My Team's History (1996-2007)

I started teaching at Southwest Guilford Middle School in the fall of 1996.

I believe that my first official day of teaching was September 24th.

After the 10-day count, it had been determined that two more teachers were needed on the eighth-grade hall.

Sonja Reid and I were added to a team that already had Tracy Garcia and Tonya Kaukola as teachers.

(Tracy and Tonya had started on a two-teacher team of about 50-60 students, with Tracy teaching language arts and social studies and Tonya teaching math and science.)

When Sonja and I added on, students from the other two teams were randomly selected to move to our team.

After immediate parent complaints--the students were already used to their teachers, and their parents didn't want them moved--several of those students returned the next day to their original teams.

Then, other students on those teams were asked if they wanted to move to our "new" team.

Some chose to make that switch.

Even though I've saved the chart below under the name "Midnight Riders Team Teammates," that wasn't actually the name of my team the first year I taught.

It's been so long ago, I can't even remember what our team's name was, except that I know it related to our school mascot, the Cowboys.

(We may have called ourselves the Wranglers. But I'm not absolutely sure about that. Since then, another eighth-grade team has used that name.)

I wanted to save this chart because the years are adding up, and eventually I might forget who I worked with and which year(s) I worked with them.

As you can tell from the chart, I've worked with Drew Sparks for ten years. I couldn't have asked for a better 10-year teammate.

Overall, I've been extremely fortunate to have worked with the people you'll see listed on the chart below.

There are a couple of footnotes I'll make at the bottom of this post (below the chart), based on some irregularities.

I won't take the time to comment on others right now, though I have plenty of wonderful things to say about the people listed on this chart.

Hopefully I'll find the time to do so in the future.

As you'll note, turn-over is a part of the profession.

Later, I might summarize some of the reasons that various teammates left Southwest Guilford Middle School, or at least where they went from here.



* Wendy Caudle left at the end of the third quarter to teach at the same school that her two daughters attended. Renee Faenza took Wendy's place as the math teacher, and Susan Admire took Renee's place for the rest of the year as our team's science teacher. Renee chose to teach math permanently after that switch.

# These two years, our team was a three-teacher team. Renee Faenza, Drew Sparks, and I taught our primary subjects, and each of us taught one section of science.

@ Adam Duncan did not start off the year as our team's math teacher, but I'm listing him because he finished the year and served for the longest period. Marie Munck began the year as our team's math teacher but decided to return to Denmark early. I believe Marie's last day with us was November 10th. A few possible replacements didn't work out. So, from then until about the end of January, three individuals covered the four math classes for our team. Jeannie Law, our assistant principal, taught two sections of math (and still took care of all her administrative duties as well). And two seventh-grade teachers, Katy Rees and Sandy Rittenhouse, each lost/sacrificed a period of their planning to come up to our floor to teach a section each. It goes without saying that Adam made a lot of people happy when he arrived.

N & R Mayoral Coverage Begins This Week!

According to this post, the News & Record will "begin a series of editorials about Greensboro's mayoral race."

The overall plans?

"We'll start with vision statements by Yvonne Johnson and Milton Kern."

Then: "We'll follow up with a new topic each week or so throughout the campaign."

Now, that's what we've been talking about.

Looking forward to more coverage by this person also.

The gap between what many of us would like and what the News & Record plans to deliver is probably not nearly as great as the discussion has sometimes made it seem.

Peer pressure's not always a bad thing.

Not when it helps "Bring out your best!" (I'm borrowing the slogan; I'm not trying to advertise this product.)

Reading N & R Editorial Wizards' Minds

Some readers have claimed for years that they could read the minds of the News & Record's editorial writers.

Increasingly, there's probably some validity to that claim.

The editorial board's Old-School Philosophy was: "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

The board's New-Age Philosophy involves ripping down that curtain.

How?

Well, one editorial writer has been sharing his thoughts out loud.

Another's been sharing his off the record.

More recently, we've even been invited to pull up a chair to the Editorial Board's Table:

"The purpose of this blog is to give you a look at how we work, let you know what we're working on, and ask for your input. We'll give you a chance to comment on our editorials before we write them -- which means your views can influence our final product."

It's been interesting so far, finding out what subjects are being considered and then being able to read the board's final written thoughts on those subjects.

To date, only a few comments have been posted on the "Your Voice at the Table" blog.

As awareness increases, hopefully more people will choose to show up at the table and make their views known.

After some recent discussion of this topic, I appreciated finding out that the editorial board plans to begin writing this week about Greensboro's mayoral race.

A few suggestions for the editorial board's new blog:

1) Add the "Your Voice at the Table" blog to We101. That'll help with advertising. And it will let We101 visitors know when new posts have been made.

2) Describe the legwork that goes into writing an editorial. It'd be interesting to read an occasional step-by-step glimpse at the entire editorial-writing process.

In no particular order, these are some questions I'd be curious to have addressed in the future:

• Who does the editorial writer contact (or try to contact) for more information about the subject?
• How much do interviews help in developing editorials?
• What other research tools are used to develop an editorial?
• What new information is learned, and how does that affect the final editorial on the subject?
• What questions do board members ask one another?
• Are minds ever changed?
• Do board members take turns as devil's advocates?
• Does only one individual ultimately write each editorial, or are there ever any joint ventures?
• Once a writer is assigned to write an editorial, are other writers involved with researching or writing an editorial?
• Once an editorial is written, do other board members help proof and edit?
• Does research ever lead to a changed editorial stance, mid-way through the process?
• What determines who will write each editorial?

Not everyone will be interested in all of these issues, but some people will be.

Some details about what goes on behind the Wizard's curtain have already been revealed on this blog.

3) During this early period, continue using "Thinking Out Loud" and "Off the Record" some to draw those blogs' readers to "Your Voice at the Table."

4) Keep posting! (Thanks for adding this blog. It was a great idea to do so!)

Denying Responsibility

I deny involvement in any activity that might have led to this.

(Margaret: what really happened? Hope you're OK!)

Confessions of a Two-Way Traitor

traitor: one who betrays another's trust or is false to an obligation.

There's no getting around it.

By definition, I'm a traitor.

Worse, I'm a two-way traitor.

Yes, a back-and-forth traitor, probably the most disgusting, least respectable kind there is.

If being a traitor means being regarded as a sinner, I've sinned pretty much my entire life, starting as a child.

Both my parents graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

They had two sons.

By birthright, brother Brice and I should have followed in our parents' heels and become Tar Heels.

Brother Brice, in case you don't know, is the Good Son.

And to spell things out a little more, Brother Hardy (that's me) is the Bad Son.

So even if you don't know me well enough to know this already, you've probably put the context clues together and figured out that, for some reason, something went very wrong, and the Carolina-Blue Blood that should have flowed to my brain and through my heart didn't.

Somehow, a very different color of blood got into my bloodstream.

Some people would say it's the same color, only a darker shade.

But the difference between having Carolina-Blue Blood and having Duke-Blue Blood is as great as the difference between being a Capulet and being a Montague.

In both cases, there's not supposed to be any mixing going on.

I don't know how that darker blood got into my bloodstream.

I'm guessing that one night, while I slept, a Blue Devil snuck into my bedroom, put his fangs to my throat, and took a bite.

Maybe he used his pitchfork as an IV instead.

However it was done, the deed was done, and before I reached adolescence, I was a full-fledged Little Blue Devil myself.

Few Tar Heels will understand this, but for some reason, my parents didn't put me up for adoption.

They even allowed me to attend the Duke Basketball Camp. Twice.

Of course, back then, Coach K and his program weren't what they are today.

And it wasn't like my parents were providing Coach K a future weapon against the Tar Heel basketball team.

Back then, I was as loud and obnoxious a Duke fan as you can imagine.

When I went to football and basketball games with my family, we always sat in the Carolina section, but that didn't stop me from yelling and screaming as loud as I could for my beloved Blue Devils.

I can only realize now what an embarassment I must have been for my parents.

They still loved me anyway.

Or at least pretended they did.

As I grew older, Duke basketball got better.

A lot better.

(I must have been a True Fan. I was pulling for Duke when they weren't winning. And I wasn't bad-mouthing their coaches or players, demanding changes, or just keeping quiet. I only pulled for them louder and harder.)

Duke got very close to winning a national championship during my high school years.

It just wasn't meant to be.

Then, I did what no Good Blue Devil should ever do: I entered Tar Heel Land as a student.

I got a very good scholarship and decided to become a sell-out.

And at the end of my freshman year, Duke won its first national championship.

I was probably the only Carolina student secretly cheering inside that Duke had finally won the Big Game.

(I was old enough to know by then that to maintain good health in Chapel Hill, I needed to keep closely hidden the fact that I was a Blue Devil at heart.)

I earned my degree at Carolina, and I have fond memories of my college years.

Today, when it comes to athletic allegiances, I'm a two-way traitor.

I can watch or attend a game between Carolina and Duke and honestly be happy regardless of the outcome.

When Duke's won its national championships, I've been a proud Blue Devil.

When Carolina's won its national championships, I've been a proud Tar Heel.

I know, I know. None of this is acceptable, anyway you look at it.

All I can ask is this:

Please forgive me.

Duke Lacrosse Case Should Be Used To Kill Death Penalty

You get the impression that some folks regard what happened to the three Duke lacrosse players as the worst injustice ever.

I agree that it was an injustice.


David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann experienced what no one should ever have to suffer through: finding themselves accused of something they had not done.

For a year, their lives were rudely interrupted.


For the rest of their lives, a cloudy asterick will remain beside their names.

"It’s changed my life forever, no matter what happens from here on out. It’s probably gonna be something that defines me my whole life," Finnerty told Ed Bradley in a "60 Minutes" interview.

I am glad that it only took a year to clear the Duke students' names.

They now have the opportunity to move forward with their lives.

As upset as some people are about what happened to these three young men, I haven't sensed the response that should follow.

While their case was never a death penalty case, what happened to them serves only as the most recent evidence that the death penalty needs to be abolished in our state and in our nation. (A moratorium is not enough.)

I assume that false accusations, such as the ones made by Crystal Gail Mangum, are rare.

I assume that prosecutors like Mike Nifong are even less common.

I like to believe the best about people.

I like to believe the best about our judicial system.

I like to believe the best about America.

But no human being and no institution is immune to imperfections, whether those imperfections result from accidents or intentionally carried out acts.

We can look back now and say that the system worked.

The three Duke students were exonerated.

They were never found guilty in a court of law.

But that ignores how far the case did go and how quickly things spiraled out of control.

If the case went as far as it did, isn't it possible that it could have gone further?

What if the accused had not come from families who could afford the best lawyers money can buy?

What if Nifong had taken a more subtle inital approach, drawing less attention to the case than it so quickly received and maintained? (To an extent, the Duke students are actually lucky that Nifong handled the case as he did. Otherwise, their situation might have slipped under the radar.)

What if the accuser had been a better liar than she ultimately proved to be?

What if there had not been racial and socioeconomic differences between the accused and the accuser?

What if a jury had convicted the three Duke students?

What if there hadn't been evidence to support the students' claims of innocence?

What if their reputations had been worse than merely sometimes out of control partying-players, making it even easier for people to assume their guilt?

What if they had been accused of a death-penalty-eligible crime?

It shouldn't take great imaginations to see the all-too-real possibility of others being wrongfully accused of crimes and actually finding themselves convicted, thrown in jail, and even awaiting their undeserved executions.

The Duke players are alive, free, and without fatal wounds.

The same goes for Ronald Cotton and Darryl Hunt, two wrongfully accused men who suffered much more and much longer than the Duke students even came close to suffering.

But if we execute a person and later discover that that person is innocent, we cannot undo that crime.

Such a risk is unacceptable.

It's not worth risking the execution of one innocent individual for the sake of being able to execute a million guilty individuals.

If you can argue that such a sacrifice of the innocent is aceptable, then you can argue that it's no big deal what the Duke players or Ronald Cotton or Darryl Hunt went through.

In each of these cases, it is of course a very big deal what these fellow human beings suffered.

But none of their cases would begin to compare to the actual execution of an innocent human being.

If we actually believe that what happened to the Duke players is inexcusable, we should demand that our North Carolina legislators and governor abolish the death penalty.

And that effort should be carried out on a national level as well.

Candidates Pursue Earlier, More Equal Coverage

At-large Greensboro City Council candidate Greg Woodard seconds Joel Landau's letter to the editor.

You can already visit Greg and Joel on the web.

Both used their letters to let readers know where.

Having run before, Greg and Joel are already off to faster starts than most of the other candidates.

It's not too early for the campaigning to begin, and these two candidates realize that.

The pressure builds for earlier, more equal media coverage.

District 5 race already has received Yes! Weekly coverage.

Angela Carmichael again sounds like she's mainly interested in having her name on the ballot.

That all but guarantees a run-off between Sandy Carmany and Trudy Wade.