Welcome to My Blog

I've been impressed by some the of blogs I've read in the last few months, so I figure it's time I started my own. This blog is going to be about my hobbies and how I make people happy with them. Especially kids. I won't be commenting about about the current events or writing about things and people that urk me. Lord knows you've seen enough of those. But I will celebrate people in my life who have helped me along the way.

I'll start with my 5th grade teacher, Mr. Stinson (RIP). Mr Stinson was one of the many colorful teachers I encountered at Julia C. Lathrop Elementary School (renamed Academy) on Chicago's west side. People can say what they like about the Chicago Public Schools system. It's been catching hell of late, but whenever I visit home, I'm impressed. Disciplined children in uniform, who know what they want to be when they grow up. The same was true, sans uniform, way back in 1966, when I had the good fortune to be in his classroom.

Mr Stinson had a unique approach to teaching that still resonates with me today, and often sparks an urge for me to teach in a classroom of my own. He would teach subjects with a theme. One semester was autos, next airplanes, ships and so on. All of our subjects where themed to the craft we studied. Then we made models as the climatic finale.

The most memorable was the ships block. We went to Navy Pier, then a working dock, and watched as whiskey was unloaded from a freighter. When we returned, we were tasked to draw what we saw of the ship for art class. He cut out pictures of boats and ships from newspapers, and , using carbon paper, we traced and painted with water colors on that thick construction paper of the day (you know, the one with the chips floating about in it). The grand finale was the day he opened his storage locker and gave each group of four kids a model ship to build.

It was a huge stack of the finest models that Aurora, Revell and Pyro had at the time. One group got the Cutty Sark, the apple of my eye, Debora Crook, and her friends got the Golden Hind, some hip class mates got the Aurora Viking Long Boat, and Black Beard's Pirate Ship! Me and my group got Revell's USS Constitution, Old Ironsides. What a mess we made of the rigging! It was fun though, and I got to show off my budding modeling skills, that which I'd honed since 3rd grade starting with a Lindberg Midget Racer. When we finished them, we had to write an essay about the history of our model and read it aloud. It was really gratifying that we hung around that block for a while. Mr Stinson commissioned me to build Lindberg's Monitor and Merrimac model set, each with an electric motor.

He put me front and center at the school science fair with my "Hotel Lathrop" and its working elevator and how it works display, while the class performed as the "Dancing Molecules".

In this way, he broadened our awareness of the world outside of the city. In this era of no child left behind, I hope there are still a few brave teachers out there doing what Mr Stinson did. I'm pretty sure he gave more then he was asked to do, and I still see this fire burning in the teachers I help now at Mariposa Elementary. Giving their all, for a generation of kids to not give up and take their place in the world. He's one of many people you'll learn of who guided me, but he's got got a special place in my heart because he later explained that he was tough on me because he saw potential that he didn't want to go by the wayside.

At times he was scary because he had an Irish temper that kept the class in line, but just as big a heart as any Irishman could have. From the walks in Douglas Park and kite flying sessions to drills in math, he was right on target. He made 5th grade memorable. And someday, I'll pay him back by doing that in my own classroom. In the mean time, here is a record of what my hobbies are doing for the kids in my neighborhood and local school. And, it's dedicated to my teachers at Lathrop, Mr Stinson, Mr Good, Mrs Walsh, even the fiery Mr McGuire, whom we got sent to when paddling was in order (and legal back then), and the teachers of today, Mrs Blanchard, Mrs Davis, Mrs Perry, Mr Dawson and others at Mariposa. This blog is dedicated to you and your hard work.