I used to work in the small town of Friendswood, just south of Houston, as a newspaper reporter covering about 22 square miles of, well, not much more than local news. Back then, in the early '90s, the biggest ball of fur to hit the fan had to do with a toxic waste dump just outside the city limits and how to clean it up without spreading more poison into the nearby community and a creek.
Then there were a couple of semi-sensational murders and those kept tongues wagging for a few months.
Finally, about two years after I left the paper, the tragic abduction and murder of a young girl put the town founded by peace-loving Quakers squarely on the map as her parents struggled to cope with their loss by establishing the Laura Recovery Center to aid the searches for future missing children.
Friendswood is back in the news once again, this time for a stellar misstep by the principal of one of the town's junior high schools.
Seems she thought the students should be required to attend a presentation on the virtues of Islam rather than participate in the PE class for which they were originally scheduled. To make matters worse, parents were not notified in advance of this enriching opportunity.
Don't misunderstand. I'm all in favor of cultural awareness, of kids learning about other religions and customs and languages.
The problem here is that Islam, being a religion, was given special billing and a captive audience. The same would never have been granted to someone presenting a program about Christianity.
Worse still is that the women who presented this program about Islam were from the Houston office of CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Do a little research on CAIR and its supporters and you'll find a rap sheet that will take your breath away.
Lots and lots of hobnobbing with suspected and confirmed terrorists, for starters.
I'm not saying the women who came to Friendswood Junior High School were terrorists. In fact, I'm sure they weren't.
But I do think that this attempt to present Islam as a wonderful religion worthy of admiration in spite of its role in the 9/11 and other terrorists attacks, in spite of its harsh treatment of women, in spite of the fact that Muslims in some Middle Eastern countries who convert to Christianity can be jailed or killed, in spite of the fact that the Koran instructs followers to convert those it can and kill the rest is just a tad disingenuous.
Am I missing something? Am I wrong about this? Do I really want my Christian children being told that, nope, their religion has it all wrong and that the only god isn't the God of the Bible but Allah?
I don't badmouth Islam to my kids, but I also don't go out of my way to tell them what a romp through the rose garden it is.
Shame on Friendswood Junior High School for trying to do just that.
Wordly discourse on everything from the sad state of public education, politics and world peace to vegetarianism, breast vs. bottle, religious persecution, bad media, and all manner of life's vagaries.
May 31, 2008
Let's be sure to penalize the brilliant
This seems to be the message a school district near Grapevine, TX is sending with its decision to not let the valedictorian be recognized as such because she completed four years of high school in three years.
Nevermind that her GPA of 5.898 is probably the highest in the district's history, according to Grapevine-Colleyville ISD officials.
No, the real problem is that Anjali Datta is just too darn smart and didn't need four years to slog through the nonsense that passes for education in today's government schools. Who can blame her for not wanting to waste an extra year of her life?
Apparently, a "policy" -- one that you know just can't be changed, not even for an exceptionally brilliant student -- is the problem. School officials claim they've agonized over this for several weeks and, for whatever reason, they just can't bring themselves to let common sense drive the boat. The policy states that a student must complete four years of high school. Reasonable people would assume this means four years WORTH OF CREDITS. Idiots will read it as an actual term of four calendar years.
So, not only does Anjali not get to claim her title as valedictorian, she also doesn't get a one-year college scholarship awarded by the State of Texas. That award doesn't say anything about having to be valedictorian. It just says the student with the highest GPA gets it. So why doesn't Anjali Datta get the scholarship? The state says it doesn't determine this but defers to local school districts.
Back to the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD who has decided a kid with four actual years of high school under his belt -- but a lower GPA than Miss Datta -- will also be given the scholarship.
Nice going, ya'll.
Never let it be said that Texas lets intelligence stand in the way of a good screw-up.
Nevermind that her GPA of 5.898 is probably the highest in the district's history, according to Grapevine-Colleyville ISD officials.
No, the real problem is that Anjali Datta is just too darn smart and didn't need four years to slog through the nonsense that passes for education in today's government schools. Who can blame her for not wanting to waste an extra year of her life?
Apparently, a "policy" -- one that you know just can't be changed, not even for an exceptionally brilliant student -- is the problem. School officials claim they've agonized over this for several weeks and, for whatever reason, they just can't bring themselves to let common sense drive the boat. The policy states that a student must complete four years of high school. Reasonable people would assume this means four years WORTH OF CREDITS. Idiots will read it as an actual term of four calendar years.
So, not only does Anjali not get to claim her title as valedictorian, she also doesn't get a one-year college scholarship awarded by the State of Texas. That award doesn't say anything about having to be valedictorian. It just says the student with the highest GPA gets it. So why doesn't Anjali Datta get the scholarship? The state says it doesn't determine this but defers to local school districts.
Back to the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD who has decided a kid with four actual years of high school under his belt -- but a lower GPA than Miss Datta -- will also be given the scholarship.
Nice going, ya'll.
Never let it be said that Texas lets intelligence stand in the way of a good screw-up.
May 30, 2008
Firing's too good for her
An elementary school teacher in Florida has been reassigned pending the outcome of an investigation into how or why a FIVE YEAR OLD boy with autism was allowed to be tormented by his classmates.
The kids got to take turns saying what they did not like about their classmate after the boy was sent to the principal's office following an outburst.
According to police reports, the boy was asked to stand before the class upon his return to the room and to listen to each classmate tell what they did or did not like about him. By a vote of 14-2 he was voted out of the class.
Two things here: One, this is a big reflection on our culture's obsession with reality television shows. The voting-off or -out is reminiscent of the show "Survivor" in which contestants compete to stay on the island. Young children and, apparently, teachers, find this whole process entertaining enough to incorporate it into academia.
The other more troubling issue is that the boy's mother told police and the media that her son's teacher knew he'd been tested for autism. What are we to think when a person entrusted with the hearts and minds of vulnerable little kindergartners isn't more concerned or interested in learning how to work with an autistic child?
It's easy to scapegoat a kid who acts weird, has unpredictable or unpleasant behaviors, and otherwise just doesn't appear to be "normal."
It takes great courage to confront such a circumstance, educate oneself about it, and then share as appropriate what you've learned so that others can also effectively interact with such a child.
Rather than having those children conjure up unkind remarks, wouldn't it have made more sense to encourage compassion, tolerance, or at the very least patience until a better solution could be worked out?
Autism is a mystery for now, but it affects so many children in so many families in such a myriad of ways big and small, it behooves every single person in the field of education to obtain a basic understanding of what it is, what it is not, and how it manifests in the particular child or children in their care.
As for that teacher? I say she should be voted out of the teaching profession altogether. She's not fit to be around children.
The kids got to take turns saying what they did not like about their classmate after the boy was sent to the principal's office following an outburst.
According to police reports, the boy was asked to stand before the class upon his return to the room and to listen to each classmate tell what they did or did not like about him. By a vote of 14-2 he was voted out of the class.
Two things here: One, this is a big reflection on our culture's obsession with reality television shows. The voting-off or -out is reminiscent of the show "Survivor" in which contestants compete to stay on the island. Young children and, apparently, teachers, find this whole process entertaining enough to incorporate it into academia.
The other more troubling issue is that the boy's mother told police and the media that her son's teacher knew he'd been tested for autism. What are we to think when a person entrusted with the hearts and minds of vulnerable little kindergartners isn't more concerned or interested in learning how to work with an autistic child?
It's easy to scapegoat a kid who acts weird, has unpredictable or unpleasant behaviors, and otherwise just doesn't appear to be "normal."
It takes great courage to confront such a circumstance, educate oneself about it, and then share as appropriate what you've learned so that others can also effectively interact with such a child.
Rather than having those children conjure up unkind remarks, wouldn't it have made more sense to encourage compassion, tolerance, or at the very least patience until a better solution could be worked out?
Autism is a mystery for now, but it affects so many children in so many families in such a myriad of ways big and small, it behooves every single person in the field of education to obtain a basic understanding of what it is, what it is not, and how it manifests in the particular child or children in their care.
As for that teacher? I say she should be voted out of the teaching profession altogether. She's not fit to be around children.
May 29, 2008
Three cheers for common sense
The Texas Supreme court has done what few others in state government have been able to accomplish in the case of the Mormon offshoot sect that had all of its children seized a couple of months ago on suspicion that some girls were being forced into underage marriages.
The justices ruled today that all the children must be reunited with their parents and that CPS did not have grounds to justify the mass removal.
From the beginning of this case, I had a bad feeling about it. Tonight I'm feeling vindicated.
No, I'm not a proponent of underage marriage. No way. But I am staunchly supportive of parental rights and obedience to the rule of law that says you can't just up and take away a person's children because you don't like the way they live, what they wear, what they eat or how they worship.
Let's face it, the quirkiness of the FLDS folks HAD to play a role in the state's decision to seize those kids. The state has never been able to gin up proof that perhaps more than three or four girls were involved in marriages to older men. Certainly the vast majority of children taken were in no danger of this practice. More than half of them were under the age of 5, for pete's sake.
Problem is, that if the state didn't like the FLDS and its entrenched practice of polygamy, what else might it decide it doesn't like? Who else might be fair game at some point?
And shame on every single citizen who didn't bother to question the state's action in this case.
Are you a homeschooler? Then you should be sure to breathe a sigh of relief tonight. Homeschoolers have been famously targeted by CPS agencies across the country for the past 20 or so years, and some have even had their children temporarily removed.
Are you a member of a minority religion? Yep, you, too, oughta offer up a prayer of gratitude that the state's highest court saw the light.
Are you incorrect politically with respect to the places you frequent, the things you read or write, the organizations to which you belong? Today's ruling struck a blow to those who would define tolerance as acceptance of only that which is considered by the majority to be "normal."
The irony must not escape us. In this post-modern era, when anything goes as far as sexual identity, sexual practices and proclivities, and moral relativism has become the new rule of thumb, is polygamy really the worst thing people can practice? Is it really the worst that a child can witness? Really?
I won't bother to delve too deeply into the issue of teen pregnancy or the fact that up until well after the turn of the 20th century it was not uncommon for women to marry as early as 14.
Loretta Lynn, the famous country singer, was married at 13. Too early in my book, but it's a fact nonetheless.
This is America, and if the Branch Davidian and Elian Gonzales episodes can teach us anything it is that children ought to be respected and their needs considered before we go smoking them out or yanking them up.
My faith in the democratic rule of law has been salvaged -- at least for now.
The justices ruled today that all the children must be reunited with their parents and that CPS did not have grounds to justify the mass removal.
From the beginning of this case, I had a bad feeling about it. Tonight I'm feeling vindicated.
No, I'm not a proponent of underage marriage. No way. But I am staunchly supportive of parental rights and obedience to the rule of law that says you can't just up and take away a person's children because you don't like the way they live, what they wear, what they eat or how they worship.
Let's face it, the quirkiness of the FLDS folks HAD to play a role in the state's decision to seize those kids. The state has never been able to gin up proof that perhaps more than three or four girls were involved in marriages to older men. Certainly the vast majority of children taken were in no danger of this practice. More than half of them were under the age of 5, for pete's sake.
Problem is, that if the state didn't like the FLDS and its entrenched practice of polygamy, what else might it decide it doesn't like? Who else might be fair game at some point?
And shame on every single citizen who didn't bother to question the state's action in this case.
Are you a homeschooler? Then you should be sure to breathe a sigh of relief tonight. Homeschoolers have been famously targeted by CPS agencies across the country for the past 20 or so years, and some have even had their children temporarily removed.
Are you a member of a minority religion? Yep, you, too, oughta offer up a prayer of gratitude that the state's highest court saw the light.
Are you incorrect politically with respect to the places you frequent, the things you read or write, the organizations to which you belong? Today's ruling struck a blow to those who would define tolerance as acceptance of only that which is considered by the majority to be "normal."
The irony must not escape us. In this post-modern era, when anything goes as far as sexual identity, sexual practices and proclivities, and moral relativism has become the new rule of thumb, is polygamy really the worst thing people can practice? Is it really the worst that a child can witness? Really?
I won't bother to delve too deeply into the issue of teen pregnancy or the fact that up until well after the turn of the 20th century it was not uncommon for women to marry as early as 14.
Loretta Lynn, the famous country singer, was married at 13. Too early in my book, but it's a fact nonetheless.
This is America, and if the Branch Davidian and Elian Gonzales episodes can teach us anything it is that children ought to be respected and their needs considered before we go smoking them out or yanking them up.
My faith in the democratic rule of law has been salvaged -- at least for now.
May 27, 2008
Tennessee and Subway
You might wonder what the two have in common unless you're a homeschooler who has been tripping through the blogosphere these past few days.
On 'blog after 'blog the state of Tennessee and the Subway Corp. are being trashed and bashed for their abject ignorance when it comes to alternative education.
It's hard to say which entity has made the bigger faux pas.
In one corner we have the Tennessee state education agency which has proclaimed all highschool diplomas earned by homeschoolers for coursework completed in home-based schools null and void. Adding insult to injury, homeschool grads are not eligible to apply for state government jobs because the state had no input into or oversight of their education. Homeschoolers can't "prove" they earned a high school diploma legitimately.
Like publicly schooled kids can? When's the last time you heard of a publicly schooled student whipping out his or her standardized test scores as legit proof of a sound education? What passes for "proof" needs serious reexamination, me thinks.
In the other corner we have the Subway Corp., known for its famous sandwiches and the commercials featuring a guy who reportedly lost a bunch of weight just by eating their fare. Apparently Subway has slept through the buzz in education circles these past few years -- the winners of national spelling bees, geography bees, and such who were homeschooled, the growing list of colleges and universities actively courting homeschooled students because of their impressive track records for learning and outperforming conventionally schooled peers on the ACT exam, the burgeoning industry that recognizes homeschoolers are shoppers, too, and targets said families with everything from books and science lab supplies to specialized field trips and all manner of computer software and electronic gadgets. Google homeschool supplies/curriculum/products and see what I mean.
No, Subway has been out of the loop to the point of purposely and specifically excluding homeschoolers from a current essay competition that can earn the winners all manner of prizes.
Guess the company won't miss our dollars since it obviously doesn't value our children enough to let them enter its contest.
Less money spent at Subway means more money for books! And anyone who knows a homeschooler knows we love our books. Like oxygen, they are.
On 'blog after 'blog the state of Tennessee and the Subway Corp. are being trashed and bashed for their abject ignorance when it comes to alternative education.
It's hard to say which entity has made the bigger faux pas.
In one corner we have the Tennessee state education agency which has proclaimed all highschool diplomas earned by homeschoolers for coursework completed in home-based schools null and void. Adding insult to injury, homeschool grads are not eligible to apply for state government jobs because the state had no input into or oversight of their education. Homeschoolers can't "prove" they earned a high school diploma legitimately.
Like publicly schooled kids can? When's the last time you heard of a publicly schooled student whipping out his or her standardized test scores as legit proof of a sound education? What passes for "proof" needs serious reexamination, me thinks.
In the other corner we have the Subway Corp., known for its famous sandwiches and the commercials featuring a guy who reportedly lost a bunch of weight just by eating their fare. Apparently Subway has slept through the buzz in education circles these past few years -- the winners of national spelling bees, geography bees, and such who were homeschooled, the growing list of colleges and universities actively courting homeschooled students because of their impressive track records for learning and outperforming conventionally schooled peers on the ACT exam, the burgeoning industry that recognizes homeschoolers are shoppers, too, and targets said families with everything from books and science lab supplies to specialized field trips and all manner of computer software and electronic gadgets. Google homeschool supplies/curriculum/products and see what I mean.
No, Subway has been out of the loop to the point of purposely and specifically excluding homeschoolers from a current essay competition that can earn the winners all manner of prizes.
Guess the company won't miss our dollars since it obviously doesn't value our children enough to let them enter its contest.
Less money spent at Subway means more money for books! And anyone who knows a homeschooler knows we love our books. Like oxygen, they are.
May 22, 2008
"Legally and factually insufficient . . ."
Yep, that's what a Texas appeals court is saying today about evidence presented by CPS that was to justify the agency's removal of more than 400 children from a religious compound.
I'm not surprised.
To a lot of outside folks, the sweep that separated hundreds of children from their mothers seemed heavyhanded from the get-go, especially in light of the fact that CPS's primary claim was that all children were in danger because a handful of underage girls were supposedly married off to older men. And nevermind the problem that the whole thing happeneed as the result of a fraudulent phone call!
It has always been hard to fathom how nursing babies, toddlers and little bitties of both genders were at risk.
The court said the state NEVER provided any evidence all these children were in danger.
The court also said the state was wrong to consider the entire polygamist compound as a household. Taking individual children with reasonable evidence they were in danger would have made more sense.
Do you think?????
In short, our state's CPS agency, often maligned, often overburdened, and often wrong is wrong once again. Only this time their poor judgement has cost hundreds of children their security and resulted in their mothers'unimaginable heartbreak at having to relinqush their babies to total strangers in cities far from home.
All at taxpayer expense, don't forget. This is a bill the tab of which I'll just bet runs higher with every lawsuit filed in the wake of this debacle.
One small step for individual liberty and religous freedom, one giant misstep for the great State of Texas.
I'm not surprised.
To a lot of outside folks, the sweep that separated hundreds of children from their mothers seemed heavyhanded from the get-go, especially in light of the fact that CPS's primary claim was that all children were in danger because a handful of underage girls were supposedly married off to older men. And nevermind the problem that the whole thing happeneed as the result of a fraudulent phone call!
It has always been hard to fathom how nursing babies, toddlers and little bitties of both genders were at risk.
The court said the state NEVER provided any evidence all these children were in danger.
The court also said the state was wrong to consider the entire polygamist compound as a household. Taking individual children with reasonable evidence they were in danger would have made more sense.
Do you think?????
In short, our state's CPS agency, often maligned, often overburdened, and often wrong is wrong once again. Only this time their poor judgement has cost hundreds of children their security and resulted in their mothers'unimaginable heartbreak at having to relinqush their babies to total strangers in cities far from home.
All at taxpayer expense, don't forget. This is a bill the tab of which I'll just bet runs higher with every lawsuit filed in the wake of this debacle.
One small step for individual liberty and religous freedom, one giant misstep for the great State of Texas.
May 16, 2008
"Shut up and leave the parenting to us!"
Well, that's not EXACTLY what a jr. high school in Jackson, Miss. said to parents this week, but it's not far off the mark.
Seems that a class of sixth graders at the predominately black school (that's right, I didn't use the politically correct "African American" because we are all Americans, regardless of skin color, yes?) was given an assignment that according to backpedalling school officials was supposed to be about statistics.
Maybe so, but it's the dumbest assignment I think I've ever heard of.
The children were asked to rank each other according to who they thought was most likely to become pregnant, get HIV or end up dead by the age of 19. See, they were given a list of stats about the current state of black Americans -- family life, crime, etc. -- and encouraged to figure out who in their class might one day fulfill those statistical profiles.
Forget positive and encouraging forecasting like, "Most Likely to Succeed," or "Most Likely to Graduate With Honors."
No, this was much more meaningful, I guess, to the wingnut of a teacher who devised the lesson.
Children came home from the class upset, paranoid, fearful. One girl reportedly told her father she won't wear lipgloss anymore. She was one of the students voted most likely to get pregnant and perhaps she thinks the lipgloss makes her look too worldly or sophisticated -- like the kind of 12-year-old who would make herself "available."
The only thing worse than the assignment is the school's handling of parental complaints. Officials are refusing to let parents see the actual lesson materials.
Isn't it obvious by now? Well, isn't it?
Government schools (I refuse to call them 'public' schools because they aren't run by the public for the good of the public -- just paid for by us) will almost always take the position that THEY, not the parents, know best when it comes to our children.
THEY will decide what we need to know and when. THEY will decide what to teach our children and THEY will find every opportunity to silence those parents who don't follow the herd.
THEY usually like to point out, with no basis in fact of course, that parents who opt to homeschool are fools because they lack the so-called professional credentials deemed vital to successfully educating children.
Really? If the twaddle that passes for education in the aforementioned school is any indication of what folks need to know to teach kids, I'm proud to remain ignorant.
Seems that a class of sixth graders at the predominately black school (that's right, I didn't use the politically correct "African American" because we are all Americans, regardless of skin color, yes?) was given an assignment that according to backpedalling school officials was supposed to be about statistics.
Maybe so, but it's the dumbest assignment I think I've ever heard of.
The children were asked to rank each other according to who they thought was most likely to become pregnant, get HIV or end up dead by the age of 19. See, they were given a list of stats about the current state of black Americans -- family life, crime, etc. -- and encouraged to figure out who in their class might one day fulfill those statistical profiles.
Forget positive and encouraging forecasting like, "Most Likely to Succeed," or "Most Likely to Graduate With Honors."
No, this was much more meaningful, I guess, to the wingnut of a teacher who devised the lesson.
Children came home from the class upset, paranoid, fearful. One girl reportedly told her father she won't wear lipgloss anymore. She was one of the students voted most likely to get pregnant and perhaps she thinks the lipgloss makes her look too worldly or sophisticated -- like the kind of 12-year-old who would make herself "available."
The only thing worse than the assignment is the school's handling of parental complaints. Officials are refusing to let parents see the actual lesson materials.
Isn't it obvious by now? Well, isn't it?
Government schools (I refuse to call them 'public' schools because they aren't run by the public for the good of the public -- just paid for by us) will almost always take the position that THEY, not the parents, know best when it comes to our children.
THEY will decide what we need to know and when. THEY will decide what to teach our children and THEY will find every opportunity to silence those parents who don't follow the herd.
THEY usually like to point out, with no basis in fact of course, that parents who opt to homeschool are fools because they lack the so-called professional credentials deemed vital to successfully educating children.
Really? If the twaddle that passes for education in the aforementioned school is any indication of what folks need to know to teach kids, I'm proud to remain ignorant.
May 15, 2008
Not quite what the Chinese had in mind
Powerful earthquake as population control?
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that a nation that forces abortion as late as the ninth month in utero -- ostensibly to reduce its burgeoning population -- is wringing its hands over tens of thousands of its citizens trapped in rubble.
Moral relativism is so unattractive.
May God help them all.
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that a nation that forces abortion as late as the ninth month in utero -- ostensibly to reduce its burgeoning population -- is wringing its hands over tens of thousands of its citizens trapped in rubble.
Moral relativism is so unattractive.
May God help them all.
Too paralyzed to vote
The presidential election looms large and as someone who usually knows my mind I admit I am flummoxed as to what I should do. I mean, I'm supposed to vote, right? And for a candidate, right? The best man or woman?
Well, I would -- IF THE BEST MAN OR WOMAN WAS RUNNING FOR OFFICE!
None of the choices is the best. Obama or Clinton -- no contest as far as I'm concerned. They both talk a good game but if you listen real closely, it's just "blah, blah, blah," not unlike the schoolteacher's voice in the Peanuts cartoon.
They promise us the moon but let's face it, if NASA gets any money to actually get men back to the lunar surface it will have to be classified as an act of God.
They promise to cut taxes. That's great if you live on the margin, barely scraping by but making enough to owe Uncle Sam his share. But what of the solid, stolid, stalwart middle class? They make too much to avoid paying taxes, but not enough to survive the loss of whatever money they are forced to send the feds. Yet it's the middle class who likely won't get any tax relief. They're perceived as having too much.
Clinton freaks me out with her casual remarks about income redistribution. She doesn't call it that, but she implies it. Maybe I did sleep through college economics, but isn't income redistribution a hallmark of communism?
Obama and his pastor freak me out. I know, I know, he's denounced the good Rev. Wright but really, does anyone believe Obama hasn't been sitting in the pews all these years listening to screed after screed against white folks in America? I love being lumped in with all the avowed and in-your-face racist jerks just because I'm white. Thanks much for that generalization.
Then there's John McCain. His military record and time as a POW aren't in dispute. The man is notable if only for surviving hell on earth to later become a U.S. senator.
But does heroism or endurance in the face of adversity automatically qualify you to be president of the most powerful nation in the free world?
I'm just not convinced, and judging by the comments I hear on talk radio and various television news shows, a lot of other people aren't, either.
So I'm back to square one and a ballot that has my name on it come November. I can't not vote, but I can't vote for someone I don't think is qualified or at the very least believeable.
Where are those pesky independent candidates when we need 'em?
Well, I would -- IF THE BEST MAN OR WOMAN WAS RUNNING FOR OFFICE!
None of the choices is the best. Obama or Clinton -- no contest as far as I'm concerned. They both talk a good game but if you listen real closely, it's just "blah, blah, blah," not unlike the schoolteacher's voice in the Peanuts cartoon.
They promise us the moon but let's face it, if NASA gets any money to actually get men back to the lunar surface it will have to be classified as an act of God.
They promise to cut taxes. That's great if you live on the margin, barely scraping by but making enough to owe Uncle Sam his share. But what of the solid, stolid, stalwart middle class? They make too much to avoid paying taxes, but not enough to survive the loss of whatever money they are forced to send the feds. Yet it's the middle class who likely won't get any tax relief. They're perceived as having too much.
Clinton freaks me out with her casual remarks about income redistribution. She doesn't call it that, but she implies it. Maybe I did sleep through college economics, but isn't income redistribution a hallmark of communism?
Obama and his pastor freak me out. I know, I know, he's denounced the good Rev. Wright but really, does anyone believe Obama hasn't been sitting in the pews all these years listening to screed after screed against white folks in America? I love being lumped in with all the avowed and in-your-face racist jerks just because I'm white. Thanks much for that generalization.
Then there's John McCain. His military record and time as a POW aren't in dispute. The man is notable if only for surviving hell on earth to later become a U.S. senator.
But does heroism or endurance in the face of adversity automatically qualify you to be president of the most powerful nation in the free world?
I'm just not convinced, and judging by the comments I hear on talk radio and various television news shows, a lot of other people aren't, either.
So I'm back to square one and a ballot that has my name on it come November. I can't not vote, but I can't vote for someone I don't think is qualified or at the very least believeable.
Where are those pesky independent candidates when we need 'em?
May 12, 2008
I found "Patience" at Hobby Lobby
I know the cashier at the Hobby Lobby checkout thought my purchase of a large painted wooden word that read "Patience" was for me. There I stood, juggling a fussy tired baby while trying to corral three more small people all of whom call me "Mama."
"Can we have M&Ms?" "Mama, can we get a little tape measure?" "What about bubbles? Can we have bubbles?" "Hey, Mama, do we need more gluesticks? What about more tape?"
That last question came from my young son who uses tape to paper my walls with drawings, magazine subscription cards, self-stick notes (that concept is lost on him), and all other manner of ephemera. He burns through a roll of tape every three days or so, and has finally forced me to start locking up a roll for my own use.
I didn't have the energy to explain to the young woman behind the counter that I'd found my own Patience several months earlier.
This new Patience was for my friend Lisa who, as the mother of four children of her own, both epitomizes and wants more self-control. Her oldest three are boys with their attendant noise, high activity levels, and their constant struggle for self-determination while still too young to fully understand what that means.
Lisa, if you read this before I deliver your infusion of Patience, just pretend you don't know it's coming and act surprised, okay?
Anyway, I found my own Patience at Hobby Lobby back in early February after a harrowing seven months of new baby, new baby with physical challenge, senior mom with physical challenge and senior mom in hospital. To say I was feeling spread pretty thin is to grossly simplify my circumstance.
Somewhere between worrying about the baby, driving to visit my mom who was incarcerated at the local medical center, and keeping up with my other children's schooling, I resorted to reciting the first lines of the famous "Serenity Prayer" at the oddest times. You know the prayer, the one that starts, "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
I spoke that prayer aloud while pumping gas one day. Another time it escaped my lips as I was standing in a long line with my children to buy groceries and one of them informed me she needed to use the potty "NOW!" It even ran through my head in the middle of night as I guess I lay half asleep and half awake pondering the coming day and the harrowing routine it would bring.
My artsy craftsy daughter finally relieved me of the habit of startling strangers with my "Grant me the serenity" line. She wanted to make puppets using wooden spoons (thanks Usborne Books) so we had to go to Hobby Lobby to get the supplies. On our way to check out I spotted it -- PATIENCE. It sat atop a shelf loaded with all manner of claptrap made in China by indentured servants, and it was so big, so bold, it almost spoke to me.
"I need patience," I said to my children, "and if I can't come by it naturally then I'm gonna buy it."
Every time I walk into my kitchen my eyes are drawn to the top edge of the cabinets above the counter where "Patience" sits looking out over our comings and goings to remind me that it is an essential element of mothering, friendship, and self-respect.
My friend Lisa has admired it on more than one occasion so, for her, I bought a duplicate. I hope it will inspire her and remind her to take one more deep breath before responding to whatever unpleasantness may be confronting her.
A woman named Mary Baker Eddy, the author of my church's denominational textbook, writes, "What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds. To keep the commandments of our Master (Jesus Christ)and follow his example is our proper debt to him and the only worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has done."
Patience. Whether we buy it in a store or receive it supernaturally, it's vital to have if we want to claim our heritage as children of God.
"Can we have M&Ms?" "Mama, can we get a little tape measure?" "What about bubbles? Can we have bubbles?" "Hey, Mama, do we need more gluesticks? What about more tape?"
That last question came from my young son who uses tape to paper my walls with drawings, magazine subscription cards, self-stick notes (that concept is lost on him), and all other manner of ephemera. He burns through a roll of tape every three days or so, and has finally forced me to start locking up a roll for my own use.
I didn't have the energy to explain to the young woman behind the counter that I'd found my own Patience several months earlier.
This new Patience was for my friend Lisa who, as the mother of four children of her own, both epitomizes and wants more self-control. Her oldest three are boys with their attendant noise, high activity levels, and their constant struggle for self-determination while still too young to fully understand what that means.
Lisa, if you read this before I deliver your infusion of Patience, just pretend you don't know it's coming and act surprised, okay?
Anyway, I found my own Patience at Hobby Lobby back in early February after a harrowing seven months of new baby, new baby with physical challenge, senior mom with physical challenge and senior mom in hospital. To say I was feeling spread pretty thin is to grossly simplify my circumstance.
Somewhere between worrying about the baby, driving to visit my mom who was incarcerated at the local medical center, and keeping up with my other children's schooling, I resorted to reciting the first lines of the famous "Serenity Prayer" at the oddest times. You know the prayer, the one that starts, "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
I spoke that prayer aloud while pumping gas one day. Another time it escaped my lips as I was standing in a long line with my children to buy groceries and one of them informed me she needed to use the potty "NOW!" It even ran through my head in the middle of night as I guess I lay half asleep and half awake pondering the coming day and the harrowing routine it would bring.
My artsy craftsy daughter finally relieved me of the habit of startling strangers with my "Grant me the serenity" line. She wanted to make puppets using wooden spoons (thanks Usborne Books) so we had to go to Hobby Lobby to get the supplies. On our way to check out I spotted it -- PATIENCE. It sat atop a shelf loaded with all manner of claptrap made in China by indentured servants, and it was so big, so bold, it almost spoke to me.
"I need patience," I said to my children, "and if I can't come by it naturally then I'm gonna buy it."
Every time I walk into my kitchen my eyes are drawn to the top edge of the cabinets above the counter where "Patience" sits looking out over our comings and goings to remind me that it is an essential element of mothering, friendship, and self-respect.
My friend Lisa has admired it on more than one occasion so, for her, I bought a duplicate. I hope it will inspire her and remind her to take one more deep breath before responding to whatever unpleasantness may be confronting her.
A woman named Mary Baker Eddy, the author of my church's denominational textbook, writes, "What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds. To keep the commandments of our Master (Jesus Christ)and follow his example is our proper debt to him and the only worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has done."
Patience. Whether we buy it in a store or receive it supernaturally, it's vital to have if we want to claim our heritage as children of God.
Mothers who homeschool and mothers who don't
They're all amazingly important and necessary to our survival. I should know. My mother is 80, temporarily living with us, and still a vital and influential presence in my life. She didn't homeschool me because when I was growing up, it wasn't expressly legal in Texas to do so. She was homeschooled for a year, though, as a child growing up in Arkansas, and has never once wavered in her support for our decision to teach our own.
Then there are the women I meet with from time to time as part of a small faith-based community of homeschoolers. They come from all walks of life, many of them college graduates, a former professor among them. And I can't forget the women I know through my daughters' Brownie troop. Graduates of prestigious universities stand shoulder to shoulder with long-time homemakers, an accomplished violinist, a degreed pastry chef.
All of them have chosen to put their former lives on hold in one way or another for the sole purpose of raising their children in the intensive lifestyle of homeschooling.
I haven't met a homeschooling mother yet who isn't fully qualified in every way to teach her children, contrary to a popular accusation of organizations like the National Education Association (teacher lobby).
Okay, so what about the mothers I know who don't homeschool their kids? They are equally courageous and in some ways moreso than those of us who sleep until the sun is actually up and then leisurely guide our children into the day's activities.
The moms of traditionally schooled children must rise early, prepare lunches, check backpacks to make sure the right child gets the right one, round up shoes, homework, books, and then either ferry the children to school or walk with them to the bus stop. I don't know about you, dear reader, but my capacity for polite small talk at 7:30 in the morning is extremely small.
If a child is sick, the traditional schooling mother has to drop a job, a task, maybe another small child and go to fetch the one who's ailing.
The traditional schooling mom may volunteer at her child's school in ways few folks can imagine. I have one good friend (who I shall write more about in a later separate post) who juggles four children and somehow manages to read to the class of one of them, have lunch with another, handle all manner of wildlife as a volunteer for the school district's science center, and on it goes.
She has four children in THREE different schools and hasn't lost track of one of them yet -- neither schools OR the kids themselves. Remarkable.
I have another friend who teaches at her children's private school where she is responsible for art classes for grades K through 5. There's no way you could get me to tackle this important but daunting task. Yet she's done it for a year now, so well in fact that the school would like to have her back.
In short, regardless of where they've decided their children learn best, these moms from all backgrounds, from all faiths, and all worldviews have one vital thing in common. At the end of every day they (we) each breathe a sigh of relief, maybe a prayer, that we've kept our children and families together once again.
No job on earth is tougher, more intense and intensive, rife with far-reaching implications, or more necessary.
Mothers. Where would we be without them?
Then there are the women I meet with from time to time as part of a small faith-based community of homeschoolers. They come from all walks of life, many of them college graduates, a former professor among them. And I can't forget the women I know through my daughters' Brownie troop. Graduates of prestigious universities stand shoulder to shoulder with long-time homemakers, an accomplished violinist, a degreed pastry chef.
All of them have chosen to put their former lives on hold in one way or another for the sole purpose of raising their children in the intensive lifestyle of homeschooling.
I haven't met a homeschooling mother yet who isn't fully qualified in every way to teach her children, contrary to a popular accusation of organizations like the National Education Association (teacher lobby).
Okay, so what about the mothers I know who don't homeschool their kids? They are equally courageous and in some ways moreso than those of us who sleep until the sun is actually up and then leisurely guide our children into the day's activities.
The moms of traditionally schooled children must rise early, prepare lunches, check backpacks to make sure the right child gets the right one, round up shoes, homework, books, and then either ferry the children to school or walk with them to the bus stop. I don't know about you, dear reader, but my capacity for polite small talk at 7:30 in the morning is extremely small.
If a child is sick, the traditional schooling mother has to drop a job, a task, maybe another small child and go to fetch the one who's ailing.
The traditional schooling mom may volunteer at her child's school in ways few folks can imagine. I have one good friend (who I shall write more about in a later separate post) who juggles four children and somehow manages to read to the class of one of them, have lunch with another, handle all manner of wildlife as a volunteer for the school district's science center, and on it goes.
She has four children in THREE different schools and hasn't lost track of one of them yet -- neither schools OR the kids themselves. Remarkable.
I have another friend who teaches at her children's private school where she is responsible for art classes for grades K through 5. There's no way you could get me to tackle this important but daunting task. Yet she's done it for a year now, so well in fact that the school would like to have her back.
In short, regardless of where they've decided their children learn best, these moms from all backgrounds, from all faiths, and all worldviews have one vital thing in common. At the end of every day they (we) each breathe a sigh of relief, maybe a prayer, that we've kept our children and families together once again.
No job on earth is tougher, more intense and intensive, rife with far-reaching implications, or more necessary.
Mothers. Where would we be without them?
May 10, 2008
I had to see it to believe it . . .
and I STILL don't believe it, it's just too bizarre.
Planned Parenthood offers some helpful services to women and teens and, depending upon your perspective, abortion may qualify as a helpful service.
What's just plain strange, though, is that PP now champions Mother's Day as a reason to make a donation to their organization. (I saw this item on an internet news site and visited PP's main website to verify it. It's true.)
Women who forego motherhood via abortion surely don't care to have it thrown back in their face, and at least half of the babies aborted would have had the potential to become mothers themselves.
Seems to me that the whole notion of Mother's Day presupposes the existence at one time or another of children -- the very thing that doesn't come to pass under one of PP's biggest programs.
Oxymoron epitomized.
Planned Parenthood offers some helpful services to women and teens and, depending upon your perspective, abortion may qualify as a helpful service.
What's just plain strange, though, is that PP now champions Mother's Day as a reason to make a donation to their organization. (I saw this item on an internet news site and visited PP's main website to verify it. It's true.)
Women who forego motherhood via abortion surely don't care to have it thrown back in their face, and at least half of the babies aborted would have had the potential to become mothers themselves.
Seems to me that the whole notion of Mother's Day presupposes the existence at one time or another of children -- the very thing that doesn't come to pass under one of PP's biggest programs.
Oxymoron epitomized.
May 9, 2008
When is a hypocrite not a hypocrite?
When they can consistently demonstrate a changed heart or mind about something.
I still feel sorry for Mitt Romney, for the bashing he took during his presidential bid over being a Mormon and for taking a "pro-choice" stance while governor of Massachusetts and later switching to a more "pro-life" platform.
Was he an opportunist or did he really have a change of heart about the issue of abortion?
You know, only Mitt and God will ever know for sure.
And that's why I thought it unwise to call him a hypocrite without some evidence that he was continuing to preach one thing while practicing another.
I used to be staunchly on the side of the pro-choicers myself, believing individual liberty, i.e. that of the woman, to be inviolable.
My logic, alas, was flawed but it took many years and the births of four children before I realized it.
No person reprogrammed me. A growing doubt about the legitimacy of the pro-choice platform came about slowly, gradually, with each birth and the everpresent concern about whether the baby I was carrying would make it.
The baby. Yeah, that's what each of them was alright. The word "fetus" drives me nuts. I know it's scientific and politically correct and all not to attach personhood to an unborn person, but ask any woman carrying a baby she really wants and she'll tell you it's a baby and will probably even tell you the child's name.
If it's not a baby and it doesn't matter, then why do so many people walk around with hearts broken when they lose a child to miscarriage or early death? Is worth of person one of those things we attain by degrees, i.e. as a two-month old in the womb we aren't as valuable or worthy as we will be at nine months in utero or five months after we're born?
I wade into deep water with this line of questioning, I know.
Do I think abortion should be outlawed? No. Because I think that no matter how many laws you pass prohibiting this or any other vice, the vice will not disappear by virtue of being outlawed.
The only thing that will make abortion obsolete is a collective change of heart. Some say it will come by prayer, some say it will come by revelation and widespread publication of the gritty truth behind the procedure and its proponents.
I am humbly grateful for the evolution of my thought on this issue. It is solid, permanent and liberating.
To borrow liberally from the all-time famous hymn "Amazing Grace," I once was lost AND blind, but somehow I was found and now I see.
I still feel sorry for Mitt Romney, for the bashing he took during his presidential bid over being a Mormon and for taking a "pro-choice" stance while governor of Massachusetts and later switching to a more "pro-life" platform.
Was he an opportunist or did he really have a change of heart about the issue of abortion?
You know, only Mitt and God will ever know for sure.
And that's why I thought it unwise to call him a hypocrite without some evidence that he was continuing to preach one thing while practicing another.
I used to be staunchly on the side of the pro-choicers myself, believing individual liberty, i.e. that of the woman, to be inviolable.
My logic, alas, was flawed but it took many years and the births of four children before I realized it.
No person reprogrammed me. A growing doubt about the legitimacy of the pro-choice platform came about slowly, gradually, with each birth and the everpresent concern about whether the baby I was carrying would make it.
The baby. Yeah, that's what each of them was alright. The word "fetus" drives me nuts. I know it's scientific and politically correct and all not to attach personhood to an unborn person, but ask any woman carrying a baby she really wants and she'll tell you it's a baby and will probably even tell you the child's name.
If it's not a baby and it doesn't matter, then why do so many people walk around with hearts broken when they lose a child to miscarriage or early death? Is worth of person one of those things we attain by degrees, i.e. as a two-month old in the womb we aren't as valuable or worthy as we will be at nine months in utero or five months after we're born?
I wade into deep water with this line of questioning, I know.
Do I think abortion should be outlawed? No. Because I think that no matter how many laws you pass prohibiting this or any other vice, the vice will not disappear by virtue of being outlawed.
The only thing that will make abortion obsolete is a collective change of heart. Some say it will come by prayer, some say it will come by revelation and widespread publication of the gritty truth behind the procedure and its proponents.
I am humbly grateful for the evolution of my thought on this issue. It is solid, permanent and liberating.
To borrow liberally from the all-time famous hymn "Amazing Grace," I once was lost AND blind, but somehow I was found and now I see.
Liberace would love this!
One of my children informed me this afternoon that she has been invited to a ball by the "Prince of London" and since she'll have to fly across the ocean to attend, she won't be flying in "just any old stinky plane."
No, she will be flying in a "red velvet airplane with beads all over it."
Considering she's never been near an airplane, I think this is remarkably imaginative and something all major carriers should take into consideration. Maybe customers wouldn't grouse half as much about the costs and inconveniences associated with modern-day air travel if they could choose a plane decked out like something from Liberace's closet.
No, she will be flying in a "red velvet airplane with beads all over it."
Considering she's never been near an airplane, I think this is remarkably imaginative and something all major carriers should take into consideration. Maybe customers wouldn't grouse half as much about the costs and inconveniences associated with modern-day air travel if they could choose a plane decked out like something from Liberace's closet.
May 7, 2008
Are homeschoolers superior?
No, but many of us do think we've found the equivalent of gold in the Yukon by taking it upon ourselves to teach our own children. If no one had set a precedent, we might be rightly charged with folly. But the list of self-directed learners is impressive enough to make us think it's worth a shot.
Do we sit in judgement of our non-homeschooling friends?
I may be guilty of this, only because I remember so well my own torturous public school experience and am now embued with the knowledge that it doesn't have to be that way for so many other children.
When I hear of some child floundering about, struggling to read or write, struggling to avoid bullies or other social minefields, struggling to find a voice amidst the twenty other kids in the class, I am tempted to champion homeschooling as a plausible cure.
I seldom do, though, because most folks are comfortable with the status quo. It's the old "Public school was good enough for me, it's good enough for him," argument and I usually have too many other things to do to try to untangle this bad logic.
So I let it go and hope that whatever the child's problem is, it gets resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
I do admit to being more puzzled by avowed Christians who send their children into secular government schools. Sort of like sending lambs to the slaughter, in my opinion. Are most young children strong enough in their faith to fend off the nonsense that passes for education in many cases but is really a veiled attack on their very religion?
I think government, i.e. public, schools undermine Christian parents, whether they intentionally do so or not. Sex, evolution, marriage, morals, values -- for Christians all these subjects are bound up in biblical teaching. And the Bible isn't exactly front and center in traditional schools.
Do we sit in judgement of our non-homeschooling friends?
I may be guilty of this, only because I remember so well my own torturous public school experience and am now embued with the knowledge that it doesn't have to be that way for so many other children.
When I hear of some child floundering about, struggling to read or write, struggling to avoid bullies or other social minefields, struggling to find a voice amidst the twenty other kids in the class, I am tempted to champion homeschooling as a plausible cure.
I seldom do, though, because most folks are comfortable with the status quo. It's the old "Public school was good enough for me, it's good enough for him," argument and I usually have too many other things to do to try to untangle this bad logic.
So I let it go and hope that whatever the child's problem is, it gets resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
I do admit to being more puzzled by avowed Christians who send their children into secular government schools. Sort of like sending lambs to the slaughter, in my opinion. Are most young children strong enough in their faith to fend off the nonsense that passes for education in many cases but is really a veiled attack on their very religion?
I think government, i.e. public, schools undermine Christian parents, whether they intentionally do so or not. Sex, evolution, marriage, morals, values -- for Christians all these subjects are bound up in biblical teaching. And the Bible isn't exactly front and center in traditional schools.
"You would miss us super terribly . . ."
Thus saith my daughter upon interrogating me as to why her father and I don't send them to traditional school and whether our house will ever have every single room clean and tidy at the same time.
I couldn't deny it. I WOULD miss my children super terribly if they were gone all day. (This is why our house is never 100% tidy. We're all home most of the time!)
The best part about homeschooling is being with them as they learn new things and being there to help them navigate the tougher questions like, "Are there still wars? Where do they fight wars? Why do they fight them? Do many people get hurt in wars? What happens to animals when there's a war?" and my personal least-favorite, "Will we ever see a war? Really see one?"
How convenient it would be to send them off to school each day and let someone else try to explain the more unattractive aspects of humanity. Convenient, yes. Responsible, no. At least I don't think so.
They're my children, it's my responsibility to clothe and feed them, keep them safe and protect their health, right? The way I see it, it's also my responsibility to make sure they grasp the world with hearts and hands prepared for the job by one who loves them above all else.
Would a teacher in a school care whether studying slavery in America caused my child to have nightmares? What about the Holocaust (see previous post)? What about modern-day genocide and religious persecution?
Can teachers in traditional schools even talk about religious persecution or is it too politically incorrect?? Not being snarky here, but genuinely curious. I mean, can teachers point out that it's really hard to attend church openly in China, read a Bible in Iran, or homeschool for any reason -- including religion -- in Germany?
(See, homeschooling is against the law in Germany because the government wants everyone to receive the same education. Ironic that groupthink is supposed to protect them from sliding into a Hitleresque scenario when groupthink is EXACTLY what brought Hitler to power.)
Even if I could be assured that my children's thoughts and sensitivities would be treated with the utmost respect, I still wouldn't send them away to school. Because, as my daughter so aptly noted, I would miss them super terribly.
And life's just too short to miss anyone that much.
I couldn't deny it. I WOULD miss my children super terribly if they were gone all day. (This is why our house is never 100% tidy. We're all home most of the time!)
The best part about homeschooling is being with them as they learn new things and being there to help them navigate the tougher questions like, "Are there still wars? Where do they fight wars? Why do they fight them? Do many people get hurt in wars? What happens to animals when there's a war?" and my personal least-favorite, "Will we ever see a war? Really see one?"
How convenient it would be to send them off to school each day and let someone else try to explain the more unattractive aspects of humanity. Convenient, yes. Responsible, no. At least I don't think so.
They're my children, it's my responsibility to clothe and feed them, keep them safe and protect their health, right? The way I see it, it's also my responsibility to make sure they grasp the world with hearts and hands prepared for the job by one who loves them above all else.
Would a teacher in a school care whether studying slavery in America caused my child to have nightmares? What about the Holocaust (see previous post)? What about modern-day genocide and religious persecution?
Can teachers in traditional schools even talk about religious persecution or is it too politically incorrect?? Not being snarky here, but genuinely curious. I mean, can teachers point out that it's really hard to attend church openly in China, read a Bible in Iran, or homeschool for any reason -- including religion -- in Germany?
(See, homeschooling is against the law in Germany because the government wants everyone to receive the same education. Ironic that groupthink is supposed to protect them from sliding into a Hitleresque scenario when groupthink is EXACTLY what brought Hitler to power.)
Even if I could be assured that my children's thoughts and sensitivities would be treated with the utmost respect, I still wouldn't send them away to school. Because, as my daughter so aptly noted, I would miss them super terribly.
And life's just too short to miss anyone that much.
May 6, 2008
Forgiveness seventy times seven
I thought my grandmother had it all sewn up when it came to forgiveness of epic proportions. She's the one who forgave a young man for accidentally killing her daughter with a shotgun back in the 1930s and continued her friendship with the boy's family for some years after. (See a previous post for the whole story.)
But I've just finished reading an excellent little biography about Corrie ten Boom, the Dutchwoman who, along with her family, helped hide eight Jews in their home in Northern Holland during the German occupation in World War II. Miss ten Boom was in her fifties when the Gestapo raided the family home and led the family, including her elderly father, on a nightmarish trip from prison to a work camp and finally to the notorious Ravensbruck concentration camp where Miss ten Boom's older sister died of illness.
The ten Booms were Christians, members of the Dutch Reformed Church, and dedicated to helping their Jewish neighbors any way they could. Her father even went so far as to acquire one of the yellow cloth Stars of David that Jews were required to wear on their clothes. He wanted to wear it as a show of solidarity but his daughters persuaded him to find other ways to help. Wearing the Star meant you could be interrogated or beaten at will while out in public.
When the Gestapo finally did raid the ten Boom home, they did their best through beatings and questionings to find out where Jews, if any, were hidden. No one gave up the secret and despite the torture and imprisonment, Corrie ten Boom later learned that all but one Jew had escaped the Nazis after leaving the ten Boom home.
Corrie ten Boom spent the rest of her life after being released from Ravensbruck lecturing on the topic of forgiveness as demonstrated by Christ Jesus. She shared her story and her understanding of God's love for all humanity with countless thousands around the world before she died at age 91 in Los Angeles.
I'm not sure I could summon one one-hundreth of the forgiveness Miss ten Boom had, and as I read her biography my eyes teared up more than once.
If you want to know what happened to one Christian family persecuted for living its faith during WWII, read a bio of Corrie ten Boom. It will break your heart and then bind it back up.
But I've just finished reading an excellent little biography about Corrie ten Boom, the Dutchwoman who, along with her family, helped hide eight Jews in their home in Northern Holland during the German occupation in World War II. Miss ten Boom was in her fifties when the Gestapo raided the family home and led the family, including her elderly father, on a nightmarish trip from prison to a work camp and finally to the notorious Ravensbruck concentration camp where Miss ten Boom's older sister died of illness.
The ten Booms were Christians, members of the Dutch Reformed Church, and dedicated to helping their Jewish neighbors any way they could. Her father even went so far as to acquire one of the yellow cloth Stars of David that Jews were required to wear on their clothes. He wanted to wear it as a show of solidarity but his daughters persuaded him to find other ways to help. Wearing the Star meant you could be interrogated or beaten at will while out in public.
When the Gestapo finally did raid the ten Boom home, they did their best through beatings and questionings to find out where Jews, if any, were hidden. No one gave up the secret and despite the torture and imprisonment, Corrie ten Boom later learned that all but one Jew had escaped the Nazis after leaving the ten Boom home.
Corrie ten Boom spent the rest of her life after being released from Ravensbruck lecturing on the topic of forgiveness as demonstrated by Christ Jesus. She shared her story and her understanding of God's love for all humanity with countless thousands around the world before she died at age 91 in Los Angeles.
I'm not sure I could summon one one-hundreth of the forgiveness Miss ten Boom had, and as I read her biography my eyes teared up more than once.
If you want to know what happened to one Christian family persecuted for living its faith during WWII, read a bio of Corrie ten Boom. It will break your heart and then bind it back up.
And one more thing re: Noisy Books
Are we moving so fast these days that it makes more sense to let someone else, i.e. an electronic voice, read to our children than for us to do it ourselves? Isn't Mom or Dad's live voice a better conveyance than a microchip????
WE should do the reading and if we don't think we have time we should make the time. Children who are read to -- by people, not by machines -- do better in school, have better focus and usually become readers themselves. They will model what we do. If they never see us read, why should they think it's important?
Turn off the noise, all of it -- tv's, computers, video games, iPods, battery powered toys and books -- and READ. Do it for yourself. Do it for your children.
Books on tape have their place, but the youngest pre-readers really do need to hear and see a real person enjoying literature.
WE should do the reading and if we don't think we have time we should make the time. Children who are read to -- by people, not by machines -- do better in school, have better focus and usually become readers themselves. They will model what we do. If they never see us read, why should they think it's important?
Turn off the noise, all of it -- tv's, computers, video games, iPods, battery powered toys and books -- and READ. Do it for yourself. Do it for your children.
Books on tape have their place, but the youngest pre-readers really do need to hear and see a real person enjoying literature.
May 5, 2008
Living books, yes. Talking books, no.
Anyone who homeschools is familiar with the concept of "living" books, books that offer a lively and enjoyable read about historical events, people, or places. They are an alternative to the dry textbooks most of us had in school, the ones with such sparse detail as to make the chapters little more than concise summaries of what should have been full-length reports on the greatest events in history. Living books spring from the educational philosophy of Englishwoman Charlotte Mason. Miss Mason firmly believed that by reading substantial and beautiful books on all subjects from history to poetry, children would learn the facts they needed but in the context of rich language and imagery.
Stark contrast to something I'm seeing more and more of, much to my dismay. "Noisy books," I call them. They are usually severely abridged stories from, say, the Winnie the Pooh books by Milne, or some offshoot pablum from the latest Disney movie. (Think "Bugs Life" or "Shrek".) The story lines are simplistic, the illustrations garish, and to top it all off, the books sport a righthand margin that extends beyond the page edge by about two inches. This margin, made of hard plastic, features several large and colorful pushbuttons and a small speaker.
The idea is that as the child goes through the book, they are expected to push a button that relates to something on a given page. Example, you see a cow, you push the "cow" button to hear, "MOOOOOO." Or Dora the Explorer says, "C'mon Diego, let's go!"
What IS the point of this? Whatever happened to letting children read, using their own voices or imagining what someone or something might sound like?
These noisy books have taken the last vestage of an uncomplicated childhood and made it "interactive."
Have we fallen so far as a culture that we can no longer trust our children's minds to work as the minds of children have worked for thousands of years? Must everything come pre-scripted, pre-packaged, so that the only voices they hear are those of some anonymous electronic device?
Children will always find a way to make noise. They don't need books to do it for them.
Stark contrast to something I'm seeing more and more of, much to my dismay. "Noisy books," I call them. They are usually severely abridged stories from, say, the Winnie the Pooh books by Milne, or some offshoot pablum from the latest Disney movie. (Think "Bugs Life" or "Shrek".) The story lines are simplistic, the illustrations garish, and to top it all off, the books sport a righthand margin that extends beyond the page edge by about two inches. This margin, made of hard plastic, features several large and colorful pushbuttons and a small speaker.
The idea is that as the child goes through the book, they are expected to push a button that relates to something on a given page. Example, you see a cow, you push the "cow" button to hear, "MOOOOOO." Or Dora the Explorer says, "C'mon Diego, let's go!"
What IS the point of this? Whatever happened to letting children read, using their own voices or imagining what someone or something might sound like?
These noisy books have taken the last vestage of an uncomplicated childhood and made it "interactive."
Have we fallen so far as a culture that we can no longer trust our children's minds to work as the minds of children have worked for thousands of years? Must everything come pre-scripted, pre-packaged, so that the only voices they hear are those of some anonymous electronic device?
Children will always find a way to make noise. They don't need books to do it for them.
May 4, 2008
My friend Erin
This shoutout wouldn't be long enough or loud enough if it took up every bit of space on the world wide web and deafened the collective hearing of a small country. It's for my friend Erin who lives in the Rio Grande Valley and homeschools her four fabulous children -- a son, a daughter, and gorgeous wiggly twin boys. Because I love her so much, I sent her oldest son a book for Christmas about catapults and how to build them. I'm still waiting for large livestock and all manner of watercraft to come flying my way. They live on a lake and her boy spends much time in and around water.
What's so great about Erin?
She lives her faith like she means it, as if Christ is due to return tomorrow and she doesn't want to be lacking her credentials. She began homeschooling long before it was cool and didn't care that it wasn't.
She has been my faithful, loyal counselor and advisor more times than I can count, leading me through everything from pregnancies and childbirth, to how to start teaching my own children, to tips for taming a three-year-old boy. She has loved me with the ferocity of blood kin and in turn I regard her as such.
We haven't been face to face in more than 15 years but our friendship is one of the strongest links in my life chain. Someday, we muse, someday we'll be in the same room again and when we are we'll pick up right where we left off, because miles disappear where kindred spirits are concerned.
Erin, if you ever read this I want you to know, sincerely and from the depths of my heart: YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(What's more, anyone else who reads this will know it, too.)
What's so great about Erin?
She lives her faith like she means it, as if Christ is due to return tomorrow and she doesn't want to be lacking her credentials. She began homeschooling long before it was cool and didn't care that it wasn't.
She has been my faithful, loyal counselor and advisor more times than I can count, leading me through everything from pregnancies and childbirth, to how to start teaching my own children, to tips for taming a three-year-old boy. She has loved me with the ferocity of blood kin and in turn I regard her as such.
We haven't been face to face in more than 15 years but our friendship is one of the strongest links in my life chain. Someday, we muse, someday we'll be in the same room again and when we are we'll pick up right where we left off, because miles disappear where kindred spirits are concerned.
Erin, if you ever read this I want you to know, sincerely and from the depths of my heart: YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(What's more, anyone else who reads this will know it, too.)
May 3, 2008
Wanted: Words to match wits
One of my children has a brilliant mind but something akin to autism keeps it from shining through much of the time. At the tender age of 8 she can read material geared anywhere from mid-middle school to books and magazines intended for adults and understand and recall what she's read. She performs mathematical calculations effortlessly, working nearly two grades ahead of her peers, she "sees shapes from all sides" in her head, a talent that is making her first forays into geometry a breeze, and her gift for sculpting wire and tape and string into the most fantastic animals (usually cats) leaves us baffled.
All this and more are featured in her "thought bubbles" -- her words for "ideas" -- but for reasons that frustrate her and confound us she struggles to voice them. She speaks, but the content of her language is incomplete and peppered with original and creative descriptions for things. She uses words she knows in ever-evolving combinations to explain or describe each new experience.
The other day after a less-than-stellar ballet class she remarked, "My feet lost their thoughts and didn't know what to do."
Or my favorite, spoken on a very sunny day: "The hot is getting into my eyes."
She's getting help for whatever the glitch is that makes processing language trickier than it ought to be, but meanwhile we marvel at her abilities even as we continue our search to help her express them.
All this and more are featured in her "thought bubbles" -- her words for "ideas" -- but for reasons that frustrate her and confound us she struggles to voice them. She speaks, but the content of her language is incomplete and peppered with original and creative descriptions for things. She uses words she knows in ever-evolving combinations to explain or describe each new experience.
The other day after a less-than-stellar ballet class she remarked, "My feet lost their thoughts and didn't know what to do."
Or my favorite, spoken on a very sunny day: "The hot is getting into my eyes."
She's getting help for whatever the glitch is that makes processing language trickier than it ought to be, but meanwhile we marvel at her abilities even as we continue our search to help her express them.
It's not enough to walk on the moon
The latest issue of Smithsonian Magazine reports the results of a recent survey in which 2000 high school juniors and seniors were asked to list their Top Ten Famous Americans excluding U.S. presidents and first ladies.
Tbe results reflect the push to make history as taught in public schools more multicultural. The top three famous Americans were Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman. All fine Americans and worthy of honor to be sure.
Others on the list in no particular order included Ben Franklin, Oprah Winfrey(!), Albert Einstein (dead last at No. 10), Thomas Edison, Marilyn Monroe, Amelia Earhart, and Susan B. Anthony.
I was relieved to see no overpaid sports figures but a little sad that Neil Armstrong didn't make the cut.
Being the first human to set foot on a celestial body outside the Earth is, in my opinion, notoriously heroic and worthy of recognition in every generation.
After all, it was one giant step for all mankind. Wasn't it?
Tbe results reflect the push to make history as taught in public schools more multicultural. The top three famous Americans were Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman. All fine Americans and worthy of honor to be sure.
Others on the list in no particular order included Ben Franklin, Oprah Winfrey(!), Albert Einstein (dead last at No. 10), Thomas Edison, Marilyn Monroe, Amelia Earhart, and Susan B. Anthony.
I was relieved to see no overpaid sports figures but a little sad that Neil Armstrong didn't make the cut.
Being the first human to set foot on a celestial body outside the Earth is, in my opinion, notoriously heroic and worthy of recognition in every generation.
After all, it was one giant step for all mankind. Wasn't it?
May 1, 2008
Was her hand really that small?
One of my daughters celebrated her sixth birthday today and while I was sitting at the table looking back through her baby book a small flat piece of dried clay fell out of a pocket.
My daughter was six months old when I pressed her chubby little hand into that clay. I remember it took several tries before I achieved a clear, deep impression.
Seeing that little hand from so long ago in contrast to the young girl standing next to me made me cry.
I have been with this child every single day of her life, save one or two, and I cannot fathom how she managed to grow so much so fast.
Where is the baby to whom this handprint belongs? I know she existed because I have boxes and boxes of unscrapbooked photos to prove it. I have eyewitnesses. (The midwife who delivered her even called today to wish her a happy birthday.)
How many precious hours and days did I take her for granted, thinking that "tomorrow" would come 'round and the baby would still be a baby and I could enjoy that babyness then. Not today, there's too much to do.
I made a conscious effort after my first child left babyhood behind much too soon to keep better track of the next one -- more pictures, more scrapbooks, more journal entries, more video. As if any of that captures a child and suspends them in time.
Six years have passed, and while I remember with melancholy her very first steps as if she took them yesterday, I rejoice at the beautiful girl who now dances through the house in her ballet costume with fairy wings attached.
Thank you, Father.
My daughter was six months old when I pressed her chubby little hand into that clay. I remember it took several tries before I achieved a clear, deep impression.
Seeing that little hand from so long ago in contrast to the young girl standing next to me made me cry.
I have been with this child every single day of her life, save one or two, and I cannot fathom how she managed to grow so much so fast.
Where is the baby to whom this handprint belongs? I know she existed because I have boxes and boxes of unscrapbooked photos to prove it. I have eyewitnesses. (The midwife who delivered her even called today to wish her a happy birthday.)
How many precious hours and days did I take her for granted, thinking that "tomorrow" would come 'round and the baby would still be a baby and I could enjoy that babyness then. Not today, there's too much to do.
I made a conscious effort after my first child left babyhood behind much too soon to keep better track of the next one -- more pictures, more scrapbooks, more journal entries, more video. As if any of that captures a child and suspends them in time.
Six years have passed, and while I remember with melancholy her very first steps as if she took them yesterday, I rejoice at the beautiful girl who now dances through the house in her ballet costume with fairy wings attached.
Thank you, Father.
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