Close Hold

In December, over Mrs. H's active and passive discouragement, I submitted a grant asking for money for library books to the Laura Bush Foundation. The school hasn't spent a dime on book acquisitions in probably ten years, as there have been no dimes to spend on such a luxury. I couldn't deal with it, and whipped up a piddly little $5000 proposal.

We were supposed to hear by the end of May. Yesterday morning I said to my partner, "Well, we still haven't heard, so I guess I didn't get it." Always the optimist, he replied, "The day isn't over yet." I rolled my eyes and got out of the car, dismayed that my honestly kick-ass proposal must have been rejected because our enrollment is so low.

An hour later I got a call from the director of the Laura Bush Foundation. Not only had I won the grant, but they were so impressed with the application that they wanted to come present the check in person at our school. The White House later told me to keep the name of the visitor "close hold," which made me feel immensely cool, since I once heard that phrase on The West Wing. So I am not at liberty to divulge the name of the person who is coming to the school to present the check from the Laura Bush Foundation. I can say it's not Joe Wilson's wife.

The VIPs imminent arrival has thrown the school into a tizzy. The district has gotten involved and now there is a long list of "our" VIPs who want to attend. Only a handful will get to be in the room with the presenter--none of them gave a flying fuck about the grant when I wrote it, but now they're all interested.

Anyway, this is a huge success for the school, even if it is turning into a political football. I will get a couple of my students in the room and I'm sure they'll be thrilled.

Oh, and when the principal held an emergency meeting to announce that we couldn't take down our bulletin boards just yet, she started it off by saying, "I gave Ms. Sweetland a proposal to submit a while back..."