Seventy years ago, when I entered Beardshear Elementary in Ames, Iowa, the school employed a custodian, Mr. Shockley, who had for an office a closet under the stairs.

I wish I could thank him for mopping up all our vomit and helping us buckle our galoshes.

Here’s a fine poem about custodians by David Livewell, from New Jersey, whose most recent book of poems is Shackamaxon (Truman State Univ. Press, 2012).

Custodians

Retired from other trades, they wore
Work clothes again to mop the johns
And feed the furnace loads of coal.
Their roughened faces matched the bronze

Of the school bell the nun would swing
To start the day. They limped but smiled,
Explored the secret, oldest nooks:
The steeple’s clock, dark attics piled

With inkwell desks, the caves beneath
The stage on Bingo night. The pastor
Bowed to the powers in their hands:
Fuses and fire alarms, the plaster

Smoothing a flaking wall, the keys
To countless locks. They fixed the lights
In the crawl space above the nave
And tolled the bells for funeral rites.

Maintain what dead men made. Time blurs
Their scripted names and well-waxed floors,
Those keepers winking through the years
And whistling down the corridors.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2014 by David Livewell, “Custodians,” from Southwest Review (Vol. 99, no. 2, 2014). Poem reprinted by permission of David Livewell and Southwest Review. Introduction copyright 2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Redwood Community Chorus presents its Spring Concert at 7 p.m. Friday, May 8, and at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 9, at the Mendocino Presbyterian Church, 44831 Main St, Mendocino.

Conducted by Jenni Windsor, the chorus will sing two choral requiems, “Lux Aeterna” and the fourth movement of Brahms’ German Requiem, and familiar ballads, including “If Music Be the Food Of Love,” and Bobby Shafto.

The A Cappella group Trebl’d Women will open the concert with the Italian madrigal, “O Occhi Manza Mia.”

“There is Sweet Music Here,” with text by Alfred Lord Tennyson, follows.

The all-American favorite, “Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree” concludes the set. Admission to the concert is free, but donations to the church and choir are encouraged.

The Redwood Community Chorus performs two concerts each year. Members enroll in a music class at Mendocino College, Ukiah. There are no auditions.

The NBC television network is more than just one channel in the prime time lineup of programming.

Under the umbrella of NBC Universal, the network consists of multiple platforms, including Sprout, which I am not really sure about other than it’s geared to children.

During the month of April, NBC Universal stages a “Summer Press Day” to reach a wider circle of TV critics outside the conventional winter and summer press tours, allowing an advance peak at new programs, some of which launch even before the summer officially arrives.

One big push for NBC, the TV network as opposed to its many cable outlets, is the 13-episode “event series” that debuts on May 28, which is fittingly called “Aquarius,” a possible reference to one of the songs in the 1968 Broadway musical “Hair” and the 5th Dimension hit song in their “The Age of Aquarius” album.

Starring David Duchovny as LAPD detective Sam Hodiak (a fictional character), “Aquarius” taps into the 1967 era of free love, drug experimentation and the Vietnam War then in full effect.

At the time, Charles Manson is putting together his cult family, which will culminate two years later in the horror of the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders.

In the premiere episode, Detective Hodiak and undercover narc Brian Shafe (Grey Damon) begin the search for a missing teenage girl, Emma Karn (Emma Dumont), who has fallen under the spell of Charles Manson (Gethin Anthony).

The officers know little about Manson and what he will come to represent.

Speaking to critics, John McNamara, executive producer of “Aquarius,” observed that the series is a work of historical fiction “that weaves some things about Manson that are true, some things that are fictional, and entirely fictional characters.”

From the preview of the first two episodes, “Aquarius” is a period piece of the turbulent late 1960s, where the counter-culture clashes with authority, and even the racial tensions in South Central Los Angeles continue to simmer when Hodiak and his partner investigate a murder scene.

Executive producer McNamara claims that “Aquarius” dives deeply into every character’s psyche, noting that Manson is a character you want to understand, and that it is “a mistake when you’re making drama to just say that (Manson) is a monster and just make him a monster.”

It's too early to tell if “Aquarius” succeeds in showing why Manson did monstrous things, but actor Gethin Anthony (“Game of Thrones”) has his work cut out for him to show how the cult leader got vulnerable women and others to join his cause leading up to the notorious murders.

Watching the full run of “Aquarius” may require a combination of stamina and obsession.

On a much lighter note, NBC launches two comedies in August heavily reliant on African-American casting.

Craig Robinson, the titular character in “Mr. Robinson,” plays the lead singer and keyboardist of the funk band Nasty Delicious, who takes a day job as a substitute music teacher to make ends meet.

Mr. Robinson is a quick hit with his music students, but the officious principal (Peri Gilpin) is not too fond of the teacher’s unorthodox style, or his crush on the pretty English teacher (Meagan Good), with whom he has an unfortunate past (he stood her up on prom night).

Craig Robinson, the actor and comedian, as opposed to his namesake character, has a deadpan delivery that has served him well in films like “Hot Tub Time Machine” and “Pineapple Express.”

His starring role in “Mr. Robinson” may be the ingredient to make this series a better-than-even bet for success.

On the other hand, “The Carmichael Show” would like to think of itself as an irreverent sitcom inspired by Jerrod Carmichael’s true-life relationships with his say-anything contrarian father (David Alan Grier), therapist-in-training girlfriend, ever-hustling brother and Bible-spouting mother (Loretta Divine).

Jerrod and his girlfriend, Maxine (Amber West), are an average young couple looking to break the news to Jerrod’s parents that they are going to live together.

The premise of the show is that these two will be put to the test navigating the boundaries of romance, family and sanity.

“The Carmichael Show” has the feel of a traditional sitcom where the comedy is predictable and formulaic, regardless of the fact that the cast is entirely African-American.

The only thing put to the test may be an audience’s willingness to endure the conventional.

In recent years, NBC Universal has had great success with programs on cable with the USA Network. Coming in June, “Mr. Robot” is a psychological thriller that follows Elliot (Rami Malek), a young programmer who works as a cyber-security engineer by day and as a vigilante hacker by night.

“Mr. Robot” puts Elliot at a crossroad when the mysterious leader (Christian Slater) of an underground hacker group recruits him to take down the CEOs of a multinational conglomerate with tentacles on the levers of power and wealth.

Also coming in June of the Syfy Channel, from the producers of “Orphan Black,” is the story of a trio of interplanetary bounty hunters in “Killjoys” as they chase deadly fugitives throughout the Quad, a distant planetary system on the brink of a bloody class war.

The Syfy Channel has a winner in the “Sharknado” franchise, and coming in July will be “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!”

Nothing was revealed about this latest installment at the Summer Press Day, but the “Sharknado 3” tote bags and beer can koozies distributed were enough to whet the appetite.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

There’s debate about what Thomas Jefferson had in mind when advocating “the pursuit of happiness” along with life and liberty.

The answer won’t be found in Showtime’s dark comedy “HAPPYish,” an almost depressing affair by any measure.

However, the good name of one of founding fathers is subject to a tirade during the voiceover monologue of the first episode of “HAPPYish” by none other than the show’s protagonist, middle-aged advertising executive Thom Payne (British comedian Steve Coogan).

Dissatisfied with his professional life at a New York ad agency, Thom expresses his frustration that Jefferson has kept us guessing at the meaning of happiness. Thom’s rant ends with a profane insult to Jefferson, followed by flipping his middle finger.

The opening monologue of discontent is soon followed by Thom’s 44th birthday party, where Thom’s wife Lee (Kathryn Hahn), who happens to be a neurotic Jew and wants everyone to know it, proves to be as profane and foul-mouthed as her husband.

The birthday party also involves conversation with another couple equally annoying as the Paynes, where the topic of discussion revolves around surgical procedures that, well, involve the tightening of certain genital parts that are not worthy of further elucidation.

Within minutes, “HAPPYish” has delved into a range of sexual topics that might even be a bit too much for the porn films cranked out at private homes in the San Fernando Valley.

Yeah, if it’s not already clear, this new half-series ranks along with “Shameless” as unsuitable for family viewing.

About 10 minutes into the show, after commuting into the city by train, Thom is off to work at his office where he exclaims “I work for Satan” and then slams “Mad Men” and claims that there is nothing cool or interesting about advertising.

It gets even worse when the agency’s executive creative director Jonathan (Bradley Whitford) marvels at the marketing power of Al Qaeda, considering that they were unknown prior to 9/11. Then he expresses amazement how ISIS has expanded the market.

Thom informs his creative boss that Al Qaeda is not a brand, it’s a terrorist organization. And Jonathan glibly replies that everything is a brand. This observation is soon followed by Jonathan’s assertion that “thinking is not as important as tweeting.”

That Thom Payne despises the industry in which he has toiled for twenty years bubbles to the surface in full angst-ridden splendor when his agency’s fortunes are put in the hands of Gustav and Gottfrid, a pair of platitude-spouting Swedish millennials who are basically clueless about anything other than social media.

Truth be told, I found it rather difficult to make it through the first half-hour episode. Nothing would surprise me more than if more than half the audience for “HAPPYish” would tune out altogether before the end of thirty minutes.

For the sake of duty, and perhaps a slightly perverse interest or foolish notion to see if things could improve, I hung in for episode two, not fully realizing that my initial impression that the unlikable nature of the characters was not going to somehow magically change.

Oh no, it only gets worse. The high-strung Lee, who dabbles in artistic endeavors inspired loosely by Marc Chagall, has a complete meltdown after picking up a package sent by her mother as a gift to her grandson. We are treated to the unenviable spectacle of Lee having imaginary conversations with her meddling mother.

To his credit, despite having to come off as a miserable self-loathing misanthrope and still saddled with spewing a lot of drek, Steve Coogan manages to deliver a few moments of comic relief. One of his better moments is when he gets worked up about the absurdity of a Pepto-Bismol ad that suggests people should follow the product on Twitter.

Despite his best efforts, Coogan still can’t make his character likable or admirable in any real sense. But then none of talented actors, from Kathryn Hahn to Bradley Whitford, or even to Ellen Barkin as a hardened executive headhunter, is able to come across as an appealing person of rooting interest to the viewers.

The smug millennial workforce doesn’t come off any better than their elders at the agency. It’s a groan-worthy moment when one of them, pitching new ideas for Coke, has a presentation entitled “How do we sell happiness in the Age of Disillusionment?” A good question that lacks an answer!

“HAPPYish” was originally intended to be a starring vehicle for Philip Seymour Hoffman. His unfortunate shuffling off this mortal coil can only leave us wondering if this talented actor would have brought a different tone and tenor to this show, though it would not seem likely if he had to read the same dreadful lines.

The pursuit of happiness, at least for television viewers for the most part, would require tuning out of “HAPPYish” not more than a couple of minutes into the first episode.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

I once attended a memorial service at which a friend’s ashes were put in the Platte River at first light, just as thousands of Sandhill Cranes were lifting off the water, crying.

Flowing water has just what it takes to carry someone away in fine style.

Here’s a poem by Kyle Harvey, who lives in Colorado.

Settler's Creek

You’d been gone four months by then,
but we brought you along anyway.

On my back, you rested
riding inside a wooden box.

The idea was to lay you gently
at the water’s surface,

but our clumsy hands spilled you,
and it was hard to tell whether you went head

or feet first, but it didn’t much matter
anyway, I suppose.

You would float on down the creek
until you had reached the next and so on.

My father gave a little wave and joked,
“We’ll see you back on down in Denver, Dad.”

We stood there in silence
listening to you chuckle

under the bridge and over
the first set of riffles downstream.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2013 by Kyle Harvey, “Settler’s Creek,” from Hyacinth (Lithic Press, 2013). Poem reprinted by permission of Kyle Harvey and Lithic Press. Introduction copyright 2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Lower Lake High School and Konocti Unified Drama Department will president its annual spring musical this weekend.

This year’s cast of 24 students will be performing, “Cinderella,” directed by Tracy Lahr, adviser and instructor of LLHS Drama Club, and choreographed by Michelle John-Smith.

Shows will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 24, and Saturday, April 25, with a matinée performance at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, inside the Lower Lake High School multipurpose room, 9430 Lake St.

The cast and crew has worked hard for countless hours over the past three months, and they are ready to show their incredible talent to the community of Lake County.

This year’s cast includes Chloe Cox, Megan Smith, Weeden Wetmore, Natalie Carte, Rachel Cabral, Natalya Fortino, Dominic Cole, Edgar Cuevas, Avrill Pier, Joseph Hughes, Alya, Owaida, Tawnie Nell, Makena Ferdolage, Jordan Harris, Kaymen Barnes, Jeremiah Long, Samantha Hughes, Malajiahna, Robinson, Lily Wetmore, Sophia La Rose, Carley Pesonen, Vanessa Hughes, Kono Geary and Peerliss Brooke.

All students, including college students, will pay an admission fee of $10 at the door. Seniors (age 65 and older) will pay $11 and adults will pay $12.

All proceeds will go to the LLHS Drama department to help fund the next show.

For more information or any questions, please call Lower Lake High School, 707-994-6471, Extension 2735, to speak with drama instructor, Tracy Lahr.