Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

  You may hear faint drum beats in the background of this one as my kid copes with some anxiety about upcoming final exams by pummeling his drums. I was not a great student, but I wasn't stupid. I was a slow reader, slow cipher, slow test taker, and a D student until I barely graduated, defeating the odds and the expectations of my guidance counselor. I had professors in college who pointed out that if I learned through discussion, my test scores leaped.  I was a good learner, but I had my own way of navigating the learning process, more of a meandering stream than a direct route I know that feeling of anxiety before tests. Even the common nightmare of showing up for school to fin there is a test and I haven't studied is one I still have, 41 years after graduating from high school (oops it'll be 42 years as of Friday). No matter how you learn, I honor the fact that you are capable of learning and I know that you'll figure out soon enough that you were doing the best you...

The day I started first grade my Dad took me to my favorite store in the town where we lived, Scott's. Scott's was owned and run by a cousin of his, Scott Taggart. Scott's was a stationery store, but that wasn't all they had. The candy counter was world famous, or at least I thought it should be. The store clerk, Libby would fill up a small bag of whatever treats you wanted...Swedish fish, pixie sticks, cherry coins, Sixlets, and my favorite, Smarties. A quarter bought a bag full. But the reason for this trip wasn't the candy counter. The purpose of this excursion was to purchase something that continues to be one of my favorite things to shop for, school supplies. This first time is still etched in my memory because it was the first time I'd ever needed school supplies of my own. In preschool and kindergarten if you needed paper or something to color or paint with, the teacher had a pile in her tall cabinet by the rest room door. This time I was getting my ...