Blueberries! Blueberries!

Today's story and recipe come courtesy of my uncle, Ron Carducci. Ron is married to my father's sister Phyllis.

Ron for a long time worked as a professional jazz drummer. Today while he is enjoying his retirement, Ron is an accomplished cook. Listening to jazz and spending time cooking are some of the things that both Ron and I enjoy the most. It is so much fun to exchange emails with Ron. I never know what kind of tip he will pass my way next.

Ron sent me the recipe I am sharing with you today a just a few days ago. It was a mere coincidence that Ron would then share the story that follows with me yesterday. I read the story just before I left to attend the Senior Showcase at my son Jack's school.

My Kindergarten Class. That's me, back row, third from the left.

My Kindergarten days were a really, really long time ago yesterday. But I will never forget some of the things (beyond the three R's) that my kindergarten teacher taught me. And for that matter all the teachers that succeeded her.

I was thrilled to once again play role of proud dad as I attended my son Jack's Senior Showcase that was being held at this his high school yesterday.

As I entered the dark auditorium, I saw my little boy Jack, now a 6'1" young man , standing on stage in front of a full audience. With his natural engaging manner, he was entertaining his schoolmates and some assorted parents with recollections of what he encountered while trying to make a recording as part of his recording seminar.

How in the world did my son ever get to be so knowledgeable I wondered. Certainly his experience at Maggie L Walker Governor's School had been enriching. It was clear that his teachers had made a positive impact on him.

The student body of Maggie L Walker Governor's School is comprised of a small group of hand selected students who must pass tests and screening interviews before being chosen to attend. Jack's schoolmates are some of the brightest and most talented kids I know. As I thought about this, I could not help but think about the story I had read earlier.

And now I would like to share the story with you.

The Blueberry Story

(by Jamie Robert Vollmer)

I stood before an auditorium filled with outraged teachers who were becoming angrier by the minute. My speech had entirely consumed their precious 90 minutes of in-service training. Their initial icy glares had turned to restless agitation. You could cut the hostility with a knife.

I represented a group of business people dedicated to improving public schools. I was an executive at an ice cream company that became famous in the middle-1980s when People Magazine chose its blueberry flavor as the "Best Ice Cream in America."

I was convinced of two things. First, public schools needed to change; they were archaic selecting and sorting mechanisms designed for the Industrial Age and out of step with the needs of our emerging "knowledge society." Second, educators were a major part of the problem: They resisted change, hunkered down in their feathered nests, protected by tenure and shielded by a bureaucratic monopoly. They needed to look to business. We knew how to produce quality. Zero defects! Total Quality Management! Continuous improvement! In retrospect, the speech was perfectly balanced-equal parts ignorance and arrogance.

As soon as I finished, a woman's hand shot up. She appeared polite, pleasant. She was, in fact, a razor-edged, veteran high school English teacher who had been waiting to unload.

She began quietly, "We are told, sir, that you manage a company that makes good ice cream."

I smugly replied, "Best ice cream in America, ma'am."

"How nice," she said. "Is it rich and smooth?"

"Sixteen percent butterfat," I crowed.

"Premium ingredients?" she inquired. "Super-premium! Nothing but triple-A” I was on a roll. I never saw the next line coming.

"Mr. Vollmer," she said, leaning forward with a wicked eyebrow raised to the sky, "when you are standing on your receiving dock and you see an inferior shipment of blueberries arrives, what do you do?"

In the silence of that room, I could hear the trap snap. I was dead meat, but I wasn't going to lie. "I send them back."

"That's right!" she barked, "and we can never send back our blueberries.”

We take them big, small, rich, poor, gifted, exceptional, abused, frightened, confident, homeless, rude, and brilliant. We take them with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, junior rheumatoid arthritis, and English as their second language. We take them all. Everyone.

And that, Mr. Vollmer, is why it's not a business. It's school."

In an explosion, all 290 teachers, principals, bus drivers, aides, custodians, and secretaries jumped to their feet and yelled, "Yeah! Blueberries! Blueberries!"

And so began my long transformation.

Since then, I have visited hundreds of schools. I have learned that a school is not a business. Schools are unable to control the quality of their raw material, they are dependent upon the vagaries of politics for a reliable revenue stream, and they are constantly mauled by a howling horde of disparate, competing customer groups that would send the best CEO screaming into the night.

None of this negates the need for change. We must change what, when, and how we teach to give all children maximum opportunity to thrive in a post industrial society. But educators cannot do this alone; these changes can occur only with the understanding, trust, permission, and active support of the surrounding community. For the most important thing I have learned is that schools reflect the attitudes, beliefs, and health of the communities they serve, and therefore, to improve public education means more than changing our schools, it means changing America.

Jamie Robert Vollmer, a former business executive and attorney, is now a keynote presenter and consultant who works to increase community support for public schools.

My uncle Ron says this recipe is for those “splurge” meals we all need now and then. Enjoy!

Ron’s Blueberry Pie

Blueberry Pie Filling Ingredients:

5 cups of fresh Blueberries

Zest of One Lemon

Juice of One Lemon

2 Teaspoons of Flour

A pinch of Salt

14 Ounces of Blueberry Jam

1 Cup of Sugar

½ Stick of Butter, cubed

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and then put it aside while making Ron’s Pie Crust

Ron’s Pie Crust Ingredients:

5 cups of Flour

2 teaspoon of Sugar

2 teaspoon of Kosher Salt

1 stick cold Butter, cubed

1 cup of cold Crisco, cut up

½ cup of ice Water

Directions:

Pulse flour, 2 teaspoon Sugar and Salt in food processor till blended. Add Butter and Crisco and blend till the consistency of wet sand. Pour the ½ of ice Water into processor through top until dough forms to one side of the processor. Remove dough and form into a compact mound. Cut dough in half, and form each into a ball. Roll each ball out to ½ inch thickness. Place one on pie plate and the other on wax paper and place both in the refrigerator for one hour.

Once the dough has set in the refrigerator, fill bottom piecrust with the blueberry filling. Place the top piecrust in over the pie filling. Cut steam slits in center of pie. Leave 1 ½ inches of overhang crust. Roll overhang up and pinch crust all around rim of pie. Bake the pie in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then at reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven and pour the hot Orange Sugar Pie Glaze over top crust. Return pie to oven for 10 more minutes.

Orange Pie Glaze Ingredients:

½ cup Sugar

¼ cup of Water

The juice of one Orange.

Combine the Sugar, Water and Orange juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and continue to simmer and until the liquid becomes a syrup and has reduced by 1/3. Pour the syrup over pie while it is hot and pie is hot.

I'll be when Carol Channing makes this recipe, she will use a different fruit. I'll just bet when she makes this pie, she uses...

Raaaaahhhsperries!!