So the Patriot Ledger replied that my reply to Mr. Olsen ran too long for them to print. I tried as much as I could to cut it down but I couldn't do it and still convey all the points I wanted to. But my response did make the rounds through North Quincy High School, which is preaching to the choir, but it was sort of therapeutic I suppose to put it on paper. The coming week will be "big," for lack of a better term. Our D-Day is Friday, June 8th. We have a very long, perhaps deep into the night, meeting scheduled for Thursday at 3:30. The union membership will vote to accept the city's last best offer or to strike the next day. It's hard to get a read on how people in other buildings feel, but my sense is that we don't have the simple majority required to vote for a strike. And I'm not sure the last best offer is going to be something we really want. So as far as I can tell, we lose no matter how this turns out. I just want to go down swinging.
Tomorrow, weather permitting, is graduation. It is customary for department chairs to sit on the platform with city administrators, city councilors, school committee members, and the mayor. After a very dramatic battle, we (the department chairs) have voted to not sit on the platform, much the same way the teachers will not be sitting in their reserved on-field section. The department chairs were split over whether or not we are contractually obligated to be up there. The consensus was that we're not. Things are bit more complicated in that one of us has a child in the graduating class and that person would have liked to have been on the platform so he can come down and hand his child his diploma. We think he can still do that by coming down from the stands at the appropriate time. My vote was against sitting on the platform and I offered two reasons. First, we would be the only representatives of the teachers' union on the platform and the union would prefer we not be up there. Second, sitting up there would place us with the very people we are negotiating with and I think it's not right to send a message of unity with them when the truth is we are very much opposed. Anyway, we voted and the vote was against sitting up there, so we are not. The day after our vote, we learned that the prior principals and Quincy clergy, all of whom traditionally sit on the platform, have also decided to not sit on the platform. This will leave only elected officials, the superintendent, and his appointees on the platform. Plus a very empty on-field teachers' section.
I escaped all of that drama for a few days last week by heading to London's West End. I managed to see some new things and hit a museum I had somehow never been to before.
Lord of the Rings is not the best thing you'll ever see, but you can certainly tell where your money goes. The effects are incredible. A forgettable score with nary a tune to remember. But very fun to watch.
The Lady from Dubuque is a typical Albee play - loaded with symbolism and metaphor and requiring far too much brain power to follow. Alas, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf excepted, Albee is not one of my favorites. But this play featured Maggie Smith - and it's always worth it to see her.
A third return to Billy Elliott. Obviously I like this one a lot. I think it's message is great and it has some excellent staging. Three times seen, and three different Billys. The first two were originals and both great. This one was apparently the first of the replacements and was good - not as good as the first two, but still good.
Equus is a dark and twisted psychological drama. Leaves you with much to think about. And draws on all the psych 101 and Freudian analysis you studied in college. The selling point for this production is of course Daniel Radcliffe. A grown up Harry Potter certainly has something to do with why every seat was full at this show. He's good, but then again, in terms of acting, he doesn't have to do much but react, especially to the doctor. He does indeed strip down to nothing and spend about 10 minutes with all of it out there for everyone to see. And there's no attempt to tone it down with dark lighting, standing in profile, or blocking by other characters. It's all there to see. So I give him credit for the courage to do that eight times a week in front of full houses. The doctor was played by Harry's uncle Vernon, Richard Griffiths. In History Boys, Griffiths owned the role of Hector and turned in one of the best peformances I've ever seen on stage. In Equus, he is good, but I had a hard time fully accepting him as the character. Maybe it was physical, maybe it was age. I don't know.
