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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

"School days..." 'Bettejo Dux' (Classic Wednesdays)

Guest-blogger Bettejo Dux is one of Kauai's most colorful people, she has lived on the cosmic island of Kaua'i for over 40 years... She is an animal lover, people lover and enjoys life to the fullest.Today she guest blogs about  "School days..." and how truth and justice shall prevail plus as an encore(Hana Hou)  of  her daughter Blu singing her award winning song on YouTube- "Kalaheo shuffle."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT0YuQLhBVo
 Bettejo  also  publishes her own blog column.
You can check it out at ;  http://www.bettejo.wordpress.com   Besides her blog she recently published and authored the humorous fiction book, "The Scam," check it out at(www.bettejodux.com) or  on Amazon.

"School Days..."

This can be filed in the ‘how in the hell did I get here’ folder, but interesting, I think, because, surely, we are the living product of our past.

I graduated from Tamalpais Union High School in June 1947, at sixteen, and started to college in the fall as a pre med major. Hated it. I wanted to act,  I wanted to write, but my father wanted me to be a doctor and those were the days when father knew best. The first time someone handed me a frog to chop  there was  mayhem in the class.

But I did love Math, so I took a Freshman class in accelerated Math, four years of High School Math rolled up in one. Don’t think I missed a problem all year and was Dr. Llewellyn’s pet.  I could do no wrong, I was the littlest, the youngest, the only girl, all the rest of the class were young men returning to school on the GI.
Whenever one of those guys would go to the board to solve a problem and couldn't, Dr. Llewellyn would say, “Well let’s see if little Bettejo can solve it,” and ‘little Bettejo’ would. By the end of the year all those darling young guys hated me. So, in my sophomore year I said, “This is stupid, ” and changed my major. Drinkin’, smokin’ and boys became the order of the day.

At the same time I took Psych 101. Dr. Pencharz. She had the most terrible voice, wore a red wig and  didn't like me any better than I liked her. The kids in this class were serious students. Big guys, girls and boys, and for some reason or other Pencharz decided to make me the goat. The class, at her direction, would play tricks on me. The entire class would agree on something obviously stupid, and noisily, jointly, nastily attempt  to prove me wrong in my correct observation. I never caved. I stood my ground and faced that bunch.

I did not get good grades in this class – I’d almost always been an A student- so at the end of the year when Pencharz assigned  a term paper that would be valued at a third of our grade average, I reveled.  Pencharz knew herself well enough to know that if she didn't like you she couldn't grade you fairly so we numbered, instead of signed, our papers.

When the papers were returned, mine didn't. I went to the desk and said, “Dr. Pencharz, I didn't get my paper back.” “Did you do one?” she croaked.  I nodded.  ”What was your number?” I told her.
With that she reached into a lower drawer and pulled from a crisp manila folder what was probably the only A+ paper she’d ever given anyone in her entire life. “Who did it for you?” She said and snatched the paper from the folder and handed me a crumpled mess.Do you think this might explain my actions on-line?

All Americans, not just women, are facing a force they had better learn is real and fierce and dedicated. Powerful and rich. They’ll stop at nothing. They’ll stoop lower than a sunken hulk in the deepest sea; but, trust me, we’ll defeat them. The truth will out, it always does.

Encore blog, (Hana Hou) Blu Dux, "Kalaheo Shuffle..."  

I had the pleasure this past Memorial day to meet Bettejo's daughter Blu. Enclosed is her award winning song on YouTube; "Kalaheo Shuffle." Please take a minute relax and listen, it's a great song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT0YuQLhBVo


Bettejo has a blog of her own you can check out at ; http://www.bettejo.wordpress.com  


Editor's note, Dakinetalk guest bloggers do not necessarily represent the opinions of dakinetalk. Guest bloggers are given space to express their beliefs and or opinions. We feel there are many roads and like to give people space to express their thoughts,after-all that's what dakine is...Aloha, James "Kimo" Rosen, Publisher.

http://www.bettejodux.com/