Mr. Sun is both impressed, and un-impressed, with ABC of Guilford County's mixed messengers.

Update: Greensboro is Talking is back up and blogging.  He offers a dose of political reality on the subject at hand and some cautionary advice borne of experience.

Insight:  Mr. Sun has honored me with that post and in doing so has broken his own editorial policy: namely items #9 and #15.  But, he also now has outside validation of #3.

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I am NOT a journalist, I am NOT a journalist, I am NOT a journalist.  I AM a citizen with a point of view and the means to let you in on it.

The past couple of weeks of my public life have been different... I mean really different.  The confluence of the extraordinary amount of positive ink that the News & Record expended on me two Sundays ago, the uptick of interest in local weblogs via the Blogger Conference and local coverage of the medium, my attendance at a breakneck number of gatherings (political fundraisers, PTA meetings, private lunches with candidates, football games, neighborhood stuff, chance meetings with influencers... et al) and a crushing volume of new work and electronic and telephone correspondence have all combined to overwhelm the resources here at 108 Cypress Street.

With increased notoriety came new-found and expanded opportunities, and readership, for this weblog and an accompanying self re-affimation regarding my sense of responsibility to be judicious with what I say here.

In the past weeks I have had umpteen politicos, insiders, and regular folks contact me with overt or covert hopes of commandeering my voice as read on these pages.  Now mind you, since I started this endeavor I have certainly depended on "scoops" from trusted folks, but I have always filtered things through my sense of right and wrong, my personal experience on a particular subject, and most of all - my abiding desire and need to be able to sleep at night.  It has served me well thus far.

So... this is a notice to all who would bend my ear: Bend away.  But keep this in mind - a suggestion, an innuendo, a scoop or other information that you think I should know only awakens my attention - it doesn't crystalize my take on the subject so don't be surprised if my take as presented in this space doesn't match yours. In addition, don't be dissapointed if I don't even mention your information here, I have limited time to devote to this timesucker called HoggsBlog. 

I call 'em as I see 'em... if I mirror your point of view... great.  If I don't, well... that's what the comments section is for... use it... under your real name or a psuedonym, makes me no nevermind.

I am NOT a journalist, I am simply a guy who has developed a louder voice than yours through months of tapping on, and sometimes pounding on, this old computer keyboard.  But... as Cone points out... journalism can certainly happen on this and other blogs.  So when some actual journalism happens here, you will know it, because the information I provide will be true to the best of my knowledge and verifiable.

All of the rest that you read here is just one man's informed opinion borne of personal experience.  If you want your take on things to get a full airing... get your own damn blog.

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Bruce Buchanon with the N&R emailed today looking for Aycock neighborhood parents who have students at Aycock Middle School.  He is working a story for this weekend about Aycock's new uniform policy.

Despite my blustering over the process that Aycock's administration utilized to get the policy in place I have decided to take a wait-and-see chillpill with the policy.  If it works, the proof will be in the puddin'.  If it doesn't, we'll try something else.  So, I kept my mouth shut when I phoned Bruce back and just provided some names of friends and neighbors for his story, like he asked.

Anectodal evidence says the uniforms may be working....  Last week, Aycock had its first "free dress day". 

About an hour after school started a neighbor called to alert me that four young guys were walking down our street wearing long white t-shirts and baggy jeans - they were smoking a joint.  (Trust me, this neighbor knows her olfactories very well)

The police were called and I went looking for them, too.  I finally caught up with two of the guys and asked where they went to school and why weren't they there.  They said "Aycock" and then "we missed the bus".  I asked them to get in my Scout so I could get them to school but they kept moving and cut through some yards (all the while with me on the 911 call).  I finally spotted them heading to Aycock and they apparently got back in during class change.

I went in to the school to look for Aycock's SRO officer Tom Branson, but ran into long-time assistant principal (and good friend) Rick Edwards and told him what was going on with the truants.  Edwards said that since the first day of school, this "free-dress" day was the only one when they had had any real problems with discipline.  Come to find out, he related that the incident I was working was just the tip of the iceburg for that particular "free-dress" day. (Police caught the other two guys, BTW). 

I really trust principal Edwards' opinions, he won't stear you wrong on stuff like this.

I hope that Buchanon's article puts Aycock and it's uniforms in a good light.  If uniforms truly turn out to be part of the solution for middle school discipline at Aycock, and subsequently Guilford County,  I'm going to buy stock in Khaki futures.

But... on the other hand... the above account of events suggests that uniforms might not necessarily change behaviors, uniforms might simply place a band-aid on such behaviors.  I'll give it time, though.

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