Bridging The Gap

 

Marcene Holverson, me, Bryan McCorkle, my mom

All teachers and students begin with the same type of relationship.  The one knows something the other does not, together they work so that both know the same thing, and for the majority of those thus engaged, the relationship progresses no further.  This is not to say that teachers and students do not care for one another, often quite deeply, but there is a gap existing between them that, while narrowed by this and that, is rarely bridged so that a new type of relationship is formed.  But what happens when it is bridged?

The Pontifical Nature of Teaching

All teaching is pontifical in nature, which is to say, it involves bridge building.  As I wrote in another post, "Matters of faith and religion connect the human with the transcendent, and a teacher, no less than a priest, is a pontiff, which, as the Latin root pontifex reveals, is a bridge builder.  Teachers help to connect students with ideas, with others, with themselves, and at times even with what lies beyond it all."  With Marcene Farley, there was another bridge being built during my senior year in high school, although we were both unaware of its construction or where it would lead.

Marcene arrived as the new Latin teacher for the start of my senior year and was called Miss Holverson back then, having not yet met her husband Mack.  She did the things that a good teacher does and then some, including taking my friend Bryan and me to the state Latin convention.  This, of course, required Roman attire, and Marcene participated right along with the rest of us.  Then again, she clearly had a penchant for dressing up in class, but this was all part of her strategy for helping to build that bridge between her students and the life of ancient Rome.

 

The Other Side of the Desk

When people become teachers, they often speak of moving to the other side of the desk, which is to say they gain a new perspective on what goes on in a classroom.  Nearly everyone knows what it is like to be a student, but the view is far different from the position of teacher.  Fortunately, I had in Marcene a teacher who was also a colleague.  Although we never taught in the same school, we talked many times over the years, often at length, about issues in education and with our particular students.  We shared triumphs and heartbreaks in a way that only teachers can, for teachers are involved in that most human of enterprises, the shared journey of discovery, and like any journey, there are both pinnacles and pitfalls.

I was fortunate to speak at Marcene's invitation on a number of occasions once she had moved back to Illinois was teaching at Pekin Community High School.  Three times I had the opportunity to address the Illinois Junior Classical League convention when she hosted it at her school and performed my presentation of Cicero at the Eta Sigma Phi convention at her alma mater, Monmouth College.  I was always pleased to speak at her invitation, and there was an excitement for both of us.  We were able to reconnect not only as teacher and student, but as colleagues, and it was clear that the bridge was extending far from what it had been when I was in high school

 

De Amicitia

Cicero (106-43 B.C.) wrote a treatise on friendship called De Amicitia, or "On Friendship."  A passage I have quoted often says this.  "Qui esset tantus fructus in prosperis rebus, nisi haberes, qui illis aeque ac tu ipse gauderet? Adversas vero ferre difficile esset sine eo qui illas gravius etiam quam tu ferret."  (De Amicitia, 22).  "How great would be the benefit in good times if you did not have someone who would rejoice in them as much as you?  Indeed it would be difficult to bear adversity without someone who would bear it even more gravely than you."

Marcene was with me when I was named 2014 Indiana Teacher of the Year and she was with me again when my son and I saw '80s hair band Stryper near where she lived.  In fact, she was the one who yelled to leader singer Michael Sweet to get his attention, which led to the first of my many interactions with the rock star.  It was no surprise that she would do this.  After all, she once talked with Dee Snider of Twisted Sister about his Latin tattoo!  Cicero was right in what he said, for both of those moments were all the better for her being part of them.

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Dee Snider and Marcene

When her husband, Mack, passed away, I traveled to Illinois for the funeral.  I wouldn't have missed it for anything.  I was there to support my friend in keeping with the second part of what Cicero wrote.

And I was there for Marcene's retirement party at the end of the 2021-2022 school year.  There was a constant stream of people for hours that Saturday afternoon as former students, their parents, and colleagues came to show their love for a woman who had touched so many lives in such profound ways.  My only quibble with the event is about one of the gifts she received.  Someone gave her a mug that says, "I came, I taught, I retired," but that last part only expresses a momentary fact of history.  The mug should have read, "I came, I taught, I shaped lives in ways I will never know."

 

Self-Indulgent Rock and Roll Post #3

R.E.M. once had an album titled Life's Rich Pageant.  I think of that phrase whenever I reflect on the wildly different threads, so intricately woven, that form the tapestry of life, and yes, I know I am mixing metaphors here.  Can there be only one metaphor to capture the complex beauty of human life?  How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand indeed.

Part of my life's rich pageant involves classic rock, hard rock, and heavy metal.  I love these kinds of music.  Nothing else even comes close.  Okay, blues comes close.  And some country.  And the classic hymns.  Gotta love the '80s pop, too.  Throw in some Motown and ballads while you're at it and don't forget the crooners.  But on a regular basis, it is the sounds of rock and metal that blast through my speakers as I drive to and from school each day.

A few nights ago, a dream came true when I interviewed Michael Sweet, founder and lead singer/guitarist of Stryper and Sweet & Lynch and also a former member of Boston.  Yeah, that's right, a high school Latin teacher got to interview one of his rock heroes, a guy who has enjoyed multi-platinum success and tours to millions around the world.

Back up the story to around 1985.  My youth minister, John Cutshall, introduced me to a cassette tape of Soldiers Under Command by a Christian metal band called Stryper, and I went to Beethoven's, the music store in Greentree Mall in Clarksville, Indiana, and purchased it.  It went straight into my Sony Walkman and hardly left.  Okay, I did put it in my boom box so I could play it for my grandma one Sunday.  I told her it was church music.  The point is, I was hooked and immediately went back to Beethoven's to get their debut album, The Yellow And Black Attack.

When I bought their album To Hell With The Devil in 1986, I had no idea I was getting such a rare treasure by purchasing the cassette with the controversial "angel" cover that was quickly replaced for later issues.  This album led to one of the iconic rock poster's of the '80s gracing my bedroom door and my first rock concert ever when I saw the band perform in Louisville, Kentucky.

When Stryper released their fourth and fifth albums, In God We Trust and Against The Law, I snapped them up as fast as I could get to College Mall in Bloomington, Indiana.  Studying to become a Latin teacher at Indiana University for many reasons, including my introduction to cable television and MTV, which played videos by Stryper, Whitesnake, and Bon Jovi and even had a show dedicated to the greatest musical form on the planet called Headbangers Ball.  The Stryper albums I purchased in those years were on the still relatively new format of the compact disc, which meant hair metal in all its digital glory cranked to 11.

And then came the long cold winter.  The band pursued other projects, and it was not until 2003 that I, as a now married man and father, found a new Stryper CD.  It was staring at me from the music rack at Wal-Mart in Westfield, Indiana, and was a compilation with a couple of new tracks.  Was Stryper back on the scene?  A year later saw the release of 7 Weeks:  Live In America, a live album from a tour the previous year that ranks with Deep Purple's famous album Made In Japan as my favorite live recording.  Something was up.  It seemed that Stryper indeed was making a comeback, and that was proved accurate from 2005 to the present.

Since that live album, the band has put out Reborn, The Roxx Regime Demos, Murder By Pride, The Covering, Second Coming, No More Hell To Pay, Live At The Whisky, and Fallen.  During that time Michael Sweet has continued his solo projects, done a stint with Boston, and formed Sweet & Lynch with George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob), James LoMenzo (White Lion), and Brian Tichy (Whitesnake).

After nearly twenty years, I saw Stryper again playing an acoustic show in Pekin, Illinois, in 2014.  I met up with my own former Latin teacher and now colleague, Marcene Farley, and took my son to his first rock concert.  As we waited to enter the venue, Michael came out to meet the crowd, and Marcene got his attention.  I was like a kid myself as my son and I got our pictures with him.  Later that night as the band members tossed Bibles to crowd, I yelled to drummer Robert Sweet, and he tossed one directly to me.  Since then I have seen Stryper twice in fully electric shows and have seen Michael perform solo twice as well.

The first time I saw Michael Sweet play a solo show, I was with my friend Dr. Brad Oliver, an education leader in our state and a huge Stryper fan.  We met Michael afterward, and I gave him a copy of the lyrics to their 1985 hit "Soldiers Under Command" that I had a translated into Latin.  Shortly afterward, he tweeted out a picture of it, and earlier this year he autographed a copy for me.

And that brings us to the present.  When I knew I was going to attend Michael's solo show in Richmond, Indiana, I reached out to him and asked if I could interview him.  Amazingly, he messaged right back and said yes!  I was so excited!

Michael Sweet is a humble and honest man.  His faith in Christ makes him who he is, which is pretty amazing given his incredible talent.  The world is filled with people who elevate themselves, but Michael is a down-to-earth guy and the real deal.  So check out the time a Latin teacher got to interview a rock star!

Self-Indulgent Rock 'n' Roll Post

October just got away from me.  Speaking engagements and teaching and podcasting and parenting and life...it just got away from me, so there were no posts in October.

And how do I usher in the month of November?  A sizzling piece on edu policy or theory?  Nope.  This rock 'n' roller at heart needs a bit of a fun break.  I promise, though, that education posts will return.

In October the metal band Stryper released their eleventh studio album since blasting onto the scene in 1984.  I have been a fan the whole time and am writing this review just so I can be part of the historical moment that is the re-birth of classic metal.  Stryper’s album Fallen proves what talented musicians can do who stay true to their roots, care about their fans, and have enough creativity not to live on the glory days but to create new ones in keeping with the times.

The opening track, “Yahweh,” begins like no other Stryper song.  It starts with an acapella choir sound that turns into a thundering, sonic guitar attack as Michael Sweet begins the story of Christ’s crucifixion.  It is an epic story, and the music stands up to it.  The entire album has a ten-foot deep, concrete foundation made out of Robert Sweet’s pounding drums and Tim Gaines’s aggressive bass.  On this track they combine to lend the perfect tone to this tale.  And let’s be serious.  If you are going to open your album with this story and a sound this big, the audience knows it is going to be a killer album in whole.

From there we get the title track, and one cannot help thinking of the epic poem Paradise Lost as we get the story of Satan’s fall from glory told in traditional Stryper guitar attack style.  Michael’s high scream opens the tale and resurfaces in the chorus, which always has me reaching for the volume to turn it up.

“Pride,” for which the band released their first official video, picks up the dark, heavy sound from “Yahweh” for the third track, and again we have the pounding rhythm section to open.  We are treated to a beautiful melody that morphs into a gritty scream during the chorus, and those who have never heard Michael Sweet simply accept his powerful vocals, but those of us who have heard him for three decades stand in awe at how he has continued to grow.

“Big Screen Lies” is a fun tune with another aggressive, rhythmic opening.  It talks of how Christianity is portrayed in popular media, something the boys in Stryper know a little about.  It has that in-your-face, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” it feel of “Loud ‘n’ Clear” off their debut album.  The chorus features thundering guitars, and the song ends with a gritty, greasy, snarling vocal.

The next track, “Heaven,” would have been at home on the Sweet & Lynch album Only To Rise.   This is another song of rebellion against what others think is the way to go.  Michael has strong, soaring vocals without going into the stratosphere.  It is again an in-your-face lyric.

“Love You Like I Do” almost has a Whitesnake feel in the very opening.  It is a call-and-response song that could be seen as a lyric between a man and a woman, but is more likely, and more reasonably, a lyric between God and His creation.  I could not help thinking of Oz Fox’s wife, Annie Lobert, in this one, as she leads the fight against sexual exploitation of women.  No one will ever see us as God sees us, certainly not those who see us only as means to an end.  And speaking of Oz, his guitar work has been killer on ever track, and the guitar solo on this song begs to be seen live in concert.

“All Over Again,” for which the band and their wives have released the album's second official video, is a country-rock ballad and may be the best of their career.  Let’s face it.  A fair portion of their fan base is of a maturing age.  This lyric hits home.  It is not a rose-colored glass view of the past, but one that can honestly say that with the good and the bad, we would not change a thing, but would do it all over again.  It is a big sound, worthy of the cowboy rocker of the ‘80s and perfectly suited for today.

“After Forever” was the track a lot of people were eager to hear.  It is a cover of Black Sabbath and, despite that this may get me negative comments, I will go on record as saying the cover is better.  It is sharp, clean, and aggressive.  It is a perfect fit for Stryper, and the boys carry it off perfectly.

The next song, “Till I Get What I Need,” is a fast, blistering number that seems directly born from Michael’s autobiography Honestly.  It has the classic Stryper guitar sound that would have been at home in the ‘80s, yet sounds in no way dated.

I’m not sure what it is, but I often like the last two or three tracks of an album the best.  Time and again for a variety of artists, these seem the heaviest.  "Let There Be Light" would have gone well on their last album, No More Hell To Pay, and is musically in that vein.  Again we have a strong, epic sound to the epic story of Genesis.

"The Calling" may be my favorite.  It is a chest-beating, bold, head-thrown-back anthem, with a fast and aggressive rhythm.  It has almost a classic rock sound at points.  Matthew Arnold, the famous scholar of Homer, said the Greek poet had a fast-moving, forward-driving feel to his poetry.  The same is true in this song.  It grabs you and drags you along at Mach I.

The final track, “King of Kings,” is another that would have gone well on the last album.  Stryper has always given us anthems, and this is one that calls to mind the expansive chorus of “Passion” from the Reborn album.  We have a sonic race at the beginning that slows and hits a slower, powerful stride in the chorus, forcing us to listen and, if so inclined, to belt out the lyrics, too.

And speaking of lyrics, I have to say these are some of Stryper’s best.  The stories are epic, yet the lyrics have a way of speaking directly to us.

If you did a word count, you would see I used “epic” and “aggressive” more than any other.  This is how I like my music.  In one of his songs, country singer George Strait sang, “I don’t want you under my roof with your 86 proof watered down ‘til it tastes like tea.  You’re gonna pull my string, make it the real thing for me.”  I couldn’t agree more, and Stryper delivers better than ever.

Some pictures from Michael Sweet's acoustic concert in Bluffton, Indiana, in October.  In the third picture you will see my friend Dr. Brad Oliver...teacher, principal, superintendent, professor of education, former state school board member, current Director of Education at The Summit, and most importantly fellow Stryper fan!

Self-Indulgent Rock 'n' Roll Post

Yes, this is an education blog.  Yes, I am devoting one post to my own musical interest.  As my friend, the 2014 Utah Teacher of the Year Allison Riddle and I would say, #EdZeppelin.

So what occasions this digression from all things pedagogical?  It is the debut release from Sweet & Lynch.  The story has been told countless times around the Internet, but here is the bottom line.  Michael Sweet (Stryper), George Lynch (Dokken and Lynch Mob), Greg Lomenzo (White Lion), and Brian Tichy (Whitesnake), joined forces on the premiere hard rock/metal label Frontiers Records to record an album.  If you know any of those bands, keep reading. If you don't, then I guess this actually is an educational post after all.  Take your seats, kids.  School is in session.

Only To Rise is the album, and it kicks off with "The Wish," a song that makes those of us who remember when fun, lyrical, hard rock & metal first hit the scene realize that we no longer need to wish for such days.  They are back.  This could easily have been on a Stryper album.  Sweet's powerful voice soars, and Lynch's riff-soaked guitar puts a hook in your head that leaves you reaching for your own air axe.

"Dying Rose" is up next, and it is perhaps my favorite track.  It has a mean & dirty blues-based riff that is backed up by a deep, in-your-face rhythm from Lomenzo and Tichy (whom, with Brian Devin as his bass partner in Whitesnake, David Coverdale used to call the Wrecking Crew).  Sweet's vocals have that full-throated swagger that make you just know he has his head and shoulders thrown back as he assaults the mic.

"Love Stays" has the slow groove of a classic power ballad, and the opening lyric is reminiscent of Sweet's "The Cause" from his 2014 solo release I'm Not Your Suicide.  Lynch's guitar and Sweet's vocals almost perform a call-and-response, and once again, there is a bigness to the song that makes you think of arenas and lighters.  While I am not the biggest fan of ballads, Lynch's guitar solo toward the end makes this worth the listen.

"Time Will Tell" brings us back to rock with a great little opening two-second bit from Lynch.  The song quickly turns spartan with the sound being largely carried by Sweet and Tichy and then opening up again to the full band sound.  The Lynch solo has me bending the strings of my air guitar.

"Rescue Me" follows with a big, bad drum opening from Tichy.  A deep, head-banging groove from Lomenzo joins, then come Lynch's string bending and Sweet's big vocals.  Are you noticing some themes here?  These are songs meant to be played live, in an arena, with great lights and a faithful choir singing along.  This could easily have been a Whitesnake song.  Lynch and Tichy battle it out toward the end, and the winner is the listener.

"Me Without You" opens with a haunting, Spanish-influenced guitar and a crystal vocal from Sweet.  While ballads are not my favorite, this one really gets it done.  The full band comes in at about 1:30, and by then you are hooked and want to hear this one through to the end.  This may well be the best interplay between Sweet and Lynch and ends with the same clean, haunting sound as the opening.

"Recover."  Ah, yes.  True rock opening that would have been at home on a Whitesnake album, and a vocal attitude hearkening back to Stryper's Against the Law days.  Sweet finds the top of his vocal range here, and if you are not familiar with it, just know that you could more easily climb K2.  Once more Lomenzo and Tichy provide a rock solid foundation for some of Lynch's most virtuoso playing on the album.

"Divine" starts off with sonic assault from Lynch's axe, and gritty rhythm section quickly backs it up.  There is something about this classic rocker that reminds me of Bon Jovi's "Lay Your Hands on Me," especially during the chorus.  If Sweet & Lynch tour (please say yes! please say yes!), I would expect pyrotechnics shooting off from the stage during Lynch's solo here.  The song ends with a guitar build up that is matched by a crescendo of drums.

"September" is the band's anthem in memory of 9/11.  I'm not sure we can ever have too many songs that recall that day, and to have one with the heavy-hitting sound and rhythm of this serves a real purpose.  It allows us to fight vicariously even as we remember those who have fought and died for real.

"Strength in Numbers" is the kind of song you just don't hear anymore.  It starts out with this big, orchestral sound reminiscent of Zeppelin's "Kashmir," then shifts into a lyric and vocal that calls to mind "Bleeding From Inside Out" on Stryper's Second Coming album.  To me, this is what rock is all about.  It is big (how many times can I use that word in one review?), rich, and full.

"Hero-Zero" opens with a twin guitar-drums attack, but it is the chorus line that really gets me.  "The hero is a zero.  He's just a highwayman.  He'll burn you worse than Nero.  I hope you understand."  I'm a Latin teacher, so when I hear a reference to a Roman emperor in music that I am trying to turn up to 11, well, let's just say I become one happy fan.  This is a solid, driving number that Lomenzo and Tichy really make happen.  With its expansive chorus, all I can say is...I love it!

"Only To Rise," the title track, brings the album to a close in killer fashion.  Once again, I hear an opening that Whitesnake would have loved.  It really comes out and just assaults the senses.  If the previous song drove hard, this one takes a shot of nitrous and simply leaves everything else at the starting line.  The guitar solo evokes Deep Purple's "Highway Star," so the car metaphor is not misplaced.  Listening to this track through headphones as I write, I want to yank them off, throw the disc in the player, and crank the home stereo so the neighbors can enjoy it.

The Things Teachers Do

What do two middle-aged high school teachers and a hair metal band from the '80s have to do with each other?  They prove that the teacher-student relationship lasts a lifetime.

In 1986 she moved from Illinois to a small city in southern Indiana to teach Latin after a local legend had retired.  She had taught previously, but was not that long out of college, and while she would teach for a number of years at this Indiana high school, she would eventually return to Illinois to teach at her alma mater for the remainder of her career.  If she were to have built any kind of relationship with her first students in Indiana, you would have thought it would have been with those in her Latin I class.  They knew no other teacher and would be completely hers.  The seniors should have been least likely to form a bond with her since the majority of their study had been under someone else.

(Marcene, me, my friend Bryan McCorkle, and my mom)

I was one of those seniors, and I can tell you none of us knew quite what to make of our new teacher who changed the arrangement of the desks and was hopelessly devoted to all things Stevie Nicks and purple.  Yet in that one year as a student with Miss Marcene Holverson, I received the finishing touches on my dream to become a Latin teacher.  She introduced us to new activities and gave leadership tips that I have shared with other teachers over the years and still follow to this day.  She stayed in touch with several of us through college, and when I finally entered the teaching world, we became colleagues.  We email frequently, I have been fortunate to speak at her Illinois high school for Latin conventions on several occasions, and she was an honored guest at my Teacher of the Year banquet this year.

So where does the rock and roll come in?  In the late spring of this year, I was on Facebook and a message popped up from Marcene (now Farley after marrying and returning to Illinois) saying that my favorite band, Stryper, would be performing in her town in June.  A few clicks later I had tickets for my son, 13, and me to attend.  We arrived early the day of the show for Marcene to load my truck with boxes of Classics books, some dating to the late 1800s.  She is not retiring, but said that there comes a point when a person has to start getting rid of things.  We had dinner with her parents, and then she said she would lead us to the venue.

(Marcene, me, my son)

Pause for a moment.  As Joan Jett sang, "I love rock and roll, so put another dime in the jukebox, baby!"  I agree with KISS, for "I want to hear it loud, right between the eyes."  I am one happy camper going from Vergil to Whitesnake, Cicero to Bon Jovi, Catullus to Deep Purple.  There are times when I just want a little Led for my head.  I think you get the picture.  So I was pumped to pull into a small parking lot in front of Goodfellas', a local Italian eatery that featured a stage that has hosted some pretty big names in music.  This was to be a small venue, where the fans crowded around the stage and despite the heat would bang there heads for four hours.  Rock as it was meant to be.

Standing in line (the tickets were general admission), I gasped when Stryper lead singer Michael Sweet came out to say hi to the crowd.  I called out to him and we exchanged some pleasantries, including his asking my son about his Lego creations.  Suddenly Marcene called out, "Michael, will you take a picture with them?"  I handed her my phone, and she snapped several pictures of Michael Sweet with my son and me.  I was on the moon!  Think screaming teens when the Beatles came to the U.S.

(My son, me, and Michael Sweet)

As the doors opened and we started to enter the venue, Marcene took her leave and told me she would stay up so I could call if I needed to on the drive home.  We would be traveling back to Indiana in the middle of the night, and she didn't want me to fall asleep at the wheel.

Teachers and students.  What happens between human beings who occupy these roles is more complex than could ever be grasped by the blunt instrument of an evaluation.  Teachers buy students food and materials that they cannot afford.  Students invite us to their weddings.  I was humbled and honored beyond measure when a former student and her mother asked me to walk the bride down the aisle since the dad was not in the picture.  Once, the social studies teacher on my 8th grade middle school team and I took off at lunch to pay respects at the funeral home for the passing of the mother of one of our students.  Teachers listen, counsel, and try to open up the world to the students who share their lives, their hearts, and their dreams with us.  It does not end when they leave our classroom.  It is not finished when we retire.  It goes on and on, and as one summer night in Pekin, Illinois, recently proved, it lasts a lifetime.

(Stryper covering "Jesus Is Just Alright" at the Pekin concert)