Now, Where Was I? And, Where Am I?

Hi, to whomever wishes to partake--

I'm going to be writing on a large range of topics here. I wrote a sports column in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, for 19 years, then stopped it because of my increasing union activity with, ultimately, the National Education Association. I missed writing. It became a large part of who I was.

Actually, I did some of it while on the NEA Executive Committee; it's just that a lot of it never saw the light of day. Relative to how much I said, I didn't get a lot of chances to say it. (Some of the reasons for that make perfect sense; some might not. They all add up to the word politics.) A few people said it for me, either because that's exactly what I was thinking, or that, in a more advantageous position, they simply stole my comments and used them for themselves. No copyright there; in the end, we're all thieves about things like that.

I have saved many papers and documents from my time on the Executive Committee; here, I will comment on some of them--as well as try to dredge up some of those statements that I made that seemed like good ideas at the time, but the times passed and we went on to other things. I'm going to go back and get them and see whether they stand up to the test of time. Those commentaries will be on education or some aspect of it. The specific title of the commentary should tell you that I've written it, somewhere (airplane, middle of some boring meeting) before.

But others will be on politics and sports and just, well, stuff. People may just be interested in the kinds of things that took place these last six years--especially what's been happening in Cedarburg, which has turned into quite a different place than the one I left.

There, I taught social studies--mostly history and government--for 30 years. I was not allowed to return after my time on the Executive Committee. Read that again: not allowed to return. Actually, I volunteered to retire, but I would have been stopped anyhow.

I was dangerous to someone, you see. Controversial. I had an opinion, and some did not agree with it. By that time, there was nothing new about that; my column had aroused conversations, as columns are supposed to do.

But my connections with the NEA and WEAC were considered too edgy for someone to continue to take me on, despite my experience in teaching and in the district. For all the help I might have lent to someone, the price for that was considered too high. They used their muscle, and a deal was struck.

The details on that will appear here later. In the meantime, I'm officially retired, though not intentionally--which is to say, I'm looking for work. And in this, the "jobless recovery," in which someone is apparently recovering from something (just not me right now), things are not exactly humming along.

But I will survive and endure. It became that, you know, at some point while I was in Washington, D.C.; but again, I'll spell that out a little later.

This blog is named what it is because that's one of my many nicknames that's been used during my life; it goes back nearly as far as anything else, and it's the one I like best. (In fact, people doing business with me at counters, and don't want to try pronouncing my last name--which, in comparison with others of my ethnic origin, is really pretty easy to say--simply say, "Well, Mr. Mark....") After all, this is my blog. I should like everything I put into it.

Welcome. And I welcome your comments, too. Have a good day.

Mister Mark