RCS Spirit Week Culminates with Penny Drive for Breast Cancer Awareness

Ripley Central School Spirit Week ended with several teachers, staff and a school board member taking it in the face, all in the name of Breast Cancer Awareness. As part of the Spirit Week activities, students collected change to donate to the Breast Cancer Awareness fund. In order to make the penny drive more interesting, staff and teachers, including Superintendent, Karen Krause, and school board president, Bob Bentley, volunteered to put their faces on buckets. The buckets with the most change earned the recipients a pie in the face. Names of students were drawn to determine who would deliver the pies.

Bob Bentley earned $74.93, mostly due to the efforts of his daughter, Kailyn Bentley, and his wife. “They ganged up on me!” declared Mr. Bentley. It earned him three pies, one each from Kirsten Milliron, Brittany Rogers and Kailyn Bentley. Other “winners” included: 2nd place winner Frank Lewczyk, Coordinator of Student Behavior, two pies from Justin Weigle and Allison Fisher; and a tie for 3rd place between new school principal, Lauren Ormsby, courtesy of Emily Bird; and school nurse, Eileen Skahill, pied by Emilee Steger. Ms. Michelle Flick, high school English teacher earned the dubious distinction of having 19 cents in her bucket and was awarded a pie in the face. In total, the school collected $338.57 to be donated to breast cancer research.

Originally slated as a secondary school event, the Penny Drive was extended to the elementary classes when they started collecting coins as well. “We got so many calls from the elementary teachers saying the kids wanted to be a part of it,” said Bert Fisher, class advisor, “we decided to invite them for the results.”

The Life You Save…

The students of Ripley Central School recently collected over $300 to donate to breast cancer awareness. Last week they held an assembly where they were able to throw pies in the faces of some of the teachers and staff whose buckets contained the highest amount of change. It was great fun, with lots of cheers, jeers and stamping of feet. The sobering fact is, however, that with current statistics, one in eight of those girls at the assembly will be diagnosed with breast cancer sometime in her life.

Every fourteen minutes, a life is lost to the disease. Over 40,000 people will die this year of breast cancer. Four hundred of them will be men. Although breast cancer is a disease that primarily strikes Caucasian women, African Americans suffer a higher mortality rate when diagnosed with the disease. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 40 and 55.

These facts were brought home to me once again when another friend of mine found out she had breast cancer. After the initial shock wore off, anger set in. “You need to tell people to not believe everything the doctors say,” my friend told me. The lump she found doing a self-check hurt. When she called the doctor’s office she was told, on two separate occasions, not to worry too much, breast cancer doesn’t hurt. “Well, it did hurt!” she said. “If I’d listened to them I would have figured it was nothing until it was too late.” Luckily her cancer was detected early and with a lumpectomy and radiation her prognosis is excellent.

There is no family history of breast cancer in my friend’s family. In fact, 85% of all diagnoses have no family history. The greatest risk factors for breast cancer are being female, getting older and being overweight. She is obviously female, in her 50s and NOT overweight. Women who are overweight do have a higher risk because excess body fat increases estrogen levels in the body. Higher estrogen levels are a risk factor.
Women who have risk factors, including a certain gene abnormality associated with breast cancer, will not necessarily develop cancer. Some studies suggest that 40 to 80 percent of these women will develop breast cancer. But that also means 20 to 60 percent won’t.

Changing our lifestyles by not smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, losing weight and exercising regularly will significantly reduce our risk. Your mom always told you, eat your vegetables, they’re good for you. She was right. Do something good for yourself; eat more fresh fruits and veggies, reduce your stress levels by walking or meditation. Call your doctor. Get a breast cancer screening; learn how to do a self examination. And listen to your gut. If you think something is wrong, insist on further tests. No one is exactly the same as anyone else. Your symptoms, or lack of them, may be different from your friend or neighbor. Ultimately we are responsible for our own health. Stay healthy, not only for yourself, but for those who love you.

Well! That was certainly NOT what I thought I clicked on for font size. Forgive the huge font in the last post. Although it does make it easy to read for those of us who need reading glasses. ;)

Ripley Students are Grand Prize Winners in Contest for Prom Decorations

Ripley Central School was one of three Grand Prize winners in the Stumps, Proms Across America contest. Stumps, a major supplier of event decorations and supplies, sponsors an annual contest where schools can win gift certificates toward decorations for their proms. In a David and Goliath competition, Ripley students managed to come in second in the entire United States, winning $5,000 toward prom decorations, $1,000 for a D.J. and all the prom accessories such as crowns, tiaras and sashes.

The contest is aimed at showing school and community spirit by sending emails to the contest site. The three schools that sent the most emails were awarded the Grand Prize. This year’s top three contest winners were Alief Taylor High School, Houston, Texas; Ripley Central School, Ripley, New York; and Dearborn High School, Dearborn, Michigan. Going up against schools with over 10,000 students in their districts, the high school student body of Ripley, with just under 110 students, faculty, parents and friends managed to send over 187,000 entry emails in the Stumps Proms Across America contest. “We held voting parties where kids would come in and sit at the computers to send emails,” said Bert Fisher, class advisor. “We told the sixth, seventh and eighth graders that if they helped up we’d throw them a Spring Fling of their own,” she continued. “We even had second graders helping us.”

A gift certificate in the amount of $5,000 has already been awarded and spent in Ripley. “We bought a large fountain, archway and lighted gate, as well as other supplies,” commented Ms. Fisher. “A lot of these things can be used over and over. We’re pretty excited!”

A representative from Stumps will be at this year’s prom to do a follow up story for their magazine and web site. To see a complete list of winners, go to www.stumpsparty.com and click on the Proms Across America link.

Spring Cleaning

We’ve had hot, we’ve had cold, we’ve had everything in-between. It’s time to get down to Spring. I find spring cleaning to be a bit like the nesting instinct mothers go through just before the baby is born. It’s this overwhelming need to clean something, straighten up stuff and reorganize. I have great intentions when it comes to spring cleaning. I want to strip the room of all wall ornaments and moveable furniture and wipe down the walls, sweep away the cobwebs and clean the ceiling fan. Then my plan is to dust all the shelves, tables, chairs and knick knacks. Washing windows is not my favorite thing to do, but I force myself at least once a year. I am fortunate in this house to have tilt in windows that make washing the outside easy. After the windows, the vacuum cleaner comes out finish the job. Multiply that by seven rooms and it is a daunting task, at least in my mind.

I know there are women, and some men, out there who clean on a daily basis. I’m not sure what spring cleaning means to these people. But I’ll bet it isn’t a big deal. I had intentions of setting up a schedule of cleaning when I moved into this house: dusting on Monday, washing floors on Tuesday, vacuuming on Wednesday… you get the picture. It never happened. People walk into my house and they say Oh! You must clean all the time. They mistake cleaning with picking up. My husband is always on an anti-clutter campaign. He doesn’t care if the dust is an inch thick as long as the magazines and newspapers are put away. I will admit it makes the place look better at a glance, but I love the smell of a newly scrubbed house. Wonder if I’ll actually get any of it done?

A dear friend of mine from England is coming to visit at the end of the month. She is actually the impetus for cleaning. I have this insane need to make her think I am neat and organized person. I’m not sure why that is. But it does make a good excuse for getting things done.

The Art of Mothering

Mother’s Day is upon us once again. Several famous mothers come to mind as I reflect on the upcoming day honoring our mothers: Mother Teresa, Mother of Pearl, Ma Kettle and of course, Mother Goose. I have had a more personal relationship with Mother Goose than any of the others. I grew up listening to my mother recite her poems and then went on to recite them to my children. I even went to visit Mother Goose’s grave in Granary Burying Ground near the Boston Commons in Boston. Historians are quick to point out that Mary Goose, aka Mother Goose, wasn’t the real Mother Goose. But she’s good enough for me. Her gravestone says she’s Mother Goose, and I believe it. She’s with good company at Granary; Paul Revere was buried there as well.

Mothers are always spouting words of wisdom and doom to their children. It’s their way of showing they care, and an effort to preserve the species. Remember hearing “If everybody else jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?” I think jumping “off a cliff” might be indigenous to areas where there actually are cliffs. Perhaps in Nebraska or Kansas mothers ask if you’d jump down a well or something. But the point was you couldn’t do something just because “everybody” else was.

Or how about “Put on clean underwear! You never know when you’ll be in an accident.” The strong probability of soiling ourselves if we ever were in an accident may never have occurred to mom. Frankly, if I’m unconscious from being hit by a car (truck, tractor or deer, take your pick), I don’t think I, or the doctors, are going to care if I’ve done a doo-doo in my pants. But I’ll change my underwear daily on general principles.

“Be careful. You’ll put your eye out,” is one of personal experience for me. Kids are always running with scissors, sticks and other potentially lethal objects, and mothers are forever telling them not to do it. When my son was five years old, he was playing sword fight with a stick with a little friend. We two moms were sitting on the back steps talking, when a blood curdling scream came from the yard. My son had poked himself in the eye. I watched in grisly fascination as his pupil disappeared in a pool of blood. I rushed him to the hospital where he remained flat on his back for three days. Luckily no permanent damage was done, but let that be a lesson to you!

I recall quite often saying to my children, “Close the door – were you born in a barn?” Kids are always leaving the doors open, letting the flies in or the heat out. My parents are different. Go ahead, leave the door open. If the flies or bees get in, that’s okay. We’ll just capture them and put them back outside. My folks are born pacifists. We didn’t kill anything when we were growing up, except flies and mosquitoes. They evidently have no socially redeeming value. Bees, hornets, wasps; they all get rescued, if at all possible, and released back into the wild from whence they came. It drives my husband nuts. He’s a great poison man and has a killer instinct. He’ll poison ants, mice and dandelions any chance he can get. Me, I still try to catch and release. (Oh, that reminds me of fishing. I’ll have to remember to tell you that story another time.)

I’ll leave you with, “Don’t make that face or it’ll stick that way.” Hopefully you’re smiling, remembering your own mother’s words of advice. Keep smiling, may it’ll stick that way. Happy Mother’s Day.

I have been stressing over a part I was asked to play in a murder mystery for the library, and now it's over. I had a blast! The play was Honky Tonk Homicide and, while it was meant for a dinner party, the library presented it along with dinner for a fund-raiser.

Bubba's dead. But whodunnit? Bubba is the unsavory owner of Bubba's Honky Tonk in Cactus, Texas and someone has shot him. Could it be Twyla Fleetwood, owner of the trailer park and a Holocaust shelter. Bubba stores his "guns" there, but really is a gun-runner from Mexico. Twyla has dreams of "taking over the business."

Or maybe it's Dusty Diamond, the wannabe country singer who runs karaoke every Saturday night at Bubba's. He's just been told he'll be without a job because Bubba's changing Saturdays to mud-wrestling, cuz that's what his customers want.

Carney Folk has wandered into town with the carnival where he works, looking for the mangy SOB who got his momma pregnant then dumped her high and dry more than 20 years ago. And Rowdy Lawless zoomed into town on his beloved motorcycle, only to be arrested by Sheriff Cissy Wesson, who lets him off if he agrees to become her "love slave." Sheriff Cissy has a penchant for duct tape. She, however wants Bubba dead as well, and promises to release Rowdy if he performs one last act for her.

The Reverand Jim Bob and Mrs. Eternity are also in deep with Bubba. Mary Kay Eternity, the preachers wife, spends a lot of time at Bubba's Bar, getting to know the sinner in "order to understand them better." She also has her own line of cosmetics, which she uses liberally on herself. But unbeknownst to her husband, she runs a porn site on the Internet, "Hot Preacher's Wife," where she makes her most money. Rev. Jim Bob, who also spends a great deal of time in Bubba's, saving sinners, is $100,000 in debt trying to support his wife's make-up habit, and goes to Bubba for a loan. While there, he discovers Bubba is Mary Kay's best customer and is blackmailing her to keep quiet about her porn site.

And then there's Crystalline Daniels. A rather promiscuous barmaid, Crystalline is pregnant with Bubba's child after one night of passionate love making in Bubba's hot-tub. Bubba wants nothing to do with the child or Crystalline however. How will Crystalline make him see reason and provide for her and her child? A little rat poison in his Jack and Coke should ensure the little tyke inherits Bubba's fortune.

It was hysterical as I whipped off my wig and announced to the crowd that, yes, I was pregnant with Bubba's baby. But I'm not as young as y'all think I am! Shoot, it's a miracle I got pregnant at all at my age! And I need to provide for my unborn child, one way or another.

(Notice the Rev. cracking up. He had no idea I was going to do that. ;) )