Chiggerticky

”Leety Beet”

A story of paying it forward with movies, the English language, and lots of love. 
This is episode number 10 of the Chiggerticky Podcast. If you’ve missed any, click on ANY of the links below to find the full set of 10. 
Chiggerticky on Apple Podcasts
Chiggerticky on Google Podcasts
Chiggerticky on Spotify
Chiggerticky on Podbean
Chiggerticky’s going to take a brief break for a couple of weeks in order to get his teaching legs back under him for the 2022-23 academic year.
But please stick around. He WILL return with more nutty stories. In the meantime, shoot him an email at chiggerticky@gmail.com; visit the website Chiggerticky.com; or harass him on social media by searching the word “Chiggerticky” on Twitter, Facebook, and/or Instagram.
C'mon wid it!
 
THIS EPISODE’S MUSIC
Intro - “Yice Hole” by CHIGGERTICKY
Outro - “Pike’s Funeral” by CHIGGERTICKY

Back to School Special

Middle-school teachers are sometimes tempted to ask students, “What planet did you come from?”  The adolescent brain can, after all, seem alien to adults. 
In this week’s podcast we hear stories that dip into scientific reasons for the space-cadettery of adolescence, and how knowledge of this science can help teachers and parents hold onto composure when kids start acting like “absolute twits.”
MUSIC:
Intro: “Yice Hole!” by CHIGGERTICKY
Outro: “Breaking out of Detention” by CHIGGERTICKY
Sources: 
The adolescent brain (Khan Academy):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fa8U6BkhNo&t=3s
Myelination and the brain (Khan Academy):
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/organ-systems/neuron-membrane-potentials/v/effects-of-axon-diameter-and-myelination
Myelination and synaptic pruning (Lumen Learning)
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/chapter/brain-development-during-adolescence/
 

”You Are That Man!”

How easy it is to find fault in others, even as we’re genuinely oblivious that those same faults flash from ourselves like neon signs.
Today’s episode contains three little stories in which proud people are “hoisted by their own petards.” 
Incidentally, that phrase, which is now cliché, was first penned by Shakespeare in Hamlet. Its general meaning is “to be blown up by one’s own bomb.”  But . . . 
The French word for “fart” is pétarade, and therein lies the root of the word that has come to English as “petard.” 
So, in essence, to be hoisted by one’s own petard is to be launched by one’s own fart. And that’s kind of what we do when we criticize others for displaying faults that we ourselves display.
Don't forget to visit the website https://chiggerticky.com/ for more harebrained commentary.
MUSIC:
Intro - “Yice Hole!” by CHIGGERTICKY
Outro - “Rickwood Field” by CHIGGERTICKY

What’s Wrong with Public Education

He goes from preaching to meddling. Pivoting on this chart
Chiggerticky hypothesizes that major problems in public education root to the fact that students are not considered in a realistic way when educational policy is created.
You can find sources HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Agree? Disagree? Let Chiggerticky know by emailing him at chiggerticky@gmail.com or by posting on one of his social media accounts which can be found by searching the word “chiggerticky”
MUSIC:
Intro: “Yice Hole!” by CHIGGERTICKY
Outro: “Ensley Highland” by CHIGGERTICKY

I DIED USING LATIN

When bad fortune becomes good fortune. A tale of shoes and Latin.
MUSIC
Intro: “Yice Hole!” by CHIGGERTICKY, with brief audio of Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee) in 1989 Nike commercial “It’s gotta be the shoes!” with Michael Jordan;
Outro: “I Died Using Latin” by CHIGGERTICKY, with brief audio of dialogue between Doc Holiday (Val Kilmer) and Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) in the 1993 film Tombstone. 
This episode is dedicated with love to the memory of Miss Dorothy Hortenstine.
 

”Hi, kids! I’m an anthropologist!”

Teaching converts Chiggerticky from missionary to anthropologist. 
 
Here are two heroes cited in this episode:
MUSIC
Intro: “Yice Hole!” by CHIGGERTICKY (with 5-second opening of “School Days” by Chuck Berry)
Outro: “The Loping Redneck” by CHIGGERTICKY 

”Would You Please Shut Your Yapper?”

Chiggerticky chronicles his unending struggle to shut up and listen.
 
OPENING VOICES: 
Trigger warning 
by Rick Dietrich; 
“For the love of everything sacred….” 
by Simon Thompson; 
“Why don’t we listen to THEM?” 
by Ernesto Sirolli 
from his 17-minute TED Talk
which  is well worth viewing. 
I vibe with Sirolli.
As he says in the talk, 
Africa changed the course of his life
for the better,
as it did mine. 
Watch Sierolli’s talk here: 
https://www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_sirolli_want_to_help_someone_shut_up_and_listen?language=en
 
MUSIC: 
Intro: “Yice Hole!” by CHIGGERTICKY
Outro: “Closin’ Time at Nyrene’s” by CHIGGERTICKY

Red and Yellow, Black and White

A TRUE STORY OF RACE & RELIGION IN THE 1960s DEEP SOUTH
 
MUSIC 
Intro: “Yice Hole!" by CHIGGERTICKY; 
“Jesus Loves the Little Children” music by George F. Root, words by C. Herbert Woolston [public domain]
“Praise Him, Praise Him! All Ye Little Children” words and music: Anonymous [public domain]
Outro: “Jesus Loves the Little Children” performed (poorly) by CHIGGERTICKY
FUN FACT: The melody to “Jesus Loves the Little Children” was composed by George F. Root as a Civil War song titled “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys Are Marching.” Root is also credited with “The Battle Cry of Freedom,” and “Just Before the Battle, Mother” (I’d love to hear that one!). 
Rev. C. Herbert Woolston apparently found “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp” a catchy little ditty;  and, inspired by Matthew 19:14 “But Jesus said, ‘Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven,’” Woolston appropriated Root’s melody to the words I learned to sing in Sunday School. 
 
So now you know!

Castro Is Trying to Kill Me!

About the time an Ape Man aimed the A-bomb at Chiggerticky. 
MUSIC: Intro: “Yice Hole!”; Outro: “Mile-Long Midway.” ALL MUSIC BY CHIGGERTICKY.

Out of Africa

There he was, a minister of the gospel, then the church sent him to Africa which led him out of the ministry!
 
This is a soft-opening preview of a podcast series that will begin on June 13, 2022. 
 
MUSIC - Intro: "Yice Hole!"  Outro: "Five Points to Bessemer". ALL MUSIC BY CHIGGERTICKY.