Saw a heartening thing the other evening

[BrokenPaw]

I went with BrokenMa and BrokenKid to the local high school orientation night for incoming freshmen (BrokenKid is starting High School.  Few things actually cause me fear, but this does, because when she figures out the whole "boys" thing, it's going to get interesting.  It's starting...)

At the beginning of the Let's-Introduce-Everyone-At-The-School assembly, the school's Madrigal Singers sang the national anthem while the Navy JROTC honor guard displayed the flag onstage.  They did a beautiful job with the song (without the trendy gee-whizzery that everyone always seems to want to throw into it recently), and the audience (even the kids, for the most part) were respectful and remained standing during the song and then after, when the cadets left with the flag.

And the part that gave me a really good feeling was this:  the honor guard for the flag included two cadets with M1 Garands.  Since it was a school and these were kids, I'm absolutely certain that they were demilled in some way or other, but it means that this school has not yet given in to the pants-wetting, handwringing, feel-good zero-tolerance-for-anything-that-even-looks-like-a-gun nonsense.

(I didn't post this on THR because it's less gun-related and more school-related).

In general (and notwithstanding the fact that they had to fire a teacher last year for taking inappropriate liberties with a student) this seems like a school with the right attitude.  I can work with these people.

-BP

[mtnbkr]

Which school?  

BTW, what are the good Elementary and Jr High schools in Manassas?  We're still a few years off, but it's nice to know ahead of time...

Chris

[BrokenPaw]

Chris,

It was Osborn Park HS, which (if I recall where you live correctly) is the one your kids will naturally feed into.

I only have direct experience with Signal Hill Elementary and Marsteller Middle schools.  

Signal Hill is a good school, and I've been very impressed with the teaching staff and administrative staff, with the exception of one of the administrators (I think she's the VP, but I don't recall for sure; I was just introduced to her by name), who is...hmm...evil.

Marsteller is a good school as well (notwithstanding the chorus-related nonsense I posted about here a while back) but it's not in the natural feed-cycle for our area; it's out in Bristow, but it has a Math/Science specialty program that BrokenKid wanted to attend, so that's why she's been going there.

Ironically, it turns out that the Marsteller Math/Science program isn't really worth the time, and the normal math program at Parkside Middle (where BK would have gone if she hadn't applied to Marsteller) is actually a better program.  Oops.  Hindsight and all.

[mtnbkr]

Good info to have.  I copy/pasted your post to an email to myself in order to archive it.

Isn't Osborne the school that had the "gym orgy" a while back?  Not that it affects the overal quality of the school though.  Parents would be horrified to learn how often such things go on at HS...

Chris

[K Frame]

"Isn't Osborne the school that had the "gym orgy" a while back?"

Oh to be that age again...

Oh wait, been there done that, but in the auditorium...

[BrokenPaw]

I didn't hear about the "Gym Orgy".  The only thing I've heard from OP that was of a questionable nature was what I referenced in my first post -- there was a teacher that apparently tried to force a young lady into doing some things that young ladies ought not be forced into doing.

I'll have to look up the "Gym Orgy".

Ah, back in the days.  When I was in high school (if you believe the school paper) I was the leader of a cult of younger (female) students.  According to the article in the paper, entry into the cult was predicated upon having had sex with me.  I was very upset when I heard about it, because apparently I'm been missing out on quite a lot of girls...  

(In fact, the teacher-advisor of the school paper had something of a vendetta for me, and she picked a perfectly innocent group of girls, with the outcome of tarnishing their reputations, mostly because she didn't approve of them wearing black all the time, in an effort to smear me.

I was a popular guy with some of the teachers back then, I can tell you.

-BP

[Perd Hapley]

They did a beautiful job with the song (without the trendy gee-whizzery that everyone always seems to want to throw into it recently),

That does happen a lot, don't it?

[BrokenPaw]

That does happen a lot, don't it?

It does, and it drives me up the wall.  When I've listened to a song a number of times, I get used to how it's "supposed" to go, and then if I hear a version that diverges from that one, I cringe every time it goes afield of the original.  For years I couldn't stand the studio version of U2's "Pride", because it was different from the live version, which I heard first.

Granted, The Star-Spangled Banner isn't the most pop-rockin'-est of songs, and I can think of other ones that would probably have been a better choice for the part, but it is the national anthem, and it deserves a certain amount of respect just for that reason (in the same way that the office of President, and the man in it, should still be granted a certain level of respect (or at least respectful treatment), even if one disagrees vehemently with the office-holder's policies.  I hated Clinton's policies about a lot of things, but if I'd met him, I'd have called him "Mr. President" if for no other reason than respect for the office.)

All of that hey-look-at-me-I'm-able-to-sing-notes-not-found-in-nature nonsense that people do when singing the SSB is just cheap, tawdry showoffery.

-BP

[Perd Hapley]

Amen to the millionth power!  And you also like U2?

I find it easier to sing that way, and I wonder if people do this to compensate for a lack of vocal skill.  They float all over the scale rather than holding a constant note.  It seems most prominent in R&B, Black Gospel and that schlock that passes for country music nowadays.

[BrokenPaw]

Amen to the millionth power!  And you also like U2?

Some U2.  Old U2.  They've become a dreck mine of late.  With lyrics like:

You've...got...to...get yourself too...gether
You've got stuck in a moment....and you can't get out of it

It's awful.  Their stuff used to be thought-provoking.  To wit:  I have not yet figured out what "Bullet the Blue Sky" means...

For thought-provoking, I've switched over to Grey Eye Glances.  Also the lead singer is quite a lot cuter than Bono.  

-BP

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

Osborn Park HS

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
We stomped your tails every time we played you in football!!!!!!






...from 1975 to 1979.
Go BDHS Tigers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bwahahahahahaha

Fig

[K Frame]

"from 1975 to 1979"

Good God, who was your homecoming queen...

Cleopatra?

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

HEY! I'm a curmudgeon.  No reason to rub it in, ya punk!

LOL

[Larry Ashcraft]

So many points to address...

My old HS, Pueblo County High School, still has a JROTC rifle team, and a range, with REAL rifles, not air rifles.

Best rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, ever, was by Jimi Hendrix.

And Mike, I graduated from HS in 1967.  Yes, uphill, two feet of snow, both ways...

[Mabs2]

Here's hoping she joins JROTC.
I had a BLAST in it. (Army JROTC)
I didn't get to join the rifle team, but I did see the rifles they used.  They did look like M1s, however, I heard mention that they were pellet rifles...maybe .22LR.
My school is in rural eastern North Carolina.
Er, well.
Was.
Edit:  An orgy at a school named Osborne??
Gee...did they snort fire ants and bite the heads off of bats too? =O