April 1st...

Image Source: Vanderbuilt School of Leadership Development

Topics: Commentary, Education, Physics, Research, Science, STEM

I touched down last Saturday, 2 April 2011 @ JFK at 2:40 PM EST. That was the easy part...

My turtle was shipped as Priority Parcel Post; my 92 lb lab as part of my luggage. I payed as much for the turtle as I did for my luggage: $200 each.

I had to first go get my luggage to the rental car place via the Air Train, then go get my turtle and lab: two neurotic pets that did not like the plane ride or the monorail at all...trust, me: the turtle (as turtles go) wasn't herself; the dog got car sick -- probably an extension of the plane trip -- on the way upstate.

Map Quest or Google Maps cannot tell me it's 1.5 - 2 hours from JFK...given traffic, juggling luggage, pets and my own naivete, I got where I was going by 10:15 PM.

Thank God for the GPS on my phone -- brought to us all courtesy of "The Photoelectric Effect" and a bit of quantum mechanics (of course, I had to say that...). #P4TC: New York...

* * * * *

My dog Raven passed away, but Speedy the turtle is going strong. She's managed to outlive every pet I've had since 1990.

This day five years ago was officially my last day as a high school physics and math teacher at Manor High School. Despite being a floater - no assigned classroom - I was allowed to tutor math and physics; teach martial arts one day after school and do performance poetry at school talent functions, many things that in five years I've found I really miss. I have found on reflection, all that free expression wasn't random chaos: it was me, the layers peeled of my own onion.

"This better NOT be an 'April Fool's joke, you bastard!" That was one of my students, a petite Hispanic young woman. Many students let me know I was the stability in their lives; for many the one person they could count on in their day.

"It wasn't," I said trying to choke back a lump. "Mr. Goodwin won't be here Monday."

When I called back on Monday, there seemed to be a lot of students in the office upset. I'd like to think other than my departure, I had a positive effect on them. They would be adults now, moving through life; loving, living and earning their way. I hope at least one of them found their way to a STEM field.

I've been in New York five years. I reentered an industry I'd departed August 26, 2003, a date I can't and won't forget.

I've seen changes in the industry, some by its own limitations; some by the limitations of intertwined economies that makes one think of butterflies.

I've seen changes in our climate, our country and our culture, as some petition our lesser angels to express themselves and the darkness within.

Through all of this, my students have become adults, millennials still but adults: fully functional and capable of expressing their desire as the governed by voting.

This world will be inherited by the meek, or the winds of Entropy.

Teaching is like saving one soul at a time. Despite number or technology's used or subject, it boils down to one-on-one. There is a rush when you can see the light go on in eyes that realize they've "got it." I revisited that briefly teaching at the Membership Training Academy for Kappa Alpha Psi. One of my fraternity brothers, a community college teacher complimented me. Another frat thought I had a PhD already.

Part of me is still that teacher, as my father and my grandfather before me.

I ponder the next five years. I have a graduate certificate in Microelectronics and Photonics. I am striving for more. I will let you know what shape that takes and soon.