IT SMILED IN CARMI, ILLINOIS

The Fickle Finger of Fate Award that used to be offered on Laugh-In. (I know, it's my second entry from that tv show this week.)

A former student of mine, unable to find a teaching job in her field, took a job as a high school Special Ed. teacher's aide in Carmi, Illinois. A farming community located on the Illinois/Indiana state line, it is a town known mainly for its delicious watermelons grown there. Until L.L. got there.

Supplied with little training in Special Education, she arrived at the high school eager to get into the classroom. As an aide to a veteran teacher, she could learn a lot.

She was armed with a notepad and pen to write down what she observed. During one of the first weeks of the new school year, a student went postal ( I hate to have to use that term, but I can't spell bisserk closely enough to get my spell check to correct me) and started yelling and "pitchin' a fit", as they say in Southern Illinois. Curse words were flying, directed at the teacher.

L.L. had to interrupt,"Is that with a c or a k?" she pondered over her pen and pad.

It diffused the situation as both student and teacher erupted in laughter over the question. And while the incident occurred a few years ago, for it, Lindsay Lee is awarded the Fickle Finger of Fate Award 2008.