Do we learn from history?

John Quincy Adams (eerily similar to John McCain?)


I came into this presidential election with excitement for new candidates and a renewed sense of citizenship. Now that it is finally almost time for us Oregonians to have our primary election, I find myself completely frustrated and fatigued with the whole process. I am tired of the same political commentators talking about the same boring things and feeling as if we are getting no where. I have even relegated my previous admiration for Senator Obama to a feeling of exasperation and a willingness to settle for whatever the result is going to be. I would even be fine with the she-devil herself as my President if this whole process could just be over. The thought that there are still months and months to go until the final election is completely overwhelming and our nights spent watching Anderson Cooper are waning. (We have watched more CNN during the past few months than I had previously watched in my entire lifetime)

I wonder if the founding fathers of this great nation ever thought that the presidential election would come to this. But then, I was just teaching about the presidential election of 1824. Back then there weren’t necessarily two main political parties. The Federalist party had disbanded because of the societal outrage at the Alien and Sedition Acts that were championed by John Adams and his followers. The Democratic-Republicans had conflicting interests and we ended up with four main candidates for the presidency: John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William Crawford. All four of these candidates considered themselves a member of the same party and when it came time for the election, no candidate had a majority—in either popular or electoral votes. Andrew Jackson received 43% of the vote and 99 electoral votes and John Quincy Adams received 31% of the popular vote and 84 votes from the electoral college. Therefore, according to the 12th Amendment the House of Representatives would select the President. As you can imagine, there was quite a bit of kissing up, promises made, and back door dealing in the House as they prepared for the vote. In the end, John Quincy Adams would receive the most votes and become the 6th President of the United States.

The four years that followed were fairly tumultuous years in Washington, D.C. as popular opinion against the President was incredibly low (which makes sense since not even one-third of the people actually voted for the guy). He wasn’t able to accomplish much of anything and his four years as President is relegated to one short paragraph in my history textbook. I fear that this might be a similar outcome for the next president. We are so hungry for a change in the executive office, but are now growing rapidly tired of the fighting and bickering that is occurring. I had felt that perhaps as a result of this election, more people would take an active role in their government and we would see a revolution of sorts in the way people feel and interact with their government. Now I am included in the masses of people who want this all to be over so that we can get on with our poor, politically-apathetic lives.

DVR troubles

So Kristine and I have this recurring problem. Whenever there is any sort of a big game on that goes into overtime or is the least bit exciting....we never get to see the end. We had worked so hard to get the kids in bed, to have family time, and were looking forward to finally watching a close game in this tournament that has been riddled with boring blow-outs. We were sitting on the edge of our seats hoping Kansas could pull it out against the cocky (2007 Florida-reminiscent) Tigers of Memphis; there were 15 seconds or so left and there comes that ugly gray and blue screen demanding a choice of "start over" or "delete." Of course we had started the game a good hour or so late and by the time we reached this pitiful end, the game was already over. So here we sit watching ESPN and watching the poor Memphis players with red eyes trying to struggle through ridiculous questions like, "So Mr. Rose, are you going to the NBA?" The poor kid (yes, the same poor kids whose dreams I wanted squashed because they were too self-assured) just saw the chance of a lifetime run through his fingers and they have given him a whole ten minutes to make the biggest decision of his life.

The moral of this story is that there is an ugly side to the DVR. We praise it for saving us and allowing us to watch all of our favorite shows after we have put the buddies to bed, but we loathe it for denying us the excitement of the best of March Madness. Ughhh!

Do you know who you are?

"You are the son of..." James Fuller.

I missed being with my dad tonight. When I lived in Utah, we (myself, my dad, my brother, and occasionally a brother in law or two) had made quite a tradition of attending the priesthood session of conference in the conference center. Tonight I attended at my stake center in Eugene with a friend from our ward. It was a great session, but as I looked around the chapel, seeing fathers and sons listening to our new prophet together, I was struck with extreme longing for one more chance to share in this great spirit of brotherhood with my dad.

My dad is a pretty incredible person. He has always been loved and admired by nearly everyone in his life. My friends would often come over and end up talking to him upstairs (as I sat annoyed downstairs--at the time I found this completely obnoxious, but looking back find it an endearing quality about my father). He is a high school teacher, and a very good one at that. He has inspired many to achieve great things. Including me.

Even though I had my father as a teacher, a bishop, a coach (for a very short period of time--just wanted to make sure that everyone still knew that I continue to hold a grudge about that fact :), it was when I was thousands of miles away from my father that I felt his inspiration nearly every day. As a missionary for my church in Paris, France, I often relied upon my dad and his testimony to strengthen me during rough times. I looked forward to his weekly letters and carried them with me in my backpack. I would pull them out on buses or trains and my vigor for missionary work would be strengthened. I wanted to make him proud of me.

Now, I am a teacher myself. As much as I tried to avoid a career in education (partly in an effort to be different than my dad and partly from greed for a larger salary), I finally accepted it and now it consumes my life. My father has set the standard for what I want to accomplish in my classroom. I hope to one day inspire students in a way that I am sure my father continues to do.

Finally, I am amazed at the memories that I have of spending time with my father. He was an incredibly busy man when I was growing up (and still is). He worked two full-time jobs, always had a demanding church calling, and coached two or three sports during the school year. However, I have many fond memories of working outside with my dad, going on random fishing trips, riding in the big white van to some recreational event, sitting at Brigham City Hall in the recreation department office, and receiving priesthood blessings at the beginning of each school year. I can not explain to you how much my father means to me. I respect him for the amazing life that he has led. I admire him for his wisdom and spiritual strength. I love him with all of my heart. Thanks dad.

Battle of the Books

Here is a lovely little picture of my cute little NAWS (Nick, Ashley, Whitney, Stephanie) team. These little self-proclaimed nerds took us all the way to the regional competition in Roseburg. They placed 2nd at our district tournament and then 4th at the regional competition that had schools coming from all over southwestern Oregon. I am very proud.

This was one of the coolest things that I have been involved with. The state librarians association put this together. They chose 16 books for students to read. The students formed teams of four and then they had a few months to read all of the books. Then the battles were on. It was a sort of Jeopardy-like competition and it was so fun to see all of these kids reading the same books. At my school we had over 40 teams, that means 160 or so students were all reading these great books. They were all talking to each other about it and we organized book clubs that met after school with different teachers that all read some of the books. It has just been a great experience.

At our district competition they think that there were 1000 or so people crammed into our gym. They showed this video with some great music and pictures of the kids in the middle of their school competitions. After it was over, the crowd exploded into cheers and the excitement was contagious--and the best part was that it was all about books! I read 13 of the 16 books myself and loved nearly every one. So here is the list for all of you readers out there that are open to young adult literature. It is my own belief that some of the most creative writing is done for young adults, so pick one out and take a chance. You won't be disappointed.

*The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
*Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
Eleanor's Story: An American Girl in Hitler's Germany by Eleanor Ramrath Garner
Cages by Peg Kehret
*Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
Under the Blood Red Sun by Graham Salisbury
Code Talkers by Joseph Brouchac
Among the Hidden by Margaret Petersen Haddix
Flush by Carl Hiassen
Code Orange by Caroline B. Cooney
The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughren
*Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
*Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
*Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
*Criss Cross by Lynn Rae Perkins

*My favorites

Gotta love the Constitution

For the past few weeks we have been studying the Constitution. It has been one of the best teaching experiences that I have had. For one of the culminating activities of the unit, I had the students create podcasts about the amendment that means the most to them. Check it out at my teaching website.

Perhaps it is the upcoming presidential election, but students are really getting into our discussions of our government. We are holding a mock primary election (one of the benefits of Oregon having such a late primary--it actually fits in) and the students have had quite a few good debates over some pretty serious issues. On Thursday of this week, Peter DeFazio is coming to visit with my students (he is our representative in the US House) and the kids can't wait to ask him some pretty great questions.

I know that I have previously stated my support for Barack Obama. I have tried to make sure that my students have no idea which candidate I prefer. But as I watch these young 13 and 14 year old students getting excited about participating in government, I can't help but give some of that credit to Obama. We have watched a few speeches from each of the candidates (through the beauty of YouTube) and have looked through their websites and you can see the excitement that has even extended to middle school students. Once again, I disagree with many of the policies that Obama supports; however, he is honestly inspiring previously disinterested generations to finally get involved in government. It is a beautiful thing!

My Boys

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how grateful I am for my little stinkyfaces. Perhaps it is because of my relentlessly busy schedule and maybe I am often thinking about them when I am away from home or it might just be that the mere thought of them motivates me to try to be a better person and to do my best as I try to provide for my little family.

If you have ever meet these boys, you know that they aren't quiet, shy little boys that constantly look and act adorable. I admit that I think that they are pretty good looking little guys, but they have already developed into very independent, stubborn little beings.

James might be one of the brightest little four year olds that I have ever met. But his most endearing quality is his undying love for his family. He has such trusting eyes and often makes me nervous when he looks at me like I can do no wrong. James is going through a superhero phase (one which I have definitely encouraged with my own love for superheroes). He wants so badly to have super powers and be able to run fast like the Flash, fly through the air like Superman, or turn things to ice like Iceman from the X-men. As he has learned to read, he will often sit down and read a book on his own or read to his little brother. He loves anything that has to do with dinosaurs, sharks, or underpants. James is honestly one of my best friends. I love to hang out with him, play superheroes, and find his excitement for life contagious.

Owen has such a great smile and he has definitely figured out how to use it to his advantage. When he is sitting on his chair after doing something particularly naughty, he often will just smile or laugh because he knows that it is hard to resist (he gets it from his mother--the contagious laugh, not the defiance--well maybe a little of both). He loves anything that James loves and will follow him around for hours if James will let him. However, Owen is very independent as well. He loves to be able to do something on his own, even if it takes MUCH longer than necessary. He loves to tell a good joke and still thinks it is pretty funny that his daddy lit himself on fire. Every day he welcomes me home with what is possible the greatest hug of all time. He knows just exactly how to wrap his little arms around you and stick his head right into your neck that makes all the worries of the world go away.

I just hope that they never get to a point where they don't want to hang out with me. I worry about the day when they realize that their dad is not a perfect person with secret super powers.

Valentine's Day Massacre

I hate Valentine's Day. I know that is such a harsh statement, but for the past five years I have had the opportunity to relive Valentine's Day from the eyes of one-hundred 8th graders. Do you remember what that was like? Somehow these kids convince their parents (most of which don't have enough money to provide their students with pencils and paper) to buy cheap stuffed teddy bears made in China holding red hearts that say something so ridiculous as "Love You Forever." Girls come with roses wrapped in cheap cellophane that their "boyfriend"s mother purchased from the man standing on the street corner. Of course none of these things fit in the student's locker and they either traipse around with them from class to class, proudly showing off the cheap jewelry that they have convinced themselves is a real diamond (but it is most definitely not) and whatever else they have received from their true love.

So yesterday, one of my students came into class with a large stuffed animal holding a rose. She asked me if I could put it back behind my desk for her during class because it was too big to fit in her locker. I replied, "Why don't you just throw it in the garbage? You are going to do that in two weeks anyway when you break up." My class all sighed and gave me dirty looks, while my student vowed that she would at least be with this boy for the next month because she really, really liked him. I marked it down on my calendar and we are planning to revisit this discussion on the 28th.

I know that this was a pretty harsh response and I should at least allow my students to live in this fantasy world while they are young. But I always see the other kids, the brilliant, quiet girl that sits in class and barely says a word, but is a fantastic writer and reads great books like To Kill a Mockingbird and Pride and Prejudice and understands them and loves them in a way far and above her 8th grade peers. She continues to sit quietly on Valentine's Day...she doesn't have any stuffed animals or cheap chocolates that come in a cheap, red, heart-shaped box with a picture of a frog on it. I just hope that she understands how great she is and doesn't worry about all of these ridiculous valentines.

Don't get me wrong. I am lucky enough to share the day with the woman of my dreams. I am glad to have a chance to express to her how much I love and care for her, how lucky I am to be her valentine. But seeing the emotions and craze of these 14 year old students, makes me so happy that I don't have to go through that again.