Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Lazy, Crazy Summer Days
So, for the past week, I've been trying to find a way to get out of the house and to a place that Jordan will be entertained and I can get some writing done. The week before we spent mostly at home, and that just didn't work. Either Jordan was bothering me, or the internet was calling me to come and play. So this week we've set up a bit of a routine. First we go to swimming lessons at 9:15. Jordan gets to swim, and I have about an hour of uninterrupted writing time. Yes it's outside by a pool, but I've got my chair and umbrella (so I don't get burnt) and have actually managed to get some good work done there. After the swimming we go somewhere nearby - the first day we went to my school so I could print stuff out, the 2nd day we went to a tiny little library branch, today we went to a coffee shop. We then go home for a little while and then set out again ASAP. This second part of the day hasn't worked as well, but one day we went to the coffee shop near our house and today we went to John's Incredible Pizza Co. John's is kind of like Chuck E. Cheese, but better. They have a buffet instead of pizza only, so there are several choices (not the most delicious food, but pretty classic buffet fair, they even have some interesting pizza choices - mac & cheese pizza included). There are then 5 room choices to eat in. One room is quiet, no TVs, two of them play sports, one is a music video room, and one is a cartoon room. The first time we went it was Memorial Day and also kind of Sarah's birthday party. We ate in the sports room (and watched one of those obscure British sports, the Syracuse Orange won I believe) and then went out and watched the kids play the games. They have the normal chuck e. cheese style games, but then they also have a roller coaster, bowling alley, bumper cars, and other more high level games. These cost more points of course, but are another option. So, I discovered the second time we went, that if we eat in the cartoon room, Jordan doesn't bother me while we eat (and she takes extra long because she's busy watching the cartoons) then she leaves for a half hour to play the games, then she comes back and munches some more while watching more cartoons. In this way, I get at least an hour of work done. So, my summer days haven't been lazy lately, but hopefully I'll get chapters 1-4 (out of 5) done before I head north to hang out with the family in Sun River!!!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Swimming
It's been in the 90's here this week, which almost induces me to get in a swimming pool to cool off. Thankfully, our apartment stays relatively cool during the day, and then when the sun hits the windows around 5:00 we have AC to cool us down more. Jordan loves the pool, though so it's a great week for her to take more swimming lessons. Swimming is something she feels pretty confident about and it's really clear when we go to the pool, because she's always trying to teach other kids what they need to do. She's mostly a doggy-paddle girl, but when the instructor was talking to a boy about how he should do the longer strokes (I'm not a swimmer, so I don't know what they're supposed to be called...), she was interrupting the instructor to show him how it's done. I can definitely imagine her as a teacher someday!
She's also pretty modest and has never felt very comfortable in a traditional swimsuit. Sarah has a swimsuit that has sleeves and shorts, and Jordan has been wanting one of those for a while, so last time we were at Target, I saw one and we found a greenish/blue one (green is her favorite color of choice for now) in her size. She now fits in really well with the boys there - she's a tomboy at heart anyway, so it works out nicely!
She's also pretty modest and has never felt very comfortable in a traditional swimsuit. Sarah has a swimsuit that has sleeves and shorts, and Jordan has been wanting one of those for a while, so last time we were at Target, I saw one and we found a greenish/blue one (green is her favorite color of choice for now) in her size. She now fits in really well with the boys there - she's a tomboy at heart anyway, so it works out nicely!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Reason #558 that I need to finish my dissertation...
...is that it's depressing. When you choose a topic like Darfur for your dissertation, and after 2 years of writing, it still hasn't resolved yet, it's hard to get excited about writing. Every day I have to read news articles and stories from advocates about the rape, murder, torture, mutilation, destruction, devastation and it's a little hard to take day after day.
Today we went to the library and Jordan did computer games and picked out books while I worked for a couple of hours. On the way home she asked me to tell her a story - a fairly common request - but all I could think about was the story of the 4-year old girl who was found taking care of her 13 month old brother because their parents were dead. Or the woman who was raped next to her two sisters and then watched one be murdered because she cried, and the other cut up just for the fun of it. Or the story of the boy who was shot in the back, and then found his brother who had been shot in the face and was more damaged, so the one shot in the back helped carry his brother miles and miles through the desert - at night because during the day the Janjaweed are out, and not near any wells or watering spots because that's where the Janjaweed hang out - and finally dragged both of them to a refugee camp. These are not stories that a 9-year old wants to hear, but when I told her I only had sad stories in my head, she asked me tell her one, so I watered one down a little bit, not a lot because there's not much to them to water down, and told her. She was very serious and sad for a while and then she asked me what we could do, so I thought about it and here's what I told her.
The Government of Sudan is like a child and the United Nations is the parent. Now we all know that if you want a child to behave, you need to give them boundaries and punishment if they don't behave. So, to this point, the UN has warned the GoS that what they've done is naughty and they need to stop it. The GoS looks sadly at the UN and says I'm sorry, I'll do better next time and so the UN goes away satisfied that they've proven their point. So the GoS is naughty again, and again the UN says, bad boy GoS, you've been naughty and we might have to punish you if you don't stop. Again the GoS apologizes but again they are warned not to do it again, but not punished. There needs to be a punishment if the GoS is going to behave. The problem is, the UN needs the ability to punish, and that means something needs to be taken away. One of the things that might be taken away is oil revenue, but China won't stop buying oil, so that doesn't work. Another things is other revenue, but countries haven't stopped buying things, in fact, the UK has doubled its imports of Sudanese goods since the Darfur conflict started. The only other option is to give Sudan a good spanking, but the U.S. is too busy spanking Iraq right now to get to the other problem child, so we're left with warnings and no actions.
Because of this, and no end in sight, I need to finish my dissertation so, unlike the people in the refugee camps, I can walk away.
Today we went to the library and Jordan did computer games and picked out books while I worked for a couple of hours. On the way home she asked me to tell her a story - a fairly common request - but all I could think about was the story of the 4-year old girl who was found taking care of her 13 month old brother because their parents were dead. Or the woman who was raped next to her two sisters and then watched one be murdered because she cried, and the other cut up just for the fun of it. Or the story of the boy who was shot in the back, and then found his brother who had been shot in the face and was more damaged, so the one shot in the back helped carry his brother miles and miles through the desert - at night because during the day the Janjaweed are out, and not near any wells or watering spots because that's where the Janjaweed hang out - and finally dragged both of them to a refugee camp. These are not stories that a 9-year old wants to hear, but when I told her I only had sad stories in my head, she asked me tell her one, so I watered one down a little bit, not a lot because there's not much to them to water down, and told her. She was very serious and sad for a while and then she asked me what we could do, so I thought about it and here's what I told her.
The Government of Sudan is like a child and the United Nations is the parent. Now we all know that if you want a child to behave, you need to give them boundaries and punishment if they don't behave. So, to this point, the UN has warned the GoS that what they've done is naughty and they need to stop it. The GoS looks sadly at the UN and says I'm sorry, I'll do better next time and so the UN goes away satisfied that they've proven their point. So the GoS is naughty again, and again the UN says, bad boy GoS, you've been naughty and we might have to punish you if you don't stop. Again the GoS apologizes but again they are warned not to do it again, but not punished. There needs to be a punishment if the GoS is going to behave. The problem is, the UN needs the ability to punish, and that means something needs to be taken away. One of the things that might be taken away is oil revenue, but China won't stop buying oil, so that doesn't work. Another things is other revenue, but countries haven't stopped buying things, in fact, the UK has doubled its imports of Sudanese goods since the Darfur conflict started. The only other option is to give Sudan a good spanking, but the U.S. is too busy spanking Iraq right now to get to the other problem child, so we're left with warnings and no actions.
Because of this, and no end in sight, I need to finish my dissertation so, unlike the people in the refugee camps, I can walk away.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Teaching Can be Very Interesting
Last night, I taught my adult education class as usual. The students' assignment was to prepare and present a 5-minute drama of their choice. We had people taking on Shakespeare, the Glass Menagerie, a hilarious Western version of David and Goliath, and many other classics. The final presentation of the day, the woman decided that she was going to present a play she had written. This was allowable for one of the assignments of the term, but one of the guidelines for presenting your own work was that you don't tell everyone it's your own work. It makes it harder for the audience to listen critically and open-mindedly when you know the person wrote it themselves. Anyway, she started off the presentation listing herself as the author. The play was called "Beautiful Me" and was one of the saddest things I've ever heard. The premise was a middle-aged single woman who feels ugly and gets plastic surgery to make herself feel better. The main character was supposed to be given a name different from my student's name, but she slipped and used her own name as the main character. So now, we not only know she wrote it, but we know she experienced it as well. I think it was supposed to be a tribute to plastic surgery and how it makes women feel better about herself, but in the course of the drama (which, by the way, took 15 minutes, not the allotted 5 minutes) we see her daughter crying as her mother gasps in pain and needs to wipe blood off herself and the mother asks the daughter to give her the medicine. Later, during the second surgery (I believe the surgery ended up being boobs, tummy tuck, face lift, and eye lift) we see that the daughters have left the house and the son is left to take mom to the bathroom because she can't see anything. We get the impression that she needs to be beautiful because her mother taught her that if she was beautiful, she'd act beautiful and make a better impression on other people and this is a message that she, apparently, is also teaching her own daughters.
So, the presentation ends and it's time for comments, which we do at the end of each presentation. The first guy to comment is pretty general about what he says, but the second lady is not so general. The woman who presented the play wore an outfit which showed off her boob job quite nicely, the "neckline" went all the way down. So the woman, who said she was going to be "big mamma" for this woman and tell her the truth, talked about how difficult it was to truly experience the presentation because she couldn't look at her. Later commenters made vague statements about "whatever works for you" and that kind of thing.
Now here I sit, the teacher of the class and younger than many of the people there. My expertise is in how to physically present the dramas that the students chose. I tell them how to do it and not what they are allowed to do. I am completely 100% against plastic surgery except for children born with birth defects or people who need it after major accidents. I believe that people who aren't comfortable with the way they look need to take care of their insides a lot more than their outsides, but I'm not teaching self-confidence and self-worth. I'm teaching oral interpretation. The only things I am competent to comment on are her clothing - I've told them not to wear "distracting" clothing when presenting their literature - and the fact that she told us she was the author. Yet I really wanted this woman to realize she's beautiful not because of what she looks like and what she wears, but because of the person she is on the inside. To my great relief, as I was finishing talking to students after class, I noticed "big mamma" talking to this lady about the clothing choices but also about plastic surgery in general. The lady had a lot of trouble hearing what "big mamma" was saying, I heard comments like "nobody has said this to me before" and "what's wrong with it" but "big mamma" was calm and considerate and continued to speak without getting frustrated and leaving. In fact, I ended up leaving before they did - a first! I am so grateful for people who are willing to take their own experiences and understandings and try to help others out. Too many times we don't want to hurt or offend other people and so we don't tell them the truth in love. I see it a thousand times in my classes. I ask for comments on speeches or other presentations that are horrendously bad, and everybody in the class has only positive things to say. A presenter looks up one time for one second and everybody says what great eye contact they have. Somebody gives a logically horrible argument, and everybody ignores that and talks about the great delivery. I understand not telling people they did a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad job, but let's at least be honest with others, right?
Anyway, that's my rant of the day. Feel free to take this as inspiration for your own ranting!
So, the presentation ends and it's time for comments, which we do at the end of each presentation. The first guy to comment is pretty general about what he says, but the second lady is not so general. The woman who presented the play wore an outfit which showed off her boob job quite nicely, the "neckline" went all the way down. So the woman, who said she was going to be "big mamma" for this woman and tell her the truth, talked about how difficult it was to truly experience the presentation because she couldn't look at her. Later commenters made vague statements about "whatever works for you" and that kind of thing.
Now here I sit, the teacher of the class and younger than many of the people there. My expertise is in how to physically present the dramas that the students chose. I tell them how to do it and not what they are allowed to do. I am completely 100% against plastic surgery except for children born with birth defects or people who need it after major accidents. I believe that people who aren't comfortable with the way they look need to take care of their insides a lot more than their outsides, but I'm not teaching self-confidence and self-worth. I'm teaching oral interpretation. The only things I am competent to comment on are her clothing - I've told them not to wear "distracting" clothing when presenting their literature - and the fact that she told us she was the author. Yet I really wanted this woman to realize she's beautiful not because of what she looks like and what she wears, but because of the person she is on the inside. To my great relief, as I was finishing talking to students after class, I noticed "big mamma" talking to this lady about the clothing choices but also about plastic surgery in general. The lady had a lot of trouble hearing what "big mamma" was saying, I heard comments like "nobody has said this to me before" and "what's wrong with it" but "big mamma" was calm and considerate and continued to speak without getting frustrated and leaving. In fact, I ended up leaving before they did - a first! I am so grateful for people who are willing to take their own experiences and understandings and try to help others out. Too many times we don't want to hurt or offend other people and so we don't tell them the truth in love. I see it a thousand times in my classes. I ask for comments on speeches or other presentations that are horrendously bad, and everybody in the class has only positive things to say. A presenter looks up one time for one second and everybody says what great eye contact they have. Somebody gives a logically horrible argument, and everybody ignores that and talks about the great delivery. I understand not telling people they did a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad job, but let's at least be honest with others, right?
Anyway, that's my rant of the day. Feel free to take this as inspiration for your own ranting!
Monday, June 2, 2008
AKA Death Beds
Ladies and Gentlemen, as a member of the academic set, I am proud and excited to share with you the newest study from Ohio State University and published in the NY Times that sheds light on a huge problem in our world today. As many of you who grew up with multiple siblings know, skinflint parents who did not have the good sense to buy huge houses with individual rooms for each child are endangering the lives of their children through the use of... wait for it... BUNKBEDS!
Yes ladies and gentlemen, researchers have spent time and money to discover that children who sleep in bunkbeds are afflicted with "a bump on the head or worse" following a night in these death traps. I don't know about each of you, but I'd like to see some more time and money put into this important issue. What is the ratio of injuries from rolling off the bed and falling from the ladder. Do the bumps incurred from sitting up too quickly and bumping one's head on the top bunk (or ceiling!) cause trauma that lasts into later childhood? I myself was a resident of the bunkbed, and my selfish older sister insisted on sleeping on the top bunk. She now makes more money than I do, is there a correlation there? Inquiring minds want to know.
I am infinitely grateful to the NY Times for publishing this article. I only hope they aren't too late to protect the future generations from the horrors that I and my cohort have experienced!
Yes ladies and gentlemen, researchers have spent time and money to discover that children who sleep in bunkbeds are afflicted with "a bump on the head or worse" following a night in these death traps. I don't know about each of you, but I'd like to see some more time and money put into this important issue. What is the ratio of injuries from rolling off the bed and falling from the ladder. Do the bumps incurred from sitting up too quickly and bumping one's head on the top bunk (or ceiling!) cause trauma that lasts into later childhood? I myself was a resident of the bunkbed, and my selfish older sister insisted on sleeping on the top bunk. She now makes more money than I do, is there a correlation there? Inquiring minds want to know.
I am infinitely grateful to the NY Times for publishing this article. I only hope they aren't too late to protect the future generations from the horrors that I and my cohort have experienced!
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