July
23, 2013
Dear
Pat,
I
almost forgot to write you today. I was just so stunned at how busy you have
been that I got the vapors and had to rest. Of course, while I was resting I
was planning some of my fall classes. But I didn't have very many choices to
make. For one of my classes, I just have men enrolled, so I will probably let
them make most of the choices in that class. Do you think I can just let them
grade each other? They are both school teachers in Wake County, so I know they
will have tons of time on their hands, since they won't have to bother with classroom
assistants or waste their time spending any extra money they might have gotten
in the way of a step increase.
Once
again, I didn't see you last night. I heard that everyone went home early. Was
that because MSNBC was there? I'm not sure, but if you rushed home to see if
you saw yourself on tv, you probably didn't since you went home early. See how
that works? I did see a picture of a very famous Republican there - Abraham
Lincoln. Except he seemed to be crying in that picture, like you might have made
him sad.
But
you are all smiles today! You signed a tax reform bill and I want to thank you
for doing that. I think it's far safer to put more money in the hands of just a
few people. If I had any extra money I would probably blow it on food or health
care expenses. Better for Art Pope and his friends to keep it.
Hey
- now that the Lottery money is going into the general fund, I suppose you will
be renaming it from the "Education Lottery". If you need a new
graphic I know a very good graphic designer who lives in the Asheville area who
has been having a hard time getting enough work since the economy got worse.
You should think about hiring him. Let me know if you want his contact
information.
Well,
I am going to the ball game tonight. The USA is playing Cuba. I know that one
country has a very high literacy rate and very good health care provided for
all of its citizens. It's also an island near Florida. Sounds like a nice
place, doesn't it?
I
hope you have a good evening. I promise to write earlier tomorrow, but I need
to take my car in to get looked at. It's only 16 years old, and I need it to
reach at least 300,000 miles before thinking about a different one!
Talk
to you soon,
Nancy
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July
24, 2013
Dear
Pat,
I
need to write to you first thing this morning, since there are lots of
questions I have and I know you will guide me in the right direction! Also, I
am worried about you and how things are going for you over in Raleigh. You have
had a busy week governoring.
First
thing every morning, I get up and make my coffee. I just use organic,
fairly-traded coffee, and I try to buy coffee that is roasted in NC. I want to
help the local economy as well as the people who grow the coffee in other
countries. Does that seem like the right thing to do? Most of the roasters in
NC are small business owners, so I imagine they will be getting huge tax breaks
soon.
Anyway,
after I have a cup of coffee I look at my computer to see what is going on in
the world. (My husband was sleeping in this morning, so I didn't have to tend
to his needs right away.) One page I always look at over morning coffee is
facebook. I have over a thousand friends, and they live all over the world, so
they are pretty good at keeping me informed. A lot of them are talking about
you and what is happening in North Carolina, even if they don't live here. They
seem pretty surprised that things have gotten to the point that they have. I'm
sure you can explain, though, about how bad teacher tenure and any raises for
teachers can be. I mean, it will keep teachers out of teaching if they know
there isn't any job security. And of course the main problem with education is
the teachers, right? I know this for sure. I'm a teacher educator, if I haven't
mentioned that before. I reckon that over the years I have trained about a
thousand teachers. Most of them are still teaching in North Carolina, far as I
know. So, I do want to apologize for contributing to the problem of having
teachers who are university-trained. I know that as you and the legislature
take over the functioning of education and of teacher training that you can do
a better job than I have done. I saw that editorial cartoon from the Charlotte
paper, so I know this is at the top of your mind!
Another
thing I noticed was that you all have some new lawn art in front of the
legislative building. Pink flamingos are certainly a popular lawn decoration,
but I don't understand why you needed so many! It looks like Florida now! I
know you don't want to be associated with them while you deal with the
important issue of voter fraud! They have had a lot of problems with their
elections lately. Of course, we have, too, or else you wouldn't be signing that
important voting rights law. Have you caught that one person who tried to vote
illegally? I hope you catch them soon! They say you're more likely to be struck
by lightening than have voter fraud. But I have a cousin in Chatham County who
has been struck three times by lightening, so there are probably still a couple
of cases you haven't heard about yet. I'm sure if all the voters had to stand
in one long line on Election Day then that one illegal voter would just leave
the line. The rest of us would wait, of course. And never mind that we all need
photo id. Those of us who drive already have one. The other people who are too
poor, too old, or too disabled to have a photo id and will have to pay to get
one shouldn't be able to vote anyway! If we make it easier for all the people
to vote, then who knows what could happen! Don't worry. I'll still be your pen
pal if you want. You can just send me your Mecklenburg County address when you
get a chance.
Well,
my husband has actually gotten up and is ready to leave for work. He asked me
to empty the dishwasher, so I had better get up and get that done. If I run
into any questions about that, I'll let you know.
Still
anxiously awaiting your responses to my letters,
Nancy
-----------------------------------------
July
24
Dear
Governor McCrory,
Good
morning! I must apologize for not writing to you yesterday but I am visiting a
friend out of state and I was just so relaxed to be away from North Carolina, I
mean home, that I didn’t even take out my computer.
I was
just doing a little browsing through the news articles today and I noticed a
very unflattering editorial about you in the Raleigh News & Observer. The
article claims that you lack leadership and that you make claims that you are
failing to keep. They say that you wrote a letter to the NY Times
(congratulations!) touting “collaborative, problem solving focused leadership”
but, try as they might, journalists are unable to find evidence of this.
Now
we all know about journalists…they are trouble makers for sure, but maybe if
you would just show them the money, i.e., the evidence of all of this
collaborative and focused problem solving, maybe they would quit writing bad
things about you. After all, you are the governor of North Carolina. Just let
them know that we are progressive down here, like in the way we are progressing
our teacher’s pay right down to the bottom of the scale.
But I
think I understand the real problem as put forth in this editorial. The last
two sentences say “Republicans, including McCrory, said they were going to
accomplish things. So far, they’ve broken the eggs, but they haven’t delivered
the omelette.” What do they expect? Everyone knows that cooking is women’s
work!
Sincerely,
Debbie
Leonard
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