Student Comment #66

Facebook Post from 

Steve Ke

July 18, 2024 · 

Screaming Happy Birthday to Kelly Jean Kem. All the way from New Orleans Louisiana. 1992 my senior year Stroudsburg High she was my locker buddy on my left side. Aging beautifully you and Bridget E Kelly. Aka Dr Kelly. Dan Hicks, and George VOLPE Helped me graduated…. Love yall for life

Turkey Day Game

 Turkey Day Game

Stroudsburg vs East Stroudsburg

PA

When I first heard of this game, I was less than enthusiastic.  I was the new assistant principal and I was expected to attnd the game. I don't particulary like football and November is always cold and my family was clebrating the holiday without me.

But I grew to love this game and all that it stood for: community pride, neighborly fellowship, great victories, local heroes, clean fun, good sportsmanship.  This game brought out the best of both communities.

Kansas

Kansas

1992/2021

I think I was in Kansas in 1992.  I was an assistant principal at a high school and my Science Olympia team won first place in the PA state competition.  Now we were competing at the national level and the content was here in Kansas. We finished somewhere in the top ten.  I was proud of them.  But I do not remember anything about this state.  And in hindsight, maybe I was in Kansas City, MO.  Maybe I wasn't in KS.

In 2021, I drove through Kansas while driving historic Route 66.  Among other stops, I wanted to make a stop at a local brewery.  I have a goal to visit a brewery in every state.  But during my ride through Route 66, I didn't find any damn breweries.  So I had to make a point of coming back through this state on the way home from this journey.

Three weeks later, I drive through Topeka, KS and did find a place, The Blind Tiger Brewery. The beers were great and my brisket sandwich was delicious.  I felt content with this find and was just about to move on with my long drive back to Philadelphia.  

But then I googled "Topeka" to see if there was anything I was missing and discovered that I was just a mile away from the Brown v Board of Education Museum.  I couldn't believe it.  I spent my career as an educator and this case was the basis of all of our decisions.  This case was monumental and I was right in the back yard of this infamous school.  I just couldn't believe it.  So I drove over there and walked those hallways and I had chills.  And I will always remember Kansas for as long as I live.

1995

Stroudsburg, PA

My age: 37

school

work: Assistant Principal and promoted to Principal- Stroudsburg High School

music

movies

books

travels- first trip to Asia

o   Thailand

news events

family

Ohio

OHIO

Ohio State University

Fall, 1992

I only went to Ohio once, in 1992 to go to the PSU v OSU football game.  PSU had just joined the Big 10 conference and this was our first game.  About 8 of us drove up in a van or a truck or something.  It was cold, and snowy and gloomy.  We stopped at the Budweiser Brewery and drank all afternoon.  Then we went to the game the next day.  The visitors, us, had to sit on portable bleachers that had no railings and were so damn slippery.  I remember several near slipping moments.  It was snowing.  It was a wet, big flakes snow that sticks to everything.  I was covered in snow.  I was cranky. We were losing. It was shameful. The OSU fans were cheering and geering, "Welcome to the Big 10." I was freezing and near tears.

It got so cold that I had to leave the game and go to the Women's locker room in the athletic complex and take a hot shower.  I think I had hypothermia.

I was miserable and I don't feel a need to go to Ohio ever again.

Bidding War

Bidding War
Stroudsburg, PA
1992

"He wasn't going to let me get the bid.  But at least I had the satisfaction of running up the cost.  I knew he would be the high bidder.  After all, he was a land developer and I didn't have any money.  It was my home. but I wasn't going to let him get off easy.  I  was going to continue to bid and bid.  He was going to pay for my house. If I had to give up my home, he was going tp pay, that son of a bitch, that money greedy capitalistic fuck. It's my house he's bidding on. He has plans to knock it down and put up 20 condos on my family home". She was filled with anger as she relayed the story to me.

"So now its down to the two of us.  He knows I don't have the money to bid. He told the auctioneer that he objected to my bidding.  The auctioneer said he would take all bids".

"Let's continue please.  Now do I hear $137,000?" asked the auctioneer.

"$137,000", she responded.

"Mam, you gave the last bid.  You're bidding against yourself.  Again, do I hear $137,000 for this great piece of property? It's a steal at this price."

"$137,000", he responded angrily.

Stroudsburg, PA

Hill Tribes of Thailand- Day 5

Hill Tribes of Thailand

Hiking Through the Rain Forest

July 1992

This is the last piece of a five day series.

Day Five- Our last day in the rain forest

We got up as usual with the roosters. We walked to our final Village. this village was only a few miles away so we were there by lunch time. These villagers were ready for us. They were perfectly dressed in traditional garb which they changed into right in front of us. We’re told to watch all of our belongings. This village was close to Bangkok and much of the village industry centered around opium sales. So crime was becoming a problem.

We sat on the floor of the long house and we were all a little relieved. The five-day hike was over. After lunch, elephants were going to come to get us a take us back to the city. I could hardly wait to see those big beast of burden.

Sitting on the floor I suddenly felt a sharp poke in my ankle. It really hurt. Then Kathy winced in pain as well. We looked around and saw the culprit. A small boy had a bamboo pole and was underneath the house. He was poking everyone in his path. He was laughing away and I wanted to smack him because it pierced my ankle and now I was bleeding. Finally, someone went under the house and chased him away. He ran away laughing.

A few minutes later I noticed him again. He was on the steps, swinging at something. As I watched closely I saw him take the final blow needed to kill a baby chicken. He killed this chicken just for the fun of it. again he run off laughing. This was the only violence we had seen over last five days. I wondered what effect all this opium had on his mother and on him.

We were eating lunch when Rae announced “they’re here”. The elephant had arrived. two young boys who looked to be about 12 were the elephant guides. Our porters disappeared with all of our belongings. I don’t know what happened to them. But now all of our safety was put in the hands of these young boys

 The elephants came up to the side of the longhouse and we mount them on their heads. wooden seat rested on their shoulders. Two of us shared one elephant. I was the first one on the elephant.  I had to crawl on its head and take a side on the bench. it felt as If that bench had slid halfway down. I was afraid I was going to fall off. Once Helen got on the balance was back to normal. We settled in and we sat on this bench and this animal as if we were the queen of the jungle.

The ride was not relaxing. The seat was hard.  We had to dodge tree branches that unexpectedly scraped our faces. We got sprayed by urine from the other elephants. We got leg cramps because there was no place to rest our legs. And we had to cross the rapid river which was so deep that the water came up to the elephants’ eyeballs. What would happen if this big, clumsy animal slipped? Could it be washed away? And what if this damn two-ton animal slipped and I fell off and it rolled on me and crushed me to death. And then I thought what should be less painful: drowning to death or being crushed to death by an elephant that was drowning to death.

While I was having this moment of free-floating anxiety I noticed something. Our 12-year-old guide was on the other side of the river. He hasn’t crossed over with us. He was climbing the cliff on his side and shouting commands to the elephants in the water. The elephants were instructed to cross the river, get back up on land, walk for a couple hundred yards and then cross the river again and come back to the original side of the river. The original sided no path for a few hundred feet.  So we had to cross the river. But the guide couldn’t cross the river with us because the current was too strong. So the kid shouted commands until we were all reunited.

What is the kid fell and landed in the water and drowned? Who was in charge then? These elephants only recognized Thai and Ray knows a little Thai but she was no elephant trainer. So now I had to worry about the elephant slipping and drowning and me drowning and the guides slipping and drowning. I was filled with so much anxiety but I wished we were walking. This elephant ride was too stressful.

We got back to Chiang Mia in one piece. We were filthy and tired. We hooked up with Gale who was rested and clean and excited to be back with people who spoke English. She wanted to talk and we wanted solitude. We’d been inseparable for five days so retreat to a clean hotel room was a welcomed respite. I went back to my room to get cleaned up. The warm water soaked my aching body. The soap was smooth and fragrant. After five minutes in the shower I turned off the water and let all my filth slipped down the drain. That I plugged up the tub and took a long luxurious hot bath. I try to nap in the tub but my mind was racing. I couldn’t stop thinking about these last five days.

Hill Tribes of Thailand- Day 4

Hill Tribes of Thailand

Hiking Through the Rain Forest

 July 1992

THIS STORY IS A CONTINUATION FROM YESTERDAY.

Day Four- Running Out of Water

Rae suggested we bath in the river before we started out today. She thought the cool water would be a welcomed comfort to all of us. I was finally to the point where I was willing to surrender to the moment. I went in completely clothes as it is standard protocol. That was pretty hard to do a thorough cleaning. But at least I was able to get some blood off my stained shorts.

Prior to getting into the water I confessed to Rae that I couldn’t swim. I sense that she just about had enough of it with my multitude of inadequacies. It was sort of the last straw. If I drowned today too bad. But I didn’t drown. It was refreshing and it felt great to get out of the water fully clothes and wet and sit on a rock and let the sun quickly dry me.

Rae suggested we all grab a bottle of water and then be on our way. We had 8 miles to cover today. It was then that our guide announced that we were completely out of drinking water. We had used the last of it for breakfast. It would be two more days until we had clean bottled water. So what were we to do?

 The cook unpacked a wok and took it down to the river, filled it with water and boiled it. Another porter went around the village and retrieved the empty bottles we have freely given up to the locals. When the water boiled, we filled up a bottle for each of us. I had a bottle of water pills so I dropped a few of them into my gray water which looked and tasted like gray pool water. This was unpleasant and a sobering moment about the importance of water. I was afraid of becoming very sick and I contemplated fighting the balances staying hydrated vs swallowing up parasite. This trip was getting dangerous.

We started walking and I went on automatic pilot. I didn’t think about it. I just put one foot in front of the other and I kept moving. There’s no sense in complaining. Tomorrow at this time I will have finished all of my walking. But right now my feet really ached.

Mid-morning, we stopped for a break near a stream. We decided take our shoes off and soak our sore feet in the cold water. I noticed my toenails. they were all a dark color but I made an assumption they were just stained by the die from my socks. But then Dave accidently rolled on my feet and I shook in pain. When I looked up my toenails again, I saw they were all bruised. I put so much strain on my feet that I damaged every nail. I knew within the next couple days every toenail was going to fall off.

Rae looked at my feet.  she panicked. she was worried that I couldn’t complete the hike. So she gave me her sneakers which were a size bigger than mine. Dave gave me two pairs of his dirty socks and I cushioned my toes as best I could. Rae took my my cheap Kmart sneakers that offered no support. They were a size too small and off we went both of us limping for the rest of the day.

That night we were having dinner with the village chief. he began to point to us and then to his son. Our guide told us that the chief hoped we can fix his son. The boy, about 15 years old, had cut himself by accident with his own machete. his arm was badly infected and he refused to go to the hospital which would be a four-day walk for him. Apparently a village elder went to the hospital once and never came back. So the hospital was a place to go for the dying.

We all looked at his arm and nearly threw up. I am no medical doctor but that arm was oozing with gangrene and I thought the arm should be amputated. It was just filled with infection.

Rae did her best to convey to the local guide that if this boy didn’t go to the hospital, he could die. But her suggestions fell on deaf ears. The boy was going nowhere. His only hope was us: a bunch of dirty, old, tired Americans with their own personal pharmacies of drugs. We pulled our resources and try to figure out what we had. As we were getting our plan together the village spirit man was summoned. He was going to pray over the boys and then over us. And then we could begin to help the boy.

We had some vodka that was used to clean the wound. Ray was going to be the attending physician. Dave and I held the boy down. Helen service as Rae’s assistant and she headed over rags and drugs and anything else Rae thought she needed.

The boy cried in pain and so did way. None of us thought this was the solution to this very serious problem. But that chief was so hopeful and grateful. We did the best we could. We loaded him up with our antibiotics and extra strength pain killers. One of us had a small towel was still clean. Ray wrapped up his wounds with the towel and a broken shoelace she found in her backpack. We laid out a 10 -day plan of medication. when we’re finished the spirit man prayed over us again. We all went to bed shaking by this experience. I felt no hope for this young boy.

THIS STORY CONTINUES TOMORROW.