A teacher laments the state of our public schools, a Netflix special puts the spotlight on priests who prey on young men and the victims society ignores and a son of Bakersfield returns home to share some "cosmic outlaw country at Temblor Brewing Co.

Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this community such a special place. The views expressed here are strictly my own and do not represent any other company or publication. 

 * ... STATE OF OUR SCHOOLS: Bakersfield High school history teacher Jeremy Adams has become an important voice in the debate over the state of our public schools, and his latest essay in Newsweek magazine sends a strong message that something has gone terribly wrong. After a career of teaching both in high school and over at Cal State University Bakersfield, Adams has witnessed the decline of public

education in America, whether it be the lowering of academic standards or the lack of discipline in the clsssrooms. Earlier this week he published "Hollowed Out,"a remarkably candid and often alarming look at the state of our public schools, and now Adams is sharing his thoughts with Newsweek magazine. As Adams told Newsweek: "Amidst the vandalism and endless spigot of foul language, standing in front of students who brazenly take out their phones and start playing video games in the middle of class, walking amongst the trash that is left strewn in stairwells after lunch, phoning security to accompany 17-year-olds to the bathroom because they can't be trusted, is the American teacher who knows deep down they have lost the basic quest for decency on school campuses. Within the classroom, we have become softies, asking little, tolerating everything, knowing we are expected to take late work, knowing that open book tests are increasingly the norm, group projects are all the rage, and asking students to engage in sustained reading of texts or master large quantities of information is something a post-COVID student probably lacks the acumen to do."

 * ... PRIEST SCANDAL: For any community that has endured the upheaval of having a local priest accused of sexual abuse, there is a new documentary on Netflix that will undoubtedly hit home. The new movie is called Procession, a feature about six men who survived childhood sexual assault at the hands of Catholic priests and clergy. The film premiered earlier this month at the Telluride Film Festival, where it instantly began generating buzz as a potential Oscar player. At the heart of every abusive priest case are the accusers, who are often - as happened here in Bakersfield when former priest Craig Harrison was put on a "credibly accused" list of wayward priests - denounced as opportunists out only for themselves and money. "Procession" focuses on six men who kept the secret of their abuse for decades, sometimes at great cost to their emotional sanity and happiness. The documentary makes a convincing case that we listen to their stories before dismissing their allegations.

 * ... HERBIE BENHAM IV: Mark your calendars for Thursday, Nov. 18, when a prodigal son returns to Bakersfield to lay down some "cosmic outlaw country" for an audience at Temblor Brewing. Herb Benham IV, son of The Californian's Herb Benham, has been honing his skills in the California desert and returns to town to croon a few tunes. Herbie was born and raised here, lived in Los Angeles and San Francisco before moving to the Mojave desert and was influenced by Buck Owens and the Bakersfield Sound. His own sound has traces of out;aw country, psychedelic folks, punk rock and stadium rock but he makes it all his own. This is a show you don't want to miss. Thursday, Nov. 18, at Temblor.

 * ... SHOOTERS: In the parlance of the newspaper business, photographers are often called "shooters" because of the number of times they "shoot" pictures, and over the course of my 20-plus year career at The Bakersfield Californian I was fortunate to work with some terrific "shooters" - Felix Adamo, Casey Christie, John Harte, Henry Barrios to name a few. Casey Christie was known for his nature shots, and today I share one of his more famous pictures, the owls at CALM. Enjoy and thanks to The Californian for allowing me to republicize them.

 * ... MEMORIES: Here is a remarkable aerial view of the Garces Circle taken soon after its completion, date unknown.

Jeremy Adams' essay :The Death of Gratitude in the American Classroom" speaks to the values of a new generation and a new America that is breaking with its past. Is that a good thing? One teacher poses that question ...

 Bakersfield Observed presents this essay from Jeremy Adams, a teacher at Bakersfield High School. My thanks to Jeremy for allowing me to reprint it.

 Like his father Jeremy Adams found his passion in the high school hallways of America, engrossing himself into the challenging, sometimes disheartening but always uplifting discipline of teaching teenagers in high school. But over the years Adams says something has changed, and it's the way young men and

women look on the world: how they view themselves and others, how they view the world, how they view concepts of sacrifice and patriotism and the all important "self." In this remarkable essay, Adams questions whether we have seen the death of gratitude in the American classroom. What happened to all the personal notes at the end of the year, the inevitable connections between student and teacher? As a teaser, one excerpt from the essay:

 "But post-Christian young Americans may ask, “Why exhibit gratitude for a life that I didn’t ask for?” For many of them, existence seems little better than nonexistence, because much of life seems absurd. They conclude that the creator of such absurdity must be unworthy of worship and praise, much less gratitude.

 "Many still tepidly like their nation, but the trend lines are not good. Increasingly, they do not say the Pledge of Allegiance or stand for the national anthem. They think patriotism is a virtue of the uneducated and naïve, who don’t know the “true history” of America popularized by Howard Zinn and the 1619 Project. They think invoking the Founding Fathers is bravado. They see our national celebrations as acts of hubris that “whitewash” a history of genocide, slavery, and colonialism.

 "They reject the traditional American narrative about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution: the one a radical statement of universal justice, the other an attempt to institutionalize those principles in a democratic republic. For many of my students, their allegiance is not to “the republic,” but to “social justice,” “equity,” or battling “systemic racism.” Ironically, they do not see how their own commitments are rooted in American idealism. Whether they know it or not, when they march in the street or bemoan unequal treatment, they are ultimately appealing to natural law, channeling Jeffersonian liberalism, and celebrating the constitutional principles of the fourteenth Amendment.

A compassionate and empathetic nation comes together on Easter, a local convenience store to give away gas to doctors and nurses, and Pyrenees Cafe closes to wait out the pandemic

Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this community such a special place. The views expressed here are strictly my own and do not represent any other person or organization.

 * ... EASTER AND THE VIRUS: Easter could not have come at a better time, a full month into the nation's lockdown. At a time of sacrifice and illness and death, Easter brings us hope and a sense of context that suffering is universal, just as is hope. One of my favorite essayists, former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that this crisis has brought out the best in us, if only we look for it. Wrote Noonan: "As a nation we've learned that as a corporate entity of

330 million diverse souls we could quickly absorb, adapt and adjust to widespread disruption. I'm not sure we knew that. Crazy cowboy nation cooperated with the authorities. America has comported itself as exactly what you thought it was or hoped it was but weren't sure: compassionate, empathetic, committed, hard-working, creative and, as a friend said, funny as hell. Under great and immediate stress there's been broad peacefulness and civility. So far we done ourselves proud."

 * ... GRATEFUL: Rami Batikh is the gregarious, no nonsense owner of the Ramco Express gas station at the corner of 23rd and F streets downtown. He knows most of his regulars by name, is diligent about shooing away the homeless to keep his customers safe, and always greets you with a smile. To show his appreciation for our first responders, Batikh is offering free gas to hospital doctors and nurses two days this week. "I will have someone outside in gloves so they don't have to get out of their cars," he told me. "I am just so grateful for all they do." To qualify just show the attendant a valid ID and enjoy some gas compliments of Rami.

 * .., PYRENEES: Rod and Julie Crawford are owners of the iconic Pyrenees Cafe, and when the virus hit, they pledged to to it the old way: stay open, endure, remain focused on the customer and live up to the proud history of the old saloon and eatery adjacent to the railroad tracks in historic east Kern. For a while it worked. Then the orders came to shut its doors, and that was followed by a brisk take-out service welcomed by its legions of fans. In the end, it was just too much, and Pyrenees will shut down until the pandemic passes. On Facebook, Rod shared this: "Julie and I would like to thank everyone who came to support our family at Pyrenees Cafe, it means the world to us. After crunching the numbers and working with a shoe string staff we have been forced to make a decision that we are not happy with but I hope you will understand. We have decided that we have no choice but to close the doors until this Covid - 19 thing is over. We have had regular customers come every single day and have had the opportunity to meet so many new faces that never even knew Old Town Kern existed until this unfortunate event happened. Since this has happened we have been using the time to remodel and get things done in the restaurant and bar, new seats and booths in the dinning room, fresh paint ... Please accept our deepest apologies for closing the doors, but to reopen, this is something we must do so all our family has a home to come back to and we mean all of you. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Sincerely Julie and Rod and the staff."

 * ... AUTHOR AUTHOR! Jeremy Adams, longtime history and political science teacher at Bakersfield High School, has authored a book that has hit the market. Called "Riding the Wave," the book is available on Amazon and offers Adams' views on teaching, relationships and how professional teachers and repurpose their classroom strategies. Said Amazon: "Deftly navigate the constant cycles of change and reform with the support of this actionable resource. Author Jeremy S. Adams identifies five key teacher relationships--the self, students, colleagues, administrators, and the community--and outlines how change impacts each. Discover concrete strategies for not only strengthening these relationships but also rediscovering professional purpose and truly thriving in the classroom."

 * ... LOW ACHIEVERS: Are we really one of the worst counties in the nation when it comes to social distancing? That's what a new website says based on "app partners" that record how well we are doing keeping a safe distance from one another. Our grade? According to UNACAST we have inched up to a "C" grade after previously earning an "F" and then a "D." A week ago, UNACAST rate nine counties in California, Kern being one of them, an "F" grade.

 * ... THE BEST, AND WORST, OF US: The pandemic and accompanying lockdown has brought the best, and worst, out of some people. As evidence check out these photos, the first one shot by Peter Wolleson in Seven Oaksand the second by Lois Henry.

* ... GAS ENVY: Check out this photo of a gas station in New Orleans. No commentary necessary.

 * .... MEMORIES: Courtesy of the Facebook page Kern County History Fans, check out this picture of Union and 21st Street in the 1940s and how it looks today.