During my first year of teaching in Dallas, Texas, I wasn’t much older than my students. In mid-20th century, this school system had a central bank of films from which teachers could choose. However, we chose films at the first of the year and received them whenever our school rolled around on the schedule. My request for “Silas Marner” showed up on the day that the systemwide English supervisor came to observe me for the first time.
Also, the school had a film room large enough for three classes and that day the room was full. Unbeknownst to all of us, the system, at one time had at least two versions of this film - one with actors and one animated. However, time must have worn both to a frazzle and we had received a version where the two had been spliced together. We’d watch the actors, then the cartoon characters, then the actors. The students roared.
And in a dark room where almost 100 teens sat, there was little chance to monitor behavior. I was mortified. The veteran teachers didn’t stop the film. I did not take my next four classes to see this debacle. But my supervisor had seen the whole sloppy mess. She did compliment me for my decision not to show the movie to my other classes. Hopefully, she had that film version pulled from the system’s inventory.
The next morning, as I arrived to teach my first period class, the top of my desk was covered in 30 plus apples. Each student had brought one as an apology. What’s a new teacher to do? I thanked them and promised never to subject them to such an outing again. I never ordered another film nor took another class to the movie room at SOC.
And, I, as a traveling teacher, toted around a bagful of apples the rest of the day.
My grandmother baked the best apple pies I’ve ever eaten. No matter how hard I try, even with her handwritten copy of the recipe, I cannot match her dessert that my entire family loved. My uncle, as a toddler, dubbed this confection “lacky” pie because he “lacked” it so very much.
Most everyone has his/her favorite version of this all American pie. The nearest that I’ve come in matching taste with Grandmother’s delectable dish is a recipe that I obtained through a Georgia Department of Agriculture demonstration promoting products grown in the state at the Georgia State Fair in Perry years ago. (This year, the fair, now dubbed Georgia National Fair, runs October 6-16, 2022). But this recipe doesn’t include her flaky pie crust.
The only apple native to the United States is a variety of crabapple which the Native Americans neither ate nor cultivated. Apples came came to the New World in the form of seeds as early as 1620, according to an article by Elise Warner in American Spirit, the DAR magazine.
And while the settlers diligently attended to their orchards, their crops was sparse until they imported honeybees between 1630 and 1633 from England. That’s why, even today, we often see the farmer’s bee hives situated in apple orchards.
Of course, the legendary Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) is credited with spreading the fruit across the country. Today, some 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States. Peter J. Hatch, director of the Monticello Gardens and Grounds says, “The apple is an apt symbol for the diversity and complexity of America’s melting pot culture. No cultivated fruit has so many delightful variations as the apple…The apple is to America as the potato is to Ireland or the olive to Italy.”
Virginia pomologist James Fritz in 1872 dubbed the delicious and nutritious apple, “our democratic fruit.”
Apple Cheese Casserole
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
7 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Combine flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter until it resembles coarse meal. Set aside.
Toss sliced apples with water and lemon juice. Spoon into greased 8-inch casserole.
Sprinkle with flour mixture.
Bake covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
Uncover and top with cheese. Bake an additional five minutes or until cheese is melted.
2022
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