Being Raised by Your Sense of Place

Lately in my reading, I have been taken by the role that setting plays in a book or movie.  There are stories where the "place" becomes so important that it becomes another of the supporting characters.  Little Fires Everywhere is one of those stories. Shaker Heights, Ohio was a "perfect" place.  Race didn't matter.  The rules were the rules.  As long as you and everyone else followed them, everything would be fine.  But when the rules were broken, everything became shaky and unpredictable.

It brought me to think about my own life and the different places I have lived especially where I was raised.  I have lived for a significant amount of time in three very different places; Iowa, Florida, and California.  Who I was leaving Iowa and Florida formed who I would become and how I viewed the world in California.  Iowa is exactly what you think it might be.  It is white, it is farmland.  It is a place where as a child, you quickly learn to do the right thing because it's the right thing.  You didn't need another reason.  The world in Iowa in the 60's was simple.  Everything was black and white, right and wrong.  Your word was your bond.  Republicans and Democrats were more closely aligned than they are today.  So you could live alongside of and communicate with those of the other party and not necessarily see the world very differently.  In a word, it was homogenous.  Farmers were conservative but with national subsidies for planting and harvesting in the mix, they could move to the democratic side with very little residue or pushback from their friends or neighbors.  You were still doing the right thing, which was providing for your family.  Success was viewed as feeding and clothing your family.  There were no big houses, no one went out to eat very often - that was considered wasteful.  So this view of the world was what raised me.  Live simply.  Don't waste your money; you might need it next year.  Help your neighbor.  There was also a general feeling of sameness.  Life didn't change much from year to year.  We all expected things to be the same.  It helped to define who we were and who we would always be.  I was an Allen, an Iowan, I was raised and lived most of my childhood in one town.  While we lived in several houses. they were all in a very close radius to each other and to my other family members - grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins.  Church was church and school was school.  There wasn't much else to life.  The world was very small. 

This very small view of the world opened up immensely with a move to Florida.  But Florida in 1972 was very different from Florida today.  I lived in central and northern Florida which was still very "country."  My view of the world didn't change much.  It was still about doing the right thing and being sure that what you said was what you did.  The expansion was definitely in the department of race.  Iowa was white and Florida was black.  I was not raced to be colorblind so  this was definitely a new world for me.  All the adages of Iowa that I had heard for 18 years no longer held any weight.  They were not lazy or living in government housing.  There were not good ones and bad ones.  They were working two jobs to get ahead, they were in school to get ahead.  They were first generation college students just like I was and I struggled to see any difference between them and me.

Now you take this new version of Tere and take her to California in 1976.  I will say again, this was not the California of today.  I was able to find my place in this new world because I was married to a conservative version of California.  He also defined success by providing for his family.  But we went out to dinner - all four of us - often.  This new sense of place slowly chipped away at the edges of the Iowa girl.  Helping my neighbors and family became helping those in need.  I was always a democrat but this was a bigger version of being a democrat.  I became Catholic and once again the world opened wider to encompass and redefine those in need.  I never found it difficult to call myself a Californian even though my extended family members challenged me about many things - earthquakes, the homeless, and democratic governors.

Today, at my core, I still believe that success is being able to provide for yourself and your family.  I still believe there is a difference between right and wrong and that my word is my bond.  I value all that Iowa game me for those first 18 years.  But around the edges of that Iowa girl is the influence of 40 years in California.  My view is wider.  I see those in need.  I see the burden that racism has placed on so many Americans.  I can put myself in the shoes. of those who walk a very different path.

Still Home

While much of Florida is "open" I continue to choose my aloneness.  The danger of Covid-19 is still real and the chance of exposing my parents to this is a chance I'm just not willing to take.  My list of things to do is short but I keep making things up as I go along.  I have hired a company to put in a sprinkler system as well as a front lawn.  I have dug up all the weeds between the plantings in the back.  So now it is back to a "what to do" state of being.  I weary quickly of reading day after day but I will gladly listen to podcasts or audible books.  I continue to add to my list on Netflix but still shy away from watching anything during the day.  I know that is a slippery slope for people like me with addictive personalities.  But I have once again developed a love of cooking dinner and baking cookies and breads.  Gardening is #1 on my daily list.  There is always something that can be done and unlike housework, I don't  mind doing it.  It occurred to me this morning that this is the situation that makes people afraid to retire.  It is definitely the "what shall I do today" frame of mind.  I am learning to embrace it but I still need people in my life.  I am thankful for phone calls, texts, emails, and Zoom meetings.  But I definitely look forward to some face to face time in the near future. 

National Day of the Teacher 2020

National Day of the Teacher 2020

The National Day of the Teacher is a day in which I always take time to remember those who have chosen this amazing profession.  I loved being a teacher; every single day of it.  But it was hard work and it never got easier - at least not for me.  It is a job that you simply must love with your whole heart in order to be any good at it.  You give and give and you get back strange and wonderful things from your students and co-workers.  But it is a not a path you take for status or monetary compensation.  It is truly a work of the heart.  

But this year is different.  The observance of this year's National Day of the Teacher is like no other.  This year we stop and take a moment, just a moment to think about what you have been asked to do.  Two months ago our country shut down and just like that your job and the relationship you have with your students was completely changed. You went from doing what you knew how to do - teaching with your own tool bag of materials and strategies - to a whole new world.  You have truly been asked to do the impossible.  Teach, but you'll have no classroom.  You'll need to create that in a closet or your bedroom or living room with no whiteboard or extra storage.  Without any time for training you and your students went on-line.  Your students were given devices with which they had had no training from you or anyone else.  Your class of desks or tables became a flat screen of boxed faces. Then you had to figure out how you could teach in selfie mode with one device and manage your lesson plan on another or continuously flip between screens.  Mute, microphone, chat, and video became your new class directives.  Your teacher demonstrations were suddenly completely dependent on a video of you.   Some of you were given guidance by your administrators and others were told to "use whatever platform you like."  The mothers out there also balanced your own children's education.  You suddenly became an expert in one or more additional grade levels and subjects.  Just like that.  And you did it.  You took it all in stride while the world watched and few realized what had gone on behind the scenes.  I am stuck here for adjectives that adequately describe this transition from the classroom to distance learning - amazing, phenomenal, unbelievable.  

I am absolutely in awe of all of you.  I know the work that goes into lesson preparation but this is a whole new level.  This is every day, I am planning for the what and the how of my lesson(s) that I will teach tomorrow.  This is how can I evaluate the level and comprehension of my early readers?  How do I ascertain where my middle schoolers are emotionally?  What happens when a student falls behind or doesn't turn in the work?  What do office hours look like?  Or faculty meetings?  

My hat and everything else is off to our teachers and administrators in 2020 and this new world of virtual education that you were all thrown into.  You did it and you made it look good.  More than that, you made it look easy.  That's what teachers have always done.  Whatever comes your way, you take it on and you manage the pieces so they somehow fit together.  Your only purpose is the education of children and you will do whatever it takes to make that happen.  You don't teach reading or writing, you teach kids the joy of reading and writing.  You are in the people business.  You are co-creating humans who think deep thoughts and care about one another.  During this time of Covid-19, those two things must go together in the minds and hearts of our kids.  

Thank you to all of you who have taken on the challenge of teaching.  May these last few weeks of the 2019/2020 school year be good ones.  Take care of yourselves so you can finish strong.   May you know that those of us who watch from the sidelines deeply appreciate your work and are amazed at what you have pulled off.  Congratulations on a job well done.