Short Takes
School shooting article published; being together for the holidays; and a brief tribute to Charles Schulz as his 100th birthday passes
Hi, everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. It’s been almost two weeks since the last post, and I wanted to share a set of shorter items before a longer series makes its debut tomorrow.
Moving Forward
“Moving Forward,” my feature story that looks at the aftermath of the Santa Fe, Texas, school shooting, appears in the current edition of American School Board Journal. You can read the story by visiting this link.
In October, I wrote an essay about the visit to Santa Fe and the difficulty I had writing the story, mostly because I had so much good material. At the time, I asked readers here and on social media if there was interest in seeing more in-depth profiles of the people I interviewed, and was met with a strong, affirmative response.
Starting tomorrow and continuing daily through Sunday, six feature-length essays will be posted to my Substack page and sent to you. I hope you will read the series, like/comment/share if you see fit, and provide me with any feedback.
I greatly appreciate the cooperation of the subjects who were interviewed and the stories they shared. Even though I’m pleased with how the ASBJ article turned out, I felt like their full stories needed to be told. While the essays are not an all-encompassing take on the shooting and the aftermath, I hope they will provide additional insight for readers about a school district’s long, often painful journey to recovery.
A Restful Thanksgiving
When our children were young, Thanksgiving always felt like the starting point of a multi-week ultramarathon that would not end until the calendar hit New Year’s Day. Now that they’re adults, the long Turkey Day weekend is more like the beginning of a walking/running 5K.
And for that, I’m eternally thankful.
Those who follow our family know all of four kids were born in December. Between birthdays, activities, and grueling show schedules, the six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day were an exhausting but always worthwhile “adventure.”
Since 2020, we’ve spent Thanksgiving weekend in the mountains of Central Virginia, sharing time with the family of Jill’s brother, Michael. Wintergreen has long been a gathering spot for the Cooks and McFarlands, and both families have purchased small places there.
This Thanksgiving weekend was lovely. We were all together from Wednesday until Saturday, with Ben, Emma, Kate, Nick, Conner, and Matthew staying at a rented condo close to ours. The weather was great overall — not too cold and gray only on one day. After Nick, Emma, and Conner ran a 5K in the morning, we had Thanksgiving dinner with the McFarlands, including their daughter Elisabeth and fiancée Zack. Only drawback: Our niece, Margaret, had to work so she and her fiancée, Marc Anthony, could not be with us.
Because we won’t be with all four kids and spouses/significant others on Christmas, on Friday we had a combination sibling birthday exchange and family Secret Santa. James, the first cousin of Michael and Jill, joined us later in the day.
What’s wonderful is the kids have made a commitment to Thanksgiving as “our holiday,” a time when we can all get together. For the most part, we’re a nontraditional bunch, but in this case, I’m happy to make an exception.
Here are a few photos from the trip:
A Centennial Birthday
Saturday was the 100th birthday of Charles Schulz, the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip. I was reminded of this fact in a post by Brad Kyle that features a playlist of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” as well as a series of great Schulz cartoons.
Brad’s post last week made me think back to the many Thanksgiving dinners we shared with Fran and Bill Waranius, the childless couple from across the street in Texas City who adopted me and my sister as their own.
Fran was a huge Peanuts fan, and on her bookshelf were some of the first compilations of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang. Her brother, Roy Burgold, as it turns out, was the head of advertising for McDonald’s from the 1970s through the 1990s. (He created/refined the Ronald McDonald character and was in charge of the creative for the fast-food chain.)
In the mid 1970s, Roy became good friends with Schulz thanks to McDonald’s long-running Peanuts campaign. In 1975, a large form hardback was published to commemorate the cartoon’s 25th anniversary, and Roy sent Fran a copy, complete with a Schulz dedication and a personalized Snoopy.
I was 10 at the time, and I can’t begin to tell you how many hours I spent with that book. So when Fran died, I asked Roy if I could have it. Despite some initial hesitation (personalized Schulz drawings apparently are rare), he agreed as long as I had the page taken out of the book and kept behind museum quality glass.
Fifteen years later, it’s still hanging in my basement.
You have the most interesting stories! What an incredible connection, and how cool that you got to keep that special drawing. As always, thanks for sharing, Glenn.
Every family should have a holiday that’s “theirs” like T-day is for you guys.