 1100s. Charlotte was born in 1744. 600 years after the "affair." 600 years tends to change a lot of DNA background, even if the affair was true, and most historians have questions about the ancestry used by de Valdez y Cocom.

Charlotte, who was German, had no mention of her or any family members, being black. And trust me, there would be in the 1700s some historical sources here.

Then there was the fact that Netflix made both both George and Charlotte, " Pretty people."

They were not.

Charles Dickens referred to both in a " Tale of Two Cities" as " There was a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face on the throne of England."

I am trying to make this short. 

Finally George. 

This is George III. This is the King of England during the American Revolution. He wanted to keep America, as a colony. He saw us as children. 

F*ck George. I don't care he went mad. Yeah, I am a bit of an Anglophile, but with George III, all bets are off.  Like his son, the Prince Regent, who became George IV asked George..." Why don't you die?"

Damn, Y'all Are Done, Just Done

 After prayers this morning, looked at getting some "cool" sunglasses, then, I start my reading of the world's newspapers. It is one of the pleasures I have done all my life, read the paper. 

In the WAPO this morning, one of the articles is on the Southern Baptists.( SBC)

It seem the SBC lost 500,000 members in 2022. 

They are hemorrhaging people like mad. 

416 churches and 165 missions closed last year. 

I've said this for 40 years, " Getting involved in politics is going to wind up hurting you. I can't see Jesus showing up and saying he's a Democrat, or Republican." In the scope of things, I don't think he cares.  

Heck, how many of you think the SBC church in your community is a clique? Heck, you wouldn't be welcomed even if you joined that church?

Say what you want young folks generally don't go to church.

Heck, I left years ago, rules against dancing, drinking, well, just the rules. Many when I read the Bible, well, I question. Then there was that " Eye Opening Experience" in SBC seminary.  

Bud Light

 I have not drank a beer in this country in....Well, I can't remember when. Now in Britain.....I am telling you Rev. James Buckley or Brain beer is the stuff to drink...

Could you imagine a preacher in this country lending their name to a beer?

I don't think in 65 years of life I have drunk a Bud Light.....In college, we drank Coors Light, but that's another story. 

As I have said before, if I am drinking, well, let's drink some whiskey. 

But again, I digress.

So, sales of Bud Light are down 21% in this country due to their "trans ad campaign." Which amounted to one beer can with one trans person printed on the can. An "influencer" whatever that means.

I know what Bud is trying to do. The Gen Z generation are not drinking beer and they are trying to get them to drink more beer. They think Gen Z is a bit more open to the LGBT community and this was an attempt to appeal to them. 

Problem is, they slapped their traditional Bud Light drinker in the face.  

Bud Light is an inexpensive beer whose traditional drinker is a person who drinks a beer or two or 12 after a hard day at work. A job generally involving sweat and outside work. Sorry, but older people are having a hard time with LGBT. Oh, they are more accepting then in the past, but many feel like this was being shoved down their throats.

The people at Bud just plain old messed up......Trying to get a different generation to drink their product, they lost a traditional drinker. 

Don't be shocked if Bud Light is re-branded. Bud comes out with a " New" beer......But is reality, it's just Bud Light in a new can. 

 

It's the End My Friends- Buna ISD

 No, the district is not ending.....

It is literally weeks until school is out.

People, let me remind you, if you don't like your job, go do something else. I know some people who have left Total, Exxon-Mobil, etc because they just did not like the company. 

Same thing with Buna ISD. 

It's a job folks, just a job. 

They will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat. And trust me, trying to do good sometimes just isn't enough in the school business. 

And forever Buna ISD has been one of the poorest paying districts in the region. 

Now, I enjoyed my time at the Buna HS. I really did, but if I was there now, I'd go ahead and retire or somehow get out of there. 

Things are not good there now, they really aren't. And patrons aren't happy either. 

I hear from patrons every other day about mess that is going on in the district and well, they are going to move their kids. And I do not blame them. 

Move people. You don't owe anyone anything. It's work. It's work. They'd fire you in a New York minute.