Tag: general discussion

At school this year we have more than the usual amount of screamers.  A couple of the kindergarteners throw temper tantrams the volume of which I have never seen before.  So here are some soothing devices.  In the front we have some beeswax in green and white. The special education teacher gives this to upset children, so they can distract themselves by playing with it.  In the back are two boats I folded while waiting for a child to stop screaming.  Office managers need soothing devices too.

Here’s what I remember of my college application process.  At some point, I went to the library and researched some schools to go to.  I also got a postcard in the mail for a women’s college.  I sent away for more information.  The information arrived and I applied.  I asked my teachers for recommendations, I filled out the forms, I wrote and proofed the essay.  I got a money order for the application fee which I paid for out of my Pizza Hut earnings.  I got in.  I showed my parents the letter and asked if I could go.  They said yes.  I went.  I did not have SAT prep classes, (in fact, I did quite poorly on the SAT and then tried harder on the ACT) I did not have my parents reminding me of my various deadlines.  I wanted to go to school and I did what I had to do to go.  Do these children who need the post-its and reminders really want to go to college?  Maybe the college application process is the time to find out just how badly they want to go. By letting them do it themselves.

I don’t think there really is such a thing as Poncho Perfect. 

(That said, I kind of like the purple one in the middle.)

Did Jeremy Renner really have a desk when he was in the middle of filming “The Avengers”?  Does it come standard in his trailer?  What else does he do at his desk during filming?

I guess maybe he could, but I think this is lazy writing, employing a cliche instead of using description.  Standards people.  Standards.

Here in the United States, we make children sell things in order to have fun things in their school.  No one wants to buy this crap, but they do, because who doesn’t want to support the neighborhood children on a mission?  So there is then more crap in the world, and entire industries make money off this endeavor.  Enough to send a sample kit in the mail.  

I have an idea!  Why not fully fund our children’s education?  Then no one would have to purchase things they don’t want and the children wouldn’t have to sell things.

I’m happy to say that the school at which I work does not do fundraiser of this nature.  That’s one school down, and many, many more to go.

Rebecca Pepper McKenna checked out Gone Girl before I did.  She also picked up three other holds.  Now we know.

This was a commentary about a program in Portland called Girls on the Run, where girls in third through eighth grades learn life skills and run, completing a 5k at the end of the program. It’s a great program and many girls at school have participated.

Predictably, came this editorial.  I’m not going to be diligent and actually look up statistics, but I’m willing to bet that participation in youth sports is not equal between genders.  And while sports are expected for boys, they still aren’t universally accepted for girls, even forty years after Title IX.  

So that’s why girls get more encouragement.  Lets even things out first.

The small print says, “100+ drink choices.”  I read it an immediately felt sorry for the Burger King employees who must connect customers with some choice among the 100+ drink choices.  As I remember from my time in customer service, the more choices for the customer, the more confused and slow the customer becomes.

This is from an interview with Charles Cross about Kurt Cobain.

I want our country to be better at catching all the lost people who get to a place where the only way they can function in the world is by using drugs.  I want us to help people dealing with the kind of problems Kurt Cobain had.  We’re a rich country.  There’s no way we should be letting people slip through the cracks like that.

From one of the 4/5 teacher’s grade book.  If you have to keep grades, why not make them lovely colors?