February 15 Home Communicator – Leftovers
There is so much I would like to say in this “Opener” but admittedly wonder if some of the ideas are really leftovers – too good to throw out but not quite the substance for a full meal. I’ve kept these accumulated “cool” ideas in the “refrigerator” for some time. I’ve wondered what really is the purpose of the “Opener” to the Home Communicator. My name showed up on a schedule for writing so I am happy to do it and try to follow the drift of previous writers not knowing exactly where I was going. I wonder if people actually read this part of the Home Communicator or do they jump to the main course full of important information about events, activities, announcements, schedules and a plethora of important information.
So here is some of what is in my eclectic leftover file: Name It. “Opener” is generic, straight-forward, perhaps an obvious identifier but not much of a description. Have you ever wondered about another title for it? I can imagine there is circulating among the writers of the opener titles like “lead article” or “message” or occasionally “albatross.” Perhaps terms like Administrators’ Advice, Extra Point, Front Row Center, My Turn, Inside Out, Corner Kick, Back Stage, Periscope or Of Note might be considered. Leftovers is likely not a good choice; something is left wanting with a name like Leftovers. And maybe we come full circle to Opener which leaves it less defined but open to say whatever is on your mind (within limits). Oh, I know what you are thinking: “How can this interim middle school principal from out of state, here for less than a year, think he can change the name of something that has existed for decades?” Simply put, you’re right!
Express It. Billy Collins, a former Poet Laureate of the United States, wrote a poem entitled Introduction to Poetry. It is the first of 180 poems “designed to beckon readers with a selection of poems that are impossible not to love at first glance.” This one is in my “Leftover” file because it was too good to pass up.
| I ask them to take a poem
And hold it up to the light Like a color slide Or press an ear against its hive I say drop a mouse into a poem And watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem’s room And feel the walls for a light switch. |
I want them to waterski
Across the surface of a poem Waving at the author’s name on the shore. But all they want to do Is tie the poem to a chair with a rope And torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose To find out what it really means. |
poetry 180 by Billy Collins, Introduction to Poetry p.3 Copyright 2008 by Billy Collins
Leftovers. I’ve opened the HCS Communicator with Leftovers – perhaps insufficient for a full course meal, but far too good to be thrown out, a satisfactory snack. But, of course, that is my opinion – what’s yours? “May the joy of the Lord be your daily strength!”
Lance B. Engbers, Middle School Interim Principal