Transcript | Annotation | Source: 89-4286-C-3-A-2(2-4) (PDF) | Month Index
Today guests, Soviet and Cuban Ambassadors to Guyana and a Tass correspondent are expected. Special activities are planned: a few demonstration classes, display of articles invented and manufactured by Temple people; everything cleaned up; clothing taken off lines; use names such as Lenin and Jones Drive, Cuffy Drive, Castro Way.
I wrote a letter to Jim Randolph requesting books and teaching materials be sent in travelers luggage.
Wrote yesterday’s journal entry.
Went to lunch. Announcement read. Visit of guests postponed because of weather.
Classes were not held. Students went to fields.
Had a conversation with Jack Barron about plants and crops, unfamiliar to me, mentioned in last night’s meeting. He described some of them and offered to take me to a nearby area where several of them grew not far from the central area. A play area for toddlers has been constructed there but children were not using it then. Jack showed me numerous plants, vines, bushes, trees, flowers and picked two pieces of ripe fruit. He showed me where they planned to back up the stream for ponds for fish and ducks. One problem is that it receives waste water from the village.
Lynetta Jones, Jim’s mother, has died and her grave is here. Jim had mentioned that she was buried among the children to emphasize life.
I stopped at the office and asked Joyce Touchette for an order to Pop Jackson for some chairs for our cottage. She gave me a request for 2. I visited with Mom and Pop Jackson in Troolie No. 1 for a few minutes. Pop let me choose 2 chairs and a footstool he already had.
Saw Tom in one of the school tents and we had a good conversation. He was more liberal than formerly about giving me responsibilities in the English teaching program. He proposed I assume supervision of the untrained English teachers. I told him titles were irrelevant but I was glad to do all I could. I was heartened.
At home I had a nap. It was very pleasant with rain falling.
I took a shower and went to dinner. I have not much appetite and have been cutting down on rice drastically, but I enjoy the vegetables.
Spent a few hours reading Radicalism in America, by Sydney Lens.
I was to meet at 11.00 in the pavilion with Junior and Senior High School English teachers but the film we saw in Georgetown, The Outfit, which was brought here, was being shown for the last time. I decided to watch the film and meet with the teachers afterwards if they were there. I missed the first part but sat through the rest of it. The sound had been so bad when the picture was shown in Georgetown that I had not understood it. Because of Jim’s explanation of the theme, I understood better its relevance to our concerns.
After the film I saw no sign of any of the English teachers. I went to wash and saw Dick Tropp with Shirley Hicks in the dining area, drinking coffee and working. Dick told me he had permission to have coffee when he worked late. He had not been told about the meeting. He did not agree with the idea of having such a meeting now. He thought a meeting of all teachers should be held, as many of them were using extremely faulty methods. I proposed we have regular teacher training sessions and he seemed to agree, but I was not greatly encouraged by his attitude.
Went to bed around 1.00. Didn’t turn the light on.