“The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So, they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called an education.” — John Updike, The Centaur
For most kids and parents, “back to school” comes with a gazillion ups and downs. Everything from missed assignments to an A on a test, and from losing a starting position on the team to becoming captain, and *groan* from “TLA! ❤” to “I’m never speaking to him/her/them again!” *door slam*, this shit ain’t easy! So, for all your rollercoasting emotions, we’re here to offer a gentle look at ways to get excited about learning and growing and also helping — yourself and others. As it’s said, stepping outside your perhaps Champagne-y little bubble for your fellow man is the most effective way to salve whatever emotional pain you may be feeling today … this afternoon … this minute. It’s a rollercoaster, people! Buckle the hell up.
For far too many parents, the problems aren’t all emotional. For the Texas teens who can’t afford feminine hygiene products, a few nonprofits are stepping up (pg. 5), and while all Fort Worth ISD students will be forced to suffer through painful scripted class instruction, we’re confident that enough Fort Worth public-school educators will pick up the slack (pg. 7).
This is not to say there aren’t opportunities for joy. They are manifold. College football is back, for one thing (pg. 8), and for another, the Tarrant County chapter of the Texas Restaurant Association is hosting a loud and rowdy Casino Night fundraiser (pg. 16) in the Stockyards to help financially support scholarships for students interested in or entering the hospitality industry.
Plus, local college and university theatrical productions are on tap (pg. 15), DFW Restaurant Week/Month is around the corner (pg. 19), and at Broadway Baptist Church on the Near Southside, there’s an academy for aspiring young musicians interested in pretty much any fine instrument (pg. 12). Similarly, for the kids (or adults) who can’t sit still, multiple private companies throughout Tarrant County exist for the express purpose of getting the “Led” out (as in “Zeppelin and others”) (pg. 22).
All that and so much more await inside. We know that kiddom and parenthood aren’t easy — nothing worthwhile ever is — but maybe one or more of our stories will afford you a little bit of relief, like when the current rollercoaster you’re on finally stops, you unstrap yourself, and you step wobbly but gladly back onto terra firma (perhaps, understandably, dreading the next ride). The guy in the epigraph, John Updike, the man who famously never wrote a bad sentence and who is easily my favorite literary fictionalist (sorry, Pynchon; sorry, Rushdie; sorry, Toni), had parenthood wrong. For all his greatness, you can’t just call us “junk” or used “flower stalks” (from the Rabbit series) once our kids reach a certain, mature age. Parenthood is never finished. For good and for bad. But it’s a high calling, one that no reasonable, humane person should shirk at any point.
And that’s why we here at the Weekly will go “back to school” next year and hopefully for many years after that. Class dismissed. — Anthony Mariani, Editor
