Tag Archives: Glendale Union High School District

The Hana Chronicles: Month 8, Day 2

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving

August 23, 2026- With her feet firmly planted on the ground, Hana held onto the re-organized wall of the playpen for nearly ten minutes. When she decided to sit down, she looked down at the mat and planned out her breaking of the fall, using both hands and both feet to make for a soft landing.

I was largely absent today, working an 11-3 shift at a Red Cross Blood Donation Center, in Irving, about a 30-minute drive from here. The family went on a shopping trip, before I left, so I didn’t see them again until nearly 4 p.m. Hana was asleep, when I first came home, but hearing me talking with her father, she called out and wanted to be taken out of the crib. In short order, she was back to pulling herself up, standing for several minutes, letting herself back down and starting over again. The calisthenics can last for thirty minutes at a time.

She also likes to be seated at the table when we are gathered there, even when she has already had her meal. It is just a sign of how important family time is to the little girl. We give her teething toys and cardboard books that she can hold and focus on the covers, which she likes to touch and study. Being included gives her much more stability and security.

HANA’S NOTE- Daddy changed where the playpen is, so now I can’t grab the curtains. Shucks!

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-2006 Penny fell asleep in a faculty meeting. For this, she received a letter of reprimand form the principal. When this matter came to the attention of the Human Resources Director, Penny was offered a generous disability package and enhanced insurance. She was allowed to retire. This came about, just as she was adjusting to being wheelchair bound. Other physical challenges also presented a problem. It was just time to focus all our efforts on make life least stressful for her as possible.

Still, in all this, she began studying for her third Master’s Degree, this time in Educational Technology. at Arizona State University-West Campus. As Aram was finishing his senior year in high school, there was his mother, forging ahead in another area of knowledge. I was supplementing income, over the summer, by working at Washington Inventory Service, and was soon joined there by my son. I worked for them for three years, along with substituting in Dysart and Glendale Union. With all this, Aram and I managed to meet Penny’s needs at home.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 31

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 21, 2026- This was one of the quieter days. Hana slept for an hour in mid-morning and for two hours in the afternoon. These naps don’t interfere with her night’s sleep, so I think this is more evidence of a growth spurt.

When she wasn’t napping, we took our stroller walk, made more enjoyable by the cloud cover,which later burned off. (This is still the dry season.) She also did plenty of standing and took a couple of scooting steps, each time, along the bars of the playpen. This evening, we all came to consensus about Hana’s meals. When she is full, she keeps her mouth closed and will not take any more bites. That is okay with her grownups.

HANA’S NOTE- I am so glad everyone understands me. It is hard not to have words all the time, but I’m getting there.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-2004- Penny went from cane to walker, in the Fall of 2003. She toughed this year out, saying she had no intention of going into a wheelchair. She would also not cut herself any slack. When there was a Baha’i devotional on the second floor of an apartment building, she insisted on going up, one step at a time, on her own.

I worked through the second semester at Palo Verde Middle School, with a modicum of support from the administration. I was not holding things together, though, and resigned at the end of the year,rather than drag everyone through the gathering mess. It was actually a relief, and the Fall found me substitute teaching at Glendale Union High School District-and doing well. As it happened, the three individuals who worked to keep me off balance, in the previous school district, didn’t change their ways and were arrested for a couple of other transgressions, the following school year. I was not surprised.

Life has a way of balancing things out, even when it looks darkest.

Vigils

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Posted by on in children, Education, Personal Values, Spiritual, Striving

February 13, 2016, Glendale- The slight, bespectacled girl embraced her tall, athletic friend, and caressed her blonde forelock.  “Are you scared?  You are safe now.”, the shorter girl spoke, in comfort and assurance.

There were about 500 of us here, tonight, at Independence High School, in  the southern corner of this vibrant, artsy city, immediately to the west of Phoenix.  Yesterday, two girls, who were openly in a relationship, died in what appears to have been a murder-suicide.  We were here to pray and place lit candles at the makeshift memorial that lines the southern exterior wall of the gymnasium.  Those who felt like talking, did.  Those who needed a hug from someone they knew and trusted, got all the comfort they could handle.

I am a stranger here, tonight.  It was 2011, when I last worked in a classroom at Independence High, as well as at the other campuses of Glendale Union High School District.  I had good experiences here, and got on well with the students.  This evening, though, drew me like moth to flame.  I explained my ties to one of the current school counselors, who was introducing herself to anyone who seemed out of place, and making sure we had a connection to the school.  It was enough for me to just stand and silently pray, offer positive thoughts and accept a candle from one of the other teachers.  It was graciously lit by a well-dressed student, and I joined a line of people in placing the candles at the memorial site.  I stayed for about 20 minutes further.

Candlelight vigils have become all too common- as have the acts of despair, of giving up, which lead to the cause of the vigils.  One of my online friends responded to my initial post about the girls’ deaths, with one word:  “Bleh”.  My own response, every, single time is a sinking heart.

This is Valentine’s Eve.  People at other high schools are having dances and parties.  People across this maddening, beautiful Valley, with its frenetic traffic and culture of anonymity are crowding into hotels and motels, paying premium prices for the sake of a holiday. At Independence, suffering proto-adults, and their elders, are doing what far too many of their peers have had to do, since 1997:  Mourn those among them who have fallen victim- sometimes by their own hand, sometimes by the Hand of Anonymous Rage.

It would be nice to be able to simply say:  STOP!- and have it be so.  For now, though, all I can do is be here for people I’ve never met, people who might recognize me from five years ago, people who are part of a generation I have come to love with the highest level of intensity.  I want “my kids” to thrive, to dream, to live to the fullest.

I dream- of the day when vigils may come to an end.