Such a day!

It was a one day teachers' convention today. I generally dislike the "make & take" kinds of workshops, and the ones about tax sheltered annuities and planning for retirement just depress me because I will probably have to work as a greeter at WalMart if I am ever able to retire (that is, if I don't get sent to Gitmo first because I am of that class of citizens which is more dangerous than terr'ists with nucular weapons.) Ditto the presentation by the guy who went to the North Pole -- though he might have been impressed with my moosehide mukluks. (Oh, how I love saying "mukluk.") A few years ago I saw Homer Hickham, author of Rocket Boys (made into the movie October Sky) at this convention. I also saw Mahatma Gandhi's grandson one year.

Today I was feeling particularly dangerous and subversive, given that Sean Hannity had just outed me a few days ago. So this is who I went to hear:
Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer who operates both Big Bird AND Oscar the Grouch! He even had the original Oscar with him. He put Oscar on his hand and Oscar sang "I Love Trash." And he autographed our copy of Big Bird In China (which you'll see is one of my favorite movies, if you read my profile). It was a day to cherish.

And I thought THAT was special, but then I had a ticket to go see Dar Williams in concert tonight! And she was breathtaking!

Then my friend Rosy and I came out of the theater into a BLIZZARD! 6 inches of snow fell while we were in the concert!! My musician significant other is at a gig way up nort' tonight. And our children are at opposite ends of town from our house, snowed in.

So here I am: just me, the dog, the cats, and the guinea pigs. Weird.

I support an individual's right to own a gnu!

Just look at it. Face like a baboon. Stripes like a zebra. Body somewhere between a water buffalo and a horse. I'll bet it gives good milk. Shouldn't we all have the right to keep a creature as magnificent as this?

And those gnu control nuts ... they should go back and read the Bill of Rights before they try to trample on mine!

Thanks for the feel better wishes. I did feel better -- for a day or so. I left work early today though, feeling yucky and dizzy. I kept hearing voices, the incessant voices of 5 and 6 year olds that were like woodpeckers on my brain, and I was literally reeling. I think it's all in my head -- my ears and sinuses to be exact. Tomorrow is a statewide convention day -- no school, so I'll rest and drag myself to a doctor if I still feel bad.

I don't understand gun owners!

This article, which delves into the psyche of gun owners, appeared last week in our weekly "alternative" newspaper. I'd like to include the whole thing here, but you'll have to follow the link if you're interested.

Wisconsin is one of just a handful of states that does not allow the carrying of concealed weapons. There are people working tirelessly to change that. Are we statistically safer/less safe with or without it? I don't know. But the conceal carry advocates quoted in this article? They sound totally paranoid! And in my book, a person with a siege mentality, who sees bad guys everywhere AND who has a gun is dangerous. More dangerous than the perceived thug on the street.

OK, time for some disclosure here about myself. I am an anxious person. I still check my children while they sleep to make sure they're breathing. (They are 11 and almost 18.) In fact I check all the living things in our house frequently to make sure they're breathing: humans, dog, cats, and guinea pigs. Once my vigilance even paid off (see: Potato Chip Story). My kids make fun of me because I worry while they are at camp an hour from home that they will get dragged off into the woods and eaten by a mountain lion. (Hint: There are no mountain lions in southern Wisconsin.) In a bad period I will cycle through a heart attack, pulmonary embolism (which I really had a few years ago,) meningitis, 2 kinds of cancer, and a brain aneurysm, all in a period of a couple of hours, before I realize that maybe I'm having an anxiety attack. I love to camp, but when dark settles in I take anti-anxiety medication or I can't stop worrying about: a) snakes that have crawled into the bottom of my sleeping bag to warm up, b) the aforementioned mountain lions, and c) ax murderers.

BUT I have never felt the need to own or carry a gun! I have no desire to learn to shoot a gun. I do not think possession of a firearm would make me any safer, in my imagination or in reality. The presence of my dog -- even though she did almost die with her head stuck in a potato chip bag-- makes me feel a whole lot safer than any weapon would.

Then there is the question of access: if your firearm is accessible to you in an emergency, to whom else is it accessible? The article quotes a guy named Larry Gleasman -- who just happens to own a gun shop in my neighborhood -- as saying

“Look at the rapes on [the UW-Madison] campus,” he says. “Hell, if you had people out there with guns, you’d think twice about abducting somebody and throwing them in a car. I mean, she might have a gun in her purse.”

What is the likelihood that the gun will be taken away from the woman and used against her? Seems pretty great to me. This guy says he has a recurring nightmare of being in a McDonald's when someone comes in and shoots it up. I have some self-talk he could try to calm those fears. You tell yourself, "It might happen. But it probably won't." And then you pop your controlled substance and go on about your business. Gun free.

Then there are the angry, disturbed kids who get their hands on a gun and take it to school.

Then there are the accidental shootings. Whenever my kids are going to a friend's house for the first time, one of my first questions always is, "Do they keep guns?" and their direction always is, "If a gun comes out, leave. Immediately."

Then there's the fact that having a gun handy makes suicide a whole lot easier if a person is that depressed.

I'm not saying that I believe ALL gun ownership leads to tragedy, or that there are not responsible gun owners. But the possibility of unintended consequences is so great. And when gun owners cite their Constitutional right to bear arms to protect themselves, I become worried.

To me, always, the best protection a person could have is a strong community. No gun can replace that.

Can you catch my words in time?

I've been sick the last couple of days, which has given me a little time to wade through the stack of books next to my bed. This is the book that I just finished, and I highly recommend it.

As a child growing up during the sixties, the war in Viet Nam permeated my life. I grew up a mile from campus in Madison, Wisconsin -- one of the "hotbeds" of war protest. We could smell the teargas at our house, and because they were medical personnel and active war resistors, my mom and dad often volunteered to patch up protesters after confrontations with the police or National Guard.

When the news of the massacre at My Lai broke with the full color photographs in Life Magazine, I pored over them endlessly.
Those images were etched onto my psyche -- where they remain to this day.

Nevertheless, I still know very little about Viet Nam. Lady Borton's book gives some background for what the Vietnamese people call "The American War", and is a testament to what a remarkably resilient and forgiving people the people of Viet Nam are. Lady Borton worked in Viet Nam throughout the war, and then was the first Westerner allowed to live in a Vietnamese village after the war ended. Through her writing the women, who provided much of the resistance throughout the war, tell their harrowing and tragic stories. Yet this book contains so much joy and affirmation.

My friend Mike Boehm, a veteran himself, who realized that his own psychological wounds from Viet Nam were slowly bleeding him to death, founded a project in the early nineties that set up a revolving micro-loan fund for women in the My Lai Province. Since then he has worked to establish a peace park in My Lai, raised money to build a school and clinic in the area, and facilitates art exchanges between students in the Madison area and their Vietnamese counterparts. He was featured in an award-winning Vietnamese documentary, The Sound of the Violin at My Lai. If you have a chance to see it, by all means do.

Mike goes back to Viet Nam once or twice each year. Every time he returns I say, "I wish I could go" and he says, "Anytime you want to go with me, let me know." One of these days ...

An afterthought: Every single woman that shared her story with Borton in After Sorrow suffered grievous losses at the hands of the Americans or the US supported puppet regime -- they lost children, husbands, parents, their homes, their livelihoods, and many of them spent time in prison where they were beaten and tortured. Yet they welcomed Borton with open arms; time and again, they would say "Give our greetings to your American brothers and sisters. They are our friends." I cannot help but compare that with the US response to the attacks of 9/11; 5 years down the road the self pity, the bigotry, the absolute inability or refusal to step into a different pair of shoes to view the world in a different way...

Shameless Promotion of a Loved One

Ed's newest musical adventure, read about it on their blog here. I can't seem to link to a particular post, so you'll have to scroll down to the post headed Puce ... Really? You're In!!

Benign Moles

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A doctor removed two moles from President George W. Bush's left temple on Friday and they were believed to be benign, a White House spokesman said.

Not so benign are the illegal moles that have been authorized by Bush's White House. This is the President who thinks it is A-OK to spy on US citizens via warrantless wiretapping, scanning our electronic communication and opening our mail.

Let's remove those moles. IMPEACH!

Who's Harming the Troops?

The Democrats in Congress are finally showing a teensy weensy bit of spine in opposing the McCain Liebermann Bush Cheney Rice Rumsfeld et al war, and the Rethuglicans are shedding crocodile tears over the troops that are "in harm's way."

Citing recent comments by Democrats, Bush's Republican allies said repeatedly the measure would lead to attempts to cut off funds for the troops. Outnumbered, they turned to GOP Rep. Sam Johnson (news, bio, voting record) of Texas to close their case — and the former Vietnam prisoner of war stepped to the microphone as lawmakers in both parties rose to applaud his heroism.

"Now it's time to stand up for my friends who did not make it home, and for those who fought and died in Iraq already," he said. "We must not cut funding for our troops. We must stick by them," he added, snapping off a salute as he completed his remarks to yet another ovation.

Oh, please. Did he practice the snappy salute in the mirror in preparation for this moment? That old argument that they continually trot out -- that bringing troops back now will somehow invalidate the 3,100+ soldiers who have already died in this war or the tens of thousands maimed. It makes no sense (unless you are profiting from this war in some way. But no one could be that repugnant.)

House Republican Leader John Boehner (news, bio, voting record) appeared to choke back tears at one point as he read from a letter that a husband of a former congressional aide wrote home before being killed in Fallujah.

Barf. Another method actor from the George W. Bush school of acting. Let's not forget who was in the majority in Congress when troops were being sent to Iraq without proper equipment, when families were raising personal funds to provide their loved ones with armor ... Let's not forget that offensive quote from Donald Rumsfeld:

"As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

As if the need for this war (or any war, for that matter) was so pressing. As if that mean stupid old man has sacrificed anything in his life, ever. As if, as if, as if.

And as always, I cannot speak of troops "in harm's way" without remembering that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens have died -- mostly civilians (i.e. a hell of a lot of children). Unlike the US troops, they have NO CHOICE in the matter of being "in harm's way." It's their home. And they want us to leave.

I'd like to think that the Dems will hold strong, but I don't have a whole lot of faith that they will.

The Joy of Winter

Ladies and Gentlemen ...
Dust off your Hammond organs, please. Flex your fingers for ... The Skaters' Waltz.

My youngest daughter persuaded us to go ice skating with her tonight. It's so much easier to stay inside, but ah, skating is one of the pleasures of living in a place with winter! And it's finally winter! And it's free!!

We didn't make it out of the house until after the warming house had closed, but that's okay. It wasn't too cold to change outside, there was plenty of ambient light, and the ice was freshly groomed. We were the only ones there, the 3 of us plus the Georgia the Wonder Dog (always happy to go anywhere, especially if there are treats involved. Go here to read more about Georgia's love affair with treats and how it almost led to her untimely demise.)

In my memory, half my childhood was spent ice skating. We'd skate until our fingers and toes were numb, warm them up a little, and then skate some more. I remember walking home from the park on feet that felt like all the toes had broken off and were rattling around loose in my boots! I don't think I ever got frostbite though. Would it have mattered? Naw. I was a kid!

Then I'd get home and fight with my brother over who got the choicest spot in front of the register to thaw out. And then we'd repeat it all the next day. I hope I never get too old to enjoy this weather!

Everyday Radical

I'm a novice bloggerina, and I've been following links from blogs I visit regularly to other blogs down in Blogville. I've been thinking a lot about this weird and wonderful world of blogging, and yes, I've been suffering some blogger's angst.

From whence does my angst stem?

Well, it's like this. I'm half Martha Stewart and half Rosa Parks (actually if I was ever a fraction of the person Rosa was, I'd be happy) and I wonder what I want my blog to be. Some days I visit a great many blogs of a great many creative women who post their creative endeavors, and I feel moved to post about my creative endeavors. But the other part of me is passionate (obsessed, my family would say) about social justice, especially as it pertains to children and education, peace, nonviolence. So my blog is inspired by other current event-related blogs, really my cyber-soapbox where I expound and pontificate about things very close to my heart.

I've been ruminating on this for a few days, really looking for the place that these two parts of who I am intersect -- and I think I have a glimpse of clarity about it. It came to me in the phrase "everyday radical."

I believe that every time I (or anyone) creates something, it is a radical act. Every time that I am a creator, rather than a consumer -- every time I sing in the car instead of turning on the radio, bake bread instead of buying it, pick up my guitar and play it, knit socks, write something, make dinner for my family -- all of those things are everyday radical. They are a statement of hope, of faith, of a vision of what I'd like the world to be.

So I'll just continue as I have been, but I might post a photo of a perfect loaf of French bread or Poodle Doc's mittens, or the little mousie slippers that are drying on the kitchen counter ... just every now and again. 'Cause I'm not really Martha Stewart (praise Annoya, the goddess of things that get stuck in kitchen drawers!)

Just know, when I'm in the middle of a rant, that I can also knit a mean pair of socks -- turn the heel and everything. I can even knit shoelaces, and come the Revolution, everyone's going to need to know how to knit shoelaces.

Another Angelic Troublemaker

One thought leads to another ... another hero of mine and another inspiring book -- The Long Haul: An Autobiography by Myles Horton. Myles Horton was a co-founder of The Highlander Folk School,

"founded in 1932 to serve as an adult education center for community workers involved in social and economic justice movements. The goal of Highlander was and is to provide education and support to poor and working people fighting economic injustice, poverty, prejudice, and environmental destruction. We help grassroots leaders create the tools necessary for building broad-based movements for change."
read more

Rosa Parks attended workshops at Highlander prior to her famous act of resistance.

Zilphia Horton, Myles Horton's wife, wrote the song "We Shall Overcome."

Inspired yet?

(Incidentally, my links will never never take you to Amazon. I am continually amazed that some of my favorite gadflies and Hellraisers -- people who would never stick a big toe in a WalMart only link to Amazon, which is as faceless a megacorporation as you'll ever find. If you can't shop at an independent bookseller in your own community, try Powells.com. They're great!)

Angelic Troublemaker

Yesterday my Quaker Meeting hosted John D'Emilio, author of the book Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin. I have yet to read the book, but I am anxious to. I had never even heard of Bayard Rustin until about a year ago. Who was he? Kind of a Renaissance man of peace and social justice: a Quaker; the person responsible for introducing Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolent resistance to Martin Luther King, Jr.; a superb strategist who organized, among other things, the 1963 march on Washington, DC; active in both the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the War Resisters' League; a talented musician who performed on Broadway with Paul Robeson; worked for civil rights in both the U.S. and Africa; sidelined by the "movement" because he was openly gay ...

My friends have been raving about this book!

I don't have the exact quote here, but I'll try to paraphrase something that D'Emilio quoted. He said that Rustin, in his later years, was often asked how he found the hope to go on after King was assassinated, after he was sidelined, after the Civil Rights Movement that had showed so much promise failed to live up to its potential ... and he would say that hope isn't something you find, it's something you have to work to create. Wise words to try to live by in these dark times.

More on Bayard Rustin later, after I've read the book.

Dinosaur Farts

Now this is rather absurd. But what do you expect from one of the 87% of Republicans in Congress who do not believe that human activity is causing climate change? Time for the flatulent dinosaurs in Congress to take their Beano, and wake up to reality!

No, wait. Global warming is caused by emissions of dinosaurs. Here's proof!

Thanks for the MEMOries ...

Here is the Valentine's Day memo, as promised:

"Valentine‚s Day FYI*all schools are receiving this memo*.
As Valentine's Day approaches, students and parents need to be reminded that candy will NOT be allowed for distribution as part of a Valentine's Day celebration. The MMSD Wellness Policy prohibits candy and nuts, even during special events. Encourage families to provide alternate treats such as frozen fruit bars, popcorn, jello jigglers, nut-free treats, etc. Parties should be scheduled after lunch so they don't interfere with kids eating their lunches. Try to avoid other February parties."

As for me, I have decided that I will give each of my students a prune for Valentine's Day.

Stupid Policies

So, I said I don't always agree with decisions our school board and administration make. Here's one:

Principals and teachers are encouraged to limit the number of parties and celebrations that involve food. For example, all birthdays occurring within a month are celebrated on one day of the month. Alternatives to food are encouraged as ways to celebrate a special event.

Tell that to a kindergartner who has been telling me every day for the last 2 weeks how many days it is until his birthday. There's no way he wants to or should share his birthday with other classmates who happened to have been born a different day of the same month -- or make him wait until the 28th when his birthday is today. And alternatives to food as a way to celebrate? Celebrating with food is as old as humans have been on this earth! What alternatives? Pencils? Woo hoo. Our school district sure knows how to have a good old time!

If they're worried about child obesity, maybe they should quit canceling recess just on account of a little cold weather. I say, bundle up and get out there! Cold weather burns calories!

Wait 'til I post the memo we received about Valentine's Day. Asinine! In the words of the incomparable Molly Ivins, I will make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Tomorrow.

Wisconsinites are a tough breed!

A friend emailed this to me. It dovetails nicely with Monday's post.

The weather ...

60 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Wisconsin plant gardens.

50 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Green Bay sunbathe.

40 above zero:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Wisconsin drive with the windows down.

32 above zero:
Distilled water freezes.
The water in Milwaukee gets thicker.

20 above zero:
Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves,
wool hats.
People in Wisconsin throw on a flannel shirt.

15 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Sheboygan have the last cookout before
it gets cold.

Zero:
People in Miami all die.
Wisconsinites close the windows.

10 below zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico
People in LaCrosse get out their winter coats.

25 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Wisconsin are selling cookies
door to door.

40 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Land O' Lakes let the dogs sleep indoors.

100 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Wisconsinites get upset because they can't start the
Mini-Van.

460 below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero on the
Kelvin scale.)
People in Wausau start saying..."Cold 'nuff fer
ya?"

500 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Wisconsin public schools will open 2 hours late (editorial comment: except Madison, and Supt. Art Rainwater explains in a press conference how "it would leave too many parents without day care.")

Seriously, a few years ago we were invited to a"freeze your butt off" picnic on New Year's Day at the farm of some friends. We sat around a fire (outdoors) and roasted wienies. It was great fun and we felt so, you know, superior to everybody else.

WooHoo!

-15˚ F this morning and SCHOOLS ARE CLOSED! (Of course, I don't turn on any media in the morning and our district so rarely shuts down, so I was halfway to work before I realized that things were mighty quiet in Mudville. Luckily, it's only a 5 minute walk, and I actually LOVE this weather.) It's been a l-o-n-g time since we saw the -37˚ in this picture, but 11 years ago on my daughter's birth-day it was -27˚.

An entire day -- such a gift!

Weary, pt. 2

Several days ago I wrote about a small group of local parents' efforts to open a charter school with an arts focus, and their interest in locating it at our neighborhood school. This weekend there was an opportunity to meet with the group face to face. I have to say, I did not come away with any better of an impression of the whole project than I had before. To clarify, what they want to use is a Reggio Emilia approach -- which is a model from Italy, based on philosophies ranging from John Dewey to Howard Gardner. Fine and good so far, except that it really is intended for preschool, and they are talking about applying it K-5.

I guess my biggest problem with it is that they want to make it a charter school. In a brief history of US education, charter schools originated on the same rootstock as vouchers and school choice. They are a form of school privatization. That means a small group of parents who cannot or do not want to pay for private school, want their children to get a private school education at public expense. And as my hero Jonathan Kozol points out, school choice programs skim the cream from the top of any school community -- the families that have the resources and wherewithal to know that they have a choice -- and leave all the rest behind with reduced funds.

My city has always had a very good school system. Don't get me wrong; I can find plenty of ways they could improve, but overall it's pretty good. In fact, outside of parochial schools we have very few private school options and -- as this group has been quick to point out as a fault -- only 2 charter schools. I think that speaks well of our school district and of the democratic mindset of our community. But we are a growing city and people come here from places that are bigger, where sending your kid to a private school is more the norm, and they are apalled that "middle class families don't have more choices." (That comment has been echoed by 2 of 3 spring mayoral candidates. Guess I'm voting for the 3rd.)

OK, back to the meeting. It was civil enough, but when I brought up my charter school concerns, they said, "We never thought of it that way." When we expressed concern that their cost saving idea of sharing our principal might overwhelm her and in fact drive her away, they said, "We never thought of that." When they said that the students wouldn't be going to specialists for art, music, and technology because all of those things would be taught in he room by the classroom teacher I almost lost it. "What does the union have to say about that?" I asked. "We haven't talked to the union yet."

Well, I know full well what the union will say: Elementary teachers have fought long and hard for equitable planning and prep time, and it would set a dangerous precedent to give it up. (I agree.) And this charter school group will go public, saying that the union is obstructing innovations that incidentally could bring thousands of much needed dollars in grants to the cash-poor school district. (Notice a theme? If you don't like their ideas you're "old school" and "obstructionist.")

I'm proud of my district. They don't always make decisions I like, but they've made some pretty courageous big decisions. Like giving up a lucrative exclusive contract with Coca Cola because we shouldn't sell out to corporations. Like turning down the federal Reading First grant last year because it seemed to favor certain prepackaged curriculums. (Boy did they get flack for that, but then this fall the news surfaced that -- surprise, surprise -- the administration of the entire program was rotten to the core.) Like hiring a district-wide LGBT resource teacher.

I also wonder if this initiative goes through, what's to keep other special interest groups from trying to get their charter school in. (In fact, I was coming up with a short list of potential charter schools: The Elvish/Klingon Immersion Language School, The Disney School, The Exxon-Mobil Science School, The Patriot School ...)

They kept talking about traditional classrooms vs. the classrooms they envision. I told them how much that offended me.

There were some parents there who are interested in this initiative, and it felt so much like it was all about them getting what they wanted for their children, but couched in terms of "we'll be raising the bar for all students." How? 44 children will be served by this school, if it goes through. 44 of 11,748 students. When I pointed out that my kids have had a great exprience in school overall, they said, "Well some children are more resilient that others." I wonder what gives them the impression their children are so fragile.

I kept thinking of a t-shirt I've seen that says, "Over 25% of human genes are the same as a banana. Get over yourself."

Anyway, I'm worried. If this group can prove that their school will be "cost neutral" (i.e. not cost the school district anything) there are board members who might just go along with it. Because it may be the politically expedient thing to do. Yuck.

Eleven!

That's how old my youngest daughter is today.

Happy Monkey Birthday!! (family code for eleven) You're an amazing human being who's brought me so much joy. I am honored to be your mom.