Mrs. Wenger and Her Big Adventure

 

Being a fourth-grade teacher in a public school can be a challenge. Especially so when a mother of a 4^th grader decides to help an overworked teacher during a class visit to a neighborhood auditorium. The occasion was a free concert by a local musician who had promised Mrs. Wenger’s 4^th grade class a free pass to attend a show that would consist of kid-friendly music. The outing promised to be a treat for the students and Mrs. Wenger, known to everyone as Vivian. Vivian was confident of success since she included a music-related topic as a regular part of her 4^th grade classroom studies. Besides expanding the curricula for 4^th graders, the students loved the topic and many volunteered to participate in the programs that Mrs. Wenger organized.

Thus, it was no surprise that Mrs. Ritchie (Little Mikey’s mother) offered to help in managing the students. Not that Vivian needed help; she managed her 24 students every day without help even during the rare occasions when an emergency occurred. Vivian considered the offer as she whispered aloud to herself. “Maybe she can be of help since the students are particularly excited about this concert.”

The students were excited. Even the planned 3-block walk to the auditorium seemed to have some students in a tizzy since, for many, this would be their first excursion to anywhere without their parents in close control.

Mrs. Wenger got the class to come to attention. She reminded the students that they needed to be on their best behavior if they hoped for another free concert sometime in the future. She talked to them about the walk and how they should form a line that was two abreast and staying together until they were in the auditorium where they would need to keep completely quiet.

Mrs. Ritchie met the class just outside the school’s main entry door. As soon as the marchers were assembled she signaled to Mrs. Wenger. “We need to talk for a minute before we leave,” she said, in a voice that seemed breathless. “While I was waiting here, I noticed a man on the sidewalk. He was an unsavory man, the kind you wouldn’t want to meet if you were alone. I think we should cross over the street now to avoid him completely.”

Vivian answered before Mrs. Ritchie proposed some other measure. “Can you point him out to me?”

“He is too far away for you to see from here. He is in the next block. You’ll see him just after we turn.” Mrs. Ritchie seemed adamant that an emergency was at hand. Vivian proceeded to direct the children forward.

Vivian had carefully plotted out the intended trip from the school to the auditorium. Just to be on the safe side, she had traveled the route on foot the day before and she hadn’t seen a single pedestrian and the walk had taken a mere 8 minutes to complete. She responded to Mikey’s mother that she would walk in the lead and if she encountered a questionable pedestrian, she would shepherd the children to the opposite side of the street.

The walk began. Sure enough, on the second block she saw the man that was the object of concern. He was a middle-aged man dressed in clothes that some would call ragged while others would say were modern. His hair was long and he had a beard. Vivian suddenly recognized him. She lengthened her stride and hurried forward as Mrs. Ritchey stood in place with her mouth open as events unfolded.

“Ziggy!” Vivian exclaimed, as she opened her arms and gave the man a hug. It was Ziggy from the Ziggernaughts, the man who helped arrange the free pass for the 4^th graders. He was waiting on the sidewalk to escort the children into the auditorium where he was the main attraction and lead guitar player for the Ziggernaughts.

Ziggy gave high fives to the children as they passed by. Mrs. Ritchey stepped to the outside of the line to avoid an encounter with the long-haired man. Mrs. Wenger led the children to their reserved seats in the auditorium.

A good time was had by all according to Mrs. Wenger.

 

 

Note -The foregoing is a true story. It was told to me by a regular patron of the dances held by The Northwoods Square Dancers, an organization that has been my dancing home for the last 20 years.

 

 

Change: Good or Bad?

 

We made a recent trip downstate to celebrate our granddaughter’s high school graduation. While there, we encountered a surprising number of changes from the time that we lived there. It seemed our 30 plus years living in that area counted for nothing as we had to find our way to the auditorium where the commencement exercises were held. But before I get into that, here is a little more background information about the High School graduation of our granddaughter Shana.

Shana graduated from Troy High School and we learned several things about her and the school from the numerous speeches given during the commencement. The presentations were given by the school’s teachers and the Troy School Board. Our granddaughter’s class was large–546 graduates. The School Board speaker said Shana’s class was the largest in the nation and the most diverse (referring to the many nationalities represented by the graduates).

Unknown to us before-hand were the awards that were conferred on Shana. Perhaps most important was her scholastic result as she was awarded Summa Cum Laude (given to those who achieved an overall grade average of 4.0.) Her cap and gown were festooned with 4 colorful chords reflecting her achievements.

The graduation ceremony was held at Oakland University since Troy doesn’t have a facility large enough to accommodate the 3,000 attendees at the graduation. We were impressed with the ceremony that Troy mustered for graduating students and their closest family members.

The location of Oakland University was well known to us since Marjorie graduated from the school in 1967. However, the school has grown considerably since then so that finding our way through the neighborhood to the correct building at the sprawling University was problematic. As we wound our way through the campus, our impression was that the school has grown considerably with new buildings, new parking lots, and expansive sports facilities, changes that were all under the banner of “the Golden Grizzlies.” Even the roads around the University seemed different as some were replaced by modern, high speed, multi lane roads that gobbled up the remaining farmlands in the area. Additionally, the old retail stores that we used to frequent have been replaced by big box outlets that seemed to be doing just fine, thank you very much. What we found was that navigation aids we used to use depended upon familiar buildings and parking areas that are now gone or changed considerably, making our transport more difficult. We finally found the site of the auditorium. It seemed to me the school must have a sense of humor (or cruelty) about signs and directions. Adding insult to injury the auditorium was named “The Orena” instead of the more prosaic “The Arena.”

Traffic in the area seemed worse than anything we remembered. The new super highways were nice but the secondary roads had more potholes, more cars, and more drivers who seemed to be in a hurry, changes that were not particularly helpful for out-of-town drivers.

So back to my title for this blog: is change good or bad? In this case of our return to southeast Michigan, I found that I didn’t like the many changes that we encountered in Troy, Michigan. The comparison between Troy’s population of 80,000 people and Roscommon’s 950 people was the most difficult thing for me while I served as the principal driver during our brief 3-day visit.

My general impression is that most people don’t like change. Even small changes like new neighborhoods, new home designs, the latest fashions, new TV programming, new music and other factors of life in the 2025 can affect some people adversely. The internet seems to agree. Here is the first response to my internet search on this topic.

“Whether it is a change at work, such as a new boss or new process, or a personal change, such as a need to exercise to lose weight and improve health, there is a seemingly natural tendency to resist any sort of change.” Psychologists who have studied this resistance to change for decades have arrived at the conclusion that 62% of the population are resistant to change while 38% say that change is not a problem for them.

My experience mirrors this notion. I have a recent example of resistance to change in the case of soft pickleballs. Here is the background: the game of Pickleball grew around the use of hard plastic balls that I knew as “Whiffleballs.” As soon as the game reached a level of respectability, a series of rules were established governing the size, weight, etc. of the balls to be used. The rules established for the balls seemed to work pretty well until recently. The problem was and is, the loud popping noise at every stroke of the paddle. This noise was overlooked by most players and officials until recently. It turns out that the popularity of the game has provoked complaints from those folks who live near a park where pickleball courts are used from early morning until night fall or later. The popping noise from the paddles striking the balls provoked the numerous complaints and led to demands that the noise be eliminated.

The solution to this noise problem has been the development of soft pickleballs that prevent the loud popping noise. The new silent balls are made from a soft foam that behave like the former hard balls in the bounce height and other performance attributes. I decided to check out the new balls at our CRAF pickleball court by purchasing a few balls and introducing them to players at one of our normal play sessions.

I should have predicted the result. Nearly all the players who tried the new balls said they didn’t like them. It was an unwelcome change. Pickleball players seem to be in the 60 % category who don’t want to change from the old balls to the new. I suspect the new balls will ultimately be accepted when enough complaints threaten the continued use of hard balls and players are forced into silent balls. Good ideas often seem to arrive slowly.