A Letter to Coco

Dear Coco-

xxxThank you for the contribution. I regard this appropriately titled article to be a “teachable moment” for a couple of reasons:

xxxFirst, from an academic perspective, this is a very well-crafted poem which English teachers would consider or categorize as a limerick. Due to my ignorance of this form of writing I felt compelled to research both its ‘origins’ and its ‘prosody’ (another new word for me which is defined as “the science or study of poetic meters and versification”). From the websites of both wikipedia and kieto I gleaned the following information:

xxx“The limerick is a form of humorous verse whose origin is obscure. The first English verse in something like limerick form is the jingle ‘Hickory, Dickery, Dock’, first printed in 1744. Langford Reed, the limerick’s only historian and principal anthologist, suggested that the name derives from a song brought back from France by returning members of the 18th century Irish brigade from Limerick, Ireland. In the early 1830’s Edward Lear composed limericks to amuse children and then published them in his Book of Nonsense (1846).” Some notable individuals who have employed this form of writing were Rudyard Kipling, Woodrow Wilson and W.S. Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame). Today, in commemoration of Edward Lear, his birthday, May 12th, is called Limerick Day!

xxx“A type of joke written in strong rhythms and rhymed verse, limericks can become a classroom fad that are of great value in developing word choice, sentence structure, fanciful invention, stylistics and verse techniques (prosody). Most limericks have some form of internal rhyme (referred to as alliteration or assonance). It has five lines with a strong beat. The first two lines, each with three feet, rhyme with the fifth. The third and fourth lines, each with two feet, also rhyme. The first line often begins ‘There was a…’ “

xxxYour piece, Coco, adheres to all the rules of limerick composition. Therefore, despite the fact that I’m light years away from being an English instructor, I would have to say that your scholarly piece merits an A+. Well done Coco!

xxxSecond, from an actual teaching perspective, this parody, if you will, offers another “teachable moment”, although a failing one which rates an “F” grade. Not at all learning by youngsters occurs in the classroom. Simply look around you – look at National Geographic; look at the Nature television channel. All members of the animal kingdom teach their young by example – anotherwords, Do As I Do or quite simply, Monkey See – Monkey Do! A leopard teaches her kittens by examples, and on… and on… and on… Let us not forget that we are members of the same animal kingdom. Further let us not forget that this fundamental method of learning has not changed for any of its members. There are no exceptions or exemptions to this rule.

xxxOn the other hand, for those of you who consider yourselves exempt or “above”, as it were, membership in the animal kingdom (usually religious right nutcases), then, in lieu of National Geographic, I suggest reading the just – published book Walk The Walk by Alan Deutschman. How uncanny the timing of this release? Mr. Deutschman argues that “leaders (and those close to them) should practice what they preach and that they are most effective when they rely on the power of their example, but too few actually do it.” As one of those who did walk the walk he offers the following example:

xxx“As the expansion of McDonald’s was getting under way in the 1950’s, Ray Kroc, the company’s empire builder, listed cleanliness among the chain’s three key values (along with service and quality). But he just didn’t talk cleanliness; an early employee of a Chicago – area McDonald’s remembered him personally picking up trash around the restaurant and scraping up gum with a putty knife. Message: Cleanliness counts. And: If cleaning up isn’t beneath me, it isn’t beneath you.”

xxxWe learn much by example, especially from those who are either directly in the public cross-hairs or indirectly from those proxy to these individuals. Sorry about your luck but this comes with the territory. Set good examples because others are watching and learning.

xxxAs a post-script I’d like to make the following comment. It pertains to the article directly below the infamous police beat story about the superintendent’s wife, and is entitled “Former Sarasota sergeant claims alcoholism is a disability.” Without exception every remark that I’ve heard about this particular story is “he was drunk and is using alcoholism as an excuse for that groping incident.” Since I am not intelligent enough to arrive as quickly to such a profound conclusion, I’ll reserve judgment. However, having said that, something tells me that this same hasty judgment technique or condemnation will not be employed or applied uniformly in a discussion of the superintendent’s wife’s situation. This brings to mind a phrase that I once read: “Around here, how come whatever hits the fan is not evenly distributed?” Furthermore, would it be inappropriate of me to mention words like double standard or hypocrisy? I also read once that “hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.” (anonymous).

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx- Mickey The Dunce