Frederica, one of the school’s janitors, is the heart and soul of Lakeview Elementary School. She has been there since 1978, longer than any teacher currently there. When I visited the school yesterday to vote, she had plenty of stories to tell me. She tells me that Ralph, one of the other janitors was an alcoholic. He died 9 years ago due to lung cancer. After he left Lakeview, she cleaned out his room and found plenty of liquor bottles. Sad. What was even sadder was that one of the students, apparently a close friend of Ralph, was bringing him alcohol to school. I was shocked. I imagined some kid bringing in liquor in their Aladdin lunchbox…maybe Ralph was sipping Jack Daniels from their Mickey Mouse thermos….who knows? What appeared to be such an innocent part of life…elementary school….was actually just the same as some of the things that happen in college, high school, junior high. Innocence has been shattered. That was going on right under my nose and I didn’t have a clue.
We never dealt with drugs or alcohol in elementary school. The only controversal thing I remember seeing was some kid wearing a KISS t-shirt in the 5th grade. I was sure that KISS meant “Knights In Satan’s Service,” so I made sure to stay away from that kid. The problems of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll were reserved for high school, and to some extent junior high. I remember one day during my junior high year. One freshmen girl had a t-shirt on which said “Yes, that’s my baby,” with an arrow pointing to her pregnant stomach. I knew I had arrived to a totally different world.
The local news media is reporting each and every election result, no matter how small. At the bottom of the screen, they just showed 61 people voted for Chip Jenkins, the winner of the mayoral race in tiny Woodburn, KY, while 39 voted for his opponent. Why this is significant enough to run at the bottom of the screen, I don’t know.
Honestly the results didn’t surprise me much. I knew the lottery was going to pass, I just thought it would be a little bit closer. Republicans taking over the Senate was a surprise. Usually the president’s party looses seats in the midterm elections.