Thursday, July 26, 2007

This Is It!

Tomorrow is the big day - I take my only child off to college!

We are NOT driving - I don't see that as the best way to spend our last couple of days together! We are bringing most of her stuff with us on the plane & shipping a box or two. Having family in the area makes the shipping part much easier! We weighed all her bags & even the very largest was under 50 lbs, so all of that comes with us for free.

We have had some drama with U Penn - the latest was over insurance during the summer program she's attending - but to their credit they have figured everything out every time. Her case is more complicated than most - I suspect she may be the first foster kid they have ever accepted - but they have managed to make everything work out in the end. I appreciate that they seem to really want her there!

I loved college so much - and I want that for her. I want her to LOVE it. I think it's the perfect way to transition into adulthood - on your own, making your own choices, but still part of a pretty sheltered community (with someone else still cooking for you!) What more could a kid ask for? :)

So tomorrow morning we're off. Wish us Godspeed.


Sunday, July 22, 2007

It's a Small World...

Once again, as I was trolling through other blogspot blogs, I was struck that about half of them seem to be in other languages! I just love how global something as simple as blogging can be! :)

Here are a few of them - figuring out what language each one is can be kind of a game...
http://manskensbondensmemoarer.blogspot.com/
http://bruneiartnation.blogspot.com/
http://heliodon.blogspot.com/
http://meumundoeste.blogspot.com/
http://arcticmonkeysportugal.blogspot.com/
http://cursosfree.blogspot.com/
http://barbatrespelos.blogspot.com/
http://danielavroth.blogspot.com/
http://urikugas.blogspot.com/

Friedman Nails It

You haven't seen much war commentary here - and you won't - but Thomas Friedman's latest column so completely nails the current conundrum that I have to give him credit!

He says, simply, that if he were Bush at this point, he would draft some of the country's best negotiators and send them to Baghdad with the following orders:
"I want you to move to the Green Zone, meet with the Iraqi factions, and do not come home until you've reached one of three conclusions:
1) You have resolved the power- and oil-sharing issues holding up political reconciliation;
2) You have concluded that those obstacles are insurmountable and have sold the Iraqis on a partition plan that could be presented to the United Nations and supervised by an international force
3) You have concluded that Iraqis are incapable of agreeing on either political reconciliation or a partition plan and told them that, as a result, the United States has no choice but to redeploy its troops to the border and let Iraqis sort this out on their own."

The last option is the one the Bush administration doesn't seem to be willing to consider, but that is really most crucial. As Friedman points out, when negotiating a contract, "if the other side thinks you'll never walk away, you've got no leverage." This is Bush's basic problem - the Iraqis don't believe he'll ever walk.

How come Thomas Friedman isn't running for president? Too smart?!?!?!




Saturday, July 21, 2007

Red State Heaven, part 3

I generally try to avoid Wal-Mart - I'm a good union member - and if you've ever been in a Wal-Mart you know that it can be a scary experience: loooooong rows & rows & rows of just about everything you can think of - all cheap in price and quality. The monster Wal-Mart by our cabin has everything from fabrics to hunting supplies. It freaks me out.

But occasionally when we're at the cabin there are things we need that can only be found at Wal-Mart. Recently, I needed a few more deck chairs, and Target didn't have the kind I wanted because it's already the middle of July, and Target's seasonal stuff doesn't stick around long.


So I braced myself and went to Wal-Mart. They not only had the chairs, but they had lots of them for about $5 each. Scary. I bought 6. But what really amazed me wasn't that...

Wal-Mart now offers a Wedding Registry.



Of Resumes and Digital Fingerprints

In a recent column, Thomas Friedman notes that one's personal & professional reputation is becoming increasingly transparent with the rise of the Internet and video cell phones.

In a new book called "How", author Dov Seidman posits that, according to Friedman, "...in this transparent world, how you live your life and how you conduct your business matters more than ever, because so many people can now see into what you do and tell so many other people without any editor."

There are interesting generational implications at work here. Friedman calls our online presence a "digital fingerprint" that will follow us around - an important point for young people just entering the job market or trying to establish a professional reputation. The rise of Google means that the resume is no longer the primary basis on which a potential employer will make a decision.

As Seidman puts it: "In the information age, life has no chapters or closets; you can leave nothing behind, and you have nowhere to hide your skeletons. Your past is your present."

For younger people who have Facebook pages, MySpace pages - and for everyone with a blog - it's something to think about!


Is It Legal?

Here's a cool thing - a website called Working America, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO union, offers Ask a Lawyer, a free legal advice service to workers about on-the-job issues.

How cool is that for average folks?

I am blessed with a good friend who is an employment attorney & lets me ask him questions once in a while, but I'm guessing that's not the case for most people, so this is a great resource!

Anyone can ask a question - it's a free service and you don't even have to be a union member to use it.

Bravo, AFL-CIO!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

RIP N-Word

Last week the NAACP declared the death of the "N-Word" and held a funeral for it - which I think is appropriate. Although I get the concept of re-claiming a word to disempower it, in reality it still holds a lot of negative power.

What I think is more interesting is all the media coverage that never once used the actual word!

And my own debate right now on whether to include it or not. My inclination is to use it, because I think it's a little silly not to, but on the other hand, it's a word that we just don't use and I guess that means even while writing about it.

Now - to see if it will really happen and people will stop using it...! We can only hope.

Little Mosque on the Prairie

Seriously! A new Canadian sit-com about Muslims who start a mosque in an abandoned chruch in a rural Saskatchewan town. Check it out on YouTube - several episodes are there, broken into 5-10 minute clips. I watched the whole first episode and it IS pretty funny.

The StarTribune article about it today notes that while many Muslims were initially wary about such a thing, once they watched it, they liked it. It's funny and real - positive portrayals AND actually entertaining.

Figures it's a Canadian show, not American!

Another ridiculously entertaining Canadian show, Trailer Park Boys, is worth a look... a show about 2 guys who get out of prison and try to get their lives in order. A friend bought the whole first season, and when we sat down to watch it, we watched three in a row! It's silly and sometimes pointless, but very funny...

Monday, July 09, 2007

Not Sure How I Feel About This...

Thanks to an article in the newspaper, I discovered a website for teens that's all about sex: Scarleteen.com

It seems to exist for educational purposes - it's not porn - but a quick glance confirms that it's got both breadth and depth.


As an educator, I guess I'm all for anything educational - and this certainly is. I'm glad there are resources out there for teens, so that they aren't just listening to their friends (like we did!) As a parent, it makes me grateful that I am able to talk about stuff like this with my kid, though this website probably knows more than I do.

But the flip side is that our culture has become so hyper-sexualized that there is a serious need for a website like this - and I guess that's what bugs me. Kids see sex everywhere - they can't even walk around the mall without seeing Victoria's Secret - and that + hormones is a pretty combustible combination!

An article in yesterday's paper is not unrelated - called "A million young women never forgot the babies they were forced to surrender" - it looks at baby boomer women who were forced (
by their families) to give up babies in the years before abortion became legal. The implication that they were too incompetent to be mothers scarred many of them for years.

What's the connection?
a) Kids need to know about birth control, because they're going to have sex whether you like it or not
b) Sex has multiple unintended consequences, so kids had better be informed
c) It's not just a rebellious behavior - even the "good" kids will do it, so better to be helpful than to judge
d) All of the above!

So sure, we all wish kids would just wait until they're adults to have sex (ha!) but we're also realistic enough to know that ain't gonna happen. Thus, Scarleteen.


Saturday, July 07, 2007

The Family Road Trip

"You might be a Gen-Xer if... you took family trips BEFORE the invention of the mini-van. You rode in the back of the station wagon and you faced the cars behind you."

Oh, yeah. We had the ultimate station wagon – the Checker Cab version. Bigger & badder than the wooden-door kind – although once when I was about 12, we were going across Arizona and the back door flew open for no reason! Luckily I was lying down so didn’t fall out. Another time – same trip, different state – a pheasant hit the windshield. Seriously. Huge bird. Freakish.

My brother & I visited 40+ states before we were 18, thanks to parents who believed in the family car trip. And no DVD player in the back for us! We watched license plates for different states, played the alphabet game with the billboards, and read books.

This summer, however, I will take my daughter to college in Philadelphia via airplane - no long car trip for us. I just don't see that as the greatest way to spend our last couple days together! Instead, we'll fly out early & hang out with my aunt. Much better.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

A Little TOO Connected

At the cabin the other day I was shocked to open my laptop & have a little box pop up with a wireless signal option! It didn’t catch, but for a minute I thought I had internet at the lake. No, thank you very much.

I admit I do occasionally bring some work out there, but I have NO desire to be that connected. (And if I did, the TREO would serve just fine.)

There's a reason we don't have a TV at the lake!

Red State Heaven - pt. 2

My brother put on quite the extraordinary fireworks show last night - and I realized that the fireworks we've been watching around the lake every year have probably all been from people's yards, not from formal (sanctioned) displays! It' amazing the show that you can buy in a box for $50. Who knew?

Red State Heaven

(written July 3)
I’m at the cabin, it’s early evening, and usually I would hear birds and not much else – maybe punctuated occasionally by a boat going by. But tonight it’s the day before the 4th of July, the neighbors a few doors down are having a huge party, and they are all singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I am not kidding. There is background music, but the people are definitely singing along. There are about 8 boats gathered in front of their place (and a bazillion cars parked up & down the road) so it’s quite the crowd. Now it’s America the Beautiful.

It’s at once touching and gagging. If it were 1949 I’d think it was awesome. But 2007? Not feeling too beautiful in this country these days, and the Lord doesn't seem to be leading us to victory in this war anytime soon!

[Interesting side note - I looked up the battle hymn and noticed the original line was " As He died to make men holy, let us
die to make men free" - eventually changed to live - what does that say about our attitudes toward war?!?!]

But isn’t the point of Independence Day to celebrate what’s good about America? In that respect, the scene before me is pretty cool. More boats are gathering spontaneously as I write: what’s not to like? People coming together, boating, drinking, singing… hallelujah!