The Red Pencil 
Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel
October Meeting
When: Thursday, October 17, NOON, $10, check made payable to Watauga County NCRSP
Where: Deerfield Methodist Church
Why: To share time with each other AND to hear from Watauga County Superintendent of Education, Dr. David Fonseca . [Pssst! Plus surprise entertainment!] Please come!
With: non-perishable food for the Hunger Coalition. This month, let’s load down that long table in the Fellowship Hall with INDIVIDUAL SIZES of fruit, heatable meals, cereal, and everything else for the more than 400 backpacks our schoolkids take home every weekend, don’t forget all the lovely, noisy, loose change you’ve been collecting for the Scholarship Fund.
If your caller has not reached you by October 12, phone Margaret Sigmon, 264-2036, to make your reservation. Remember that we’ll be selling take-home meals for $5.
Health Plan Changes for 2014![MP900401793[1]](https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=0b6b9b377c&view=att&th=1417f5f0c5ee09e6&attid=0.2&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1)
With the changes in our Health Plan going into place for 2014, you will probably have questions and want more information. To make the most-informed choice, you are encouraged to take advantage of the outreach event that will be in our county on
October 18, at 3:00 at Meadowbrook Inn in Blowing Rock.
Please call 1-800-850-1992 to reserve a seat for this meeting.
We realize that this meeting is on the same day as our District 3 Convention at the Presbyterian Church here in Boone, but you will have plenty of time to attend both meetings. The convention should be over by about 1:30, which will give ample time to get to Blowing Rock by 3:00. Hopefully we will gain enough information about the Health Plan at this meeting to be able to make wise choices. *****
*****
If you already have a seat at the Blowing Rock meeting, that’s great. If you don’t, you are invited to the session sponsored by the ASU Human Relations Office on October 10 from 2 to 4 in St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church. You don’t need a reservation and you are most heartily welcome to attend.
People Pieces
A number of our members have been away from us too long and would love to hear a cheery word from you. Grab some interesting stationery or a card and let them hear from you.
Margaret Agle Margaret is living with her son Richard in South Carolina, but she loves receiving snail mail and hearing from us all. Her address: Mrs. Margaret Agle, 4158 Jama Road, Conway SC 29526
Agnes Shipley Agnes is still recovering in Greensboro. Her address: Mrs. Agnes Shipley, c/o David Moore, 300 Parkway, Greensboro NC 27402
Frank Randall After a rough go at Duke this summer, Frank is at home on Blanwood Dr. Frank and Lera would both enjoy a note from you. Their address: Dr. and Mrs. Frank Randall, 142 Blanwood Dr. Boone NC 28607
--- --- --- --- ---
Margaret Sigmon would like to send a special thank-you to the callers who gather us for our meetings. They do an incredibly important job and they do it VERY well!
--- --- --- --- ---
As usual, Eula Mae Fox and Lottie Downey are letting no grass grow beneath their feet; they just returned from Ireland!
--- --- --- --- ---
Finally, the latest issue of Our State contains an incredibly beautiful description of his home in Watauga County by NC Poet Laureate and ASU faculty member Joseph Bathanti – including his compliment to Robert and Agnes Shipley. This issue is or should be required reading for all of us in these mountains, but especially for the lucky ones among us who live in Watauga County.
______________________________________________________________________________
LISTEN UP!!!
OK, that was shouting and I know shouting isn’t polite. On the other hand, I really need your attention. The Red Pencil is only as useful to you as you allow it to be. In a world filled with “stuff” bombarding all of us all the time, information overload is not just possible; it’s well nigh unavoidable. Our little newsletter, however, can’t become just another piece of flotsam and jetsam in your life. You can’t let it. News about our programs and our schedules and activities is in here. A message from our unit president is in here. Business matters like the budget on which we’ll all have to vote are in here. What to bring to meetings, whether or not Janice Burns has made another of her legendary cakes for auction, Eula Mae’s latest news about volunteer opportunities, even an occasional brief book recommendation or a nifty recipe are in here, and it’s all important. Please take the time to read this newsletter, and if you have comments to make about it or news you want to share through it, get in touch with Nanci Tolbert Nance, ntn@skybest.com or 828.963-8892.
![MC900436328[1]](https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=0b6b9b377c&view=att&th=1417f5f0c5ee09e6&attid=0.4&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1)
Homemade Potpourri
· 1 oz each of lemon verbena, lemon balm and lemon thyme
· 1/2 oz marjoram
· 1/4 oz crumbled bay leaf
· 1 tbsp crushed lemon peel
· 6 tbsp crushed orange peel
· 2 tbsp orris root powder
· 2 drops orange blossom oil
· 2 drops lemon oil
Mix all dry ingredients together in glass or metal container. Add both oils and mix well. Makes approximately one cup and is a refreshing scent for your kitchen or laundry room.
SUGGESTION: Place in a diffuser lamp. When the potpourri is heated, it will emit a stronger scent. For a fresh scent in your laundry room, double this recipe and make drawer and shelf liners.
NCRSP District 3 Meeting Volunteers
Watauga County Unit
October 18, 2013
photographer
goodie bags, door prizes
down
Note: You may not be aware that based on the complaint of a single parent, the Randolph County Board of Education recently banned Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison from the county schools. One of the pivotal novels in twentieth-century American literature, Invisible Man is generally considered required reading for educated, responsible citizens. Here we have two responses to the decision to ban the book. [The photo above of the tribute to Ellison’s novel was taken by your intrepid editor in New York in June, 2013.]
Barry Saunders: Ban the book, bring on the teens
Published: September 22, 2013, The Raleigh News & Observer
2013-09-22T22:06:20Z Genius. Inspired. That’s all you can call what the Randolph County school board did recently.
The board is being vilified as a bunch of intellectually incurious invertebrates for caving in to a lone parent who possibly feared her child would disappear if she read Ralph Ellison’s book “Invisible Man.”
Me? I come to praise the board, not to bury it under even more unfair criticism for banning the book from its library shelves and reading list.
By doing so, the board has guaranteed that half the county’s high school students will immediately buy and read the book. The other half will borrow it from them when they finish.
Think about it, folks. Do you really think a duly elected school board would vote 5-2 in 2013 to remove a book just because one closed-minded mom from Randleman demanded it, especially after committees at both the school and district levels reportedly recommended that the book remain in the libraries?
No way. Why, otherwise, they’d be the Randolph County Board of Selective Education, right?
To the contrary, so highly attuned to the psyche of today’s teens was the board that it knew there was only one way to ensure that the students would tackle the revered literary work. No doubt aware that calling a book “a classic” is a kiss of death – Mark Twain described a classic as a book that everyone loves but no one has read – the board employed an old Jedi mind trick: forbid the little hormone factories to read it and watch it fly off bookstore shelves.
When I asked Crystal, an employee at the Asheboro Books-A-Million, if the store had the book, she laughed as if to say “how preposterous.” What she did say is, “We are completely sold out, but we’ve got about 200 copies coming in next week.”
See: Genius. Inspired.
Speaking of inspired, I wrote last year a tribute to an inspirational 10th-grade English teacher who encouraged me to read some of the greatest books ever. Unfortunately for me, Mrs. Martin told me to read such classics as “To Kill A Mockingbird,” “Don Quixote” and “The Great Gatsby.”
I eventually read and appreciated them, but only a decade after high school.
Mrs. Martin and other teachers should adopt the cerebral strategy of the Randolph County board. Had she said “Whatever you do, don’t you read ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ ” odds are great that I’d have been under the covers every night with a flashlight trying to see what was so deliciously forbidden.
Indeed, I almost missed the first novel by one of the greatest Southern writers. Truman Capote’s “Other Voices, Other Rooms” wasn’t even on my reading radar until I saw a reviewer who urged people to shun it. The dismissive phrase that resonates even now and made it a must-read was something about “an assortment of perversity and diseased humanity.”
What teenager could resist that?
Same with Ellison’s classic. By the time Randolph County students figure out they’ve been tricked, it’ll be too late: They will already have been exposed to one of the acknowledged great works of literature. School board member Gary Mason ensured its must-read status by teens when, after reading it, he reportedly said – certainly with a wink – “I didn’t find any literary value.”
Mason, reached at home Saturday, confirmed a distressing rumor that was floating about – that the board is planning to reconsider its vote. What, I asked, prompted the reconsideration?
“I don’t know,” he said. “I just know that I’ve been told to come to a meeting on Wednesday.”
Darn. If the board reverses course and tells kids it’s OK to read the book, two things will happen: The book will remain a dust-magnet on shelves, and my theory that the board was actually making an intelligent decision initially will be proven false.
Randolph County parents, knowing how contrarian teenagers are by nature, should demand that the board keep the ban, and while they’re at it, they could enlist board members to come to their homes and forbid their kids to eat their veggies or clean their rooms.
Me? I’d be happy if they’d merely vote to ban my next book, tentatively titled “Nobody Loves Me But My Mother (And She Could Be Jivin’ Too.)”
And one man’s response to the banning:
Updated: 10:20 pm - September 23, 2013
‘Invisible Man’ free to county students
ASHEBORO — Free copies of “Invisible Man” will be available to Randolph County high school students, as long as the supply of donated books lasts, at Books A Million at the Randolph Mall starting on Wednesday.
Former Randolph County resident Evan Smith Rakoff became upset when he heard about the classic book’s ban from county school libraries and found a way, in collaboration with a fellow journalist, to secure donated copies of the book from its publisher, Vintage Books, a division of Random House.
“Banning any book, but especially a great American novel like ‘Invisible Man,’ just doesn’t fit the values of the Randolph County I know,” said Rakoff who’s an editor at Poets & Writers magazine and now lives in New York City.
“Everyone in Asheboro we’ve contacted about this project has been incredibly supportive and thrilled to do whatever they can to help,” he said.
“The people of North Carolina want their children to have expansive, open minds. That is how I was taught, at Fayetteville Street Christian School where I attended kindergarten, in the classrooms of Loflin Elementary, in the Randolph Public Library (where I participated in summer reading programs) and at Asheboro High School,” Rakoff said.
He worked with Laura Miller of Salon.com to make the donation possible. “All we had to do was ask and Vintage Books was eager to help,” Miller said.
Russell Perreault, a Vintage spokesman, said, “We have been the proud publishers of this book for years, and continue to help support people’s freedom to read it. We can only hope the attempt to ban the book will bring even more readers to Ralph Ellison’s magnificent novel.”
The “Invisible Man” book giveaway of one free book for current Randolph County high school students will continue as long as the supply of donated books lasts; after which, copies can be purchased for the retail cover price of $15.95.
############################################################################
ATTORNEY'S ADVICE ON PERSONAL SECURITY - NO CHARGE Part One
A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company:
1. DO NOT sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED.'
2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the ...complete account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.
3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box, use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary, But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.
4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of your driver’s license, any other license, Social Security and insurance cards, and credit cards. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. Carry only the copy of your Social Security card (Put the original in a safe place.) and on that photocopy of your Social Security card (NOT the original!), black out the last four digits.
![MC900240341[1]](https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=0b6b9b377c&view=att&th=1417f5f0c5ee09e6&attid=0.6&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1)
The Importance of Membership
If you did not join or renew your membership in NCRSP in August, October is the next best time. If you are a renewing member and a cash-paying member and have not yet paid your dues, you will find the amount of your dues in the upper right corner of the mailing label on this newsletter. Your Accidental Death Insurance policy will end on October 31 if you do not renew your membership by that time.
If you are newly retired and have not joined yet, please make your decision now to join this vital organization. You need us, and we need you, too! In fact, we need every retired educator to be on our membership roster in order to strengthen our position as advocates for retaining and improving benefits for all retired school personnel in this state. Together, we have strength.
You can pay your dues at our October meeting or mail them to Dot Barker, 451 Poplar Hill Dr., Boone, NC 28607. If you are a new retiree, your dues are $111 and can be paid by check or you can join by bank draft or credit card. If you plan to join by bank draft, bring a voided check with you. Both forms will be available at the meeting. If you have questions, please call Dot at 264-3621 or Barbara or Roland Moy at 264-8811.
IMPORTANT! New this year – checks written for dues payment must be written to NCAE. All other checks, such as scholarship or attendance at association meetings/conferences, are still written to Watauga Unit of NCRSP.
Two old friends sat side-by-side on a park bench in the sun. After a companionable silence, one turned to the other and said, “I hate to admit this, because I know we’ve been meeting here for years and years, but I’ve forgotten your name.”
More than a few moments slipped past before the second woman turned to the first and spoke. “How soon do you have to know?”
![MC900297541[1]](https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=0b6b9b377c&view=att&th=1417f5f0c5ee09e6&attid=0.8&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1)
VOLUNTEER SERVICES:
Please let me remind you again of our goals that only 50% of our members report their volunteer hours and that 25% of those hours be in some kind of educational effort. I know you are out there doing many acts of kindness and selflessness; please be diligent in recording them.
Eula Mae Fox
NCRSP Community Participation - Volunteer Hours 2013
Name __________________________
Category
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Total
|
Education
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total Hours in All Categories ________
Dear Watauga County School Personnel,
Thank you for the $1,000 scholarship and the luncheon. I really enjoyed it. I can't wait for college in a couple of months. The money will come in handy paying for it. You have been an inspiration to me. I will be proud to be a teacher.
Sincerely,
Laurel Beebe
![MC900326744[1]](https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=0b6b9b377c&view=att&th=1417f5f0c5ee09e6&attid=0.9&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1)
We will be voting to approve this budget at our October meeting.
Watauga Unit of NCRSP Proposed Budget for 2013-2014
Income
Local dues based on 60 members @ $8.00 480.00
Local dues based on 60 members @ $10.00 600.00
Total dues income 1080.00
Other estimated income 295.00
1375.00
Expenses
Newsletter printing (5 @ $100.00) 300.00
Other printing 25.00
Postage for newsletter (5 @ $70.00) 225.00
Other postage & supplies 50.00
Total printing, postage, & supplies 625.00
Officers’ expenses
State Convention 300.00
Workshops, etc. 200.00
Total Officers’ expenses 500.00
Miscellaneous (Memorials, gifts, TLC) 150.00
Committee Expenses 100.00
Total Miscellaneous 250.00
Total Expenses 1375.00
You will notice that Scholarship Fund is never in our budget, because dues cannot be used for scholarships and our scholarship is funded entirely by donations. Please be generous with your donations for scholarship, with your major donations, and with your change in the little watering cans on the tables at our lunches. Remember that a donation to the Scholarship Fund is a great way to remember a colleague and to honor one.
Erasers
As punishment, my father said, the nuns
would send him and the others
out to the schoolyard with the day's erasers.
Punishment? The pounding symphony
of padded cymbals clapped
together at arm's length overhead
(a snow of vanished alphabets and numbers
powdering their noses
until they sneezed and laughed out loud at last)
was more than remedy, it was reward
for all the hours they'd sat
without a word (except for passing notes)
and straight (or near enough) in front of starched
black-and-white Sister Martha,
like a conductor raising high her chalk
baton, the only one who got to talk.
Whatever did she teach them?
And what became of all those other boys,
poor sinners, who had made a joyful noise?
My father likes to think,
at seventy-five, not of the white-on-black
chalkboard from whose crumbled negative
those days were never printed,
but of word-clouds where unrecorded voices
gladly forgot themselves. And that he still
can say so, though all the lessons,
most of the names, and (he doesn't spell
this out) it must be half the boys themselves,
who grew up and dispersed
as soldiers, husbands, fathers, now are dust
IN OUR MAILBOX:
![MC900436992[1]](https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=0b6b9b377c&view=att&th=1417f5f0c5ee09e6&attid=0.11&disp=emb&zw&atsh=1)
Keeping Up with the Computer Age
1.
Remember to check our local blogspot, http://wcrsp.blogspot.com/, for the latest issue of The Red Pencil, photos of the most recent meeting, news of the members, and links to important information.
2.
Go to www.ncrsp.org for legislative updates, information about NC retirement, supplemental insurance, and lots of retirement links.
3.
Send a quick note to your humble editor, Nanci Tolbert Nance, at ntn@skybest.com to insure that you receive The Red Pencil by email and save our unit more than $5 per year for your subscription.
4.
And just for fun (and to keep up with what’s going on around here), try www.resortcams.com and scroll down to see all the places that have live video cameras operating all the time. You’ll be able to see the fog roll through Main Street in Blowing Rock or watch folks shopping on King Street in Boone and even catch a glimpse of a child or grandchild on the sand in Myrtle Beach!
The Red Pencil
Watauga Unit, NCRSP
451 Poplar Hill Dr.
Boone NC
