For the next five months in Louisville, however, I agonized over when I was going to let anyone know. My intent was never to leave the classroom, but seeing the Common Core on the horizon, working with new administration that set out to un-Brown what worked at Brown, and a longing to be nearer my family ended up pushing me to leave. In truth, I believe I needed to leave (and when I see the state of schools as they've evolved with the test-only pressure, I know that it would have slowly killed me). The State had portfolios on the chopping block and the senior projects I sponsored were challenged by a new Principal who felt they were a distraction to the tests (even though they were named by students as the most beneficial experience at the school - teaching them lifeskill that immensely prepared them for the post-high school life).
And I left.
This is the 10th year I've been gone...a decade...but I still feel the greatest connection to the school and the amazing fortunes I had there as an educator. I often tell people now that my experiences at 546 S. First Street fueled me for there best of my life and, to date, I've yet to find a location with more karma, passion, or mission. It is the dream.
At the gym last night, I started thinking about how crazy-fast the ten years went by and decided I'd create a top ten list of my favorite Brown School moments before I went to bed.
- Surprising Sue McV after she took a district job (and didn't want any attention). We simply put her on a stage in 1998 and, recognizing her love of apples, let every student at the school wish her well while sharing their favorite memory with her.
- A few years later, Gay Rapley retired and with her went a large chunk of the funk and spunk that she brought to the building. After graduation that year, knowing it was her last one, I walked her out to her car. Unfortunately, she locked her keys in it, and we had to call for help. A kid arrived to help her in and I looked at Gay with her feather boa around her neck and her bright yellow kids (she always had bright shoes) as the young man jimmied her window. It was then I noticed his license plate was "PornStar." I laughed knowing that Gay's last night as an outstanding English teacher was in a rescue by his Porn-mobile.
- Peg Box retired soon after, and I will always cherish our conversations we had in the Men's bathroom (her smoking lounge where she blew smoke out the window in the stall next to the one I used). Pissing with Peg became a daily occurrence and I promised myself to one day write ten-minute scripts based on our talks.
- Dee Dee. Class of 2000. One of the greatest souls I've ever met, and a memory of her rollerskating during a pep rally with butterfly wings on her back. I also remember that students left their bikes in my room one day and during my planning period (where Dee Dee did her Senior English class), we decided to take them for a spin through the hallways of the school waving to everyone like we were muppets.
- I also remember Dee Dee's speech at graduation where she shared emotion that most of us had never seen before. She saluted Ron as being a father-figure in her life and thanked the Brown School for being there for her as family.
- A trip to Boston with Alice, Robin, and Ron for Coalition of Essential Schools. I was knew to the concept of basketball in Kentucky, and their pro-Louisville/pro-Kentucky rivalry was always heated. Kentucky was playing Duke, I believe, while we were there and the distinguished educator from our state, could be heard screaming obscenities throughout the hotel (surprising us all with her cheering for the Wildcats, and going against her calm, cool, and very professional behavior). Two other things occurred on that trip. Alice ran into a Kentucky fan at a bookstore and we spent an hour discussing the Taoism of basketball in the state. I also remember that it poured hard and everything was flooded, but Ron wanted a Sam Adams beer and we hiked on railings, scaled walls, and leaped crevices to get there. I believe that was the same trip where Alice scared Robin by saying that the seeing eye dog of the substitute teacher who replaced her while we were away might attack her classroom rabbit, Bugs, who pretty much owned the second floor of the school.
- 9/11. Class of 2002 was in Sociology class during my planning when Alice came over and said, "You need to see this." The first plane had hit, and as I came over we all saw the second plane arrive. Most fell into a deep panic, but Alice sat down at her computer (they were clunky and slow at the time) and quickly announced this Osama Bin Laden. Six months earlier she stated that the Buddhist statues being blown up in South Asia - an attack of the Taliban - was a sign of bad things to come. As usual, she was right. A few weeks later, while playing Scrabble in Clarksville, Alice had another epiphany about the Vietnam War, Cold War, and the chess match it actually was. That date in history changed our worldview and we both began reading voraciously in anticipation of changing global demographics.
- Class of 2001. I began with them in 1997 and, because of retirements, taught them for four straight years, moving up with them as they moved up. It was my first four years so when they graduated I felt like my heart was being torn out of my chest. They were the ones that diagnosed me with BMS (Bryan Mood Swings) and who filled my house with tokens of love, memories, letters, and pond creatures. I recouped over the summer (with a Fulbright Memorial Scholarship in Japan) and came back to realize I healed and every class of Brown School was as special as they were (although our entourage being held at an airport post St. Augustine because of a barf bag note was somewhat scary - we know we were lucky because it happened in the pre-9/11 world)
- Hosting Danes. Visiting Denmark. In the third week of teaching, Ron called me to ask how I was going to work with the Danes. He was a dog lover, so I thought we were getting puppies for the school. Nope. Danes were a tradition of hosting 10th graders from the Lille Skole in Denmark. I couldn't find enough housing for all the students so took two into my own house that first year. Their culture was not our culture, but the intrigue was built and I spent a decade hosting the kids and going to their school off and on over the summers. The hospitality of the Danish people and the beautiful country will always be an association of the Brown for me.
- Improv4Hope - My final goodbye to Kentucky. When I announced I was leaving (horrible) I quickly made plans to make good of the decision and reserved Comedy Caravan to hold a fund raiser for the Sudanese Lost Boys College Education Fund. Students performed and tickets were sold out (there was also behind-the-scenes drama that night as a student who sought protection from an arranged marriage showed up, and her family came looking for her). I'll never forget that night as everyone laughed, seemed happy, and shared the Brown School love I knew I needed as I left.
Yes, these are the first 10 moments/memories that popped into my head and I'm sure I can come up with another 1,000 (and if I couldn't, I could read my daily journals from those days - writing in notebooks before scribing on blog spaces).
Crazy. I just shake my head and think, "Crazy," especially since I know that replacing the tremendous joy from working at that school is impossible. It was one of the luckiest periods in my life.
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