R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

School Days

I work at a middle school with some of the best people I’ve ever known.

Some are super funny, like our Theatre and Choir teacher, shown here in his 2021 Halloween costume which was a tribute to school lunch crispitos.

We had a special guest speaker at our school today and I have a funny story related to that, including Mr. Crispitos Man.

James Spann

The special guest was James Spann.

If you’re not from the South, then you should know that James Spann is a widely-admired, award-winning, people-loving meteorologist who is known for being able to identify the path of a storm down to the intersection, restaurant, tree formation or even Sallie Mae’s house.

Facebook: This Is Alabama OnSpann

If there’s a threat of snow in Alabama, some people tend to buy bread and milk. Like, all of it.

You should now have a basic understanding of why he’s such a local celebrity. ☺️

His book, Weathering Life, provides the unique and inspirational story of what led him from a rocky childhood to where he is today. I highly recommend it as an audiobook and in print, because he is the narrator for the audio version. There is a second book, All You Can Do Is Pray.

Respect The Polygon

James Spann is best known for the phrase, “Respect the Polygon.”

Storms don’t follow lines on maps.
Outdoor sirens cannot save you and are not available everywhere or even reliable (like when a storm is roaring around you, or the pole holding the siren is knocked down from the tornado).
Download a good weather alert app (not a crap app) and know how to find yourself on a map.
Be weather aware when severe weather watches and warnings are issued, sometimes days and weeks in advance.

Just for fun, here are some other images that display the community love we have for James Spann and the humor that often follows.

Another fun fact: I was the original creator of the memes below that now appear with other images when you google his name. I totally missed my one-hit-wonder moment by not adding my website name. 😂

The Weather Station

James Spann was invited to our school to deliver a science and weather presentation to our 6th grade students, but we had planned a surprise by dedicating our new weather station to him.

11.03.21 ABC 33/40 News @ 5:00 p.m.

Thank you for visiting Thompson Middle School this morning, @spann !

Our favorite part was hearing how much he loved science class growing up. @TmsWarriors #WarriorStrong pic.twitter.com/3bMuSYk9Fp
— THS TV (@THSNewsTV) November 3, 2021

THS TV Interview

Fan Club President?

Everyone at work had asked me for days how excited I was and wouldn’t this be the greatest day ever (since I am the unofficial president of his fan club). I was even getting emails from other schools.

I was cool, though. No big deal.

All of the work stress with fiscal year-end overshadowed any extracurricular activities right now. It was just another day.

Secretly, I had made a photo collage of some of my favorite James Spann photos from his last visit to TMS and when I attended some of his book signings.

Yes, I did ask him to autograph it, but we were outside where no one could see me.

I was waiting when he drove up. 😂

Why I Have Personal Respect for Severe Weather

Weathering Life

R. E. S. P. E. C. T.

Going back to that hilarious theatre teacher in the crispito costume, he tells me later in the day that one of us should have dressed up as a tornado polygon…with a picture of Aretha Franklin on it.

And I died laughing. 😂

Respect.

The.

Polygon.

There will be a musical theatre skit coming soon. Stay tuned!