And so it begins…
My daddy celebrated his 80th birthday last year, something just a few months earlier we never thought would happen. My mom just recently had her life vest removed, recovering from a heart attack that she had a few days after my oldest child’s wedding. Also something we never thought would happen. So when Pop came to me and said, “Doc, your mom and me, we aren’t getting any younger. Something we have always wanted to do is go out west – and see the places where the good ole shoot-em-up cowboys lived”, the planning began.
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You might be asking how a Wild West Expedition belongs on an educational blog – so let me explain. Mom was a late-in-life educator who taught special education in rural South Carolina. During my middle school and high school years, Mom attended college and earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and she perfected her craft and became known as the teacher to send the “bad” kids to. I was always intrigued by the stories of her students, who mostly had very little monetarily, who oftentimes did not have both parents at home, and invariably had a behavior issue.
One story I remember was of a little boy, maybe 10 years old, who wreaked havoc on the classroom. Mind you, this was the early 1980s, so there were no cell phones or videos plastered to social media as evidence, but this boy had some behavioral issues – and this was not the first time. For whatever reason, as I remember the story, the boy ran out of the school and they called Mom to go get him. She chased him on foot into town. Town consisted of two red lights, a post office, gas station, a pharmacy, and a Piggly Wiggly grocery store. In my mind’s eye, I pictured Mom chasing this boy at least to one of the red lights – where a police officer caught up to them, caught him, and handcuffed the boy.
Listening to the story as a preteen, I was not shocked. I had aged over the past several years with very little monetary means, did not have both parents at home, and just as the children in Mom’s class, I had a behavior issue. In the south, people often say “Bless her heart,” but the meaning is closer to being cursed – but for my mom, people should say “bless her heart” and mean it as a blessing. See, I was like the kids Mom taught, except I did not have a disability. I, along with Mom and two sisters, had endured the heavy-hand and abusive, critical mouth of my father (not my daddy), who had deserted us several years prior, leaving my mom with three girls, a large house and its debt, and bills that I probably can’t imagine. And because of my father’s abusive and controlling demeanor, Mom had no job and no education to fall back on.
I imagine you are still wondering how this all ties a Wild West Expedition to an educational blog. In the world of education nowadays, the classroom could be compared to a Wild West Expedition. When I imagine the Wild West Poppy wants to see, I envision Marshall Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty, the Cartwright family, the Virginian, and Lucas McCain. I also picture Clint Eastwood riding up on a horse with “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly” main theme song playing (Credit to Ennio Morricone). If any of you grew up watching Westerns – or still watch them like my husband does – then you pictured some of those characters and you might have even gotten the theme song stuck in your head. When I think about those Westerns and the simple way of life they had, I am oftentimes wishful to have lived during that era – but the reality of it all, whether fictionalized or not, is the Westward Expansion was a difficult time for the real people who traversed. There were struggles. There were struggles to live the everyday life – fighting, little money, kidnappings, stealings, and other unmentionables (think about Miss Kitty’s upstairs in the saloon). The characters in the Westerns all were constantly vigilant, keeping a watchful eye on their possessions, their family, and for anyone or anything that could come in between them and their livelihood. This is the tie to the Wild West Expedition.
Many of the students in our classrooms are living through struggles. They see things that shouldn’t even be imaginable by a child. Many are living in poverty or an abusive home or are exposed to actions or objects that no child should see. Children living in these situations are hyper vigilant, operating with little to no executive functioning or constantly in a fight or flight mode. And as educators, we still expect them to “do school” and learn. Their world is moment-by-moment survival.
So, join me on this Wild West Expedition, where I will share the planning and travels to see the great American landscape, I will also share the journeys of the Childhood Trauma Expedition. This is your official invitation. Will you join me?