Friday, April 29, 2016

Rod Dreher Gives Himself the Vapors, Yet Again


Oh noes!  Sex Ed in KINDERGARTEN?

The culture is doom-ed!

Yes, Rod, sex education can start in kindergarten.  My kid, when she was in public school, had sex education classes in kindergarten.  I don't know what ridiculous fantasies have your trousers in a wad, but all this means is that once a month or so, the school counselor took them all down to the resource room and they sat in a circle and they talked about Stranger Danger; or on other days about how no one had the right to touch their bodies without permission.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Passover 2016


We held Passover last night, smaller than usual -- Uncle Charger's mother, who usually celebrates with us, died suddenly last month of a heart attack. (What is it with 2016?  Stop killing people!)

So it was a slightly sadder than usual celebration, but still lovely.  Here we all are at the table near the end of the ceremony:



All of us except Dr. Skull, who is taking the photo.  That's the kid to the right, me in the center, and Uncle Charger to the left. (He's an uncle in the Southern sense, as in Dr. Skull's best friend for 30+ years, who became the kid's uncle that way. His mother, Joan, was deeply fond of the kid as well, and the kid loved her.)

The menu! Matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, roast chicken, asparagus, potato kugel, and a KFP cake for dessert, which was very afflicting. Matzo with schmaltz throughout the meal.  Dr. Skull rendered the schmaltz himself. It was interesting, but there's not much you can do to matzo to make it edible, I'm afraid, except dip it in dark chocolate.

Have a good holiday, y'all.



Wednesday, April 20, 2016

For My Global Lit Class


I wanted to use some graphic stories/graphic lit for my Global Lit class.

Here's what I'm using, so far -- any suggestions for what I might add?

Requirements: It needs to be short, and it needs to be by an other-than-American (USA, in other words) writer:

This link goes to the START of a collection -- these three writers are the ones I'm using:

James Stewart, Catherine Brighton, Faye Moorehouse, Isabel Greensberg
(Note the arrow at the bottom of the page -- that's how to move to the next page)


His Face All Red, Emily Carroll


 Bongcheon-Dong Ghost” by Horang (This one is scary!  Like, no kidding, made me scream out loud in my office scary. Skip it if that's not your deal.)

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Well, That was Upsetting


I just had my first wreck -- I mean, the first one that was my fault.

Readers of the blog will remember I was hit from behind by a guy in a truck last August -- that wreck wasn't my fault.

This time, though, I was in a hurry and changed lanes without looking (never change lanes without looking -- d'oh!) and side-swiped a Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Sunday, April 03, 2016

Paying Taxes


I have paid my taxes, once again.

I am all for the payment of taxes, by the way.  This is not a whine about how eeevil the government is for taxing us. I like living in a place with roads that are paved, and water that is (often) clean, with decent schools and social safety nets.

In fact, I wouldn't mind if the taxes were higher, and the social benefits were better.

Saturday, April 02, 2016

Trump Among the Razorbacks


So here in NW Arkansas we have a certain percentage of people who are supporting Trump. And many of these people have kids who go to my kid's school.

My kid's school is pretty much a bastion of Far-Right Evangelical Christian culture as it is; so, you know, I'm not that surprised to find a fat wodge of Trumpeters there. However, also not surprisingly, there's a lot of pushback against Trump, even among the conservative kids.