So, Buna, Jasper,Newton,Orange Etc. Counties- What Has Happened to Mr. Thomas? The Govteach?

 Facebook finally caught up to my old FB site and I've been kicked off for violating " Community Standards." 

Apparently one of the biggies now is I can't ask you to like the blog.....Never mind, I've been asking you to do so for over a decade.  

For the 4th time in  week, I have new FB site. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572465908828 

And to be honest, I am not sure if this is going to work or not. If you send me a friend request, I will accept whoever , but the last time I did so, FB said, I was "violating community standards."

I am about to switch to YouTube and TikTok, or whatever winds up replacing YT,TT., trouble is I was told I was "Too old to be using YT or especially TT." 

That's reason enough to use it. 

As many of you know, April works for TikTok now, and I am waiting for her to return to the states ( She's training and then visiting family for the " Year of the Snake.") To see about what camera she recommends, if I can afford it. 

I already have headphones and a microphone from the old radio days. 

If I can, I am going to only post on theGovteach Part Deaux. 

I'm pretty aggravated at this point.

Okay, If You Read This, Share. Please

 I am about to see what it is going to take to set up a TikTok and YouTube account.

Facebook keeps shutting down my sites part of it was they did not like me trying to get people to like the blog. 

Just ordered a new camera and will be in , in a few days. 

Not well versed in other social media, but we will see. It will probably be rough, rough the first few weeks. More written word than video. 

The old saying, face for radio, and a voice for print. 

If it doesn't work,.may need to go dark. 

Give me some time. 

New Buna Supt. Of Schools

 I know, I know. I am days behind writing on this. 

Sorry, sometimes in a one man media outlet, well, life happens. Doctors, dentist appointments. Grandma's not been well. 

And the new Buna ISD Supt. Of Schools is from Buna. Julie Motomura.

Good choice Buna Board of Trustees, good choice. You needed to pick someone who knows the community. 

I am hoping for good things from her. That said , you never know. A new Superintendent is always a wait and see situation. 

That said, no matter the amount of time they are in the position, this will probably be their last stop in education, as the amount of time they have in the business, they can see retirement on the horizon, no matter what they might have said, or they, or what people think. 

Plus, there are big changes which we are going to write on in the future of Texas education, if the Texas Senate has their way 

I wish the new Buna Superintendent well, and I hope she treats the faculty, kids, parents of the Buna ISD well. 

1000? Man, Sure Enough, We've Lost Our Way.

 I have been sent several  different links to this " event" that is to take place tomorrow. 

Including one from one of the sweetest girls I ever taught. She was disturbed. 

A British girl is to have sex with 1000 men tomorrow. 

A thousand. 

Why? 

Is it for the Only Fan views? The money shell receive from clicks. 

Now, I am in the business of getting clicks or hits on their website. That said, I receive no money from my site. Wished I did sometimes, but I mostly do it for to get something off my chest, inform others. 

But, sleep with 1000 people? 

I don't know. I've always seen sex as something special, something to emotionally share with someone else. And dont say, " Well, Thomas's chances of romance were slim." 

I hate to tell you, but some of  y'all's moms, grandmas were wild. I had a girl break up with me because I wouldn't sleep with her before marriage. Cute girl from Breaux Bridge, LA. Raven hair, blue eyes, wore glasses. Nerdy girl. I like nerdy girls. Married the biggest nerd I know.

The thing is, another British Only Fans girl has performed this " feat" literally beating to the punch. 

And someone explain this to me, why and apparently, the first girl was " shot " in the face by most of the guys, why do the makers think you're supposed to " frost" the girl's face??

And there has always been girls put in the position of selling their " wares" for economic reasons to survive. 

In the 1970s, I knew guys who would travel to Nuevo Laredo to " Boys Town" to visit the girls in the " Houses." Most of the girls were from poor villages working to send Pesos back home to support the families. These guys kept wanting me to go, How many choices of girls there were.....No, not for me. And as you know, I'm no saint, but this is someplace, well, I want to be with someone who actually wants to be with me. 

But, why do we need to sleep with 1000 guys in a day? And you know they'll be someone try and " do more " is this in the end, all about money? 

What kind of psychological damage is going to appear with her a month, a year, several years from now? I know it is her choice, but what kind of guy will date, or even marry her down the road? Heck, what kind of girl would marry a guy who's slept with a 1000 girls? And how faithful would either be? 

I don't know . I'm living in a world that 67 year old me no longer understands. 

Reader's Mail....And I Get Some Doozies.

 I get mail from folks from time to time. ( Actually I get more letters than I let on......)

And lately I got folks all worried about my " Soul and its Salvation" as the late Billy Graham used to say at least once in his sermons. 

They can't decide if I am saved or lost, or just as I like to say, " Fallen from Grace." ( Or as the Baptists like to say, " Backslidden." Not sure that's even a real word or not? )

Look, I get up every morning and pray for many of you. Several of you literally have "tenure" as you are prayed for every morning. 

And yes, I sin, every damn day, and I used to worry about it, especially when I was younger, but at age 67, well, I still remember the epiphany the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther had in in the toilet, he suffered from constipation, that damn German diet of sausage and lots of awful bread, and cold cuts for breakfast, slices of sandwich meat for breakfast, damn Germans. ( That alone is worth us not going back to Germany, but the damn German I sleep with is to wanting to return to the " Fatherland"so, we are looking to go back....)

So, one of the verses that Luther came across is my favorite verses, Ephesians 2:8-9.

 ⁸ For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God,

⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast himself.

Look folks, I know the Book of James talks about " Faith without works in dead"  and one of these days I need to write on what a knot-head James was.....But I don't have time for a 5000 word blog this morning. And the history behind the Book of James being included in the Bible. 

Look, I can't work hard enough. I may as well enjoy myself. And some of y'all, well, you're doing shit I can't even fathom doing. ( I know more stuff than I let on.)

So, pull than damn plank out of your own eye.....

There is also a rumor that I had a first wife. 

Yeah, I'm still on that first wife. 43 years worth, and this one decides to go, that's enough, well, there won't be wife number 2. I'm done. I figure I'll never replicate what I have now. Why try? Besides, she's going to outlive me by a mile, lots of mileage taken off in my early years. 

So folks, don't about me. Yeah, I know I am coming up on the home stretch, let's face it, no one knows how much time they have left.......

Then there was the PM that wondered if I was a homosexual? 

What the actual cornbread fuck did that come from? 

No, not gay.....Spent too much of my younger life chasing girls, and failing...miserably. I had given up on girls my last years in college  Was seriously looking at an Anglican Monastery in North Texas, when literally my now wife asked me out.....One of those things in my life I am convinced was "foreordained."  ( It and me teaching at Buna HS...as I have told you, I had not put an application to the Buna ISD when I was called in to interview for the "Gubmint/ecocomics" position....Again, I am convinced was "foreordained.")

I am guessing here it's perhaps I have friends who are LBGT, and have for over 50 years. And I am convinced people are born that way, just like left handed people, and in Medieval times they often thought left-handed people were " of the devil." 

But the last thing I'm worried about is my " Soul and its Salvation." 

And as always, you want or need to be added to the 4AM "prayer list" Let me know. Send me a PM, an email to keep people out of your " business." There is always room for one more.

 

 

Seriously

 Seriously folks, 

Be careful over the next couple of days. If you do not have to be out and about, stay home. Catch up on your Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, Prime, whatever. 

If we do not lose power and with snow, I am not planning on it, I plan to finish up Vera Season 14 shows on Britbox. I hate to see her show go. ( But, you never know.)

Tuesday and Wednesday both will be stay home if you can days. 

They're talking about teens for temperatures Tuesday night. 

And I know if you work at the plants, many of you will be working some serious overtime.....I know at least one person whose job has already rented " Roach Coach Motels" for them to stay at close to the plant. 

Others of you in healthcare, law enforcement and others will have to go to work in the weather. Please be extra careful.

And I know as I am writing this , the school still has not made a call one way or another.   

Just remember, this too shall pass.

Dammit People, What is Wrong With You? And My Take on TikTok....And I Tell Something You Do Not Know.....And I Got to Keep Up With Ex-students...

 So, I generally do not look at Facebook in this morning, and this morning was the same. 

I started off today looking at Fox Brothers Cloths as the British would call it. The tweeds in particular. I love me either herringbone, Hounds-tooth, or gun-check tweed. Wore a bespoke( Don't ask how I got it.) gun-check tweed jacket to my brother's swearing in as the District Attorney out in the Hill Country. The oldest nephew, and recent Tech grad, kept referring to me as " Professor." And I looked British. Checked shirt, tartan tie, flat cap, brogue shoes.  The bunch in Burnet County Courthouse I am sure looked at me and expected either a Highlands or Yorkshire accent. Not the HARD East Texas drawl I actually have....

And Fox Brothers had these three tweeds well, I got more excited looking at them than looking at the Playboy Playmate of the Month back in 1975.......Come on man, old Playboy, seriously, great articles, Karl Hess, Gore Vidal, George F. Will......And turn the page there's a girl with Breastests the size of Ethiopia.

An Autumn Prince of Wales Check, a Hazel Gunclub Check with Apple Green, a Tonal Camel Brown and Pale Blue Houndstooth..... I got to keep up with Bryant Long. He's doing everything he can to out-dress me, and I can't let that happen. ( I tease) The sport coat he's looking at getting is gorgeous.

I got so excited looking at the swatches of cloth, well, I almost had to change my pants.... 

But, I digress......

Got a few dissertations this morning in my PM this morning on Facebook. 

Mostly about TikTok......

I got to be careful. Real careful. My daughter in law now works for TikTok. It is why they moved to Seattle, well, not quite. They halfway expected what is happening to happen. They still have their house in Houston. As many of you know, she completes her second Master's in AI from Carnegie-Mellon in May. She'll get another job in a heartbeat.

April is in Shanghai for TikTok as I write this....And while I am certainly not a Chinese apologist, if you ever go to the "People's Republic" you'll be saying, well, it's their turn. We are too busy in this nation fighting/hating each other. Politically they are still authoritarian( I'll tell you about the 4 Hour discussion on Maoist Political Theory April and I had at my kitchen table one day.....When I got done, I thought," Who else in SETX just had this conversation?" No one.), but the place is so modern you'll be shocked. ( And there are poor parts, like we don't have poor people here.) 

And all over Facebook, people are all upset about TikTok shutting their app down. That said, got a funny feeling the next administration is going to issue some form of a reprieve. 

My question for you people.......Why, just why are you not running a VPN? What is wrong with you?

The ole Govteach has been running a VPN for years. I change it up through various Western nations. I looked up TikTok this morning....Popped right up. ( Running my VPN through Europe)

Again, all upset about the Chinese getting your information, yet X, Instagram, Facebook is okay with getting your info?  Who knows who they are selling it to? Probably the Chinese......

I know a lot of people are switching over to RedNote from TikTok.....Another Chinese owned company.....

As many of you know, I am a First Amendment absolutist. Want to get on TikTok and act a fool? Have at it. I spent about 2 hours on the site one time in my life and decided it was for younger folks than me. 

You got to remember this blog, my time on the radio, are First Amendment protected. And not everyone in the United States understands this.....Not everyone even in the media understands.  

So, what's going to happen in the end? I don't know, nor do you, either TikTok will return, or it'll be replaced by something just like it or similar. 

Okay, I got another blog coming on a second dissertation I got on AI this morning coming in a couple of days.....

I can go back and look at my Fox Brothers Cloths.

 

 

Quick Lesson-Weather Models.

Below is the 6AM Saturday run. This is the snapshot at what may happen 90 hours from now. 

Click on the button on the very top that says Forecast Models. The GFS should pop up. It will say so beside a blue bar just about the map. 

Want to run the map, or the lastest model, click on the play button just below the button that says Hurricane. 

Find Texas on the map of the US. Go as far south on the map as you can and not be in the Gulf of Mexico. ( It's been called the Gulf of Mexico since the 1600s. I have a map from 1690, that has Gulf of Mexico on it.) Then, go as far east as you can on the Texas portion of the map. That is our area. 

On the map, our area is blue. Blue means snow. If the area is purple that is sleet, or ice pellets, if it is pink, it is freezing rain, which is bad, very bad. The darker the color, the heavier the precip. Green is just rain.

For this lesson, here is what to know about the lines on the map, the closer the lines, the greater the wind. That's all you need to know right now. 

For this lesson I am using the site https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/models/

To the left of the map, there are 4 buttons. For now, only use 2 of the 4. The Precip/Moisture, and the Thermodynamics. The top and bottom buttons. 

Click on the Precip/ Moisture and several choices happen. For now only click on MLSP&Precip. ( Rain and Frozen).....This setting will let you know the rain, ice, snow that the model is predicting for the future. 

If you want to know future temperatures, click on the Thermodynamic. For us, only use 2mTemperture(shaded).

 Each time, click on the play button, just to  run the program. 

Want to change models?  

Click on the button that says Global.

GFS- American model

ECMWF- European Model

CMC- Canadian

Icon-The damn Germans 

At first only use the European and the American Models. 

To the right of the map are numbers. These are hours in the future. When the map runs, it lets you know at say hour 96 what the weather "might" be. 

Disclaimer 1- This is how my browser works. Yours may not be the same. 

Disclaimer 2- Weather is not an exact science, as Dr Arnow taught us back in the day. This is just what the computer thinks will happen. We may not get rain, or snow...We may have a horrid ice storm. It might not rain, snow at all. Who knows? 

Play with the system. It's fairly easy. 

If got questions, I KNOW, I've lost a bunch of you. Ask in the comments on Facebook. .

 

 

A Confession

 Okay, I confess. 

Not going to lie.

I'd like to see it snow about 3-6 inches next week. 

Now the Euro and Canadian  had 10+ inches which was a storm Beaumont had in 1895, so, we are due. 

And in the 1920, we had a blizzard. And one of the models had 35mph winds during the snow. It'd be like us being in North Dakota.

At this point in the past, I would make a remark about a teacher many of you had being around for both events.....But she's not around to tease, so there's no fun is saying anything about it....( No, she's not dead, I spoke to her at Christmas. She's doing well, still teaching, and I look for her to outlive us all.....Why not, she knew Henry VIII as an undergrad.)

The National Weather Service has it at 60% for possible snow on Tuesday. 

And 20F Tuesday evening. 

No, I am getting older and truthfully, not sure how many years I have left. It would be cool to see it snow another time down here, rather than travel to Yankeeland to see snow. ( I say all that and have a 94 year old mom, so, I could be here another 20-25 years.

Wednesday it will be sunny and 43F, Thursday, partly cloudy and 50F. 

Whatever we have will be long out of here. 

Who, What, When, Where, Why.....Buna ??????

 Who?

 Well, we now have at least 4 former Buna teachers on the Board of Trustees. It is in their laps to pick the new Supt. of Schools. 

Trouble is, when he/she be what Buna needs? 

Folks, I generally don't take up for politicians, and hell, my brother is one, and that's an even better reason to go after them....But.....It is going to literally be a crap shoot when you pick a new Supt. of Schools. 

A known commodity can even turn bad....

Will they treat parents rights....Hell, will they treat kids right....Will the teachers stay or head to the exit as soon as they implement their new "programs?" 

Hell, how long will they stay? Will we be looking again in 2-3 years? 

Probably. 

What?

Yesterday, the top story at 6AM on KBMT News was the kid who was going to trade a loaded pistol for vapes in Kirbyville High School....

And the concerns that the district had moving forward. Heck, all of the schools in Jasper County were going to meet with law enforcement about what they can do. 

That of course includes Buna ISD.....

Trouble is, even if you install metal detectors, some bright kid is going to be able to "Beat the System." And I can just about imagine what kind of a queue getting into the school every morning would be with metal detectors. 

Scary times we live in.....

When? 

I have seen so many positive reviews on the new BBQ place, I am now wanting to eat there. 

Trouble is, will I compare it to Llano BBQ, where my brother lives? He literally lives across the highway from Inman's.  And a stone's throw from Miiller's( Yes two i's...German spelling) and Cooper's. Them Germans can do a smoked meat. But, I still want to try it, and heck, may like it just as much as Llano's....Or even better, you never know.

Another problem is "The Boss" is on a cruise with her real Dad and Step-Mother....Ole Kerry didn't get an invite, and he is thrilled he did not.... I don't care for boats. I really don't. Airplanes I'll get on and fly around the world, an aluminum tube, flying at 500 mph at 30,000 feet in a heartbeat, but a ship, stuck with 5000+ of your closest friends? Feck that noise.  

And, our daughter in law is talking about us going on a cruise to Alaska. Juneau is a stop and I am trying to see as many state capitols as I can before I die, Heck, I've even seen Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island's capitol buildings....Walked around inside PEI's like I had good sense. 

But still, it's on a damn boat.....

But, I digress. 

I am glad Buna is getting new businesses, and if you see me in the new BBQ joint say "Hello" I won't bite....I promise. 

Where?

Where will it snow? This morning the U.S. Model only had rain and a " Toad Strangler" of a rain next Thursday.....The Euro and Canadian still have snow......I am just hoping for no freezing rain. 

Why?

Not going to lie, I am very pleased to see you post your kids being involved in UIL Academics on Facebook, from Elementary up to High School. 

Folks, the chance your kids gets an athletic scholarship, well, is actually slim. If your kids got one, well, good for you, most people won't.....

That said, there are more academic scholarships out there than you know. And kids in UIL Academics, well, they seem to get more than other kids. 

My child was involved in UIL Academics and won district in Current Events. ( He had a leg up, his dad was a UIL Director and gave pointers) 

We didn't pay for college. It was paid for. Academic scholarships. And there are more people out there in which their college is paid for either totally or partially with academics than you know.  

I know, I left out "Where" and once I publish this about 2 hours from now, I'll dream up "Where." But it'll wait for next time....Hey, I thought of it and added it before I posted on FB....

No, No, No.....It's Going to Get Someone Shot.....

 I noticed this the other day on our " Grand Tour of Texas."

Our driveway is showing up as a road on the maps we use for navigation. And this is fairly recent event.

I can just see someone trying to come down it trying to get to Highway 12. ( There are some stupid arse people out there.)

Yeah, our driveway( Or Drive as it is called in Britain) is long. But it is our drive. Before, because of the pampas grass in the front, you had to be looking for the address. Now with the map systems showing it as a road. 

Maybe I need to name it? In Orange County we don't do the County Road number system, yet, like most of the state. 

Compound Drive? Thomas Lane? 

I don't know, maybe the county will take over maintenance.....No, let's not do that, I want to be able to drive down it....

And Here We Go!!!!!!!!!! Again....

 I am reminded that I need to do one of these every now and again.

There are new people joining, and well, they may not know what to expect. 

Again, this is my blog, and while I mostly write on Buna events now, it is not the only subject I cover. I can get up one morning, or afternoon, or evening and decide, well, let's discuss this....

Yes, I look into subjects that are sent to me. Often, I can't quite write them with justice. Others, I can bang out in a few minutes time frame.  Most, it not all I have to think about. 

If you read this blog, and " old time readers" will tell you, it is " Buyer Beware" situation. No, not going to cost you any money, but you might be shocked on my take on various subjects.  

Also, you might be shocked at the language I use on the blog. 

I am trying more and more to use British and Irish spellings and pronunciations to try and " soften the blow" but I do not always. 

Yes, I taught government and economics at Buna high school in the 90s to about 2011 when I retired. It was time. I had been a gypsy for a while teaching in other ISDs, thus my retiring when I did...I had my 'points' and and retired. One of the best things I have ever done. I can travel in the middle of the school year. 

And yes, I am going to write some you'll agree with, and sometimes, I'll write something you will not....Hey, what do you expect, to paraphrase long time Atlanta newspaper columnist, Lewis Grizzard, " What'd you expect, you didn't pay anything for it." 

And yes, I am a seminary alumni. I'm ordained by a denomination most of you have never heard of. And it's very open minded, we'll put it that way concerning alcohol, tobacco, etc. Again, one of the groups I am hardest on are ministers, preachers, etc....While there are good ones, most I put into the category of  used car salesmen. And while I had considered starting my on church, I decided I did not want to go to Hell when I died. 

I've had a blog for 14 years now. It doesn't seem that long, and I am still shocked as much crap as I give the Buna ISD, there are still people who have not heard of the blog....

Anyway, thank you for reading. And if ever you have information on Jasper County,( heck, any local government entity) or especially the school districts, send me a PM on Facebook. There is a good chance I will use it, not always, but generally 95% of the time.  And NEVER will I use your name, and will write the story as to protect my sources.

No Kiddin' Buna ISD, You Should Look At This......

 It's like a musical trip back to high school this morning at the Compound. Eagles, Trapeze, The Stones...

So, the wife of one of my all time favorite students posted this...I'll call him favorite to give him the " Big Head." Seriously, I am fond of the boy....

And I know Buna ISD is stuck in many ways still in 19 Feckin' 52 , but if this is working for the rich folks, who would it not work in Buna ISD? I know it is working in Mt. Vernon ISD, and I own property there. 

Mt. Vernon is the same size as Buna 3A Div.1 in football, and like Buna has business growth. 

No, I am talking about the 4 day week. The more I study it, even the Ole Govteach could make it work with my massive amount of notes.  

I don't know, might be too late for this coming year, but how about the future? 

Lumberton ISD seems to be happy with the 4 day week...Here is the calendar for 25-26 academic year. 

 

 

Kirbyville High and Firearms

 So, it seems a Kirbyville HS student, 14 years old brought a firearm to school today. 

The story is the kid was going to trade the gun for vapes. That student was 16 years of age.

Vapes. 

Vapes?!?

No one was shot. My understanding the gun was not fired at school. 

The kid tried to escape on foot, but was caught by law enforcement. 

He's( They) been taken to juvenile jail and will be charged with a felony. 

Two students were arrested in the event. 

Get ready to folks, more of this sort of thing is going to occur. Kids are wild today. Sorry they just are. 

And this is going to be at all schools, public, private, church.......It is just the times we live in....And Gen Alpha are going to make the Gez Z kids look like a walk in the park smelling roses.

Well Buna, This Will Make the Southern Baptists and Pentecostals and AofG and Other Mad...But

 I keep hearing all about how much the new barbecue restaurant has spent for the grand opening, which I understand is next week.....

Trouble is, in Pct. 4 of Jasper County, you can only sell beer for off premises  consumption. 

I was in the Hill Country the past week and in the German counties, not only was beer available to drink in the restaurants, so were mixed drinks. 

And I know there are only a couple 2-3-4  restaurants at this point who would be interested in selling beer/wine in their establishments. 

There is one I know that would love to offer margaritas to the customers. But, let's do one step forwards.  

Now, it might be nice to have a nice cold draft beer before you have a 3 meat BBQ plate. ( Trouble is, too many people think a nice cold on tap draft would be a Coors Light or a Miller Lite, which, in my opinion is close to drinking a pint of bug piss.) 

A nice local Texas brew or even a small step up to a Shiner Bock on tap would be nice...and I know they sell beer for consumption in at least one restaurant in Mauriceville, and we've not had Armageddon, it's not become skid row....and I know there are restaurants who serve adult beverages in Jasper. 

There is going to be petition once the new place opens in an attempt to sell beer/wine at Buna restaurants and I encourage you to at least put it to a vote. 

I know there are religious people who are afraid if it is voted on, it will pass, and if it does.....Well, isn't that how it is supposed to work? Let the voters decide? 

Not going to lie, when coming home down Hwy 96, I look forward to veering off a little and getting a little BBQ for supper.

Okay Buna Schools....Time to Get Serious.......

 School is back in session at the Buna ISD. 

I hated, literally hated the Spring Semester. Especially with seniors. You get to a point in which it is like " Herding Cats."

You're trying to keep seniors from quitting and doing so little in their classes they mess around and do not graduate. And in many cases, in spite of this, the parents blame teachers that their kids were sorry, sorry over what should have been their last 5 months of high school.....And then, there are parents who blame teachers saying...." We did not know." 

This in spite of the faculty sending home registered mail, making phone calls, email, texts, sending home progress reports, carrier pigeons, telegraph messages, runners, literally seeing the parent at the Dollar General and telling Mom/Dad, smoke signals.......

That said, please, I beg of you, please, don't try and have a parent conference with a teacher concerning your child at Sunday School, or inside the church sanctuary, or church parking lot......I literally know teachers who have moved churches to Silsbee, or Mauriceville, even drive into Beaumont for services to avoid seeing parents who want a conference then and there. 

Also, if a teacher is on a date, or out for dinner with their family, it is not the time to decide I need to gripe at my kid's government teacher about my kid's last test he/she failed....This happens more than you know. I had a dad come up to me to confront me about their child's grades at a seafood restaurant in Nederland on a Saturday afternoon. 

I have had a parent call on a Thursday night at 11:45PM. Wanting to set up a parent conference. The parent obviously had had a few "Pearl Pops, with the Foam on Top." Before they called, and got upset when I told them they needed to call the office to make an appointment. They wanted to just "show-up" in the middle of my 3rd period class.

Buna ISD doesn't pay us enough to put up with that....And this happens more than you think.....Why teach today and put up with it?

And what does administration do? Nuthin'!

My question is this, has anyone heard anything on the Supt. of Schools search? Are they looking internally? 

Is this going to be another 2.5 year employee of the Buna Schools? And move on to a large, better paying district, like the last two? 

And can Buna compete? The last Supt. of Schools was said to be paid ...around $116,000-117,000 yearly-

How many new ideas will teachers have to implement only to start over in 2 years. New rules, new ideas....Why stay? Go someplace else you can at least get more money? 

FYI- Dr Spicer at Waco ISD-

        $234,000 yearly on a 4 year contract

FYI- Dr. Lee received the following to go to the WFISD-

• A base salary of $215,000 per year
• A relocation allowance of up to $10,000
• A salary supplement equal to his contributions to the TRS
• A monthly car allowance of $550
  

So, I Was Told By a Preacher I Was Probably Going to Hell Because of This.....

 There are some bad messed up, well, honestly, fucked up theological beliefs out there.....

And this is the reason why the "minister" said this?

I often see many of you doing genealogical research on your families, and the older you get, well, the more curious you get just where the hell did we come from.....It's why a lot of us have spit in a tube and sent it to Ancestry.com. ( Not sure those bastards have gotten it right....) It's why we use the site Family Search. Again, not sure they are correct either.

Plus those of us who consider themselves "historians" it gives us an excuse to do research because, well, take grad classes in history, well, you love spending hours in the stacks, and looking at primary sources.....

So, at one time I had this critter, who was a pastor at a fairly good sized church. ( Don't get me started on denominations.) 

Doing research, neither sets of my grandparents were married in a church....

My paternal grandparents eloped and were married by a judge in Orange. And they literally were just kids. He was 16, she was 14. 

I wish I knew more about their background, history, marriage. 

My maternal, a little more interesting story....

Both of my Mom's parents were well into their 20s when they married.  

My grandfather who was an accountant in town, went at lunch and got my grandmother who was a teller at the bank, and went to the Justice of the Peace and got married during their lunch hour. Again, an elopement. ( Or as the late musician Kinky Friedman called it,  "antelope.") 

And didn't take the rest of the day off, went back to work. 

After they got off work, they went and told their families. My grandmother's family knew it was coming.....My grandfather's family just lost it. A combination of "She wasn't good enough." Never mind her dad was a foreman at the cotton gin. Plus, it " Wasn't his turn to get married. Two older sisters were supposed to marry next.....Again, an early 1900s tradition I do not understand and it was explained to me more than once.....Again, people didn't understand it back then."

And my great grandmother and my grandfather's sisters all sat up all night crying. 

So, Kerry, Old Govteach, Mr. Thomas...Why are you going to Hell? 

It seems that because my grandparents were not married, by a " Minister of the Gospel" they were " Living in Sin" and all their offspring are " Doomed and Damned to Devil's Hell." 

And the scary part is, there are people who today in 2025 believe such clap trap.  

Another of these people who use the Old Testament for their fucked up belief system.....It's like the damn Southern Baptists who used Micah as a way to extort tithe money from people....Yeah, ignore the part about not eating ham,bacon, catfish, shrimp, etc.......Hell, bacon is tasty......

I wonder what the minister would think if he knew I often was paid in Irish Whisky for my officiating services? I'm sure he'd have me condemned to one of Dante's " Inner Circles of Hell." 

But seriously, if you find out historical tidbits about you family, write it down, there is going to be a child, grandchild, great-great grandchild etc. who is going to want to know. ( Most of my life I have had an aunt who said we have Cherokee Indian in our family.....Married some " Indian Princess." which I have always said " No" and explained to the family to believe that BS why. 

Indian "Princess." Again, more fantasy. Ain't no Indian. I might believe an Indian from New Delhi before Oklahoma Cherokee.....And if a family member married a Cherokee girl, he more than likely would have bought some 13 year old girl for a jug of whisky.  

Okay, might be time to discuss the Buna ISD....and I got questions.....

 

They Just Hate Us.....

 I was with my nephew a large part of this past week. He is the one who just graduated from Texas Tech, and we flew out for his graduation. 

He is pretty much me, seriously. His personality, thought is well, me in a 21 year old body. And his dad recognizes this. He has gone back to Lubbock to work and ponder his next move. 

He and I talked for almost 10 hours about the thinking of Gen Z. 

If you are older than say, age 35, in general, they hate you. 

They think we've messed up the economy, the nation's politics, especially those of us in the Baby Boomer age group. Not individual people, but the generation as a whole. 

And in truth, the average baby Boomer doesn't understand what is going on with their grandchildren and what they are going through. 

They can't afford a house. They can't afford a new car. With the economy the way it is, the hope of getting married is just a dream for many of them. 

Now, don't think of it in SE Texas terms. Here is Beaumont-Orange-Buna-Lemonville, we are different than the rest of the world. Yeah, they are building new plants, refineries here, but there are other major industries shutting here and construction at said plants is temporary. Most of the construction workers are not permanent residents. ( Don't give me, " My husband or I work construction here", think about how many people are from other parts of the state/country.) And people are not moving here like the rest of the state. We are stagnate in growth.

We are behind the rest of the state, and well, always have been. Other than us, who in their right mind wants to move here, and it's because many of us see " here" as a panacea for living. 

Those "pine trees" call us back like a magnet. And many of our best and brightest leave because, there is no real opportunity here outside the oil industry. 

And the dating system they are stuck with just, well, I can't get my mind around. 

No longer can you go up to a girl and ask for her number or ask her out for coffee.....Doing so might get the police called on you, as you're seen as a "creep." Dating is all online through apps. And God-forbid you want to find out at some-point who else the person are "dating' is seeing someone else. And if they've slept with 50-60-90 people, well, according to Gen Z, you ask, it's like using racial terms around people of that race. I thought he was just "pulling a story", but I asked another person of that age group, and they agreed. 

Sorry, but, there is stuff you can get sleeping from people that don't wash-off, and penicillin doesn't cure. 

Again, don't look at this from a SETX point of view, we are behind the rest of America. And we will at some point catch up. 

They also hate us because there are more of us than them, and can out-vote them....They hate us because salaries really have not kept up with inflation.....They hate us because they have college degrees they'll be paying for the rest of their lives. ( I can't with a straight face tell a kid get a college degree, go into massive debt to teach.)

And they see AI taking over so many of their jobs in the future, including blue-collar ones. They are the ones who think UBI is going to happen whether you think it is good or not. 

They are scared to death the government will "fight a war" to try and cure the economy. 

I have been looking at the economics for 2025, and it doesn't look good. 

And whoever the president is, sorry, they can only do so much....

Anyway, this is not individuals. This is the generation as a whole and like I said, SETX is often an outlier. Sometimes our local economy is a conundrum compared to the rest of the nation. But it comes here at some point in time.