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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! February 16, 2005 But whut iz R Chidrun lerning?By GreyhawkA review of this post from last November might be in order prior to proceeding. Back already? Great. As I've noted here before I always appreciate feedback from those with first hand knowledge of stories I mention here. So I was glad to see these comments appear on the piece linked above: The reason why she posted it is because a girl said "I dont care about the war in Iraq" so she posted it to increase awareness, to the students of SAHS Great comments, but they don't change my view, I'm a parent of DODDS HS students myself, and I'm in Iraq, and I want them focused on their school work while in school, not thinking about dad. The bit about reading Mudville in class was interesting though. Like most instances of folks wandering in to comments threads months after the post and seemingly not at random, I suspected someone had googled their own name and followed the link here. I forgot the whole thing til I received this email a couple of weeks later. ----- Original Message ----- From: Michelle Pell To: greyhawk@mudvillegazette.com Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2005 10:37 PM Followed immediately by a few more comments on the original post: I'm a student at SAHS, and this post sucks. I'd have to guess Ms Pell is using Mudville as some sort of teaching aid in her classroom, but I'm still glad my kids aren't taking that class. Interesting that the only hate mail I ever received in Baghdad came from a school on an Army installation. Posted by Greyhawk / February 16, 2005 6:29 PM | Permalink 2 TrackBacksI never used to ‘get’ why people would choose to homeschool their children. But stories like this one from Greyhawk at the Mudville Gazette make the decision understandable. Basically, Greyhawk saw a news story about a teacher at a... Read More I started this blog as a way to try to understand the world we live in. Some days I do just fine. Other days I can't believe the monsters who breathe the same air as I do. It started last... Read More 44 Comments |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
As usual,instead of trying to discuss facts, Ms. Pell spews a diatribe of name calling and personal attacks, and as usual, the name of Hitler comes up. Happens every time. Keep up the good work, Greyhawk, you're pulling 'em out of the woodwork!
It seems to me that there has been some degree of misunderstanding between Greyhawk and Michelle Pell. Ideally, this misunderstanding could be addressed through respectful dialogue. Although disagreement may well not be eliminated by such a dialogue, a reasoned exchange of ideas could only be in the best interests of all concerned. Given the vitriolic tone of Pell's email and the hateful personal attacks included in it, however, it seems that she does not wish to engage in a civil discussion.
I'm speechless. Literally sitting here with my mouth hanging open... Unbelievable.
wow... for some reason I find the most disturbing section of this e-mail you recieved to be the author's fixation on issues of race and ethnicity.
Why does it matter that her granddaughter is 'mixed'? If a student is contributing to her display what does his ethnicity (Marcos, an Hispanic) matter? And if she is so very literate (so much more so than the rest of us) then why didn't she note the immense awkwardness of her insertion of her students ethnicity into the letter?
What purpose does it serve to divide us along racial or ethnic lines when discussing something so important as the education of children and the human cost of war?
I have no children... but speaking hypothetically -
If my child was ever taught that anyone in the military - let alone their father - was "a close-minded, blood-thirsty individual you are. You are the type of person who will fight for freedom, all right, as long as it is for the freedom of white, American males." there would be HELL TO PAY.
If I may make a sexist comment: I think she may need to be pinged. The boyfriend must be stationed elsewhere.Does that qualify as misogynistic drivel?
Well, one thing is certainly clear. You pissed her off bigtime!
YOU MUST WRITE HER BACK! Keep us posted!
I'm not certain that anything really needs to be said here... but I think someone needs a hug.
Greyhawk, I've been lurking around here for a while. This is, I think, the first time I've commented.
Considering the tendency to demonize our military among our own Congress, among our own "mainstream media" and from any number of other sources, I don't think your original suspicion of her intentions was at all questionable. Further, I don't think I've ever seen you hesitate to correct yourself if you've found yourself in the wrong.
If this hatemail is from her students, then clearly these young people are failing miserably to take the examples set by their parents or guardians serving in the military to heart. And her attack on you is disgraceful.
Perhaps she can educate her students on the meaning of "ad hominem."
Stay safe. Good luck. Thank you for what you do.
Pray for her, she needs it. May God bless you & others like you.
GreyOne,
"If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
................
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;
................
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
................
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And --which is more--you'll be a Man, my son."
I guess patient and strong men must put up with disrespect and disparagement while in the service of their country. For while in the service of their country, only they are suffering the physical pain inflicted by this nation's enemies, felt ever more keenly when the wounding fire is inflicted from behind, and targets their frame of mind and love of that country. Especially keen is the pain felt when the country that bears their children, their wives, their parents, and their friends, along with the charlatans who wish to portray the mission as evil and based on falsehoods and betrayal, thus further burdening the soldier in his duty.
For then do the mental wounds and rents to their souls become a great world of troubles on their shoulders. And yet they soldier on, secure in the knowledge that they are doing the right thing, their officers are doing their best, and their leaders need them to fulfill their vital mission, without which the demons of the world will visit the same death and destruction, seen on national TV at the beginning of this war, on their families and countrymen day after day after day, in ever larger explosions.
Until one day, there is no one left to defend those who needed defending, because their will to fight has been lost, bred out of the nation by a reservoir of knaves and fools who believe they cannot be affected by events in distant lands and that the only important thing in the "real" world is their own comfort and "health care".
So join the fight, join the mission, ---- or die as a slave. After all, when you read the words above, doesn't it strike you as funny? The attitude that we need do nothing when bad men threaten us with death is how we got here in the first place. Or have you forgotten?
Press on. To Victory.
Subsunk
WOW!! I am also speechless. I can only hope that was a hoax letter and not really a school teacher writing.
Thanks Subsunk. That was beautiful
*blinks*
I'm wondering where in the heck Ms Pell pulled the "freedom of white, American males" claim out of. Other than her own oh-so-enlightened prejudices.
Did I somehow miss some content that belongs on a White Power site, or is Ms Pell suffering from some problem involving her head being trapped in her gastro-intestinal tract?
Respond if you like, but something tells me that Greyhawk isn't the bigot in this particular discussion. Actually, the best thing I can say about this Ms. Pell is that I hope it turns out some troll claiming to be her was the one who sent that email.
Ms. Pell has at least one misspelling and a doubled word in her diatribe... of no consequence, but thought I'd point it out.
About her emphasis on the deaths of soldiers... I conclude from this tactic (on very little evidence as she so correctly points out - yet she offered no further proof of any other teachings in this area), that she is a tremendously lazy teacher. It's so very easy to wax eloquent about the deaths of courageous young men and women. Yet her students are still in the dark as to WHY it's important to care about what happens in other countries around the world.
Instead of teaching her students about the ways that all countries of the world interact with each other and are in many ways interdependent - she talks about death. Too bad it is the students who will suffer in the future for her lack of knowledge and teaching skills. The good students will question and read and find out on their own. The rest will continue on with the vague idea that "you must care about what happens in other countries because people die there". Amazing how incompetent people seem to be those with influence over young minds.
*** disclaimer - I am not an English major, therefore if you are looking for something to bash - feel free to tell me how illiterate I am, if you want to compare me to Hitler I am afraid that this argument will fall flat as I am not able to grow the mustache ***
What a wonderful post by the teacher!
Seems as though the overactive saliva glands burst through onto her screen for all of us to see. Not only were many ethnic and otherwise personal references made without reason, but what she is attempting to teach by her "door to the hell that Bushitler has created" is madly missplaced inside the classroom.
I can't wait to hear the triumphant story of when she blocked out a special day for an exclusive showing of Farenheit 9/11. Way to go you patriot of defeatism.
Oh, that is seriously WEIRD. The racial and gender stuff, I mean. Wow.
The "door" might well be as positively intended as she claims, after all, when Michael Moore did his montage of pictures of dead soldiers there were those who saw it as an accidental tribute to them, despite the fact that Moore did not intend a tribute. The "door" as tribute is pretty darn tone deaf to the media body counting going on from the very beginning of the war in Iraq, but perhaps they don't get US television news in Korea?
Even so... the racial stuff and gender references are bizarre. It makes me think of those old ladies in my hometown who overcompensated for their own racism by going on and on about their cute racially mixed grandchildren... as if anyone *else* cared. Maybe in the context of those old lady's upbringings, it mattered. I just don't see it in my own life.
Being Hispanic is important to a person because it is their own heritage, just like being Norwegian is important to me... but no one *else* cares. (No one else who matters.) I wonder if Marcos realizes that the most important thing about him to this teacher is that he's Hispanic. When he joins the Marines he's going to be a Marine. I was watching a tribute to the Marine windtalkers (if I have that right... the men who used their native language as a basis for an unbreakable code during WW2) and all the speakers, clearly, saw them as Native American first, until the top enlisted Marine spoke. It was profound in a way I can't express, but to the Marine, they were Marines. (I hesitate to mention that the Marine was black, except that Ms. Pell seems fixated on whiteness.)
Greyhawk has never struck me as misogynist, so the gender references are just as weird. Was it just the "rough men" reference?
Advice to Ms. Pell... you can't help how you're quoted and taken out of context in an interview. On the other hand, you've got no excuse when you have the opportunity to express yourself in complete and (presumably) coherent thoughts. Spelling and grammar are nice but English is about communication. Lastly... never send e-mails when you are angry. This is almost always a bad idea.
Oh, and I was going to mention that homeschooling is a very popular choice for military families.
Ignoring the comments about race and gender (maybe something untoward had happened that morning as she saw her son-in-law off?), it seems to me that Ms. Pell might well have intended the door as a tribute to the men and women serving in harm's way. With her family's military history, it is not unreasonable to believe that she may have strong feelings about this tribute, and is emotionally invested in the project.
Greyhawk, however, also has a point. Regardless of how the door was intended, or of how well Ms. Pell has educated her students about the meaning of the count, it DOES offer a tally of the fallen. I don't see how a child of a military member could look at the number being incremented and NOT think of his or her parent(s) being added to a number on a wall somewhere. I don't read Greyhawk's comments as critical of the sentiment, but of the execution. Kids going into class should be encouraged to think about the subject matter of the class.
I would ask, though, that if you email her back that you ask about the upcoming walk-a-thon, and if they acept PayPal sponsorships.
I really hope this is a hoax e-mail, and not from an actual schoolteacher. Especially one, as you point out, teaching military dependents.
Greyhawk WOW!!! I have been reading your blog for about 6 months now. This is my first comment. I am dumbfounded and just have to say something.
If Ms Pell truly had a positive reason for her door as she says: ‘The door is a memorial, a prayer, not a reminder to our students that they may soon "be orphaned."' She sure lost an opportunity to portray her actions and the intent of her door in a positive light. She comes across as an unhinged Moonbat. Rather than defend her "door" she attacks you ad hominem. Greyhawk a Misogynist? Where would she get that? The rough men quote maybe. But that shows her to be even more off base because you are merely repeating a famous quote from George Orwell(I think it was him). And she accuses you of being uneducated. In all the time I have been reading you this is the first time that the issue of race has even come up. I guess that is why she thinks you are a racist because you never talk about race. If it was not for the picture of you in high school I would not even know your ethnic background. One final thought. A ping is a computer term that refers to two nodes on a network sending a round trip message to each other in order to establish communications. To sexually distort the use of the word "ping" to insult not only yourself but your wife as well. Wow, it doesn't get any lower than that. It shows her class or in this case her lack thereof. She should not be teaching children.
Keep up the good work and be safe over there!
Steve in Utah
Oh, and SoNyA's e-mail was wonderful. It was coherent and explained the situation in a nonconfrontational way that promoted understanding between everyone involved. (She even used "affect" and "effect" correctly, which is doing pretty darn good.)
I guess that the funniest(or saddest) part of this is that what she said to you made perfect sense to her.
I am so confused as to why she threw in the comments about ethnicity and Hitler and gender. Maybe someone could clarify...? I've read and re-read the original post and her email and, well, I can't seem to understand why she said what she said. Though I do have a theory or two.
This woman has problems far beyond her disapproval of our military in Iraq.
Enjoy your "blog"
Respectfully
Skip
Greyhawk, I read you every day. Never commented before.
Please don't let Ms Pell get you down.
Thanks for serving and blogging.
Harry
Teachers like Mrs. Pell are one reason families like ours homeschool. She claims to be taking what you say out of context, but it would be closer to the truth to say that she is talking to the evil twin inside her own head.
And last time I checked, the residents of Iraq, where you've been serving, are not white American males.
She is a scary person and ought not to be in the business of molding the minds of children.
Amy, people like Ms. Pell, when confronted with someone whose ideas and opinions differ from hers, instinctively go into an extreme defensive mode in which they (a)abandon all reason and logic, (b)call their "attacker" names, (c)compare their "attacker" to Hitler, and (d)throw in the race and gender cards for good measure.
I think it was in a memo some time back, apparently one that a lot of us forgot to read.
It would seem to me that a troll is lost in the wilderness. If this person was a teacher, she would know the "wall" she has put up would not be allowed by the school administration. I would wonder how parent teachers conferences go when families see that wall. I know how I would react. Well, I guess I would have to get out my "brown" shirt and break some windows, maybe sing a marching song.
There are trolls everywhere. We allow them because of men/women like Greyhawk who fight to keep their freedom to be a jackass to survive. All I can say to you and yours is thank you for your service and you are in our prayers.
Ms Pell appears to have "issues" to say the least. As many have said before me, I was first struck by her need to mention her "mixed" grandchild. What a loser.
Greyhawk,
As one old soldier to another, keep fighting the good fight. I like your work as I have been following for a while.
As for the Pell spew, it would appear that she suffers from a common affliction found on the left: intellectual dyslexia, that is, the inability to recognize facts at face value and to cognatively process those facts. This is accompanied by a tendency to insert into the cognative process emotions not germanine to the issue at hand. When called on it, their reaction is greatly disproportional to the stimuli, hence the name calling and marginalizing you as a human being. It reminds me of those people who lose their decorum in traffic, you know, the ones who scream obcenities, blow their horns and flip off people at the slightest perceived offense. Everyone recognizes them as the real idiots.
TBW, I also appreciate the irony that the only hate mail you have received comes from a DODDS school. If you and the family ever get up my way on leave or vacation, dinner is on me and the wife.
GreyEagleO6
I'm not surprised to find this kind of moron teaching in a DODDS school. The one and only time I've ever seen an adult cover her ears and go "lalalalalalalalalala, I'm not listening" was during a demanded parent teacher conference which included a school administrator because of the teachers incompetence. It was the teacher that pulled the stunt.
Ms. Pell's response is disorganized, rambling, ugly, unprofessional, and fails to address the issue at hand (whether or not it is appropriate for a DODDS teacher to harp on US military deaths in Iraq). I would hope her letter is not representative of her usual conduct in class. How unfortunate that she is in the business of teaching writing!
Even more unfortunate is the fact that Ms. Pell's letter demonstrates so little respect for her students' military parents, despite having many of her own family members in the military. Most people would probably have been willing to see the collage as a tribute. Ms. Pell's letter has now removed that possibility. Her attack on Greyhawk tends to confirm the suspicions underlying his first post about her "door of death" collage, ie. that Ms. Pell is more interested in generating anti-war sentiment among military children than in teaching them English.
It's also unfortunate that parents of DODDS students have so little ability to actually affect anything at their schools. As permanent party, the teachers and administrators bank on the fact that parents and the local chain of command will rotate out soon enough; they simply pay lip service to the PTA and anyone else with suggestions, until they move on and someone new comes along with the same complaint. They know there is no accountability because there is no elected school board. There are so many layers of administration that it's easy to pass responsibility for everything and anything up the chain to some unknown bureaucrat who feels no obligation to answer e-mail from mere military parents. It looks like Ms. Pell may be a beneficiary of this lack of accountability.
As a parent of two former DODDS Europe (2001-2004) students I offer my congratulations to all the enthusiastic, bright, caring teachers in DODDS. Keep up the good work! To all the lazy, complacent, incompetent ones who've been giving the same quizzes and lectures for 30 years and still haven't bothered to learn the local language: You know who you are! Isn't it time went home?
Hey, not enough people care about the number of car deaths or drownings... maybe she could start a 'care' wall for those unfortunate victims too...
She started off the email 'ok', but I was surprised at how badly it 'deteriorated'.
Oh well...
Welcome back home Greyhawk. Thanks for all the great work keeping us posted on goings on in the sandbox and for providing us your perspective on things...
Thanks, Rick. That was pretty much my theory. I was just finding her response to Greyhawk's post so out of context that I thought I missed something.
Would that Ms. Pell had a door of heroes ...
In all the "We support the troops [but bring them home]" stuff that is written and recited, I have yet to see regular ongoing stories of our men and women as heroes. There are hundreds of stories -- some big, some little -- of guys and gals who in their work in Iraq and Afghanistan do exceptional things -- things which seem quite normal to them but which are brave, or costly, or deeply moving or just plain smart. Teach our children these on your door, Ms. Pell.
There are plenty of stories out there. Did you tell them about the patrol recently who held their fire when terrorists escaped through a crowded civilian street. They ran them down instead and as a result saved several hostages' lives. Honor the dead, but honor the living too.
And though Ms. Pell has been battered by the commenters above, I commend her for your raising funds for the victims of 9/11 and for the children of military and civilian dead in Iraq. (Note to MP: Can the self righteous diversity stuff. Makes you look / sound really bad. And cutting the ad hominem stuff would be smart also. [It's Latin. Look it up. Losing debate technique.])
Glad you are home Greyhawk. My white American college educated (with honors) ignorant male US Army volunteer son is now in Iraq and my hope is that he and his company of multi-ethnic red white and blue blooded men and women have leaders and brothers like you.
I'm shocked by the letter you received. That is not professional by any standard. (I used to be a teacher). I'm also shocked that the school administration would allow that "tally board" to remain up.
I would recommend forwarding Ms. Pell's letter to her immediate supervisor and that person's supervisor. The fact that she appears to have gotten some of her students to contact you with simmilar letters (but not quite as vicious) would indicate that a review of her lesson plans, and perhaps her contract, needs to be undertaken.
I hope you will confirm that this email really was from Ms. Peel. I cannot imagine a teacher expressing herself with such an abhorant tone? Additionally, it is truly disturbing to see a teacher making multiple spelling and basic grammarical errors.
Well, it did make for an entertaining post. You're a good read, Greyhawk -- keep 'em coming!
Amazing. I knew many DODDS teachers during my military career, and I never met one who didn't impress me in all respects. This lady obviously needs some help.
This whole thing is ridiculous. I don't know how this all started, or for what reason, but it's funny how things can spiral out of control so quickly. I am not taking sides, but first of all, we have no idea who Michelle Pell is or what kind of person she is, all we have is a letter that was written in the heat of the moment, when not enough time was given for cooler heads to prevail. Yes, you all are right, she did make some uncalled for remarks and attacks based on little information. But to be fair, I believe her "door of horror" has been mininterpreted. Based on her letter, the door was something that meant a lot to her personally. I don't know what everyone else thinks, but as for me, I believe the last thing she wanted to do was to remind students that their parents could be next.
Apathy is an epidemic, it doesn't matter if it's a school on a military installation in Korea or if it's a school in Springfield, Kansas. Kids these days just don't care. They think the war is being fought millions of miles away, by people they'll never meet, for causes that'll never affect them. The sacrifices people like Greyhawk make mean nothing to them. The War in Iraq is something they'll catch a glimpse of on the news after their favorite TV show, or a lesson they'll sleep through in class. It's more of a myth than a reality. Provided, I would not want my elementary schooler or middle schooler learning about the horrors of war. But these are high schoolers we're talking about, kids that will be going off to college or to the military within the
next 4 years. The world is not a perfect place, they need to learn sooner or later there are real people out there, fighting for real causes, and dying for them.
I am also a student at Seoul American High School, a senior. I did not mention it before because I wanted everyone to actually read my entry before dismissing it as another Pro-Pell comment. I have never had a class with Ms. Pell, nor does she know me very well (if at all). However, I can tell you that she did not post death tolls on her door to scare kids, she did it to raise awareness. I don't think kids are learning any less math, science, social
studies, or english because of that door either. Sure, she can come off as extremely liberal sometimes, and I think it's obvious from that letter that her temper can get the best of her, but she is a good person at heart, and no one is perfect. True, there are a few moronic teachers at our DODD school, but Ms. Pell is certainly not one of them. She has a genuine care for the school, the students, and the military. Look, I know a few words from a 17 year old probably wont persuade anyone, but I just thought it was ridiculous how thing's can be completely misinterpreted when taken out of context. Here at SAHS, the door never caused controversy. If any student was disturbed by it, it wasn't to the degree that a ruckus was caused. For me personally, the door and the numbers served as a reminder that there are people out there like Greyhawk, men that deserve our prayers,heroes, that are risking their lives so that others can live with the same comfort and happiness that we as Americans enjoy. It was a reminder that there is a real world beyond the fairy tale world of high school life. And I think the door meant the same to many other students. But then again, what do I know, im only a 17 year old with bad grammar and poor spelling.
I don't know if this problem has already been resolved, but i just wanted to get my feelings out there.
I am one of Ms.Pell's students and all im going to say is that Ms. Pell is a WONDERFUL teacher. She has a big heart, and does a lot for her students. And just like anyone else, she has her own opinions. She has done more than you can IMAGINE for the troops in Iraq. We have a walk-a-thon coming up here in korea, that was set up by her alone. This walk-a-thon is expected to have around 4,000 people, and raise THOUSANDS of dollars. The money raised will go towards scholarships for children whose family members have been killed in Iraq. Ms. Pell also set up a walk-a-thon a few years ago for september 11th which raised thousands of dollars. So before you criticize Ms. Pell, I would consider all that she has done, all the time she has given, and how much she really does care for all of the soldiers in Iraq...fighting for our country.
ask yourself...what have YOU done??
Sunday, March 6, 2005
Seoul American H.S. walkathon honors fallen by helping families
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, February 23, 2005
YONGSAN GARRISON — Michelle Pell held up two checks Monday afternoon, the first two donations toward a scholarship fund for children of soldiers who have died serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The first was from Pell’s father, the English teacher acknowledged. But the other was from one of her former Seoul American High School students: 2nd Lt. Tad Tsuneyoshi, now a 2nd Infantry Division platoon leader in Ramadi. He sent a few dollars.
“This check comes from Iraq,” Pell told about a dozen current Seoul American students gathered on their day off school to plan a walkathon to raise money for families of fallen servicemembers. Pell hopes to raise $50,000 from the7-kilometer walk/ run on April 2, which she expects will draw thousands.
In 2001, almost 1,500 participants raised just more than $21,000 for families of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack victims.
During that event, only families, soldiers and workers from Yongsan Garrison, the main U.S. military base in Seoul, took part. Now, Pell and her students are trying to draw the entire Pacific region’s attention. She’s already contacted all Department of Defense schools in Korea and a few in Japan and has assigned two high school students to line up corporate sponsors.
“This is going to be big,” she told her band of volunteers over pizza and sodas. “This is going to be a giant event, I have a feeling.”
The students’ own goals were closer to home. They want to ensure the campus, and the walk’s route, have posters and reminders of the 42 Strike Force members who’ve died in Iraq since deploying from South Korea last summer. They plan to use their younger siblings to recruit help and pledges from Yongsan middle and elementary schools. They want to make sure South and Main post electronic message boards advertise the walk and plan to ask U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Leon LaPorte or 8th Army commander Gen. Charles Campbell to consider making a public service announcement about it.
Money raised, Pell said, will go to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. Since 2000, it’s collected donations in memory of servicemembers who died in military operations. Pell said the group has approved her starting a fund for scholarships for the servicemembers’ children.
Pell and the students spent much of their 90-minute meeting discussing how to ensure each person will be walking on behalf of a specific person who died.
For the 2001 walk, each participant was given the name of a 9/11 victim; many students wrote condolence letters to the victims’ families. Those families, during the next year, began writing back, Pell said. She now has a scrapbook filled with “thank you” letters.
Sophomore Tricia Ro, 15, suggested the group use the school’s morning announcements in March to remember each of the Strike Force soldiers who have died. She also suggested creating a video of one of their planning sessions, to convince even those who might not support the war effort still to donate.
“There’s people fighting over there who don’t believe in what they are fighting for,” she said, adding that she now has three uncles deployed to Iraq.
Pell said she plans to walk for the dozens of former students now in Iraq, such as Tsuneyoshi. The event also will remember another Seoul American alumnus — Capt. Sean Sims, a 1990 graduate who died in Fallujah in November.
dude, you have no life.
why dont you go "ping" your wife...
I’d like to address all of Ms Pell’s students.
I admire the fact that you feel compelled to defend your teacher. Greyhawk and I really haven’t had any personal issue with Ms. Pell until she sent her nasty little email to Greyhawk while he was in Iraq. Greyhawk simply stated how he disagreed with her reasoning in placing the death toll on her door and stated his opinion in a post. He never accused her of trying to scare students on purpose; he understood her reasoning but wanted to point out the ramifications that could come from it. Whether her intentions were good or not does not change the fact that unintended distress could have come from it. Could students really concentrate on their studies knowing their parents could be next on the death list? It’s hard enough to concentrate on school without that reminder, just ask my own kids, they know from experience. Greyhawk only had your well being in mind.
So what’s the real issue you have with Greyhawk? That he exercised his right to his opinion? Did it really warrant such a nasty email from Ms Pell, while fighting for his country in Iraq? Nothing like being called a Nazi whiles you’re fighting for the freedom for that person to call you a Nazi. She also threw in the race card for some ungodly reason. Why? She say’s “what a close-minded, blood-thirsty individual you are. You are the type of person who will fight for freedom, all right, as long as it is for the freedom of white, American males.” Excuse me! He never mentioned race. Why would she say this? Please show me on this site where that is exhibited.
Ms Pell seemed to have an issue with the quote at the top of his page, "Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf",. This is a famous quote. Here’s an English assignment for you, guess who wrote it. But beware the answer is tricky.
She called him “a bigot, a sexist, and someone who probably didn’t do very well in school”, well her literary skills speak for themselves in her e-mail and Greyhawk has had over a million visitors who will all vouch that he is far from a bigot and a sexist.
She talks about Greyhawk taking thing out of context, which was never done. He posted word for word her comment from the stars and stripes and linked the stars and stripes article. That makes things hard to take things out of context. And to make sure she was not taken out of context again we posted her ‘support the troops’ e-mail for all the blogosphere to judge for themselves. A copy of this was also sent to her principal and the district superintendent, because it was borderline harassment and very unbecoming of a DODS teacher.
Here’s a challenge? You Game? How about you look around the site and judge with your own mind? And by all means point out anything that ratifies Ms Pell vile assessment of Greyhawk.
While her fundraising for the troops may be commendable her personal attack on a member of those troops is most certainly NOT and I think that is the issue that should be addressed.
it wasnt a personal attack. Maybe if the rude comments (Ms Pell is posting the death toll on her door in a school on a military installation, reminding her young students every day that their parents could be the next to go) werent said about her she wouldnt have a reason to be angry with whatever his name is. There is no reason for anyone to put something like that on a blog. ESPECIALLY when you dont know anything about that person. Whatever happened to not judging a book by its cover? didnt we learn that one in elementary school. you had no clue why ms pell put the death toll on her door and you went totally out of line thinking that you can say she put it on there to "remind the children that their parents could bet he next to go" she put it there because IT DOES AFFECT US. that doesnt mean that our parents are going to get sent to iraq and get killed, she just wants us to be aware that even though we are in korea, the things that happen in other countries do have an effect on our lives here. And you must have had something personal enough against ms. pell to say that her posting the death toll was "freakish and unforgivable behavior." what i dont get is that you have the right to say whatever you want about ms. pell but she cant have any say in what is said about her. unturthfully might i add.
i would suggest that you dont put comments about what other people choose do on this site because you DONT know ms pell and you DONT know her reasons. Maybe if you stick to my advice, you wont piss off so many people.