A Dash of Creole Seasoning

If you want to know what it is like living here, read “A Gathering of Old Men” by Ernest Gaines, a great, great short novel by a celebrated local author. I hear the movie is pretty good too (although it can’t be half as good as a book). A shout-out to all the UGLYs out there- you know who you are.

ANGOLA- I envisioned being a brutish caveman, tearing off chunks of flesh from my very own oversized turkey drumstick. I sat with one hand holding my grilled turkey leg and the other my colddrink (as they say down here when talking about soda). My sun-baked resting place, a lower step on one of many watchtowers, was strategically located inside the grounds of Angola- Louisiana’s oldest and most notorious State Penitentiary. The leg had been slowly roasted over coals by ‘trustworthy’ inmates, or trustees, and then wrapped in foil as an attempt to civilize the meat before its purchase of four dollars. No, the reason more my lack of communication as of lately is not been due to my incarceration. And as I found out, under the right circumstances, a high security prison can be a pleasant space to spend an afternoon. Angola has earned its reputation as being as rough as they come, housing some violent and well-known occupants including the blues singer Leadbelly. The entire compound sits on several thousand acres of steamy swamps and forests, full of poisonous snakes and alligators. The community of prisoners spends long hours in the hot sun, raising their own cattle and growing their own crops. They even have their own label of hot sauce.


I found myself at the infamous Angola Prison Rodeo out of pure curiosity. While rodeos are not already dangerous enough, the prison rodeo hosted such novelty events as wild cow milking and stealing the poker chips fastened between the sharp horns of a raging bull. Also at the Rodeo was an unusual selection of crafts, each and everyone handmade during all of those hours locked behind bars. Something that was not revealed to me until later was the identity of the craft sellers: all freely roaming inmates. These people had proven themselves trustworthy and been deemed trustees by the powers at be. I thought all those tatoos and crooked teeth could have meant something. The atmosphere of this outdoor event was different from anything I could have imagined. I sifted through piles of snakeskin belts, alligator wallets, and carefully crafted metalwork and even furniture. There were well over a few hundred ‘vendors’ at the event. I walked away purchasing gifts including a hand stamped and painted leather dog collar for my foster dog, Domino, whom I am temporarily taking care of. He is a rescue from Hurricane Katrina, as are hundreds of other dogs at a local shelter that have yet to find homes.

Back across the Mississippi in New Roads, the animal that is school is not calming down or becoming more predicable. The only constant is change. My students bring new challenges to the classroom every hour; the more common include loud and offensive arguments, fights, and now the whole girl-boy thing. Some of the students find the thug life or life of a gangster as their ideal. Others can envision more promising alternatives but peer pressure often brings students to become disillusioned from school and academics, even at 10 or 11 years of age. Spring is not even around the corner but love notes are so commonplace that I find my pockets full of torn or crumpled-up wads of paper by the end of most days.

I have many reasons for staying positive. On most days my students are so engaged in their experiments and other classwork that they don’t want to leave. I have students that began the year turned off to school but who are now routinely staying after school for the science club and who come to school telling me about the experiments that they have made at home or about the wild animals they have observed. The natural environments of Louisiana are some of the most unique in North America. Now my students are beginning to see how the forests and swamps in their back yards and down the street can be so interesting. An attempt was made to introduce a small perch, which I had caught in a local pond, to the class aquarium. The Perch’s life came to a dramatic halt in no more than a week’s time. In its last seconds of life, in the middle of class, the perch made a valiant succession of leaps out of the water before floating to its demise on the bottom, its gills no longer moving in and out. Although traumatic, I tried to take advantage of this teaching moment by asking the students what they thought caused the death of the fish and how could we test to find out the actual cause. We tested the water’s temperature and oxygen content and made observations about any other factors in and around the tank that could have killed the fish. The students came up with several conclusions. We will be introducing a new aquatic animal in the coming weeks, hopefully with more long-term success.

The Giant Toads are surviving the curious poking of many fifth graders without any apparent problem. Students who began the year with intense phobias of these warted creatures are now feeding and handling them with ease.

My great childhood friend North Moench and Ella, his great coworker, traveling companion, and girlfriend, came down to stay with me for a week. They really got a taste of what it is like to be a fifth grade teacher when they gave presentations on Environmental Education with their Leave No Trace program. The students loved learning about how long it really takes for different kinds of litter and trash to break down and how to be more aware of their impact on the natural world. They also gave a presentation on many of the different wilderness areas around the country- something that was very special for those students who have never been out of Louisiana. It was sad when they left as not only were the students and I going to miss them but their help in my classroom throughout the week made it, by far, the best week of class this fall for me and probably the students too. It is truly amazing what affect a little outside help and fresh perspective can have on both students and teachers alike.

Thanksgiving is over and I am thoroughly sedated by the excesses of deep fried turkey, mustard greens, cornmeal muffins, Mississippi mud cake, and sweet tea. The folks here welcome me to their homes and treat me as kin. But that is another story.

Check out LeaveNoTrace.org and click on the traveling trainers section for more details on what Ella and North are up to. For those who will be in Bellingham for the holidays, I will be in town from December 23 through January 2.

a short post with some school pictures

some updates: my personal email is scherrerben at hotmail dot com, my work email is benjamins at pcpsb.k12.la dot us, and yes the toad was found shortly thereafter, alive and healthy. Since then, the toads have been growing on the students, who now stop in after school to feed or hold them.

Last night, a Friday evening, I decided to do something that I have never done before: watch a high school football game. On my way, I picked up some spicy fried Cajun chicken at Big Boyz, the local drive in. The two high schools in the area, one being the private Catholic school and the other public, were poised for their annual cross-town rivalry. My students at Rosenwald had been talking about the game for weeks as many of their older brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles attend the public school, Pointe Coupee Central, some of whom play on the team. The scene at the game was very positive but still quite divided, as Catholic is primarily white (but not the football team) and Central has a similar demographic to my school, Rosenwald, which is about 99% African American. As it got darker, clouds of bugs swarmed around the floodlights and kids ran everywhere. The bleachers were still pooled with water from the brief thunderstorm earlier that evening, a normal late summer occurrence. Back to the game, standing on the wet bleachers on Central’s side of the field, I picked at my tasty chicken and watched Central fumble and turn over the ball play after play, too many times to count. All the hype about Central turned out to be all talk, as they were thoroughly defeated. I think the final score was around 50-0. The Catholic fans began to celebrate early in the third quarter. Although deflated, the Central fans still seemed to be having a good time. I surprised a number of my students by sticking to my word and actually showing up to the game. It was good to talk to them in a different setting. I almost did not recognize a few. Out of their school uniforms they dressed in bright flashy colors, much different to the khaki and navy blue of Rosenwald.

In my classroom I have a large storage closet

In my classroom I have a large storage closet. More like a small bedroom filled with shelves and boxes. As I was setting up the room a few weeks ago, I put one of those bright orange ‘live animal’ stickers that you can get at the airport on the door. I did not say a thing to the students about what was behind the door but as they allegedly started hearing things, a rumor began to spread. The students all know my interests in unusual animals and began asking what I had behind the door. I told them, “I will show the class when I think all of you are ready”. This loaded statement was interpreted more like, "there are wild animals behind the door that I am taming after school hours."
To backtrack, I ordered four Giant Marine Toads (Bufo Marinus) from Carolina Biological Supply before school began. I was desperately waiting for my secret order to be processed, as now I could not disappoint. When I received the confirmation that the order would be arriving this past Wednesday, I then told the students I would show them what was in the closet, that Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday morning, I received a few packages but none of them contained live animals. In class the students were restless and beging to please just open the door of the closet. I got halfway through class and finally gave in. I told them that their was nothing behind the door other than a bunch of boxe, they still wanted a look. But then I then told them ,"but, there actually would be some animal arriving later in the day’. They were disappointed but continued to be curious about what was going to arrive. I let the students explore the closet as they swore that unusual sounds had been heard ever since the start of school.
Just as they began to look around I received a knock on my door. Opening it up, there was the delivery; with one of the boxes having round holes in the top and live animal stickers on the sides! I prompted all of the students sit back in their seats and brought the new packages inside. While the students sat on the edge of their seats, not knowing what was going to happen next, I got a portable plastic sink out of the closet. The sink, about a foot and a half deep, with two foot long legs, was intended for use around the classroom. I carefully and slowly cut open the package I thought would never come. Inside were the toads; two of them as large as my hand, with fingers extended. I carefully dumped the four creatures in the sink with the moist moss that they came with and tried to prepare myself for whatever reaction was to come. I picked rows students to come up, one row at a time, to view our new animal friends. As the toads hopped around in the sink, the students became increasingly loud and squirmy. As the excitement grew, I could not keep all of the other students seated and many more started to gather. As most of the class looked over each other’s shoulders into the large sink, something amazing happened. One of the larger round stubby legged toad specimens, probably scared to death and thinking it was judgment day, seemingly defied gravity and leapt out of the sink, right down between two students shoes, landing with a ungraceful plop on the hard floor. The class erupted in yells and screams. Everyone began to backpedal to his or her desks. Girls, and boys, were now shrieking. Students jumped onto their chairs and then on top of their desks. At that point I gave up on trying to say anything to calm the class, as the overreaction was totally out of my control, and actually now becoming pretty entertaining. I quickly became more interested in the toad’s safety and as I looked down. The toad hopped into the dark of my closet. I quickly shut the door, put a piece of cardboard over the sink, and began my attempt to settle everyone back down. Within a few minutes the class was all back sitting in their seats, some still out of breathe. I explained to the students that I could find the toad later and tried to provide a little order in a remaining few minutes of class. Later that afternoon, my ears still ringing, all of the other students and teachers in the hall began to ask, “What happened in Science today Mr. Scherrer, is everything okay?” All I could do was smile.

coke vs coffee

New Roads, Louisiana vs Bellingham, Washington:

coca cola vs coffee, cyprus vs cedar, oversized american truck vs subaru, white egrit vs great blue heron, collard vs kale, 1 speed bike vs 24, live oak vs big leaf maple, gold tooth vs filling, crawfish vs prawns, catfish vs salmon, white vs whole wheat, thunder storm vs rain shower, grits vs oatmeal, cut’n up vs fighting/wrestling, Piggly Wiggly vs Haggen, RIMS vs rims, Mississippi vs Nooksack, throw it away vs recycle, dove vs pigeon, sugar cane vs berries, raggedy vs broken, mingle with strangers vs keep to yourself, bayou vs wetland, 90 degrees vs 70 degrees, miss/mr + first name vs first name, humid vs wet, spanish moss vs lichen, sweet tea vs water, MUSIC vs music, braids vs brush, school uniform vs whatever, tin vs shingle, yes sir/mam vs okay, roach vs ant, air (a/c) vs heat, slow down vs speed up, y'all vs everyone, sweat vs dry, cotton vs hemp, hunt’n vs hiking, swamp vs forest, segregation vs inclusion, above the ground vs six feet under, tradition vs innovation, people vs people…

First day

Today was my fist day of school. I set three alarms, I was not going to be rushed this morning. School starts at 7:45 and I have hall duty begging at 7:10, so everything starts a little earlier than Bellingham. Today was a half-day and lasted from 7:45 until 12:30. The buses were about half an hour late, so after packing up and getting ready to leave I had to refocus the students for another half an hour before they left. This was the only real struggle in the day. We were the first group to have lunch at 9:30! Served were cheese burgers, jo jos, and beans, and everyone ate hot lunch, every single student. Fortunately this is not the normal lunch time. I spent the day with my core class, which I will be meeting with first thing every morning. The class is full of bright and excited young minds. Of the class, twelve students out of fifteen were present, what small class sizes, yes! My schedule for the coming weeks is shaping up. There was some confusion about one section of Health that I will be teaching and upon further investigation one of my five classes a day will not be in 5th grade, but kindergarten health. This adds some additional excitement to the year. Anybody have any tips for teaching kindergarten? Also, I will have more planning time for the next week and a half before the kindergarten students begin their year. So, all in all, the day was a little chaotic, but it went as smooth as possible. It is going to be a good year at Rosenwald.

Check out this cicada that I found on a walk this evening. It's huge. I hear they are the loudest sounding insect in the world and can also live to be up to 17 years old are are not considered a pest. Right now it's hanging out with me on my computer speaker. It's a little slow. I think it might have got dowsed by the bug truck that sprays the neighborhood ever so often.

for more about these facinating creatures check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada

Why does it all have to be fried?

Man, I have been having some cravings like no other for anything fresh and vegetable-like. After a week and a half of eating the local deep fried fare I finally can't take it any longer. Fried Shrimp Po’ Boys, Fried Catfish everything, Fried Sac-au-lait fish, Fried Chicken, French fries….i'm cutting back. My last three meals have consisted of salad, salad, and a variation on the first two. I have heard that when people go to Antarctica for extended periods of time they get cravings for what they call “freshies”. Now I have even more respect for what one might have to go through in such a place. I have been on the lookout for local farmer's markets and have heard that there are some out of town. I also heard that New Roads had one in the past; something that might be worth looking into- it is such an agricultural area.

The classroom is almost set up, now I need to begin my work on lesson planning. We have a pacing guide that pretty much dictates what we will teach and when. We cover so many different content areas in science; I don’t think there would be any way for a regular multidisciplinary teacher to cover close to half of the material.

Tonight when I was riding my bike home, I was followed by a truck spraying a large plume of pesticides up into the air, all throughout the neighborhood. I have heard that this practice to limit West Nile and other mosquito-born diseases. I have also heard that the amount of spray that is used doesn’t really do anything for the bugs, but instead just gives the feeling of "security " to local residents. Trying to outrun the spray of that truck did not make me feel safe at all.

More about the bugs later, large and small.

Parlange Plantation with Spanish Moss, Built 1760s, Old Slaves Quarters with sugar cane field in background