The Butcher Shop

<excerpt>

<bold><color><param>0000,0000,0000</param>Cc: Subject:
</color>[Jrhigh] PLEASE ADVERTISE - NOME MIXED SIX VOLLEYBALL

</bold>

THE NBHS GIRLS VOLLEYBALL TEAM IS HOSTING THE 2ND ANNUAL NOME MIXED 6
(COED) VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT THE NOME
RECREATION CENTER. TEAMS FROM WHITE MOUNTAIN, SHISHMAREF, UNALAKLEET,
POINT HOPE, GOLOVIN, GALENA, AND NOME WILL COMPETE. FRIDAY'S FIRST
ROUND NRC SCHEDULE IS LISTED BELOW:

12:30 UNALAKLEET VS GOLOVIN

2:00 PT. HOPE VS WHITE MOUNTAIN

3:30 NOME II VS GALENA

6:30 NOME I VS SHISHMAREF

</excerpt>

Chargers vs Eagles--Chargers--LOSS
Titans vs Cardinals--Cardinals
Chicago vs Baltimore--Chicago
Buffalo vs Oakland--Buffalo
Broncos vs Giants--Broncos
Colts vs Texans--Colts--WIN
Jets vs Falcons--Falcons
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati--Pittsburgh--WIN
Detroit at Cleveland--Detroit--WIN
Packers vs Vikings--Packers--LOSS (Who would've thought Vikings could
kick a 56-yarder?)
Saints vs Rams--Rams--WIN
49ers vs Redskins--Redskins--WIN
Cowboys vs Seahawks--Seahawks
Miami vs Kansas City--Kansas City--WIN

Typed up at 8:35 am 10-23-05

This is a rant that I wrote by hand a couple of years ago while I was
working at Bremerton High School. I saved it because I have to start
creating snippets of actual students. I think I could collect stories
into a book. This was also written when I thought that the standards
were being too easily glossed over in what seemed an attempt to let
students pass through just to graduate with their cohorts so it doesn't
look bad for the school district.

A high school diploma should not be a "gimmee." A gimmee is what we do
on the golf course for a two-inch putt. The current educational system
is turning a four-year high school degree into a gimmee.

Just yesterday, my principal chose to share with the entire staff his
education over the past year. In his speech, fully equipped with a
Power Point presentation, he talked of how we as teachers have to make
sure the students have learned the material. He quipped that it is no
longer acceptable to say, "I taught it; it's not my fault they didn't
learn it."

I believe in that on a certain level. I believe it is my job to present
material in a meaningful and interesting way. It is my job to walk
along the learning path with the student, helping him turn left or
right and to guide over obstacles along the way.

However, there are times when students jump off the path in spite of my
efforts. Sometimes, even as I hold his educational hand, he pulls away
purposefully, almost wickedly. Learning cannot take place with a closed
mind. It is a two-way path.

In my current position, I teach a total of 60 students; three sections
of regular sophomore English and two sections of regular senior
English. I have several students who have impeded my progress. I have
several students where the paperwork and time to combat failure and
apathy seriously subtracts time from high performance and learning.

The Nome volleyball team couldn't pull it out tonight. We lost the
first game in a big loss 25-11. We managed to come back and win the
next two games. Then we lost the fourth game and seemed out of it for
the 15-point fifth game.

At least we took two games this time. I don't mind getting beaten, as
long as we play hard and to the best of our abilities. We did that
today. Last night we didn't, but we did that today.

We have been treated so well here in Barrow. I have had three square
meals a day that have to be making me fatter. We have had the athletic
director be our own personal guide around Barrow. We have had snacks
every night brought to us by the other team. I have my own room with TV
every night. It has felt like a five-star hotel. The only thing I'm
missing is my family.

We go home tomorrow about 3pm. I will actually get to watch most of the
football games first.

You know, when I stop to think about some of the amazing things I've
done in my (almost) 33 years of life, I really am quite lucky.

I have been to Europe and been to England several times. I have seen
the top of the Eiffel Tower and L'Arc de Triomphe. I have gazed upon
the real Mona Lisa. I have been on the Autobahn in Germany. I have
driven through the small country of Luxembourg (even though we didn't
get out of the car). I have walked on cobbled streets in Brugge,
Belgium.

I have been to Florida and California, including Los Angeles, San
Francisco and San Diego. ( I even went into Tijuana, Mexico, with my
family). I have lived in Seattle and Chicago. I have driven solo across
the country from Chicago to Seattle three times. Solo. I have seen Mt.
Rushmore and Devil's Tower.

This morning the athletic director took us out looking around in the
daylight. There are still whale skullbones strewn upon the beaches from
the whaling. We went to the Welcome to Barrow sign that proudly
displays these whale bones and I got out to the ocean.

First of all, this is the first time I have ever seen a freezing ocean.
Salt water does freeze. Chunks of ice washed in with each crashing of
the waves. It looked kind of dirty but that's the sea. I had to climb
over slush in order to get to the waves as they sloshed up. I managed
to get there, crunching into some of the ice. I dipped my hands into
the Arctic Ocean.

This is now my third ocean. I have swam in the Pacific and the
Atlantic. I always thought this was just a dream, a place on the map
that I would probably never get to. I am here in Barrow, Alaska.

Nome Varsity couldn't pull it together tonight. We lost in three
straight games to Barrow. The Junior Varsity won 3 games to 2, winning
the first, third and last game. They really pulled it together and
played tough.

Barrow played well. I'm not saying they didn't. They have this amazing
hitter that has a cannon for an arm. I would get out of the way if she
hit one toward me. Chelsea got to one of those hits but it richocheted
into her face and is going to wind up with a nice shiner. What I am
saying is that Nome should have at least won one game, maybe two. It
should have been closer than it was.

We have to work on eliminating our own mistakes. We're hitting it into
the net and then hitting it long out of bounds. There was a few times
when we were letting the ball drop and we had a big hole in the middle
on the sides. We were making a lot of mistakes, and with this rally
scoring making mistakes gives the other team points--the ultimate
penalty.

As I was watching and thinking about this tonight, I can't think of any
other sport where points are given away without really earning them. If
we have a bad serve, that's a point for the other team. A team can just
sit back and let the other team make mistakes in order to get points.
You don't even have to have a real offense, just wait for the other
team to foul up. As long as a team keeps digging it out and getting it
back over, the chances are pretty good, especially at the junior
varsity and even sometimes on the varsity. We just can't be a good team
if we wait for the others to make a mistake.

We get to play again tomorrow. We get another chance. The girls need to
get psyched up a bit more. The athletic director is going to be taking
us all for a tour of Barrow tomorrow morning about 10:30. I have to buy
a disposable camera.

Happy Anniversary, Amy.

Five years and still madly in love.

You have given me joy.

You have given me a family.

You have made my life complete.

I love you, honey.

Love,
Matt

Today was like a vacation day. We woke up nice and late at 8. It's
still very dark then. We had an amazing breakfast of eggs and biscuits
and gravy. We played a bit of morning volleyball with only our socks
on. We had a jumbalaya and rice lunch that I really couldn't eat after
gorging at breakfast. At lunch were some native elders that we got to
sit next to. Then we went back to the gym and really focused on our 6-2
offense. I wasn't seeing how it was translating into points but the
girls convinced me. They said they had an off practice yesterday
morning and didn't play hard. That'll change.

Right now, I am typing this in the gym at 3:15 pm. This really is an
amazing gym, with a track up around the outside, 10 basketball nets,
and a really good and well-marked volleyball court. This is the home of
the Barrow Whalers. They still do a lot of whaling around here and the
season apparently just closed down. The mayor, I've been told, helped
bring in the biggest whale this season. Their school symbol is a
drawing of a kayak of eskimos paddling toward a whale. It's a neat
heritage to be a part of, with such a sense of community. All along the
walls here in the school are motivational posters in Inupiat language
with an English translation. I really want to learn it a little bit,
especially the basic sounds of some of the new letters. They use the
(enye) thing that goes over the N in some Spanish words. They also
appear to use a single a N symbol with a curved right side and I would
think that stands for the "ing" sound, but I'm not sure. And U does not
necessarily have to follow a Q here either. I really want to understand
it.

I can't believe I'm here. Barrow, Alaska. The top of the world. The
northernmost point in the United States of America. And I'm here.

We flew in on Frontier Airlines. This was another nineteen-seater
propeller plane. This one though had a really low ceiling and you had
to bend over almost in half to get to your seat. It only took about an
hour and a half, even though the pilot said it would take two hours. We
flew in over the Arctic Ocean to land. We flew in over the Arctic
Ocean! This is now my third ocean. The water is actually frozen on one
side of the land spit that is Point Barrow. I have never seen frozen
ocean before.

The high school is fabulous here. This is the North Slope School
District and they have money here. Talking to some people, I found out
that there is a lot of native money and scientific money--lots of
eminent scientists come up here to study the arctic region and that
funnels money in. I have been immensely impressed with the buildings
like the high school, quite possibly the best looking high school and
gym that I have ever seen, and the AC grocery store. (I was even able
to buy a Superman comic at the AC!)

The athletic director even took us on a drive looking for polar bears.
There have been some in town, he says, and we went out to the spit to
see if we could find any. Not tonight, but he didn't seem too worried
and mentioned that we have more days.

I am looking at scores and we should have at least been second place.
My girls were definitely tired.

First two games versus Akiachak: (?) and 25-14.

Second two games versus Chevak: 25-11 and 25-9.

Third two games versus Kalskag: 25-11 and 25-22.

Fourth two games versus Bethel: 25-23, (close loss), and the tiebreaker
was lost 0-15.

Then we proceeded straight into the tournament because we were seeded
second. No break time.

This is an email we received from our assistant principal. She had one
of the Native Elders come to talk with the students who needed to stay
after school.<bold>

</bold><excerpt>

Nome Native Elder, Jacob Ahwinona, spoke with the group of students
who stayed after school with me today. I just wanted to share his
message with you.

He said,

Do what your parents tell you to do. Do what your teachers tell you
to do. Don't ignore education, don't fool around. You need an
education to get a job. If you don't have it, you're out. Education
is a must. If you don't have an education, you're out.

You have an opportunity now. All you have to do is your part.

Listen to your teachers. Don't talk back. It's a bad habit.

We care about your education. If you do what you're told, you never
go wrong in life. Don't just listen to your teachers, do what they
say.

Life is a learning process. You're never too young or too old.
Everyday you learn something. Take life seriously.

Now, our young people get in trouble with alcohol and drugs. If
anybody offers you alcohol and drugs, say no. Nobody shoves it down
your throat. Even if you have to stand alone, you don't have to do
it. You can always say, no.

Put that in your mind. Someday, you'll stop to think, that one-eyed
old man, that's what he said.

Take education seriously. You can go to High School. You can go to
college. You can make something of yourself. All you have to do is
believe in yourself.

When anyone drops out of school, it hurts me, it bothers me. If you
believe in yourself and you know your limits, you can do it. You
might think it's a waste of time now. Later, you'll be sorry.

You've got to cooperate with your teachers. Don't talk back. Obey
your parents.

(P.S. Jacob's photograph is in the hall outside Holly's classroom.)

</excerpt>

Our plane managed to leave Bethel today. But what a series of events
that led to takeoff.

I actually didn't wake up until almost 8 am. I got a good night's
sleep. I made a quick phone call to Bering Air to check on the status
of the flight. We were waiting on the Bethel wrestlers to return so we
could take the same charter back. Everything was good to go for the
wrestlers to leave about 10 am.

I managed to get all the girls ready and in the lobby by 10:30 so we
could start loading up and leave for the airport. Let me tell you,
getting 17 high school girls to get ready all together is more of a
feat than it sounds as written here.

When we got to the airport, it started to crumble. Let me explain that
this is Bethel, Alaska. There is no information desk. Nobody was even
behind the counter at Alaska Airlines because they're only there when
flights leave, usually once or twice a day. There was no desk for
Bering Air to check in at. The only "workers" that seemed to be there
were from Era Aviation, another charter. We didn't know who to talk to,
line up with, check in with, or ask questions of. Talking to them was
like talking to the wall. At first, they had no knowledge of a flight
from Bering Air coming in today. This started to concern me so I called
Bering Air at the pay phone (which eats up an additional 30 minutes of
my calling card minutes because for some god-knows-why reason they tack
on a 30 unit surcharge for using a pay phone. I mean, wouldn't most
calling cards be used from a pay phone? But I digress...)

Bering Air said they took off at 10:30. It is about an hour and fifteen
minute flight. They would be arriving in 10 minutes. The people behind
the desk still had no knowledge of a flight.

"Nobody contacted us."

"Well, can't you contact them?"

"You could call them," they said.

"We just did and they said they are on the way."

"Well, nobody contacted us."

"Well, how do we find out anything concerning this?" we asked.

"We wait for them to contact us."

And of course, I then ask again, "Can't we call them?"

And of course, they answered, "You could call them."

I turned and walked away, mimicking talking to the wall in a fit of
anger like Basil Fawlty.

I then walked out to the edge of the runway and waited in the rain for
the plane to land. I saw them come in and land and was able to talk
straight to them. We loaded up the girls and away we went, without ever
actually checking in anywhere.

We are home now. Another week. We get to fly to Barrow this Friday, one
of two trips to Barrow this year. It's the northernmost point in the
United States of America. I once thought it was just an interesting
fact on a map, and now I will actually get to go there. I must dip my
hands in the Arctic Ocean. That would make it three oceans for me,
Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic. Three out of four. My adventure is
coming along nicely.

The Nome Nanooks couldn't pull it out today. We still had two seeding
matches in the morning at 9 and 10 and then, because we lost two out of
three to hometown Bethel, we were seeded number two and had to play
immediately again at 11 o'clock. The girls were getting tired.

The great thing was that our junior varsity ended up beating all the
other junior varsities and got seeded number six out of six into the
bracket. If we had beaten Bethel, our varsity would have had to play
our junior varsity. Our junior varsity managed to take the middle game
and only lost two games to one. Not bad. This was definitely one of the
cases where one out of three ain't bad.

So varsity ended up 7-2 to start the tournament. We took care of Chevak
but the scores were a lot closer than they should have been. We went
into the third place game against Kelskag after only an hour break.
Again, the scores were a lot closer than we'd like. In fact, it seemed
we were beating ourselves more with hits into the net and balls that
went out that should have been hit over rather than trying to "place"
the ball into a certain area. We won the first game but let the second
game get away from us. We started to trail in the third game and then
never got it back. We were out of the tournament. Bethel ended up
beating Kelskag three games to two in a best-of-five.

Now comes the real heartbreaker. Our plane got fogged in. The Bethel
wrestling team is stuck in Nome and we are stuck in Bethel another
night. We were supposed to fly out about 6 or 7 but the fog and a bit
of ice kept us here. They will look again in the morning but Bering Air
is looking at the weather and the next window looks like about 4 pm.
Now I am hoping that we make it out tomorrow. I don't want to have to
do sub plans for Monday.

The Nome Nanooks took an early undefeated lead in the seeding portion
of the tournament today at Bethel Regional High School.

We left the school today at high noon to catch our chartered flight
with Bering Air. The plane was a nineteen-seater with two propellers.
This was the first time I had ever flown in anything this small or with
a propeller. And they joked with me that this doesn't even qualify as a
small plane with the puddle jumpers and nine-seaters out there. I also
got to watch the flight out of the cockpit window, which was a new
experience for me. The doors between the cabin and cockpit were open so
I got to watch the instrumentation too. We did get up to 25,000 feet
because this plane was pressurized. Apparently some of the smaller
planes don't go that high because they aren't pressurized. I got to
watch the landing too and we seemed to come in slanted a bit due to the
wind. It was definitely a different experience.

So then we started playing volleyball. It is set up this weekend as a
sort of round robin tournament. This first night and the first two
games of Saturday morning help us accumulate a record to seed us into
the tournament bracket. We played two two-game matches tonight. First
against Akiachak and the second against Chevak. We won all four games.

The first match, the girls seemed to be short of their rhythm at first.
They soon got into the swing of things. I think the system, as we were
playing right in the next court as another game was going on, seemed to
bug them at first. They figured it out quickly and took both games.
Nome seemed to have height on its side.

The second match seemed to go even better. We got up quickly worked
well together. It seemed to me that the only time the opponents were
scoring was when we were making mistakes on our own court. Rally
scoring definitely changes the game. There is a point scored every
single play, regardless of who is serving. When our serves go out or
into the net, it is a point for the other team. Mistakes kill with
rally scoring.

Our JV won its four games too. They get to play Dillingham tomorrow. If
they split the two games, there will be a third game tiebreaker to 15
points. The best JV team actually gets seeded into the varsity bracket.

Tomorrow morning we play again at 9 and 10 am. This is only for seeding
purposes but we still want to do well. I heard that the Bethel varsity
beat Barrow last weekend and Barrow, being in our division, have been a
thorn in our side, or so I've heard. We travel to Barrow next weekend
so it will be interesting to get a preview for that. Then the
tournament will start at 1 pm with the championship at 3 pm. The
tournament will be best-of-three matches and the championship game will
be best-of-five. Hope to be in that championship.

So now I am spread out in a teacher's lounge on my aerobed. This
spending the night is an interesting aspect to away games.

From the Browncoats:

Hey Browncoats,

We have just a few more days to go! Serenity will be
in theaters this Friday, September 30! Today, Joss
posted this message for all Browncoats on the message
boards:

Well boys and girls and boys dressed as girls and
girls dressed as Kaylee, the time is almost upon us.
This Friday we take that old rust-bucket out of the
shipyard and see if she can breach atmo. It's been a
long (to paraphrase a band I like) strange trip, and
it'll be nice finally to show everybody what it is
we've been tinkering with all this time. You already
know you have my thanks, from the hardcore fans to the
softcore... fans.... let me try that again. From the
people manning the booths, buying DVD sets for their
friends, getting banners seen everywhere on Australian
TV, raffling artwork for ticketholders (Adam Hughes,
take a bow), to the most casual fan who just wants to
see the flick and won't ever even read this. You guys
are the fuel in the engine, the Fire in the Fly, the
weird green stuff coming out of Serenity's butt.
(Hmmm. Forget that last one. I'm a little bit out of
control here.)

Everyone needs something to keep them going. Mal has
his ship. Zoe has her integrity. Jayne has Vera. And
I've got you guys.

So what now? There have been so many posts about
seeing it, seeing it again, the first weekend, the
second weekend, being enthusiastic without being
obnoxious (and yes, it IS hard to see over the pom-pom
of a Jayne hat), buying tickets in advance, making a
noise... I honestly wouldn't know what to add. I can
tell you this: the movie will play in about 2200
hundred theaters, which is a good number. Too many,
and you get empty theaters with no energy -- not
enough, and you get, well, not enough. It may be hard
to find in some areas but it'll be out there. Leave no
multiplex unturned! This is going to be a ground war,
peeps -- we have to hold the valley for a long while.
However it opens, it needs to HOLD. Instead of the
Alliance we'll be fighting viewer apathy, fear of
something new, the urge to wait for DVD, and Jessica
Alba in a bikini. (Although I have it on good
authority that she spends 90% of the film in a huge
wooly parka. Make sure that gets out.)

The day this puppy opens, I'll be seeing it with my
family (don't worry, there's a lot of them, and
they're all paying) and then I'm off to Europe to
learn the word 'Browncoats' in nine different
languages -- 'cause like I said, it's all about
holding. I'll never be far from a computer, though, so
I can check in with y'all. Thanks for every damn
thing.

And remember, amidst all the urgency to make this an
event, all the work and the worry, to take two hours
and just enjoy yourself. That is, after all, what all
this fighting's about.

-joss.

You can read his post at
http://browncoats.serenitymovie.com/serenity

We also have lots of other Browncoat news:

If you haven't been to The Browncoats in a while you
should know that the store has been stocked with all
types of shiny Serenity-themed items. You can redeem
all those credits you have been working so hard for!

In order to help you organize your Opening Day
Shindigs, we have created a specialized Serenity
Evite! Click here to get it and invite all your
friends to your Shindigs to celebrate the opening of
the BDM!

The Serenity Renegade mobile game is now available.
You can download it to your phone at
http://www.indiagames.com/serenity

And finally, help promote Serenity! On the Browncoats
site we have a flyer and an iron-on you can print out
and use to help to get the word out about Serenity!

So come join us as we count down the final days to the
release of Serenity at The Browncoats!

Keep Flyin'!

S_L