Two terms to explain what I mean and then the rant.
Honors. Classes in which students who apply themselves get elevated in order to get more credits on the GPA for the same effort.
Regular. Classes that students take and the state must provide no matter what. Plain old regular school.
The rant.
Physics class started out really well for my girl, mostly because of the boy who sits next to her. She actually played dumb for a week so he could help her but I made her knock it off. She stopped that ploy only to find another challenge awaiting. This class is a regular class which means the general student population attend. No known geniuses. Just the same, regular or not, the subject is a challenge because a group of students are disruptive constantly, deliberately disobey class rules and when the teacher puts her foot down (every day) they become belligerent and disrespectful towards her. The girl and her friends then can’t concentrate and neither can the teacher.The children are now 16 and a half. You would think that the behavior is that of a slow maturing five year old.
The girl came home yesterday and announced that the school is suddenly giving a midterm (with 1 days notice, another issue) and that the teacher was trying to go over it with them but the other students, led by one girl in particular, wouldn’t be quiet and they wouldn’t sit in their seats and they wouldn’t listen to the teacher. They went as far as calling the teacher racist.
The teacher happens to be ethnic herself and got very angry. But she didn’t send the little twits to the discipline office. She just made them shut up momentarily. The girls are multi ethnic by the way, no one race is represented as a majority. The girl says that they are stupid based on previous yet similar experience in other classes with the same group. Stupid is a very strong word but she was very angry.
The point is that we explored ways for her and the other good students who are completely stressed out by all of this to discuss this with the teacher, their counselors and the principle. She doesn’t feel that the teacher should be held responsible but I do to a point. The school can’t know what their students are doing if teachers are afraid to report that they are having a hard time managing the classroom. Poor classroom management gets teachers axed.
I therefor don’t think the girls are stupid. They know that they are not going to be reported by their teachers. They haven’t been suspended yet no matter how nasty they have gotten. They haven’t even visited the discipline office for a warning. Now I hate rules that are written in stone. If you want to act like a banshee though, then what the hell, somebody should use those written rules to make sure that you don’t continue to act like a banshee. If the rules are there then use them and if you don’t use them get rid of them for Gods sake!
In fact, the girls could all be arrested for disrupting another students education. That is in the rule books. If a parent went in and yelled at a teacher in front of the class while the teacher was trying to teach, that parent would be arrested immediately. If a student went in to another class and decided to stand up and tell jokes while the teacher is trying to teach, that student would be arrested too. So why are teachers so shit scared?
Because they are being attacked by administration and being blamed for everything that goes wrong in education. I have a friend who was attacked by her students and they also accused her of being a racist. Her story made the headlines and she got fired without due process. She filed a lawsuit but then got slapped with a gag order. She has never been able to find another job in the school system and she can’t even clear her name! I am sure that my daughters physics teacher is well aware of this situation. What she isn’t aware of perhaps is she is in the same boat as my friend was. The signs were all there and my friend refused to heed them. Many of us saw it coming. I see it coming in this physics class.
I explained all of this to my daughter but none of this solves the issue. I think I have to talk to the teacher first but it looks like a job for Super Mom. Again. I had laid low for the last three years. But my girl is going to fail a class that she is perfectly capable of excelling in. If she fails, I have to pay for summer school and that wastes our entire summer break. Why should it be allowed to go that far?
I don’t want my daughters teacher to bare the brunt of this at all, but if she doesn’t do something, my daughter is contemplating cutting class and only showing up for tests. I obviously don’t condone that. Instead, we have thought about proposing independent study. And yet, why should we? My kid doesn’t do anything wrong. She deserves a good environment in which to learn.
I averted disaster a couple of times this morning thanks to rotten drivers. I’m a good driver, don’t take chances, but tend to speed just a tad bit, not enough to lose control of my car or actually get ticketed. In each situation I had the right of way. And each time I had to swerve in order to avoid being bullied off the road by others. And with each swerve I barely managed to avoid side swiping parked cars.
The first offender was a man in a Nissan truck. That means he saw me coming since trucks afford a good view. He tried to take a turn just as I was within a couple of feet of him the idiot. I didn’t have time to yield. What a frigging idiot! I did see him but I can’t read his mind. What would of made me stop if I thought he was waiting until it was clear for him to turn like nice people do? Bully and an idiot.
And then a woman came out of an alley. This I didn’t see. By rights, she should of stopped at the sidewalk, honked and then crawled forward until it was clear to turn. But instead she came out of the alley at full speed and made half her turn. Again I had to swerve to avoid an accident. Another idiot. And she only did this in order to park her car. Would it have been worth it?
My adrenalin is pumping. Coffee is overrated. Just go for a drive in my neighborhood if you need to wake up.
On Halloween, we were privy to the news that some man in Indiana was arrested after police found 6 bodies in his house. It turns out that the man is a repeat sex offender and the news wanted to know if he was ever monitored. Yes, he was. Infact, sheriffs had visited his house just a few days before his arrest.
The neighbors had smelled something. But they thought (and this is the really gross part) that the stench was coming from a near by sausage factory! So when the sheriffs went to do a check up, they must of thought the same thing. And the moral of the story? First, read the Jungle by Upton Sinclair and then never ever touch a sausage again unless you make it yourself!
I will spare the morality lessons on the actual crime for another time.
And so, the kids now want to be vegetarians again. Me too.
The blog has been finally launched by my friend Beeba. Now don’t be afraid, this is not a political blog at all. Please go read about the project and see if its something that might interest you. Like all blogs, it could use some comments! Nice ones. Nasties will be deleted. But nobody reading this blog is going to be nasty right?
To remind you, the idea is to knit and/or crochet hats for Gazan children. Like all children, they do feel the cold. Gaza gets cold. It gets wet. Children deserve better. Yes, even Gaza’s children. Human like the next child. I can’t see why people who can knit or crochet wouldn’t at least try.
At any rate, we are getting more members daily so it seems that we can actually have something to offer with this round. The worry was that we would get just a couple of hats. It looks more promising than that though.Participants as far as Korea, Norway, New Zealand and many from the U.S. A few from the Middle East. Several religions, multiple ages, wide range of political leanings…………….very cool.
This is a holiday I always enjoy. I actually met Garry on this day oh, about 20 years ago, at a party. I was a flemenco dancer and he was not in costume but for some reason he had a balloon tied to his wrist like a child:) I remember that there was a man with a paper bag over his head, in a plaid suit at the party. The bag was tied around his neck with a rope. Not a noose, just a rope. He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest all night long not moving. We thought and still think that it was the elusive host of the party, a famous attorney who made his name by defending the Hells Angels, but we were never sure. Creepy.
What I didn’t know is that me and Garry had been set up for a blind date by my best friend who knew that if she even suggested such a thing I would of had a fit and gone elsewhere. Smart lady. The rest is history I suppose.
This year, the boy is going to spend the night over at his best friends house which is innocent enough. Originally, the boys were going to watch scarry movies in the parents funeral home which is just across the street. Or so they thought. I refused to let it happen out of respect for the dead who may be just in the next room after all. The parents obviously agreed. Even funeral directors have professional ethics.
The girl is going to a haunted house. Garry wants to go. I have a dozen assignments due so am staying put. No trick or treaters will ring our bell. We live in an apartment building and children have never entered here. When we were kids we would only go inside apartment buildings on a dare and if our parents ever found out they would be furious. Back then, Halloween went on for a long time. We would come home from school, raid our parents closets and makeup and go out dressed differently everyday for about a week. Our favorite places were the little old ladies houses because they would come out and toss pennies at us. Some were nice enough to wrap the pennies is plastic but most just tossed them at us and screeched-”Go away!” I wonder if that wasn’t some sort of old world tradition now? But back then it was just something that made us laugh.
When you actually have kids who don’t have a use for costumes anymore Halloween just creeps up on you all of a sudden. I used to make the kids their costumes every year. We would start in September and I would cater to their every whim for a month. I never used patterns. Just fitted the outfits to their little bodies. I would build things like swords and shields. And the kids would love it so much that they wore their costumes for about a month later until they got another idea of the next years costumes. I sold the entire lot to a woman at a garage sale for 40 dollars one year. Her children loved to dress up and she was thrilled. I think she got a great deal.
Are we yanks just complete idiots on this day or do the festivities carry over to other countries in as big a way as they are here?
We are just a few days away from the most exciting holiday of all-the Day of the Dead. In its honor, I’m actually going to make Pan de Muerto, Bread of the Dead. Along with it, it would be Mexican Hot Chocolate. I buy a prepared Mexican hot chocolate mix which comes in a bar. The brand is Nestle but its called Abuelita (little grandmother).
While the bread is not so good when store bought, Mexican hot chocolate can get close enough when bought in a package to satisfy the cravings. The directions on the box say to use an entire bar to 4 cups of milk. I use half to three cups because anymore than that turns me into a proper caffeine ghoul, jumpy and screechy. It also says to add sugar. No thanks. Sweet enough on its own.
This is what the bar looks like. 
Just take a knife and split off what you want from it.
The flavor is spicey (cinnamon is strong) and meant to be frothy. That is hard to achieve at home but you can get close enough. In a restaurant you would get a good inch of foam. At home without a steamer, a half an inch if you are lucky.
Its made with real milk which gives it a really rich flavor. I absolutely hate hot chocolate made with water. While this product does have real chocolate, its flavoring is “artificial”. I’ll be making it from scratch for the holiday though. In fact, I am going on a hot chocolate kick for a bit. I am easily entertained.
It can be made with soy or coconut milk but rice milk makes it weak. Almond milk gives it a nice extra kick. Make sure whatever you buy is not sweetened. This product has sugar aplenty.
You place the block in a pot with the milk and whisk constantly. Once its all melted you can either use an immersion mixer or else stick it in a regular blender. If you want to be authentic you can find a molinillo. I keep telling myself I don’t need one but I noticed they started selling them at a store down the street so I might just add it to my kitchen, you know, just to be authentic.
Here it is with my half inch of foam. If it were later in the day, I would add a shot of Kahlua to this which would be wonderful.
The link above btw has a recipes section. Check it out and yes, that brand (Ibarra) is much better than Abuelita. I just can’t seem to resist that little granny.
The Day of the Dead is somewhat odd to many. Mexican families cook for days and build alters to their departed loved ones. They then take the food to the graveyard and picnic. Its a trully amazing ritualistic holiday which technically runs from Halloween until November 2. The Mexican Heritage Museum in Chicago usually erects alters and some are the size of a large closet while others are built around picture frames intended to stay on mantle tops. We have a parade here in Chicago but I’m not sure if its on this year. Read more about it here and see if you can’t join in. You have a few hours still! And you don’t have to be Mexican. I’m not. Yet, I have my own dearly departed. Its a good way to honor them.
Now, I am going to have to go out and find me some sugar skulls.
We should be out celebrating today. Break out the booze. “The recession is over” cried several news channels yesterday. Each thought to poll some locals and each brought back the news that the nations citizens were pessimistic. This is a good indication that the media is starting to lose its power of persuasion at least on this matter. People are not able to buy the lies right now.
Even Obama wasn’t saying that its over. Just slightly improved. Unemployment rates were then mentioned as they pertain to the next election. All agree that this is going to be the biggest issue for Obama when he runs again. Well, yes. Since some of us will have watched loved ones starve to death by then. This is by no means the Obama economy but he stepped up to the plate and so its his problem. But its about elections, not anything else naturally. Like anybody living in a palace can relate much otherwise.
The news also mentioned that there is no emerging industry in the states that can potentially come out as the savior, for example, not Silicon Valley. No new jobs are being created as a result. I had to wonder about something at this point. I seem to recall reading that we lost much of our edge in science for example because the Bush administration had cut important funding. Whatever our scientists were working on was interrupted as a result and therefor the edge went to other nations. And so did some of our great minds. The fact that we don’t have an emerging industry, by this argument, is the responsibility of the former president and his henchmen. I have to wonder if they knew what they were doing by cutting our throats way back when? Must look further into this…..its just a thought at the moment.
So if you break out the booze, have a drink on me. I’m saving the Dom Perignon for later days.
Now the fellow student that irked me has taken an about face. Last week she seemed to be having a public meltdown. Too stressed, too this, too that-too bad. This week she is back all cheerful. And now she is trying to talk to me. I am keeping it distant and professional. The instructor most likely thought it was a cat fight when she turned me in to him because he never did a thing about it and in all our contact he never once mentioned it to me. If it was a cat fight, it was one sided and I missed out on all the fun. I think she regrets her actions but until an apology is received I have no reason to feel that she is to be trusted. I do forgive easily but I don’t forget willingly.
We got a strange thing in the mail yesterday-a public aid medical card that we didn’t apply for. We are now all covered by the state and we don’t know why. Its like we won a prize, but what strings are attached here? I am thinking that when the kids went back to school and we had to fill out the yearly lunch form (required), the school must of been shocked when we put our income in as zero. I don’t lie on official forms and despite the zero we are doing good. But it must of looked like we were in dire straights. It doesn’t have an area in which we can explain ourselves. Just zero.
I think the school shared the information with the feds and the state. The feds do need the information because this is how schools get their No Child Left Behind funding and its based on all the zeros like us, but the state does not have a right to the information automatically and besides, why would they do us the favor if we didn’t ask in the first place? Are they so benevolent that they are just looking for charity cases like us? Not likely. I am sure that if we needed this, they would make us crawl through hot coals on our hands and knees and then make us jump through hoops first.
So now I have to find our “social worker” to tell her/him that there has been some kind of mistake. We are just fine without them. Really, we are. That should take weeks of my time and a few years off my life. Bureaucracy and I just don’t mix.
I really don’t like the state in my business and I’m not sure how they got there in the first place, not really anyhow. This just seems so invasive and its a puzzle.
We went downtown for an errand and didn’t notice anything ourselves but apparently a large protest was underway outside the Bankers Association Conference yesterday. We didn’t hear about it until the evening news (my replacement for horror films and general entertainment lately).
Why?
After taking $17.8 trillion in taxpayer bailouts and backstops, the ABA and the six largest banks have spent more than $35 million fighting Congressional action on financial reform.
Read the rest here.
I had no clue that the banks have such an active lobby and that this lobby is fighting reforms. It should of been obvious but it wasn’t. However, isn’t this organized convergence too little and too late? Better late than never? I think its too late.
At any rate, stories say there were around 5000 people present from 20 different states. The news showed a calm crowd and they said that Jessie Jackson was present. He wouldn’t miss such a photo op but the news didn’t actually show him there. So that is rather strange because Jackson does not miss a photo op! This makes me wonder why he stayed away exactly? This makes me wonder who the banks were lobbying in congress on a local level. Who did they contribute to? Congressman Jackson maybe? (Jacksons son).
5000 people though? You would think we would of noticed something, like over crowded trains. Whatever. At least there was an arrest free protest for a change and it made 5 quick seconds on the local evening news. Thats something isn’t it?
This was organized by “labor unions”, not to be confused with the Laborers Union, the one that is raping my husbands ex boss for untold amounts of money on behalf of their workers though they too should have taken part in this protest since they have demonstrated that they care about the impact greed has on the ordinary man by suing one that had no more control over the economy than a single protester did.
And where were the bricklayers? Not invited. Garry wasn’t anyway. I think its sad with so many local “labor union” members out of work that a call didn’t go out for support. Or did we toss it in the trash?
So dir en grey are coming to town in November and the kids have grounded us. We are not allowed to go this time unless there is a balcony in which we elders can sit on our thrones like senile, drooling, royalty. We then can meet up again at the car if we haven’t dirtied our diapers and lost our seeing eye dogs or gotten trampled looking for our dentures or something like that.
Garry doesn’t want them to go alone because he says the venue is a druggie hangout. I don’t think that the children will do drugs just because they are in the same building as drug addicts. They do go to school after all and so far so good. But Garry won’t budge. Personally, I don’t want to go this time around. I have seen them now 3 times I think and love them as much as I do, I don’t want to see them one more time. Not for a while.
Garry didn’t like it when the boy came home from a show a month ago completely pumped up after a night of crowd surfing because “he could of gotten hurt”. I didn’t like the boys war cries and chest thumping which took him days to stop doing because this was induced by the fact that he bloodied another kids nose but what are you gonna do? He’s a boy!
The girl points out that he won’t be doing that at dir en grey because he’ll be busy protecting her from slam dancers. I am willing to bet that is half true and that is what they will say when all is said and done.
Yesterday, it rained after school and so the kids lost their “we’ll take the bus” mantra and called home a total of 5 times begging us to come and get them. I was busy being a kitchen slave and Garry wasn’t having any of it. This time, I felt guilty and was convinced that they would catch pneumonia on the way home if I didn’t comply with their demands. Garry wanted them to tough it out.
Its so strange that neither of us will let go at the same time. I have no clue what my spouse is going to do when his babies leave home but I know that I can send care packages of Vicks Vapor rub any old time and feel much better for it.
He’s going to freak out I think when it finally happens and we have an empty nest.
