Randell Jones
Daniel Boone Footsteps
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6-minute Stories

Everybody loves a good story
Listen to these 6-minute stories
from both new voices and experienced writers
from the Personal Story Publishing Project anthologies:
Bearing Up , Exploring , That Southern Thing , Luck & Opportunity,
Trouble , Curious Stuff , Twists and Turns , Sooner or Later , and Now or Never.
Copies of all 10 books in the series available here.
“6-minute Stories” episodes announced on Facebook @6minutestories

"Getting a Head Start" by Arlene Mandell

 — My excitement was contagious; I was hired on the spot.

All eyes were glued on the guitar I strummed, energetically.

 

Arlene Mandell is an artist living in Linville, North Carolina, proudly celebrating her 10th year at Carlton Gallery in Banner Elk. (carltongallery.com/arlene-mandell). A native New Yorker, relocating to the Blue Ridge Mountains with Captain Dan ignited a passion to write. Her “6-minute Stories” podcasts include: “Eye of the Dolphin,” “Artist Borne,” “Gobsmacked in the Gulfstream,” “Renegade Daughter,” “It Started with a Typo,” “Shopping for the Homeless,” “Thirteen Candles in the Dark,” “The Promise of Romance,” “At Five & Ninety-Five, Mother Was a Star,” “In the Heart of Trauma,” and “The Jig Is Up.”

 Author’s Talk

Arlene Mandell - Head Start teacher in NYC

   “Ain’t it wonderful to be, where I’ve always wanted to be.

For the first time I’ll breathe free, here in New York City.”   

(Singer/Songwriter Harry Nilsson—“I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City”)

 As a native New Yorker on a rollercoaster quest to teach young children, I collected a cornucopia of rewards along the way. Some stand out. In particular, four words from a four-year-old, which you will hear in this podcast, and the following verbatim letter from a parent.  Mrs. Lawson wrote this letter in response to an inquiry I sent home with her son, Daniel, asking why she refused to sign the PERMISSION FORM for him to go on a class trip to the zoo. 

Dear Mrs. Mandell, 

Yes, I told Daniel he wouldn’t be going on the school trip to the zoo if he didn’t behave at home and go to sleep at night instead of playing, when he is put to bed. 

However, he is going. This is just my way of getting him to sleep at night instead of playing, which works wonders. He is so obsessed with school, that I tell him to take a nap after school or no school tomorrow, and in 15 minutes at the most he is asleep for a nap. 

 I find talking and using school as a means of obedience with Daniel gets more results than punishment or spankings.  

I hope he continues to love school as much as he does because if he changes his mind, I sure will be in a lot of trouble.
Thank you for your concern.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Lawson 

{This letter is from my precious cache of parent letters, kept over decades. My teaching years were among the happiest of my life.) —Arlene Mandell

Randell Jones