5 FEB 08: GIVE ME AN E!

The school day was shortened Monday at Phenix City Central High School. The principal said a construction worker building the Freshman Academy hit a power pole, and caused an outage. That doesn't sound freshman-like -- it sounds sophomoric.

(One student claimed to have heard at least ten shots, after the power went out in the high school gym. Those backhoes must have bad backfire problems.)

A few miles up the highway, Smiths Station High School had a full day of school Monday. And the faculty put on something unusual: a "pep rally for education." I figured teachers would be saving this for today - and holding the rally outside the opening session of the Alabama House.

One Smiths Station faculty member told WRBL Monday's event in the school auditorium was an "education celebration." I assume that means there was also a spontaneous poetry-writing contest....

(Another faculty member wore a T-shirt proclaiming: "I'm educated and proud." Some of us have learned it's better to admit how much you still don't know, and be humble about it.)

The third annual "pep rally for education" included music from a Smiths Station High School band, and a routine on stage by cheerleaders in uniform. Sad to say, there are corners of Columbus where this kind of thing happens often -- only it's off-limits for teenagers to watch.

But instead of watching the basketball team form lay-up lines, Smiths Station students showed off their ability to answer quiz questions. The only question I saw involved English. So was there also a "current events" test, filled with questions about Britney Spears?

Faculty members in Smiths Station High admit at this point in the school year, motivating students to learn can be difficult. We're one month into the second semester. The weather tends to be cold (although Monday was not). And the sick rumors about school shootings don't tend to get rolling until April.

But as I watched this "pep rally for education," it reminded me of something I'd seen before. It was a teen version of the rallies Muscogee County grade schools have, days before the spring CRCT exams. You know, where third-graders chant slogans about how well they'll do - and teachers offer prizes to the children who get the most sleep the night before.

Have we reached the point where students need mandatory pep rallies to pass tests and graduate from school? Well, maybe we're coming to expect it in all walks of life. Isn't that why the staff gathers at the front of Wal-Mart stores one morning a week?

(I once worked at a job where the staff had some kind of "team-building day," and everyone embroidered their own personalized railroad hats. At least the working mothers had children at home, who could appreciate them as gifts.)

The groundwork is being laid for a different sort of Smiths Station pep rally - a rivalry rally. A forum was held Monday night on building a second high school in the city. Superintendent Stephen Nowlin noted the current high school has 40 portable classrooms - and the more they can sell to Phenix City, the faster that new school will be paid in full.

BLOG UPDATE: In the "Super Monday" showdown we mentioned, my old school Kansas mauled Missouri 90-71 in men's college basketball So K.U. lost at Kansas State Wednesday, K-State lost at Missouri Saturday, then Missouri lost at Kansas on Monday. The hymn is "Will the Circle Be Unbroken...."

With our election day joke rules in effect (and somewhat limiting our topics), here's what we can talk about from Monday:

+ A group of protesters gathered outside a Columbus market, to protest the Colombian guerrilla group FARC. WRBL apparently knew about it, because its reporter showed up - but if someone had told Eve Tidwell, she could have organized a parade with a Fort Benning military band.

(The mostly-Hispanic crowd held signs reading: "No mas FARC." Ordinary Columbus residents driving by the protest probably said to themselves, "What the FARC?!")

+ Alabama State Senator Ted Little presented a $1,000 state check to planners of the "Korea-Vietnam Wall of Honor." This Phenix City wall has been discussed for years, but I've never noticed any construction underway. All someone has to do is drive to Americus and grab a truck full of bricks....

+ The Macon Telegraph reported the biodiesel plant in Plains which began construction last February isn't being opened, because soybean oil currently costs too much. It's actually cheaper to make gasoline than biodiesel fuel. Is Arab oil money buying farms across Illinois, too?

(If soybean oil prices stay high, Alterra Energy might rework the plant in Plains - and make fuel out of chicken fat. Now that's more like it! It seems much more Southern -- and there are enough restaurants in Columbus and Americus to provide the key ingredient for decades to come.)

+ WLTZ showed a commercial during "Oprah" for Dr. Jay Brodwyn - bragging about how well the chiropractor treats the Columbus Riverdragons. Yes, the basketball team which moved to Austin, Texas three years ago. At least the players turned their backs on Columbus as they left town.

+ Instant Message to the New England Patriots: Congratulations on winning the Super Bowl, and finishing undefeated! I mean, you MUST have won it. All those news reports claim the Giants won - but we all know how the New York news media twist and distort the truth, never getting the story right....

SCHEDULED WEDNESDAY: How Super WAS it?....

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