A n d r e w s G u m W o r l d

Friday’s New Day newspaper in New London, Connecticut, has a heartwarming update on the first day of a new school in the community, the C.B. Jennings Elementary School.

The third grade class, taught by Michele Shannon (picured above with her students as they get ready for lunch on the first day of school), got acclimated to the new school, which had hallways shaped not unlike tennis rackets, new purple chairs for their classroom, and a projector, speakers, microwave and mini-fridge, all as features in the new classroom.

The class is also part of the new Foreign Language in the Elmentary School (FLES) program, where students will learn in both English and Spanish.

Ms. Shannon has a light touch to teaching, with bowls of Jolly Ranchers available for special treats (although in the comments connected with the article, you can read about residents arguing about whether or not Connecticut law allows teachers to give treats to their students). But there is one hard and fast guideline, familiar to elementary school students and readers of AndrewsGumWorld everywhere:

As the article notes:

In her 12th year teaching, Shannon was no pushover - while she kept the atmosphere light and engaging, she also let her students know she had rules and wouldn’t tolerate nonsense.

”You will learn cursive in third grade, so if you don’t know cursive, don’t try to fake it, I’ll know,” she said.

To two boys caught chewing gum: “First of all, don’t bring gum to school anymore.”

India-93, originally uploaded by Klas Öjebo.

satyric, originally uploaded by JudyGr.

Rod MacKenzie writes a wonderful blog for South Africa’s Mail & Guardian called “Cracking China,” which describes experiences that he and his wife have had as teachers of English in China over the last three years in Shanghai.

Late last week, he wrote about China’s efforts to step up security during the Olympics (and now the Paralympics) including a perhaps understandable prohibition of photography in some public places.

As MacKenzie discovered, that extended to his local Familymart, when he took his aforementioned top secret photo above. Here are the details from last week’s blog:

‘No no,’ the shop assistant wails in Chinese as I take a photo of a marvelously ambivalent Chinglish sign behind a tray of Wrigley’s chewing gum in our local convenience store. The sign ambivalently says, “Familymart’s plastic bag should be sold without for free”. China has recently passed a law that plastic shopping bags must be bought. “Why?” I mutter and theatrically get ready to take another picture, as I can be quite bolshy, especially when I can see no reason for not being allowed to do something. ”Noooo!!…” wail several shop assistants now, covering up the shop’s merchandise with their hands. One frantically points to a sign saying “No photos”, a warning issued by the police during the Olympic Games.Security in subways I can understand, but convenience stores? Way weird. But here you have it: my precious photo of “Top Secret Wrigley’s Chewing Gum”. Don’t tell a soul.

15.05.08 they look like such nice people…, originally uploaded by Femke B..

Reims, France, originally uploaded by Mark Howells-Mead.

No chewing gum, originally uploaded by alex-s.

In the post below, we refer to a speech made in Singapore that talks about Wrigley, a chewing gum maker, but as this shot taken earlier this month by Alex S. shows, gum is among the items (number two on the lower right hand list) that are prohibited in Singapore, along with firecrackers and endangered species of wildlife.

Last Thursday’s International Herald Tribune reported on a speech given recently by Al Golin in Singapore (irony alert for chewing gum aficionados). The headline of the article referred to Golin as “the elder statesman of PR.”

In the opening paragraphs of the article, Golin talks about Wrigley, its chair, Bill Wrigley, Jr. (pictured above), and Wrigley’s dislike of the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”…and why Golin responded with a tool kit when he wanted the Wrigley account

Here’s how the article begins (and also why Wrigley likes the idea of a “trust bank”):

Al Golin once read that Bill Wrigley Jr., the chairman of the chewing gum company Wm. Wrigley Jr., hated the expression “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So when Golin’s firm, GolinHarris, was making its pitch to manage the company’s public relations seven years ago, he sent Wrigley a small tool kit with a note saying, “Fix it before it breaks.”"I think that made a difference in getting the account,” said Golin, 79. “It separated us from everybody else and it illustrates my philosophy. A lot of people don’t have the courage to make change before they need to. They’ll say don’t rock the boat, everything is going around fine.”

Wrigley, for his part, said that although he remembered the tool kit, what really impressed him was Golin’s concept of the “trust bank,” which he had helped developed at McDonald’s in the early 1970s. Long before social responsibility became a corporate buzz phrase, Golin had been advising companies to build up “deposits” of good will by being involved with the community.

Guanajuato Bubble Gum, originally uploaded by Photoperception.