A shortage of school bus drivers presents an opportunity for the Clover Park School District to excel. At the school board meeting May 24, 2021, Assistant Superintendent Rick Ring recommended realigning the start and end of school days to address an estimated shortfall of 16 to 18 school bus drivers and another 10 to 15 […]
Letter: Answer The Question
Two letters were read by Clover Park School Board President Marty Schafer at the May 10, 2021 school board meeting. Both letters favored the district’s continued pursuit of what the writers called “the journey to discovering equity and becoming anti-racist,” and the need “to dismantle the systems of oppression.” Based upon the Freedom of Information […]
Letter: For My Mom
Standing at attention in a pouring Georgia rain for mail call at o-dark-thirty in a sea of mud on a parade ground, the recruit heard the drill sergeant bark out his name. He double-timed it to the front of the formation, but not fast enough to please the sergeant. Disgusted, he tossed the letters in […]
Letter: A Tulip And An Eternity
The singing coming from the monitor in the bedroom down the hall was of three sisters. The fourth sibling – with a cold, white and drawn face – lay dying. The trio sang softly and gently. In a nearby room the brothers-in-laws sat in reverent silence, listening to the soothing but faltering voices. It was […]
Letter: A Dandelion, Fishing And Dreams
Tradition suggests that if one blows a dandelion’s seeds with one breath, a wish will be granted. For the young fellow I observed fishing with his father, his wish to hook a fish – the first fish, the biggest fish, ANY fish – was hopeless at best. What is it, I wondered, about casting that […]
Letter: Dying Stars And God’s Love
It started out as an experiment to capture on camera the effect of sugar being poured into a glass of water. Not happy with the results, the photographer placed the glass on the kitchen counter in front of his turquoise colored water bottle. The sunlight streaming through the bottle and into the bubbles on the […]
Letter: The Twilight Of A Day In Life
As twilight faded and the day’s last light struggled through the shade trees, a reflected spiderweb of branches connecting the pond’s water lilies pads began to slowly dissolve. The pads seemed on the water like stepping stones leading to the far shore. Sitting on the porch of their dream home where they had raised a […]
Letter: Let Children Stand Out
Never tell boys or girls to line up. For us first-time coaches of first-time baseball players who just hours ago had finished their first day of first grade, we wondered what the first practice would be like. Could we keep these decidedly rough-but-future-stars-of-the-baseball-diamond in line to do anything? “You don’t,” one coach answered, “but you’ll […]
Letter: Feeling Victor’s Pride
Victor Herrera will be whatever he wants to be in life. The reason why? Because he takes the time and effort to pick up litter in his community. And not just the five full garbage cans and three full garbage bags of litter he gathered, but also the three mattresses, a couch, a chair, and […]