And the Award Goes To Most of Us

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I’m off to my first ever awards ceremony for the Associated Press Virginias Broadcasters Award. Which is fitting because I’ve been nominated for my first ever story for Inside Appalachia as a Folkways reporter.

The story was on mushroom hunting’s popularity. You can read/hear it here.

The group of people who work in broadcasting are fun but also funny. Ageism reigns supreme, which is interesting in a culture that honors its elders. A lot of the stories we produce are about people in their golden years who have practiced their art form for decades, so the attitude toward the older reporters can border on comedic irony at times.

It is fun to learn a new skill later in life, notwithstanding the heaved sighs and eye rolls of those who expect us to be less interesting/intelligent because we don’t know about all the tech they learned to use in college. Children, we know things you will not learn for another decade or so, and that’s why we see more clearly through our bifocals. Don’t worry about it; you’ll see someday. And laugh about it, just as we do. (At you.)

Meanwhile, let the good times roll, rather than the eyes. You’d be surprised what good conversationalists someone with a few wrinkles about the eyes can be. Those lines? They mean we laughed a lot. We saw things. We could interpret them. We have thoughts that we are smart enough to keep to ourselves unless invited into safe spaces for conversation.

So I’m off to the award ceremony, wearing comfy low-heeled shoes and a bright smile. It will be fun; I’ve never been to one of these and I look forward to meeting some new friends. Or watching from the corner as people schmooze. Both are entertaining. I’m taking some crocheting.

School days then and now

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Jack gets over the line early again – –

I’m always fascinated by the ‘school run’ here in the morning and afternoon. So very different from my memories of going to school in Scotland.

Here the early run starts around 7.45 and continues in an orderly fashion until 8.00, when there’s a brief lull, then a mad rush between 8.05 and 8.15. The elementary school is just a block from us and the streets around it are reserved for drop off of the kids. Then from 2.30 until 3.00 the whole thing happens in reverse. I assume that the early morning run is parents who start work at 8.00 and the second one is probably stay at home Moms. Then there are the school buses as well and I imagine there will be many ‘latch key’ kids going home in them in the afternoon.

My memories are very different. Very few people had cars back then and most primary (elementary) schools were within walking distance. So my Grandad who lived with us walked me down in the morning and walked me back at the end of the school day. My older sister made her own way and I rarely saw her during the day as the school was divided into two sections – one for older kids and one for younger ones. The playground was also divided with a low wall between them. Back then all the teachers were single women and if they got married they were immediately required to resign. All the head teachers were men and they were expected to be married! Corporal punishment was how discipline was maintained and administered with a leather strap called a ‘tawse’ which were made in a nearby town and specially designed. I have distinct memories of receiving ‘six of the best’ on the palm of my hand on a number of occasions.

There was no system of ‘middle schools’ in Scotland and there still isn’t, so kids go straight from primary school to high school at age eleven – a very traumatic experience!

Despite all that I have mostly happy memories of those days – –