Rovin’ & Ravin’ with Mike

Copyright © 1999 by Michael Segers

Wombat Attack . . .

in the Worth County Schools!

~~~ The only addiction involving an animal I had ever heard of involved toad venom, which never made sense to me. Even if the substance were not so deadly, who would want to be known as "toad-breath"? But, because, after twenty years of teaching in the Worth County schools, I ventured into them once again, I have fallen to the strongest addiction I’ve ever heard of, and it involves a truly deadly beast.

~~~ The wombat! The wily wombat, the malicious marsupial! You can’t be too careful. I fell to the beast’s bestial charms logging onto our little www.peanut.org. So, be warned. There are dangers everywhere on the Internet! I wonder how many of our friends in Seattle and Cape Cod, Sumner and New York who innocently log on ever stop to think how near danger is… as near as "Our Schools" in the left margin.

~~~ If you have never checked this part of Peanut.org, you should, no matter where you are reading this. "Our Schools" represents, for me, the very best of what the Internet can be, a chance for the local and the global to come together. If you are a resident of Worth County and check out "Our Schools," then the next time you pay your taxes, you may feel that the schools are giving you your money’s worth, even if you don’t have children. If you don’t live here, then, you may want to send a few bucks to the Worth County schools to show your appreciation for a job very well done.

~~~ The first stop in "Our Schools" is "Educational Resources," twenty-two links for parents, teachers, and students. The first three are "Homework Central," for appropriate ages from first grade to college. "Mark Sheehan’s Lesson Plans Page" is what it says, plus lots of links to more great resources. Ironically, many of these resources from the Worth County school system would be especially useful for home-schoolers.

~~~ You can go through the rest of the offerings, from the monthly calendar to photos of Worth County schools. But, I call your attention to, even warn you about, entering the "Libraries," where we finally get to "Internet Libraries." There we can find the works of William Shakespeare. If you haven’t done anything special for Valentine’s yet, download the completeRomeo and Juliet, substitute your name and the name of your current main squeeze, and see if a rose by any other name really smells as sweet.

~~~ Scroll down to the "Newspapers," where you’ll find ten Georgia newspapers as well as national and international newspapers from The New York Times to The Jerusalem Post. And, to my sorrow, the "Web Wombat Online Newspapers Collection." Sounds odd, but innocent, doesn’t it? Be warned of the cute little Australian animal, which allows you to access… 3,000 newspapers from any country you can think of, and a few you probably can’t.

~~~ Of course, it starts out innocently. (I wonder what Iraq is saying about us today.) Later, it becomes a chance to deepen one’s experience of current events (social studies teachers, take note) by, for example, following the death of King Hussein in the newspapers of Jordan. Anything, even toad venom, can be used constructively, I suppose, but I realized I had a problem, about three o’clock one morning when I was eagerly reading an agricultural newspaper from Northern Ireland.

~~~ At that moment, I realized I had to write this column, to warn you, whatever you do, steer clear of the wooly wombat, that awful animal addiction to which I have succumbed. Whatever you do, do not, I repeat, do not, touch the "Web Wombat Online Newspapers Collection," or you’ll end up like me, hollow of eye and shaky of hand, frantically counting sheep in Northern Ireland and fighting the suffocating embrace of the…. Wombat!

~~~ You can, of course, go directly to the Wombat site; I could give you the URL, but at least the first time, go through "Our Schools" to show some gratitude for the service being provided there. But, here’s an URL for my nasty nemesis, the wicked wombat itself:

http://members.spree.com/SIP1/lepom/ausanimals/wombat02.jpg.

~~~ My last two columns have been devoted to ways you can use your computer and your video-cassette recorder to improve your celebration of St. Valentine’s Day. Since this column, more ravin’ than rovin’, has focussed on "Our Schools" at Peanut.org, I would like to send this column as a special Valentine’s Day greeting to those hardworking and often under-appreciated folks to whom we entrust the future: the teachers of Worth County. From one who was once among you, teachers, best wishes, and thanks….

 The Wombat is waiting!