The Restoration of Order
For four hours yesterday at the thrift store, I put bunches of little toys together, assembling $1.99 grab bags.
I love this so much! In the chaos of life, it calms me to put small things in order.
And I love working with toys, of course. Though most of the toys donated don't interest me much--Disney figures, McDonald's Happy Meal items, and the like--every so often there's a fun, cool thing--an antique metal plane yesterday, and a couple wood farm animals.
Occasionally (rarely) there's something I want for myself.
Yesterday I was happy to find the space explorer, above. I have a few others in this set, and three of their Mars rover-type vehicles.
Searching online, I see they're by Playworld, made in Hong Kong,1984. There's a space station too. I don't want that though--it's too big.
A Bit of Toy History
Are these space explorers by Fisher-Price?
I don't think so...
Hm... Interesting history of Fisher-Price:
"Ninety and still into toys: how Fisher-Price pulled a town out of depression", Guardian, 2020.
"In 1930, Irving Price decided he wanted to establish financial security for the small upstate New York village of East Aurora as the Great Depression began to take hold.The Penny Walker Toy Shop??? Penny Walker is an ancestor of Penny Cooper, says Penny Cooper!
He called on children’s book illustrator Margaret Evans Price, who had married him, and a business associate, Herman Fisher. They asked Helen Schelle, owner and manager of the Penny Walker Toy Shop, to join them."
And, who's Margaret Evans Price?
[googles]
Here's her illustration, "All the Little Boys and Girls in Hamelin Followed the Pied Piper" (1938). Looks familiar--I may have had this book as a child. (Ten more by Margaret Evans Price.)
I should try to blog in the afternoons...
The Difficult and the Divine
Speaking of Penny Cooper, I'd never posted this photo of her being helped across a mossy log--from the same trip (staying in a State Park camping cabin) as the girlettes' Forest Funeral for a Mouse.
This trip had been difficult. I'd had a couple sleepless nights trying to figure out how to approach a work assignment that had felt above my level of competency:
I'd been asked (told) I'd start to chaperone a "difficult" student for a couple hours every day. The student had been presented to me as a problem child, and I was advised to come on strong, "show her who's the adult".
But she reminded me of Divine (below, left), John Water's friend and star. And I’ve got no beef with that. In the middle of my second sleepless night, it came to me: I'll just approach her like that--as a fellow creative.
When I went to work the next morning, my first shift assigned to be with this student [newly 18], I said to her,
"You are an adult, and I am not a prison guard. Ask me if you need help, otherwise, you do your thing and I'll just follow along."
That's worked beautifully. Far from causing trouble, this student [mostly] tolerates stares, murmurs, and worse, as she travels the halls like a galleon at full sail. (Imagine Divine in high school.)
It'd been a hard camping trip also because it was the first time I realized that not all of my friends agree with me that public schools are like prisons for group-think indoctrination.
That may sound extreme, but I keep pointing out, for instance, that the school doors are locked from the inside.
A lot of people don't have a problem with that, however.
As Maude says, “How the world still dearly loves a cage.”
Toy history.. interesting!
ReplyDeleteYour student, fellow human being....well done both of you..how many others have recognised her as a person?
Thanks, GZ. Truly, it’s a minority who sees the student as a person and not a … well, like a juvenile delinquent circus freak or some thing.
DeleteWhen I asked around at the beginning for insight into how to work with her, I got all sorts of tips on how to control her – – but one person said to me, “ask her.” That one person is my hero.
PS. But, to be fair, a lot of people do admire the student too, and many do like her—and the administration does seek to keep her safe, which is why they assign people to walk around with her.
DeleteBut as I say, a lot of the grown-ups’ attitude towards the students in general is to try to keep them well-behaved, and this student is not that.
So they are not trying to understand how the students "work"...
DeleteAnd the students need not to deny their individuality..but also need to learn what "society" expects. It is a hard call sometimes.
It is a hard call —And maybe more so because the school is so huge – – 1600 students in one building – –gen-Ed classes can be 35 students!
Deleteso the locked doors was an intriguing thought so i did my usual searching. unfortunately locked doors have more to do with safety from potential active shooters. i did find this online: https://members.wsrmp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/NFPA-Safe-Door-Locking-Requirements-Guidelines-for-Schools.pdf .
ReplyDeletethis search was rather depressing to read as much of it dealt with failures in previous school incidents: no inside locks on classrooms requiring teachers to lock the door from the outside (costs to do so -- sometimes the door, door frame and walls have to be re-done at a cost) and the fact that people tend to prop open doors for their ease.
and my personal thought - i'm really surprised the school doesn't talk about why this is to incoming staff. my own personal safety is something i'm always quite aware of: never sit with my back to a door, know where all the exits are, etc. i think some of this developed being a female in a predominantly male-oriented professions.
kirsten
Yea they say that, but I don’t buy that it’s all because of shooters—
DeleteIf a student brings weapons inside school, for instance, like at Columbine, doors locked from the inside is a bad idea.
If it’s for safety, all students could be issued a fob, so they could get out.
I think at least a secondary (or hidden primary) reason the building doors are locked from inside is simply, as one person actually said, “to keep students in.”
are you saying that a fob is needed to exit the doors? i think that is a violation of fire code. I saw several articles that said the doors need to easily accessed to go out.
DeleteI would stop by a firehouse and ask someone - play the old asking for a friend.
another thing that i was told several years ago by a former teacher is that despite us thinking that teen-agers are able to reason and consider consequences, their brains really don't work that way.
kirsten
Right!!! You cannot push the building doors open from the inside.
DeleteDuring a fire, they are SUPPOSED to automatically unlock, but they have failed during drills..
That’s why I keep thinking of the Triangle Shirtwaist 🔥 Fire !!!
PS Of course teachers and staff have magnetized ID cards to get out.
DeletePS I understand about brain development, but our generation managed to graduate from high schools with open doors, right?
Deleteomg! triangle shirtwaist is the very first thing that popped into my head when writing early. some years ago i was in lowell ma and bought a book about a fire that occurred in one of the factories there as they were also one of the textile manufacturing cities. i didn't realize that cotton generated a lot of dust much like massive amounts of grain do.
Deleteyes, we may have had open doors but we also didn't have our heads buried in a phone. i can walk on campus here and in the neighborhood and see students constantly walking with their heads so focused on their phones that they are not paying attention to anything. or they are riding bicycles or scooters with headphones on and loud music.
and then i think about your school with regular and sped students. the sad part is that some students will need extra protection and as they are together the safety will be focused on the most vulnerable.
and then i started thinking about how parents let their child go to a place where they really don't know what goes on and have to have faith that their child will come home again at the end of the day.
kirsten
Phones are definitely a safety concern—pedestrians, drivers, everyone not looking where they’re going.
DeleteI even saw a bicyclist on his phone run into a parked car once!