“An Army Wife Reflects On 'When The Men Are Gone' - NPR News” plus 1 more

An Army Wife Reflects On 'When The Men Are Gone' - NPR News

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 07:40 AM PST

You Know When the Men Are Gone
By Siobhan Fallon
Hardcover, 240 pages
Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
List Price: $23.95

Three a.m. and breaking into the house on Cheyenne Trail was even easier than Chief Warrant Officer Nick Cash thought it would be. There were no sounds from above, no lights throwing shadows, no floorboards whining, no water running or the snicker of late-night TV laugh tracks. The basement window, his point of entry, was open. The screws were rusted, but Nick had come prepared with his Gerber knife and WD-40; got the screws and the window out in five minutes flat. He stretched onto his stomach in the dew-wet grass and inched his legs through the opening, then pushed his torso backward until his toes grazed the cardboard boxes in the basement below, full of old shoes and college textbooks, which held his weight.

He had planned this mission the way the army would expect him to, the way only a soldier or a hunter or a neurotic could, considering every detail that ordinary people didn't even think about. He mapped out the route, calculating the minutes it would take for each task, considering the placement of streetlamps, the kind of vegetation in front, and how to avoid walking past houses with dogs. He figured out whether the moon would be new or full and what time the sprinkler system went off. He staged this as carefully as any other surveillance mission he had created and briefed to soldiers before.

Except this time the target was his own home.

He should have been relieved that he was inside, unseen, that all was going according to plan. But as he screwed the window back into place, he could feel his lungs clench with rage instead of adrenaline.

How many times had he warned his wife to lock the window? It didn't matter how often he told her about Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, who had gained access to his victims through open basement windows. Trish argued that the open window helped air out the basement. A theory that would have been sound if she actually closed the window every once in a while. Instead she left it open until a rare and thundering storm would remind her, then she'd jump up from the couch, run down the steps, and slam it shut after it had let in more water than a month of searing-weather-open-window-days could possibly dry.

Before he left for Iraq, Nick had wanted to install an alarm system but his wife said no.

"Christ, Trish," he had replied. "You can leave the windows and all the doors open while I am home to protect you. But what about when I'm gone?"

She glanced up at him from chopping tomatoes, narrowed her eyes in a way he hadn't seen before, and said flatly, "We've already survived two deployments. I think we can take care of ourselves."

Take care of this, Nick thought now, twisting the screw so violently that the knife slipped and almost split open his palm, the scrape of metal on metal squealing like an assaulted chalkboard. He hesitated, waiting for the neighbor's dog to start barking or a porch light to go on. Again nothing. Nick could be any lunatic loose in the night, close to his unprotected daughter in her room with the safari animals on her wall, close to his wife in their marital bed.

Trish should have listened to him.

This particular reconnaissance mission had started with a seemingly harmless e-mail. Six months ago, Nick had been deployed to an outlying suburb of Baghdad, in what his battalion commander jovially referred to as "a shitty little base in a shitty little town in a shitty little country." One of his buddies back in Killeen had offered to check on Trish every month or so, to make sure she didn't need anything hammered or lifted or drilled while Nick was away.

His friend wrote: Stopped by to see Trish. Mark Rodell was there. Just thought you should know.

That was it. That hint, that whisper.

Mark Rodell.

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Letter: Don't be misled by motives of Watertown teacher’s union - Abington Mariner

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 01:21 PM PST

In a time of fiscal crisis any talk about money is bound to be sensitive. But, having heard and read the curious fictions about the negotiations with teachers circulating in print, on line and in conversation, it is necessary for the teachers' association to set the record straight.

First, our schools have experienced unusually high teacher turnover in recent years. According to information supplied by the School Committee, 94 new teachers have been hired since September 1, 2007. There have not been 94 retirements. This means that teachers are either leaving for other districts or being non-renewed by administration.

Instructional continuity is critical for any school district to thrive. When teachers acquire greater familiarity with parent and community expectations, the fabric of our schools strengthens. Our superintendent acknowledged during negotiations that she competes against Brookline and Newton to attract and retain teachers. Not surprisingly, teachers in neighboring districts are paid significantly higher than teachers in Watertown. How can we keep teachers who have been hired here in Watertown for the long haul and prevent our schools from becoming a training ground for other districts?

Even in these times, we must find a way to retain high quality teachers. Our students deserve no less. But, being cognizant of this difficult financial climate, the teachers' association has presented the School Committee with a variety of contract options that do not rely on typical across the board salary increases in order to obtain a new contract for Watertown's educators.

The teachers' proposals have included furlough days without pay in lieu of professional development days and new lanes in the salary scale that recognize educational advancement. These proposals seek to minimize real costs while merely keeping pace with those districts to which WPS administrators often compare Watertown.

These offers, however, have not resulted in a settlement. In fact, the stories about the union and teachers in Watertown would suggest that we are a pack of money-hungry layabouts whose only concern is padding our salaries. Curiously absent from the discussions about contract negotiations is the fact that Watertown Public Schools has recently received a check from the federal government in excess of $250,000 as part of the Education Jobs Bill, a bill which passed owing to the efforts of educators in Massachusetts and across the country. This money, earmarked for teacher compensation among other uses, could have easily funded the 1 percent increase that the WEA had been asking for prior to September 2010 and still provided close to $100,000 for the school department beyond this 1 percent salary increase.

Further, because teachers and other town employees voted to join the Group Insurance Commission last year, the town has realized over $5 million in savings over the past two years alone. Savings of this magnitude will continue to be realized annually for the town for as long as the WEA is enrolled in the GIC.

Weathering challenging financial times is a test for all municipalities. To have weathered our current fiscal storm as well as we have is a testament to our town administrators. Indeed, credit should be given to the Town Council and Town manager who, despite these difficult times, have managed to fund an adequate school department budget. However, it remains a mystery as to how these monies have been expended by the district. Unlike many surrounding towns, the Watertown Public School's budget is not available online or readily accessible to the public. The teachers' association would like to see this change as soon as possible. A detailed, accurate and line-by-line, item-by-item WPS budget should be made available online. For those citizens who are unable to access the budget via the Internet, hard copies should be made available both at Town Hall and in the WPS central office. Given recent financial anomalies within, WPS, transparency and accountability concerning all financial matters in the District are essential. Further, it is only fair and right that all members of the Watertown community be able to see where their tax money is being spent within WPS.

Every day, we invest our professional lives in our students. We spend hours each week before and after school working with students. We purchase supplies with our own money. We routinely work beyond contractual obligations. We write dozens of college and scholarship recommendations each year. We counsel students and assist and encourage them to achieve the high standards we hold for them…and we couldn't envision spending our professional lives in a more rewarding way!

We ask that the public we serve is not misled about our motives and our actions. Given the tenor of negotiations and the misinformation that has been put out to the people of Watertown, we are concerned that these requests not be lost.

Debra King

Watertown Educators Association President

Hosmer School Teacher

Fiction

Selasa, 18 Januari 2011