The World According To Chris Brewer

The Washington Post carried a great article today about a certain group of Facebookers exhibiting some questionable content in their profiles and photos — and those people are public school teachers.

From the article, a great example of not using your noodle:

Erin Jane Webster, 22, a long-term substitute teacher in Prince William, keeps a page similar to other teachers’. Portions are professional, but some parts suggest the author is in the throes of sorority rush.

Under a “Work Info” heading, the page reads, “Employer: Prince William County Schools. Location: Parkside Middle School Language Arts Teacher.” The section lists where she attended college (Radford ‘07) and high school (Osbourn Park High ‘03).

But the page features multiple “bumper stickers,” including one that uses a crude acronym for attractive mothers and another that says: “you’re a retard, but i love you.”

Teensy problem: Webster teaches students with emotional and learning disabilities. In an interview, she acknowledged her use of “retard” could be misconstrued. The word, generally considered offensive, circulates among some young people as acceptable derogatory slang.

“My best friend, she always calls me that because I say ditzy things,” Webster said. “My best friend and I would never go around calling people that. All of my [students] have emotional disorders or learning disabilities. . . . I love them.”

Sound like the type of person you want to be educating your children? No? Okay, then how about this person:

Bree Melton, 22, an eighth-grade teacher at Fairfax County’s Robert Frost Middle School, which has students with hearing problems, describes her job on her Facebook page as “rocking out with some deaf kids. it. is. AWESOME.”

In an interview, Melton said: “Is my Facebook profile open? I definitely thought I closed [the page] to people. . . . I am absolutely being sarcastic. I don’t [use] sign [language] myself, and I am learning so much about it. I was being completely candid. It’s awesome working with them.” Access to her page was later restricted, effectively withdrawing it from public view.

Still not the type of person you want to teach your kids to dot their I’s and cross their T’s? Ok, I’ve found a real winner here, I promise:

In some cases, teachers apparently didn’t mind that their Web sites were raunchy and public — at least until a reporter called. Alina Espinosa, a teacher at Clopper Mill Elementary School in Montgomery, had written on her Facebook page in the “About Me” section: “I only have two feelings: hunger and lust. Also, I slept with a hooker. Be jealous. I like to go onto Jdate [an online dating service for Jewish people] and get straight guys to agree to sleep with me.”

Asked about the page, Espinosa said: “I never thought about parents and kids [seeing it] before. That’s all I’m going to say.”

Minutes later, access to her site was restricted.

So there you have it, three real life examples of young Facebookers who either don’t know (not likely) or don’t care (likely) that their employers could be looking in on them. Shoot, if a Washington Post staff writer could gain access to their Facebook pages, I wonder how many school officials in the DC area are now checking out their staff’s Facebook pages?

Of course, schoolteachers aren’t the only ones this touches. I always wonder about people I personally know posting raunchy photos of themselves partying, holding up their middle fingers to the camera, showing some flesh, etc. Would you show your employer that?

Part of social networking is that you make your private life a little bit public and you become a bit transparent. Some of us become too transparent and get a little carried away.

As for those teachers mentioned in the WP article, who knows if they’re going to face some sort of punishment or reprimand for their stupidity. As for the rest of us, let this be a good warning that we need to be a little more mindful of what we put out there in Internet-land for all to see.

As a Christian, I am reminded of Acts 24:16 in which the author states, “I always do my best to have a clear conscience in the sight of God and people.” Honestly, that’s the best way to go about it. If you live a pure life before God and others, you’re not going to have anything to worry about should you bare your soul to the world and people see what you do behind the scenes.

On the flip side, where it could really get nasty is if you proclaim yourself to be a Christian, yet your Facebook, MySpace, etc. profile shows evidence to the contrary. I won’t even begin to get into that, but in my opinion that is even worse than an employer or higher-up seeing your escapades.

In summary, if you have evidence of debauchery on those wild Saturday nights on your Facebook profile, make your profile private and save yourself.

But if you have evidence of Saturday night debauchery AND Sunday morning worship time in and time out on your Facebook, get some help. Please.

At any rate, we all need to make sure we’re living as Acts 24:16 states. It’ll help you in your career and your spiritual life. I guarantee it.

I’m off to update my Facebook photos.

…my life will continue to become more interesting and much more eventful within the next couple weeks.

But in the interim, I just wanted to take the time and thank everyone who has supported me, prayed for me and shown they really care about me during my time of spiritual agony over the past few months, and also for my job and vehicle needs as well.

Within three weeks I had a major spiritual burden lifted, I joined the choir at James River Assembly, was hired as a multimedia reporter for the News-Leader and now I have a 1997 Acura TL sitting in the driveway. If that all isn’t God, I honestly don’t know what is.

Some of you out there know how to seriously get God’s attention and it has worked. Things will only continue to get better from here and even I am surprised at how well things are turning out.

Should we all get together for a party to celebrate my good fortunes?

Let me leave you tonight with a photo of an awesome sunset that I shot just west of Albuquerque, New Mexico on my trip from Vegas (you can view the rest of the photos here).

P.S. Everyone now please focus your prayers on me finding a good apartment/townhouse and girlfriend (not necessarily in that order).

Today i put in my two weeks’ notice at AT&T. I have been given the best opportunity since I separated from the Air Force, and the hand of the Lord is definitely at work in this.

As of May 5, I will be a Multimedia Reporter and staff videographer for the Springfield News-Leader here in Springfield, Missouri.

My series of interviews went very well last week and I am so thankful to the good people at the N-L who paved the way for me to get this job.

There are so many people who have been praying for me through the hiring process, and I can’t thank any of you enough. As a token of my gratitude and a nod to my “fan base,” I will be wearing argyle socks to work every day. Something a little quirky to remind me of those who have been pulling for me.

As I stated before, I begin the new gig May 5, and I cannot wait. I have some great story ideas and some really innovative ideas for some other media adventures as well.

It’s going to be a fun ride.

Hooray for Russ Crawford, initiator of a recall of six of the seven Rainier, Oregon school board members. His efforts have paid off so far, with the recall petitions having passed — the citizens of the good town of Rainier will vote on May 27.

Or, the Rainier School board folks could end it all early, resign and we could all go home and watch LOST.

The school board folks aren’t bad people, I assure you all of that. It’s just that they sat around and did nothing when they could have put an egomaniac in his place (yes, I am talking about you, R. Michael Carter, RSD Superintendent) and saved the dignity of their school district.

From the Longview, WA Daily News:

Columbia County Elections officials verified the final signatures needed for the recall petitions Thursday morning. Board members now have until 5 p.m. Tuesday to either resign or submit a statement of justification that will be placed on the May 27 recall ballot. Ballots will be mailed out May 9, said Pam Benham, Columbia County’s elections supervisor.

The board members subject to recall are Chairman Dale Archibald, Penny Blahm, Rod Harding, Scott Schuff, Bill Scholten and Chad Womack. The only member not on the ballot is Alison Dale-Moore who was appointed to the board in December. She hasn’t served long enough to be recalled.

As I said, great people who otherwise wouldn’t deserve to be recalled, but allowing the following to happen is just too much:

The recall is part of 10 months of turmoil in the district that boiled over last summer but appeared to return to a simmer in recent months. Much of the discord centered on a power struggle between Superintendent Michael Carter and then-Junior/Senior High School Principal Jeff Gilbert — and how the school board handled the conflict.

The school board reprimanded both Carter and Gilbert this summer and required each to sign a plan of assistance to keep their jobs. Gilbert resigned instead and recently was hired to lead Reynolds High School — the state‚Äôs largest — in the Portland suburbs.

The recall effort began in January.

In February, though, the state Teacher Standards and Practices Commission declined to take action on the complaints against Carter and Gilbert, effectively clearing them of unprofessional conduct charges. And later that same month the school board ended Carter’s plan of assistance and signed him to a new three year contract.

And how much of a jackdonkey is Michael Carter? Well, let’s not forget his personal vendetta against Jay Davies, one of the best people to ever work in the Rainier School District. But read this:

“We‚Äôre a democracy and the citizens have the final say,” Carter said. “The board and myself have acted ethically and professionally and if any citizen has any questions about anything they board has done or myself we encourage them to give us a call and check on it. … I have faith in our citizens and believe that people who take the time to do the research and homework will come to the right conclusion and not listen to just a small faction.”

What a load of crap. Ethical and professional does not define the majority of Carter’s tenure at Rainier (and I’m sure the same applies at Glencoe as well). I posted factual evidence of many examples last year where Carter or people associated with him were involved in some very questionable conduct, especially for people with the responsibility of educating our children.

And finally:

Crawford and his supports needed 431 verified signatures to force the recalls. They turned in between 498 to 580 signatures per school board member, though election officials stopped checking after each hit the 431 number.

Recall ballots will go out to all 4,175 registered voters in the school district. All voters get to vote on each board member up for recall regardless of which voting zone they represent. And, because each board member will be voted on separately, it’s possible some board members will be recalled while others remain in office.

If you have to retain any of the school board members, please make sure it isn’t Archibald or Harding. Please.

Rainier voters, do the right thing. Recall your school board, and get some folks elected that will run the maniacal R. Michael Carter out of town. As I stated, the current board is full of nice people but they failed the community when they did not stand up to Carter during his power trip last year.

Please, Rainier voters, recall your school board members, elect people that will stand up to Carter, and make the School district proud once again.

So last night around 6:05 PM, my car decided to bite the dust on a country road just north of Nixa. My car has been suffering an insane amount of transmission trouble lately, and it was only fitting that as I was driving, the gears locked on me, my thermostat went to its highest reading, and my engine went CLUNK. With my car completely disabled, by the grace of God I was able to pull it off to the right-hand side of a road that had no shoulder, kitty-corner to someone’s driveway.

I opened the hood and wished I hadn’t. Smoke came pouring out from the engine compartment and there was a funky acrid smell that I never want to have to smell again. To make a long story short, the car will never start again.

The sad thing about all this was that I was on my way to a gathering at James River Assembly called “The Summit,” which was basically a forum for all the worship and creative arts members to worship, hear the Word and mingle after it was all over. I was really looking forward to it — and alas, I never made it out there. It was 7:15 before the kind gentleman I called for a tow got there (the place was really hard to find), and my night was ruined.

Or was it? As it turns out, the gentleman who towed my car is a Christian and we made some good conversation about church, the Christian life, and living in the Ozarks. The guy was great to talk to, and he helped me feel a little bit better about not making it to the Summit when he reminded me, “Everything happens for a reason.”

So true. What if I had made it to the church, met the girl of my dreams during the fellowship time, and made a complete jackdonkey out of myself? Or on a more serious note, what if I had taken Hwy. 65 and my car troubles occurred there? Surely there would have been a wreck (in both instances, hee hee).

Honestly though, maybe my car dying where it did was God’s way of keeping his hand upon me. Who knows what could have happened.

So my car died., but what great timing…I’m flying to Vegas on Monday to drive my Acura home along historic Route 66. God knew what was up.

I’m not sad or dejected about my good old Cirrus puking to death yesterday…that car lasted me 3.5 good years on a bad transmission from the start. Every time I stepped into that vehicle over the last year was a trip taken on borrowed time. Or maybe it was the Lord that helped sustain me, knowing I needed that car until this very point in time.

All in all, how fitting that everything works out the way it does. Thank you Lord for providing me with a car that made it this far, and thank you as well for the one I will be driving back on Monday.

God truly does care about our every need and he always comes through in the clutch for His kids — even if it does mean sitting in someone’s driveway for 50 minutes and waving sheepishly at passing cars.

P.S. Rest in peace, Chrysler buddy. You lived a long life. With your dented hood and all, you took me where I needed to go for nearly four years. Rest well, my good friend.