Letter From Kenny Stultz to Tom Moran

November 17, 1999

Tom Moran
Associate Director
Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel
American Federation of Teachers

Dear Tom,

I wanted to thank you (and whoever allows you to fund it!) for allowing me to attend the Conference on Creative Organizing last summer. It has paid off in droves!

It seems strange that a musician wouldn't think about the power of a parody song. But when I ran into Julie McCall and Sue Doran, it was just like a ton of bricks. Pow!

When I left Washington, I headed directly to WVFT Summer School in Morgantown, WV. That evening I penned my first parody song entitled "This Is The Schoolhouse" - to the tune of "This Is The Army" by Irving Berlin.

Before I left Summer School, I started another song based on our state song "The West Virginia Hills" entitled "The West Virginia Fed", which had it's debut at convention last Friday night.

Since they couldn't get the "professional" :) , Judy Hale asked me to host the non-alcoholic room on Friday night. I put together a book of songs from the books you gave me last year, as well as the book that Julie gave me last summer. I put my two aforementioned creations in the book, along with a protest song about our insurance plan entitled "PEIA, What Have You Done?" - to the tune of Jerry Reed's "Lord, Mr. Ford."

Well, the singalong was a big hit! Taking a cue from Julie's class on parody song writing, I started the idea of coming up with another parody song about our insurance plan, PEIA (Public Employees Insurance Agency). Julie said that a good song to parody was "Don't Worry - Be Happy". That night, as a group, we gave birth to "I'm Worried - Bob's Happy" (Bob being the name of the executive director of PEIA.) I led about 200 people in singing to Bob last night. He wouldn't even look up at me! It was priceless.

I would be proud to send you a copy of the new songs. Please refresh my memory and send me the address I should send it to.

Also, please forward this e-mail (If possible) to Julie McCall. I would love to send her copies as well.

Again, thank you Tom, for sending me to the conference. It has already paid off for the WVFT. If I might make a suggestion, Beth Kitsmiller would make a wonderful candidate for sponsorship this summer. I think that she's another AFT member that would benefit from the opportunity.

Thanks Tom, for making a difference in West Virginia!

Sincerely,
Kenny Stultz
President
Wayne County Federation of Teachers
Local 4016, AFL-CIO


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