Greetings, everyone, and welcome to February. I know, I know, but it is time once again to think not what your city or school board can do for you, but what you can do for your city or school board.

Packets are available, and you can file starting Monday (or tomorrow if you're looking at an Anna City Council seat).

Now that I have fulfilled my contractual obligation to try to get people involved in local elections (and yes, I am definitely the type who would have done it anyway), be sure to check out my future gently worded scoldings about the importance of voting. Look, no one who lives in a town of 9,000 people should be elected with a vote tally in the 200s. I speak the truth.

Monday morning brought the University Interscholastic League's biennial realignment of the state's high school athletic districts, and each of the schools along the North Collin Corridor can look forward to some new faces.

Melissa will be the school with the hefty travel budget the next two years as the Cardinals spend some quality time in various parts of East Texas. Until basketball season, of course, when the Cardinals can look forward to a bigger district and even more new faces in East Texas. Van Alstyne and Anna have to deal with Celina, but a five-team district that actually makes geographical sense will help. Howe will turn to the west a bit.

The four schools will see a lot of each other, however, as they still will populate each other's non-district schedules.

Sadly, the same cannot be said of the Prosper-Celina rivalry in spite of the fact that the schools had several weeks' worth of open dates to fill after the districts were announced and Prosper wanted to keep the rivalry going. I'll let you guys do the math on that one, and I'm sure it had nothing to do with Prosper blowing out Celina each of the last two seasons.

It's also mildly interesting that G.A. Moore's current school, Aubrey, did not end up in the same district as Celina.

Tuesday morning, of course, brought the week's drama (or is that dramedy?) with this year's Academy Awards nominations.

With 10 Best Picture nominees, I was obviously eager to check out what my wife lovingly(?) calls my "homework" list before the March 7 ceremony. The verdict?

We've got a whole lot of catching up to do -- we've seen only four of the 10 nominees.

Surprises? Well, the fact that "Nine" wasn't nominated was a pleasant surprise. Penelope Cruz did get a Best Supporting Actress nomination that should have gone to Marion Cotillard, but that wasn't a major oversight.

In a year with so many sci-fi entries, where is the love for the utterly fantastic "Star Trek"?

Also, with a new and improved 10-movie Best Picture category, where are the films that normally get overlooked? "The Hangover", anyone? What about "(500) Days of Summer"?

In case you're wondering, the official "homework" count is seven, with the potential for four more. As always, I'll keep you updated.

One more Oscar-related bit: My father is exceedingly displeased with the nomination of "A Serious Man", which he has likened to "The Thin Red Line", which we both hated.

Consider yourselves warned, and I will provide a second opinion as soon as I get a chance.

"Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning."

John Henry Cardinal Newman

Jeremy A. Corley is the managing editor of the Van Alstyne Leader and The Anna-Melissa Tribune.