The "Coloring of the Yearbook" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished the Middle School Yearbook and am almost finished with the Intermediate School Yearbook.  I do both of these yearbooks for the schools in the Manheim Township School District in Lancaster County, PA.  Both contain an individual photo of each student in the school along with teacher's photos, administration and staff photos, sport's team photos, club and musical group photos and lots of candids.  I spend quite a few days roaming the schools to get candid shots of students while in class, the halls, at lunch or in gym or music classes.  I have to take close to 200 photos at each school to fill the extra pages that are not covered with the necessary photos, therefore quite a few of the students in the school will have a candid appearing in the book.  In order to be in the school I need to wear my badge that I wore when I taught in the district.  But as soon as I retired from teaching I had to go through an FBI security check in order to keep my badge.  After 33 years in the buildings of the school district I still had to pay for my security check.  That's another issue, but not the reason for my story today.  

During the Super Bowl a few weeks ago Carol and I watched a Coke ad that we thought was inspiring.  Had different nationalities singing parts of "America the Beautiful."  These nationalities were both multicultural and multiracial, much the same as our country is today.  Boy, did the ad cause a stir.  Quite a few people rushed out to by soda …... but not Coke!  They thought it was terrible having people of color and other cultures singing a song about America.  And, since it was sponsored by Coke, they weren't going to ever buy Coke again.  Gil Smart, a journalist for our Lancaster Sunday News, and a known left-wing writer, said that nanoseconds after the ad appeared, the virtual airwaves were polluted with the stench of xenophobia.  "Speak English or go home" was one reaction on Coke's Facebook page.  Also, "How dare you sing 'America' in different languages. (Expletive) Coca Cola.  That's so disrespectful."  In today's world multilingualism and multiculturalism is a part of the fabric of the United States of America.  And, it's not going away anytime soon.  The same people who are complaining probably came from families who years ago emigrated to the United States and perhaps spoke a different language themselves.  My family is Scotch-Irish.  Dare I sing 'America'?  Sure, because I'm an American just the same as all U.S. citizens be they white or of color are Americans?  What about our President!  Contrary to the beliefs and thoughts of some, he too is an American.  When I take photos of the students in the Middle and Intermediate schools, I don't search out just the white students.  When I graduated from high school in the same school district where I now make the yearbooks, there wasn't a single dark skinned  student.  Today …… my guess is maybe 50% white and 50% brown and black.  When I take the photos and place them on the candid pages, I attempt to keep that same ratio plus make sure that there are equal amounts of boys and girls pictured.  It is a school yearbook and should reflect the population of the school.  Do I mind?  Some of my best shots are of minorities who are so happy and thrilled to have their photo taken for the yearbook.  My only gripe is that some of the names aren't as easy to spell anymore as they once were.  Gone are the days of all Smiths and Jones names, although there is a Smith-Jones in one of the schools.  I always place the student's name under their photo so all can tell, 50 years from now, who the person might be when the photo was taken.  My reasoning for all of what I just wrote is:  If someone is a student in one of the schools in Manheim Township, they have every right to have their photo or photos displayed in the yearbook for the school district no matter what nationality or race they met be.  To me they are all public school students in the Manheim Township School District.  And, I'll bet they wouldn't turn down a Coke!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.