This weekend found us staying close to home.
We had made some plans to do some party hopping.
But the universe had other plans for us.
More in particularly - me.
I couldn't venture far away from the cold, hard comfort
of a certain...commode.
I'll leave it at that.
Just as well.
I could certainly use the money rather than dump into our huge, ginormous gas tank, which in turn dumps the remains into the air and in turn also makes greedy men fatter.
Which turns me to the point of this post.
Most of my time was spent in the bathroom - like you need to hear this, I know.
I'm just keepin' it real.
And an article on the front page of our paper highlighted how "survivalists" are turning inward, growing their own crops, and arming themselves for the insurrection to come.
I'll admit, that our paper isn't a great one.
But it's what we have and so I read it - from time to time - mainly when I want a good chuckle.
However, this article captivated me.
As I began to read it, I began to panic.
These "survivalists" as they are being called are buying "homesteads" and learning to grow all of their own food, plant fruit trees, depend less on oil (none of this sounds bad), and making sure they are armed to fend off mobs of hungry, homeless, starving people that will be moving in masses to find food.
I know how bad things are. Or at least, I think I know.
But it got me thinking about the countless Americans out there,
shuffling through their day to day.
Life as usual.
Despite the state that we are in.
Scenes and dialogue from The Grapes of Wrath began to pop into my head.
Where everyone is bewildered, naive, and in denial about the state of how things truly are.
And I wonder if we - as a nation - are there.
People are losing houses.
They are packing up and moving...
Where?
And they get handed a government check.
"See now. Doesn't that make it all better?"
It reminds me of the countless flyers passed around in the book.
A promise of better things to come.
Then I wonder if the article did exactly what it was intended to do.
Scare me.
Manipulate me.
At the very least though, it got me thinking.
I do know this though.
Things are probably a hell of a lot worse than we think or think we know.
Showing posts with label State of the Union. Show all posts
Showing posts with label State of the Union. Show all posts
5/28/08
9/11/07
Misty Morning II
What can I say today that someone else isn't already saying more eloquently?
Last year, I did a ranting, raving post. And I have to say that I don't feel much differently today than I did last year.
All I can say is I Remember.
And I'm sure you do too.
Sometimes, I feel that is the best that we can do.
Because there are not always clear cut solutions and answers.
And the mentality that people have of
How could that happen here?
Bothers me on so many levels.
All I know is that today I will have a hard time playing silly games and painting with my little preschoolers.
I'll have a hard time looking at them and knowing that the world as it was is so completely changed from the days before towers fell and planes crashed, to the now.
It's with a heavier heart and a heavier mind.
I'll look at these children who are so pure in their ignorance
and all I can do
is Hope.
Last year, I did a ranting, raving post. And I have to say that I don't feel much differently today than I did last year.
All I can say is I Remember.
And I'm sure you do too.
Sometimes, I feel that is the best that we can do.
Because there are not always clear cut solutions and answers.
And the mentality that people have of
How could that happen here?
Bothers me on so many levels.
All I know is that today I will have a hard time playing silly games and painting with my little preschoolers.
I'll have a hard time looking at them and knowing that the world as it was is so completely changed from the days before towers fell and planes crashed, to the now.
It's with a heavier heart and a heavier mind.
I'll look at these children who are so pure in their ignorance
and all I can do
is Hope.
8/26/07
Sunday Morning Song of the Moment
Last night, Rav & I joined his parents, his three older brothers and their wives at a wedding for a childhood friend of all of the Ravioli brothers. (if you'd like to check out my brother-in-laws post on the wedding and some pictures of the famiglia de Ravioli, check out fatmarc)
It is very rare that all 8 of us (the brothers and the wives) are together in one room anymore because of busy lives, geography, kids, etc.
So when we all get together it really is a treat.
And we are often looked upon as that table or oh, those people.
It's not a bad thing. In fact it's quite funny.
The wedding took place in a beautiful church in center city Philadelphia.
The bride and groom were stunning.
Both families looked wonderful, proud, and happy.
The bride is of Philippine descent and it was lovely to see some of her culture blended into the ceremony.
All of the guests made the walk to the venue which was just a few blocks away.
And the reception venue was absolutely gorgeous.
Rav & I have become quite the wedding connoisseurs lately, as we have been to approximately 11 weddings in 4 years.
And this wedding was pretty tops for many reasons.
The friendship, love, and harmonious blending of different cultures, backgrounds, orientations was so elegantly pulled off.
And there are many details I could delve into.
But the bottomline is that all of the exterior things, the things that categorize people really shouldn't matter.
And this couple got that - gets that.
At the end of the day, love is love. It has no bounds and it doesn't exclude.
It is there in the beginnings and endings of the days despite the petty trappings we try to confine love to.
Love doesn't always conform and love doesn't look for norms.
Love just is.
When we were seated at our tables we were given a card that thanked the guests for celebrating, it offered an email address where you could send any pictures you have taken of the day to share with the bride and groom. And on the back of the card was this wedding favor:
In lieu of favors we have made a donation to "Freedom to Marry" to support those who are denied the right to enter the institution of marriage. Today we celebrate the finest and most noble expressions of marriage - love, commitment, and responsibility - while rejecting discrimination and prejudice.
http://www.freedomtomarry.org/
It is very rare that all 8 of us (the brothers and the wives) are together in one room anymore because of busy lives, geography, kids, etc.
So when we all get together it really is a treat.
And we are often looked upon as that table or oh, those people.
It's not a bad thing. In fact it's quite funny.
The wedding took place in a beautiful church in center city Philadelphia.
The bride and groom were stunning.
Both families looked wonderful, proud, and happy.
The bride is of Philippine descent and it was lovely to see some of her culture blended into the ceremony.
All of the guests made the walk to the venue which was just a few blocks away.
And the reception venue was absolutely gorgeous.
Rav & I have become quite the wedding connoisseurs lately, as we have been to approximately 11 weddings in 4 years.
And this wedding was pretty tops for many reasons.
The friendship, love, and harmonious blending of different cultures, backgrounds, orientations was so elegantly pulled off.
And there are many details I could delve into.
But the bottomline is that all of the exterior things, the things that categorize people really shouldn't matter.
And this couple got that - gets that.
At the end of the day, love is love. It has no bounds and it doesn't exclude.
It is there in the beginnings and endings of the days despite the petty trappings we try to confine love to.
Love doesn't always conform and love doesn't look for norms.
Love just is.
When we were seated at our tables we were given a card that thanked the guests for celebrating, it offered an email address where you could send any pictures you have taken of the day to share with the bride and groom. And on the back of the card was this wedding favor:
In lieu of favors we have made a donation to "Freedom to Marry" to support those who are denied the right to enter the institution of marriage. Today we celebrate the finest and most noble expressions of marriage - love, commitment, and responsibility - while rejecting discrimination and prejudice.
http://www.freedomtomarry.org/
I thought this to be the most noble gesture two people could make on a day to beat all noble gestures.
My heart forever melts for this couple who so rightly love each other and love others so eloquently. I raise my glass to J & K. A couple so deserving of a love and life full of endless possibilities.
This song is for them (it is the song they danced to) and for all of those who have someone but by some ridiculous right-wing agenda cannot enter into the institution of marriage.
I hope you enjoy Forever by Ben Harper8/14/07
Education of Youth
This weekend, the famiglia de Ravioli (that would be us: Rav, Connor, Gracie, & myself) went to a party that was thrown by a fellow eye-talian family. They have become good friends of ours.
The party was to celebrate their middle child's 5th birthday (he & Connor have been friends since they were in the two-year-old class together in preschool), as well as, to celebrate our friend finishing up residency and moving on to becoming an attending physician at a hospital in our state.
These friends of ours know how to throw down and put on a party.
It is always a good time.
They have old friends they still keep in touch with.
New friends (us) that they have invited into their lives.
And the nice thing is our friends have great friends.
These parties that they throw aren't the exclusionary kind.
Everyone feels at home. Everyone is friendly and open.
It is just a good time.
While at the party, I buddied up to my friend's BFF, D. D works in a neighboring state with the deaf/blind program. She is so knowledgeable when it comes to special needs. We have talked extensively about Connor.
After she made herself a few Cosmos, D informed me that she doesn't think Connor is ADHD. She informed me that he is just flat-out brilliant. She discussed, at length, that she thinks he is working on a cure for cancer right now. And not only that, she mentioned him working for NASA and receiving full academic scholarships to Harvard, Yale, and every other Ivy League school you could think of.
Let me stop here and say that I'm not fishing for compliments nor am I trying to gloat. I'm truly getting at something here.
She went on to say that I need to nurture this boy. To get him in gifted and talented programs. To do whatever I had to do to get him into "extra" academic activities. She even said that if there is a Chess team for kindergartners to get him on it.
I realize that what she says is true to some extent. What mother doesn't think their child is brilliant? However.....
However, the problem with this that our education system in all its glory, and really I can only speak for our state as I have actual working knowledge of it, is bent on making sure everyone passes standardized tests. It seems that it is a machine, a social engineering machine, to pump out likeness after likeness. Actual grades don't really count anymore in our state. You simply have to pass standardized tests to move on. Basically.
I've recently learned that in the high school I graduated from there are no more college prep classes, average classes, and remedial classes. Everyone is lumped in together and expected to all meet a middle of the road standard. And in the high school I graduated from, the students are no longer expected to read novels. Just a few chapters of Julius Caesar, To Kill A Mockingbird, etc will suffice. There really is no reason to, you know,
read a whole book.
That is simply crazy talk.
I understand that, in theory, this is meant to help more children to be successful by aiming for the middle of the road. But what will the end result to this really be?
The other problem and panic I have when thinking of Connor's future is the unlikely-hood of being able to afford a private school.
As well as finding ways to fund extra activities that may be able to pick up where public school leaves off.
So while public schools in Delaware are aiming at mainstreaming and aiming for the middle of the population, it in turn, is leaving out kids who are on the higher part of the academic scale. As well as, the kids on the higher part of the academic scale, but on the lower part of the income scale.
I see all of this as ways to yet again, divide classes and to pump out watered down kids. There really is no motivation to aim higher. Just as long as you meet the minimum requirement and the generalized standard.
I don't want to play up to the side of the scale that only interjects on behalf of the higher end of achievement.
What service is this doing to the lower part of the scale who struggle to meet that general standard?
Being thrown in a class that basically caters to the middle and says sink or swim to the upper and lower halves, seems rather exclusionary.
How frustrating it must be for the learner who has a bit of a harder time.
There are brilliant minds who don't flourish in a traditional academic setting and we are leaving them up to their often broken devices.
I think it is faulty logic to paint every student, every learner with the same brush.
A lot of kids are being left behind with the education we are saying is acceptable.
I am here to say that I don't think the education we are offering is enough
nor acceptable.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.~Albert Einstein
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.~Nelson Mandela
All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.~Pablo Picasso
Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.~Rabbinical Saying
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.~William Butler Yeats
The party was to celebrate their middle child's 5th birthday (he & Connor have been friends since they were in the two-year-old class together in preschool), as well as, to celebrate our friend finishing up residency and moving on to becoming an attending physician at a hospital in our state.
These friends of ours know how to throw down and put on a party.
It is always a good time.
They have old friends they still keep in touch with.
New friends (us) that they have invited into their lives.
And the nice thing is our friends have great friends.
These parties that they throw aren't the exclusionary kind.
Everyone feels at home. Everyone is friendly and open.
It is just a good time.
While at the party, I buddied up to my friend's BFF, D. D works in a neighboring state with the deaf/blind program. She is so knowledgeable when it comes to special needs. We have talked extensively about Connor.
After she made herself a few Cosmos, D informed me that she doesn't think Connor is ADHD. She informed me that he is just flat-out brilliant. She discussed, at length, that she thinks he is working on a cure for cancer right now. And not only that, she mentioned him working for NASA and receiving full academic scholarships to Harvard, Yale, and every other Ivy League school you could think of.
Let me stop here and say that I'm not fishing for compliments nor am I trying to gloat. I'm truly getting at something here.
She went on to say that I need to nurture this boy. To get him in gifted and talented programs. To do whatever I had to do to get him into "extra" academic activities. She even said that if there is a Chess team for kindergartners to get him on it.
I realize that what she says is true to some extent. What mother doesn't think their child is brilliant? However.....
However, the problem with this that our education system in all its glory, and really I can only speak for our state as I have actual working knowledge of it, is bent on making sure everyone passes standardized tests. It seems that it is a machine, a social engineering machine, to pump out likeness after likeness. Actual grades don't really count anymore in our state. You simply have to pass standardized tests to move on. Basically.
I've recently learned that in the high school I graduated from there are no more college prep classes, average classes, and remedial classes. Everyone is lumped in together and expected to all meet a middle of the road standard. And in the high school I graduated from, the students are no longer expected to read novels. Just a few chapters of Julius Caesar, To Kill A Mockingbird, etc will suffice. There really is no reason to, you know,
read a whole book.
That is simply crazy talk.
I understand that, in theory, this is meant to help more children to be successful by aiming for the middle of the road. But what will the end result to this really be?
The other problem and panic I have when thinking of Connor's future is the unlikely-hood of being able to afford a private school.
As well as finding ways to fund extra activities that may be able to pick up where public school leaves off.
So while public schools in Delaware are aiming at mainstreaming and aiming for the middle of the population, it in turn, is leaving out kids who are on the higher part of the academic scale. As well as, the kids on the higher part of the academic scale, but on the lower part of the income scale.
I see all of this as ways to yet again, divide classes and to pump out watered down kids. There really is no motivation to aim higher. Just as long as you meet the minimum requirement and the generalized standard.
I don't want to play up to the side of the scale that only interjects on behalf of the higher end of achievement.
What service is this doing to the lower part of the scale who struggle to meet that general standard?
Being thrown in a class that basically caters to the middle and says sink or swim to the upper and lower halves, seems rather exclusionary.
How frustrating it must be for the learner who has a bit of a harder time.
There are brilliant minds who don't flourish in a traditional academic setting and we are leaving them up to their often broken devices.
I think it is faulty logic to paint every student, every learner with the same brush.
A lot of kids are being left behind with the education we are saying is acceptable.
I am here to say that I don't think the education we are offering is enough
nor acceptable.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.~Albert Einstein
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.~Nelson Mandela
All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.~Pablo Picasso
Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.~Rabbinical Saying
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.~William Butler Yeats
6/7/07
Gurgle....Gurgle....Gasp
That's me.
Gasping for air.
My nerves are shot.
I feel shaky.
I'm not eating.
And the part where I lay down at night and close my eyes can hardly be called sleep.
I'm trudging through the day-to-day.
Instead of playing Hide-and-seek, Ring-Around-The-Rosie, and Tag, we are
Playing games like how to rob Peter to pay Paul.
And games like, it's only two days past the expiration date......this is still good isn't it?.....What's for dinner? Well, how do you feel about pasta, pasta, or pasta?
When The Man knocks on my door, demanding payments, trying desperately to squeeze blood from a stone and my hands shake as I write the check and I ask The Man, desperately, not to cash the check until Friday. Money spent before it's even had, I think to myself: How much longer can we live like this? Life shouldn't be this way. It's not what life is about. Is this my idea of the "American Dream"?
I've noticed how much I've been saying to Connor lately
"We don't have money for that."
"It's too much money."
"We can do that another time when we have more money."
I need to find a new way to say no.
Because while it's the truth, I don't want everything to be about money.
And yet, it is.
I've become cynical.
American Dream my ass. All it is is a puff of smoke. The carrot on the end of the stick for the pack mule. The thing we desperately hold on to. Visions of something better. Until we are six feet under.
I get pissed off at the governor of our state when I think about the whopping $750 dollar a year raise for all state employees.
And how the fact that the same month that we get that BIG raise, we have to pay a considerable increase in our health benefits.
Doesn't she think anyone will be smart enough to notice how much of a slap in the face that is?
I don't want to be filthy rich.
I don't want a house that costs a sinful amount of money to heat.
Our cars are ten years old each. And that's fine with me.
All I want is not to have to look over my shoulder anymore.
I just want to breathe again.
Gasping for air.
My nerves are shot.
I feel shaky.
I'm not eating.
And the part where I lay down at night and close my eyes can hardly be called sleep.
I'm trudging through the day-to-day.
Instead of playing Hide-and-seek, Ring-Around-The-Rosie, and Tag, we are
Playing games like how to rob Peter to pay Paul.
And games like, it's only two days past the expiration date......this is still good isn't it?.....What's for dinner? Well, how do you feel about pasta, pasta, or pasta?
When The Man knocks on my door, demanding payments, trying desperately to squeeze blood from a stone and my hands shake as I write the check and I ask The Man, desperately, not to cash the check until Friday. Money spent before it's even had, I think to myself: How much longer can we live like this? Life shouldn't be this way. It's not what life is about. Is this my idea of the "American Dream"?
I've noticed how much I've been saying to Connor lately
"We don't have money for that."
"It's too much money."
"We can do that another time when we have more money."
I need to find a new way to say no.
Because while it's the truth, I don't want everything to be about money.
And yet, it is.
I've become cynical.
American Dream my ass. All it is is a puff of smoke. The carrot on the end of the stick for the pack mule. The thing we desperately hold on to. Visions of something better. Until we are six feet under.
I get pissed off at the governor of our state when I think about the whopping $750 dollar a year raise for all state employees.
And how the fact that the same month that we get that BIG raise, we have to pay a considerable increase in our health benefits.
Doesn't she think anyone will be smart enough to notice how much of a slap in the face that is?
I don't want to be filthy rich.
I don't want a house that costs a sinful amount of money to heat.
Our cars are ten years old each. And that's fine with me.
All I want is not to have to look over my shoulder anymore.
I just want to breathe again.
5/8/07
Reeling
The other night, Rav & I watched that movie, Jesus Camp.
Wow.
Whoa.
Holy Moses, Batman. That's scary, scary stuff.
In fact, I'm reeling from it. We both went into this knowing that we'd have issues with it. And quite frankly, we were expecting to have to shut it off 1/4 of the way through it.
We were strong.
And we watched the whole freaky thing.
There are simply not enough words to describe the fear and astonishment upon watching this.
Despite the fact that I have a close family member who belongs to that branch of faith.
I don't want to risk offending anyone who may (or may not) be reading this.
And I certainly don't want to give anyone the impression that I denounce religion all-together.
I guess I shouldn't really care what anybody thinks. At least, that's what people tell me. But the thing is, I do.
Really the fact of the matter is, I'm so scared by this documentary that it has temporarily paralyzed my mind. Rather, my ability to speak. Because my mind races with several hundred thoughts, but I just can't find a way to get them out.
All I know is this: Based on what I saw from this thing, this documentary.....Global Warming is the last thing we should be worried about (though it is something that I feel is of utmost importance, so for something to bump that is pretty big). There is a large - very large group of people out there that are doing here to our children what we claim to be defending ourselves and the world against in other countries. And they are hell (or heaven, not sure after seeing this) bent on spreading a pretty un-Christian message, of recruiting children pretty damn early, and brainwashing a huge amount of people.
We are and will be forced to fight an irrational, self-righteous, and tenacious soon-to-be enemy within. I shouldn't use the word enemy, because that makes it sound like War.
We've been on a kick of watching documentaries.
Supersize Me freaked me out a bit.
Fahrenheit 9/11 got me thinking.
Born Into Brothels made me want to fly to India and rescue children in droves.
But this. This just has taken hold and won't let go. This group, this movement has grown to numbers I had no idea, so quickly, so silently - almost undetected. And maybe it's me with my head in the sand. I knew it was out there, as I've said someone close to me is in it.
I don't know how this nation can do a massive deprogramming.
I just don't how we could find a way to stop this thing.
Wow.
Whoa.
Holy Moses, Batman. That's scary, scary stuff.
In fact, I'm reeling from it. We both went into this knowing that we'd have issues with it. And quite frankly, we were expecting to have to shut it off 1/4 of the way through it.
We were strong.
And we watched the whole freaky thing.
There are simply not enough words to describe the fear and astonishment upon watching this.
Despite the fact that I have a close family member who belongs to that branch of faith.
I don't want to risk offending anyone who may (or may not) be reading this.
And I certainly don't want to give anyone the impression that I denounce religion all-together.
I guess I shouldn't really care what anybody thinks. At least, that's what people tell me. But the thing is, I do.
Really the fact of the matter is, I'm so scared by this documentary that it has temporarily paralyzed my mind. Rather, my ability to speak. Because my mind races with several hundred thoughts, but I just can't find a way to get them out.
All I know is this: Based on what I saw from this thing, this documentary.....Global Warming is the last thing we should be worried about (though it is something that I feel is of utmost importance, so for something to bump that is pretty big). There is a large - very large group of people out there that are doing here to our children what we claim to be defending ourselves and the world against in other countries. And they are hell (or heaven, not sure after seeing this) bent on spreading a pretty un-Christian message, of recruiting children pretty damn early, and brainwashing a huge amount of people.
We are and will be forced to fight an irrational, self-righteous, and tenacious soon-to-be enemy within. I shouldn't use the word enemy, because that makes it sound like War.
We've been on a kick of watching documentaries.
Supersize Me freaked me out a bit.
Fahrenheit 9/11 got me thinking.
Born Into Brothels made me want to fly to India and rescue children in droves.
But this. This just has taken hold and won't let go. This group, this movement has grown to numbers I had no idea, so quickly, so silently - almost undetected. And maybe it's me with my head in the sand. I knew it was out there, as I've said someone close to me is in it.
I don't know how this nation can do a massive deprogramming.
I just don't how we could find a way to stop this thing.
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