(Untitled)

[legendarymadman]

The coming of elections on the island is what they have instead of the turning of the seasons, a way of marking time and watching the island change half-year by half-year. And so Geoffrey finds himself on the stage again, not to start up a new play (but soon, very soon) but to announce the semiannual candidate speeches

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[polly_okeefe]

I took a deep breath as I stepped up to the podium. Though I was no stranger to speaking in public, it had been a while, and not under these circumstances. I had to fight down my nerves, but I gripped the podium, and spoke clearly.

"Um, hi! Uh..." I started again. "My name is Polly O'Keefe, and I'm running for Island Council. I've been here for two-and-a-half years, and in that time, I've helped in the kitchen, at the IPD, and I helped set up the preschool. You can see me often at the Children's Office"

"Like all of you," I went on, "I didn't choose to come here. But I count myself lucky to have found friends and many people who have come together to help us live and live well. I am running for Council because I want to do my part."

"The last term brought great improvements to the Island, particularly with the introduction of Loss Services. I want to see that maintained and enhanced. We've all lost good friends, and that is one of the hardest things about being here. I will also advocate for improved children's services, including fitness programs, counselling services, and improved access to education. The children are the ones who most need our help."

"I am no stranger to hard work," I said, "and with your support, I will devote my time and energy to these matters, and... honor the trust you've placed in me."

[dogbitesman]

William shot Tennant a peevish look as he left the stage. What was that supposed to mean? He'd just have to assume the man was talking about the fact that generally there were only two people asking questions, and one of them was a child.

"Miss O'Keefe," he said. "What exactly do you mean by 'improved access to education'? I wasn't aware there were restrictions on attending the school."

[polly_okeefe]

I gave William a smile, though it was a little disconcerting being questioned by him. Rather like a test, in fact.

"There's always barriers," I said. "Even if they're not set deliberately, they exist. There's only so many of us, and only so many who have the skills or the inclination to be teachers, but maybe there are ways we could improve this. We could talk with the teachers about what help they need to run things more efficiently. We could look at trying to train more people to take up teaching duties, and expand what we teach so that the children would have more to occupy them.

"Then there's the library," I added. "It's languished since Ms. Bell disappeared. We could gather more books from the bookshelf and make the best ones available to the children. We could encourage people to write their own stories for the children." I gave William a look at this. He'd certainly be a good candidate for such a job.

"The point is," I said, "there will always be challenges, but there will always be opportunities to overcome them if you try, and I intend to try."

[dogbitesman]

"So you do think the school is less than comprehensive," William said, noting this down. "In what areas do you think it's lacking?"

[polly_okeefe]

I'd seen William question candidates in previous elections, so this wasn't a surprise for me, and he was just doing his job. Still, it took a lot of effort to keep my composure after receiving his 'gotcha'. I took a deep breath and answered honestly.

"I don't mean that to sound as negative as it sounds," I said. "Our teachers do remarkable work using a fraction of the resources that we would have elsewhere. Given our situation, it's always going to be a challenge providing an education like what we had back home. But that doesn't mean we can't try. One area I'd like to work on is the library, which hasn't seen much focus for the past few months."

[dogbitesman]

"Yes, you did mention, and I did have a question about that, too," William said, "naturally. Who is defining 'best'?"

[polly_okeefe]

"For the most part, it would probably depend on whoever volunteers to oversee the library," I said. "But I could see that people from the Children's Office and the Island School might have requests for a particular book that they'd want us to hunt down, depending on the needs of the moment, and what we can pry from the bookshelf."

[dogbitesman]

"So... the reading material provided to our children is selected by whoever volunteers to pick and choose the reading material supplied to our children," William said, forehead wrinkling a little. "You don't see a problem with this, anywhere?"

[polly_okeefe]

"I'm sure problems will manifest themselves, they always do," I said ruefully. "But given our circumstances, we can only do the best we can. I would suggest that council call for volunteers and appoint a chief librarian who could handle such matters. If that's not enough, then representatives from the school could help resolve things, or even the council itself, though I do not expect something like that to go that far." Then, somewhat recklessly, I added, "And if somebody didn't like the fact that a book was excluded, though I don't expect that any book would be without a good reason, they can start their own library."

[dogbitesman]

"...mm-hmm," William said, frowning at his page. "But why exclude books at all? In theory, we have an infinite supply. Why not, say, just have the building crew begin expanding the space, and then fill it with anything that isn't a duplicate?"

[polly_okeefe]

I winced, and hoped that William de Worde didn't catch that. I'd misunderstood the question. "I wouldn't exclude any books from the full Island library," I said. "I was talking about how the library would be used by the school and the preschool. There would have to be more books there tailored to the needs of younger readers, of course. I'm not a person who believes in excluding or banning books."

[dogbitesman]

"I'm pleased to hear it," William said. "Now, could you speak to your qualifications for the position?"

[polly_okeefe]

I smiled. I felt I was on somewhat firmer ground here. "I've been the eldest of a large and active family, so I'm no stranger to organizing things. I finished high school back home and was just heading off to college when I arrived here. Since coming to the Island, I've tried to help out. With Charlie Jones, I helped set up and operate the Island Preschool for those children between the ages of two and five. I've also volunteered my time at the Children's Office, as well as behind the desk at the Island Police Department."

[dreamily_luna]

"Hullo Polly," says Luna. She's found a pair of pink sunglasses that are very similar to Spectrespecs, and they're pushed up on her forehead. "I am quite curious to know how you will account for the vast cultural differences in children from various worlds. After all, I believe a good education from Hogwarts and a good education in your world are so very different. And some worlds don't appear to do formal schooling at all."

[polly_okeefe]

Hmm. That was a good question.

"That is a challenge," I said. "One way we could help is by having children and their teachers use their own background in order to help teach others. I firmly believe in the merits of learning about and experiencing cultures other than one's own. But when I'm talking about improving our children's education here on the Island, I'm talking about giving them a good Island education, which would be very different, I think, than what I had at home, or what you had at Hogwarts. Here, we've had to do a lot of improvisation, and we're going to have to do that in the future, no matter what. But I think we can and should make it a priority."

[curiously_cora]

"Hi Polly," Coraline said smiling at Polly before she took out her notebook. "What is your opinion on giving everyone on the island the opportunity to vote? What would you do to improve the activities for children outside of the classroom? The grown ups have bars and clubs and work by the dozen but there is not one place for us without grown up supervision. What do you think of the Blank Slate?"