August 13, 2003
This might be fun, my friends, for all of you who enjoy doing a little writing. This call for submissions came across my computer screen and I thought I would pass it along to all of
you. Here is the message:
A GEORGIA LITERARY CHRISTMAS is a proposed collection of stories and memoirs addressing the special nature of the holiday season in the magnificent state of Georgia. Similar to our two other collections
(CHRISTMAS STORIES FROM LOUISIANA, University Press of Mississippi, October, 2003, and CHRISTMAS ON THE GREAT PLAINS, University of Iowa Press, October, 2004), A GEORGIA LITERARY CHRISTMAS will be composed of the best literature we can discover which deals with the celebration of the Christmas season.
We are soliciting submissions from authors who are currently living in Georgia or who have lived there in the past. Submissions of no more than 5,000 words should address the holiday season from as many diverse standpoints as possible. To have your work considered, please submit it by December 1, 2003, in hard copy only with SASE, publication history of the submission (if any), the availability of rights for publication, and a brief writing bio to: Kenneth Robbins, School of the Performing Arts, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA 71272.
Briefly, the editors (Dorothy Dodge Robbins and Kenneth Robbins) are educators with significant writing and editorial experience behind them. Dorothy teaches English and Kenneth theatre at Louisiana Tech University. Their connection to Georgia comes through Kenneth who grew up in Douglasville, graduated from three institutions of higher learning within the state, and retains immediate family in and around the Atlanta area. If you have any questions regarding this call for submissions, feel free to contact
us at: krobbins@latech.edu
.
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Like what you've been reading in the popular press these days about the effect the non-English-speaking students are having on the public education system in Gwinnett County? Despite rigorous efforts on the part of the Gwinnett County Public Schools, the schools with large numbers of immigrants are still sinking by the federal guideline measures. The message that we ought to try another strategy seems pretty clear to me. Wouldn't it be fairer and wiser for everybody concerned here to quit trying to mainstream the non-English-speaking students and to give them entirely separate classes until they have indeed mastered our language and can finally compete on an equal footing with our English-speaking students? This deal we've got now does not seem efficient or fair to either part of this equation.
"Political correctness" is failing us as we try to achieve a high standard of education for all. One English-as-a-Second-Language class per school day is not sufficient to arrive at the outcome we want for all the students. Let's try something different and the sooner, the better.
I think it is time to push increased standards in the curriculum. Full knowledge of the English language should be a mandatory requirement for participation in the main curriculum. If our schools must teach our language to students who do not know it, let this be accomplished out of the path of the students who do know it. Let them charge ahead at full speed without remedial diversions!
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In the Peachtree Corners area of western Gwinnett County, Georgia, we don't wait for the "government" to take care of all things great and small. We have a business/homeowner initiative taking off now that will ensure the beauty of the section of Peachtree Parkway (Hwy. 141) from the split at Peachtree Industrial Blvd. to the Chattahoochee River, the section known as the Paul Duke Parkway, for years to come.
As this is a state stretch of road, the medians are mowed twice a year, which is totally inadequate for tidy upkeep. The Peachtree Parkway Improvement Project was begun to get the medians and road shoulders under better control, without resorting to a CID taxing instrument. This effort is completely voluntary. It is a coalition between businesses on the Parkway and the United Peachtree Corners Civic Association (UPCCA).
There are sections of the median that are already being planted and mowed privately. Technology Park maintains the median and road shoulders for the long section that transverses Technology Park. The Forum has begun mowing the highway median parallel to that shopping mall. Riverview Homeowners' Association takes care of the median in front of that subdivision. The Peachtree Parkway Improvement Project seeks to enlarge this accomplishment to include the entire Paul Duke Parkway section that is the main drag through Peachtree Corners. Everyone who lives in Peachtree Corners, works here, owns a business here, worships here, or just passes through on the way to North Fulton and Forsyth counties will benefit from this united effort. Stay tuned.
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The United Peachtree Corners Civic Association (UPCCA) is presenting a panel devoted to information about the Gwinnett County Public Schools in the Duluth and Norcross Clusters on Monday, August 18, 2003 at the Norcross High School Theater, 5300 Spalding Drive. UPCCA meeting begins at 7:30 p.m., but there will be a tour of Norcross High School at 6:30 p.m. if you are interested. Meet in the lobby.
District III School Board member Dr. Mary Kay Murphy will be the panel moderator. Panel members include:
Dr. Donald Fielder, Associate Superintendent for Educational Leadership;
Dr. Cindy Loe, Associate Superintendent for Education Programs; Mrs.
Joyce Callahan, Principal, Pinckneyville Middle School; Mr.
John Huerta, Asst. Principal, Pinckneyville Middle School; Mrs.
Mary Anne Charron, Principal, Norcross High School; and Mr.
Pat Blenke, Principal, Duluth High School.
This is a good opportunity to hear what is going on, ask any questions you may have, and meet the leaders of the public schools in our Peachtree Corners area. The program is open to all UPCCA members and the general public.
For more information, please call Pat
Bruschini, UPCCA vice president, at (770) 263-6159.
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My garden is suffering from the end-of-summer blahs. We have had so much rain that things are a little squishy in spots, which the turtles love. Nothing stays the same, does it? Last year at this time I was complaining about the effects of the drought. My deer friends have eaten the oak leaf hydrangeas, actually pruned them pretty neatly. The asters are beginning to bloom and the bee balm is coming back for a second growth.
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The Norcross Baseball Club finished their inaugural season 2-2. They thank the community for their support and look forward to the 2004 season
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Hope all is well and thanks for reading.
081303
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