Fifty Percent Is Really, GREAT

When would a 50 percent return rate be a cause to celebrate? When in my lifetime (50-plus years) would 50 percentbe something to be proud of? When is 50 percent, ever a good thing? I’ll tell you when - when you start something new, and half the time in this new adventure you have some semblance of success. Even if that success is, only, a success in your own head. In 2020, I started three new adventures. Two were chosen and one was thrust upon me. All were a product of the crazy pandemic we found ourselves in. I am convinced that none of my 50 percent adventures would have occurred if it were not for the corona virus. NOT that I would choose that time in history to live through, but maybe I am looking for a bit of a silver lining.

The first adventure, which started for me in earnest in May of 2020, is song writing. The song would start with a phrase which seemed to come to me at random often at inopportune times - waiting in line at the grocery store, playing with our granddaughter, of course, in the shower -  then a melody would follow. If I was able, I would sit down with a piece of paper and the voice recorder on my phone and I hash out the semblance of a song. The interesting part of this process is that I don’t have the compositional skills to actually create a song! This is where I’m lucky to be friends with a musical genius who does have that knowledge base and skill. I pass my little “baby song” to my music teacher pal and he takes my voice recording and lyrics, and transposes it all into chords, and eventually we work through the birth of an original song. If I am honest, the song I create and the song which is the finished product sound nothing alike. Billy V. works his magic mightily. He’s able to take my lyrics and the “feel” of my song and create the music.

This is where the 50 percent thing comes into play. Only about half of my songs are worth saving. And really, that’s being very generous. I am more than thrilled. I’m elated that what pops into my head can turn into something. Now, it turns into something singable and playable because I have a kind, patient, generous friend who is willing to work with me. Still, something from nothing has been created.

My second 50 percent adventure is also in the musical realm. I started playing guitar. As many of us did back in March and April 2020- I started cleaning out closets. Since we were “locked down,” I was going to be productive. Start cleaning out the dumping grounds of our home of 24 years. The pantry was first. I won’t even tell you the expiration dates of stuff I threw away. Next came closets, in one which I found our daughter’s 20-year-old guitar. Then my pandemic ADD kicked-in and I abandoned the organizing and decided to learn how to play the guitar.

I started with on-line tutorials and quickly found that those did not work for me. I know, YouTube videos work for lots of people, but they did not click for me. Luckily, this was at the same time that the weather was turning warm and some restrictions in Chicago were being lifted, so I was able to take lessons outdoors with a woman with whom I had taken singing lessons with pre-Covid. I had about eight lessons in person, which gave me enough of a base to be able to go back on-line to continue learning in the fall and winter of 2020. My musical genius friend agreed to continue my guitar lessons while we taught remotely from home.

The 50 percent rule for my guitar playing adventure, once again, is generous. In the fall of 2020, I was able to play and sing along to a number of popular songs, such as:

“Leaving on a Jet Plane,” 1960’s folk tune. I had all threechords to this one down pat.

“I’ll Fly Away,” 1930’s gospel song. I can play it all the way through without stopping.

“Wherever Is Your Heart,” 2015 Brandie Carlile hit. I totally jammed out on this one. 

Regardless of the fact that I could not play the song all the way through without stopping to find the right cord or figure out where my fingers go, I fantasize about being a rock star while I played. Okay so, three songs does not a concert make.  I have to say I was thrilled with my three songs and my continued adventure into this 50 percent trip.

My final 50 percent adventure, which I embarked on during the pandemic, was the technology required of me for online teaching. If you are a former administrator or a parent of one of my elementary art students be forewarned - NOT because I am about to reveal an illegal or unethical practice – but because I’m going to admit that I was not “ALL in 100%” into this teaching art to 5-10 year olds online.

It was a challenge. When friends asked the inevitable questions:

“Isn’t it difficult to teach ART to kids on-line?” YES.

“How do you do that without supplies?” With much difficulty.

“Do you just draw with your students?” We have adapted and moved beyond that.

So admitting that a 50 percent knowledge of technology in my job situation was not ideal, in the year of “THE VID”- 50 percent of 100 percent new teaching method was A-Okay with me.

Was it my age? When I first started teaching in the fall of 1986, technology consisted of a wall mounted, rotary dial telephone. Computers did not exist in classrooms at that time. I used a “ditto” machine to create my 4^th and 5^th graders’ handouts at Epiphany Catholic School in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago. I created these antiquated handouts from bound paper packets, which consisted of a top sheet and a purple carbon paper attached. When creating said worksheets, I was hoping, against all odds, that I would NOT hit the wrong key while typing the worksheet on my electric Corona typewriter.  Auto correct back space did not exist in ditto land. After a worksheet was created, the purple-inked sheet was ripped off and placed on a cylindrical contraption on the hand cranked ditto machine which was then meticulously turned with cross fingered hands that the copy paper would feed correctly and not jam.

CA-CHUNK, CA-CHUNK, CA-CHUNK, the rotation sounded as I got my workout not in steps, but in arm rotations, 48-50 times, depending on how many copies I needed. 

At that time in my teaching career, I sported purple fingers and many of my TJ MAXX blouses were ruined because of that damn purple ink!

Fast forward to my teaching life in 2020-21. I had my own laptop computer, and I was teaching Jetson-esque, remotely. I don’t’ believe my 22-year-old self could ever have imagined all that I would have to learn to be able to teach at the end of my career. I do believe this technological age will be historic, a period of immense, mind-blowing growth, not unlike the Renaissance era and the Industrial Revolution. Time will tell, whether those predictions materialize. I will be long gone when historians make that call. I wonder if the 50 percent moto which I am espousing will be frowned upon in the future?

Fifty percent is starting to feel good, isn’t it?! Is this the lesson from the pandemic that maybe we hold on to? Judging ourselves, others, and our lives against perceived perfection is unrealistic, unnecessary, and I believe, an unhealthy way to live our lives. Maybe in our, not so - distant future, we can, and will be satisfied with 50 percent - Maybe.