Rants and raves, 2021 edition

As 2021 comes to a close, it’s once again time to look back and reflect. In doing so, I have a few rants and raves from this crazy, interesting year. 
As usual, I want to start with my rants first so I can end with the good stuff as I get ready for 2022.
It’s hard to pick which of these things takes the No. 1 spot, because all three are truly frustrating and even sad.
Sad and scary is the mass exodus from teaching that is happening across the nation. Teachers are tired, they are overworked, they went from being lauded as heroes to being villainized. Students returned to the classroom after months, if not not longer, far behind where they should have been because of remote learning. They also returned without the social skills they would have acquired had they remained in school rather than learning from home.
Fortunately, here in Wyoming we didn’t experience these issues given we were back in the classroom at the beginning of 2020-21 school year, and I am grateful for that. However, a teaching (and substitute) shortage is something that we all need to be concerned about because, without them, where will this nation be?
My next rant is the official and even coaching shortage that we are experiencing everywhere. Here in Wyoming, tried and true officials are hanging up their whistles without having a pool of younger people lining up to take their place.
Why, you may ask? Unfortunately, it is most very likely due to officials suffering abuse from fans. I’ve been an official, and while I have not experienced much harassment as a volleyball ref, I absolutely refused to don a whistle for basketball. Some of the venom that comes from the mouths of fans is shocking, and I would not want to put myself in the position of being the target of that wrath.
Coaching is facing a similar situation. When you sacrifice all you have to in order to coach youth sports, it makes it so much more difficult to have your character and abilities slandered. 
Unfortunately, without officials and coaches, the future of youth sports is in peril. 
My last irritation of the year is Tik Tok. While there are undeniably funny and entertaining videos on the app, the “challenges” presented on Tik Tok this fall and winter made teaching even harder.
The first one, which ultimately resulted in the restriction of the boys’ restrooms in the school, was to encourage students to vandalize and steal from the school. Often the target was the restroom, but young people were also encouraged to steal from teachers’ rooms as well.
These occurrences cost the school money and forced already under-appreciated custodians to clean up some rather disgusting situations in the bathrooms.
The latest occurred on Dec. 17, when the challenge issued from Tik Tok was for students to call in threats of violence to their schools in order to shut them down. Newcastle, fortunately, did not fall victim, but just over the border in Rapid City, S.D., schools shut down due to threats of violence they were forced to take seriously. 
None of that is cool.
However, I am happy to report that there are also wonderful things to rave about that happened in 2021.
My first one is how Wyoming has not let the pandemic impact our lives to the extreme it has in other states around the country. Granted, our wide open spaces coupled by the lowest population of any state in the nation helped our situation out a great deal. When you add the frontier fortitude we Wyomingites share, life got back to “normal” much faster than elsewhere.
Because of our approach, school and sports have been allowed to return almost to pre-pandemic requirements. That is awesome for our athletes who had to sacrifice much from their already limited time available to them to compete in high school sports. 
I will add that having vaccinations for COVID-19 available also helped to free up restrictions on our lives. While some opt not to be vaccinated, which is fully their right, my own situation played out pretty positively for me.  
I am fully vaccinated and can report that even though I was closely exposed to Covid twice, I remained healthy through each instance. Also, my status as vaccinated allowed me to travel, which after a year of being homebound, was much needed. 
Another rave of mine is getting to watch Dogies and Lady Dogies have a pretty successful year despite the adversity they faced. 
For a run-down on the Lady Dogies’ seasons, see the Year in Review article, but suffice it to say, our ladies put forth a great effort and it paid off with some pretty cool outcomes. One of my favorite moments from 2021 was watching the Dogie football team rebound from a pretty crappy start to their season, to making the most of their year.
They lost a heartbreaker in the game which would have earned them a playoff berth, but no one was left with any question regarding whether or not they gave it their all. 
When the team was a couple of games into the season, getting to the playoffs seemed to be beyond their reach — but then the boys decided to make a run and man did they do so. 
That kind of fortitude, grit and determination made fans, parents and players proud to be a Dogie, and it’s really what life is all about.
So, here’s to 2022 and the hope that things keep going in an upward direction.