Alice has got big Yeahbuts and she cannot lie

I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the current state of what a dreadful person I am.

You're sad, we're sad, I'm sad. Alice, why are you such a meanie?

Disagree if you will, but it’s been brought to my attention by friends, neighbors and this one dude in the Roaster’s parking lot; I, Alice of Pascoland, am a Negative Nelly. I post negative things on this blog. I post bad news. I may offer a witty twist to what I’m saying (I am also a self flatterer) but when you get down to it, what I’m offering isn’t very uplifting or cheerful. It can be pretty uncomfortable stuff and I sincerely doubt you leave my blog thinking about sunshine and rainbows. Well, maybe that dude from Roasters but he was a unique individual in a lot of ways. The hair, mostly.

One thing I am not, however, is someone who refuses to engage in self reflection. So, come along with me my friends, as I delve into myself and consider; why does Alice do what Alice does?

Alice is a happy, if somewhat sarcastic, citizen of Pasco. Pasco is a great place to live, after all, so why does Alice have such a bee in her bonnet? Metaphorical bonnet, that is. Bonnets really make my face look fat, I’m sticking with baseball caps. WHY does Alice feel like pointing out all the things she sees that are WRONG in this lovely city? Why not just enjoy the river, the taco trucks (because seriously, they are the best anywhere) and the fabulous people? Why not point out everything that’s going right, from the drive-through library to the fabulous football team to the kindly folks? Why can’t Alice praise the successes of our school-kids and cheer on the parents and educators and even administrators who have done amazing things here? 

The simple reason is we can’t fix what we don’t know is broken.

I bet this guy wished someone had pointed out he would have been better off standing three feet to the left.

There are a lot of cheerleaders out there already, Pasco Pride is a real thing. Alice has noticed good things as well. There really are a whole lot of people out there ready and willing to point out good things. What people around here seem to dislike pointing out is when something, or someone, maybe a thing we really enjoy or a person we otherwise get along with, is heading down a bad path. The thought of correcting your friends and acquaintances can leave people palpitating and jelly-legged, sitting with your head between your knees.
 

We should have warned her, only the glasses work for you.

Don’t you think it’s better to point out that the driver is about to veer into oncoming traffic than to avoid hurting their feelings? You can’t stop your friend from making a terrible mistake if you’re too scared of embarrassing them. Lady Gaga’s best buddies could have stopped the shoes and the hair and the… well, all of that, years ago. Most of us wish they had. The problem is, you can’t course correct if you’re sitting in the back seat with a blanket wrapped around your head. If you don’t see a problem, you can’t help fix it.

So Alice is left in the uncomfortable position of bringing out the yeahbuts.

Pasco Pride! We all declare. Pasco Pride! Yeahbut we have a lot of failing schools. We’re not helping the kids in a meaningful way if we grin our way through graduations that don’t translate into real life successes. Our teachers are the greatest, we say. We value the teachers of Pasco! Yeahbut don’t those teachers need enough paper and ink to make worksheets all year? Pasco families are the foundation of our schools, we say. We have the greatest families and kids! Yeahbut parents seem to have a great deal of difficulty dealing with the district administration. They falsify addresses to get into the schools they want or (those that CAN) simply enroll their kids out in Kennewick or Richland because trying to deal with things here is futile.

And so the yeahbuts abound. Alice dislikes using a word repetitively so she stopped a long time ago pointing out the good things before yeahbutting her way through another post. Consequently she ends up sounding very negative. She’s been accused of ignoring all the good things to exclusively focus on the bad. So, to those identifiers of Negative Nellyness, Alice wants you to know she would love to be in the stand cheering for Pasco to win the race, she really would. Right now though, being at the hospital, diagnosing the broken leg is the more pressing issue.

And what is our "broken leg" of the day? Curriculum. We have awesome teachers. Really really awesome teachers. But they need curriculum. We have great families. Really super awesome amazing families who do an incredible job of supporting our schools. But those families want curriculum.  We have a great community full of wonderful businesses who love and support our schools. But they don't want to just cheer on a good football team, they want to cheer on genuine, lasting academic success, and that requires curriculum.

So does Alice sound like an especially negative person right now. Yes. And that isn't going to change until this wound is healed.  Solve the curriculum issue and get rid of the biggest "yeahbut" in the room. Then we'll all have something to cheer about.

That’s all the self-reflection I have time for today. If you think I missed something, feel free to comment. I can take criticism, I’m a big girl. And, after all, I wouldn't want to have a problem I'm unaware of. I wouldn't be able to fix it.