Rules SchmoolzWritten by Julie Jordan Scott
A man, dressed in full Japanese garb from 19th Century (with a bit of an unusual twist) slowly walks to center stage. "Welcome to Melodrama Musical Theatre! Ready to hear our rules?" A collective groan fills North Bakersfield Theatre as audience plays along with a cast member from "The Mikado." He responds emphatically, saying, "Rules, Schmoolz!" People complain about following rules. As a second grade teacher, I instead of rules I used a list of simple guidelines. We reviewed these guidelines daily in beginning of year. If infractions were made, we simply pointed to guidelines. The kids knew what was expected (instead of focusing on what NOT to do). There were only 7 guidelines which were as diverse as "We keep our hands and feet to ourselves" all way to "We respect, honor and love one another." In my garden, I learn even more about fuzziness of rules. My front yard houses a flower garden. My backyard plays host to a wide array of vegetables in my mini-farm, vegetable garden. And never, never twain shall meet. Veggies, back, with other veggies. Flowers in front with only other flowers. Until Emma and Shauna, that is. One of my Coaches used to say, "You can't grow zucchini if you plant tomatoes!" That may be true in some yards. It is not true in mine! Emma and her friend spread some seeds they discovered without my knowledge. I kept wondering what those things were growing among roses. They did not look like any weed I had ever seen. And in fact, they were beginning to bear a striking resemblance to zucchini and cucumber which were,
| | How To Discover The Hidden Knowledge Inside Of YouWritten by Dien Rice
When I was a kid, I loved to lie back in grass, staring up towards sky.Sometimes, while lying back, I'd stick my feet up in air and look at my little feet with clouds moving behind them. Then I'd pretend that I was walking across sky. These are some of fun things we do as kids, and as we grow up we forget about this kind of magic... Another thing I used to do was to look at clouds and see what sort of shapes I could find. Sometimes I'd see a bird of some kind, sometimes a boat floating across sky, and sometimes I'd even see a person's profile... And countless other images! These shapes are always in sky. How long has it been since you looked? They are always there when there are right kind of clouds - but - you don't see them unless you look for them. It's like talent and knowledge that's lurking inside of you. You have within you very useful knowledge which would be valuable to many other people. It's all based on things you have done, experiences you have had. But most of time many of us think, "I don't know anything of value." The truth is, it's like looking for shapes in clouds. Unless you look for them, you won't see anything there. But once you start searching, you will discover that there are many meaningful shapes in clouds, which until a moment ago were completely invisible. What have been your experiences in life? I'm sure there have been plenty...
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