The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.

com VIEWPOINTS _ Saturday, September 5, 2009 23A

Now what will

we do with the A scoop of Movie tips
from robot
transparency? overlords
Dallas City Hall is opening up, and it’s
our responsibility to keep our elected
officials honest, says Victor Medina
commerce Maybe the future of artificial
intelligence is already here,
says Annalee Newitz

M Keep your self-righteous fingers off my

ayor Tom Leppert is changing the way City
Hall conducts business. Even though the
faces of our representatives have changed
over the years, the same “politics as usual” existed,
which has led to what seems to be a never-ending
I
f machines ever become sentient,
science fiction movies have
conditioned us to expect one
processed food, says Charlotte Allen thing: Our new mechanical masters
will try to take over the world and

stream of accusations and charges of corruption and
favoritism downtown.
The changing culture — as seen in rules changes
proposed by the mayor and discussions about a
tougher ethics ordinance — is good news in particular
for the southern sector, which has been ignored,
misrepresented and denied a chance to progress for
decades.
Credit Leppert for taking the initiative and pro-
posing more accountability and transparency. Per-
haps he is spending some of that political capital he
earned on the hotel referendum. In small steps, he is
beginning to end the culture of privilege in which a
select few often benefited from the actions of the City
Council.
One council member recently complained about a
new Leppert-proposed rule that makes attendance at
meetings mandatory in order to be paid. Her argu-
ment was that such a restrictive requirement would
interrupt personal errands like picking up a child at
school. Somebody cue the string section at the Mey-
erson. The rest of us have to find a way to juggle per-
sonal and professional obligations in our 9-to-5 jobs.
It’s nice to see our elected officials have to, as well.
Another proposal would require lobbyists at City
Hall to register. This move toward transparency was
largely uncontested, with many reasoning that most
folks knew who the paid lobbyists were anyway. Not
so. For most of us, whose votes and opinions are not
greeted at City Hall along with financial rewards, it’s
nice to know who we are up against.
All of these moves for accountability and transpar-
ency will mean nothing if the rest of us do not do our
part. We need more leadership from the minority
communities, and if we don’t get it, we must rally to
vote in leaders who will. In southern Dallas, for ex-
ample, we have gotten used to the notion that any
development or financial investment must coincide
with some sort of “tribute” being paid, usually in
terms of minority involvement in the enterprise.
Unfortunately, that tribute never makes it down to
folks who need it. It always seems that some friend,
supporter or relative of the elected official receives it.
We need to start expecting more out of our offi-
cials, starting with a little more professionalism. This
means staying away from even the smallest hint of
impropriety or conflict of interest. It means no more
having friends or spouses serving as “consultants.” It
means no side dealings with those who would seek
your favor or influence.
It also means finding a carpool for your kid like the
rest of us do, so you can do the job we hired you to do.
Dallas Morning News staffers Tod Robberson, on
the editorial page, and reporter Rudolph Bush de-
serve a lot of credit for bringing these issues to the
forefront. Leppert and the City Council are doing
their part to increase transparency, and they seem to
be on the right track with tighter ethics rules. Now it’s
up to us to bear the burden of oversight.
Let’s keep them honest. There can be no more
excuses, no claims that we didn’t know what was
going on. The state of our neighborhoods, the actions
of our elected representatives and the direction of our
city government are in our hands now more than ever.
The credit, and the blame, lies with us.
Victor Medina of Oak Cliff is a free-
lance travel and sports writer and a
Community Voices volunteer col-
umnist. His e-mail address is vic@
victormedina.com.
J
ust in time for the worst economic
downturn since the Depression, here
comes a new crop of social critics to
inform us that we’re actually spending too
little for the food we eat, the clothes we wear,
the furniture we sit on and the gasoline that
runs our automobiles.
Dire economic circumstances don’t seem
to faze these spending enthusiasts, who
scold us for shopping at supermarkets in-
stead of at farmers’ markets, where a loaf of
“artisanal” (and also “sustainable”) rye bread
sells for $8, ice cream for $6 a cup and
organic tomatoes for $4 a pound.
The latest cheerleader for higher prices is
Ellen Ruppel Shell, a professor of science
journalism at Boston University who has
just published a book titled Cheap. It’s not a
guide to bargain-hunting. The theme of
Shell’s book, subtitled “The High Cost of
Discount Culture,” is “America’s dangerous
liaison with Cheap.”
Shell’s argument goes like this: Shopping
at discount stores, factory outlets and, of
course, Wal-mart (no work of social crit-
icism is complete without a drive-by shoot-
ing aimed at that chain) exploits Chinese
factory workers (who would much rather be
back on the collective farm wearing their
Mao suits) and degrades the environment
because much of the low-price junk wears
out and ends up in landfills.
Even IKEA comes in for a drubbing in
Shell’s book. Yes, the Swedish chain’s in-
expensive, assemble-yourself furniture may
look tasteful, but behind every Billy book-
case lies a gruesome tale (in Shell’s view) of
Siberian forests ravaged for all that pine
veneer and gallons of fossil fuel burned by
couples motoring to IKEA’s remote loca-
tions, strategically chosen for their rock-
bottom land values. Most damaging of all,
says Shell, is the cost to America’s soul.
“The economics of Cheap cramps in-
novation, contributes to the decline of once
flourishing industries and threatens our
proud heritage of craftsmanship,” she
writes. In her view, we should all save up for
“responsibly made quality goods,” prefera-
bly from shops accessible by “public transit.”
The most zealous of the spend-more
crowd, however, are the food intellectuals.
Michael Pollan, author of the best-selling
Omnivore’s Dilemma, coined the mantra
“Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” that
is on the lips of every foodie from Bainbridge
Island to Martha’s Vineyard. Pollan has
rejoiced at the idea of skyrocketing prices for
groceries, hoping they might “level the
playing field for sustainable food that
doesn’t rely on fossil fuels.”
Pollan is a “locavore,” one of those people
who believe that in order to be truly ethical,
you should eat only foods grown or killed
within your line of sight (for me, that would
be my neighbor’s cat).
Lately, Pollan has set his sights on Haa-
gen-Dazs ice cream, not because it contains
corn syrup (it doesn’t) but because it’s a
commercially made product, and if there’s
one thing Pollan hates, it’s commerce. His
latest pronunciamento: “Don’t buy any food
you’ve ever seen advertised.”
Demanding that other people impover-
ish themselves, especially these days, in the
name of your pet cause — fostering crafts-
manship, feeling “connected” to the land,
“living more lightly on the planet” or what-
ever — goes way beyond Marie Antoinette
saying, “Let them eat cake.”
Professor Pollan, eat all the “plants” you
like — but don’t try to pry me from my Haa-
gen-Dazs dark chocolate ice cream. I bought
it at Safeway, and it’s sitting on my IKEA
kitchen table.
— Excerpted from a column Charlotte Allen
wrote for the Los Angeles Times. Allen is the
author of “The Human Christ: The Search for
the Historical Jesus” and a contributing editor
to the Minding the Campus Web site of the
Manhattan Institute.
Haagen-Dazs
destroy us all. But the reality of
artificial intelligence is a lot weirder
than even the machines vs. humanity
Matrix movies suggest. When AI
finally emerges, it will be a lot more
like an erudite video store clerk than a
superpowered killer.
If you’ve ever bought something at
Amazon.com or rented a movie from
Netflix, you’ve interacted with a soft-
ware program that owes its existence
to over half a century of research into
artificial intelligence. That program
composes sentences such as: “Because
you enjoyed the movie Godzilla, we
think you would enjoy Ultraman.” It’s
called a “recommender system,” and
it’s designed to learn about you and
your fellow humans by gathering data
about you and drawing conclusions
from it; eventually, it will know more
about what you like than you do.
Until this century, “machine learn-
ing” was a field that excited mostly
academics and sci-fi authors. But
today’s recommender systems aren’t
on the theoretical fringe — they’re
part of a lucrative industry. Netflix is
about to award $1 million to a team of
researchers who improved the accu-
racy of the company’s recommenda-
tion tool by 10 percent. Some 51,000
contestants from all over the world
entered the competition, and two
$50,000 “progress prizes” were
awarded over the past three years. All
this to improve a system that is al-
ready pretty good at predicting what
movies people will enjoy: 60 percent
of Netflix rentals are a result of what a
piece of software suggested.
As we live more of our lives online,
we depend on computers to give us the
kind of advice that other people once
did. Movie critics and well-read li-
brarians are being replaced by algo-
rithms — well-tested, well-funded
algorithms, but pieces of software
code nevertheless. It’s possible that
somewhere within our super-conve-
nient video rental systems and online
stores, we’re incubating a form of
artificial consciousness. Could we be
witnessing the birth of AI without
realizing it, every time we rent a mov-
ie?
Surely, intelligence must be more
than the ability to recommend good
links or enjoyable movies — but what
exactly is it? AI researchers have been
asking that question since the 1950s.
To find out how the mind of a rec-
ommender works, I talked to AT&T
Labs scientist Robert Bell, a member
of the winning team in early rounds of
Netflix’s contest.
Trying to predict enjoyment based
on so little feedback is like trying to
pick out a present for a friend — you
have some information about what
she likes, but it’s not as if she’s ranked
every item in the store. So you extrap-
olate. If your friend likes detective
novels, she’ll probably like other de-

The true confessions of a library junkie tective novels.

Our local branch was one
reason my family stayed in
Dallas, says Elaine Kollaja
was Abraham Lincoln. Something
about his hardscrabble beginnings,
his too-tall, bookish self and his
bouts of melancholy resonated with
me.
to more advanced reading.
When Alex was 5, I took him to
the then-new Southwestern Branch
library to get his own library card,
and I took Sophie on the same
Now I hear that that the city is
going to cut the branches’ hours and
reduce the materials budget to save
money, and this panics me.
I am blessed be able to afford my
Bell and his team taught their
recommender system to think about
the Netflix problem in roughly the
same way. Then the team trained the
software using a method that sounds
almost like intuition. Called the “la-
tent-factor approach.”
“Because the factors are deter-

E
arly on, my mother realized
that my appetite for books
would far surpass anything
our family’s tight budget could
satisfy, so we made the trek to our
small town’s library.
I can still see its upstairs kids
area, with its rows upon rows of
books, all free, waiting just for me. I
am sure that if I visited today it
would seem small, but to my
6-year-old eyes it was huge and the
most wondrous place I could
imagine.
Mom led me to the children’s
biography section, where I started
at one end of the shelf and read my
way to the other. I took out the
maximum number of volumes
allowed, which I recall to be 10. The
stack was quickly devoured, and my
voracity kept Mom driving me back
weekly for another book fix.
I consumed biographies of many
famous Americans, but my favorite
My love affair with books soon
branched out from biographies to
fiction. I loved the stories that came
in series, because you could really
get to know the characters and get
inside their worlds.
My favorite was the Little House
books. I didn’t just read Little House
on the Prairie, I lived it and believed
it. I wanted to be Laura, to ride in
the covered wagon with Ma and Pa
and their good old bulldog Jack. I
read those books so many times that
my mother finally wouldn’t let me
check them out anymore, insisting
that I try something else.
For several years after my
children were born, I stopped
reading for myself. The repetitive
nature of The Very Hungry
Caterpillar and The Cat in the Hat
— both great books, to be sure — left
little energy for grownup literature.
But in time the kids grew up and out
of board books, and we progressed
errand a few years later.
Somewhere, I still have those library
cards with their crooked little
kindergarten “signatures” on the
back.
I loved introducing them to the
world of reading, but the best part of
taking them to the library was the
joy I felt in reconnecting with my
own neglected love of books.
These days, there’s almost never
a week that I’m not picking up a new
book, or three, at my local library,
either for my grad-school work or
just for some fun reading.
I truly don’t think I would be the
person I am today if it hadn’t been
for the wealth of resources the
public library has made available to
me. Several years ago, we were
shopping for a new home, and our
decision to stay in Dallas rather
than move to a nearby suburb was
based largely on the strength of
Dallas’ library system.
own books now, but even
Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble
don’t give me the same rush as
walking into a library and being
surrounded by books, floor to
ceiling. The sheer possibility of all
those stories, real and imaginary,
gives me a feeling of hope and
wonder.
We must keep libraries open and
well-stocked — especially for the
kids like me and Honest Abe, who
might find their wings, and their
passion in life, in the pages of a
book.
Elaine Kollaja of
Dallas is a
graduate student
in the SMU Master
of Liberal Studies
program. Her e-mail address is
elainekollaja@yahoo.com. Visit her
blog at www.scratchpaper-eck.
blogspot.com.
mined automatically by algorithms,”
Bell said, “they may correspond to
hard-to-describe concepts such as
quirkiness, or they may not be inter-
pretable by humans at all.”
So it’s not at all like a human, but it
has good taste. Which could make it
the next step in the evolution of artifi-
cial intelligence. Or just a super-
accurate data-crunching software
program. It all depends on how you
define intelligence.
Luckily, neither answer gives you a
new robot overlord. It just helps you
pick what to watch once you’ve cleared
The Matrix from your Netflix queue.
Annalee Newitz is the
author of “Pretend We’re
Dead: Capitalist Mon-
sters in American Pop
Culture” and the editor
of the science fiction blog io9.com. Her
e-mail address is annalee@tech
sploitation.com.

B0905SA023PQ
B0905SA023PB
A23 _ 09-05-2009 Set: 16:56:16
Sent by: jrush Opinion BLACK
The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Saturday, September 12, 2009 19A

Shred it or savor it? A veteran

of Iraq, now
My home doesn’t have to become New things may be convenient, but old unemployed
a repository of all my family’s
history, says Nancy L. Ruder
things have real value, says Hailey Sowden Vets need more help getting
back into the workforce,

I
says Ramiro G. Hinojosa
E
ach trip to visit my elderly father makes me love junk. Jars, tins, trunks — all of it. There’s something about used
contemplate what I can only call our “human
(“antique” if you want to get fancy) things. They’re lived in. They’ve seen

accumulation tendencies.” Dad’s basement
contained enough National Geographic magazines to
construct a small pyramid in his driveway.
Neither your public library nor Half Price Books
wants your old magazine collection, so why not build
something special with them?
Have you needed to consult your 1953 federal tax
returns lately? Anything that was ever marked “Please
retain for your records” during my parents’ long
marriage remains in its archaeological stratum. My
sister and I have begun the massive work of clearing out
our childhood home. We’ve shredded canceled checks
from the ’40s, along with those tax returns.
Humor is absolutely required in this job. A sense of
wonder helps, too.
We found four coffee makers complete with receipts
and instructions in their original boxes, each taped
closed with a note, “Doesn’t work.” Why, why, why did
they save them? For the same reason they never threw
away a ketchup packet from McDonald’s or the twist tie
from a loaf of bread.
At Dad’s, I unearthed what can only be called the
“Grudge Dossier.” This file held the complete
background information for every family feud, scandal,
inheritance injustice or unpaid loan, back to the Great
Depression. Our family is lighter with that record
shredded.
The summer wasn’t all mind-numbing hours with
the paper shredder. Did Mom know the fun my sister
and I would have finding favorite clothes from our
childhood? The evening my niece modeled those outfits
for us was a blast. So was our discovery of a box of
elbow-length gloves that inspired Supremes imitations
of “Stop! In the Name of Love.”
I’ll have to cut my grown sons some slack about all
the things they have warehoused in my condo. This
summer I finally moved my college artwork out of Dad’s
house, just 32 years after I flew the nest.
In 2039 my sons will gather to clean out my condo
and finally cart away their childhood treasures. They
won’t care that I have dutifully preserved family photos
and documentation of their ancestors who came from
Bohemia to make a new life in northeast Nebraska.
When the guys stop by to visit my assisted-living
facility, they’ll grill me about where I stored their
treasured “good wood rifles.” It’s true. I let my young
sons run around the back yard with toy guns. The boys
turned out just fine, thank you, and they are sentimental
about their toy guns. Those small objects hold the key to
their sense of what it was like to be children.
Maybe my daughters-in-law will be interested in the
current collector’s value of Grandma’s crystal, but I’ll be
preoccupied ranting about the lumpy gravy and cold
mashed potatoes in the nursing home. The crystal is
precious because of Dad’s stories about the village
where it was made, and how he sent it to Nebraska for
his dear mother and future wife. I heard those stories
sitting around Grandma’s dining table at her famous
midnight suppers. Grandma could whomp up “a little
something” with homemade steamed tamales and
sugar cookies. It was the best eating on earth. Sadly, no
one will remember those occasions, or use the
expression “whomp up.”
Maybe it is time to let go of the rocking chairs that
belonged to ancestors I barely remember. My home
doesn’t have to become a repository. I don’t want
cleaning it out to be a burden hanging over my kids’
heads. I just want to save the small keys to their
memories, seasoned lightly with family history and
served with a midnight supper. Let’s see what I can
whomp up.
Nancy L. Ruder of Plano is a preschool
teacher and a Community Voices
volunteer columnist. Her e-mail address
is nancy.ruder@tx.rr.com.
history spinning by. They come complete with built-in memories.
This summer I moved to my attic and found estate sales and salvage stores
absolutely invaluable in the transformation of an impersonal space in a fairly
new house into my own room. Junk stores were my treasure troves. Garage and
estate sales my mainstays.
I lived for the thrill of the hunt, so most Saturdays this summer I perused the
classifieds for garage and estate sale ads, then drove all over Dallas, strategically
planning the houses I’d visit.
I’ve purchased practical clothes and
belts, historically rich Life magazines,
records and plenty of already annotated
books. Once, inside an old magazine,
tucked behind a photograph of the Dalai
Lama, I found handwritten notes recording
— in great detail — the meaning of life.
Now this may not be the universal meaning
of life (and if it is, I wish the person who
wrote it had spent more time on his pen-
manship), but it is wonderful to have the
privilege of holding something that was
once so meaningful to someone else.
That brings me to old photographs.
Nearly every estate sale has them, and yet
every time I see a box of faded photos, it fills
me with a wistful melancholy. They are
usually carefully labeled and dated in cur-
sive, and it’s so easy to imagine families
sitting together on a sofa somewhere, leaf-
ing through pages and pages of memories.
Now they’re for sale.
I can’t bear to see these photographs go
unsold and into an unnamed Dumpster
somewhere. Some may find it strange that I
have stacks of sepia portraits and family
pictures from days gone by and families I
have never met, but I feel as if I’m saving
something that matters. I put their framed
faces on my walls because I want to keep
their memories at hand.
Buying new things may be convenient,
but old things are so much more valuable.
They’re steeped in the flavor of all the
events that have transpired over years and
years.
And while used items can play to a per-
son’s sentiments, a lot of their value often
lies in cold, hard numbers. Used goods are
almost always less expensive than new
ones, and you can get more for your money
by buying an old sweater, that’s probably of
better quality anyway, than by buying a
new one.
Besides, buying used is better for the
environment. I have to admit that this isn’t
my main reason for buying used, but it is
definitely a bonus. There is so much that,
while old, works like new. And by buying
these items and not those sold heavily
packaged from some giant chain store, we
can help cut down on unnecessary produc-
tion (that incidentally spews all sorts of
chemicals into the atmosphere) and unnec-
essary products. Best of all, we can help
keep stuff already headed for the trash out
of the landfill. Why waste resources and
money buying something new when we
have something old that works just as well?
Now with my new room almost finished,
I have used clothes hanging in my closet, a
desk I made from the knotted floor boards
of an old house, annotated books filling my
shelves, an antique trunk as a table and old
photographs on the walls. With all of this
“junk” sitting in my new attic, I feel as if the
room wasn’t put together in mere weeks
but that it has a hundred years of history. I
am surrounded by the memories of a hun-
dred people folded inside every book, pho-
tograph and floorboard.
Hailey Sowden is a senior at
Highland Park High School
and a Student Voices volun-
teer columnist. To respond
to this column, e-mail
voices@dallasnews.com.
FILE 1998/Staff photo
A
s a veteran of the Iraq war, I still
remember how it felt to be in
Kuwait — the temporary
staging area for military personnel
headed into and out of the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan. I just wanted to get
on with the next phase in my life,
whether it was going to war or going
home.
Being unemployed makes me feel
the same way.
It has been seven months since I left
the U.S. Army after a four-year stint. I
was confident that I could pick up
where I left off as a former newspaper
reporter, or continue to serve my
country in a different manner. I’m
single with no children or debt, so I felt
at a fiscal advantage to take such a leap.
But I’ve lost count of how many
résumés I’ve sent with no replies or the
number of times I have gotten my
hopes up with a call back, only to be let
down.
My first sergeant warned me it was
a tough time to give up the job security
the military offers, and my company
commander asked if I had plans before
I got out. I stubbornly wrote off their
concerns as a last-ditch effort to get me
to re-enlist, but now I realize that both
were looking out for my best interests,
just like they would have looked out for
their soldiers in the battlefield.
Unlike many of my recently
separated Army buddies, I am not able
to take advantage of the post-9/11 GI
Bill and weather the recession learning
valuable skills in school. I graduated
from college before enlisting in the
Army and took advantage of its College
Loan Repayment program. Despite
that preparation, I join the company of
my other brothers- and sisters-in-arms
who make up the 11.3 percent of
jobless Iraq and Afghanistan war
veterans. That’s compared with the 9.7
percent unemployed among the
general population — itself a 26-year
high.
There are 185,000 unemployed
Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans,
only 9,000 fewer than the number of
service members currently deployed
overseas, according to a recent article
in Army Times.
In a period where such a small
percentage of the general population
has overwhelmingly shouldered its
country’s sacrifice in a time of need,
more must be done to help veterans
re-adjust into the civilian workforce.
The government bailed out failed
banks and automotive companies, yet
veterans received little help in the
economic stimulus bill passed earlier
this year, other than the expanded
work opportunity tax credit
encouraging employers to hire
unemployed veterans. All this comes at
a time when the federal government
needs to fill 270,000 positions in the
next three years, according to a recent
survey by the Partnership for Public
Service.
The Army’s career transition
program was very helpful in putting
my military skills on paper, but I have
found that marketing those skills to
civilian employers is far more difficult.

The rainbow in my neighborhood is fading And although the veterans-hiring

When neighbors cease to
be neighborly, things get
ugly, says Keith A. Brown
therapy and health, he works in his
yard several hours each day. He
mows, trims trees, landscapes,
waters the flowers and uses an
edger to neatly trim around their
young man disappeared and has
not been seen on our street for the
last couple of years.
The father of this son sub-
sequently installed video cameras
time they were cuffing the gay man,
taking him to the Lew Sterrett
Justice Center. It seems the neigh-
bors used one of their videos of him
yelling to persuade legal author-
preference is a plus for federal jobs,
networking is usually a more effective
tool to get a foot in the door in the
private sector.
I understand that it’s a tough
market and that the veteran
representatives at state workforce
commissions are doing the best they

O
n a recent evening, I sat
watching a sunset at Lake
Ray Hubbard. A person
was flying a kite with an
attachment that looked like a large,
round windsock. It was striped in
rainbow colors and swiveled as the
wind blew.
As the sun set and the colors of
that rainbow began to fade, I could
not help but think of a couple of
neighbors and the ongoing conflict
between them.
Two of the neighbors are gay
men who have rainbow-colored
windsocks on their porch, stickers
on their automobile and so on.
Next door is the family they have
the conflict with, a man and wom-
an, perhaps 60-ish, with two grown
sons living with them.
One of the gay men is infected
with HIV and was placed on disa-
bility through the VA Hospital. For
half-acre lot.
On the boundary between these
two neighbors, in addition to trees
planted directly on the property
line, there is much overgrowth,
small spindly sticks and weeds that
developed from years of letting
them grow.
One day the gay man began
clearing some of these weeds. That
sparked a nasty exchange between
him and one of the grown sons
living next door that resulted in the
grown son assaulting the gay man,
bloodying his nose. I pulled onto
the street just as the he was walk-
ing down it with blood oozing from
his nose, before the ambulance
arrived.
On a subsequent occasion, the
gay man was using his riding mow-
er. The same neighbor bloodied his
nose once again. The assaults were
reported to authorities, but the
outside his home, one of which is
aimed directly at the gay men’s
house. He can now monitor the
“lawn-manicuring situation,” to
ensure that no weeds, overgrowth,
twigs or tree branches are trimmed
so much as a centimeter over his
property.
One day, the implausibility of
this situation became clearer when
this neighbor told me: “You know,
Keith, God don’t make people like
him,” referring to the gay man.
Although I could discern no
visible outward commitment to a
religious observance on the part of
this man or his wife, apparently
they grew up in a very conservative
environment and retained at least
enough of their spiritual heritage
to have disdain for an HIV-infected
gay man.
Recently, I saw the police in the
neighborhood once again. This
ities to issue a warrant for his
arrest, after some minor damage to
a rickety fence on their back prop-
erty line.
As the he was led off in cuffs,
humiliated and embarrassed, with
his partner sitting on the porch
crying, somehow the rainbow
colors on their property re-
presenting personal pride and
freedom from oppression seemed
to grow dim.
Sadly, even today, there are
those who ascribe more value to a
weed growing out of the ground
than to a man, especially if that
man happens to be gay.
Keith A. Brown of
Pleasant Grove is
an aircraft machin-
ist and a musician.
His e-mail address
is keithbrow4@aol.com.
can to help veterans find a job, but
there has to be a more effective system
to match employers with uniquely
skilled and qualified veterans. My most
recent job referral was for a sewage
maintenance position, requiring
frequent out-of-state travel and
temporary lodging. I’m tired of
“temporary housing,” and I have no
experience with that kind of
maintenance work. I passed on the
referral.
Veterans are a proud group. We are
not asking our government for a
handout, just a helping hand.
Ramiro G. Hinojosa of
Dallas is a former
paratrooper and a
veteran of Operation
Iraqi Freedom. His
e-mail address is ramiroghinojosa
@hotmail.com.

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The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Saturday, September 19, 2009 19A

Make the most of your One health care

reform made
Schools should seize

MUM the energy of sense for me

homecoming for Don’t discount birthing centers
and midwives when expecting
good causes, says a child, says LaDawn Fletcher
Ashleigh Heaton
T
his whole health care discussion seems to
bring out the worst in people who disagree on
the finer points of whether something needs

I
love it when people move to
Texas and experience our way of
celebrating homecoming. Their
eyes narrow at the mention of these
mysterious objects known as “mums,”
only to widen to the size of golf balls
when some unfortunate fellow
attempts to explain what they are. It’s
probably the biggest culture shock
they experience, besides the 100
degree heat.
My mother, who prefers crafts much
more than I, is a master at making mums,
but even in her enthusiasm, she realizes it’s
out of control. I’ve seen her bend over a pile
of spools of ribbon and stick-on letters,
muttering to herself something about
“what’s wrong with society…” while punch-
ing the stapler, securing the place of another
string of red ribbon, and attaching a shiny
bell.
Homecoming in the Lone Star State is
fairly ridiculous. Scratch that, it is the very
definition of ridiculous. Sure, the game,
parade and dance are all pretty standard, but
you won’t find any mums or garters up in
Minnesota. Why? Because it’s a Texas thing,
y’all, and everything is bigger in Texas —
including homecoming.
But my question is, how did simple cor-
sages evolve into tacky ribbon displays? And
when did boys ever start consenting to wear
them, as well, in the form of garters?
I’ll admit, I love receiving and wearing a
mum just as much as the next hormone-
driven teenage girl, and I hurt just as much if
I don’t get one. To us, mums aren’t the ulti-
mate display of school spirit — they are the
ultimate display of your relationship status.
If you get a mum, you are loved; if you do
not, you aren’t.
It’s a sick, sick form of high school tor-
ture, worse than peer pressure and gossip
combined.
The sad thing is, homecoming is sup-
posed to be a celebration of school pride. But
it’s become one massive public display of
affection.
Maybe things are changing. Two years
ago a senior at my high school started a club
called Hope for Africa. The club’s main goal
was to raise money and awareness to benefit
the African people, and it was a great suc-
cess. The biggest fundraising triumph was
the “This Is My Mum” campaign.
In a nutshell, the club created buttons
with a picture of Africa for people to wear in
place of an actual mum. The idea was that
students would donate the hundreds of
dollars they would have spent on a gaudy
display of ribbon and glitter. The proceeds
would go toward providing clean water in
Coppell and Flower Mound High school students traded their mums and garters
for buttons and raised funds for a water program to benefit villagers in Sudan.
African villages for at least 60 years. People
went crazy over the idea, and even if they
didn’t want to give up their mums complete-
ly, they would make a small donation of at
least $5 and then flout the button as part of
their mum.
It’s one of the best things that ever hap-
pened to my school, topped only by us mi-
raculously beating Southlake last football
season. It not only made us step back and
question our sanity, it also gave us a good
cause to direct our insanity toward. A few
other high schools jumped on the bandwag-
on, and together we put aside our unneces-
sary need for materialistic things and helped
over a hundred Sudanese villages get one of
life’s basic necessities: water.
Who knows, maybe homecoming will be
restored as a sign of devotion to our schools
and, at the same time, used as a reason to
save lives. The change starts with us.
Ashleigh Heaton is a junior
at Coppell High School and
a Student Voices volunteer
columnist. To respond to
this column, send an e-mail
to voices@dallasnews.com.
fixing and then how to do it. What I wish everyone
would do is look for the ideas that make the most
sense to all involved and work from there.
Comparing costs and outcomes seems like an
excellent, non-confrontational place to start. Ad-
vocating on behalf of those ideas that reduce costs
and provide excellent outcomes is a win-win for all
involved. What comes to my mind is the high cost of
giving birth.
Like most children in America, my first two ba-
bies were born in hospitals. Their births were ex-
traordinary only to me and my husband. There were
no complications, no Caesarean section. Our third
pregnancy caught us by surprise. I had left my job at
the college six months earlier and with it, my ex-
tremely affordable, comprehensive employer-spon-
sored health insurance plan.
When we decided I would leave, we figured that
an individual policy would suffice because the only
things it didn’t cover were my pre-existing thyroid
condition (which is affordable out of pocket) and
maternity costs (and our family was complete — so
we thought). The stunning news that we were expect-
ing again sent me scrambling.
I called obstetricians in the area to try to get an
estimate on how much it would cost to have a baby
paying out of pocket. I could never get a specific
answer, so I turned to the Web looking for average
costs. As best I could discern, it costs around
$10,000.
When I was pregnant with our first daughter, I
was a reading machine. The more I read, the more
convinced I became that I did not want to have our
baby in a hospital. I had many reasons, none of which
hinged on cost.
My husband was not interested in even consider-
ing anything other than a hospital. Where did I come
up with this idea anyway? Fast forward four years,
two successful, uncomplicated births, and the pros-
pect of an unanticipated $10,000 expense, and
amazingly his mind was open to all kinds of possibil-
ities, including the midwife and a birthing center I
had unsuccessfully lobbied for with our first preg-
nancy.
And so our family began the tentative embrace of
the birthing center concept. Birth centers in Texas are
regulated by the state Department of Health, but my
husband had his own parameters. He wanted assur-
ance that if something went wonky, the baby and I
would be OK. I chose a center that was close to the
hospital. It had an obstetrician on call who they
worked with regularly in case of problems. They were
accredited and insured. They screened me before
accepting me as a client, and if I had any indication of
risk, I would have been rejected.
Studies included in the New England Journal of
Medicine and American Journal of Public Health
concur that the outcomes of birth center deliveries
are comparable to hospital births, with many fewer
C-sections.
My husband was soon fully on board, and the
money ended up being the least of the reasons he
supported the birth center experience. For the first
time, he was an integral part of our birthing experi-
ence. Two years later, he still recounts the experience
with awe and joy.
The birth center we chose, along with many oth-
ers, accepts major health insurance plans if you have
one. We were cared for by a certified nurse midwife,
and for the $4,500 we paid up front, we received

Being a bad student made me a better teacher
Summer program scenario — or so I thought.
My travel companions were
opened my eyes to some a group of 10 teachers with
students’ struggles, says varying levels of Spanish profi-
Faith Davis Johnson ciency — from beginner to
advanced. I was a beginner,
director. A very understanding
and patient person, she was
sympathetic and agreed to
provide additional one-on-one
instruction to help me feel more
comfortable. I was provided
tries around the world, really
feel, particularly those who are
struggling in the classrooms?
Does their frustration make
them daydream, act out, or
totally shut down as I did?
prenatal care, standard lab work during our preg-
nancy, management during labor and delivery, post-
partum care, a 10-day visit and a six-week checkup.
For women with life-threatening conditions for
them or their babies, the hospitals absolutely the only
choice they should make. But for the vast majority of
women, midwives and birthing centers should be
among the options considered.

B
efore becoming a teacher,
if asked how I felt about
teaching children in a
language other than English, I
would have, with righteous,
patriotic indignation, stated
that not only should a child be
taught in English, the law
should make it so.
My world view has changed a
lot since then, but nothing
impacted me as much as my
recent experience in the Sum-
mer Immersion Program at the
Instituto Mexicano de Español y
Cultura in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
This was my first trip to
Mexico, as well as my first expe-
rience participating in an im-
mersion program with any
language. During pre-travel
briefings, I intently listened to
all instructions regarding prop-
er etiquette and precautions
that were to be followed in the
host country.
I packed my Pepto Bismol (in
preparation for Montezuma’s
revenge), camera, walking
shoes, sunscreen, Spanish/
English dictionary, etc. I was
prepared for any and every
with the vocabulary devel-
opment of a 2-year-old.
The first couple of days in the
program were the toughest. I
found myself becoming less
than a model student — both
academically and behaviorally.
Initially, I listened intently to
my instructors, but as my frus-
tration increased, my interest in
the lessons decreased. I found
myself becoming distracted. I
started doodling on paper,
thinking about after-class activ-
ities and fidgeting in my chair.
My worst moment came by
committing what I consider a
cardinal sin as a student — I
started talking to other students
while the teacher was lecturing!
“What time is lunch,” I’d whis-
per or “What time does this
class end?”
My personality changed. I
love to talk and interact in a
classroom setting, but I ba-
sically shut down. I could not
formulate what I wanted to say
in Spanish, and I was afraid to
say it incorrectly.
My breakthrough came by
speaking with the program
with a Spanish primer to take
home and study. The instructors
would speak more slowly when
speaking directly to me. Gradu-
ally, I felt more comfortable and
began to enjoy my classes.
My host family was also a
great support system, as my
“Mexican Mama” became my
biggest cheerleader. One eve-
ning, when I was feeling partic-
ularly frustrated, she sat down
and asked about my homework.
I told her what the instructor
wanted me to do. To my sur-
prise, she pulled out many
materials in Spanish and metic-
ulously, for the next two hours,
tutored me with my Spanish.
“Mija,” she said, “if you are
going to learn to speak Spanish,
you must practice.” I felt just as
I did when I was a little girl and
my own mother helped me with
my homework.
As a result of my experiences,
I learned much more than how
to form sentences and phrases
in Spanish. I learned that a little
bit of empathy goes a long way.
How do our newcomer stu-
dents, from a variety of coun-
As an adult learner, I was
able to navigate and find a path
that helped me become suc-
cessful as a student in the class-
room. Children, however, need
our help in finding a path that
works for them. As parents,
educators and members of the
community, we all have a re-
sponsibility to reach out to
these students — to open the
door of knowledge and oppor-
tunity for them.
While I’m still fiercely patri-
otic and believe my country is
the best country in the world, I
better understand the benefits
of creating a strong nation of
learners who can develop into
academic leaders capable of
changing the world.
Faith Davis
Johnson is an
eighth-grade
U.S. Studies
teacher at
John B. Hood Middle School in
Dallas ISD. She is also a Teacher
Voices volunteer columnist. Her
e-mail address is faithdjohnson
@yahoo.com.
LaDawn Fletcher of Heath is a
marketing manager and a Commu-
nity Voices volunteer columnist. Her
e-mail address is voiceofla-
dawn@sbcglobal.net.
Raise Your Voice
The Dallas Morning News is accepting applica-
tions for Community Voices, a panel of volunteer
columnists who will be regular contributors to the
Opinions page inside the Metro section.
To get an idea of what kinds of
topics Voices write about, visit dal
lasnews.com/voices.
Apply in four easy steps:
1. Write a little about yourself
and put together a list of current
and previous civic involvements.
How would others in the commu-
nity describe you? What is unique about your back-
ground and experience? Why should we choose you?
2. Share a previous writing sample or write some-
thing new on a current topic. A writing sample
should be 600-650 words.
3. Jot down three other topics you would like to
write about.
4. E-mail the application to voices@dal lasnew-
s.com. Please include your address and phone num-
ber.
Deadline: 4 p.m. Oct. 5.

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The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com VIEWPOINTS _ Saturday, September 26, 2009 23A

America’s crown jewels A paperless

Shorthorn
National parks are such a
treasure, says Chuck Bloom; would sell
Texas should play bigger role UTA short
T Print version critical for
he initial sight takes your breath away. It doesn’t
appear to be real — more like a master artist’s
painting, with multiple layers of colors bombarding journalists in training,
your senses. Move a few hundred feet to either side, and you students, says Casey Cavalier
see a completely new revelation and people simply standing

“S
there in jaw-dropping awe. top the presses!” is the cry
Anyone unmoved by the eternal beauty of such a view will heard at the University of
never generate reciprocal feelings for anything. Texas at Arlington. It isn’t a
That’s what I remember feeling the first time I saw the specific news story that somebody
Grand Canyon during a trip this summer. While this partic- wants to kill — it’s the whole
ular corner of the country is the crown jewel of the U.S. newspaper.
National Parks System, and the most symbolic natural for- It seems a few members of student
mation, not every national park site is the Grand Canyon. government have their hands hovering
Some tell a different story and preserve a different lesson over the kill switch, with ambitions of
from our history. But each location is important to the Amer- creating a greener campus free of that
ican experience — from Civil War battlefields to the rem- pesky newsprint. They would like to see
nants of past occupants before anyone called this land a The Shorthorn, UTA’s campus newspa-
“nation.” CHUCK BLOOM/Special Contributor per, cease its print operations and pub-
National parks cut across the spectrum — they aren’t all The Grand Canyon, in all its stunning majesty. lish exclusively online. The UTA Stu-
mountains, valleys, caves, volcanic formations or forests. dent Congress could vote on the
Some are man-made spectacles (the Statue of Liberty, Gold- proposal this month.
en Gate Bridge, St. Louis Arch); and some honor literary
giants (Edgar Allen Poe, Eugene O’Neill, Carl Sandburg),
Heath Dollar explains how Yellowstone The Shorthorn, with a circulation of
8,000 print copies, is published four
American heroes (Clara Barton, Frederick Douglass, Martin
Luther King Jr.) or heroes who helped keep our indepen- made him a better explorer, educator times a week on the Arlington campus.
An additional 1,500 readers view the
dence (Jean Lafitte). Some sites spotlight historical highs paper’s Web site every day. The student-

Y
(Brown vs. Board of Education, the Wright Brothers) and ellowstone National Park
some tell of the darkest episodes in America (Manzanar, permanently changed my life.
Little Big Horn, Oklahoma City and Flight 93 memorials). Convinced that I was the new
Texas has 15 connections to the national system but could Jack Kerouac, at the age of 23, I left the
easily include others. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s suburbs of my native Fort Worth to live in
birth place, in Denison, should join the six other birth sites of Yellowstone, where I worked for five
presidents protected by the National Park System. And with seasons. Though I made very little money
Texas starving its own parks for funding, it might be wise to slinging boxes and working as a payroll
allow Palo Duro Canyon (the country’s second-largest can- clerk, I was a proud heir of one of Amer-
yon) to be transferred under the federal umbrella. ica’s greatest treasures.
I’ve also believe that the Alamo, one of the five most Even now, almost two decades later,
recognized American symbols of freedom, should join the the experience still pays my heart an
other San Antonio missions as a national park site to bring it abundant recompense.
under the public’s province and pull it away from the highly In America’s first national park, I
secretive control of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. It stood in awe of our country’s crown
should belong to all of America — not just a select few. jewels. I found myself enraptured by the
These treasures need our consideration, attention and palette of Yellowstone Canyon, the
support, including adequate funding for park expansion, strange beauty of Morning Glory Pool,
facilities upgrade, maintenance and acquisition. Each of us the virulent power of the geysers.
can do several things to help preserve our national parks. Today, as a professional educator, I
First, you should visit as many as possible — to educate delight in the fact that my students
yourselves and your children. Start in Texas with the awe- usually possess some knowledge of this
inspiring Big Bend National Park, within the Chisos Moun- land that I so love. I am happy that they
tain region of West Texas. People say a picture is worth a know that Yellowstone is the home of Old
thousand words, but one glance at the area known as “The Faithful and that it is a special place, and
Window on the World” will inspire a thousand pictures — I try to help them understand that by
especially at dawn and dusk. staying in school and making wise deci-
Second, you can join support groups, such as the National sions, they, too, can one day live out their
Parks Conservation Association (www.npca.org), dedicated dreams. They, too, can visit — and even
to the preservation of the national parks and increasing live in — the beautiful places that charge
public awareness of the need for federal protection. their imaginations.
Third, starting tomorrow night, you can learn more about Living the good life in the park, the
our national parks on PBS when acclaimed filmmaker Ken place of my dreams, I was strong, healthy
Burns premieres his new documentary, The National Parks: and free. I breathed good air and drank
America’s Best Idea. Burns, as he has so expertly done in the from mountain streams. Life was tran-
past on the Civil War, baseball and America during World quil.
War II, will examine the current state of the National Park I remember watching young elk, their
System and tell the story of the people (such as John Muir sandy-brown coats shining in the morn-
and Theodore Roosevelt) whose visions led to the eventual ing sun, graze beneath the lodgepole
preservation of these special sites. pines. Far, far from the pavement, I
Finally, you can pen a note to your congressman and U.S. enjoyed the small streams, basalt col-
senator, stressing the need to maintain proper funding for umns and colossal waterfalls, feeling as if
the National Parks System — because it is important to pass I were Meriwether Lewis or William
along these symbols of our heritage to our children, grand- Clark.
children and future generations. Such experiences inspire a curiosity in
They deserve the chance to have their jaws drop at the the natural world. While I had my share
Grand Canyon, too. of adventures, sometimes, on my day off,
I would not even leave the meadows near
my cabin. I would sit on the ground and
Chuck Bloom of Plano is a former columnist-
enjoy the incredible diversity of Yellow-
editor for several North Texas newspapers.
He can be reached at chuckbloom@hot- stone’s plant life. With a field guide in
mail.com or through his Web site at hand, I would identify larkspur, col-
chuckbloom.blogspot.com. umbine and monkshood. I would find
heather, paintbrush and yarrow. On such
days, I would explore the minutiae of the
landscape.
More than anything, living in Yellow-
stone National Park gave me hope and
excitement, and I try to pass that hope
and excitement on to my students.
While hiking into the backcountry,
adventure waited over every hill. The
promise of an unexplored world could be
found when the trail became a ribbon
and then graduated to nothing. In Yel-
lowstone, I felt that I had reached a place
that Manifest Destiny had not forgotten,
but had left as our endowment. Though
America was settled, mapped and grid-
ded, Manifest Destiny had designated
this sacred ground as the place where
future generations could explore and
understand an America that has been
lost to interstate highways and devel-
opment. In Yellowstone, anyone in-
terested in leaving the pavement may
claim his or her inheritance. He or she
may become an explorer ebullient with
the joy of discovery and adventure.
In my heart, Yellowstone National
Park will always be a cherished home and
a windfall inheritance. Thus, I believe
that we should not only preserve our
legacy, but foster its growth. We should
make efforts to protect more pristine
wilderness so that future generations can
also enjoy the wonder of discovery.
They, too, should experience the thrill
of climbing the next hill and not seeing
power lines and tract houses, but un-
touched forest. They, too, deserve the
infinite joy I experienced while living in a
world of gentle footsteps. They, too,
deserve to wake up seeing those young
grazing elk.
All of our children, every last one,
deserve the promise of this heaven on
earth.
Heath Dollar teaches
ESL at Schrade Middle
School in Rowlett, in
Garland ISD. He is also a
Teacher Voices volun-
teer columnist. His e-mail address is
heathddollar@yahoo.com.
run newspaper has been in operation
since 1919, and its healthy advertising
revenue is essential to the school’s
journalism program. The Shorthorn
brought in more than $430,000 in
print ad sales during the 2008-09
school year — and only $11,000 in
online sales.
True, not printing a campus newspa-
per would save paper, just as banning
cars on campus would solve parking
problems, but the student congress
threatens to throw the baby out with the
bath water. The proposal by UTA’s
student leaders is short-sighted. If
passed, it would create a huge void in
the campus experience.
For 90 years students have had the
ability to pick up a newspaper and learn
about their campus community. While
an online version of the paper is avail-
able, and is a quality news product in its
own right, it does not offer the tactile
experience of grabbing a paper from the
racks in between classes and getting to
know more about the UTA community.
Ironically, The Shorthorn could be
one of the student congress’ greatest
allies on campus. Students don’t all
have the time or inclination to attend
student government meetings. Cover-
ing the congress’ movements is some-
thing The Shorthorn is uniquely posi-
tioned to do. As in all communities, a
healthy government and a strong, free
press are essential.
Proponents of the resolution should
know that a campus newspaper is more
than a means of informing the campus
community. A school newspaper is a
teaching tool. It exists to teach journal-
ism students, allowing them to build
skills and experience that will carry
them into professional careers. They
won’t all work at a daily newspaper, but
having the background to gather news,
interview subjects and display a breadth
of information in a coherent manner
will serve them in many related careers.
Learning to design a print newspa-
per is a key component in a journalism
education. The existence of a print
version of The Shorthorn is essential
when it comes to teaching students the
ins and outs of design, photojournal-
ism, editing and copyediting. The value
of this teaching tool far outweighs any

Follow your gut, and report abuse and neglect
Don’t allow a fear of being feeling that something is not quite
right. The hard part is allowing that
wrong outweigh doing feeling to make us take action.
right, says Tina Sanchez We don’t want to be wrong. The
thought of inconveniencing or alien-
asked me whether I thought she was
abusing the baby. I said that what I
was hearing was indeed abuse, since
there was no way anyone, including a
newborn, could sleep through all the
And even if her boyfriend had come
to cuss us out the next day, I’d be glad
I followed my gut.
Of course, not all situations are so
obvious or clear-cut. But we should
environmental benefits gained from not
having a print edition.
Some say that publishing strictly
online is where all newspapers are
headed. A few large newspapers in the
United States have been shoved from
page to pixel, mostly for financial rea-
sons. But campus newspapers generally
are healthy. Advertisers know they can

S
hocking news stories of starved
and neglected children and
animals seem to be
proliferating at an alarming rate.
And it is truly a shame — for all of us.
And before anyone utters that
time-honored retort, “It’s none of
your business,” allow me to unequiv-
ocally state that it is indeed my
business. It is all of our business.
The signs are almost always
there: small children wandering
about with no apparent adult su-
pervision, children who are dirty and
not properly clothed for the weather,
small children alone in locked cars,
dogs tied up for days on end, horses
with their ribs showing from mal-
nutrition, the constant loud scream-
ing and fighting coming from neigh-
bors.
Sometimes the signs are different.
But they always trigger that strange
ating our friends and neighbors is not
a pleasant one, and that is always a
possibility. But it is a small price to
pay to possibly save a life or stop
abuse. We must be willing to pay that
price. If we allow ourselves to put our
fear of being wrong ahead of our
sense of doing what is right, we are
lost.
It was over 25 years ago I had to
make such a decision.
Some neighbors who had just
had a baby lived next door to our
apartment. The young mother
obviously had some mental health
issues that caused her to yell and
fight incessantly with her boyfriend.
Sometimes she would walk the halls
of our apartment building, talking
to herself for hours on end.
One night there was loud scream-
ing coming from their small apart-
ment. I called 911. The operator
noise. The police showed up, and the
baby was placed with Child Protec-
tive Services.
The next day the woman’s boy-
friend came to thank us for calling
the police. He said he could not
control the baby’s mother but was
afraid to make the call he knew
needed to be made.
We never did find out what hap-
pened to that baby. Maybe the moth-
er got the professional help she
needed and the baby was returned to
her. Maybe the baby was placed in a
foster home and later adopted by a
family who could give her a stable,
loving home. I’ll probably never
know.
I’d like to believe that baby grew
into a healthy, happy young woman
who is alive and well today. What I do
know is that I intervened that night
in what could have been a tragedy.
not let that stop us from reporting
questionable situations that need to
be investigated further. Many of the
agencies responsible for making
those investigations (i.e. the police,
child and elderly protective services,
the SPCA and humane society, etc.)
are overworked and understaffed,
but that does not justify looking the
other way.
Put yourself in the place of the
abused and neglected, the ones who
cannot fight for themselves. Listen to
that voice in your head. Do the right
thing.
Tina Sanchez of
Pleasant Grove is a
taxpayer advocate
at a federal agency
and a Community
Voices volunteer columnist. Her e-mail
address is texas.tina@live.com.
target a difficult-to-reach demographic
in campus newspapers, but campus
papers are often partially funded by
their universities, too.
There is hope for The Shorthorn.
Even if the UTA Student Congress
passes a resolution suggesting it cease
its print operation, the resolution is just
a suggestion. Fortunately, it is non-
binding and would require University
President James Spaniolo to take action
to stop the presses.
Spaniolo was editor in chief of his
college daily. That bodes well for The
Shorthorn.
Casey Cavalier of Ar-
gyle is a freelance
writer and film critic. He
is also a Community
Voices volunteer col-
umnist. His e-mail
address is caseycavalier@yahoo.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas County

They’re raising their voices

Today, we introduce our 2009-10 Teacher Voices and Student Voices volunteers.
They will write columns and be featured in Sounding Off on Sundays.

Daley Epstein Valirie Morgan Kelsey McKinney Faith Davis Johnson

Senior, Yavneh Academy of Dallas
On having a full plate of activities: “My life
is one giant balancing act, and I rarely ever stop
to rest. I would never have it any other way, as I
believe in embracing life and living it to the
fullest.” That means mock trial, debate,
basketball, canned food drives — you name it.
A future in journalism: “After graduating
college, I plan to pursue a career in journalism.
While others attempt to dissuade me with the
reason that it is a dying industry, I know that the
journalism world is evolving, not dying, and
there always will be a place for news.”
Junior, Hillcrest High School, Dallas
Runaway resume: In addition to being
editor-in-chief of the school paper and writing
for the literary magazine, she stays busy: Art
Club, Green Club, the Preston Hollow
Presbyterian Church youth group and Youth
Council, the varsity swim team and a four-year
student biomedical research program at UT
Southwestern Medical Center.
On diversity: “As a student in the DISD, I
spend most of my time in an extremely diverse
environment, and I love interacting with people
of all different backgrounds and opinions.”
Senior, Booker T. Washington High School, Dallas
Artistic focus: Three-dimensional sculpture.
Other activities: “I’ve always been a
‘busybody,’ because there are so many activities
that hold my attention. Along with creating art
work for school, I like to bake at home, read
through stacks of books, blog on occasion and
participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel
Writers Month).”
Column idea: Do AP classes do a better job
at making students actually want to learn —
rather than just memorize facts?
Eighth-grade U.S. Studies teacher, John B. Hood
Middle School, Dallas
You did what? “Five years ago, I made a
career change and chose to become a teacher.
My friends thought I was nuts. Has it been an
easy choice? Not at all. Am I financially
comfortable? Not quite there — yet. Do I love
my job? Positively!”
Do-over? “If I had to do it again — would I?
Absolutely!”

Connor Mighell Kristy Gudmundsson Candace S. McAfee Karen Kimball

Junior, Cambridge School of Dallas
Activities: Connor has a full plate, but this
one stands out: “I lead music and teach Sunday
school for the Laotian youth through Park Cities
Presbyterian Church’s Lao Presbyterian
Fellowship.”
Working man: “In seventh grade, I started
my own lawn care business. I work with my
brother during ‘mowing season,’ which in Dallas
is most of the year!” Also works for Jon D.
Williams Cotillion, Dallas Chapter. “Cotillion is
a wonderful organization that teaches courtesy
and social skills to young men and women
throughout the country, and I feel privileged to
work with them.”
Junior, Hockaday School, Dallas
Runaway resume: She does more than just
write for the school newspaper. “I row varsity
crew in the fall and spring and play varsity
basketball in the winter. About once a week, I
tutor kindergarteners and fifth graders at Gooch
Elementary.”
What else: Latin club, ORFF club
(percussion/xylophone band) and a student
ambassador organization called H-Club (giving
tours to prospective students).
Column idea: “Is summer break still a time
of relaxation and fun or has it become the
ultimate time for resume-building?”
12th-grade A.P. U.S. Government teacher,
Skyline Center, Dallas
Sales pitch: “Teaching is the hardest job I
ever loved! Want a challenge? Come make a
difference.”
Local perspective: “As a graduate of South
Oak Cliff High School I have seen many changes
in the district over the years.”
Did you know? “Most people don’t know
that many teachers go back to school in the
summer to become even better teachers. We
apply to institutes and seminars to know more
about what we teach. Good teachers never get
three months off.”
Substitute Teacher, Richardson ISD
Background: A Lake Highlands resident,
Karen retired three years ago from the Dallas
ISD, where most of her career was spent as the
music teacher at Lakewood Elementary School.
Perspective: “After two years of retirement, I
realized how much I missed the students.
Although I substitute in all grade levels and
subject areas of elementary schools, my first love
has always been music. I am continually
inspired by the teamwork and skills exhibited as
students sing and play together. The disciplines
learned in music transfer to other areas of study
and are a vital part of student success.”

Hailey Sowden Susan Wildburger Victoria John Cynthia Herschkowitsch

Senior, Highland Park High School, Dallas
About that resume: “Maybe I tend to come
off as being just another resume-packing,
grade-grubbing Highland Park kid. Yes, I’ve
taken 12 AP classes, do a lot of volunteer work,
am in five honor societies, play an instrument
and have a leadership role in a couple of clubs,
but everything I do, I do because I love it.”
Thoughts on pressure: “The increasing
pressure heaped on kids at younger and younger
ages IS becoming more and more relevant in our
society, and I think the shift needs to be
addressed. Growing up in Highland Park, I
know what pressure feels like, I know what it
looks like, and I know how to write about it.”
Brookhaven College adjunct faculty/ESL teacher
Why she teaches: “To empower young
minds with self-sufficiency skills, thinking and
logical skills, as well as self-respect to succeed
academically.”
Background: Born in Peru to German
parents, she grew up fluent in three languages.
She now speaks five languages. “I’m a diverse
and multicultural person. I have a broader view
of multicultural and diverse education issues
and thought processes.”
What works with her own kids: “Being
attuned with our cultural differences (since my
children were born in America) and challenging
them every day, thus motivating them to succeed
without overdependence.”
Middle school Latin, drama and musical theater
teacher, Lakehill Preparatory School, Dallas
Background: More than 35 years of teaching
and administrative experience: teaching middle
school Latin and drama in Texas;
Development/Adjunct Humanities faculty for
the Dallas County Community College District;
and teaching preschool, middle school drama,
and adult continuing education in Indiana.
Perspective: “Maya Angelou’s words, ‘A bird
doesn’t sing because it has an answer. It sings
because it has a song,’ capture the essence of my
teaching. Each student has a voice that needs to
be heard. I seek the best in each and am
privileged every day to hear the music they
create.”
Teacher, South Oak Cliff High School, Dallas ISD
Background: DISD Teacher of the Year,
1987-88. “This is my 35th year at SOC; I teach
because I care about the kids and want them to
leave my class every day knowing something
they didn’t know before.”
Why she teaches: “I teach because I can’t
change the whole world, but I can change a little
corner of it through my students. My greatest
concern is building confidence in my students. If
they know they can accomplish their goals, then
the academics will naturally follow. I can fill the
roles of teacher, mentor, counselor, friend,
disciplinarian and, in some cases, be the person
in a student’s life who really cares if he comes to
school.”

Lawsuit fears limit play
Re: “Field of dreams or field of
fees? City discourages impromp-
tu games, says Brian Brown of
Plano,” last Sunday Student
Voices column.
We continually see concern
over the current generation be-
ing obese. Yet we deny them the
chance to get outside and work it
off.
Likely part of the Plano Park
and Recreation’s reason for re-
quiring reservations on the fields
is to prevent litigation. Reserva-
tions entail someone signing for
responsibility, thus relieving the
city. That speaks poorly for our
current mind-set.
We are denying our younger
generation what we had growing
up. I, and most other octogenari-
LETTERS
about every small town and city
had vacant lots where children
played. There would be a scrub
ball game going every day the sun
shone during school vacation.
Any kid could come in and start
at left field and work up to batter
anytime, regardless of athletic
ability.
That was not organized ath-
letics, but it sure kept a lot of kids
out of trouble and in good physi-
cal condition.
So, giving back some of the old
ways might well be a benefit.
How about a state law exempting
property owners from litigation if
they agree to allow children to
play on their vacant property?
Might just decrease child obesity
and delinquency.
Bob Derryberry, Dallas
Another liberty lost
What a wonderful, intelligent
and articulate opinion by Brian
Brown regarding having to re-
serve and pay for an unused field
in Plano for a ballgame with
friends. What possible harm
could come from a group of
young men or women playing a
game on property maintained by
the taxes of the city of Plano?
I suppose the city would rath-
er they “hang out on a corner”
with nothing to do, perhaps initi-
ating mischief they would never
have otherwise thought about.
Another liberty lost to the
government. Are we still able to
walk through the parks without a
permit? How about the city-
owned sidewalks? Ridiculous!
G. Lanzone, Plano

WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor

ans, grew up in an era when just

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas County

Celebrating the quirky, delightful Cliff

We are diverse, eclectic — and mostly harmonious, says John Guilford of Oak Cliff

A
lthough it’s been 106 years since Oak Cliff
was a city in its own right, somehow a
sense of being different from Dallas still
permeates its neighborhoods and hangouts.
Eyebrows are still raised at my office when the
conversation gets around to
where everyone lives. Among
the dozens of people I interact
with every day at work, I am the
only one who lives in Oak Cliff.
There is a sense of mystery, of
wildness, even of danger when
the area is mentioned.
Voices Granted, there is a lot of
Community violent crime attributed to Oak
Cliff, especially on its fringes.
Some confusion lies in the definition of the
boundaries of Oak Cliff. Early Oak Cliff was
bounded roughly by Illinois Avenue on the
south, the Trinity on the east, Fort Worth Avenue
on the north, and Cockrell Hill on the west.
Many people who have lived in the area for
decades are reluctant to include the area close to
Interstate 20 or east of Interstate 35 in the Oak
Cliff designation.
Many first-time visitors to Oak Cliff are
amazed at the natural beauty of the area. While
much of Dallas County is as flat as a board, Oak
Cliff has some of the steepest hills and prettiest
creeks around. Many neighborhoods have
adopted medians or adjacent parks and creeks,
regularly pulling weeds and planting and
watering flowers. Kiest Park and Lake Cliff Park
are some of the largest and most well-used in
Dallas.
The restaurant scene is also unique. Instead
of ordinary, predictable chain restaurants, we
have mostly local, colorful places to eat, which
are usually reasonably priced. Many of these
draw customers from every ethnic group. One of
my favorite spots is Aunt Stelle’s Sno Cones on
Clarendon Drive. Since 1962, this local
landmark has served up the best-flavored snow
cones anywhere, as evidenced by the long lines
on hot summer days.
One of the most attractive aspects of Oak
Cliff’s character is the eclectic diversity of its
residents. On any given street you will find great
diversity of education level, race, gender, social
status, income and political views. Even among
its individual neighborhoods, there is immense
diversity. There are very wealthy neighborhoods,
very modest ones and everything in between.
The amazing thing is that everyone coexists,
usually in harmony.
I couldn’t help being struck by this waiting for
a traffic light at Davis Street at Llewellyn
Avenue. On one corner, a swanky restaurant
with a world-class chef was packed with
wine-sipping, mostly Anglo clients, enjoying the
cooling mist of the patio area. In the parking lot,
there were mostly new sports cars, hybrids,
BMWs. Across the street, a taqueria had a line of
at least 15 people, mostly Latino, waiting for
their orders. In the parking lot, pickup trucks
and large SUVs with oversize chrome wheels
were haphazardly parked, many with numerous
young kids and babies waiting patiently.
I couldn’t help but wonder what the taqueria
crowd thought as they glanced across the street
at the wine crowd and vice-versa. Since I have
spent time among both crowds, I can say that I
have never seen any antipathy or anger directed
from one group to another. Instead, there is a
“different strokes for different folks” attitude.
Some people spend a lot of money on chrome
wheels. Others spend a lot of money on wine.
To me, that’s a vivid example of what makes
Oak Cliff special. Instead of letting differences
tear us apart or spark violence, we recognize
differences, accept and even celebrate them.
John Guilford of Oak Cliff is an
engineer and a Community
Voices volunteer columnist. His
e-mail address is
jrg65@aol.com.

Hate speech RAISE YOUR

VOICE
The Dallas Morning News

from the pulpit

is accepting applications for
Community Voices, a panel of
volunteer columnists who will
be regular contributors to the
Opinions page inside the Met-
It’s easy to scorn someone you don’t ro section.
Voices volunteers write
know, says Berta B. Sisemore opinion columns every four to
six weeks and are the “stars” of

T
here has been no
shortage of news stories
driven by fear in the late
days of this summer — all
painted with a dark palette of
ignorance with the end result
being a picture of unfounded
paranoia.
The reaction to President
Barack Obama’s plans for a
speech to schoolchildren got
the most attention, but two
recent news stories about
churches (and I use the term
loosely) got my eyes rolling and
pretty sure most Baptists and the weekly Sounding Off fea-
other Christians won’t agree ture that appears on Sundays,
with this crazy rant. This in which the Voices and other
reminds me of the old saying, readers respond to a question
“God wants spiritual fruits, not of the week. To get an idea of
religious nuts.” Again, it’s just what kinds of topics Voices
so easy to demonize when we write about, visit dallasnews
don’t even look to see what we .com/voices.
have in common.
Apply in four easy steps:
I very recently had my own
1. Write a little about your-
moment of jumping to
self and put together a list of
paranoid conclusions. I live in
current and previous civic in-
Richardson and noticed that WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
volvements. How would others
our old YWCA had once again
in the community describe
changed ownership. I’d seen

Myths of the military

my head shaking in such
disbelief it made me dizzy.
The first story was of two
sisters being sent home from
school because they wore
T-shirts issued by their
Florida-based church, the
Dove World Outreach Center,
which boldly stated on the
you? What is unique about
the new “Turquoise Center”
your background and experi-
sign and wondered what the
ence? Why should we choose
heck this new entity could
you?
possibly be.
2. Share a previous writing
My curiosity was elevated
by the constant presence of at
As the wife of a Marine, I’ve experienced all of sample or write something new
on a current topic. A writing
least a couple of cars in the
parking lot, be it during my
these and more, says Shirlene Lucy sample should be 600-650
words.
evening walks with my

back, “Islam is of the Devil.” It
was surreal to
watch these
girls, with
their father in
the room,
answer
questions
from the
media with
Voices either drilled
Community answers
about being
saved or shrugged shoulders.
They really weren’t sure why
they were better than their
Muslim classmates; they just
knew they were.
Senior Pastor Terry Jones, a
primary source of this
callowness, is so embedded in
ignorance that he refused to
take down a billboard with the
same message despite plenty of
negative feedback from the
community. It’s easy to
demonize someone you don’t
know, I guess.
Then, did you hear the one
about the Arizona pastor,
Steven L. Anderson of the
Faithful Word Baptist Church,
who expressed to his
congregation his death wish for
President Obama? The title of
his sermon was actually “Why I
Hate Barack Obama” and he
said, “I hope that God strikes
Barack Obama with brain
cancer so he can die like Ted
Kennedy, and I hope it
happens today.”
Just for the record, I’m
GET OTHER Voices columns from across North
Texas and add your own comments.
dallasnews.com/voices
daughter or on my pre-dawn
runs. I’d see the silhouettes of
people coming and going at
what I thought were odd hours.
I thought there had to be
something shady going on. I
even contemplated the
possibility of a swingers club.
Lo and behold, I felt like quite
the fool when The Dallas
Morning News ran a story on
this very place. It turns out that
the Turquoise Center is owned
by Raindrop, an immigration
service that houses offices for
the Institute for Interfaith
Dialogue and the Dallas
Islamic Center mosque. The
gist of the news story was that
the mosque had invited
Presbyterians, Methodists and
Unitarians to join them at the
dinner table, a gesture of unity
and understanding.
I quickly changed my tune
from not wanting this in my
neighborhood to “Wait a
minute! What about us
Catholics? I want to come!”
Funny what just a little
information can do for your
outlook on life and your fellow
human beings.
Berta B.
Sisemore of
Richardson is
a CPA and a
Community
Voices volunteer columnist. Her
e-mail address is bertasisemore
@yahoo.com.
D
uring most of my 47 years of
married life, I have been the wife of
an officer in the U.S. Marine
Corps, which took us to live in five states
and one foreign country. And during that
time, I have been amazed at how little
people know about the military.
For example, most people use the term
“soldier” to refer to anyone in the military.
Actually, a soldier is in the Army only. You
probably know that someone in the
Marine Corps is called a Marine, but did
you know that a serviceman or woman in
the Air Force is an airman or Air Force
officer, and someone in the Navy is either a
sailor (enlisted) or a Navy officer?
Oh, but there are other myths and
misperceptions:
Officers have to “re-up” every few
years. That may be true in the enlisted
ranks, but among officers, at least in the
Marine Corps, officers
remain officers even
after they retire or resign
their commission. Yes,
they do have obligations
of service once they are
selected for promotion
to the next rank, but that
is a matter of a few years,
and only if they want to
Voices
retire at that higher
Community
rank.
All uniforms are provided free of
charge. True for enlisted, not for officers.
And having dress uniforms, which are very
expensive, is not optional for officers.
The military offers a generous
vacation allowance. This is partially true,
but do understand: 30 days of leave per
year means not 30 work days, but 30
calendar days. There is no advantage in
taking your leave around a weekend or
holiday, because you must include those
days in your vacation the same as any other
day.
Military housing is furnished free of
charge. Well, sort of. You receive a housing
allowance that you forfeit if you live on
base.
Wives take on the rank of their
husbands. Not true! Well, mostly not true.
Wives of higher ranking officers are given
the same courtesies you would give the wife
of an executive of a civilian company. I have
heard a story about several spouses
gathered for a briefing. As the story goes,
someone asks all them to change seats
based on their ranking. After a confused
and frantic 10 minutes, the person
returned, only to remind them that spouses
hold no rank, and we must always
remember that. Great story, but probably a
military urban legend.
But rank is important in all aspects of
military life — from housing to retirement.
That’s part of the culture others find hard to
understand.
Something the wife of one of my
husband’s superior officers always said was,
“Junior officers should never forget the
difference in rank, and superior officers
should never remember it.” A good rule to
live by.
But the biggest myth might have to do
with tours of duty abroad. They say that
each separation gets easier to endure, but
that is simply not true. At least it wasn’t for
me.
Back when my husband served in Desert
Storm in 1991, I counted the number of
separations of eight weeks or more that we
experienced throughout his career. It was at
least seven, from 13 months in Vietnam to
as few as five months after the bombing of
the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.
Being retired and back in Texas, I have
reflected on our time away, and have
concluded that even during the difficult
times, I wouldn’t have traded the
experiences we had for anything.
Shirlene Lucy of Carrollton
is a retired portrait
photographer and
Community Voices
volunteer columnist. Her
e-mail address is shirlenelucy@msn .com.
3. Jot down three other top-
ics you would like to write
about.
4. E-mail the application to
voices@dallasnews.com.
Please include your address
and phone number.
Deadline: 4 p.m. Oct. 5.
LETTERS
Slower speed advised
I am a regular Bush Turn-
pike driver who believes that in-
creasing the speed limit from
60 mph to 70 mph was a bad
idea.
The increased pollution and
gasoline consumption alone
are strong arguments against it.
However, the main reason I
think it was a bad idea is due to
decreased safety. In the city,
particularly at rush hour, 70
mph is simply too high.
Often traffic backs up at ma-
jor highway interchange exits
so the right lanes are at a near-
standstill. It is obviously not
safe having vehicles fly by these
cars at such high speeds. Stop-
ping distances and accident se-
verity increase greatly with
speed.
Nearly every day since the
increase, I find myself having to
brake hard due to traffic sud-
denly slowing ahead.
I advise that the North Texas
Tollway Authority reconsider
the current speed limit and at
least reduce the maximum to
65 mph.
William Henze, Irving

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas County

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
A school without a zone
Booker T. students need some pedestrian protection, says Kelsey McKinney
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’

latest epic work — The National
Parks: America’s Best Idea — debuts
on PBS on Sept. 27. What do you
think has been America’s best idea?
Susan Sanders
Wansbrough
Attorney,
Lake Highlands
I am a huge fan of the
our national parks,
but I think America’s
best idea is that
everyone is entitled
to a free basic educa-
tion. I just wish all
students appreciated
the mind-blowing
possibilities a good
education would give
them, and not refuse
to study unless they
are being enter-
tained.
L
ast week, a friend of mine got hit by a distances in order to avoid them. Texas law states, “A pedestrian who has
car. Now, in all fairness, the car barely Yet, we notice them. Like them or not, partially crossed while the ‘walk’ signal is
bumped into her, only hit her hard school zones are very effective. displayed shall proceed … while the ‘Don’t
enough to throw her balance a bit awry. The Booker T. Washington sits on the corner of Walk’ signal is displayed.”
driver had made a right turn on red from a very busy intersection. Routh Street is Yet, if you were to watch the students and
Routh Street onto the feeder for Woodall undergoing construction and is blanketed by teachers crossing the feeder on a Friday at 4
Rodgers Freeway, and he simply didn’t look. construction workers and backhoes. The p.m., they do not seem to believe these laws
Had he, he would have seen a mass of both feeder to Woodall Rodgers is packed with are in effect. The approaching cars disregard
students and teachers trying desperately to downtown drivers trying to honk their way the pedestrians for their green lights, and it
cross the feeder. into a spot to merge onto U.S. Highway 75. results in the running footsteps of our
I am a student at Our intersection is both terribly busy and students. They fear they too will be bumped
Booker T. Washington extremely aggressive. by a distracted driver.
High School for the That some man in a blue Corolla hit my Is it fair for students to be afraid trying to
Connor Mighell Performing and Visual friend last week is easy to understand — for walk to their cars every day? Is it fair that they
Junior, Cambridge
Arts. Every day, I drive him or for her. The traffic is terrible, and I can are forced to play a real-life version of Frogger
School of Dallas
in a carpool from easily understand his anxiousness. after a long day at school?
While the national Denton County because However, I’m not sure drivers appreciate I am not striving for any special attention
parks are indeed I really believe this what it must be like a student trying to cross a or special privileges for Booker T.
beautiful (I have Voices nationally acclaimed street with a speed limit a good 30 miles an Washington. Instead, I am asking — well
visited several), the school to be worth it. But hour over a typical school zone limit. A begging, really — for what the majority of
Student
political system that
it is a school without a student braving aggressive, tired, drivers schools already have.
was expressed in the
school zone. talking on their cellphones. A student forced We want a school zone.
Constitution and the
Bill of Rights is so
Despite our acclaim, we are being denied to walk between cars blocking not only the
elegant and beautiful a fundamental addition to our safety. As crosswalk, but also the entire intersection. Kelsey McKinney is a senior
that it cannot be drivers, we all recognize school zones. We It is time for some type of reform. Last at Booker T. Washington
ignored. are annoyed by their frequency, their low week, I averaged the amount of time the small High School in Dallas ISD
speed limit and their crossing guards. We walk-sign man said I could walk. Seventeen and a Student Voices
resent the new law that says we must get off seconds. Without a backpack, or a piece of art, volunteer columnist. To
our phones within their hated flashing or a conversation, we could probably cross the respond to this column,
lights. We sometimes even drive longer feeder in our allotted time — if we ran. send an e-mail to voices@dallasnews.com.

Karen Kimball
Substitute teacher,
Nandita Singh
Sophomore, Hebron
It’s all about the subgroups
Richardson ISD High School,
Carrollton
We’re measuring the same factors. When I am teaching I look at
the students, not their race and not their
subgroups that will count. Schools that
choose higher numbers for their groups
National parks are
certainly one of America’s best idea wrong thing in school economic level or any other identifying
factor measured by the state.
indeed leave some kids outside the count. We
have some students counting more than
America’s best ideas,
although the In-
has been the creation
of the National Foot- accountability, says A principal in Grand Prairie recently
called in 60 black students for a meeting to
once and some not counting at all. It’s as if
they do not exist.
terstate Highway ball League. Every challenge them to do better on the TAKS When teachers look at test results, all we
System also ranks
near the top. Pre-
Sunday people sit
down to watch one of
Debbie Gallagher test. Some students and parents were need are the scores for each student and
offended. overall pass/fail percentage. We need to see
serving some of the
our greatest areas of
the most entertaining
and competitive
of Cedar Hill A similar incident happened in the Katy which test questions were missed the most
natural beauty for the sports around. school district. Separate assemblies were and which students need help in a particular
enjoyment of future held for white and Hispanic students. It was subject area.

generations was an
excellent decision.
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
J. Kyle Rains of Lakewood: America’s best idea
has been the moon landings.
Lin Barbee of Dallas: The National Park System is
certainly in the top few of America’s best ideas but it
ranks below (1) The Constitution and all of its ideas
and institutions, (2) the Interstate Highway System
and (3) the building of thousands of reservoirs that
supply life-critical water and are essential to electrici-
ty production.
Therese Henry of Dallas: Our very best idea was
our very first idea — to form a government in which
all men are created equal, with certain unalienable
rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness. Everything else is secondary.
Ellen Raff of Dallas: Freedom of religion is proba-
bly the best, and most profound, idea. National parks
remind us why human beings are inspired by nature
to worship a creator.
Sandra Steinbach of Dallas: My husband and I
have visited every national park over the course of our
marriage; Teddy Roosevelt is largely responsible for
our happy marriage. Arranging for generations to en-
joy the natural beauty of our land is America’s best
idea.
Anita Titone of Dallas: America’s best idea is still
that we are a real democracy. The “real” part is secure
because we have a free press, not only in name but in
reality. Our democracy and our press certainly are not
perfect, but they are better than any other systems.
Bob Dewberry of Dallas: America’s best idea was
Dwight Eisenhower’s plan for our vast Interstate
Highway System.
Mrs. Marty Walker of Dallas: I must choose two:
first, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,
and, second, the bright idea of making public librar-
ies accessible to all who love to read.
Matt Brumit of Dallas: America’s best idea,
though encompassed by the national parks, is our na-
tional monuments. Ranging from the Statue of Lib-
erty to the Arlington National Cemetery, they have an
incredible ability to instill patriotism in us, and un-
daunted patriotism will keep our country safe and
prosperous.
SIGN UP
These responses are from readers who have asked
to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact informa-
tion to communityopinions@dall asnews.com.
S
egregation is alive and well in Texas
schools. The results from the 2009
TAKS scores once again divide
students into “subgroups” —
African-American, Hispanic, White, Asian,
Native American, Economically
Disadvantaged, Special
Education, Limited
English Proficiency,
Female and Male. All data
is over-analyzed using
these labels.
Integration began in
1954 with Brown v. Board
of Education of Topeka,
Voices but for some reason the
Teacher federal government still
wants to create divisions.
As teachers we are expected to teach all our
students without any prejudice. We take
classes on cultural awareness and teaching to
a diverse student body. It’s hypocritical to
expect teachers and administrators to look
beyond race and economic status, but then
hand us our scores divided by these very
explained that the meetings were separate
because that is the way the state reports
achievement.
The No Child Left Behind Act requires
schools to track the performance of these
subgroups. Interestingly enough, the schools
that are integrated the most are the very
schools that can be more heavily penalized. If
a school has more subgroups than another, it
is easier for the less integrated school to
demonstrate “adequate yearly progress.”
I cringe when I hear about how a school
would have achieved higher recognition if
only a specific subgroup had performed
better.
And it gets complicated. Many students
are in several subgroups. For example a
special education, white student from a poor
family who speaks a language other than
English fails; his score counts more than
other students in determining whether a
school meets federal guidelines.
Also, NCLB requires each subgroup’s
results to be statistically reliable, and it lets
states choose the minimum size of the
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
There’s nothing offensive about
identifying the students who need help with
“finding the main idea” in a reading passage
or “using division to solve a word problem.”
Standardized tests are very useful for
identifying students that need remediation.
We can then place these students in tutoring
classes and target those skills.
We do not need to be informed about
their economic status or race.
True integration will occur when test
results are based on individual achievement,
not how specific races, special education
students and economic groups perform.
Instead of the No Child Left Behind Act, we
need an Every Child is Treated Fairly Act.
Stop labeling and let us teach.
Debbie Gallagher of Cedar
Hill is a computer teacher at
Daniel Intermediate School
in Duncanville ISD and a
Teacher Voices volunteer
columnist. Her e-mail address is
dgallagher224@gmail.com.
RAISE YOUR VOICE
The Dallas Morning News is accepting
applications for Community Voices. Voic-
es volunteers write opinion columns every
four to six weeks and are the “stars” of the
weekly Sounding Off feature that appears
on Sundays, in which the Voices and other
readers respond to a question of the week.
To get an idea of what kinds of topics Voic-
es write about, visit dallasnews
.com/voices.
Apply in four easy steps:
1. Write a little about yourself and put
together a list of current and previous civic
involvements. How would others in the
community describe you? What is unique
about your background and experience?
Why should we choose you?
2. Share a previous writing sample or
write something new on a current topic. A
writing sample should be 600-650 words.
3. Jot down three other topics you
would like to write about.
4. E-mail the application to
voices@dallasnews. com. Include your
address and phone number.
Deadline: 4 p.m. Oct. 5.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas County

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
What students need
Our world has changed, but our children have not, says Karen Kimball
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’

I
began my teaching career more than 40 though I sometimes disagree with the overuse Children need a time to dream — and a
latest epic work — The National years ago in an elementary school in of that word today, I can think of no other that quiet place to do so. Another perennial favorite
Parks: America’s Best Idea — debuts Oak Cliff. When I returned to full-time would more aptly serve the purpose. They gain of my fifth-graders was “The Girl I Mean to Be,”
on PBS tonight. Are public parks still teaching in the early ’90s after a long break security from knowing someone cares for from the Broadway musical The Secret Garden.
to raise my own children, I was told by them. A kind word or compliment and a real We sang “The One I Mean to Be” because the
relevant in an age of unlimited friends and colleagues alike that “Kids have show of interest can make a significant differ- words certainly fit both girls and boys: “I need a
entertainment options? Why do changed since you last taught.” ence. Call each child by name and make sure place where I can hide, Where no one sees my
public parks matter? After 15 years at that DISD school, two that all of them can feel their importance in life inside, Where I can make my plans and
years of retirement and one year of active your life. write them down so I can read them …”
substitute teaching in the Children need to be challenged. Although Find that place for your child. In a world
Richardson ISD, I contin- students enter each grade with varying levels of where noise is a constant and schedules are
ue to strongly disagree prior knowledge and abilities, each needs to always full, carve out that time and place for
with that statement. meet the challenge of learning something new. your children to sit quietly and dream. It will
The world has The smile on a child’s face as he masters a new play dividends in the future.
changed. Technology has concept is priceless. A colleague of mine has Schools today no longer look the same.
Susan Wildburger Connor Mighell changed. Family struc- taught math to fifth- and sixth-graders Technology and modern buildings have creat-
Brookhaven College Junior, Cambridge
tures (and often family throughout her career and loves her subject. ed a new climate for education. The students
adjunct faculty/ESL School of Dallas
values) have changed. She doesn’t make math easy, but she does make may look different, too. Deep inside, however,
teacher
The sheer cliffs of the Voices Children have not it fun, and her students excel. children are still the very same, and they de-
Absolutely, especially Grand Canyon, the
Teacher changed at all. Children need to be inspired — by music, serve the best that we as teachers and parents
for those who grew huge glaciers of In these still-early art, or the spoken or written word. As a music can give them.
up traveling with their Alaska, the powerful weeks of the school year, it may be helpful for teacher, I’ve had many opportunities to observe
parents to appreciate rush of Old Faithful
all of us who are teachers and parents to this through the years. One third grade girl was Karen Kimball of Dallas is a
nature and the beau- and the majestic
focus on those things that children have asked by her teacher to bring a picture of some- substitute teacher in the
ty of preservation. forests of Yellow-
wanted and needed in the past and will thing beautiful to class. She came to my room Richardson ISD and a Teacher
However, even for stone connect with
continue to seek in the years to come. to take a photo of her favorite song in the music Voices volunteer columnist.
parents who did not the person experi-
Children need to feel “special.” Al- text. Her e-mail address is Kim-
have that advantage, encing them on a
ball4@aol.com.
what a way to inform deeper level. No
and educate them “favorite movie” or
that there is more to entertainment option
life than videogames can compare.
and Wii and Guitar
Hero.
Building minds with bridge
Game keeps adults, children sharp, says Susan Sanders Wansbrough

Candace S. McAfee Kim Barnes
12th-grade A.P. U.S. Head of Early Child-
Government teacher, hood, Greenhill
Skyline Center, Dallas School, Addison
National parks matter Public parks allow
because camping is a families a “nature
wonderful bonding connection” that they
opportunity for might not otherwise
families. Most cell pursue on their own.
phones don’t work
there, so they talk to
each other when the
batteries on the
electronic games run
down.
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
Sylvia M. LaRue of Dallas: Most Americans can-
not afford luxurious vacations to distant lands. The
national parks are within reach of almost every
family. Pitching a tent under lofty pines and eating
meals around a campfire create a bonding experi-
ence like no other.
Sandra Steinbach of Dallas: If your life needs
adventure, variety, communion with nature and
with the community of people who care for the
parks, affordable exercise, stars at night and the
sound of rippling streams, all with a historical per-
spective, head out for awe.
Janice Schwarz of Dallas: National parks are
more important now than ever. My husband, young
children and I travel to a different national park ev-
ery year. This is the time we bond as a family. We are
away from the TV, the Nintendo, the PC, the tele-
phone and all of the distractions that keep us apart.
Ellen Raff of Dallas: National parks provide a
sanctuary where we can find continuity with age-
less landscapes and understand ourselves as part of
something larger than whatever we manage to fil-
ter through our electronic screens and headphones.
J. Kyle Rains of Lakewood: National parks are
still relevant because they represent the soul of our
country. It’s sad that I can be on a plane gazing
down in awe on Monument Valley in the late after-
noon with the peaks casting long shadows, and ev-
eryone else on board has his or her shades pulled
down.
Mrs. Marty Walker of Dallas: Our parks have
been America’s treasures for years, especially for
those city dwellers with smaller children who love
to expose their young families to the outdoors, the
beauty of flowers and trees, playground equip-
ment, picnic provisions, and walking trails.
RAISE YOUR VOICE
W
hen I was in college, a group of nerds Thousands of people in the Dallas/Fort Worth For a while, one of my husband’s partners
was always holed up in a remote area play bridge regularly. was 10-year-old Zach Brescoll, an elementary
corner of the SMU student center, Scott and I have a mixed marriage. He school student from Euless who also played
playing bridge until the wee hours. I didn’t plays duplicate bridge almost every day. I play baseball. Zach so quickly mastered bridge that
know it then, but my future husband, Scott, party bridge on occasion. He is a “bronze” life he soon dumped Scott as a partner. Last
was among them. master and a student of the game, his proudest summer, at age 16, Zach represented the
Bridge is a card game with origins in a very possession a scorecard signed by Bobby Wolff, United States in the bridge competition at the
old Russian or Turkish game called Biritch, or after Scott and his partner outplayed Wolff International Mind Games in Beijing. Now 17,
Whist. In bridge, you and a and his. My joy comes from harvesting and living in Kentucky, he is one of the best
partner bid against an vegetables I’ve grown. young bridge players in the world, and recently
opposing pair for a “trump” We rarely play bridge together anymore, brought home a bronze medal from the 2009
suit (or for no trump), used but early on teamed up against our mothers, World Bridge Series in Istanbul, Turkey.
to take “tricks.” Numerous who didn’t read bridge books but had guile, Bridge players can become passionate
systems, called experience and card sense on their side. They about the game. Poor bids or card play have
“conventions,” have been usually won. resulted in divorces and even murders. You
developed to optimize When I was a kid, parents often hosted need look no further than Agatha Christie’s
communication of bridge parties, setting up card tables in living Death at the Bridge Table.
Voices information between rooms and serving mixed nuts, chocolate People of all races, nationalities, and
Community partners. “bridge mix” and mixed drinks. It was economic classes play bridge; all it takes is a
In the 1960s and ’70s, common for kids to play bridge back then, too. deck of cards, a scorepad and a pencil. Free
Dallas businessman Ira L. Corn organized and At age 11, my partner was my friend Larry lessons are available online or at most of the
funded the Dallas Aces, one of the greatest Mattay. 18-plus North Texas clubs sanctioned by the
bridge teams ever. Dallas Morning News Bridge is a perfect game for young people; American Contract Bridge League.
bridge columnist Bobby Wolff was an original almost everything about it should appeal to It is fun, keeps minds sharp and provides a
member, as was Dallasite Bob Hamman, now them. It can be very intense and complex. great network of friends.
71 and still one of the best bridge players in the Strategy is crucial. It requires cooperation with
world. a partner, an excellent memory and an agile Susan Sanders Wansbrough is
“Party bridge,” sometimes called “rubber mind. And a merciless competitive instinct. an attorney who lives in Lake
bridge,” is for fun, played in homes and Children can and often do beat experienced Highlands and a Community
recreation centers throughout the country. adults. And you can play bridge online with Voices volunteer columnist.
Duplicate, where you play for points toward a people in other countries 24 hours a day, seven Her e-mail address is
lifetime ranking, is seriously competitive. days a week. slswansbrough@sbcglobal.net.
LETTERS
Choose from city shelters first
For anyone thinking about adopting a pet
from a shelter, I strongly urge you to put your
city’s animal shelter as your first choice.
The animals at your city’s shelter are in
much greater danger of being put to sleep.
Animals you will find at shelters like the SPCA
have already been rescued. They will not be
put down unless they become too sick to treat
or too dangerous to adopt out.
Animals at your city’s shelter are just as
sweet and as loving as those at other rescue
shelters like the SPCA. But animals at Dallas
Animal Services that make it into their adop-
tion program, for example, have only 45 days
to find a new home before they are in danger
of being put down.
While DAS tries very hard to place these
animals, even when they go past their time,
often they have no choice but to put them
down because they become overwhelmed by
new animals coming into the shelter.
Shelters like the SPCA do God’s work, and
our community is better for their efforts.
But the animals at Dallas Animal Services
and those at other city shelters need our help
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor

Be a “star” of the weekly Sounding Off feature
that appears in this spot on Sundays.
The Dallas Morning News is accepting applica-
tions for Community Voices, a panel of volunteer
columnists who will be regular contributors to the
Opinions page inside the Metro section. For more
information, send an e-mail to voices@dallasnews
.com.
much more just to stay alive. Please think of
them first.
Larry Mendolia, Dallas
Signs and speed limits
I have seen the new signs in the school
zones: Speed limit, no cellphone, etc., etc.
There were so many signs on the post, I would
certainly have a problem if I were driving.
Why don’t they have a sign about cell-
phone usage before the other warnings and
put it in bright red?
And then there is the new speed limit on
certain highways: 70 mph. If the law says 70,
people are going to drive 75 mph to 80 mph.
I travel on Interstate 30 from Dallas to
Rockwall. I set my cruise to 60, and people
whiz by me, especially 18-wheelers. They
should be restricted to a lane of their own.
Lucretia Green, Rockwall

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Collin, Dallas and Rockwall counties

They’re raising their voices

Today, we introduce our 2009-10 Teacher Voices and Student Voices volunteers.
They will write columns and be featured in Sounding Off on Sundays.

Maggie Funk
Bilingual gifted-and-talented
elementary school teacher,
Richardson ISD
Student and a teacher:
She has been working on a
master’s degree from SMU and
will graduate in the spring.
Hometown view: “Coming
back to live in the
neighborhood where I grew
up, and teach at the
elementary school I attended
as a child has been a fulfilling
full-circle experience.”
Rewards of the job: “The
enduring moments are those
times when a student further
explores, reads, thinks, writes,
draws, tells siblings about
something you said in class or
in passing that has sparked a
new interest for them.”
Kathryn S. Pabst
English/language arts teacher,
Lovejoy High School
Perspective: “I teach to
gather new voices to the
process of creating, shaping
and interpreting the meaning
of our collective experience.”
Background: Grew up the
child of an immigrant in
Chicago and moved to
Houston after college. Has
lived in the Dallas area for the
past 20 years.
Hometown view: “My
husband and I decided to build
a home and raise our four boys
in an area that offered a
big-country sense of space and
schools that I could count on.
We found them both in
Fairview and Lovejoy ISD.”
Jeri L. Chambers
Fifth-grade teacher, Plano
Background: A native
Texan with roots in
Richardson and 16 years in
Plano. “This is my third year
back in the classroom after a
10-year hiatus as a mom. In my
first round of teaching, I
taught middle school math for
eight years.”
Rewards of the job: “The
challenge of making a
connection with each child in
your classroom and playing a
role in his or her light bulb
moments. My role is to
facilitate learning and inspire
others to embrace lifelong
learning.”
Early choice: “It’s in the
blood. My grandparents were
educators, as was my mom.”
Ana K. Molina Brea
Sophomore, Jasper High
School, Plano
Background: “I was born
in Mexico but raised in a Texas
suburb by parents from
Honduras and Panama, so I
have always been fascinated by
the different cultures and their
people. My life is a
juxtaposition of diverse
cultures.”
Possible future studies: “I
wish to have a degree in
sociology, particularly in
human interactions.”
In her free time: Reading
novels and plays, running, and
yoga. “Lately, I have been
working on a painting inspired
by Mori paintings that we
viewed in school.”
Alexandria Hudson
Senior, Rockwall High School
Persuasive approach: “I’m
a local revolutionist who can
stand strong in what I believe
without becoming too
narrow-minded and shutting
out the ideas of other people.”
Interesting mix:
Editor-in-chief of the student
newspaper, top mixed-doubles
tennis team, American
Sign-Language Club
Defender of Rockwall: In
a letter to the editor on
Inauguration Day coverage in
her city, she wrote, “It is
obvious that we have a smaller
minority population in
Rockwall, but to assume that
we are not open to the
differences that make our
country what it is, is unfair and
wrong.”
Sandy Kulkarni
Chemistry teacher,
Allen High School
Background: “After couple
of years of successful cancer
research, my heart was telling
me to go back to teaching.
Although sudden career
change seemed challenging,
my strong motivation got me
there.”
Perspective: “When I look
back at my 12 years of journey
on this path, it brings back
nothing but fond memories
and makes me smile.”
Rewards: “It is amazing to
see that someone who used to
hate science is thrilled with the
wonders of chemistry now. I
was able to make a difference
in the lives of these kids. And
that is all that matters!”

Brennan Tanksley
Senior, McKinney
Boyd High School
You need to know: “I love
American comic books. Ever
since I can remember, the idea
of putting on a symbolic
costume and saving the lives of
ordinary people has appealed
to me.”
Realistic expectations:
“I’ve always believed that if you
have the power to help people
and change things for the
better, then you have the
obligation. I also know the
influence that the press holds
in our country and around the
world and have always seen it
as the best source for inspiring
change and hopefully aiding
people. After all, I don’t have
super powers and would feel
pretty awkward running
around in multicolored tights.”
O.S. Harper
Mathematics department chair,
Lakeview Centennial High
School, Garland ISD
Sounds hard: “I currently
teach AP Calculus, Algebra II
Honors/Pre-AP and serve as
the mathematics department
chair. I have previously taught
eighth-grade mathematics,
trigonometry, Algebra I and
physics. In addition, I spent
seven years teaching
developmental mathematics
(algebra for adults) at
Brookhaven College and North
Central Texas College.”
Why he teaches: “I simply
got hooked. I attempted to run
from teaching, but everything
else felt empty. Teaching offers
the rare opportunity to impart
critical knowledge, shape
thinking and problem-solving
skills, and offer advice on not
just surviving in the world, but
excelling.”
Keturah Stewart
Kindergarten teacher,
Don Achziger Elementary,
Mesquite ISD
Why she teaches: “I
remember every teacher I’ve
had from kindergarten
through high school, and even
college. Most important, I
remember what kind of impact
they had in my life, whether it
was positive or negative. I want
to be the teacher that these
kids never forget for a positive
reason.”
Experience: Attended
school from kindergarten
through graduation in
Mesquite. Last year was her
first in the front of the
classroom.
Possible column: How to
separate the “real teachers”
from the ones who are in it for
the summer vacation.
Tina Kelman
ESL teacher, Faubion Middle
School, McKinney
Background: Tina lived for
years in France, struggling to
understand and be
understood. “The experiences I
had, both good and bad,
fundamentally change who I
am and how I see the world.”
How she can relate:
“Based upon my overseas
experience, I had no other
choice but to become an ESL
teacher. I know the struggle
that my students wrestle with
every day.”
Possible column idea:
How our child can benefit
from sitting next to a speaker
of another language at school:
Diverse languages and cultures
in the classroom enrich
everyone’s educational
experience and insight,
students and teachers alike.
Karen Kimball
Substitute teacher,
Richardson ISD
Background: A Lake
Highlands resident, Karen
retired three years ago from the
Dallas ISD, where most of her
career was spent as the music
teacher at Lakewood
Elementary School.
Perspective: “After two
years of retirement, I realized
how much I missed the
students. Although I substitute
in all grade levels and subject
areas of elementary schools, my
first love has always been
music. I am continually
inspired by the teamwork and
skills exhibited as students sing
and play together. The
disciplines learned in music
transfer to other areas of study
and are a vital part of student
success.”
Mark R. Harrington
History teacher,
Seagoville High School
Why he avoided teaching:
His father was a teacher for
decades. “I had seen my dad
struggle with his teacher’s
salary. Drivers ed, summer
school, working at Kappy’s
Liquors — dad had done all
these, and I didn’t feel like
following in those shoes.”
Why he gave in: Teaching
is an honor, he says. “Young,
fresh, hopeful and caring
people come into the teacher’s
life each year and present
themselves with a trust that is
moving.”
Possible column idea:
“The inability of teachers to
face the attacks made on the
profession by those with little
or no understanding of the
challenges facing the
modern-day classroom
teacher.”

Hanna Jacunski
Junior, Plano East
Senior High School
Plan for surviving
high school: “As long I
can learn from my
mistakes until 2011, I will
have an edge over those
who just lived day to day
with no reflections or
retrospect.”
Why she likes English
class: “It’s not all
vocabulary lists and parts
of speech and simple
readings, but actual
discussion and sharing
opinions and figuring out
deep symbolism in
novels.”
Why she might write
about riding her horse:
“The news can be a heavy,
disheartening thing. And
I like it when people
smile.”
Sneha Raghunathan
Junior, Plano
Senior High School
Hobbies: “I am most
interested in reading
(fantasy novels and
historical fiction are my
favorites), writing poems
and essays, and singing
(primarily Carnatic
music, a classical music
from India).”
Background:
Attended school in Plano
from kindergarten to
third grade, then moved
to Chennai, India. Before
returning to Plano last
fall. “Having lived in both
the U.S. and India for
considerable amounts of
time, I’ve had the best of
two cultures, which has
provided me with
experiences and
perspectives that many
students would envy.”
Avery Hurst
Senior, J.J. Pearce High
School, Richardson
Interests: “I have been
dancing since I was 4. It is
my passion and my need.
I truly feel free and
connected to life when I
dance.”
Goals: To receive
scholarship in dance to
the University of Texas or
Kansas, but still looking
at schools. Wants a degree
in business, dance or
“possibly pre-med.”
Hopes: “That we can
all respect each other and
our differences.”
Michelle Vongkeo Brian Brown Brianda Reyes Kathleen Krumnow
Ashmore Senior, Plano West Senior Senior, South Garland English teacher, Royse City
Senior, Royse City High School High School High School
High School
Persuasive approach: Runaway resume: Why Royse City:
Most people who An independent thinker, Editor-in-chief of the “Because the kids are
know her would say: Brian says he always newspaper, part of the awesome, and the
“Michelle? She’s really strives to be observant yearbook staff, a Student atmosphere is
nice, but too nice for her and thorough. “Popular Council executive, Class reminiscent of Canton,
own good.” opinion doesn’t sway me of 2010 treasurer, and a where I grew up.”
A passion for writing: easily.” member of the Physics Enjoys her job
“I’m very strong-willed Free time: “I play Club, National Honor because: “It’s the only job
and determined, I’m basketball outside of Society, Garland Youth I’ve ever had that doesn’t
open-minded, and school, and for the past Council, and feel like work; it feels like
creativity is an extension three years I have been a Superintendent’s a reward.”
of my arm.” And she plans ball boy for the Dallas Advisory Council. Favorite quote: “I
to be no stranger to Mavericks.” Birthplace: Mexico. “I think there’s just one kind
controversial topics, Column idea: How fully understand both of folks. Folks.” — Harper
saying that she hopes to issues that only seem to cultures.” Lee, To Kill a
write about the “legal affect adults (the Others would Mockingbird
drinking age, liberalism economy, lack of jobs, describe her … “as a
and the importance of sex etc.) play a role in the lives leader, someone with
education for high school of teenagers. determination, passion,
students.” perseverance and
College major: Why courage.”
pick just one? Michelle
plans to pursue computer
science, English and
education.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Collin, Dallas and Rockwall counties

Hate speech from the pulpit

It’s easy to scorn someone you don’t even know, says Berta B. Sisemore of Richardson

T
here has been no shortage of news stories
driven by fear in the late days of this
summer — all painted with a dark palette
of ignorance with the end result being a picture
of unfounded paranoia.
The reaction to President
Barack Obama’s plans for a
speech to schoolchildren got
the most attention, but two
recent news stories about
churches (and I use the term
loosely) got my eyes rolling and
my head shaking in such
Voices disbelief it made me dizzy.
Community The first story was of two
sisters being sent home from
school because they wore T-shirts issued by their
Florida-based church, the Dove World Outreach
Center, which boldly stated on the back, “Islam is
of the Devil.” It was surreal to watch these girls,
with their father in the room, answer questions
from the media with either drilled answers about
being saved or shrugged shoulders. They really
weren’t sure why they were better than their
Muslim classmates; they just knew they were.
Senior Pastor Terry Jones, a primary source of
this callowness, is so embedded in ignorance
that he refused to take down a billboard with the
same message despite plenty of negative
feedback from the community. It’s easy to
demonize someone you don’t know, I guess.
Then, did you hear the one about the Arizona
pastor, Steven L. Anderson of the Faithful Word
Baptist Church, who expressed to his
congregation his death wish for President
Obama? The title of his sermon was actually
“Why I Hate Barack Obama” and he said, “I hope
that God strikes Barack Obama with brain
cancer so he can die like Ted Kennedy, and I
hope it happens today.”
Just for the record, I’m pretty sure most
Baptists and other Christians won’t agree with
this crazy rant. This reminds me of the old
saying, “God wants spiritual fruits, not religious
nuts.” Again, it’s just so easy to demonize when
we don’t even look to see what we have in
common.
I very recently had my own moment of
jumping to paranoid conclusions. I live in
Richardson and noticed that our old YWCA had
once again changed ownership. I’d seen the new
“Turquoise Center” sign and wondered what the
heck this new entity could possibly be.
My curiosity was elevated by the constant
presence of at least a couple of cars in the
parking lot, be it during my evening walks with
my daughter or on my pre-dawn runs. I’d see the
silhouettes of people coming and going at what I
thought were odd hours.
I thought there had to be something shady
going on. I even contemplated the possibility of a
swingers club. Lo and behold, I felt like quite the
fool when The Dallas Morning News ran a story
on this very place. It turns out that the Turquoise
Center is owned by Raindrop, an immigration
service that houses offices for the Institute for
Interfaith Dialogue and the Dallas Islamic
Center mosque. The gist of the news story was
that the mosque had invited Presbyterians,
Methodists and Unitarians to join them at the
dinner table, a gesture of unity and
understanding.
I quickly changed my tune from not wanting
this in my neighborhood to “Wait a minute!
What about us Catholics? I want to come!”
Funny what just a little information can do
for your outlook on life and your fellow human
beings.
Berta B. Sisemore of
Richardson is a CPA and a
Community Voices volunteer
columnist. Her e-mail address is
bertasisemore@yahoo.com.

How safe is RAISE YOUR

VOICE
The Dallas Morning News
is accepting applications for

your account?
Community Voices, a panel of
volunteer columnists who will
be regular contributors to the
Opinions page inside the Met-
ro section.
Identity theft episode frustrated Voices volunteers write
opinion columns every four to
me, says L. Edward Sizemore six weeks and are the “stars” of
the weekly Sounding Off fea-

I
had not thought too much
about identity theft until it
happened to me.
More than a month ago, my
wife and I noticed that a
company in Lebanon placed a
$4,000 charge on our
checking account using my
debit card information.
Apparently, someone had
copied my debit card
information, possibly at a
restaurant or gas station, then
sold the number to someone
who eventually sold it to a
party in Lebanon.
Unfortunately, the bank
accepted the charge and placed
a “pending” on the account for
that amount. This effectively
wiped out our balance and put
us into overdraft.
I immediately protested
that this was a fraudulent
unavailable for our use, frozen
and empty.
But of course, life went on.
My wife had to make a trip to
New York and needed access to
cash. Fortunately, there was
sufficient savings available and
alternative arrangements were
made. However, the hassle and
inconvenience cannot be
overstated.
Several days later, the bank
was able to return the funds to
our account. They also
refunded the overdraft
charges.
We certainly appreciate
that our bank was able to
replace our funds, even if we
were frustrated with the
process. The difficulties that
ensued were a huge
inconvenience on a personal
level.
ture that appears on Sundays,
in which the Voices and other
readers respond to a question
of the week. To get an idea of
what kinds of topics Voices
write about, visit dallasnews
.com/voices.
Apply in four easy steps:
1. Write a little about your-
self and put together a list of
current and previous civic in-
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
volvements. How would others
in the community describe
you? What is unique about
your background and experi-
My name is HIV ence? Why should we choose
you?
2. Share a previous writing
sample or write something new
What happened to the urgency in the AIDS on a current topic. A writing
sample should be 600-650
fight? asks Michelle Vongkeo Ashmore words.
3. Jot down three other top-
ics you would like to write

transaction. My debit card was
summarily cancelled. The
bank stated that they were
unable to
stop the
transaction
as it
appeared to
be a
legitimate
charge. They
further
Voices stated that
Community the only way
they could
do anything about the $4,000
charge was to pay it, then have
me sign an affidavit disputing
the transaction as fraudulent.
Several days passed and the
“pending” charge eventually
came through, and the bank
paid it. Since it was my debit
card that had been used, only I
could dispute the charge. As I
had been ill, I could not go to
the bank. The document had to
be faxed to me. Several days
later, I received the document,
signed the affidavit and faxed it
back. Several more days passed
before the bank received
confirmation of the faxed
affidavit.
All this took time.
Meanwhile, the bank paid
checks we had already written,
overdraft fees were charged,
even though our account was
GET OTHER Voices columns from across North
Texas and add your own comments.
dallasnews.com/voices
In order to prevent this
form of identity theft from
happening again, I am
considering several steps: Use
the debit card for emergencies
only; use cash to buy gas,
restaurant meals and other
small purchases; keep a low
balance in the account, just
enough to cover outstanding
checks and a small cushion.
Hopefully, taking these
measures to safeguard the
account will render it
unavailable as a target for scam
artists in the future.
Most regular credit cards
have a provision that limits the
card holder’s loss to the first
$50, but most debit cards offer
no such protection. Most
people probably assume they
do, but they don’t.
Having gone through this
ordeal, now I know, and you
do, too. Perhaps we should all
rethink the way we handle our
money — and maybe banks
should consider more ways to
better protect it for us.
L. Edward
Sizemore of
McKinney
works in sales
and is a
Community Voices volunteer
columnist. His e-mail address is
ed3332@msn.com.
H
i there. I’ll be living in your body,
but don’t worry. You probably
won’t notice for another 10 years
or so.
That’s how I work. My name is HIV, but
later you may know me as AIDS.
By the time you notice me, you may not
know where I came from. Maybe from
Adam from last week. It could’ve been John
from last month. It could even be from your
first love, Robert, in high school.
Seeing as we shall be coexisting for the
remainder of your natural life, I better warn
you about some things. I may cause you to
go blind. I may cause you to develop
tumors. You know what? I might even
cause tuberculosis.
I will weaken your immune system, so
you will be getting ill frequently. I would tell
you that you can skip
most of these symptoms
with post-exposure
prophylaxis, but you
probably don’t even
know what that is.
I suggest that you
don’t have children,
seeing as if you do, I’ll be
Voices
living in them, too. If you
Student
can, limit your sexual
partners. I’m quite sure
that they do not wish to endure what you
will be experiencing in a period of time. Just
because I’ll be destroying your immune
system doesn’t mean we can’t live together.
Well, now, that we have all that settled,
let me tell you about myself. I was born
June 5, 1981, in Los Angeles. They found
me in five homosexual men. Ignorantly,
they named me GRID, which stands for
gay-related immune deficiency. Later they
called me “the 4H disease.” The big
honchos assumed I was isolated to only
Haitians, homosexuals, hemophiliacs and
heroin users. They finally figured out that
I’m not a discriminating character.
Let me tell you about this one kid I lived
in. He was a swell guy, a teenager in high
school. His name was Ryan White. Seeing as
about.
I wasn’t nearly as popular as I am now,
4. E-mail the application to
people didn’t really understand me. (They
voices@dallasnews.com.
still kind of don’t nowadays, by the way.) But
Please include your address
I made him very sick.
and phone number.
You people have these things called
Deadline: 4 p.m. Oct. 5.
T-cells. You know, white blood cells. They
fight off bacteria, viruses and whatnot. Well
people without me have a T-cell count of
about 1,200. I depleted his to 25. All the
doctors said that Ryan would die in about LETTERS
six months, but he started to feel better and
wanted to return to school. They didn’t let Slower speed advised
him, though. The teachers and parents
I am a regular Bush Turn-
didn’t want him there because of me.
pike driver who believes that
A court battle followed, which was
increasing the speed limit
nationalized, and he became my poster boy.
from 60 mph to 70 mph was a
I still killed him at 18.
bad idea.
Enough about me, though. I’m curious to
The increased pollution
know about you. You seem to be an average
and gasoline consumption
person. You have a job and live in the
alone are strong arguments
suburbs of Dallas. Everything about your
against it.
life seems pretty typical. You have friends.
However, the main reason I
You drive a nice car. You want a family
think it was a bad idea is due to
someday, just like all the other families you
decreased safety. In the city,
see in North Texas.
particularly at rush hour, 70
What a great place to be a normal
mph is simply too high.
person. It’s funny, though, that normal,
Often traffic backs up at
everyday people don’t believe I can live in
major highway interchange
other everyday people. It’s one of those “that
exits so the right lanes are at a
can’t ever happen to me” deals.
near-standstill. It is obviously
Your attention is probably waning. I
not safe having vehicles fly by
understand, you have your life to get back to.
these cars at such high speeds.
So I’ll just start getting myself settled in. I do
Stopping distances and acci-
have a favor to ask, though: Stop giving so
dent severity increase greatly
much attention to swine flu. Come on, 100
with speed.
people die and everyone wants to wear a
Nearly every day since the
surgical mask, but I kill at least 25 million
increase, I find myself having
people, and people are still reluctant to use
to brake hard due to traffic
condoms or get tested? Where’s the logic in
that? suddenly slowing ahead.
I advise that the North Tex-
Michelle Vongkeo Ashmore as Tollway Authority reconsid-
is a senior at Royse City er the current speed limit and
High School and a Student at least reduce the maximum
Voices volunteer columnist. to 65 mph.
To respond to this column, William Henze, Irving
send an e-mail to voices@dallasnews.com.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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 8B Sunday, September 20, 2009 E dallasnews.com The Dallas Morning News

Community opinions A forum for readers in Collin, Dallas and Rockwall counties

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
Teaching is science and art
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’ How do we inspire students? asks Sandy Kulkarni of Allen
latest epic work — The National

Parks: America’s Best Idea — debuts
on PBS Sept. 27. What do you think
has been America’s best idea?
Laurie Lynn
Lindemeier
Voice and piano
teacher, McKinney
Democracy is Amer-
ica’s best idea. Not
that we were the first
ones to try it, but we
are the first country
to thrive for a couple
of hundred years
based on it. Now if we
can only continue to
not just give it lip
service but actually
live the “all men are
created equal” idea
it’ll be even better.
I
t was the last day of school. I was super quizzes and tests facilitates the reaction. Bingo I love to watch art movies and
busy wrapping up things, boxing — there pops the final product, “Learning and documentaries. My brother likes action
important items I treasured or would Success.” movies. But the common thing in us is that we
need for the next year. So does that make teaching a science? both love to watch movies.
Suddenly an envelope caught my eye. It Well, prediction and reality do not always Same story goes with our children. Each
said, “Do not open until the last day of match in scientific research. That is what individual could be unique with specific
school.” This was it. makes research more challenging. What if learning style and personality. How to juggle
I carefully opened it and started reading. teachers do not see the final product in our with adjusting your teaching styles to bring
“Dear Ms. Kulkarni, I kids? out the best in a child is an absolute art.
would like to tell you Sometimes two scientists working on the I consider teaching as not just my
something from my same reaction get different yields. How can profession, but also my passion. It often brings
Susan Dodia
heart. I really hated you explain that? Not only does it take some sweet moments to cherish, with few
Software project
chemistry in the knowledge, patience and dedication, but also bitter ones. After all, that is life.
manager, Plano
beginning. But you skills and an art of handling the experiments. Kabir, a famous saint from India, expressed
Separation of church made the class so much Each day in a teacher’s life is an his reverence for his teacher in his couplet:
and state, and the fun. I don’t know when experiment. Sometimes the results could be Guru Govind Dou Khade, kake lagun Paye
religious freedoms and how I fell in love astonishing, and sometimes it could be failure. Balihari Guru apne, Govind diyon milaye
nurtured by that
concept, have been
Voices with science. You are the Science may prompt to simply repeat the It means:
America’s best ideas. Teacher best teacher in the entire experiment, but if we add another component My teacher (guru) and God are in front of
We have not had the world. I will always — art — we can be very creative and generate me. Who should I bow to first?
same bloody con- remember you.” wonders. It is my teacher, because he is the one who
flicts that so many I could not stop smiling. This was the A teacher who inspired me always said, introduced me to God.
other parts of the same student who, during the fourth week “Teach with your heart, not just with your
If teachers blend science and art along with
world have suffered of school, yelled at me during class, “I hate intellect, and rewards will walk toward you.” I
their passion in teaching, they can create a
because of institu- science and I hate you.” always remember her message. Merely having
tionalized discrim- lifelong impact. No wonder, they will earn that
How did this happen? a college degree and certification can qualify
ination based on high respect.
As a science teacher, I methodically tried you to be a top teacher. There could be
religious affiliations. I
to figure this out. Chemistry is often workshops and conferences to provide more
hope we continue to Sandy Kulkarni is a
illustrated with laws, equations and training. chemistry teacher at Allen
respect this essential
model.
balanced reactions. Can teaching be However, what makes a teacher “great” is High School and a Teacher
something like that? finding the right mix of science and art. Both Voices volunteer columnist.
Maybe it’s as simple as mixing the lesson seem to be totally different disciplines, but Her e-mail address is
plans with curriculum and blending them once fused together, they can generate sandy.kulkarni108@gmail.com.
together. Maybe a little warm-up with masterpieces.

Brennan Tanksley Hanna Jacunski

Senior, McKinney
Boyd High School
Only one event seems
fit to receive the title
of “America’s Best
Idea” — the creation
of our Bill of Rights.
Though it may seem
corny, our Bill of
Junior, Plano East
Senior High School
It sounds cheesy, but
public high school. I
truly believe that high
Do adults get the message?
school never actually
ends, and you might Texting and driving is unsafe at any age, says Avery Hurst of Richardson
as well get used to the
crowds and cliques

Rights sets the stan- and pressure now
dard for the type of rather than later. Even
country we were to the simplest social
become and granted situations will be
us the freedom that translated into the
sets us apart from any “real world.”
other nation in the
world.
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
contributors to this forum.
Joe Benik of Allen: America’s best idea is the
Patent Act of 1790. The United States was not the
first government to use patents to protect inven-
tors, but this act meant that America would be-
come a country that rewarded innovation. Ameri-
ca’s well-deserved reputation as a fountainhead of
innovation, creativity and out-of-the-box thinking
has served us well for 219 years.
Sallie Henry of Frisco: America’s greatest idea
has been its public school system, which puts an ed-
ucation within the reach of every child in America.
My daddy preached education to us as though it
were the gospel, so we believed it was.
Jeff Fortney Sr. of Plano: America’s best idea
has been the simple belief that common people
could do extraordinary things. Thus we had a con-
stitution that still stands the test of time. Even
when we disagree, we know that we have the rights
to do so. We’re like a family. We can argue, but lord
help the country that tries to get in the middle of it.
Fidel Davila of Plano: The reasons national
parks are “America’s Best Idea” are based on our
democratic principles. National parks symbolize
the idea that Americans collectively own their
country’s natural beauty rather than it belonging to
the landed aristocracies, which is the case in other
countries. In fact, some of our national parks were
deeded directly or through philanthropy by some of
our wealthiest landed citizens in their recognition
that such beauty should not belong to only one or a
few citizens, but to all citizens.
Kathy Palomino of Sachse: America’s best idea
was the Works Projects Administration, and I wish
we could bring it back. Because of it, we have some
fine examples of art, architecture and books in pub-
lic places. Out-of-work artists and writers (among
others) were employed to build bridges, design
buildings, and write about each state.
John Kaiser of Garland: I think that America’s
best idea has been the Interstate Highway System
that allows us to easily travel to areas such as our
national parks and while also providing cheap, easy
movement of goods from factories to consumers.
SIGN UP
These responses are from readers who have asked
to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor-
mation to communityopinions@dallasnews.com.
E
very soon-to-be 13-year-old hopes
and wishes for that one special gift
from Mom and Dad: a cellphone. For
a teenager, a cellphone is another step closer
to adulthood. The next clear step: getting a
car.
And that’s the problematic mixture that
the new House Bill 339,
which took effect on Sept.
1, is trying to address by
banning individuals under
the age of 18 from texting
while driving.
Having a phone in their
hands has become such a
Voices routine that when
Student teenagers start driving a
car, they don’t consider the
possibility of a tragic outcome. Cellphones
are appendages to teenagers. The device is as
much a part of the daily routine as washing
hair or brushing teeth.
Although most of the media and the
public blame texting and driving problems
on teenagers, I believe it would be a problem
for any age group.
Having House Bill 339 only apply to
drivers under the age of 18 it implies that it is
OK, for adults to text while driving. Texting
and driving should not be allowed at all for
anyone. It takes your focus off of everything
FILE 2008/Associated Press
but your phone. Taking your eyes off the
road for a moment can cause an accident.
You would think that it would be just plain,
common sense not to text, write or read
something while driving, but apparently we
have to have a law making it illegal to make
people realize the danger.
While teenagers are often careless in
many aspects of life, as they become more
mature in responsibilities, the dangers of
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
texting are clear. I am responsible for the
care of two children after school a couple of
times each week. I have realized how
important it is that I pay close attention to
transporting them safely from school to
home. Using my cellphone with them in my
car is out of the question.
Recently a British public service
announcement has been making a splash on
YouTube with an unprecedented number of
daily views. This PSA graphically depicts an
accident happening due to teen’s texting
while driving. If this makes just one person
stop texting while driving the PSAs efforts
will have been worth it.
As a nation, we have witnessed far too
many tragic deaths from automobile
accidents. We must all do everything
possible to help prevent these tragic
accidents. Therefore, no texting, reading,
applying makeup or fidgeting in your purse
or briefcase while operating an automobile.
It’s just common sense.
Avery Hurst is a senior at J.J.
Pearce High School in
Richardson, and she is a
Student Voices volunteer
columnist. To respond to this
column, send an e-mail to
voices@dallasnews.com.
RAISE YOUR VOICE
The Dallas Morning News is accepting
applications for Community Voices. Voices
volunteers write opinion columns every four
to six weeks and are the “stars” of the weekly
Sounding Off feature that appears on Sun-
days, in which the Voices and other readers
respond to a question of the week. To get an
idea of what kinds of topics Voices write
about, visit dallasnews .com/voices.
Apply in four easy steps:
1. Write a little about yourself and put to-
gether a list of current and previous civic in-
volvements. How would others in the com-
munity describe you? What is unique about
your background and experience? Why
should we choose you?
2. Share a previous writing sample or
write something new on a current topic. A
writing sample should be 600-650 words.
3. Jot down three other topics you would
like to write about.
4. E-mail the application to
voices@dallasnews. com. Please include
your address and phone number.
Deadline: 4 p.m. Oct. 5.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

B0920EB008PQ
B0920EB008PB
B8 E 09-20-2009 Set: 17:31:05
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10B Sunday, September 27, 2009 E dallasnews.com The Dallas Morning News

Community opinions A forum for readers in Collin, Dallas and Rockwall counties

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
My students’ stories
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’ We can all benefit from tales of triumph, says Tina Kelman of McKinney
M
ost people automatically assume These stories, as horrible as they sound to me, In the aftermath of the tragic events in the
latest epic work — The National that ESL classes are filled with are tales of triumph, perseverance and victory. past few years, we now live in a society where
Parks: America’s Best Idea — debuts illegal immigrants from places After listening to their stories, I feel cultural biases have become, if not accepted,
on PBS tonight. Are public parks still like Mexico or Central America. This is far ashamed to have ever criticized my own then overlooked. In order to protect our
from the truth. As an ESL teacher, I can tell upbringing, living in a trailer park. We didn’t children’s futures we can no longer allow our
relevant in an age of unlimited you that our schools are filled with students have much money, but I was well fed, well fears of differences, strangeness and
entertainment options? from all over the world. provided for and loved. I never feared for my foreignness to ruin an opportunity for our
Some students immigrate because their safety as a child. I never felt religious children to broaden their perspectives.
parents are working in the persecution. I could go to bed with the I grew up being told America was a
United States for a few knowledge that everything would be OK melting pot, but this implies that we are all
years, but many are here when I woke up. the same. One of the honors of living in
because their parents are Our immigrant students have not had America is that we are free to be what we are,
looking for a better life for those same luxuries. They have had more and are allowed to become what we want to
Laurie Lynn Brennan Tanksley them. Who among us suffering in their short lives than most of us be. As parents, we have the power to help our
Lindemeier Senior, McKinney wouldn’t do everything in will ever endure. children become emotionally mature and
Voice and piano Boyd High School our power to give our Because of their backgrounds, our culturally tolerant individuals. Our children
teacher, McKinney Voices child a life full of meaning immigrant students have a wealth of recite what they hear at home without
With our nation’s and purpose rather than knowledge to bring to the school experience. stopping to wonder if these sentiments honor
Yes, public parks youth suffering from Teacher
struggles and hardship? Every student benefits when he or she hears a their own belief system.
matter! In this age of growing obesity
rates, the importance
I spend my days endeavoring to create comparison of our political system to a system If we allow our children the opportunity to
“sit on your bottom
and do as much as of public parks to our experiences that will push my students well-known by the ESL students. What about experience diversity without influences from
possible with out communities is as toward fluency in the English language. comparing geography, science techniques, our own fears and misconceptions, they may
leaving your house,” prevalent as ever. Unfortunately, I also spend a share of my legal systems, literature, math computation or rise to the challenge and become the change
we need to encour- Finding a place that time defending my students’ existence and even how letters are formed? our society was founded on. We need to help
age people to children can enjoy, their right to be in regular classrooms with Who would not benefit from sitting next to our children see that the immigrant student
breathe the “fresher” while also getting mainstream students. a person who knows what the Pilgrims must has a voice, too, and that we can learn so much
air in the national them the exercise I listen to my ESL students report their have felt like when they escaped religious if we simply stop and listen.
parks and look into a required for their stories of coming to the United States: persecution and arrived in a strange and
canyon, not at a health, is almost
stories of horror, fear, abuse and even death. foreign land? Who wouldn’t benefit from Tina Kelman is an ESL teacher
computer screen all impossible. A park is
Stories of walking away from families and sitting and participating in a diverse at Faubion Middle School in
the time. one of the few places
homes, climbing into dark trucks, crossing classroom? I know I am a better teacher for McKinney. She is also a
that does that.
stormy rivers. They saw drowning people having become the student of other cultures. Teacher Voices volunteer
and were left in the hands of strangers who Their existence has broadened our society and columnist. Her e-mail address
would be taking them to their new home. made us the nation we are today. is teacher@kelman.us.

Follow up on first impressions

Avery Hurst Jeri L. Chambers
Senior, J.J. Pearce Fifth-grade teacher,
High School, Plano
Richardson
Our family has been
Nature and the pro-
tection of wildlife,
blessed by the phys-
ical, emotional and
You may find a new point of view, says Sneha Raghunathan of Plano
unique vistas and spiritual high we have
experienced at Yo-
“High school is a caste system.” “Partner’s PE” class, a class where I could help Unless we try to reach out to people who are
natural resources will
always be relevant to semite, Bryce Can- — Actress Jane Lynch, out with the special ed fitness class. I was different from us, we can never truly know
a great society. Fu- yon, Zion Canyon and on the pilot episode of Glee. apprehensive and doubtful. “What if my ourselves.
ture generations will the Grand Canyon. partner hates me? What if I’m a bad helper? This doesn’t apply only to high school.
High school may not be as rigid as a true
look back on us one We’ll choose these What if I mess up?” As you would expect, I How many times have you wanted to talk to
caste system, but it’s absolutely true that
day and wonder why astounding experi- was unsure of what to expect. the mysterious couple next door, but just
students are sorted into categories. Well, not
we did some really ences over theme However, throughout the year, I found never had time? How many times have you
stupid things, but the parks any day. all students.
that working with these students helped me wanted to have a chat with the mailman, but
national park system Whenever we think
actually build my confidence. I learned how couldn’t get to it? If we all just try to learn
will be thought of as about high school, do we
to look at things differently. I learned how to from others, and from others’ experiences, we
one of America’s ever think about the special
communicate in new ways, not just with my can have a rich experience of our own.
great ideas. education students? I
voice. I learned about so many unique people, So go out and talk to someone that you
know what you’re thinking:
who were just as eager about football games would probably never talk to before. Sure, you
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular “She’s going to go all
contributors to this forum. and dances as everyone else. may not be able to have a conversation with
mushy-gushy,
Most important, I learned that first everybody, but even one person can impact
Sarah Stinnett of Plano: In a culture rife with
Disney-movie on me.” But
impressions are really not as accurate as they your life. And maybe, just maybe, we can
materialism, the people are primed to relate to na- take a moment to think
Voices about it.
seem. break through the caste systems that divide
ture as a commodity, in this case, the neatly pack- Student At the end of the course, I realized that us.
aged and sublimely marketed product of a national In many schools,
Partner’s PE provided me with an
park. It’s a good — pun intended. special-ed students are
opportunity that no college credit or AP class Sneha Raghunathan is a
isolated from the rest of the student body.
Carl Garner of Mesquite: Public parks are still a would give me: the opportunity to discover junior at Plano Senior High
Some people I’ve talked to didn’t even know School and a Student Voices
wonderful attribute of America. However, their rel- aspects of others that I would have never
that there was such a department. Yet, it does volunteer columnist. To
evance to today’s culture is lost to technology. If you expected, and discover aspects of myself that
exist and is an integral part of the student respond to this column, send
went to a public park today, more than two-thirds of were previously hidden.
body. an e-mail to voices@dallasnews.com.
the people would be on laptops or cellphones. An We can’t just stay within our little bubbles.
I remember when I signed up for a
appreciation of God’s great outdoors would slow us
down in our “get it fast” lifestyle.
Andy Essary of Plano: Public parks encourage
Americans to think of something being “ours” rather LETTERS
than “mine.”
Nancy Price of Wylie: With the ever-increasing
Don’t limit road improvements
building in America, national parks are vitally im- In 2004, the Collin County Commission-
portant so that we can keep some of our native land- ers Court adopted a road asphalting policy: to
scape. I don’t want my grandchildren to think the upgrade 50 miles of road from rock to asphalt
earth is made of concrete and asphalt. annually. Since that time we have exceeded 50
miles almost every year. Some years, we have
Fred Frawley of Plano: We have lifetime passes
asphalted up to 60 miles to 70 miles of county
to our national parks.
roads. Under this policy, our public works
Doug Farrow of Rockwall: I am biased on this budget has not increased, and we have also
one, since I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Big lowered the tax rate.
Bend National Park in Texas. My father and mother Our county judge has placed on our Sept.
both took summer jobs there in the summer of 1948, 28 agenda to discuss freezing the miles of
and, well, let’s just say that I think national parks roads to be asphalted at 50 miles. In other
matter a LOT. words, even if we can upgrade 60 miles to 70
miles of roads per year, we should stop at 50
Jeff Fortney Sr. of Plano: I truly believe that
and then go into a maintenance mode.
without parks our life expectancy may be shorter. It
This new policy means that it will take sev-
is nature’s health care reform.
eral more years to have all of our county roads
upgraded, and it will also be more expensive
SIGN UP
to taxpayers as the price of materials contin-
These responses are from readers who have asked ues to increase.
to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be Please join me in convincing commission-
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact infor- ers that we should continue to upgrade our
mation to communityopinions@dallasnews.com.
county roads as efficiently as possible and that
we do not need a cap on how many miles we
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
can upgrade every year. Please send an e-mail
to commcourt@collincountytx.gov in sup- put it in bright red?
RAISE YOUR VOICE port of the continued upgrading of our county
Be a “star” of the weekly Sounding Off feature roads.
Signs and speed limits And then there is the new speed limit on
certain highways: 70 mph. If the law says 70,
that appears in this spot on Sundays. Once all county roads are upgraded, we I have seen the new signs in the school people are going to drive 75 mph to 80 mph. I
The Dallas Morning News is accepting applica- can then save taxpayers almost $9 million an- zones: speed limit, no cellphone, etc., etc. travel on Interstate 30 from Dallas to Rock-
tions for Community Voices, a panel of volunteer nually in upgrade costs and have a much im- There were so many signs on the post, I would wall. I set my cruise to 60, and people whiz by
columnists who will be regular contributors to the proved quality of life for our rural citizens. certainly have a problem if I were driving. me, especially 18-wheelers. They should be re-
Opinions page inside the Metro section. For more Joe Jaynes, Why don’t they have a sign about cell- stricted to a lane of their own.
information, send an e-mail to voices@dallasnews Collin County commissioner, District 3 phone usage before the other warnings and Lucretia Green, Rockwall
.com.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties

They’re raising their voices

Today, we introduce our 2009-10 Teacher Voices and Student Voices volunteers.
They will write columns and be featured in Sounding Off on Sundays.

Sophia Chavez Viviana Cruz Ana Juan Tim Greenwell

Junior, Nimitz High School, Irving
Personal introduction: “Hi! I’m Sophia
Chavez. I tend to smile a lot, and I laugh at
everything.”
Favorite sport: Quidditch
Friend’s description: A “creepster” is the
word a friend used to describe Sophie. “Not the
‘hide outside your window and spy on you’
creepster, but a dedicated one. She creeps
through information and sources and finds out
everything she needs before she even starts
writing. If she doesn’t know it for sure, she won’t
put it down.”
Junior, Newman Smith High School, Carrollton
Background: “I’m 15 years old, and I was
born in Oaxaca, Mexico. My family immigrated
in ’97, first my father, then the rest of us, to
Dallas. I am Jewish and proud to be so. People
think that is strange, considering my birthplace,
looks and name, but what can I say? My parents
were young, they weren’t thinking about Jewish
names when I was born.”
Other interests: DECA (marketing,
management and entrepreneurship), French
Club, Interact Club and photojournalism.
Fourth-grade bilingual teacher,
Otis Brown Elementary, Irving
Perspective: “This will be my third year
teaching, but it still feels like my first. You’re
never done learning as a teacher. We don’t know
it all, even if our kids think we do.”
Goal: “My main goal in teaching is not to
have exceptional scores on a test but to influence
my students in a more profound way. To show
them there is a much bigger world out there
than just their little bubble they call home.”
Freshman World Geography teacher,
Flower Mound High School, Lewisville ISD
Perspective: “For me, teaching is about
giving back. I had a great educational experience
growing up, and my goal is to provide the same
for the current younger generation.”
Source of hope: “Teaching is all about the
kids, or should be, because without them, there
would be no schools, no teachers and our society
would find it difficult to advance and move
forward. I am blessed to be where I am and
doing what I love.”

Caroline Jones Ashleigh Heaton Lade Obamehinti Nandita Singh

Senior from Southlake, Ursuline Academy, Dallas Junior, Coppell High School Junior, Trinity High School, Euless Sophomore, Hebron High School, Carrollton

Teacher recommendation: “Caroline is not
afraid to speak her own opinion, even when it
diverges from the ideas and opinions of her
classmates. Though she is firm in her stance and
is not afraid to debate her classmates, Caroline is
considerate of her peers and listens to the ideals
and values of others.”
Perspective: “A history and English nerd,”
Caroline believes that “understanding our past
can change our future.”
Promises: “New opinions and viewpoints I
know to be very different from other kids my
age.”
Newspaper cred: Entertainment editor of
The Sidekick, one of the area’s best student
newspapers.
Outside of school: “Each spring I perform in
my church’s annual musical, this year’s being
West Side Story. Church is a big part of my life,
because I am involved in its youth council, choir
and ministries.”
Fresh ideas: “I always strive to seek out
different angles to an argument and find unique
topics to comment upon. I avoid columns about
how stressful high school is like the plague.”
Full plate: In addition to acting, student
council, tennis and other activities, she’s also a
Traveler’s Aid volunteer at the Dallas/Fort
Worth International Airport. “I volunteer on
Saturday mornings from 6 to 10 a.m. helping
travelers with their emergency needs.”
Most unique hobby: “I am a member of the
NASA INSPIRE online community, where I
share and exchange ideas with students across
the nation who love solving complex academic
problems.”
Life view: “I am a Christian who believes in
making a difference in my generation with the
talents God has given me.”
Background: “Ever since I was a little kid, I
have been known among my friends to be both a
chatterbox and an avid listener. I have never
been one to be quiet about my thoughts or
observations.” On what? “Anything from the
Dallas Cowboys to the latest political issues.”
Thinking globally: “As a fluent speaker in
Hindi, I am working toward becoming
multilingual by learning Spanish, which will
enable me to adapt and relate to people with
different interests and backgrounds.”
Column idea: “How well our generation is
preparing to compete in the globalized
economy.”

Kim Barnes Debbie Gallagher K.B. Phipps Julie Lewis

Head of Early Childhood, Computer teacher, Daniel Intermediate School, English/Language Arts teacher, AMI/Math Interventionist,
Greenhill School, Addison Duncanville ISD Arnold Middle School, Grand Prairie Lamar Middle School, Irving

Why she teaches: “My career has been
dedicated to the lives of young children from age
3 to 8, with my passion being in
pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade.
Early childhood educational experiences are the
foundation upon which each person’s learning is
based. If there are air holes in that ‘concrete,’
then the foundation may be brittle and break
along the way.”
Column idea: The importance of play and
unstructured time in children’s lives; why we
should be underscheduling, rather than
overscheduling, children’s lives.
Background: Been teaching fifth- and
sixth-graders for more than 26 years. “I also
teach a night class for education majors (juniors
and seniors) at the University of North Texas
Dallas campus on using technology in the
classroom.”
Family: Raised two daughters, one an Aggie,
one a Longhorn. “Yes, I am a house divided.”
High praise: “One of my greatest thrills was
receiving a letter forwarded from MIT. A former
student had written about me being his most
influential teacher.”
Outside the classroom: Chairperson of her
school’s Multi-Cultural Committee. “In
addition, I have spent the last four years as a
facilitator for an experiential learning program
for at-risk youth and their parents.”
Why she teaches: “I want students to have a
unique educational experience in the classroom
that helps them to grow as people and to become
a productive part of the community. In teaching,
I know that I am playing a valuable role in
shaping our future leaders.”
Column idea: “Are minority students sent to
alternative education programs more often?”
A parent’s perspective: “I am a parent of
three gifted-and-talented students, one of
whom happens to have a learning disability, and
all three are extremely ADHD. I’ve been on both
sides of the table when it comes to students. I
never allow my sons or any student to use any
disability — big or small — as an excuse for not
succeeding.”
A learner’s perspective: “I love learning
from my students. We all have our own unique
experiences, and when we share them, it helps
students make connections to one another.”

Lawsuit fears limit play
Re: “Field of dreams or field of
fees? City discourages impromp-
tu games, says Brian Brown of
Plano,” last Sunday Student
Voices column.
We continually see concern
over the current generation be-
ing obese. Yet we deny them the
chance to get outside and work it
off.
Likely part of the Plano Park
and Recreation’s reason for re-
quiring reservations on the fields
is to prevent litigation. Reserva-
tions entail someone signing for
responsibility, thus relieving the
city. That speaks poorly for our
current mind-set.
We are denying our younger
generation what we had growing
up. I, and most other octogenari-
LETTERS
ans, grew up in an era when just
about every small town and city
had vacant lots where children
played. There would be a scrub
ball game going every day the sun
shone during school vacation.
Any kid could come in and start
at left field and work up to batter
anytime, regardless of athletic
ability.
That was not organized ath-
letics, but it sure kept a lot of kids
out of trouble and in good physi-
cal condition.
So, giving back some of the
old ways might well be a benefit.
How about a state law exempting
property owners from litigation
if they agree to allow children to
play on their vacant property?
Might just decrease child obesity
and delinquency.
Bob Derryberry, Dallas
Another liberty lost
What a wonderful, intelligent
and articulate opinion by Brian
Brown regarding having to re-
serve and pay for an unused field
in Plano for a ballgame with
friends. What possible harm
could come from a group of
young men or women playing a
game on property maintained by
the taxes of the city of Plano?
I suppose the city would rath-
er they “hang out on a corner”
with nothing to do, perhaps initi-
ating mischief they would never
have otherwise thought about.
Another liberty lost to the
government. Are we still able to
walk through the parks without a
permit? How about the city-
owned sidewalks? Ridiculous!
G. Lanzone, Plano

WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties

See the sights of North Texas first

Be a tourist in your own backyard, says Richard Kyle Lester of Fort Worth
Staycation — (stae-kay-shun), noun: staying and looking back on that time, my question for making fun of the bicycle security guards. phenomenal Dallas World Aquarium (complete
in one’s own town in lieu of an out-of-town should’ve been, “What ISN’T there to do around And the full-service bar located in the building’s with a three-toed sloth) and the Sixth Floor
vacation only to find out how mind-blowingly here?” lobby allows you to choose which beverage you’d Museum, you really can’t go wrong.
awesome your town actually is. You really have your pick — Fort Worth’s like to come spewing out of your nose from Unfortunately, the length restrictions on this
rustic stockyard feel and Dallas’ hip, urbanite laughing so hard. column prohibit me from going into every

I
t’s hard to see the benefits of our current
arrangement. And so many entertainment On the other, more urbanite side of the metroplex city, like the quaint feel of downtown
economic circumstances, but one that has
districts. Let’s be honest, metroplex citizens. We metroplex, Dallas has just as much to offer. One Grapevine and all its rich wines or an
become increasingly clear to me is this
basically live in vacation-land! of the more obscure areas is the Dallas Farmers always-dependable, exciting afternoon at
whole idea of a “staycation.” As someone who’s
If you aren’t convinced, take a stroll in Market. That, in my humble opinion, is one of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. But regardless of
always liked our local
downtown Fort Worth and see what I’m talking the best ways you can spend a morning. It’s where you go in the metroplex, spending time
attractions, I confess that I’m
about. Try out one of the gourmet steakhouses in pretty incredible how much fresh food they can here rather than going out of town isn’t the worst
pretty excited to see others in
Sundance Square. Or, if you’re in the mood for fit in just a few acres. They manage to do it well, fate our economy can dish out.
my community enjoying what I
something more mellow, one of the local dives though, and it’s all delicious. And it doesn’t hurt We live in a far greater area than most in this
always have.
serving up tasty bar food. Even better, you’re to know that you’re supporting the country. So grab your camera and head out of
Flash back to August 2002.
guaranteed to find fantastic live music, hard-working farmers of Texas. town — to one of our other towns. After all, it’s a
I, an eager young Horned Frog,
anywhere from country to jazz. Afterward, try hitting up the Bishop Arts pretty nice chunk of earth we live in.
just waved goodbye to my
Located conveniently in the middle of District to kill another few hours. Antiques, an
Voices parental units as I began my
downtown Fort Worth, Four Day Weekend art gallery and an old-soda shop make that area Richard Kyle Lester of Fort
Community first college semester at Texas
offers improvisational comedy at its best. These a pretty fun place to be. Worth is a public administration
Christian University. Once I graduate student at UNT and a
five comedic geniuses will take phrases written And if you want something more
became comfortable with life at TCU, I started Community Voices volunteer
on Post-It notes and turn them into an hour and high-profile, you couldn’t pick a better place
asking the natural question: “So what’s there to columnist. His e-mail address is
a half of pure hilarity, with a particular penchant than Dallas. Between Reunion Tower, the
do around here, anyway?” Now, seven years later pennric30@hotmail.com.

Officers and
RAISE YOUR
VOICE
The Dallas Morning News
is accepting applications for

gentlemen
Community Voices, a panel of
volunteer columnists who will
be regular contributors to the
Opinions page inside the Met-
ro section.
Voices volunteers write
Shirlene Lucy of Carrollton opinion columns every four to
six weeks and are the “stars” of
takes on myths of military life the weekly Sounding Off fea-
ture that appears on Sundays,

D
uring most of my 47
years of married life, I
have been the wife of
an officer in the U.S. Marine
Corps, which took us to live in
five states and one foreign
country. And during that time, I
have been amazed at how little
people know about the military.
For example, most people
use the term “soldier” to refer to
anyone in the military. Actually,
a soldier is in the Army only.
You probably know that
someone in the Marine Corps is
called a Marine, but did you
know that a serviceman or
woman in the Air Force is an
airman or Air Force officer, and
someone in the Navy is either a
sailor (enlisted) or a Navy
officer?
Oh, but there are other
myths and misperceptions:
sort of. You receive a housing
allowance that you forfeit if you
live on base.
Wives take on the rank of
their husbands. Not true! Well,
mostly not true. Wives of higher
ranking officers are given the
same courtesies you would give
the wife of an executive of a
civilian company. I have heard a
story about several spouses
gathered for a briefing. As the
story goes, someone asks all
them to change seats based on
their ranking. After a confused
and frantic 10 minutes, the
person returned, only to remind
them that spouses hold no rank,
and we must always remember
that. Great story, but probably a
military urban legend.
But rank is important in all
aspects of military life — from
housing to retirement. That’s
in which the Voices and other
readers respond to a question
of the week. To get an idea of
what kinds of topics Voices
write about, visit dallasnews
.com/voices.
Apply in four easy steps:
1. Write a little about your-
self and put together a list of
current and previous civic in-
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
volvements. How would others
in the community describe
Defensive driving class you? What is unique about
your background and experi-
ence? Why should we choose
you?
can be just the ticket 2. Share a previous writing
sample or write something new
on a current topic. A writing
sample should be 600-650
You, too, can become safer on the road, says words.
3. Jot down three other top-
Caroline Jones of Southlake ics you would like to write
about.

Officers have to “re-up”
every few years. That may be
true in the
enlisted
ranks, but
among
officers, at
least in the
Marine
Corps,
officers
Voices remain
Community officers even
after they
retire or resign their
commission. Yes, they do have
obligations of service once they
are selected for promotion to
the next rank, but that is a
matter of a few years, and only
if they want to retire at that
higher rank.
All uniforms are provided
free of charge. True for
enlisted, not for officers. And
having dress uniforms, which
are very expensive, is not
optional for officers.
The military offers a
generous vacation allowance.
This is partially true, but do
understand: 30 days of leave
per year means not 30 work
days, but 30 calendar days.
There is no advantage in taking
your leave around a weekend or
holiday, because you must
include those days in your
vacation the same as any other
day.
Military housing is
furnished free of charge. Well,
GET OTHER Voices columns from across North Texas
and add your own comments.
dallasnews.com/voices
part of the culture others find
hard to understand.
Something the wife of one of
my husband’s superior officers
always said was, “Junior officers
should never forget the
difference in rank, and superior
officers should never remember
it.” A good rule to live by.
But the biggest myth might
have to do with tours of duty
abroad. They say that each
separation gets easier to
endure, but that is simply not
true. At least it wasn’t for me.
Back when my husband
served in Desert Storm in 1991,
I counted the number of
separations of eight weeks or
more that we experienced
throughout his career. It was at
least seven, from 13 months in
Vietnam to as few as five
months after the bombing of
the Marine barracks in Beirut in
1983.
Being retired and back in
Texas, I have reflected on our
time away, and have concluded
that even during the difficult
times, I wouldn’t have traded
the experiences we had for
anything.
Shirlene Lucy
of Carrollton is
a retired
portrait
photographer
and
Community Voices volunteer
columnist. Her e-mail address is
shirlenelucy@msn .com.
W
herever I go, all I have to say is,
“Man, were there a lot of awful
drivers out this morning,” and
instantly I have just made a room full of
new friends eager to share their
experiences.
But it’s funny how most people never
talk much about enrolling in a defensive
driving course. When something has the
power to wipe a ticket off my record or
lower my insurance costs, why wouldn’t I
do it?
But the sheer mention of my taking
defensive driving online to a group of
friends drew only a one-word response:
“Ew.”
Such a simple and
helpful tool that saves
drivers money and
improves their driving
should not be so strongly
disliked and avoided.
The best part of
defensive driving are the
Voices fun facts. Here’s my
favorite: If a police car,
Student
an ambulance, and a fire
truck are all stopped at a four-way stop
with sirens blaring and lights flashing
along with an average postal vehicle, which
has the right of way? No, this is not one of
those priest-and-a-rabbi kind of jokes. The
correct answer is the postal vehicle because
it is doing official United States business. If
anyone already knows that, then I’m
impressed.
There are many serious advantages to
taking defensive driving. With roads and
drivers changing every day, it’s necessary to
stay aware and to understand what all
drivers go up against. Thinking of that
pesky little red-light camera recently put
on that busy intersection? After the city of
Garland began using red-light cameras in
2003, collisions in the selected
intersections have been reduced by a
whopping 53 percent, and collisions with
resulting injuries have gone down an even
4. E-mail the application to
greater 80 percent.
voices@dallasnews.com.
Plus, we keep learning more about
Please include your address
driving behavior. For example, now we
and phone number.
know that most fatigue-related crashes
Deadline: 4 p.m. Oct. 5.
occur on the roads between the morning
hours of 1 and 6, so if you’re out then and
feeling wide awake, at least be aware of
surrounding drivers.
Think you’re a great driver? Then retake LETTERS
the driver’s ed test. Some of it’s easy to
remember: who has the right of way, how Slower speed advised
to deal with hydroplaning (something I
I am a regular Bush Turn-
unfortunately have personal experience
pike driver who believes that
with — check out the marks the curb left on
increasing the speed limit from
my Volvo), and what road signs mean by
60 mph to 70 mph was a bad
shape, picture and color. But are you
idea.
absolutely sure you know what to do when
The increased pollution and
driving down the highway and the
gasoline consumption alone
accelerator sticks?
are strong arguments against
I’ve only been out of drivers ed three
it.
years, and I couldn’t come up with a
However, the main reason I
confident answer for that one.
think it was a bad idea is due to
Defensive driving can be a good
decreased safety. In the city,
reminder of exact rules that become a little
particularly at rush hour, 70
hazy over the years; some examples
mph is simply too high.
concern how far a car should be parked
Often traffic backs up at
from the curb or how far any object is
major highway interchange ex-
allowed to be jutting out from the back of
its so the right lanes are at a
the car. All bits of useful information even
near-standstill. It is obviously
the best drivers forget. Besides, you might
not safe having vehicles fly by
avoid an unnecessary ticket or a
these cars at such high speeds.
heartbreaking accident.
Stopping distances and acci-
Whether it is done to save a record from
dent severity increase greatly
any mar, save a checkbook from utter
with speed.
destruction, or just to feel better about your
Nearly every day since the
driving abilities, defensive driving is a good
increase, I find myself having
idea.
to brake hard due to traffic sud-
denly slowing ahead.
Caroline Jones of
I advise that the North Tex-
Southlake is a senior at
as Tollway Authority reconsid-
Ursuline Academy in
Dallas, and she’s a Student er the current speed limit and
Voices volunteer at least reduce the maximum to
columnist. To respond to 65 mph.
this column, send an e-mail to William Henze, Irving
voices@dallasnews.com.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
Do we fail some students?
time to teach them the alphabet; if one can’t
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’ Children need time to deal with their special needs, says read, I want time to teach them to make the
“sh” sound; if one can’t add 2 plus 2, I want
latest epic work — The National Ana Juan, and teachers don’t always have it to give. time to teach them how to count using their
Parks: America’s Best Idea — debuts fingers.
on PBS Sept. 27. What do you think
M
y older brother was stamped by was pulled out from his classroom at school The reality of it is I don’t have time, and I
our public school as “Special Ed,” to go work with the so-called dumb kids. can’t slow down enough to catch these
has been America’s best idea? and as embarrassing as it is to If you met my brother today, you would individuals up. The pressure of obtaining
admit, my family and I treated him as if he never have imagined he had any trouble in high TAKS scores rules out straying from the
were a different species. school ... well, at least not more than any curriculum calendar by even a day.
My parents worked two jobs, so my other person. He is well spoken, can read, So what do I do? What can a public school
older brother, younger brother, and I were write and carry on an interesting do for these children? I am provided with
home alone a lot. My mother handed me conversation. His only “problem” is he was help, but not as much as these children
almost all responsibility because, the born with a minor hearing disability, nothing deserve.
Shirlene Lucy Nandita Singh theory was, my older brother wasn’t smart that can’t be solved with a hearing aide. Just because a little girl can barely spell
Retired portrait Sophomore, Hebron enough to do anything right. He would stay So why did we treat him so differently all her name doesn’t mean she doesn’t have the
photographer and High School, home playing games as I those years? My mother, being an ability to beautifully articulate a story about
volunteer, Carrollton Carrollton angrily marched to immigrant, was bombarded by meetings that her summer vacation. Just because a little
McDonald’s cursing confused her. Unintentionally, as her boy can’t read a sentence as simple as “See
Keeping a portion of America’s best idea
him and his “condition.” attitude changed, it taught me that it was OK Spot run” doesn’t mean he won’t completely
our beautiful country has been the creation
beautiful and as close of the National Foot-
But there was an to view my brother as incompetent. grasp the definition of matter and all of its
to the way it was ball League. Every upside, too. I was Most years, I have 20-25 students, and phases.
when our country Sunday people sit spoiled rotten because I usually a handful are identified as having It’s not that I don’t want to include them
was discovered, in down to watch one of was consistently on the special needs. In just the first few days of in my classroom — I do. But I think every
keeping the land the most entertaining A honor roll. My school, I can see the other children treating student deserves to feel and be successful in
pristine and undevel- and competitive Voices brother was typically them as I once treated my brother. an environment where time is on their side.
oped, has been sports around. Teacher ignored. We’d even go My naı̈ve ambition to want to influence
America’s best idea. on family trips to children’s lives persuaded me to pursue a Ana Juan of Irving is a
Mexico and leave him behind with an aunt career in the field of education. However, I fourth-grade bilingual
for the holidays, a time when even the feel that having these students in my teacher. She is also a
lonely should be with their families. For a classroom is an injustice to them. Teacher Voices volunteer
really long time I believed him to be stupid I wish I could teach them what they are columnist. Her e-mail
and incapable, simply because I knew he capable of learning. If one can’t write, I want address is amj0026@yahoo.com.

Tim Greenwell Julie Lewis

Freshmen World
Geography teacher,
Flower Mound High
School, Lewisville ISD
The concept of the
melting pot was our
long-term best idea.
The diversity of
creativity and
thought that arrived
at our shores in our
first couple of centu-
ries led to some of the
most life-changing
inventions and dis-
coveries known to the
world.
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
AMI/Math
Interventionist,
Lamar Middle School,
Irving
I believe that Amer-
ica’s best idea has
been not only the
national parks, but
It’s all about the subgroups
also the National
Historic Register.
We’re measuring the am teaching I look at the students, not their
race and not their economic level or any
subgroups that will count. Schools that
choose higher numbers for their groups
Without these two
important organiza-
wrong thing in school other identifying factor measured by the
state.
indeed leave some kids outside the count. We
have some students counting more than
tions, we would lose
vital pieces of our accountability, says A principal in Grand Prairie recently
called in 60 black students for a meeting to
once and some not counting at all. It’s as if
they do not exist.
country’s past. challenge them to do better on the TAKS When teachers look at test results, all we
Debbie Gallagher test. Some students and parents were need are the scores for each student and
offended. overall pass/fail percentage. We need to see
of Cedar Hill A similar incident happened in the Katy which test questions were missed the most
school district. Separate assemblies were and which students need help in a particular

contributors to this forum.
Mary Anne Markley of Carrollton: Ken Burns is
spot on. Creation and preservation of the national
parks has definitely been America’s best idea. Nat-
ural wonders, grandeur, history and science, all in
one package. No limit on availability or participa-
tion. Sounds like a good deal to me.
Nell Anne Hunt of Irving: The best idea has been
to value each person equally. Having national parks
open to every single American is about as American
as it gets.
Bob Wild of Flower Mound: Anyone who has
driven long distances in the U.S. in the last half cen-
tury knows it’s the interstate highway system.
Becky Pullum of Irving: America’s best idea has
been to set aside public lands for conservation and
preservation. We can ill afford to lose these vital re-
sources. Research is still being done at all our na-
S
egregation is alive and well in Texas
schools. The results from the 2009
TAKS scores once again divide
students into “subgroups” —
African-American, Hispanic, White, Asian,
Native American, Economically
Disadvantaged, Special Education, Limited
English Proficiency,
Female and Male. All data
is over-analyzed using
these labels.
Integration began in
1954 with Brown v. Board
of Education of Topeka,
but for some reason the
federal government still
Voices wants to create divisions.
Teacher As teachers we are
expected to teach all our
students without any prejudice. We take
held for white and Hispanic students. It was
explained that the meetings were separate
because that is the way the state reports
achievement.
The No Child Left Behind Act requires
schools to track the performance of these
subgroups. Interestingly enough, the schools
that are integrated the most are the very
schools that can be more heavily penalized. If
a school has more subgroups than another, it
is easier for the less integrated school to
demonstrate “adequate yearly progress.”
I cringe when I hear about how a school
would have achieved higher recognition if
only a specific subgroup had performed
better.
And it gets complicated. Many students
are in several subgroups. For example a
special education, white student from a poor
family who speaks a language other than
subject area.
There’s nothing offensive about
identifying the students who need help with
“finding the main idea” in a reading passage
or “using division to solve a word problem.”
Standardized tests are very useful for
identifying students that need remediation.
We can then place these students in tutoring
classes and target those skills.
We do not need to be informed about
their economic status or race.
True integration will occur when test
results are based on individual achievement,
not how specific races, special education
students and economic groups perform.
Instead of the No Child Left Behind Act, we
need an Every Child is Treated Fairly Act.
Stop labeling and let us teach.
Debbie Gallagher of Cedar

tional parks as well as national forests and wildlife
preserves.
Stephen Matthews of Bedford: The GI Bill.
Since World War II, veterans have been able to
complete college degrees and build great things
that may not have been accomplished without the
education they received.
Diane Truitt of Irving: America’s best idea, the
foundation upon which all other ideas either stand
or fall, is that our rights are from our creator and
are not granted by someone in government.
Matt Brumit of Dallas: America’s best idea,
though encompassed by the national parks, is our
national monuments. Ranging from the Statue of
Liberty to the Arlington National Cemetery, they
have an incredible ability to instill patriotism in us,
and undaunted patriotism will keep our country
safe and prosperous.
Mary Ellen Gherardi of Coppell: I think the na-
tional parks are Mother Nature’s best idea. We just
had the wisdom not to meddle with them, and we
should continue to do so.
Richard S. Geiger of Dallas: God has blessed us
with an expansive, fertile zone and our Founding
Fathers gave us the best form of government. The
national park system is certainly among the best
ideas of our government.
Ken Mathias of Grand Prairie: America’s best
idea is that education is for all citizens, not just the
privileged few.
SIGN UP
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classes on cultural awareness and teaching to
a diverse student body.
It’s hypocritical to expect teachers and
administrators to look beyond race and
economic status, but then hand us our scores
divided by these very same factors. When I
English fails; his score counts more than
other students in determining whether a
school meets federal guidelines.
Also, NCLB requires each subgroup’s
results to be statistically reliable, and it lets
states choose the minimum size of the
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
Hill is a computer teacher at
Daniel Intermediate School
in Duncanville ISD and a
Teacher Voices volunteer
columnist. Her e-mail address is
dgallagher224@gmail.com.
RAISE YOUR VOICE
The Dallas Morning News is accepting
applications for Community Voices. Voices
volunteers write opinion columns every
four to six weeks and are the “stars” of the
weekly Sounding Off feature that appears
on Sundays, in which the Voices and other
readers respond to a question of the week.
To get an idea of what kinds of topics Voic-
es write about, visit dallasnews .com/voic-
es.
Apply in four easy steps:
1. Write a little about yourself and put
together a list of current and previous civic
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community describe you? What is unique
about your background and experience?
Why should we choose you?
2. Share a previous writing sample or
write something new on a current topic. A
writing sample should be 600-650 words.
3. Jot down three other topics you
would like to write about.
4. E-mail the application to
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your address and phone number.
Deadline: 4 p.m. Oct. 5.

HOW TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letters should be 200 words or fewer and include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification purposes. Only the name and city of the writer will be published. Letters will be edited
for length, clarity and style. Send by e-mail: communityopinions@dallasnews.com. By Fax: 972-263-0456. Or by Mail: P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265. For more information, contact
Michael Landauer, assistant editorial page editor for Community Opinions, at 214-977-8258 or mlandauer@dallasnews.com.

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6B Sunday, September 27, 2009 W dallasnews.com The Dallas Morning News

Community opinions A forum for readers in Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties

SOUNDING OFF
Comment on the following topic on our
blog: dallasnews.com/opinionblog.
Documentary filmmaker Ken
Burns’ latest epic work — The
National Parks: America’s Best Idea —
debuts on PBS tonight. Are
public parks still relevant in an
age of unlimited entertainment
options?
Shirlene Lucy
Retired portrait
photographer and
volunteer, Carrollton
Public parks will be
relevant as long as
one person feels the
peace of nature’s
quiet beauty. Parks
are even more rele-
vant in this age of
electronics, space
travel and ever-
growing cities.
Overcoming boundaries
T This friendship will
ypically friendship is between two
people who have things in common.
However, hosting a foreign exchange
student has proved to me that personal
differences cannot stop two individuals from
creating a friendship.
Here we have two 15-year-old girls — me,
an African-American from Euless, and her,
from Les Crots, Hautes Alpes, France. To-
gether, though, we learned what progressive
immersion of a friendship is all about.
I have to confess that my years of learning
and speaking French did nothing to erase
the distance between us. Things got off to a
shaky start, leaving me unsure of where our
friendship would end and whether it would
even begin. The initial fear of meeting some-
one new from a different country accus-
Kim Barnes tomed to different food, history, traditions
Head of Early Child-
and culture kept me from getting too close.
hood, Greenhill
After a week and a half, it became un-
School, Addison
ambiguous that we were more alike than I
Parks allow families a had thought. We both discovered when
“nature connection” prejudices and biases are gently placed
that they might not aside, it is easy to discover the similarities
otherwise pursue on you share and the positives you admire in
their own.
another human being.
As a typical American, I had this belief
that most of the French were narcissistic,
last, says Lade
Obamehinti
while she held the general opinion that Amer-
icans were domineering. As we began to speak
more and more, we realized we laughed at the
same things, that we shared similar high school
experiences and that we shared the common
ambition of becoming internationally dynamic
adults.
I’ve had many people ask me why my family
chose to host a foreign exchange student —
especially in this type of economy. The truth is
that sowing into the lives of others becomes a
priceless act, seeing that memories and people
are invaluable and irreplaceable. I grew up
around different cultures, and it taught me to
appreciate everyone for who he or she is, so
hosting an exchange student was a great way to
“travel” to another country never seen before.
When I do eventually visit France next year,
it will be a familiar place to me because of the
friendship that has enabled me to learn all
about the beautiful country. Learning about
the culture of another country also meant
learning the general opinions certain countries
have of the United States. It was interesting to
compare the different opinions of the general
populations of each country — to discover our
country was viewed as fat, domineering, fash-
ion-challenged, close-minded and globally
unaware. I learned that some in France view
Texans as horse-riding, country-music lis-
tening, cowboy-hat-wearing people.
For her part, she was surprised to learn that
the French were thought to be unhygienic
people who were haughty and conceited.
There are still many things for both of us to
learn about our cultures and many linguistic
hurdles for us to jump over. The bottom line is
that we both made a choice to look beyond our
differences and other people’s misperceptions
to develop this unique friendship.
Just a little over a month into the experi-
ence, I can confidently say that the friendship I
have formed with my foreign exchange sister
will last a lifetime.
Lade Obamehinti is a junior at
Trinity High School in Euless
and a Student Voices volun-
teer columnist. To respond to
this column, send an e-mail to
voices@dallasnews.com.

Getting over gasoline

Renewable sources will years to replace the existing
Nandita Singh Tim Greenwell gasoline-powered inventory.
Sophomore, Hebron
High School,
Freshmen World
Geography teacher,
fuel cars of the future, A logical next step from
here is to move to flexfuel
Carrollton Flower Mound High
School, Lewisville ISD
says Art Fleming (E85) vehicles so that the
engines can take advantage of
Parks are an escape

T
for people trapped in National parks are oday, there are about 250 million
“the other forms of more relevant today registered vehicles in the United
entertainment,” such than ever. Our society States, and of these, about 135 million
as e-mail, texting, seems to be too are classified as passenger vehicles. Virtually
television and MP3 indoors-oriented. We all of them run on gasoline. Yes, there are
players on a daily access everything
some diesels, a few hybrids, a few PHEVs
basis. Parks provide a from our living room
(plug-in hybrid electric), but for all practical
healthy and enjoyable easy chair or comput-
purposes, there are 135 million gasoline-
change of environ- er. Parks offer afford-
ment from buildings, powered cars out there. The average age of
able, up close and
roads, cars and con- personal opportuni- these vehicles is about nine years, which
crete. ties to discover the means it takes at least nine years to totally
natural beauty and replace all of them. Right now, the only re-
wildlife of our land. placements we have are other gasoline-pow-
ered vehicles.
That’s today. What do you think the future
Voices: The above Voices volunteers are regular
holds?
contributors to this forum.
The absolute perfect future state is one
where all passenger vehicles are plug-in
Craig Spitzberg of Dallas: Our national parks hybrid electric vehicles that obtain their
and monuments are extremely important. Most of electrons from clean, renewable sources such
the New Age entertainment is fleeting at best. Re- as photovoltaics, concentrated solar power,
gardless of how impressive the latest formulaic wind, geothermal, tidal, hydroelectric or
blockbuster (moneymaker) from Hollywood, it will nuclear. In this way, we harness the power of
never compare with the sight of a sunrise over the the sun to run our passenger vehicles, con-
Grand Canyon. tributing no CO2 emissions, and contribute
Lynn Walters of Irving: Yes. It is one way to ensure to a sustainable, renewable energy policy for
ourselves and future generations.
that beautiful and historic sites are maintained for
the future. We do not need condos and strip malls at But how do we get there? It can’t be one
the Gettysburg battleground, among others. giant leap, can it? The auto companies are
just now starting to come close to mass pro-
Shirley Jackson of Arlington: The majesty of un- ducing PHEVs and it will take nine-plus
spoiled creation cannot be underestimated. Parks
nourish the spirit and provide the quietude needed to
renew something within themselves. Communing
“other” fuels, gasoline mixtures
up to 85 percent ethanol, first
from food sources such as corn
and sugar cane, then evolve to
cellulosic ethanol from corn
stover, switchgrass, yard waste,
sustainable trees, etc.
Ultimately, though, we
must overcome our need for gas guzzling
tanks and muscle cars. We must stop using
our cars as a chest-expanding status symbol.
On the technical side, we must also find a
way to “re-fuel” our electric vehicles. The only
solution that exists on the table today is a
battery swap. It is not possible to pull into a
refueling station and recharge your batteries
in the five minutes that it takes today to fill
your gas tank.
Manufacturers have started the transition
to the “new” vehicles, but that path is long
and arduous. We must give them the credit
that is due for looking into the future and
seeing where the industry must go in order to
sustain itself.
You should consider what the future of
transportation will be like. We cannot contin-
ue in our current mode, because the foreign
oil issue continues to raise its ugly head and
the global climate change dilemma is “fueled”
by our love of cars and gasoline. Both of these
must change, and the PHEV with the right
WILLIAM “BUBBA” FLINT/Special Contributor
IC engine is the solution that we must strive
for. Renewable electrons and homemade
liquid fuels made from sustainable resources
are the ways to bring back energy indepen-
dence and a climate-aware nation.
There will be some speed bumps along the
way — batteries that fail, little engines that
thought they could, recharging issues, avail-
ability of refueling stations, etc. But that is
true with all new technologies and new ideas.
We must see this as the transition from
the easy, resource-depleting, environmentally
negative current state to the harder, sustain-
able, renewable, clean solution that will take
us and our descendants into the next century
and next millennium.
Art Fleming of Double Oak is
an IT systems engineer and a
Community Voices volunteer
columnist. His e-mail address
is art.t.fleming@ gmail.com.

Is school spirit a lost art?

with nature does more to calm our minds and hearts
in these troubled times than most medicines. Man
seemingly has an insatiable desire to destroy, but let’s
hope that never happens with our national parks.

T You can cheer

Richard Cook of Coppell: Public parks matter as
a way to commune and show our children nature in
the raw. Parks are a true family destination.
Linda Cawthon of Duncanville: Parks have be-
come more relevant because of the proliferation of
entertainment. These offer a respite from sensory
overload and an invitation to the beauty of the natu-
ral world, which inevitably renews the human spirit.
Jim Dyer of Carrollton: Public parks still matter.
All you have to do is look at attendance figures and it
is very easy to realize public parks are still popular.
SIGN UP
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to receive the weekly Sounding Off question. To be
added to the e-mail list, send your full contact informa-
tion to communityopinions@dallasnews.com.
RAISE YOUR VOICE
Be a “star” of the weekly Sounding Off feature
that appears in this spot on Sundays.
The Dallas Morning News is accepting applica-
tions for Community Voices, a panel of volunteer
columnists who will be regular contributors to the
Opinions page inside the Metro section. For more
information, send an e-mail to voices@dallasnews
.com.
wo, four, six, eight, who do we appreci-
ate?
When is the last time you heard
someone cheering for the schools in your
neighborhood? Or, more specifically, when
was the last time you cheered for your
schools?
It seems an increasing majority of folks
find education to be a scapegoat for the ills
and misdeeds of society. The list of percep-
tions includes, but is certainly not limited to,
students learning bad habits in school, the
idea that nothing worthwhile is being taught,
discipline is not enforced, students are being
told what to think, kids are bored — well, you
get the idea.
Promoting the negative instead of em-
bracing the positive is usually the easier
route. However, being overly negative does
not accomplish a thing and only adds to the
stress and burden of everyone involved. Yes,
admittedly, problems do exist and for some
the list of perceptions is their reality; howev-
er, the majority of activity that takes place in
education is creative and worthwhile.
As educators, we find ourselves balancing
the use of classroom time to teach both cur-
riculum and life skills. The same goes for
advisers, coaches, directors, and sponsors of
extra and co-curricular activities. The large
majority of us are doing what we can to assist
students in becoming not only educated
students on, says
Tim Greenwell
young people during the time they spend
with us, but also instilling in them the desire
to be lifelong learners.
So now back to the cheering. Schools can
be welcoming places for everyone. Educators
are always looking for volunteers, guest
speakers and performers, community part-
nerships, patrons to serve on boards and
committees, and people to serve in other
positive ways that contribute to the overall
climate of the schools.
You, as an individual, can donate money
through booster programs, books to distrib-
ute to students for reading at home, coupons
for incentives or simply purchase an item in a
school fundraiser.
It may cost a little bit of your time and
money, but look at it as an investment in the
future. Kids have an awareness of when
someone cares and to them it proves a lot to
see people out supporting them in their
endeavors.
So in the spirit of homecoming and fall
carnival season, I issue each of you a chal-
lenge. Despite whether you have school-age
students — attend the events at your schools.
Pop in at the elementary school festival filled
with games and prizes. Spend an afternoon at
a middle school forum on study skills and
time management. Spend your entertain-
ment dollar on the athletic and fine arts
events at the high school level.
Homecoming activities themselves offer
entire communities opportunities to show
support for their local schools. Take your kids
to the public parade, attend the big game to
cheer on the athletes and performers, or
provide some kind of assistance for the
dance. Sure, the events are going to happen
with or without you, but it would be a lot
more fun to attend, show your support and
have a good time.
Be a cheerleader for your schools. Lend
your efforts to make education a worthwhile
and productive experience for not only the
students but for our society as a whole. Never
allow yourself to believe that one person
cannot make the difference — because you
can, you really can.
Tim Greenwell teaches
freshman world geography
at Flower Mound High
School in the Lewisville ISD.
He is also a Teacher Voices
volunteer columnist. His
e-mail address is greenwellt@lisd.net.

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