School's out, so is structure for the summer

"Because I Said So" column for The Commercial Appeal

May 27, 2010

My family and I began our summer season last Saturday with the first weekend of the Levitt Shell's free concert series in Overton Park.

We spent the evening on a quilt spread in the grass listening to Jimbo Mathus perform his home-grown Delta music for a home-grown crowd.

It was the perfect evening as we lay there listening to songs about Skateland and cornbread, with the park and zoo as backdrop and a FedEx plane aligning itself for landing. The scene couldn't have been more Memphis-centric if Elvis and Isaac had shown up to serve barbecue.

The kids danced like little hipsters and I regaled them with a story of the time I spotted Jimbo from two checkout lanes away at the Midtown Schnucks.

Saturday night was the calm before my summer storm. School ended for the year only three days later and, just like that, our children's teachers expect us to take care of these kids all day long. We'll have to feed them, entertain them and see that they're safe.

It's going to be like a full-time job. The pay is terrible ... (read more)

Technology takes Ridgeway Middle music to new level

Spot news story for The Memphis Daily News

May 21, 2010

The walls of a cinderblock city school classroom in East Memphis are hung with posters of John Coltrane, King Oliver, Otis Redding, Elvis Presley, Billie Holiday and a 78-inch interactive whiteboard called an ActivBoard.

In a medium whose foundation is built on the bar chords of the blues and sound of the sax, technology has been introduced to engage children and introduce them to those a world away in Ken Greene’s music class.

Greene, music teacher and choir director at Ridgeway Middle School, recently demonstrated how technology is used to teach students and connect with other programs.

“Do you mind if we jam with you?” Greene asked his counterpart from Weyanoke Elementary School in Fairfax, Va ... (read more)