A narrative poem in the style of “Tam o ‘Shanter” by Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland.

When summer solstice set me free

near the end of school year three

A plan was sketched amongst my brothers

brothers from some other mothers

The former expat plants a seed

and properly induced by weed

2 brothers start a grand adventure

Scotland bound they both agreed.

Across the ocean we would meet

Outside the station on Old Street

One had been a year before

One had never left the shore

Pubs, some pints, old college friends

before the night in London ends

A northbound sleeping car awaits

scotch on the rocks cheers to our mates

Milgavnie, Drymen, took some skill

But when we got to Conic Hill

Our steeds were spinning in their tracks

so up the hill upon our backs

it seemed the climb would never end

but up the hill we pushed and then 

our reward was now in sight

Balmaha, a restful night.

Marching now for 7 hours

partly cloudy, scattered showers

thought we’d try to catch the ferry

quicker pace, we mustn’t tarry

as we start to lose the light 

the dock we seek comes into sight

Alas the boat has punched the clock

but joining in our moon lit walk

another of the Way’s recruits

a bonnie lass with Gallic roots

Through the forest we push on

officially a marathon

As dreams of vinegar and cod

energize this tired squad 

Bruised and battered as our dinner

This days jaunt has been a winner

A meal, a bath, a bed, the prize

for a mademoiselle and two Texas guys

We finally reach the Drover’s Inn

a ghostly night, Inveranan.

Before the English king arrested

any peasant who protested

rape and English occupation

of their women, wealth and nation

Round the bend into the pines

step by step cross ancient lines

the River Fillan flows brunette

and thankful for me midgie net

we pass a lochan where the Bruce

refusing to confirm a truce

had his army dump their swords

so highland history records

and just before the heaviest rain

we hear the blow of a distant train

drenched and hungry, we head down

out of the glen to Tyndrum town

the drink goes smooth, distilled with care

enough to leave the angel’s share

the tour guide shows us where to snack

off the dock, a wee green shack

where shellfish is the specialty

freshly pulled from the emerald sea  

wash it down with tepid beer

a tartan for a souvenir

a nappy on the eastbound train

tomorrow on the Way again

the river breaks into a forky

by the time we reach the Orchy

pushing on into the wood

a healthy pace would do us good

for though we’ve walked for several hours

we’ll call upon our superpowers

to bounce across the boggy floor

the vast expanse of Rannoch Moor

ancient glaciers crushed the ground

soggy footing all around

emerald desert desolation

silent walking meditation

wildlife refuge conservation

Glencoe is the destination

The next day’s morning came and went

with ne’er a stir inside the tent

for though we face the shortest day

the steepest climb stands in the way

an ominously named ascension

requiring utmost attention

the Devil’s Staircase straight to heaven

9 grand miles to Kinlochleven

A final night out on the town

the pints and scotch are goin down

Gratitude is overflowing

as the Larigmore keeps going

Glen Nevis lies round the bend

the evidence we’re near the end

tall Ben Nevis brings a smile

highest point in the British isle

15 miles of reminiscing

neither one of us is missing

plus we weigh a little less

overall a great success

Come morning light the train pulled in

to Glasgow where the trail begins

A taxi takes us to our steeds

A pack for each to haul our needs

The first leg of our epic hike

unfolds by way of mountain bike

20 miles of open green

A pint and chips for in between

The Clachan is the oldest licensed pub in Scotland (1734). It’s original owner, Mistress Gow was one of Rob Roy McGregor’s sisters.

Somewhere along the west highland way between Drymen and Balmaha.

We planned to ride up and down this hill…it was a little trickier than we assumed.

A full days walk now lay ahead

up at dawn and lightly fed

The sun sleeps in behind the mist

the drizzle dampens every twist

and turn we face along the loch

the shores of Lomond guide our walk

The largest loch along our quest

ever present to our west

Scrambling over ancient boulders

40 liters on our shoulders

in the shadow of the Ben

the footing keeps us honest men

Loch Lomond is the largest lake by surface area in the UK. 2nd in volume only to the famous Loch Ness.

The further north we got, the better the fish and chips.

Day 3 would be the wettest yet

resuming on as a duet

the way winds with the River Falloch

7 miles to Crianlarich

following footsteps of drovers

past the unmarked graves of soldiers

sheep and cattle dot the glen

the highlanders were shepherds then.

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We aim to base here for a two

When come the early morning dew

headed west, this time by rail

towards a port from whence men sailed

and fished their fortunes from the sea

 we’ll tour the scotch distillery

In 17 and 94

the Stevensons built near the shore

a heritage steeped in tradition

through concentrated repetition 

a bit of mash, mixed in the heat

roasted smoke by Scottish peat

7 Scotsman to this day

making scotch the Oban way

The light comes sooner every morn

exuberance has been reborn

sunny skies in all directions

the longest day, for the longest section 

Elevation getting drastic

highland scenery fantastic

following the Allt Kinglass

submerged in luscious prairie grass

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U shaped valleys, towering heights

words cannot express the sights 

Nearly 30 miles of sun

since the solstice hath begun

we finally feast on roast and brew

days remaining down to two

midnight sunset in the glen

a well earned sleep for weary men

A tad hungover when the sun

wakes us for our final run

an early morning climb to start

carrying a heavy heart

and heavy legs in need of rest

the final day shall feel the best

pictures with our journey mates

heavy pints and heavy plates

a hotel bed in good Fort Will

we’ve earned a shower, joint, and chill

The 7:30 holds our seat

as we make our quick retreat

back from whence we first began

the lowlands of the Wallace clan

our bodies strong, our spirits stilled

mindful presence, souls refilled

we bow down to the highland ghosts

thankful they were lovely hosts

and plan for many more returns

to the emerald home of Robert Burns.

Keep Learning,

NickytheFlip

You’ve heard the expression…but until recently I wasn’t much aware of it’s different iterations throughout history.

Which version of this proverb holds the most wisdom?  Why did it change?  Who the hell is Jack?

In the 14th century, Jack was an everyday common man.  A trade was a venerable institution representing skilled people who carried out a specific job in the community.  The well paid masters of these trades often oversaw the training of new workers and even issued the licenses to carry on the profession.  Follow the logic (and money) and one could reasonably suspect these masters of co-opting a once complimentary phrase to influence the way society values expertise.  After all, education has always been a privilege of the wealthy.  And so the prevailing sentiment was, ”If you hire a Jack, you risk shoddy work.  What you need is an expert!”

It must not have resonated with 20th century me.  I was into everything.  Ahh the freedom of being a dependent.  Club sports, music lessons, science experiments, all kinds of odd jobs.  I wore all the hats and helmets and even though I wasn’t ever the BEST at any one thing…it never occurred to me that it could be preventing me from becoming a master at anything.  But…by the time I reached my freshman year majoring in Biomedical Science at Texas A&M…

College.  University.  Higher Learning.  It was the expectation in my family and in my peer group.  It’s what created professionals out of both sets of my Grandparents and both of my parents as well.  I knew I was going to college as soon as my Mom showed my Dad the Texas Tomorrow Fund, a state backed trust fund started in 1997 with the purpose of increasing higher education rates in the state. From that day forward it was the only reason I was putting in any effort (not much) to get good grades in school.  When senior year rolled around, in spite of my previously generalist predilections, I felt an overwhelming pressure to become specialized. So specialized that I picked a school and major with a pre-determined destination 8-10 yrs in the future.

Vet School was the plan.  Why?  Regardless of the fact that my dad was a veterinarian and I had always shown an aptitude for science…I’m pretty sure I was looking forward to the money.  Present me looks back on that mindset and thinks…how uninspiring.  Present me looks back on that kid and thinks…who really knows what they want to do with their life when they’re 18?  All I knew was, if I wanted to have a good life, I had to make a good living.  In order to make a good living, I had to have a title like Dr. Verzosa (the 3rd generation).  A mindset that would prove to be one the toughest I would ever have to unlearn.

Freshman year I only went to class for tests, it didn’t turn out well.  Sophomore year I changed majors with a chip on my shoulder because my advisor told me I wasn’t gonna get to be a doctor of any kind.  Junior year I started to get my shit together.  Senior year I was catching the pack.  By the victory lap, I think I was a reasonable candidate for vet school, even by A&M’s high standards.

But, I didn’t quite make the cut.  It wasn’t for me. Oh fuck.  

What did I spend the last 5 years of my life doing?  

Making myself so specialized, I had no other real life skills to fall back on except my adorable personality.  

For a few blurry years, I leaned back into my multi interested nature by working at bar/restaurants on Northgate and playing the local open mic circuit. Follow the years as they turned into a full decade, head first dive into the Texas music and entertainment business. A new identity, a new title. The real life lessons I would soon learn during my years as an independent singer/songwriter, frontman, manager, booking agent, promoter, merch guy, driver, accountant, husband, binge drinker were some of the most valuable to my present self. But there I was again, still specializing, this time in a niche music scene.

There are pros and cons to living in a small pond.  The fans are hungry and feel connected by the music they love. Unfortunately, the majority don’t want you to change much or try different things. (This guy gets bored quickly).  They attach to you and the memories they have surrounding your music and eventually the spring runs dry.  

At my core, I was into everything.  Somewhere along the line I got it in my head I had to pick something and specialize if I didn’t want to struggle in the real world.  It became clear for me while teaching Kindergarten, another pit stop on my journey to find a new identity, a new title.  For natural Jacks born during the Ritalin era, curiosity could’ve easily been misdiagnosed as attention deficiency.  Even those of us who weren’t subjected to chemical experiments were pressured away from “distraction” by a teacher or a parent.  But it was precisely the diverse skill set I developed over my years of trial and error that allowed me to adapt so easily to this new adventure.  Being a Jack of all trades made me the ultimate resource for a population obsessed with the question, “WHY?”

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What makes the human species unique is that we are, in fact, Jacks and Jills of all trades but masters of none. We don’t run faster than cheetahs, we’re not stronger than gorillas, our attributes are naturally…average. But by gaining passing competence in multiple areas of survival, exceeding all other species in our adaptability to new environments and challenges, we’ve become one of the most dominant species on the planet.  

So today’s conditional proverb represents this perspective pretty well with it’s additional caveat. It accepts that some people are inclined to specialize, some are born generalists and there are uses for both kinds of people in our society. Especially in the new gig economy.

However, what I think it fails to address is how long it actually takes to become either a competent Jack of all trades or a Master of one.  It takes consistency in both cases.  It takes patience.  Practice makes progress.  And if you make a little progress everyday, you can become a near master of a lot of connectable skills.  Skills meant to serve your purpose in living instead of just skills needed to execute a job.  It is a plentiful world.  Once I realized that, I no longer needed to be tied to a title to envision a sustainable future for myself.

So to all of my fellow Jacks and Jills I say, embrace your curiosity!  Learn everyday.  Diversify your skill set.  Be flexible and make yourself very useful.

A Jack of All Trades, Is Mastered By No One.

Keep Learning!

NickytheFlip

Becoming a certified teacher in Texas wasn’t really a very difficult process. You pass a couple basic knowledge tests, observe some experienced teacher friends for a few days and promise to eventually finish a bunch of online modules over your first year. I was hired after my 2nd interview. Little did I know, they pretty much just throw your ass to the wolves…I mean students…after that.

Teachers go back to school 1 week earlier than students…for first year teachers it’s 2 weeks.  These 2 weeks are supposed to get you up to date on the infrastructure of being a teacher.  How to find the district lesson plans, how to re-write the district lesson plans and assign TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge/Skills) for each section, how to translate the TEKS, how and where to re-write the lesson plan in your classroom everyday…get the gist? 

Not a whole lot about how to get 22 little kids to line up for a bathroom break without running and complaining about cutting line.  Nothing about how to get those 22 untrained, undisciplined babies to LEARN from your lesson plan.  So much for an easy transition to day people life.  

Setting up your own classroom is another soapbox, another blog, another day.  Let’s just say this.  You gotta do it yourself, you gotta pay for it yourself and you gotta get the shit done before the first day of school.  Shout out to my friends and family at the Welman Project, you the real MVP’s.

Teachers are OVERWHELMED with redundant tasks which don’t often serve the students. Not one administrator ever gave me a rational answer as to why. Maybe it’s because without those tasks to enforce, many administrators would have less importance to the educational system. The tasks keep teachers accountable…instead of leaders.

In my first year as a teacher, I flunked outta 4th grade, but found my calling in Kindergarten by Thanksgiving.  Kids are the most forgiving humans on the planet.  My 4th graders cried when I went down the hall but would later become awesome reading partners for my kindergarteners and in the years to come I would teach their actual little brothers and sisters as families tend to make their way through a school.

I got lucky. Switching to Kindergarten gave me the opportunity to learn to teach with way less pressure. School districts place unreasonable amounts of pressure on teachers in “testing grades” and 4th grade is a big one. I wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility in my first year and nobody really is. In 4th grade, I was really on my own to figure it out, but the Kindergarten team carried my ass for the full rest of the year.

They showed me how teachers do it. They get each other’s backs. They make real relationships with their students. And maybe drank a little during the holidays.

By the time the first year was over I was:

1) Relieved

2) Exhausted

3) Confident I could handle this going forward

Learning to become a good teacher is a process full of self doubt, insecurity and everyday failure but the payoff happens when you realize it’s all about creating and allowing authentic relationships with your students. Kindergarten is an especially anxious time for little humans. For many of them it’s the first time they’re in a room all day with 20 other little creatures and 1 grown up!  It’s like puppy school!  Someone is bound to poop on the carpet.  But all they really want is your love and attention. I give that in loads.  My favorite teachers do too.

In my first year as a teacher, I leaned into being a student.  Another chance to soak up the experience of being a beginner at something. Everyday was a new opportunity to improve my patience, empathy, humility and accountability. Learning to teach, taught me to learn again.

It was a year full of observations and conversations that led to perspective shifts and a clearer view of our interconnectedness during this era of hyper-communication and instant gratification.  I learned how to manage and encourage a group of wildly creative, uninhibited, curious and fearless individuals. 

Most importantly, I learned that if you want someone else to learn, you have to start with the relationship.  Treat them with respect.  Everyone knows something you don’t.  Even if they’re only this many ✋🏽.

Keep Learning!

NickytheFlip

I asked for that spotlight.  There are millions of minstrels content with creating for the sake of creating.  Yet, I chose to do it in public view and to stake over 10 years of life into that choice.  I took the bait. I was in it to win it and I thought I was just as talented and hardworking as those dudes at the top laying the groundwork for young, aspiring just out of college, don’t want to get a real job type of people like me.  

10 years sets up the next 10 and so on until dust…

And that’s where it all started to go downhill.  It became my job.  The reality was, some of us are just as talented and hardworking, but those are not the only ingredients required for fame and fortune.  Chalk it up to my 20’s.  My entitled and braggadocios youth and inexperience.  I followed the gold rush but everything that glitters…takes your money and leaves you feeling like a failure.

So fast forward to this moment of clarity, because years 33 and 34 were a mix of healing and OG haze. 

I came back home to Fort Worth.  I’d just bought an old house full of potential and was halfway through my 2nd full year of being Mista V, a kindergarten teacher at the public school in my old neighborhood.  Being responsible for teaching the fundamental functions to 5 year olds will shake the entitlement off you and max out your patience points.  Everyone should teach kindergarten.  It made me realize that I didn’t always know how to do the simplest tasks.  No reason to have higher expectations for myself 30 years later.

From that moment on I accepted responsibility for my shortcomings in the last 10 years and set forth a plan to make each of my coming decades better than the last.  10 years is an entire chapter if you keep growing.  10 years allows for inevitable setbacks and the time needed to process and learn from them.  10 years sets up the next 10 and so on until dust.

Every plan needs action and I chose 4 of them to make consistent and progressive steps towards execution.  4 actions that have contributed to our progress as a human race since the beginning of society. 

Write, teach, learn, and invest.

10 years at a time, 4 pillars. Ok. 10-4.

Here we are, 3 whirlwind years later, and I’m still fully invested.  I taught kindergarten for a fun and frustrating 5 years and learned more from my “Wolfpack” and some fellow teachers than I ever did from any waste of time, district required training.  My schedule flipped from 150 shows/year to maybe 15 shows in that time but each of them has been the kind to remind me of why I tried for all those years. 

Some of my very good friends were generous enough to dig me out of the trenches and over the last year, helped me remember how lucky I was to be an artist from Texas.

I’ve missed the community.  Friends turned to family in every little town I visited with my band of bros.  I miss the stories and late night picking circles.  I want to reconnect and we’ve always connected through writing…the only action I haven’t fully committed to at the top of my list…

Starting this month, I will strive to publish weekly and hope to collaborate with you in the comments section. We can talk music, songwriting, horticulture, active lifestyle, leadership, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, food, nature, crypto, NFT’s, conservation, education, meditiation or motivation! I currently have a pillar activated in any of those subjects and beyond.

Thanks For Reading and Keep Learning!

NickytheFlip