Monday, June 12, 2006

Wow! This Is Amazing


chileanpresident
Originally uploaded by Randuwa.
The recently elected PROGRESSIVE president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, is an alumnus of my school district! This is so cool. I was so thrilled by her election. Clearly Diabold isn't providing voting machines in Santiago! And now to discover that she spent her childhood and adolescence in schools in Montgomery County Maryland is like really special icing on the cake of her rise to power.

I have taught people with connections in my career: the son of the minister of labor in Costa Rica, and the granddaughter of a former Costa Rican president; the daughter of bluegrass singer Ricky Skaggs, and the daughter of bluegrass singer Dudley Connell. And kids are kids, no matter their lineage. I never sought to treat any child differently and never was treated differently by parents with fame. But still a small piece of me thinks such things are cool. On some barely conscious level it makes me feel special.

From the school website: "President of Chile Visits Westland Middle School"

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, a student at the former Western Junior High (now Westland MS) and Wood Acres ES, visited her former junior high on June 8. The Westland band played the national anthems of Chile and the United States; students and their families who come from Chile offered special greetings; staff and students from both Westland and Wood Acres participated in a program that included a question-and-answer session.

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