I just opened my email to find an oh-so-helpful email with the subject line: 5 ways to survive a shark attack. Because shark attacks are a constant threat here in the great northern tundra, dontchaknow? Now, if they could put out an email on 5 ways to survive a deer attack or 5 ways to survive blood loss from giant mosquito attacks, that would be … Continue reading Not So Useful Information
The combination of Father’s Day yesterday, and the horrific statistics about fatherhood which have become common in America, we were treated yesterday to many columns and speeches exhorting men, particularly African American men, so step up to the challenge of being fathers. “Get involved in your kid’s life” was the refrain. It is excellent to see so much attention being paid to the importance of fatherhood. Only a few years ago, it was widely assumed that fathers were optional for the well being of a child and potentially a bad influence with all their aggressive, competitive tendencies. Thank heavens we’ve moved past that. It’s too bad that a generation of people had to be sacrificed in order for us to provide proof to the shrinks and sociologists that fathers really do matter, but whatchagonnado?
While it is all to the good that fatherhood is getting more attention, I’m very concerned that the call to “get involved in your children’s lives” is so generic and out-of-touch with the difficult realities on the ground that it will end up as a joke. “Just say no” for the war on fatherlessness. The fact of the matter is that there are reasons that men are not involved in the lives of the children they father. They run the gamut from the very selfish to the practical to the heart wrenching. Continue reading “Complicated Fatherhood”
This morning I drove my husband into work. We stopped for gas and while pumping the gas, the man in the car next to us got out of his car and came over to my husband. He gave him two bottles of water and said, “I’m on my way to the airport and I won’t need these. Would you like them?” My husband took them … Continue reading Providence?
So, if y’all have been wondering what I’ve been doing with my time other than blogging, here ya go. Continue reading “My gardens”
Wow. This is the creepiest video. A surveillance camera caught video of a man being hit by a hit and run driver while crossing the street in Hartford, CN. The man is left laying in the middle of the street and no one rushes over to help him. He lays there until a police car shows up about a minute and a half later (if … Continue reading Heartless in Hartford?
Well, I feel slightly vindicated now. You see, as long as I’ve known him, my husband has given me a hard time about my shoe wearing habits (or lack thereof) and the condition of my feet. I HATE shoes. So I walk around barefoot as much as humanly possible. When I do put on shoes they are either cute heels to go with an outfit … Continue reading Shoes are evil!
Ok Gentlemen, if you could leave us alone for a moment, I have something I’d like to share with the ladies real quick. Well, I guess if you want to pass this along to your wife or daughter, you can stay and eavesdrop. Now, ladies I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that as a culture we have not only fetishized flawless … Continue reading You are a beautiful woman . . .
Sorry for the long break in blogging. I’ve been busy getting my gardens in order and just got back from a trip to Chicago. Of course, not blogging isn’t the same as not obsessing over things, so I suppose I’ll just jump right back in with the latest fun item to be taking up brain space . . . the potential purpose and role of authority in our lives. Sounds like a good time, eh? 🙂
I am a child of my age, and as such, I have always looked at authority as something to be handled cynically and derisively. I recognize that certain authority, such as law enforcement needs to be obeyed if only to keep us all from crashing our cars into one another. Much beyond that, any authority, be it parental, church, political or otherwise was held to a “prove it” standard. And not just prove it to someone who would approve those in positions of authority, but prove it to me, the person you would have authority over. Honestly, it’s hard for me to think of anyone whose instructions or thinking I would follow simply because they were “the authority”. Question everything and everyone has been my MO.
Fear of or respect for authority were punch lines in my book, certainly not anything by which I would make decisions. I would guess that a lot of people are like me in this regard. However, I recently realized something which has made me re-examine my attitude towards authority. You see, over the last 10-15 years, I have invested a lot of time and mental energy into constructing what you could call a philosophy of life. It’s my understanding of the nature of life, the rules by which we ought to govern ourselves in order to live happy, productive lives which are a benefit to our families and communities. I can provide detailed, well reasoned and thought-out explanations for what I believe. You may disagree with my conclusions, but it would be hard to argue that I am simply making things up willy-nilly out of religious delusions or to justify my personal desires.
I have been compelled to do this, I think, precisely because I did not feel that there was a source of authority for how to live my life and think about the important questions of life which I could trust. And now, at the age of 35, I have managed to construct a framework for living which I am pretty satisfied with. The problem is that in the absence of authority, we’re all going to have to go through this process. If we each need to figure out right and wrong and rules for relationships and all the important things in life for ourselves, we are leaving ourselves obscenely open to majorly screwing up our lives long before we have a chance to figure out what’s what. Continue reading “Wherefore art thou, authority?”
Yesterday I came across a personality test which I haven’t seen before. It’s called the Enneagram Personality Test and it’s been around in one form or another for over a hundred years. I’ve taken a number of personality tests in the past, but this one actually freaked me out. It gets into how you actually think and why you behave the way you do. I’m … Continue reading Cool Personality Test
I don’t know what’s going on lately, but I’ve had the hardest time getting motivated to do school work with the kids. Instead of them complaining, I’m the one going, “But I don’t want to do algebra! Do we really have to do biology? Can’t I wait to do the times tables with you?” Sigh. Of course, for some reason, this time of year tends … Continue reading Homeschooling Blahs
The Upside Down World 