Right & Wrong

My daughter came home from school today with an interesting story. They were assigned a task for social studies class a few weeks ago. They were to research a “civil rights” story from the last 15 years and present it to the class. My daughter chose the University of Michigan Law School affirmative action case. Having just read about this in Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers”, and having read about the case several years ago, I was pleased she picked this case. But that’s not my point.

Two of the kids in class took more controversial cases. One chose a case involving gay marriage. Another picked a case involving a gay pride parade. The teacher chastised the entire class today saying that this is a Catholic school and their papers should be in keeping with the teachings of the Catholic church and these two cases involving gay rights were entirely out of line.

Didn’t Jesus accepted anyone into the flock? What’s with all the intolerance?

Security Footage

Check this out. But don’t tell anyone where you saw it. Technically, it is NOT on You Tube.

Recital

Charlie’s Recital

Yesterday was Charlie’s second recital. He thought it was his third, but he forgot that the first year, he refused to participate. Last year, I had to sit next to him on the bench. This year, he marched up there by himself, sat his second grade body down on the bench and began to play.

He describes it like this: “I started to play and then I noticed something was wrong. The notes looked funny. And then I thought ‘My music is upside down!’ So I stopped. Turned my music right side up. And I started again.”

Such poise. I wish I could post the video, but he still insists on staying offline. He’s the artist and I have to respect his wishes. I don’t want to get sued.

Angel on My Shoulder

I feel like sometimes I have a little devil sitting on one shoulder and a little angel sitting on the other.  Just like the cartoons.  Most of the time they *poof* go away and don’t make a lot of interruptions but there have been times when they are so loud, I think everyone can see and hear them.  Like the time I wanted to turn my neighbor in for being an arsonist.  One of them would say “Call the hotline.  Call the hotline.”  And the other one, who sounded a lot like Bruce, would say “Just because you don’t like the guy doesn’t mean he’s the arsonist.”  Well, if I had listened to one I didn’t listen to, the reward money would have paid off my mortgage.

Last night I forced my daughter to go to a dance performance at school.  She’s spent a considerable amount of time at home this Spring Break and it just isn’t healthy.  Her brother, because he is that kind of guy, decided to come, too, and she was delighted.  We were a little late so we sat in the back of the 600 seat dark theater.  The dancers were amazing.  Most of the numbers were quite modern, however, so after a time, I thought it would be a good idea if I caught up on my Twittering.  I discreetly slipped the iPod touch out of my purse and began to tweet.  I was quiet.  There was no one else in our row.  I could see by the little glows around the theater that I was not alone.

Then, my angel, who had somehow taken over the body of my son, gave me “the look”.  The look that says “Now you know you shouldn’t be doing that.” and the gesture that says “Hand it over.”  I turned off my iPod and slipped it in my purse.  He smiled a little smile and took my purse to hold on his lap lest I be tempted again.  He was right.  Twittering was disrespectful.  How is it so clear to him?  How did he know that if I kept my purse the temptation would be too much and I would try to figure out a way to Tweet again?