in the Classroom...
Chapter 1
When I came home from school the other day, I told my husband of 25 years that I had the best day ever in my 26 years of teaching. Here's why- this is kind of like a confession...
My seniors are finishing A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, and even though, as a teacher, I know and understand what makes it a classic, sometimes I struggle to convey that information to those smart, beautiful people surrounding me each day... I always want the curricular activities I use to be authentic and rigorous at the same time, but every now and then the forces of the universe converge to give me, and those students, something greater than I ever could have planned. God is like that, ya know...
When Father walked in front of the altar on Friday morning, no one said a word. Some students exchanged glances with eyes pulsing for exaggerated effect. Everyone just knew that a storm was brewing, but none of us knew exactly what this tempest might look like. I expected anger and ranting because of the shock I felt after reading those "confessions." Instead the battle cry built over the next several minutes while Father spoke and crescendoed toward revolution. Much like his bulletin plea, he explained" ...we at Cedar Catholic petitioned Facebook to take down the demeaning site, but they refused our request due to the protection of free speech rights in America and their own polices at Facebook. Nevertheless, we decided that we would not allow our students and our school to be maligned or harassed any longer. Originally, keeping in mind our Safe Environment policies, we cautioned people to avoid the page because of the sexually explicit nature of some of the posts. However, we decided to try to beat the creator of these sites at his or her own game through our own right to free speech. On Friday, I asked anyone and everyone with a Facebook account who is a student, parent, alumnus, or friend of Cedar Catholic to visit the Cedar Catholic Confessions page during the noon hour, to 'like' it, and to post at least five positive, upbuilding, and complimentary comments about Cedar Catholic. Our goal: to flood their wall with so many good and positive messages all at once about Cedar Catholic that anything wicked would be buried under the sheer amount of goodness...As you do, please do not submit anything negative about the site or the site's administrator. We want to keep it totally and completely good.
(Pastor’s Note: I am writing this article Friday morning... so I hope that by the time you read this bulletin article, we will already see the effect of our social media revolution to take back our good names.) As Christians, we firmly believe that evil, which lurks in the shadows and in the darkness, cannot survive when it is dragged out into the light... We can never forget that we are the light of the world. In the name of Christ, we must let His light where it is absent! This past week’s experience taught us that sometimes one cannot fight evil and wickedness with power. Rather, we are reminded that sin and evil are always defeated by goodness, love, respect, and virtue. Thanks to all who helped, and who will continue to help, keep our kids and our schools safe from evil" (http://www.holytrinityhartington.com/bulletin11-10-13.pdf). THIS WAS WAR! or was it?
My seniors are finishing A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, and even though, as a teacher, I know and understand what makes it a classic, sometimes I struggle to convey that information to those smart, beautiful people surrounding me each day... I always want the curricular activities I use to be authentic and rigorous at the same time, but every now and then the forces of the universe converge to give me, and those students, something greater than I ever could have planned. God is like that, ya know...
Chapter 2
Anyway, I became aware (ahem) of a Facebook page entitled "Cedar Catholic Confessions." I read it and felt sick at what I saw. I was assured by our Principal that he and our President were already aware of it and had asked Facebook to take it down. They were waiting to hear. As our President, Father Loseke had written in that week's bulletin, "... Due to the anonymous nature of the sites, anyone, whether or not they have any connection to the school, can submit a post and say anything, true or false, he or she may want. Because of this, some of our students at Cedar Catholic were mentioned by name and were subjected to sexually harassing comments. Other individuals had posted raunchy and explicit comments" (http://www.holytrinityhartington.com/bulletin11-10-13.pdf).
Chapter 3
It was disturbing. I didn't want to interfere [yeah, right ;) ] with the investigation, so I made several obtuse and veiled "observations and comments" to my students warning them not to have anything to do with inappropriate or even scandalous affiliations that might be out there, especially during this time of year. Advent, you say? True, I say, but I was thinking National-Honor-Society-recommendations-time, actually. "Think about the short and long term consequences for your actions and what messages you send out into the world on social media, for example," I offered. In my mind I accused, "Heads WILL roll, baby!" (Cue in Madame DeFarge knitting because I was already losing my head over this situation...) Luckily, the Lord had BETTER plans.
Chapter 4
(Forgive me, Father (Loseke), for taking literary license with what happened next for dramatic effect and literary emphasis. I confess it now to you and to any reader, but, it is essential to understand and feel, the power and poise with which you spoke.) When Father walked in front of the altar on Friday morning, no one said a word. Some students exchanged glances with eyes pulsing for exaggerated effect. Everyone just knew that a storm was brewing, but none of us knew exactly what this tempest might look like. I expected anger and ranting because of the shock I felt after reading those "confessions." Instead the battle cry built over the next several minutes while Father spoke and crescendoed toward revolution. Much like his bulletin plea, he explained" ...we at Cedar Catholic petitioned Facebook to take down the demeaning site, but they refused our request due to the protection of free speech rights in America and their own polices at Facebook. Nevertheless, we decided that we would not allow our students and our school to be maligned or harassed any longer. Originally, keeping in mind our Safe Environment policies, we cautioned people to avoid the page because of the sexually explicit nature of some of the posts. However, we decided to try to beat the creator of these sites at his or her own game through our own right to free speech. On Friday, I asked anyone and everyone with a Facebook account who is a student, parent, alumnus, or friend of Cedar Catholic to visit the Cedar Catholic Confessions page during the noon hour, to 'like' it, and to post at least five positive, upbuilding, and complimentary comments about Cedar Catholic. Our goal: to flood their wall with so many good and positive messages all at once about Cedar Catholic that anything wicked would be buried under the sheer amount of goodness...As you do, please do not submit anything negative about the site or the site's administrator. We want to keep it totally and completely good.
(Pastor’s Note: I am writing this article Friday morning... so I hope that by the time you read this bulletin article, we will already see the effect of our social media revolution to take back our good names.) As Christians, we firmly believe that evil, which lurks in the shadows and in the darkness, cannot survive when it is dragged out into the light... We can never forget that we are the light of the world. In the name of Christ, we must let His light where it is absent! This past week’s experience taught us that sometimes one cannot fight evil and wickedness with power. Rather, we are reminded that sin and evil are always defeated by goodness, love, respect, and virtue. Thanks to all who helped, and who will continue to help, keep our kids and our schools safe from evil" (http://www.holytrinityhartington.com/bulletin11-10-13.pdf). THIS WAS WAR! or was it?
Chapter 5
I chastised my lame self the entire way back into the classroom for, after reading and "absorbing" the themes from A Tale of Two Cities a dozen times or more, I had never apparently synthesized them into my being. After going all "Madame DeFarge" before Mass, I returned to my classroom, a more humble, contrite revolutionary. Nevertheless, I marched to the front of the classroom , fired up the laptop and blasted the Beatles', "Revolution" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH9zG28GQEg). My seniors and I discussed the nature of revolutions as depicted in the song, in the book and in our lives that morning in Hartington, Nebraska. Synchronicity. In my mind's soundtrack, it was actually the music from "Do You Hear the People Sing?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTLwzuQuRsw) from Les Miserables that pounded in my brain as we made our way to the computer lab.
Chapter 6
There was a light evanescent air in the computer lab as students excitedly shared and volleyed ideas around for their part in this war of words. They logged onto Facebook (eek) and read the other comments by the parents, students and alumni as I heard them laugh and say, "I know... I love that about our school!" The room was abuzz with everything that we LOVED about our school, and they searched their hearts for ways to say it best. They were PROUD to defend HER. There were PROUD to defend US. The students, members of the Cedar Catholic family, didn't even ignore the most obvious irritations that affect us, or any member of a family, on a daily basis. They took on those bullets too. Maybe this is what confession should really be. Acknowledging, in great love and light, the good and the bad that comprise us all. When the "administrators" of the Confessions' page broke in and editorialized saying something to the effect that they didn't mind the positive, but that the posted comments couldn't be DULL, I knew that LOVE had overpowered the darkness. Light wins.
Epilogue
By 2:30 that afternoon, the Cedar Catholic Confessions' page was down. Objective met..lesson learned... case closed. Peace achieved...Thy kingdom come.
