This past week was my first “official week” back to school to begin the 2018-2019 school year as a counselor at North Harrison High School.  It goes so quickly.  All of it.  The time working and the weeks off during the summer.  I am dumbfounded that I am beginning my 4th year at NH.  I am blessed to have a job that allows me to help kids out during such a challenging time of transition in their lives.  Young people are resilient.  They want to learn.  That is the beauty of education.  No matter what test is thrown at them, no matter how many political barriers are thrown in the path of their progress, kids still want to learn and understand the process of what they are doing.  I say God Bless them!

On Thursday my dear wife, Carrie, and I went back to The Jackson County Fair in Brownstown which is my old hometown.  The fairgrounds is a small corn field away from my childhood home on Jackson Street.  They have since added more than corn in that direction like a county highway garage and a new jail.  But between those two you can still see the midway rides from the old homestead.  That was a sight and the sounds that permeated the night sky in a house that had no air conditioning was wonderful back then.

I didn’t take too many pictures.  Carrie and I had a friend of ours with us, Steve Hanger.  Steve has wanted to go to the Jackson County Fair for years and this year we got it done.  I’d say he will want to go back next year.

The ducks going down the slide in the Young McDonald’s Farm building is always a sight to behold.  I would love to know how old that slide is.  I don’t think I have ever seen another one.

We ran into one of the greatest school leaders known to man.  In the yellow shirt is Dr. Robert Mahan.  He is why I am sitting on a screen porch between Frenchtown and Milltown at this very moment in 2018.  In 1979 he was the superintendent at North Harrison and he hired my Dad to teach social studies and coach football here.  Ten years ago I had the privilege of working for Dr. Mahan, as he was the interim superintendent at Medora schools for a year.  Oh, and get this, that same year we were both at the Ryman Auditorium with our wives to see a concert by The Moody Blues.  The man knows music also.  In earnest, I am truly honored to know him.

So I cheated, this photo is from last year’s fair midway.

Until today I had no idea this would be the last Jackson County Fair that I would get to see Andy Wayman in uniform.  He is retiring, I hear, after this year.  You are a classic, Andy.  I am honored to know you too. You have been a great asset to Jackson County for many years.  In the parlance of Andy Taylor, “We’ll see you, boys.”

The red shirt I have on in this picture is not a nod to Brownstown Central, in case some of you Cougar faithful are alarmed.  No.  It is a Celery Signs t-shirt.  Jerry Brown, aka Celery Brown, called me on Thursday and told me he would be in Corydon doing some business and he wanted to stop by the school to see me for a few minutes.  I told him to come on.  Even though Jerry is the art teacher at Brownstown Central and an assistant football coach, we gave him the royal welcoming treatment.

He appreciated it.  It was great to have speaks with Jerry. He is quite the artist on many levels.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I am sitting on the back porch tonight wishing there was a little more daylight.  I wish is was 4:44 PM instead of 8:44.

Oh well, I shouldn’t complain.

Wanted to pass on a big WAY TO GO to my brother, Darrel Lee Johnson.  We he was a little kid everyone in our immediate family had the middle name Lee.  Danny Lee Johnson, Sister Lee Johnson, Mommy Lee Johnson, and Daddy Lee Johnson.  What can I say.  It is as much fun now as it was then.  I was born in 1968.  Darrell was born in 1983.  My last three years of high school included responsibilities I am thankful for.  I always have been.  Even then when I was turning him upside down in his car seat as I fishtailed down a gravel road.

Darrell will be teaching 2nd grade at Grant Line Elementary School in New Albany.  As many times as I have driven down Grant Line Road, I don’t know where the road got its name?  I have a feeling I will find out.  Congratulations to my dear brother, Darrell Lee Johnson.

Those 2nd graders are going to learn a great deal!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

A well-respected Georgia newspaper columnist I love and admire, but rarely agree with even though I am certain he is a registered Republican as am I, is quick to point out the liberalism of colleges and universities.  That our students in Ivory Tower bastions of learning are being fed platitudes of socialism and far left acrimony.

No.  This is not true.  This attitude toward liberal education in this country is something this columnist falls back on because he can.  It is convenient.

If these liberal education hell-holes did exist as I have read they do, there would be protesting on college campuses in every state.  They would be protesting and demanding an American President that cared more about America and less about Russia. They would want a President that cared more about children and the environment.  They would storm the towers!  Something would be burning somewhere.  We didn’t start the fire.

It is not happening.  College campuses are docile as they await the fall semester.  There is no protesting en masse.  There is no protesting at all.  Where are all these kids that have been fed liberal propaganda from their tree-hugging professors?

They are not out there.  They don’t care that much.  They are waiting for this storm to pass and to do better for the future.  It won’t be difficult.

We learned, I suppose.  All that protesting and singing in the 60s.  You know, the music that went along with a good protest?  It didn’t matter.  Music, for all its significance, didn’t change the political world.  We only thought it did.  We only thought it would.  It won’t.  It didn’t.

Make America Great Again.  That was the mantra during the 2016 campaign.  How’s that working out for you?  I think America has gotten worse.

I know of a landscaping company in North Carolina that depends on H-2B Visas for seasonal workers from South of the American border to keep up the work and help to sustain the jobs of 150 Americans that work for the company.  It is all done through legal channels and has been good for all workers involved.  This particular company had to turn down a $400,000 contract because they did not have the seasonal workers needed thanks to restrictions placed on H-2B Visas.  I hope no Americans lose their jobs.

But you don’t hear about that do you?  God Bless America.

Yes, I am a Republican.  I have not switched my political party affiliation.  I am praying for better days.

This is where I will catch hell.  But, as the page suggests, I speak the rights.

In the parking lot of IUS in January of 1995, I listened as Newt Gingrich gave the speech of the 104th Congress when the Republicans gained a great many spots in the House.  I was all in.  I didn’t so much love Newt Gingrich as I was enamored with the party of Ronald Reagan.  That and, even more so, I was not a fan of whiny Democrats.

Let me put this in microcosm.

I did not like the Democrats back in the day because they seemed to be a whiny, we know better than you bunch and you have to be wrong and mean if you don’t agree with us.  I didn’t like that.

Today I am just as put off by the Republicans because of their “Holier than Thou” attitude.  I abhor that.

Our current President has it made it easy to root for the other side…and it is less painful than rooting for the Republicans.  I hope and pray the day that change comes around for me to witness.  It might take a while.

Has anyone out there heard of John Kasich?  Have you heard him lately, Republicans?  If yes, how do feel?

These are Strange Times.

We have a President that wants to play footsie with the Russia leader and denounce NATO allies.

I believe this country was much safer in the Cold War when the USA and the USSR  had bombs pointed at each other.

The guy doesn’t know enough about history to be President.  But he is.  He proves it daily by putting people down and deciding he didn’t mean what he said the day before.

You want to call that leadership?  Go ahead and keep fooling yourself.

One day things will be better for the Republican Party.  I just hope I live to see it.  I have a feeling I will see plenty of suffering due to trade wars gone bad and a guy who thinks being the President of the United States is another reality TV show.  And the kids at university won’t give him the time of day until they wise up and turn the tide.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I’d hate to know how much mileage I have gotten out of this picture.  I was on the Royals.  We were the Brownstown Little League Champs in 1979.  A couple weeks ago my old friend, Jerry Brown, he was not on my team, admired the trophy.

He lamented that he did not have one.  It was a less complicated time.  You win, you get the trophy.  You don’t win it all, you don’t get the trophy.

It was during the 1979 All Star game in Seattle, I was watching it with my grandparents in Shreveport, that my Dad called and told me we were moving from Brownstown to Ramsey.  Town to country.  It worked out great.  Have you met my wife?  I am the winner!

Carrie and were in Durham, NC a few days ago.  If the Bulls are in town, it is a natural stop for us.  When the Durham Bulls are playing in Louisville, we try to make one of those too.

Durham Bulls Athletic Park is a nice ballpark.

Hit the Bull in left field and win a steak.

Carl Yaz’ grandson was playing for the Norfolk Tides.  Looks mighty familiar to you old baseball fans, doesn’t he?

After the game and dinner, Carrie and I walked down to see another old Bulls ballpark.  Remember this one?

I do.  As we walked along I thought, man, I can’t believe it has been 20 years since the movie Bull Durham came out.  Then I stopped, did the math in my head…uh…make that 30 years.  Wow.

North Carolina Central uses this field now.  The last time we were here we walked down to the field and I sat in dugout.  It was a bit run down then. It looks much better now.  Looks like it ready for Nuke LaLoosh to take the mound again.

And a rain-out?  Well, Crash Davis would be proud.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

It was more than just a chicken pot pie.  It was a chicken pot pie I will remember for a great while, I think.

Above is a picture of the Ohio River near the deck of The Overlook Restaurant in Leavenworth, Indiana…that is.  This is where I sat down with my old friend Jerry Brown for lunch today.

When we did the math, we were last classmates at Brownstown Central Elementary School thirty-nine years ago.  We were on opposing high school football teams thirty-three years ago.  He has been married to his wife, Tammy, for twenty-six years.  I have been married to my dear wife, Carrie, for twenty-two years.

Jerry and I were in each other’s weddings.  It was a good time both times.

We spent a little over four hours together this morning into the afternoon.  We were due.

We just talked.  We asked a few questions.  We talked about the past.  We talked a little about the future.  We talked of hopes and aspirations.  We spoke of some past disappointments.  We did not get stuck, or low, or bogged down in any pile of mud.  We walked over the worst things or just plain walked around them.  We never have a need to work to manufacture something interesting for the other to talk about.  We are connected beyond friendship in the traditional sense.

That is the “it” factor Jerry and I have in common.  As I always say, we are not here to have a bad time.  Jerry and I saw each other today for the first time since we both turned fifty years old earlier this year.  That never came up during our speaks today.  But, that too is characteristic of the unspoken feeling between us “it” factor we are blessed with.  When we see each other we just take up where we left off.

Jerry and I have seen some of our best days and our worst days…together.  I was there when Jerry’s Dad, Tom, passed away in 1991.  Jerry and I were twenty-two and shocked and hurt. Jerry handled it all with a graciousness any father would be proud of.  A year later Jerry was married.  Tom was a huge influence on my life.  I wish I could have seen the look on his face when I graduated from college.  And I know what he would have said.

“I knew you could do it.  You just had to get your ass in gear.”

I think Tom would have been pleased with the two guys having lunch today.

I know I was proud to be there.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson