RE MARKS: WE HAVE SOME GOOD KIDS IN A NOT-A-GOOD-WORLD

As I returned home from a night of Shakespeare

'twas but one thing that I did fear.

the rhyming meter danced in my head

and filled me with the real dread

that I might return to work with this curse

and find all my writing coming out in verse!

Whew! Maybe that's out of my system now. I'm sure I'm not the only one (if we're honest) who found himself thinking in rhyming couplets after leaving the JHS auditorium and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The production warrants one more mention in print. Tracy Fisher's gang did a marvelous job in bringing Shakespeare to the stage -- something most high school would never dream of doing.

A few other names should have appeared in my play review. In addition to Gabe Hartwig, Connie Aufdenberg and Jack Johannes (who were named), Kelli Puchbauer certainly should have been mentioned. Among her many duties as a stage manager was a late night run to Cape to help prepare for Saturday night's performance. Many of the cast members and some parents assisted in various areas, including set construction and design and costumes. Others whose names have not been mentioned include Nick Snyder and Shawn Ackman in set construction, Patrick Martin and Dennis Hay in lighting, Julie Zinner in costumes and Amanda Hyden, Amanda Lowes and Leslie Schott in makeup/hair. Jennifer Buckner was the flutist, Aufdenberg the pianist and Lucas Rouggly the trumpeter.

The performance of the cast and crew just reinforces what I already suspected: that Jackson has a host of talented, hard-working teenagers. The basketball and wrestling teams had outstanding seasons on the court and seemed to represent the school and town extremely well off the court as well. JHS band students have won some outstanding honors and a number of other teens have stood out. I hope adults in the community appreciate that Jackson has some fine young people.

These fine young people, though, are stepping into a world that is not so fine. I enjoy watching classic TV and reading old books. In fact, when I had satellite a couple of years ago, I could watch Nick-At-Nite, TV Land, ESPN Classic Sports, The History Channel, The Learning Channel and The Classic Movie Channel, thereby completely avoiding present-day reality! This is not really wise or healthy, though. We need to look around and realize that everything is not rosy in today's world.

I hesitated before running the most recent "Dear Grandpa" column. My first thought when I read that column a couple of weeks before was "I don't want to run THIS!" After re-reading it, though, and seeing how he handled other questions from teens and young adults, I gained a great deal of respect for "Grandpa" Tony Weissgarber. He seems to be a gentleman who really cares about kids. I could see a concerned grandfather pulling aside a grand-daughter and giving the unpleasant but possibly live-saving self-protection advise he rendered in his column. I apologize if his somewhat graphic advise offended any readers, but I believe it was definitely appropriate to run it. Today's youth are facing a tough world; they deserve and require heartfelt answers to their tough questions.

Epilogue -- Since the writing of the above column, I have been asked to embark upon a spring adventure. I will be leaving Tuesday to fill in temporarily as editor of the Nevada (Mo.) Daily Mail, on the far-West side of Missouri. How long this temporary assignment will last is not certain at the moment. I hope to return with the late spring sunshine! In the meantime, have a great April!