Saturday, October 25, 2008

Post from King of Prussia & Philly

I'm in Philly for "Parent Weekend" at U Penn - and today was all about shopping. We skipped all the official Penn events, jumped in the car with my daughter's roommate & roommate's mom, and headed to PA's version of the Mall of America: the King of Prussia Mall.

Ironically, being WITH my kid makes me miss her more - the fun of spending time with her makes me wish for more time!  Tonight Bonnie & I took the four roommates out for a nice dinner - they are all lovely girls & it's really fun to be with them.

This is one of those "count your blessings" trips - it's a blessing for her to be here at U Penn, and so great for me to be able to come across the country to spend time with her. 

Amen.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A Lawn Sign with Attitude

Gen X creativity in action:

JP has uploaded his designs to CafePress.com so you can now buy lawnsigns, buttons, etc with the designs from the entry "Partisan but Entertaining" below - and more!

This sign is in his yard right now...

Sunday, October 12, 2008

"Decent family man" is to "Arab" as "Barack Obama" is to ________

A supporter says to John McCain at a rally that Barack Obama is an "Arab" and he replies "No, ma'am, he's a decent family man." (This happens in Minnesota, of course - aren't we proud.)

Hello? How is "decent" the opposite of "Arab"?!!?!?!

And then McCain's close advisor, Mark Salter, says that the campaign is not responsible for "the occasional nut who shows up and yells something about Barack Obama" - as if the climate of racial hate that those folks are acting from was NOT created by contemporary Republicans? Really?!

I have HAD IT with McCain. One word: PATHETIC.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Saturday, October 04, 2008

History through Technology

I love it: The Smithsonian has "flickred" a ton of photos from the Scopes Trial in 1925 so they're on line for everyone to see.

How cool is that? :)

Here's John T. Scopes, the teacher who had the audacity to teach his students the theory of evolution in Tennessee. Would that we all had his chutzpah.

Something Non-Political, Please!

Lord have mercy, I think this election has taken over the public consciousness like a cancer! Yes, I think it's fabulous that folks are paying attention, and I hope everyone votes, but I am really looking forward to a dinner with friends tonight that I am reasonably sure will NOT be dominated by political topics.

(OK, I am also throwing a fund raising party for a friend on Wednesday who is running for local office, but hey, we get to talk about schools there, not lipstick or Russia or wall street.)

Surely something else of interest is going on in the world!

Today is the last day of Banned Books week - I'm bummed that I missed it! Time to celebrate To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn, and other great works that are too brain-stretching for conservative tastes.

Bless Sheila Variations for posting on Paul Newman's passing - the loss of a great man is truly worth a moment of reflection.

I just got a new credit card in the mail - which I found somewhat amusing given the craziness in the credit industry the last couple weeks because of the wall street meltdown. Maybe I should be thankful instead of amused... but somehow getting another zero-percent interest card just cracked me up.

Riverbend hasn't posted to Baghdad Burning in almost a year. It makes me sad to wonder what she's going through - still in Syria? Still safe? Too depressed to write? What must it be like to be a refugee watching your country get torn apart for five straight years? I mean dang - the American Civil War didn't even last that long. We weren't in WWII for that long either.

The Peace Foundation in Minneapolis is hosting the 5th annual Peace Ball next weekend, and yes, we will be there. Check out Melissa's pix from last year's bash at QueenMAB.

And if after all that you still need a fix, check out English Al-Jazeera's special section for US presidential election coverage. That'll keep it interesting!