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Finally, school’s out and summer’s here. A few of our TCTA members take a moment to share what they have in mind for the days of summer. Pour a glass of lemonade, put on your sunglasses, sit back and enjoy.
From Russia with love
I have written a book of poetry/prose called Lonesome Cowboy, scheduled for release soon. That is my goal and task this summer. The selections are reflections of my time spent in Russia on sabbatical—my experiences there, the love I found and brought back, and my desire for a return visit. With my poetry, I play with our language to entertain, inform and provide hope and triumph. The book includes some religious, juvenile, and personal family issues, spoken in various voices, and ends with “Ode to Dad,” a recounting of life with a soldier-father who always returned to a loving home. One poem, which I recited during my wedding in Moscow, is written in three languages. I met my future wife, a flight attendant, at an international airport in Moscow, while doing a baggage call for then-Secretary of State James Baker.
I spent three years in Moscow, initially working a service/support contract at the U.S. Embassy. I was there one week after the coup in 1991, during which time Yeltsin took over. I stayed a third year to find a job in the new quasi-democratic nation, which turned into a year spent writing on sabbatical. Other vivid memories include a 36-hour train trip to Kaliningrad, a piece of Russia separated by Lithuania, and 10-day trips to both China and South Africa.
Larry Locha
Special education teacher
Nimitz Middle School
North East CTA
San Antonio
A small window of opportunity
With various commitments to work and family, my husband and I have a very narrow overlap of summer time together this year--like the Venn diagram that children tend to draw when allowed to overlap the circles themselves. With this skinny space in summer to have to ourselves, I began planning in September for our July getaway. Harold and I married in 1966 with Vietnam, post-graduate work, teaching, and nest-building in our daily thoughts and prayers. We’ve come through 39 years of married life together. I wanted the celebration of our 40th to be super special.
No matter how tiring travel can be and usually is, we both thrive on the small window of opportunity that a vacation affords. The fact that it cannot last forever is a blessing---the end to enduring unpleasant circumstances can be seen, and the need to relish every good, exciting moment is heightened.
On June 30, we will fly to Rome and transfer to the ms Noordam. She will carry us around the Mediterranean Sea, first to the west and then to the east. We’ll visit some familiar places, but the most excitement will be our first experiences in the ports of the Adriatic, Aegean, and North African coast. My hubby and I are both liberal arts types. He’s a government/history/geography guy, and I’m his literature/history/geography, art-in-all-things gal.
We’ll breathe the air at Mt. Olympus, walk through the stonework at Ephesus, see the remains of Carthage, and sail the same waters as the heroes and heroines of the histories and novels we’ve both studied and taught for most of our adult lives. I’m sure the experience will shatter some long-held fantasies about these seats of western antiquity, but I’m also certain that we’ll take the realities of the 21st century and paint them with the softened colors of past and future. It’s a gift to ourselves while we can---an opportunity to know a little better what we’ve only known vicariously. A small window of opportunity. A significant star along our timeline.
Nancy Black
Bradley Middle School
Academic Dean of Instruction
North East CTA
San Antonio
Biker with a cause
I’ll be riding my Vision recumbent bicycle in the 2006 EOG Resources Cactus & Crude Multiple Sclerosis Bike Tour July 15 and 16. I’ll be riding with the Permian Basin Bicycling Association Team in a two-day adventure from Midland to Big Spring and then on to Post. In order to ride 75 miles each day, we leave with the sunrise and are done by noon or 1 p.m. We ride to raise money to find a cure for multiple sclerosis, and we ride for those who can’t.
The tour starts in Midland and meanders through the communities of Greenwood and Stanton. Early afternoon will find us in picturesque Big Spring for food, fun, entertainment and lodging! Saturday night plays host to an awards dinner that is packed with fun. Bright and early Sunday morning, after a scrumptious breakfast, the cyclists take off and complete a scenic trek through the rolling hills of the Colorado River Valley. Post is the final destination for the afternoon.
Not only have I participated in half a dozen MS 150 rides, but my students have manufactured several items for use with the races, including bike stands, warning signs and key organizers.
In April 2006 (right after TAKS), I rode with 13,000 riders in the BP MS 180-mile tour from Houston to Austin, with a $10,000,000 fund-raising goal.I enjoyed great support from Team VA--Veterans Administration Medical Center, Houston.
My recumbent bike is pain-free and faster than expected on hills and in the wind. I’ll be 50 next fall and at 6 foot 4 inches tall and 200 pounds, I need all the advantage I can get.
Kent Crowell
Technology education teacher
Goddard Junior High School
Midland CTA
Midland
From the great outdoors to Broadway
This summer my husband and I are going on a major camping trip, traveling eastward all the way to Niagara Falls in Canada. Among our stops will be New York City where we will see the musical Lion King. This is a dream-come-true for me because I am a music teacher.
Some of our other planned stops include an Indiana pioneer village called “Conner Prairie,” Virginia’s colonial Williamsburg, a visit to my grandparents’ old farmhouse in western Pennsylvania, and Lake Placid (site of the winter Olympics).
To make this trip possible, my husband has spent the last two years remodeling his dad’s old Airstream™ travel trailer. It is coming together and with just a few more tweaks we will be ready to go.
We can’t wait!
Leslie Robinson
Music teacher
Morton Elementary School
Morton CTA
Morton
