Important Announcement

(I found this in my files today. It was unfinished, so I wrote a quick three sentences to close the piece out. Despite it seeming a little dated as many states have opted out of PARCC over the last year and a half, but I thought you would enjoy it anyway.)

Pearson Announces Saturation of U.S. Education Market; Turns Its Eyes on Dog Obedience School

New York City, December 23, 2014, 2:00 PM: J.D. Datum, newly appointed C.E.O. of the Pearson consortium announced today that Pearson Education Testing Services, Inc. (PETS) would expand its curriculum-pushing, test-inflicting, and data-harvesting expertise into new markets.

“We got PARCC and Smarter Balanced ain’t so smart,” the C.E.O. said. “There’s little left to conquer. If we are to grow profits like our shareholders demand, we have to find new markets. And the dog market is as pristine as the North American continent the day Columbus arrived.”

A spokeswoman later clarified Pearson’s strategic plan. “There are millions of misbehaving dogs across America and their owners are incompetent to teach them how to behave. If Dog Obedience Schools were really effective, we would not be seeing this level of dogs refusing to come when called, refusing to sit when told, and refusing to stay when they want to wander. There is only one conclusion: obedience schools are failing and the trainers who work there need improvement.

“By applying the Danielson model to dog schools, supported by Pearson’s expertise in providing curriculum and testing protocols, we can provide what these schools need to bring all dogs to proficiency in obeying commands.”

L. Evesque, Doggone Foundation, with support from Florida’s former governors, exclaimed, “Hot dog! We’ve been pushing these reforms for years. We look forward to school choice for all dog owners. We call upon the Florida legislature to pass our model legislation so these animals’ Mommies and Daddies can use a voucher to get their beloved pets out of these failing obedience schools.”

When this reporter asked how dog owners do not have a choice of obedience schools now, Evesque responded, “Shut yo’ mouth. If we are to bring our dogs into a global economy, a 21^st century curriculum blended with technology and enhanced standards of learning, we have to divert the public’s tax dollars from traditional targets to …”

At this point, she reddened and coughed. Several dogs in the area howled. Evesque took up the challenge. “To childless adults, their dogs are as precious as your human children are to you. They deserve the same respect from Florida. After all, we have a rather broad interpretation of the state constitution’s emphasis on education … dammit, John Ellis B. wants to run for President of the United States. He needs contributions for his campaign.”

The Pearson plan for dogs is eerily similar to what takes place in the nation’s public schools. Dogs will undergo a standardized curriculum organized under the CCSS, Common Canine State Standards, because after all, dogs in Hawaii ought to be able to pull a sled like Alaskan Huskies above the Arctic Circle, and if not, maybe they should be put down along with the people who teach them.

Then, the dogs will be tested by these standards and data gathered so the public can know how well the dogs that live among them are actually performing. Pearson expressed its confidence that it knows better than anyone how to test dogs despite the fact that its top and middle management own only cats.

Pearson may face opposition, though. Patrice Weillerderott, American Kennel Club, commented upon the plan, “We resent their implications that there are no standards for dogs. We have been setting standards for hundreds of breeds for over a hundred years. Who are these people, anyway?”

Robert Span’nolovich of the Westminster Dog Show also commented upon this story. ”We’ve been testing dogs for years. They think they know better than us how to judge a performance? And what’s with this talk about data? Seriously? Really … year after year, we see the same thing. Showpeople with the buckaronies to doll up their pets, get the right posture, and hire personal trainers to inculcate the precious traits we want to see for our show … well, they get the blue ribbon, don’t they? Poor people can’t compete.”

Evesque, who denied taking a Pearson supplement for this story, responded that these people showed why her foundation’s reforms were needed. “It’s for the puppies …”

Datum spluttered at his latest press conference. “That’s exactly why we have to barge into this market. Once we’ve established our monopoly … ahem, I misspoke, aren’t those puppies cute?”

Meanwhile, reports are coming in from all over the nation that dogs are opting out by running away from their owners. Who can blame them?

HRC meets the NEA

Hillary Clinton came to town and got a good hug. Her only bad moment (she did have one) … but let’s leave that for its proper place.

Peter Greene, our favorite curmudgeon of Curmudgucation fame, often says that he’s read something so you don’t have too. To paraphrase him, I watched the candidate’s speech and took detailed notes so you don’t have to. I will add my commentary as I go.

HRC promised educators a seat at the table—always, as if there was a question that at some point she would dismiss us from the room. “… listen to educators when making decisions about education.”

So you will meet with Diane Ravitch, right? I mean, my social media feed and email have been blowing up all day with people signing the petition I started: https://www.change.org/p/hillary-clinton-a-meeting-between-hillary-clinton-and-diane-ravitch?recruiter=174540454&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

HRC asks for our support because ‘it’s for the children.’

Hmm, that one’s been around for two and a half decades. Got another reason, Ms. Clinton?

“Every child [should] receive a world-class education with good schools and good teachers no matter what zip code they live in.”

Nice to know you can sling the clichés as well as Bill. Could you be more specific?

“And you know what that means … supporting parents, expanding access to high-quality health care and universal pre-K for every child.”

Which neither I nor anyone who considers themselves a human being can argue with. Not that I want to. But the issue is not access to these things, it’s how and WHO should pay for it. More specifics, please.

“… repairing crumbling schools, building modern schools, investing in the training and support our educators deserve to have … because when we invest in education, we invest in our country’s future and we invest in an economy that works for all of us and not just for those at the top.”

Yet again, where are the specifics? How and who will pay for it?

A personal note: spare me the training. I’ve sat through too much whack-your-head-on-the-table-it-won’t-be-as-painful-as-this trainings mandated by some federal, state, or district bureaucrat with a checklist that they believe absolves them of responsibility—yeah, yeah, let’s make teachers suffer through this and then it’s THEIR fault our dumb ideas don’t work.

“[We should] focus on reaching new heights, not rehashing old arguments.”

So forget what I said a few moments ago about listening to educators when making decisions about education.”

“It is time to stop focusing on only quote failing schools—let’s focus on all our great schools, too. Let’s replicate their success everywhere across America.”

And here it comes …

“And when schools get it right—whether it’s traditional public schools or public charter schools, let’s figure out what’s working … and share it with schools across America.”

In the walnut-paneled offices of Wall Street hedge fund managers, cheers broke out. Brandy and cigars all around, their investment is about to pay off in a huge way. Meanwhile, teachers connected by social media are saying [censored]. But Congress heard them. In unprecedented legislation, Paul Ryan introduced a bill to outlaw the letters F, T, & W from the English language.

Whoops, there’s that sarcasm thing people warn me about. But charter schools have had 30 years to figure out what’s working and if they know, they haven’t shared it with schools across America. Most of us realize the truth: charter schools have less of a clue about true student learning than traditional public schools.

“We can do that. We have no time for all these education wars where people on the outside try to foist for-profit schools on our kids … I will never stand for that. That’s not acceptable.”

For someone so inept with email and technology, you keep hitting all the right abbreviations: Teachers, STFU. Maybe you should check out the Urban Dictionary.

You won’t stand for what, exactly? Teachers speaking out about the deprivations on their schools?Troy LaRiviere calling out the mayor of Chicago? Where are you going with this? Again, could you make a few detailed policy proposals and let us know what you plan to do?

Also, you were only kidding about listening to educators? Oh, these silly, silly teachers …

“Let’s sit at one table …”

Ah, you’ve been reading Peter Greene with his brilliantly comic references to the Thanksgiving kids table …

“… let’s listen to one another and particularly, let’s listen to you, the teachers and support professionals who have been with our kids all day, every day.”

Dangerous moment. Are you not aware that our union leadership, particularly Lily Eskelsen Garcia and Randi Weingarten, have pushed you despite the massive protests from the rank and file? Naw, you ended your speech with a big hug. But I am getting ahead of myself.

But if you’re listening to teachers and support professionals then you know that we are withholding our endorsement for now no matter what our leadership does.

“Rather than starting from ideology, let’s start from what’s best for our kids …” And now a stroll down Memory Lane, during which Ms. Clinton takes credit for the IDEA legislation.

“My plan for strengthening public education comes down to three things: TLC—teaching, learning, community.

“Let’s start with teaching … everyone looks to you to fill in the gaps that we as a country have neglected.

“We ask so much of you and we don’t give you near enough in return.

“As President, I’ll launch a national campaign to modernize and elevate … at all stages of your careers so you can keep learning, improving, and innovating—and that goes for administrators, too.”

You really don’t have a clue, do you?

You promise to raise our pay—as if the Federal Government pays us.

I’ll give you props, though, for at least mentioning that our paraprofessionals and other support personnel have it much worse than teachers and need to be included in all pay discussions.

Thanks for the nod on student loans … on Wall Street, though, the brandy and cigars have been dropped on the carpet:

“[about teacher’s student debt] you will be able to refinance student debt so you can afford to teach. Any remaining student debt, after you refinance, will be forgiven after 10 years.”

I guess Bill handled the family finances. Because refinancing a debt doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay it back. As for that 10 year forgiveness? I bet you got some crazy phone calls from your backers after your speech was done. Are you really telling me all I have to do is delay for 10 years and I’m off the hook? And who do you think will refinance a teacher’s loan knowing that he/she will get stiffed at the end of 10 years?

“And will go even further in hard to teach subjects such as computer science or special education …”

Ground Control to Major Clinton. Every subject, every area has become hard to staff because of the destructive policies of the last 20 years, including the ones of a certain president you are eager to associate yourself with. Especially because of something called Race to The Top.

“Tests should go back to their original purpose—giving useful information to teachers and parents (pause) so you know and parents know how our kids in our schools are doing to help them improve.”

May I recommend a half dozen teacher blogs regarding this issue that are well written? If you really believed that, you would call for an end to testing and say let the teachers test students as they did 30 years ago. No standardized testing, no PARCC, no SBAC, none of that is needed.

“But when you’re forced to teach to a test, our children miss out on some of the most important experiences in the classroom … That hurts our low-income kids and communities the most. Extra-curricular activities stripped out, but not in better schools … [This is] fundamentally wrong … [a mention of inequality]

You need to catch up, Ms. Clinton. It’s not an issue of inequality but of inequity. If you don’t know the difference, well, sit down at the table you pretend to be setting for us educators and find out.

Also, here is where you share the details of your major education policies. Otherwise, we dismiss your platitudes as the pandering of a politician.

But don’t worry, be happy, because …

“[in the face of] hostile state legislatures, union busting government, I’m here to tell you that help is on the way.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0HLAKm1_1Q

(That’s Mighty Mouse singing, “Here I Come to Save the Day!”)

“… will fight for your right to collective bargaining.”

Forgive me, but by this point, I live in Missouri: SHOW ME.

“[We] have to have a partnership. Work with me, advise me, hold me accountable.”

So you will meet with Diane Ravitch? As for accountability, you will rue the day you said that. 30,000 emails don’t lie.

I was pretty exhausted by this point, but let’s soldier on. Her next point was Learning and she talked about technology. She will prioritize the “integration of digital tools into the curriculum.”

Good thing Bill Gates, Pearson, iReady, etc. etc. got to parse your speech before you gave it. Thumbs up from that trio!

She’ll close the gaps, yada, yada, yada … affordable high speed broadband yada, yada, yada for all kids to do homework …

Has it ever occurred to this woman to talk to educators about whether computer homework works for children? Has she even heard of Photomath, the app that not only gives a correct answer, but all the steps for a child to copy down to hand in? All one has to do is activate the app and let the phone camera have a peek?

Then she talked about community. Here’s an oldie but goodie to divert you from yet more clichés and generalities that don’t mean diddly squat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib-Qiyklq-Q

Apple trees and honeybees …

The only thing left was to spout about needing wrap-around services in schools.

But no policy proposal, no details. “It’s the real thing, Coke …” the commercial sang.

Does Hillary Rodham Clinton realize that her election rides upon this question and that she squandered an opportunity to convince teachers that she is the real thing?

What Is a Public Charter School?

We see this term used more and more often, by candidates for elective offices and by charter schools. Let’s look into what is meant by a ‘public’ charter school and I put the word into quotes because logic tells us if there are public charter schools then that is in distinction from non-public charter schools.

(Let me confess at the outset that I doubt the term has any meaning at all. It is a reflection of the ongoing attempt by charter school chains to present themselves as public schools. Why, I cannot imagine, since charter schools trumpet their superiority over public schools in their promotional campaigns and political machinations.)

(However, political candidates are trying to steer an impossible course between charter school advocates and defenders of traditional public schools by saying that they support PUBLIC charter schools but not all charter schools. It’s time to call upon them to clarify what they mean.)

“A charter school is a public school of choice that operates under the terms of a charter, or contract, with an authorizer, such as the state and local boards of education.” (Georgia Department of Education, General FAQs) (Emphasis mine.)

Varying versions of this definition are put out but they all have the same essential point: a charter school, by virtue of its charter, its authorizing governmental body, and state laws is a public school.

But then, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools features this mission statement on its website (www.publiccharters.org): "We are working to grow the number of high-quality charter schools available to all families, especially those who do not have access to high-quality public schools."

Wait, what? Charters AREN’T public schools because they exist as an alternative to public schools?

From their website, here’s some more:

“Charter schools are unique public schools that are allowed the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement. Because they are public schools, they are:

·         Open to all children;

·         Do not charge tuition; and

·         Do not have special entrance requirements.

Charter schools were created to help improve our nation’s public school system and offer parents another public school option to better meet their child’s specific needs. The core of the charter school model is the belief that public schools should be held accountable for student learning. In exchange for this accountability, school leaders should be given freedom to do whatever it takes to help students achieve and should share what works with the broader public school system so that all students benefit.”

So many issues, so little time. For starters, traditional public schools have gotten a ton of accountability but not the freedom to do what they think is best. That has been taken away. Second, when will you publish your Lessons Learned report for the benefit of the ‘broader public school system?’ I’m working through your website. Can’t find it.

Anyhow, I’m maintaining this question as an open question for anyone to answer. I have three specific groups in mind: charter schools (although I think the above has answered the question I will keep an open mind), politicians, and you.

I’m contacting places with a simple request: Can you tell me what you mean by ‘public charter?’ The answers will be illuminating.

Fresh Eggs for your July 4th Celebration

1.       “Lyin’ Ted Cruz,” “Crooked Hillary,” and “Goofy Elizabeth Warren:” Why haven’t we seen a quiz on Facebook titled: What Donald Trump Insult Are You?

2.       The violence at the Mexican teacher protest, including several deaths of the teachers because the federales shot them, put me in mind of the 1894 Pullman Railroad strike and the 1896 Haymarket Affair in Chicago. Violence at the protests of labor is nothing new and it has happened here.

3.       The Megamillions lotto is up to Mega Megamillion Dollar levels. Somehow there’s not the excitement of the Powerball frenzy six months ago. That’s a good thing if we can take it or leave it.

4.       Can’t blame you, though, if you’re keeping a dog in the hunt.

5.       While we were focused on the new cut scores for achievement levels, the Florida Department of Education did something truly appalling with the calculation of learning gains. Simply put, the non-passing levels were divided into five sublevels and only if a student moves up a level are learning gains deemed to have taken place. On passing levels, students must gain at least one point on the scale score. Schools are used to healthy boosts for their grade based on learning gains. No more. Look for the pushback to begin in another two weeks. FEARLESS FOSDICK prediction: The commissioner and the state board will cave with an emergency rule to keep schools from declining drastically in their letter grades.

6.       Bonus point if you know who Fearless Fosdick is.

7.       It’s a tough choice for Corrinne Brown’s supporters. For the first time in two decades, she needs their votes in the August 30 primary as she competes in the new East-West district that runs along I-10 to Tallahassee. Al Lawson has his own base in the western part of the district and will be hard to beat. Yet, they also want to replace Angela Corey. But due to the electoral shenanigans of a Corey supporter filing for a write-in campaign, her primary is closed—Republicans only. There is no Democratic opposition: to vote Corey out (by changing their registration to Republican for the primary), they will have to let Brown take her chances. A tough choice.

8.       As I have listened to the complaints across the long presidential primary campaign and now going into state contests, it seems clear a large majority favor reworking our election laws for unitary campaigns.

9.       Given that such campaigns tend to foster competitive races and threaten incumbents, look for the idea to go into the same file as the fair tax.

10.   The markets have returned to pre-Brexit vote levels. Not surprised.

11.   Europe needs Britain as much as Britain needs Europe. A ‘United States of Europe’ was never going to happen. 28 diverse cultures and languages, they thought they could achieve the cohesiveness of the USA, with a dominant one language and culture? And even we have our regional difficulties, not to mention social justice issues within our society. Europe needs to reduce the power of the Brussels bureaucracy and allow more discretion to member countries or others will follow Britain.

12.   What Trump insult am I? Oh, call me bald-headed. I always swore I would never do a ridiculous comb-over as my genetic heritage asserted itself.

Orlando and School Safety

50 dead; 53 wounded. Over 320 people out for an evening of socializing with friends and meeting new friends: 1 in 3 casualties (not counting the remainder who will develop PTSD); 1 in 6 dead.

Shocking statistics; horrifying news.

We extend our condolences to the victims’ families and friends. We weep. We gnash our teeth as to why and how we could stop this kind of violence.

We mourn.

I’m about to riff about school safety but I need to stop in respect of all the innocent lives that were cut short in Orlando this weekend.

Why do we have a casual attitude toward the security of our school campuses?

Every month we practice a fire evacuation drill until we reach testing season. Then no drills are permitted because we cannot interrupt the tests. (As if fires would put themselves out because the test is too important.) Maybe once a year we hold a lockdown drill to practice what to do if an active threat is on the campus. And yet, how many fires in the last 50 years have resulted in student injuries and deaths? Zero? How many have died because of killers and senseless violence?

After the mass killing at the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, schools across the nation instituted new procedures, trained personnel, and put plans into place. Then a few years go by and the procedures are forgotten. School personnel are told at the beginning of the year that there is a plan in place and they should go read it. No practice, no drill.

Schools develop a plan and writes names into responsibilities. It looks good on paper. I’ll never forget when I found out a school had put me in charge of evacuating 800 students off-campus to a remote site, if needed, and I only found out months after the fact when they made the plan available for reading. When were they going to tell me? And when would they explain what they wanted me to do? I was told the plan was only a draft and not to sweat it.

Why do we have a casual attitude toward the security of our school campuses?

Capital orders are issued and fencing is put into place. But that proves inconvenient. At one school, people wanted to park on one side of the campus and not have to walk all the way around the front to come in the entrance on the other side of campus. Therefore, a friendly someone unlocks a gate every day to spare them the inconvenience. And a shooter? That person could slip in the unlocked gate and be in classrooms before anyone would know.

Why do we have a casual attitude toward the security of our school campuses?

In my end-of-year surveys, the students were generally appreciative of my teaching and help. (Not all, no one ever hits 100% popularity.) One thing they thought was stupid was my rule that only I answer the door. Only I am allowed to open the door to admit people into the room.

They scoff at my explanation that as unlikely as it may be, if a shooter is in the hallway, I am the one in the doorway to deal with it. (That’s being a teenager—it won’t happen to me.) But I am serious and committed to their safety. If someone goes down, it will be me. While it is unlikely to happen, somehow every year it happens somewhere. Black Swan Theory: merely because no one has ever seen a black swan doesn’t prove that one does not exist. However low the odds of an event occurring, given enough time, it is going to happen.

And then there are the number of rooms where the doors are unlocked. All I can say is that I’m glad at my current post that there are no connecting doors with other classrooms.

Why do we have a casual attitude toward the security of our school campuses?

Pirates of the 'Hood'

Make no mistake: I detest and reject the romanticizing of pirates by novelists and Hollywood. The truth is that they were the terrorists of their age.

Yep, the Jolly Roger was no sign of sexy hijinks but that one’s life was about to be cut short.

Pirates had a deadly purpose in what they did: rob ships and their passengers of their ‘portable property’ (as Dickens would say in Great Expectations) to finance their illicit lifestyle.

They would fly false colors to lure a ship into complacency as they appeared upon the horizon until they drew close when they would run up the Skull and Crossbones, a human skull that hovered over an X of armbones upon a black field.

Their purpose was clear: ships that surrendered without a fight were plundered but the passengers’ lives were spared. Ships that tried to run or fight—crew and passengers were murdered without a twinge of conscience.

Striking terror into their targets was a deliberate policy that made their job easier and, without a fight, less likely that any pirate would die.

Nevertheless, a pirate’s life was brutal and short. Apart from the golden age when the crowns of Europe authorized their deprivations to advance their wars (privateer vs. pirate), pirates were hunted by the authorities and, whenever captured, hung.

What then attracted men to piracy?

In the 1600s and 1700s, as Europe moved from feudalism into modernity, the prospects of the ordinary man were few. They lived lives of futility upon the few acres of the land of their birth, completely controlled by the local nobleman, or they escaped into military service, another nightmarish world where the slightest infraction was met with severe discipline such as flogging.

A pirate, though, thumbed his nose at the crown head, the authorities, and the society that despised him. A pirate lived a life of freedom. A pirate did as he pleased with his shipmates, and though he chose a life of debauchery and pillage, it was his choice. That was exhilarating to men whose life’s courses were otherwise determined by the status of their grandfathers’ births.

They were free! Although that meant that their only means of support was robbery and that they made poor lifestyle choices, throwing themselves into drunkenness and squalor, promiscuity and disease, yet—it was their choice. That made all the difference.

Is it any different today in our poorest, most desperate, urban neighborhoods? Places where there are no prospects, no means of holding a job because there are no jobs, and no opportunities to do anything else than hang out on the street corner?

Life can be brutal and short. Authorities look for the slightest infraction and though we no longer use hanging, these young men are tossed into prison for long stretches of their lives, long enough that all meaning has gone by and the most basic of human desires—that of producing the next generation—is thwarted.

It is a life where life is not guaranteed. An encounter with the authorities is a crapshoot—one may live or one may roll snake-eyes. The choice to obey and you will live is not given to the pirate in the ‘hood. When you look at the world through their eyes, their choices are not surprising after all.

When there are no jobs, the only choice is to be an entrepreneur. What business opportunities exist in the neighborhood? Ones that require no capital outlay (for they have none)? The opportunities may be illegal and invoke the wrath of authorities, but that’s only a cost of doing business. It’s all they have.

Don’t preach at them about education, these city pirates. Even if you assembled a group of 100 superteachers, who rescued their schools, and they spent their K-12 years learning, walking out with a diploma, what good is that when there are no jobs for them, their neighborhoods disintegrate, and they struggle to survive?

Look at the world through their eyes and the ones who drop out, the ones who check out, seem smarter than the ones who hang in.

And for a few brief years, only a few but enough, they live lives of freedom. Free to do as they choose, free to raise a finger (you know which one) in the face of society, free to compete for supremacy with no rules, free to be the best they can be in their world, even if that world involves violence, murder, and emotional turmoil.

Free.

Addendum: What happened to the pirates?

Once the authorities became serious and united in wanting to suppress them, military operations against their strongholds and towns that supported them grew comprehensive and more effective.

But there are always plenty of places in the world to hide. What really did the pirates in was that the world changed around them.

As colonies expanded and prosperity grew, as opportunities for merchants, craftsmen, and small farmers meant that an ordinary man could find the means to earn income and support a family, the allure of piracy faded and then died out.

These changes also took place in the homelands of Europe.

It is no different today and it is time our society got on with it—creating and expanding opportunities in our poorest and most desperate neighborhoods so that our young <ahem> entrepreneurs would find other avenues in which to invest their energy and their lives.

An Empty House

Something is missing.

What is a dog anyway? In comparison to our lives, they share but a few years.

We pamper them, exercise them, pet them, sleep with them (yeah, try to keep a dog off your bed unless you shut the door and can tolerate the scratching or you crate them and can tolerate the whining) -- even when you don't allow them up, they only wait for you to fall asleep before joining you on the mattress ...

My dog died Tuesday, May 24, 2016.

The house is empty.

There is no mad face shoving the window slats aside as I come home, barking like a lunatic, until she hears my voice and knows that it is me.

There is no warm body throwing itself upon my lap, demanding attention, as I check Facebook and email on my computer.

There is no gulping from the water dish or crunching of food from the meal dish.

A personality has been subtracted from the atmosphere of my home and I notice the absence. I have an empty house.

No dog to chase a ball, chew on a bone, demanding better of me than I really am and making me rise to her expectations ...

An empty house.

When two beating hearts live in a shared space, they sync with one another. Even when she laid in a back room and ignored me, her life force filled my space. But now, I have an empty house.

An empty house.

When I realized she was dying, I made her comfortable. I allowed her to be outside (dogs separate themselves from their society when they know it's their time), I made sure she had water, I held the dish to her lips so she could drink, I covered her so carrion flies could not begin their awful but necessary work too early, I made her comfortable. She was not in pain, she did not cry out; there was no need to cut short her time upon our planet. I gave her everything she was entitled to.

Now she's gone. The house is empty.

It's not only the time saved on morning walks before I leave for school or the evening walks for exercise when I get home. It's not that I no longer have to check the daily forecast to decide whether she can be in my air-conditioned-less house during the days as the temperatures warm up or should she be outside--what are the chances of storms? It's not the lack of daily ritual to empty the water bowl to fill it with fresh water and to put out food, only enough food, as I need to monitor her weight ...

It's not that the rituals are over. Something else is missing.

When I finished the burial and came back to the house, I realized something sticky was on my shoes. I had to grin as I thought: Got me for the last time. (You know what I mean if you have ever had dogs.) It's not that.

It's that when I come home, when I wake up, whenever I am at home, something is missing. She filled my soul with her presence. But now ...

The house is empty.