tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4124005218067540772009-07-08T00:53:04.620-07:00Random ramblings from an ex-newspaper editor, current teacher and proud father.Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-52871545562705958832008-06-08T19:23:00.000-07:002008-06-08T19:29:08.151-07:00

A fellow teacher gave me the following, which is attributed to Bill Gates. I haven't verified the attribution, but regardless, this is good advice.Rule 1: Life is not fair; get used to it.Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.Rule 3: You will not make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-88712489181834201602008-03-23T11:48:00.000-07:002008-03-23T11:56:10.083-07:00

My cadet commander at San Gorgonio High School, a truly amazing 11th-grader named Brittany Contreras, has been selected to attend the West Point Summer Leaders Seminar -- a prestigious weeklong program for rising seniors held at the U.S. Military Academy. She is scheduled to report to West Point on 14 June 2008.The round-trip airfare from Ontario, Calif., the airport nearest her home, and Newark,

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-77485849264507347482008-03-04T23:26:00.000-08:002008-03-04T23:28:24.359-08:00

How do people like this become assistant principals?

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-79216850737090199032008-03-03T00:39:00.001-08:002008-03-03T00:39:51.900-08:00

This is hilarious! I think every parent can relate to this video ...

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-74263019618522996882008-02-21T22:16:00.000-08:002008-02-21T22:25:45.486-08:00

We got the call two days ago. Someone had found our beloved Snoopy, who'd jumped out the back of a truck and gone missing back in October.So we drove down to Coachella last night and had a joyful reunion with our puppy. He had apparently made himself at home in the backyard of a nice family, who took care of him until he let him get close enough to read his tags.Snoopy is home now -- at the

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-48384305586915314482008-01-21T02:52:00.000-08:002008-01-21T03:07:29.055-08:00

If you only keep track of me through this blog, you've probably written me off as dead or vanished off the face of the earth.Not so. However, "Editor. Daddy." is no longer a truly accurate description of who I am.The "Daddy" part is still true, of course. And the saying that holds so true for the Marine Corps ("Once a Marine, always a Marine") can just as easily be applied to editors. So in that

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-86643770348709625752007-10-07T12:09:00.000-07:002008-12-10T04:31:33.308-08:00

Our border collie, Snoopy, jumped out of the back of a pickup truck two days ago en route to Grandma's house in La Quinta, Calif. He hasn't been seen since.If you happen to know where he is, please contact us.Lots more has happened in EditorDaddy's life in the last few months, which you'll get to read about a little later on.Come home, Snoopy!

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-5068205320401145722007-07-05T23:55:00.000-07:002007-07-06T00:28:58.107-07:00

Astute readers will notice a change in this blog's subtitle (or "drop hed" or "deck," as newspaper types are wont to call it).Indeed, it is true: My employment with the Great Falls Tribune came to a rather sudden, abrupt and unexpected end June 20 when the managing editor called me at home, on my day off no less, and asked me to come in to meet with him at 11:30 a.m. -- at which time I walked in

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-22153260923144513052007-06-12T14:59:00.001-07:002007-06-12T17:38:35.496-07:00

So the Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center in South Los Angeles, just a few blocks from the Compton middle school I taught at for a year, was in so much hot water with federal, state and county regulators over their shoddy handling of patients (to put it nicely) that it evidently was forced to change its name to King-Harbor Hospital and cut back from a 200-bed trauma center to what a Long

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-34919984831602791562007-06-06T09:33:00.000-07:002007-06-06T09:47:13.258-07:00

Baby steps to a degree.According to my University of Phoenix counselor's projection, I'll have a bachelor of science in communications on Sept. 7, 2009.Seems like a long way off. On the other hand, if all the weeks go as quickly as this last one has (I'm already a fifth of the way through my first class), it won't be so long at all.This online-learning thing is interesting. It's nice to be able

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-53108877155095718452007-06-06T09:31:00.000-07:002007-06-06T09:33:14.709-07:00

Spam subject header of the day:"CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR EMAIL HAS WON ($200,000USD) AUSTRALIA LOTTERY"Gee, wonder if I can get my newly rich e-mail to buy me a house.Incidentally, the spammers are getting good if they can circumvent Google Mail's normally excellent spam filter. Lately I've been getting one or two a day in my Inbox. But I won't complain about one or two, when my "Spam" folder

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-1600594508950003782007-05-29T11:06:00.000-07:002007-05-29T11:55:05.370-07:00

Well, not physically (or I wouldn't be writing on my blog), but it sort of feels like it.Today's the first day of my first class in my University of Phoenix online B.S. program (that's Bachelor of Science, not the eight-letter expletive).So I've been sitting here in my easy chair in the living room, laptop in lap, figuring my way around my new "classroom." Sort of reminds me of my first day at

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-35941475184796164442007-05-27T10:37:00.001-07:002007-05-27T12:34:33.873-07:00

I was stunned to read this story about a devastating fire that destroyed the historic auditorium at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles.In my teaching days, I spent a year teaching cadets at Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School, whose students feed into either Garfield High or its archrival, Roosevelt High. I visited the Garfield campus -- and its beautifully maintained classic auditorium --

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-83949312113841510342007-05-20T11:34:00.001-07:002007-05-20T11:36:24.889-07:00

Here's an interesting look at the cultural revolution taking shape as a result of that now-ubiquitous new invention -- the camera phone.read more | digg story

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-62650031233885315642007-05-20T11:04:00.000-07:002007-05-20T11:22:24.078-07:00

Montana's current Legislature has made headlines for their inability to accomplish much of anything during the recently ended regular session besides childlike bickering.Evidently, our legislators back in 2003 didn't have that problem when they passed a bill allowing for the state to issue high-school diplomas to "qualified WWII, Korean War and Vietnam veterans in recognition of the life

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-51869957792883396662007-05-20T10:45:00.000-07:002007-05-20T10:54:21.963-07:00

Having worked in the Los Angeles Unified School District, I have firsthand knowledge of the challenges of being an educator in a large, urban public-school system. And I have a lot of admiration for the folks who dedicate so much of their time and energy to our kids.Especially folks like this woman, who has dedicated more than 50 years of her life to the students of L.A. Unified:She is "Mama G,"

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-79931601335700807952007-05-13T05:53:00.000-07:002008-12-10T04:31:33.578-08:00

Vicky has been known to criticize herself for being "lazy" because she doesn't have a paying job outside the home. I'm always quick to shoot down her self-criticism, and anyone who thinks stay-at-home moms are lazy is hereby warned to stay a good distance away from me.On the contrary, our kids are lucky to have as their mom one of the most devoted, loving, hard-working women I have ever known.

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-66636725159980505222007-05-09T22:58:00.001-07:002007-05-09T23:01:00.105-07:00

Six men described by New Jersey's top law-enforcement official as "the model for post-Sept. 11-era terrorism" were ordered held without bail yesterday after being arrested for allegedly plotting to attack the Army base at Fort Dix.Authorities said the suspects had spent nearly 16 months hatching the plot, which included firearms training in the Poconos, reconnaissance trips to the base, and

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-39655573133907751392007-05-09T22:34:00.000-07:002007-05-29T11:55:40.388-07:00

I've finally decided to bite the bullet and finish my bachelor's degree. I've had a couple of good conversations with a University of Phoenix admissions counselor this week, and it looks like I might be starting my first class in their online bachelor's degree program in communications at the end of this month.I'm sure it won't be easy juggling the course work with my job and the kids (not to

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-29370829771269001072007-05-09T22:23:00.000-07:002007-05-09T22:41:08.438-07:00

Eddie's a cute baby, if I do say so myself, but there's no time when he's cuter than when he's sound asleep. See more pictures.

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-35647506469369668132007-05-09T21:53:00.001-07:002007-05-09T22:08:52.784-07:00

Hot on the heels of yet another brouhaha involving Los Angeles police officers, the City of Angels is being plagued by a massive wildfire that's devoured much of Griffith Park and threatened the nearby observatory, the L.A. Zoo and some residential neighborhoods.A few observations:Initial suspicions were that the fire may have been caused by a guy tossing a cigarette into the brush. If that's

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-16686836775496972542007-05-09T10:20:00.001-07:002007-05-09T10:21:10.446-07:00

Here's an interesting look at the future of the newspaper business, framed around the question, "Which major U.S. city will be the first to not have a daily newspaper?"read more | digg story

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-9854207672837424712007-05-08T19:47:00.001-07:002007-05-08T19:50:07.764-07:00

She was once in constant motion; her co-workers compared her to a roadrunner because of the way she darted around the workplace. But now Irma Ortiz sits at the edge of her couch, too winded to sweep her patio or walk her son to school without resting. She is slowly suffocating.The cause? Microwave popcorn.read more | digg story

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-78950721292166398142007-05-06T00:35:00.000-07:002007-05-06T00:47:35.747-07:00

There's something really, really wrong with this picture.Yesterday, I wrote that our educators have the most important job in the world. I believe that.Our military men and women -- the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who put themselves in harm's way in far-flung places across the globe to protect the freedom that makes this such a great place to live -- may well have the

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-412400521806754077.post-9067223667806978102007-05-05T06:11:00.000-07:002007-05-05T06:52:50.308-07:00

I'm all for the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" in most cases. When it comes to the folks who are charged with educating and nurturing our children, though, I'm a little more wary. OK, maybe a lot more wary.So forgive me for seriously questioning the selection of Dick Kloppel, the principal of Great Falls' C.M. Russell High School, as Montana's Principal of the Year this week.This is

Willard Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01981978675533086420Willard.Hughes@gmail.com3