Getting in the Newspaper

I don't get into the newspaper much (with one notable exception which won't be mentioned) but in two cases there were positive stories.  The first is one from when I taught at Roosevelt School.  This picture was taken by the Tribune Photographer as my class and I went to the Ames Patriotic Council Veteran's Day Program.   We were not far from downtown and the Council asked that we bring flags to the program.  (I was either a Past President or working my way to be President of the Council which is responsible for the Veteran's Day or the Memorial Day programs for the city.)  It was a beautiful day and a good outing for the students.  I was surprised the next day to see this picture splashed all over the front page of the Tribune.

I suppose now that parents would complain about the students missing class today but back then they were more supportive.

 I used to be on a Facebook group for people who live in Ames but there was one person on there who was continually complaining about everything.  She ranted about fluoride in the water and then got everyone going on about how her kid missed music class because of a program which was put on by Ronald McDonald. (It had nothing to do with the restaurant but rather the program was about doing nice things for one another.)  Her child is not even in the school but is home schooled and comes over to the school for Art and Music. (picking and choosing what you want...when did education become a smorgasbord?)  She was highly critical of the school and other parents joined in with her.  I decided to drop the group.

The second clipping was for a play I was in for ACTORS.  That is our Ames Community Theater group and I used to be involved and this was a play by Megan Terry called Keep Tightly Closed in a Cool Dry Place.

Keep Tightly Closed in a Cool Dry Place begins in a jail cell that contains two bunks and a single bed. At the start of the play, Jaspers, Michaels, and Gregory face the audience, then combine to become a human machine. Soon they change from parts of the machine to prisoners in a cell by moving in a “military manner” to their bunks. It soon becomes clear that all three have been accused of the murder of Jaspers’s wife. The audience does not know which one has committed the murder, nor is it clear whether a murder has actually taken place at all.

I played the part of Jaspers. It was pretty advanced for Ames at that time and the language was not something you would have heard at that time.  I think my favorite line was "Cut off that bastard's balls."  The play was in the round and we were very close to the audience.  I can still remember hearing some woman in the audience whispering (loudly) to her friend.."I knew his grandmother - I wonder what she would have said about him saying those lines."  I got a chuckle out of it.  Actually we got good reviews and I enjoyed it.  

It was fun to find these clippings among my photographic treasures.  I have to thank my sister for sorting them out originally for me.