I forgot the birthday of the amazing Braden Ortega, now 7 years old!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADEN!
WHAT DID YOU GET??
147 comments:
Anonymous
said...
She got holes in her ears and some stylin' new clothes and dinner at Chuckie Cheese, I know that much.
Happy birthday to Braden Whose ears holes were made in whose soft little voice gives her granny no choice but to screech "What?" when phone talk starts fadin'.
Oh - update on painting weekend at the farm - Brian's brother has kindly offered to loan us his ladder truck with all kinds of industrial-strength ladders with anchors and stuff so you can make nice safe scaffolding. Our goal is to get the whole house at least scraped and primed - if we have to we can paint on quick weekend getaways all summer. Maybe leave paint and brushes, etc. in the shed for anyone else so inclined. So far, Ortegas, Kennedys, Richardsons and assorted Jayjacks have indicated interest. Anyone else?
A ladder truck, eh? Wouldn't be fun to own one of those?
The following was posted on a foodservice discussion website by a fellow restaurant owner. It concerns the consumer's panic because of gasoline prices. I haven't check his numbers but his commentary is pretty funny.
Tom
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JUST STOP WHINING ABOUT GASOLINE PRICES
My goodness, people! Don't you realize that there are things in your life that you really need to be worrying about? What's all this weeping and moaning over gas prices?
With every single paycheck the Imperial Federal Government seizes about 14% of the money you have earned. This money is put into an income redistribution fund from which you may or may not draw a check when and if you reach a certain age. Die too soon and that money goes to someone else .. not to your heirs. Live long enough and you may .. just may ... get most of your money back, though there is no legal guarantee that you'll get a cent.
Yet here you sit pissing and moaning about gas prices.
We did the math here last week, but let's pull out the calculator again for those of you who don't come here every day.
First, the figures:
According to the AAA, one year ago the price of regular was $2.929. Today that price is $3.114. That's an 18.5 cents per gallon increase over the past year.
Now we go for the average gas mileage for cars in the U.S. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that as of 2004 the average mpg for new cars sold in the U.S. was 24.7. In 1980 it was 23.1. So, to make a point here, we're going to go even below the average price for 1980. We're going to use 20 mpg.
Now ... for those of you who went to government schools, I'll do the math for you. You're driving your family of four 1400 miles to get to Disney World and back. That means you'll be burning 70 gallons of gas at 20 mpg. The gas is now 18.5 cents more expensive than it was last year. Let's go ahead and round that UP to 20 cents. So, we burn 70 gallons and each gallon costs 20 cents more than it cost last year. That's going to cost you an amazing $14.00.
Oh My God! What an incredible tragedy! What a devastating blow to your finances! You're going to have to spend $14.00 more to drive your family to Florida this year than you did last year! That's $3.50 for each family member! How in the hell are you ever going to be able to afford this? Alert your local radio station news department! Call the newspaper! Sound the alarm! Americans are being crippled by these rising gas prices! Call your politician. Something has to be done about the evil oil companies! Get the government involved! We need more regulation!
Oh .. and you people driving to and from work need to be outraged too! Are you doing your share of the whining?
The average commute to and from work in this country is 16 miles. Now of course we know that cars don't get the mileage on a stop-and-go commute as they do on the road, so we're going to lower the gas mileage figure from 20 to 15. So, you're driving 32 miles (on the average) to get to work and back every day. That is gobbling up about 2.13 gallons of gas. Go back to that 18.5 cents per gallon increase over last year and you'll see that you're spending about 40 cents more for gas for your commute this year than you were last year. That would be about $2.00 a week. Less than the price of a decaf skinny latte at Starbucks. A lot less.
Oh, the humanity! You're spending less than the cost of three text messages on your cell phone every day to cover the increasing cost of gas! Tell your boss you're going to have to quit! You just can handle this any more! Get fired! Go on unemployment! Forty cents a day! That's it! Your back is broken!
Come on people, wake up! Your governments -- local, state and federal -- are stealing money from you every single day to fund vote-buying programs. Your local elected officials are ripping you off to support welfare artists and to study the mating habits of Polish zlotnika pigs. How do you think they feel when they see you griping about gas prices? They LOVE it! They steal you blind and there you sit complaining because you're going to have to spend $14.00 more to drive your family to Disney World and back. They take 14% of the money you earn every day -- money you may or may get back with virtually no interest -- and you're spinning around on your eyebrows because you're spending 40 cents a day more to get to that job and back home again!
It's costing me 37 cents a week more this year to go to work and back, dagnabbit. However, it is a big (and painful) leap from the $25 it used to cost to fill my tank not so long ago and the close to $40 it costs now. My pay certainly hasn't risen to keep pace. Here's what we should be screaming about - the cost of college tuition rises by 10 to 20% a YEAR in this country. Where did those dollars go? They're in the pockets of people who don't need them. Income redistribution - it's in the Bible, check it out. Like most things, it's good in moderation.
Realtors live in their cars....so...I can't wait to hear what that restaurant owner will say in the next few months, because I just read groceries went up 4% in April (biggest jump in 15 years) and will take a big jump next month!!
Gas was $1.69 when that ugly American Bush took office, so lets not compare it to a year ago.
Good point. Here's what I'm worried about...where are the bees going? If they disappear we won't have any food, and right now beekeepers in North America have experienced a more than 60% loss just from last year. They have some navigation disorder that prevents them from returning to their hives. It's happening all over the world. Some places 90% of the hives have died out because there's no drones to feed the babies. No bees = no pollination. I think this is one of those canary-in-the-coal-mine warnings that we could be on the brink of some sort of ecological crisis that will change whole economies and bring down governments.
I think everything is getting too expensive. Gas, groceries, tuition and most of all, housing. I know things are cooling off in real estate, but prices in some places are ridiculous. We've been looking at real estate in the DC area since there's a good chance we'll be there next. Even with a 45-60 minute commute, we're going to have to come up with over $300,000. And not for our dream home, but rather most likely an attached townhouse. It's depressing. How are people supposed to save for their kids' tuition with an outrageous mortgage?
I'm outta here. We're traveling this weekend - first to take Braden some earrings, then to visit Stevo's mom and sisters. So right now I'm going home to watch the Cubs/Mets game for our anniversary celebration until my mammogram at 2:30. Fun times.
cathy, i've been reading a lot of stories on the bee die-offs. one study in europe linked the navigation problems to cell phone tower radiation. another is looking for a viral cause, because bees have almost no immune system. but it's a freaky thing, lots of fruit and veggie crops rely on bees for cross pollination.
Thank You For The Birthday Wshis! For My Birthday I Got A Lot of Birthday Presints.I Am 7 Years Old Now.And I Have A Diary with A Lock On It And I Have Keys For The Lock. And I Got A Lot Of Other Stuf.
I don't know where Braden gets her sense of humor. She spent 20 minutes typing the word Diarya and giggling about it with Ty. She decided not to leave the "a" on after all. Good girl. Chuck E. Cheese is not as good as Showbiz. The pizza is really bad. The wings are barely edible. They have variations of the same old automated puppets and no blacklight room. However, there is a 10-year-old-kid sized habitrail hanging from the ceiling where I'm sure older kids mug the little kids for game tokens. It was okay.
Someone just stole my cane!!! We were on a "Realtor" tour of homes, and then stopped for a drink at our neighborhood bar and then realized the cool cane (it was Mike's from when he broke his foot 22 years ago) anyway it was just NOW stolen!!!
How'd you like that Cubs/Mets game, Cathy? Who would steal a cane? that's like stealing a wheelchair or medicine or a fake leg. That's like stealing a walker from a little old lady or stealing oxygen from a guy with breathing problems. Who could do such a thing (I realize that an argument could be made about hospitals stealing but that's another story.)
Mary, You should get a cane with flames on it like House.
My volleyball team has a perfect 0-6 record after last night. I'll have to start getting there earlier to stretch and warm up, and by stretch and warm up i mean drink more beer. Frank
em said... "Yes Des, you're right - it was Pitt and they were ranked 23rd at the time. ND /Georgia Tech game is at 3:30 Eastern."
Perhaps we can go to the bar that has the taxidermied bear behind plexi for a likely 11AM Nebraska/Nevada start time and then head to Goodtimes for the ND/GTech game. The first bar would be Jude friendly. It's carpeted.
Hey Des, I visited the Republic of Pepperloin for a diversion from the ordinary. It appears you haven't posted anything new. What gives?
And by the way, Congratulations on your award. Don't you think that there should be a shoot in Algona's best restaurant and bar for maybe a beef commercial?
Another thought...I think it's a good idea to carry two sacks of stuff around. That way when someone asks you to give them a hand with something you can say, "Sorry, I got these sacks."
Easter 1999, at the farm, Dee and I both had newborns. I was standing up and holding Liam in my arms and Dee tried to hand me Donny. I don't think saying, "I got these two sacks," would work on everyone. :-<>
On Friday this girl I work with organized an outing to Medieval Times in Schaumberg. A white limo picked the nine of us up from work. The show was amazing and the food was wonderfully horrible. The first course was something called Dragon’s Blood which wasn’t actually the blood of a dragon. Rather, it was chunky tomato soup. That was accompanied by standard garlic bread. For the main course, we had half a chicken that looked as if it hadn’t been cooked properly – like the way they would have cooked it in Medieval Times. Did I mention they don’t use utensils in Medieval Times? Thing is, there weren’t utensils in Medieval Times. Hence, there are no utensils at Medieval Times. Jeanine Garafalo couldn’t have said it better. In fact, if you’ve ever seen The Cable Guy I have to tell you that was an extremely accurate depiction of what it’s like. But I don’t think you and a friend would be able to fight without proper training. The knights I saw were wonderful actors and could take a spill as good as anybody. Our Yellow Knight didn’t make it past the second round and I felt much shame. That didn’t prevent me from talking smack to two eleven year olds who were rooting for the red knight (who was a total homo by the way). My girlfriend was afraid of catching avian flu from the falconry show. I was more wary of having eating my pink chicken in the proximity of horses going number two.
I recommend going. It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.
Mets pitcher Johnny Maine makes 315,000 a year and he has an ERA of 2.15 (or something close to that.) Meanwhile, Pedro Martinez makes over 14,000,000 a year.
Des - I've been to Medieval Times in So. Cal. (I think near you, Em). Your description is right on. But, you failed to mention that the servers are actually wentches (that's what we were told by the PA announcer when we went 15 years ago - a less pc world then).
Did they have a little museum of medieval torture devices? The one I went to did. The pear is the most horrific thing I've ever seen...aside from the chicken they served.
Has anyone ever heard of this- I think it's something our family will have to adopt:
I went to a Stock the Bar party this weekend for Andy's sister and her fiance. Everyone brings the couple one or two nice bottles of liquor and by the end of the night, most of it was gone. It was at his cousin's, a huge house in Rockbrook, and almost everyone stayed the night there so we didn't have to worry about anyone driving home drunk. It was a lot of fun.
They started off the night by braking into a pinata stuffed with tiny bottles of booze.
A pinata stuffed with tiny bottles of booze (wrong message for the kids? Oh, well...) being flailed at by six people at a time with brightly colored buckets on their heads. Fun! What a world, what a world...when an injustice is a guy getting paid $315,000 a year to play baseball. I think the players union should propose a million-dollar-a-year salary cap if the owners agree to cut ticket prices by 80%. Come on. Save baseball! Who could possibly need or want more than a million a year? Johnny Maine is a good pitcher. Mary, someone who frequents that bar knows where your cane is. You should post a wanted poster that really shames the thief. A person who steals a cane should be beaten with it.
Oh! Oh! Stevo and I bought on sale a little two-room shower tent for the farm. It doesn't address the water temperature issue, but at least you can get naked, lather up and have hose water sprinkle down on you to rinse off. And people outside can enjoy the sounds made by people showering in freezing water.
Tonight - the thrilling 2-hour season finale of 24 wherein hopefully Jack will get the bomb back from the Chinese and the crucial component back from his evil father and wrest the presidency back from the morally bankrupt vice-president. Maybe he'll perform emergency surgery on the President and bring him out of the coma. And save the head ot CTU from taking the blame for the terrorists and leave Ricky Schroeder poised to take his place while he rides off into the sunset to enjoy a levitical marriage with the innocent widow of his evil brother. Ricky has shown that he has the stuff to take Jack's place: a black/white moral compass combined with a willingness to torture evil guys to save innocent good people. Whaddya think?
For those of you who don'twatch... just thought I'd mention that Jack's evil brother (now dead, having been killed by Jack's evil father) was played by Ron Howard's evil brother. Isn't that funny?
Tom and I, just, returned from an all day extravaganza of gardening at Sarah's...looks very nice...but, it's a bummer to come home and not have the chance to sit back, "in awe," of it's splendor. Oh well, we can next week. :-) Yes, 24...we love it!
I'm watching a show right now on TLC that's called Raising 16 Children. You all might want to check it out. The Duggers have some interesting strategies (or tricks) to raising all these kids. For instance, when they go on vacation, they all wear the same thing (red polos and khakis) so they can keep track of one another in crowded places. Their "car" is a bus-like vehicle that looks like the rental car shuttles you see at airports.
I think they said they spend $1600 to 2000 a month on food. That sounded like a lot at first. But per person it's really very efficient. I bet the Duggers make some mad trips to Sam's Club or Costco.
Oh, brother. She's pregnant again. The ultrasound suspects it to be another girl.
This is too much. I'm taking a klonopin and going to bed.
Last night while watching 24 I turned to Nance and said, "Has this show always been this stupid?"
She assured me it was. It's entertainment has turned from a "can Jack save the world again?" to "can I hear a dummer line than the last one I just heard?"
Mets have a BIG series with the Braves starting today. The two teams have already changed leads in the division 22 times this year.
Also - Emily. John Maine may not be making much ($300k/year) but bench player (and pretty good outfielder) Carlos Gomez is making $20,000 and hitting over .300.
24 really IS ridiculous. I mean come on...would some hot, young, middle eastern, gal, who was previously, "in holding," under suspision of being a, "leak," really be running CTU during such a crisis and post 9/11? Do we really give a crapola that Chloe is preggers? Furthermore, at the show's rate...she won't give birth until the year 2287! Milo Shmilo what a dummy. Oh and Jack's, "tender moment," with Audrey was so NOT a tender moment. Blah, blah, blah. And, tough guy Jack is reduced to mush by William Devane's presence? I don't think so. In 24 hours, not one person ate a sammy or used the bathroom. I could go on and on, but will not...this show is stupid. We're bummed that the season is over. :-(
I looked up that family online, Des. They scare me. I'm so glad we didn't dress alike growing up. They are home schooled, obviously. Bible study is their favorite part of the day.
I've watched, quite a few, episodes and think it's very entertaining. Ironically, I have thought(to myself)...man I'd love to talk with them about their family. Then, I remember that I'm married to a person that grew up in a family like that! Ha, ha.
OK, this season really left a lot of loose ends dangling, like what about the WWII-style roundups of Arabic people that was such an issue in the beginning of the season, with the president's sister's boyfriend being held in a "detention facility?" Will next season pick up right where this one left off, or will Chloe already be the world's most scowly mom of a toddler that gets kidnapped by the terrorists in Wal-Mart? Will William Devane ever recover the over-the-top sly self-parodying humor that he showed in Knots Landing? It's almost like they switched writing teams halfway through the season. I hope the president wakes up before January.
That woman has to be the most organized woman in the world. At the moment, in our house, Thomas has lost his 3week old glasses and Joe has lost the keys to his airplane and the security pass to get into the airport to check his plane for the keys. It was fun digging through the garbage for those items this morning before the garbage man came.
We had the funeral recently of a guy who left his wife after they had 17 children together, trading her for a younger model who had 7 kids. In the week before he died, he called both families to come to the hospital and reconcile. The funeral was very nice and civilized, with both families there, but everyone else was still thinking< "Well, that's nice, but that bastard..."
If you ever get a chance, listen to the weekly NPR show called "This American Life." Here it's on Tuesday mornings. It's people telling stories, sometimes with a common theme, sometimes just a hodgepodge. It's great. I try never to miss it.
Cathy - are you taling about the show that is narrated by the gay guy? If so, it IS a good show.
They can make an otherwise mundane topic seem interesting. For instance, they could interview someone like us Straub kids who picked up rocks or bailed hay for Chuck Behr and capture all the loonacy bourne of the bordom a group of kids endure out on a muddy or dusty peice of ground... Employed by a one of a kind guy.
The show has a way of portraying vividly what people's life time experiences are all about.
When I look back at those days working for Chuck Behr a whole sitcom could be made of it.
In CB there are quite a few of the people (I don't know the name of their religion) where the women always wear their hair long with a little headscarf tied behind the head and long skirts, and I used to look at them and think anyone can wear a skirt but how do you find so many skirts that look so relentlessly unfashionable? Then last week I stopped at Bayless Park to sit and watch people after a long evening meeting, and I saw a whole extended family of them, and one young woman still had on the scarf and long hair and skirt but somehow she pulled it off and just looked like that was her fashion choice that day. She looked secular. And I thought, that's their future daughter-in-law, and the parents are somewhat dismayed but putting on a good face, and hoping she'll settle down or that the son will dump her or maybe she'sjust sowing a few wild oats. I made up a whole scenario. But I was impressed with how she somehow managed to rebel while not breaking any of the rules. I couldn't even tell what was different, but it shone like a spotlight. I think a swan's going to bust out of that ugly duckling suit any day now.
OK, now, why are a bunch of fundamentalist Christians scary? Would you describe an afghan family where the women all wear headscarves scary? Or a buddhist family? Or some Sioux clan that all wore something that identified them with a certain belief system? People who home-school their their kids or read the Bible together are no more "all alike" than any other identifiable group. This is not an endorsement of any certain belief system or culture, just a plea for TRUE liberalism.
There is a strong movement among some in the Catholic church for home schooling (Uncle Bob is pretty involved) at St.Peter's (where he did his mission) many of the families home school...I couldn't and wouldn't do it!! Especially not through 12th grade...plus I think it weakens the local Catholic schools, especially in small towns.
Desmond, thanks goodness Granny and Grandpa didn't raise us like that...matching clothes, bus, etc...what was amazing is that we were all so (individually) involved with extra activities, and Mom and Dad made it to almost everything. We did swim team, baseball-softball, golf, etc for the summer and then winter stuff, too!
Although for one of our trips to New York in the red Edsel station wagon, Dad did want to have all the kids just travel in their bathing suits - it would be so much easier to hit the pool when we stopped at the motels - but Mom nixed that idea.
In the home-schooling movement some of it is countercultural (good for them; true Christianity IS counter-cultural) but I think some of it is a symptom of a growing anti-intellectual feeling in the Church that bothers me. Like, a lot of Catholics think the Jesuits are some kind of subversive anti-church because they prize intellect and education as part of their unique charism. Like you're supposed to check your brain at the door of the church. But I am not automatically against home-schooling, I think there can be good social, religious and philosophical reasons for it. I wouldn't do it.
I think home schoolers are escapists from society. You need to be a part of the community you live in, otherwise you are running away from what it means to be christian. Christians should not be separatists. Or course ,iIf you lived in an area with an awful school system that would be a different situation. Also how can one person home school 17 people of varying levels and ages?
How did a teacher of a one-room schoolhouse teach 17 or more children of varying ages and they came out of eight grades knowing a hell of a lot more grammar and math and geography and classics than kids do now? Plus homeschoolers are not limited to a "school day", they can teach any time. There could be an argument made that almost any big-city public school is a toxic environment for learning. I am not saying that I believe this. I just think that the knee-jerk response to home schooling is not always right. Hippies used to home-school their kids because they did not want them to buy into the materialistic, shallow, warrior culture that they thought was mainstream America. Were they wrong? Maybe. Maybe not.
Awww, if 24 ever introduces Kevin Bacon I will watch it for sure. I just don't want it to be the evil Kevin Bacon. Can't you just see Kevin and Ricky and Jack all in a row getting "footloose?"
Stevo's sister Karen teaches 25 kindergarteners in a Hammond public school. This year she had a 7-year-old in diapers because the parents just never went thru the hassle of toilet-training her. This kid would answer back and curse her out and threaten violence every day. She had several kids who were completely unsocialized, who were absolutely incapable of taking orders or sitting still, with the impulse control of 2-year-olds. She had 2 mainstreamed kids who years ago would have been in a special ed class. Several children of drug addicts, several bright well-behaved kids, several somewhere in between. Two questions: how much are kids learning in that atmosphere, and is a private school, where parents pay thousands of dollars to have their kids in an environment that (hopefully) reflects their values and priorities, an unchristian escape from reality? Although I am arguing against the automatic anti-homeschool camp, I must state that I wouldn't make that choice, but maybe that's because I never had to.
As I said, there are situations where homeschooling makes sense, perhaps on a short term basis. But as a way of life I think it's a bad model. We don't live in the same world that one room schoolhouses thrived in, do we? The world is much more global. Interpersonal relationships and understanding are so much more important today. Societies regularly bump up against one another in ways that did not used to happen. P
GALVESTON, Texas — A baby girl was released from a hospital 11 days after police say she was burned in a motel microwave oven. The infant's mother blamed the devil for what happened, saying Satan compelled her husband to put the baby in the microwave. The devil "saw my husband as a threat" because of his efforts to become a preacher, Eva Marie Mauldin, 20, told Houston television station KHOU.
"He would never do anything to hurt her," she said. "Satan was working through his weaknesses."
After all my defense of home-schooling, I must say that here in CB, the business manager of St. Albert's homeschools his kids and I think that's bogus. Put your money where your mouth is. First of all, he leaves work for an hour every day because he's the "principal" of the homeschool and he needs to check in. Nobody else leaves the school campus like that. Secondly, he told a staff member here that his son has a vocation to the priesthood. The kid is 8 years old. OK, scary.
Why don't they fire that guy, Cathy???Why isn't his wife the fricken "principal" of the home school...so weird.
The Catholic schools in Omaha are awesome, and many of the public schools are, as well.
All the Catholic schools offer financial aid, so the thought that you can't go, doesn't fly...with the Diosecan schools, like Roncalli and Skutt, anyway, maybe not Marian, Prep and Duchense, but they all have work study and offer other aid, I think...If you want to go, you can!
Omaha has 8 Catholic High schools, how come Des Moines only has one?
Also, I have to take issue with calling public schools "inept." They have to take everyone. They deal with a heterogeneous clientele, not a group of people who all believe or act or look the same way. They are teaching in classrooms with all sorts of intellectual, emotional, social issues that private schools never have to deal with. Their mission is to teach everyone, even the ones who don't fit. They can't whack anyone. Good Catholic that I am, I am not at all sure that private school vouchers are right. Like No Child Left Behind, they have the net effect of taking money and energy away from the schools that need it most. Public schools, like all government institutions, are unwieldy, top-heavy, bogged down by politics and hamstrung by silly rules. Yet the great American ideal of tax-supported education for everyone is the baseline. If you want better, get involved and make it better. If you want something else, maybe you pay for it. As long as the public schools are property-tax supported, it seems an injustice to take away some of that revenue for people who can afford private school. Maybe a different funding model...(she sounds like a democrat!)
The whole Diocese of Des Moines has only two Catholic high schools. I don't know why. Southwest Iowa is statistically the least Catholic area in Iowa. Fewer rich Catholics?
Open enrollment across the board and school vouchers would see a dramatic increase in public school performance.
Not all are inept. But many are. The old sink or swim scenario may not be a bad idea. Parents who give a damn (and most do) would make sure their kids got to a decent school.
If a school became completely inept then at that time an intesive overhaul of that school could take place.
A free market of sorts in education is just what the doctor ordered. It will never happen.
Cathy...I don't think that rich Catholics equates a high school, in fact I know it doesn't...Catholics from all economic levels who believe in the system, support a school. many school systems in smaller towns were built on the sweat of concerned Catholic parents, and personally Mike and I sacrificed to sent our kids, especially the past few years...$500/month, we give up alot.
The old sink or swim means that kids whose parents don't give a damn are doomed to the bottom of the pool. The schools with the poorest performance should be overhauled! And class size halved, and teachers' helpers hired, and environment upgraded, and decent healthy food served for breakfast and lunch, and before-and-after-school programs increased and improved to combat the poor social or cultural conditions that those students come from.
I didn't mean that only rich Catholics support Catholic schools, just that there are/were fewer Catholics here with the money or incentive to get schools built in the first place. Or maybe the Catholics that were here just culturally didn't value Catholic schools for whatever reason. Or maybe our diocesan funding model is screwed up. Why, in Council Bluffs, are four parishes sending 2/3 to 3/4 of their total parish revenue to a Catholic school system that graduates less than 75 seniors a year? Should the diocese be helping more? I don't know. I don't believe that Catholic schools are for rich kids, although I'm afraid it's going that way.
Cathy - you said, "The old sink or swim means that kids whose parents don't give a damn are doomed to the bottom of the pool."
That is why I (prior to your statement) said, "If a school became completely inept then at that time an intesive overhaul of that school could take place."
I've known some Porsche enthusiasts who can't afford a Porsche.
I would venture to guess that Omaha indexes high in people of Polish, Italian and Irish decent (relative to other cities in the area) only because of its not-so-recent history of providing work for these people. More recently, there's been enormous growth in the Hispanic population. That could contribute to the number of Catholics (and Catholic schools).
Just a tid bit about quite a few of Des Moines Catholic grade schools: They have easy access to public schools' help for referrals, advice, and even visits from special ed. teachers and the AEA. Still, many of them don't use it or only use it in the worst case scenarios. They can get the help from very well trained Special ed. public school teachers to learn better monitoring skills for their most needy students, but never use it. I know of a few cases that other schools have contacted them, but they turned down the help and the kids ended up having to go to a public school.
Either way, public or Catholic schools aren't ever going to get better until there's better teacher training at colleges, and old teachers are made to go to more refresher courses. The law says that all kids should be in the least restrictive (hopefully non-special ed) classroom as much as possible. Iowa, which is supposed to pride itself on great education for everyone, has one of the highest percentages of time students spend in a restrictive, special ed classroom through out the day because many (older) teachers never had to deal with accomodating everyone's needs and don't feel comfortable about it. I absolutly do not think new teachers are better than older ones. I just think that many people who never had any kind of special ed training need to get it now if they are still going to teach.
Anybody watching Wyeth stock? They just got FDA approval for a pill that gets rid of woman's periods (and therefor PMS). It is intended as an oral conraceptive.
Ellen, do you agree with that policy, that kids should be in mainstream classrooms as much as possible? If so, are there special ed aides commensurate with the number of special needs students? I don't have an opinion one way or another, I'm just curious. To be fair to Catholic schools: their main mission is to educate Catholics. The product is supposed to be an educated, practicing Catholic. With the limited resources they have, when they are facing a situation that would further stress those resources and tax the already overworked teachers, I suppose it's natural that they would pass on those problems to the public school system, which is tax-supported and has vastly greater resources, than opt to accept government help with its attendant rules, regulations and bureaucracy. Whether that is the most Christian approach toward those special-needs students or their families is another question.
My girlfriend is a grade school teacher in a Mineapolis suburb. She has @30 students. Half are esl...when there's a problem she has to contact a translator and that is difficult to arrange in a timely manner. 2 are autistic. 1 has no arms. A handful of ebd. Very few have the last name of their mother or other siblings. Very few have dads that live with them. She is hesitant to send work home as it may never be seen again. She says that she has about 6 children that are average or above and that they suffer the most as she simply cannot meet their needs while managing/teaching the others. Her school's, "open door," policy allows over-exuberant and bored mother's to come and go as they please. She has one in particular that comes in, unanounced, and causes a huge distraction...weekly. In fact, just recently, she was playing with the kids at recess and she scolded an autsitic child (her son is too) and this little boy darted off into the street and ran, crying all the way. The police had to be called and it was a mess.
I bet that in the olden days if you were a barbarian and you and your friends were sacking Rome that probably the most embarassing thing that could happen to you is you get your cape caught on something and you need to ask a buddy to get you unstuck.
30 kids in a classroom in a Minneapolis suburb? That's crazy. Someone should approach the school's administration with the idea that the "open-door" policy is a huge security risk, and say that any parent has the right to sit quietly and observe but if they disrupt the class they will be asked to leave. They should not be allowed to interact with the kids. That school is setting itself up for trouble. But mostly it's hard to imagine that kind of setting in a Minnesota public school.
This, particular, parent is a pain in the butt and has complained and caused problems (past years) 'cuz she wasn't happy with her child's learning environment. My friend is just relieved that she likes her as his teacher. I think the school is nervous to rock the boat with her. She, literally, comes in during a lesson and says, "hi," to all the kids and chats and sits by her child and his aid.
Think how many prisons are warehousing people convicted of non-violent crimes because of stupid mandatory sentencing laws. Imagine if we freed up half the prison resources and put it directly into more teachers, better school buildings, more counselors, social workers, special-needs teachers (which also encompasses teachers who know how to deal with children whose parents have literally never disciplined their children) Yet you get towns clamoring to build a prison because it means jobs and money, who won't pass a bond issue to build a couple new classrooms, so kids in the oldest school in town are taking classes in the furnace room and their teachers are paying for supplies out of their own pockets. Okay, I'm done with that.
Update on the painting weekend: Ortegas and Jayjacks will arrive on Friday afternoon. Jayjacks will bring (compliments of Mom and Dad) hamburgers & hot dogs, sloppy Joes, Barbacued ribs and something for a feast on Sunday night, beer & pop and a few odds and ends. I suggest that everyone planning to sleep in a bed bring sheets so we don't have to worry about trying to launder linens on Memorial Day. Also bring your own towels for the same reason. We could use some breakfast or lunch stuff, desserts, fruit, etc. Board games for bored kids? Does anyone have a shop vac? Ours just died, and it might help with cleaning up paint chips. Ryan asked Stevo if he should bring golf clubs and Stevo said yes. Hmmm. Ryan also has arranged for us to get Sherwin-Williams primer wholesale (yay!) and I suppose a sprayer wouldn't hurt although I think it will be mostly brushwork. Tarps. Scrapers. Window blades & masking tape. Brushes of course. Anything you have for housepainting. Music! Decent clothes to wear to mass on Sunday! Hedge clippers! Did I miss anything?
Eli's teacher said (report card) that he is, "very perceptive and sets the standard for other students,"...and, Liam's teacher said, "it was very enjoyable getting to know you and you're a wonderful example of hard work paying off." Very pleased. :-)
Ellen's safe, private school had a bomb scare this morning and was evacuated. After an inspection and letting the time pass that the bomb was supposed to go off(the kids stayed on the grounds) they all returned to classes. How'd you like to teach after that?
I'll bring some breakfast food and snacks, sometime Saturday. I think I have some kid-friendly activities. And of course I'll bring the "I'm Hungry" song.
I think children should be in the Least restrictive setting Most of the time- that is Appropriate for them. Obviously a child with severe and profound disabilities cannot stay in the regular classroom the whole time. But a kid who needs a different spelling test or different math problems shouldn't have to leave the room. The problem is that many teachers are just not changing their lessons so more kids can stay in their classroom more time during the day. In my classes, I have never written an activity, lesson plan, or unit where it wasn't required that we make very specific accomodations for ELL, Special Ed, and above average students. I have taught in multi-ability (and multi-age) classrooms where I had to do this. It's not hard because it's been engrained in me to do so, but I can see how the thougth of teaching so many different students at once would be overwhelming if you've never done it before. The resources for more "para-professionals"/ aids in Iowa is increasing quite a bit, so there are more and more in the classroom, along with team teaching to help this problem.
In Iowa, there was a big study done that showed teachers talk, look, and pay attention less to the unattractive kids than the pretty ones. That's so sad! Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy. My favorite quote is, "You can't hate children on company time."
People my age tend to think of classrooms as rows of desks where everyone's doing the same thing at the same time. If the architecture of the classroom allows for different activities to be going on at once and plenty of teachers/aides to work with the different groups or individuals, it could work out great. It would be fun to design classrooms.
Don't know if they still do this but when I was going thru St. Cecelia and then St. Joe they had the classes (about 25-30 kids)periodically break into 3 smaller groups. The slow learners, the average learners and the fast learners.
Teaching would be modified during these sessions to reflect the abilities of the group.
I went from a slow learner (because I was a goof-off) in 2nd or 3rd grade, to an average learner sometime in 4th or 5th grade. And finally a fast learner in 7th grade.
I don't recall if my terminilogy is correct (fast, slow, average) but that is how I remember them being referred to in the class room.
And, I can assure you that your spot in the social pecking order had a lot to do with what group you were in (again - fast, average or slow).
I bet if you were a barbarian sacking Rome with your friends it would be even more embarassing if you forgot for a minute that you were a barbarian and ordered a veggie pizza in front of your barbarian friends.
I remember in first grade I was moved to the other first grade room and Ryan Lynch was moved to my room. I didn't know why that made Dad so happy, but I think I might have a clue now...
When I was in 6th grade I was in a shared classroom with Don - half 5th grade and half 6th. There were 47 kids in that room, held at bay by Sister Michael, who was considered one of the good nuns to get because even though she decked kids and humiliated them on a regular basis, she also made jokes sometimes.
About the Mets: Ed, I'm blaming you. If you wouldn't have said anything about the game, I wouldn't have known it was on and I wouldn't have wasted 3 lousy hours. Now I have to watch again tonight. Yes, they could have used Eli.
About teaching: maybe I'm one of the old ones, but as a high school teacher how am I supposed to prepare kids for college and work on phonics at the same time? I would have kids with third grade reading levels along with kids at a 12th grade reading level in a class with 40 kids. Basically, at the end of the day, you feel like you haven't really helped anybody because you're faling the kids who need the most help and you're failing to challenge the advanced students. When we would read a short story,let's say Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil," I could read the whole thing aloud, in class, stopping to discuss plot, style, symbolism, imagery, etc and spend a week doing it. Then if you asked them to write a paper or take a quiz, some kids still wouldn't get it. On the other hand I had a kid in class who could read the whole thing on his own in twenty minutes and turn in a great essay the next day without the benefit of any classroom discussion. A high school teacher usually sees 100-150 students a day. We were supposed to have individual lesson plans for those with special needs, but I gotta tell you, it was hard. ANd I put in a lot of hours at home and at school and I still never was able to feel like I was doing a good job for everyone. Don't even get me started on grading. A kid could graduate with a 4.0 and not be at all prepared for college. Plus, how can I be fair in giving the kid who wrote two nonsensical paragraphs an A (because his IEP says that's what I can expect) and giving the smart kid who wrote two, solid pages of anaysis a B? Grades are seriously inflated. Not that grades are the most important thing, but for those who want to and have the ability to go to college, this is how we measure their abilities. Being a teacher is kind of like being a student. You know that feeling you always had that you should be studying every time you watched TV or went out. Being a teacher, you always feel like you should be working on school work. And the guilt...
I think least restrictive environment is ideal, but the reg. classroom teacher need support from aids. All the training in the work isn't going to fix the problem. We need to keep challenging all our students, of course. But we cannnot forget the importance of challenging the brightest as well. IF we don't, other countries with better education systems will leave us in the dust.
As far as what Tom described, that was tracking, which really makes sense, but you're not even allowed to utter the word "Tracking" anymore or you'll be strung up by your toes. By the time they get to high school, many students have tracked themselves by taking honors classes, etc. But where I taught in L.A. they didn't really have honors classes, so everyone was mixed together. In Macedonia, the classes were broken up by English Language profiency levels and it was great. I had a ninth grade "Regular" and an 11th grade "Advanced" and it made planning and teaching much more enjoyable.
I remember in my second grade class (which had 9 students) there were two kids who were given different reading and math assignments. Only one day Sr. Benjamin forgot that she had different assignments for different kids and she laid a beating on one of the slow kids because he did not do the work that was assigned to the rest of us (but not him). Now that was traumatic for a second grader. Sitting there knowing that the kid getting the beating didn't deserve it but not being able to say anything because you didn't want to be the one getting the beating.
Oh, by the way, Scott's going to a SF Giants game tonight because Bobblehead is going. I told him to tell me what she wears. Do you think she even owns a pair of jeans? I've never seen her laugh. I guess her detail likes working for her though, they say she's nice. Powell was a grouch, Albright was great. Apparently none of the SS likes Hillary, but they loved Bill. They say she's a big B____.
I blame Sr. Benjamin for my terrible Math skills. In second grade I innocently raised my hand and said, "I don't understand." (I don't recall what we were working on.) She exploded at me, walked over to me, yelling, hitting me on the head with her pen, which she had just pulled out of her mouth, and yelled,"What do you mean you don't understand?!?" I wasn't going to ask any more questions after that. She was a very large woman who seemed to relish tormenting little 2nd graders.
The best St. Michaels memory though is Miss Elbert jumping up and down on Ed's water gun.
Do you remember when David Koppen from my class went down to your room Ed? He was NOT stupid either. Not book smart but he just hated school so had them fooled about how remedial he really was. So he went down like 4 grades or something.
They still do tracking, they just call it something else, I think...speaking of tracking...if you track kids coming out of public vs. Catholic high schools and the scholarship money and their test scores...the Catholic schools are way ahead...So, besides for Catholic schools existing to educate practicing Catholics, their students do VERY well at graduation time, and with their limited resources (in Omaha) they always win state in most of the sports...and the newspaper comp, etc...
Catholic schools are 100% full of students whose parents value their educations enough to pay, sacrifice, and get involved. Of course they test higher than a school system that has 100% of the students whose parents can barely be bothered to get them to school at all. At the highest student levels they test about the same. The teachers who teach for a long time in Catholic schools are very dedicated because they are settling for less pay in exchange for other things they think are more important (good for them!) I totally value my Catholic education, but when you get into comparisons of test scores, etc, you're really comparing apples and oranges. The cream of the (parenting) crop vs. the whole pool of parents from best to worst. As in religious ed, it's all about the parents. As for sports, I don't know. Maybe, there again, your pool of students are from families with higher expectations, more discipline, etc, or maybe God just helps them a little because he loves them best. By the way, all those qualities (test scores, scholarships, sports, etc) could be said about any private school.
In addition, there are very few students who do not speak ENglish as their first language at Catholic schools, which of course affects test scores, etc. I wish Catholic schools could be more diverse. I wish society in general could be more integrated.
Again, just for clarification, I am pro-Catholic schools. There's no comparison between the Catholic school kids and the public school kids in my Confirmation prep classes in their knowledge of Church stuff, or in the numbers of them who seem to have real faith or at least think about God once in a while. To me, the most important test is: can I tell a difference by how they treat others, respect adults, show kindness, practice humility, act like Christians? Well, not so much. A higher percentage of them actually participate in parish life, but not so much higher as you might think. When I said that I'm afraid that Catholic schoold are becoming schools for the rich, I meant that there are plenty of Catholic families whose kids are in Catholic schools who never come to weekend masses in the parishes. They are cultural Catholics, not practicing Catholics. They say "I'm Catholic" the way you might say, "I'm Irish". Many of the people who homeschool do so because the schools aren't Catholic enough for them! Most are very old-school Catholic, way too conserrvative for my taste, but some feel that the Catholic (private) school is not teaching enough of the loving values they associate with Christianity. There is definitely a snobbery problem at St. Albert's, (frankly acknowledged by several faculty and administration members) and a lot of students who have transferred to the larger public schools have done much better, socially and academically. Again, it's all about the parents. For that reason, I think that Catholic-school advocates should avoid triumphalist, we're-better-than-them unfair comparisons and concentrate on their own strengths and mission. If I were trying to sell a parent on my Catholic school, I would pull out test scores if asked, but my sell would be, "Here at St. Whatever, your child will talk about God every single day and about how what God means in how we deal with others."
There was a bomb scare in Topeka yesterday when somebody left two robot-looking statues in front of the capitol. They blocked off streets and called in the bomb squad to look at them. They were somewhat wiry and made of metal, so I guess they looked threatening to somebody. I thought they were cute, even comical, but maybe that's more threatening. It's always the nice looking statues that turn out to be bombs.
Anyway, it turned out that they were just statues. And whoever made them got a lot of free advertising from our newspaper and the tv stations. I feel used.
Free advertising wouldn't seem to be much good if they don't know who did it. Cathy-you seem to have a real frustration with St. Alberts. What's with the snobbery there? Can you elaborate? I'm most concerned with how you think it came about as I don't want anything like that at Garrigan, where we're just trying to do our duty as the good Lord gave us the light to see it.
Monica, do you remember that little blond haired boy in jesus camp? He wasn't a main character but they kept showing him bc he was weeping so hard over his sins.
At one point in this movie, they are all basically worshiping a cardboard cut out of g. bush. P
St. Albert's has a real problem, almost un-definable...I can't see it happening in Algona, but is worth questioning HOW...BUT, Cathy, St. Albert's is not like any Catholic high school in Omaha. By the way, there are many non-Catholics who attend Marian... Jews and Baptists, among others. Westside High School does compare test wise and sports wise with Prep and Marian, again it's not a HUGE district and the parent involvement is HUGE. Diversity is a non-issue in these discussions, I think.
Growing up Garrigan had more than it's share of snobby, better-than-you kids. I suspect that it's the same at most private schools.
At the same time, I like to believe that Garrigan also had/has more than it's share of good citizens. Also, suspect it's the same at most Catholic schools.
I think that it's nice to have our boys attend school with children who share the same belief in Christ. I like it that their teachers say, "God bless you," and that their art projects et cetera reflect their faith. :-)
Had we stayed in Redwood Falls...our boys would have attended a private Lutheran school as it was the only Christian schooling choice. I would have been absolutley fine with that. Of course, I am glad that they have Seton instead. :-)
On another note: I asked a public school attending server, once, what the perception was of Garrigan kids. She surprised me when she said, "That you're poor." I said, "huh?" She said that Garrigan kids don't have the same classroom opportunites that they do."
Kudos to the following Seton teachers: Mrs. McGuire; Mrs. Lind and Mrs. Kinseth. :-)
Pat, I do remember that boy. He made me sad because he was obviously looking for love in his life. He just seemed so sad and he was searching for someone or something to love him. I didn't watch the whole movie but the preacher boy creeped me out. I'm all for religious ed. but this was total brainwashing of 8-12 year olds. Who are easy to brainwash.
Tom-I agree that Garrigan has its share of snobs, but St. Albert's sounds like an extreme case and I'm curious as to why. Was it built and immediatly considered elite or snobby? Or has it been around forever and turn into snobville? If so, why? Lutheran school? Are you kiddin? Lutheran schools don't have good football teams. Hey- how about a place that will home-school your kids for you?
Em- I think you have a good point about the classroom settings. I was thinking only of grade school, where ability gaps between students is probably a lot smaller than in high schoolers. Also, when you are working on concrete basic skills in grade school, it's a lot easier to plan out different assignments than it would be to do for complexe ideas taught in older grades. Of course more aids are going to make a huge difference, and there should be a lot more of them, but that's something that won't come with out more money- and strong teacher advocation in IEP meetings. It's also a lot easier to meet everyone's needs when you have them the whole day. You can integrate one subject into another easier (if it's done right) This lends itself to more meaningful learning, and the ability to do more long-term projects that students are actually interested in. I do believe that high schoolers can still be given different assignments, requirements, etc. Do they have to be reading the same story? (That's probably a school policy issue, not an individual teacher issue though) I think that advanced students know and appreciate that they are being graded differently than others. If they didn't want to be, they wouldn't be in honors classes. Also, no matter what a teacher does to try to hide differences in ability levels, even kidergarteners are going to know who are the smart kids and who are the below average ones.
As for St. Albert, I think that snobbery probably stems from the parents. I have quite a few good friends that transfered sometime between jr. high and senior year from SA. They all did it because there's a big popularity problem and the parents are too involved. They all say a lot of parents act like they're better, and the kids start to do it, too. I know poplarity/bullies is a problem in every school, but when Joe and I were in high school, that was never a huge problem at the public schools. I feel very grateful that went to a public school because I think I was give a lot more oppertunities (than I would have at St. Albert) and there were no cliques in my grade or the grade above me. I hope that my mother agrees.
The St. Albert system is about as old as Garrigan. It pretty much put an end to the parish grade schools. There are some wonderful people at St. Albert, but I feel like there is a secular elitism creeping in to the culture. St. Albert graduates some really good and nice kids, and they do mission trips and community service projects, yet SOME of those kids (and their parents) wouldn't touch a lower-class local with a ten-foot pole. The new superintendent is really working hard to change the culture there, because the school system as a whole seems to suffer from sense of entitlement. I think it's hard to balance the needs of a school system against the needs of the parishes when so many of the school families really don't support the parishes. To many of these families, St. Albert's is their parish. In the past, they even offered masses on Sundays up there, so no need to go to your church and drop an envelope in the collection. It's really a justice issue. Our parish has 200 kids attending St. Albert's. We have 300 who don't. St. albert's gets 3/4 of our parish's annual budget, around $350,000. I get about $5000 for adult lifelong religious ed, whole-family faith formation, sacramental prep for 3 parishes (including the Catholic-school kids) and catechist development. To be fair, I've been making it work with that money and if I told Father I just had to have more, he'd find it. But the school board doesn't listen to the local priests, and I think the priests are going to give them a rude awakening sometime soon. Example: the priests proposed that the school try as hard as possible not to have athletic events on Sundays (except for state tourneys, etc.), because parishes try to have dinners, festivals, church events then. The board just flatly refused to even consider it, no counetr-proposals, no compromise. I can't believe the priests didn't stand up as a body and say, "Well, your check will be late this month." Anyway, I simply do not believe there's no snobbery at Prep or Duschesne. No snotty upper-middle-class kids with a sense of entitlement? It's a hard balancing act, to try to show why your school is worth spending so much to attend, without encouraging an air of superiority. And I agree with Ellen, that it's largely some parents' fault and it's the duty of parents to teach their kids humility and compassion and that's sorely lacking in some of those families. But also, it's partly just because you expect better from someone receiving a religious education. Everyone in Council Bluffs always knew Heelan and Duschesne teams were the snottiest teams they played in any sport, and maybe that could be because they expected better. But I think you should expect better! Otherwise, what's the point of the school in the first place?
Why were the CB schools playing Duschesne? It's Class C I think (about 200 girls). Caitlin always said there were no cliques at Marian...as far as diversity, I would bet the Black kids pretty much all sit together at lunch at the big public school...that doesn't happen at Marian. I think it's interesting that some are writing about schools they simply don't know, at all.
Also...you said, before, that the Saint Albert's kids were the snottiest, but then later said the Duchesne and Heelan kids were...and before (few years ago) said the Westside kids were...why is everyone is "the snotty" kids, maybe they aren't!
Catholic schools are a shining example of living what you believe. When they present their message well to the world it's an apostleship. When they don't, it stands out that much more, because we (rightly) expect more of them. Garrigan presents very well, at least from what I know. St. Albert's has some problems.
There are snobs everywhere, Public and Private schools...teach your kids how to deal with them, and they (your kids) can go far in the world, no intimidation. We used to call dealing with the very wealthy Jewish moms and their kids as "green beret training"..it's all good! (They turned out to be great kids, for the most part.)
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She got holes in her ears and some stylin' new clothes and dinner at Chuckie Cheese, I know that much.
Happy birthday to Braden
Whose ears holes were made in
whose soft little voice
gives her granny no choice
but to screech "What?" when phone talk starts fadin'.
Oh - update on painting weekend at the farm - Brian's brother has kindly offered to loan us his ladder truck with all kinds of industrial-strength ladders with anchors and stuff so you can make nice safe scaffolding. Our goal is to get the whole house at least scraped and primed - if we have to we can paint on quick weekend getaways all summer. Maybe leave paint and brushes, etc. in the shed for anyone else so inclined. So far, Ortegas, Kennedys, Richardsons and assorted Jayjacks have indicated interest. Anyone else?
Happy Birthday, Braden! You're a lucky kid to have such awesome parents and grandparents.
Tom
A ladder truck, eh? Wouldn't be fun to own one of those?
The following was posted on a foodservice discussion website by a fellow restaurant owner. It concerns the consumer's panic because of gasoline prices. I haven't check his numbers but his commentary is pretty funny.
Tom
***********************************
JUST STOP WHINING ABOUT GASOLINE PRICES
My goodness, people! Don't you realize that there are things in your life that you really need to be worrying about? What's all this weeping and moaning over gas prices?
With every single paycheck the Imperial Federal Government seizes about 14% of the money you have earned. This money is put into an income redistribution fund from which you may or may not draw a check when and if you reach a certain age. Die too soon and that money goes to someone else .. not to your heirs. Live long enough and you may .. just may ... get most of your money back, though there is no legal guarantee that you'll get a cent.
Yet here you sit pissing and moaning about gas prices.
We did the math here last week, but let's pull out the calculator again for those of you who don't come here every day.
First, the figures:
According to the AAA, one year ago the price of regular was $2.929. Today that price is $3.114. That's an 18.5 cents per gallon increase over the past year.
Now we go for the average gas mileage for cars in the U.S. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that as of 2004 the average mpg for new cars sold in the U.S. was 24.7. In 1980 it was 23.1. So, to make a point here, we're going to go even below the average price for 1980. We're going to use 20 mpg.
Now ... for those of you who went to government schools, I'll do the math for you. You're driving your family of four 1400 miles to get to Disney World and back. That means you'll be burning 70 gallons of gas at 20 mpg. The gas is now 18.5 cents more expensive than it was last year. Let's go ahead and round that UP to 20 cents. So, we burn 70 gallons and each gallon costs 20 cents more than it cost last year. That's going to cost you an amazing $14.00.
Oh My God! What an incredible tragedy! What a devastating blow to your finances! You're going to have to spend $14.00 more to drive your family to Florida this year than you did last year! That's $3.50 for each family member! How in the hell are you ever going to be able to afford this? Alert your local radio station news department! Call the newspaper! Sound the alarm! Americans are being crippled by these rising gas prices! Call your politician. Something has to be done about the evil oil companies! Get the government involved! We need more regulation!
Oh .. and you people driving to and from work need to be outraged too! Are you doing your share of the whining?
The average commute to and from work in this country is 16 miles. Now of course we know that cars don't get the mileage on a stop-and-go commute as they do on the road, so we're going to lower the gas mileage figure from 20 to 15. So, you're driving 32 miles (on the average) to get to work and back every day. That is gobbling up about 2.13 gallons of gas. Go back to that 18.5 cents per gallon increase over last year and you'll see that you're spending about 40 cents more for gas for your commute this year than you were last year. That would be about $2.00 a week. Less than the price of a decaf skinny latte at Starbucks. A lot less.
Oh, the humanity! You're spending less than the cost of three text messages on your cell phone every day to cover the increasing cost of gas! Tell your boss you're going to have to quit! You just can handle this any more! Get fired! Go on unemployment! Forty cents a day! That's it! Your back is broken!
Come on people, wake up! Your governments -- local, state and federal -- are stealing money from you every single day to fund vote-buying programs. Your local elected officials are ripping you off to support welfare artists and to study the mating habits of Polish zlotnika pigs. How do you think they feel when they see you griping about gas prices? They LOVE it! They steal you blind and there you sit complaining because you're going to have to spend $14.00 more to drive your family to Disney World and back. They take 14% of the money you earn every day -- money you may or may get back with virtually no interest -- and you're spinning around on your eyebrows because you're spending 40 cents a day more to get to that job and back home again!
Happy birthday, little Hollywood hair girl! Now you'll have the ear bling to match your hair!
We love you,
lisa, randy, emma and mary
It's costing me 37 cents a week more this year to go to work and back, dagnabbit. However, it is a big (and painful) leap from the $25 it used to cost to fill my tank not so long ago and the close to $40 it costs now. My pay certainly hasn't risen to keep pace. Here's what we should be screaming about - the cost of college tuition rises by 10 to 20% a YEAR in this country. Where did those dollars go? They're in the pockets of people who don't need them. Income redistribution - it's in the Bible, check it out. Like most things, it's good in moderation.
Realtors live in their cars....so...I can't wait to hear what that restaurant owner will say in the next few months, because I just read groceries went up 4% in April (biggest jump in 15 years) and will take a big jump next month!!
Gas was $1.69 when that ugly American Bush took office, so lets not compare it to a year ago.
Yes Des, you're right - it was Pitt and they were ranked 23rd at the time. ND /Georgia Tech game is at 3:30 Eastern.
Good point. Here's what I'm worried about...where are the bees going? If they disappear we won't have any food, and right now beekeepers in North America have experienced a more than 60% loss just from last year. They have some navigation disorder that prevents them from returning to their hives. It's happening all over the world. Some places 90% of the hives have died out because there's no drones to feed the babies. No bees = no pollination. I think this is one of those canary-in-the-coal-mine warnings that we could be on the brink of some sort of ecological crisis that will change whole economies and bring down governments.
I think everything is getting too expensive. Gas, groceries, tuition and most of all, housing. I know things are cooling off in real estate, but prices in some places are ridiculous. We've been looking at real estate in the DC area since there's a good chance we'll be there next. Even with a 45-60 minute commute, we're going to have to come up with over $300,000. And not for our dream home, but rather most likely an attached townhouse. It's depressing. How are people supposed to save for their kids' tuition with an outrageous mortgage?
Emily, in about 2 years there will be alot of houses on the market in DC, of couse you will have to get rid of the Republican stink!
I'm outta here. We're traveling this weekend - first to take Braden some earrings, then to visit Stevo's mom and sisters. So right now I'm going home to watch the Cubs/Mets game for our anniversary celebration until my mammogram at 2:30. Fun times.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That was a good day for me.
P
Happy Birthday Braden-monkey!
cathy,
i've been reading a lot of stories on the bee die-offs. one study in europe linked the navigation problems to cell phone tower radiation. another is looking for a viral cause, because bees have almost no immune system. but it's a freaky thing, lots of fruit and veggie crops rely on bees for cross pollination.
Thank You For The Birthday Wshis! For My Birthday I Got A Lot of Birthday Presints.I Am 7 Years Old Now.And I Have A Diary with A Lock On It And I Have Keys For The Lock.
And I Got A Lot Of Other Stuf.
Love BRADEN ORTEGA!
I don't know where Braden gets her sense of humor. She spent 20 minutes typing the word Diarya and giggling about it with Ty.
She decided not to leave the "a" on after all. Good girl.
Chuck E. Cheese is not as good as Showbiz. The pizza is really bad. The wings are barely edible. They have variations of the same old automated puppets and no blacklight room. However, there is a 10-year-old-kid sized habitrail hanging from the ceiling where I'm sure older kids mug the little kids for game tokens.
It was okay.
Good Girl Grace!!!
Someone just stole my cane!!! We were on a "Realtor" tour of homes, and then stopped for a drink at our neighborhood bar and then realized the cool cane (it was Mike's from when he broke his foot 22 years ago) anyway it was just NOW stolen!!!
How'd you like that Cubs/Mets game, Cathy?
Who would steal a cane? that's like stealing a wheelchair or medicine or a fake leg. That's like stealing a walker from a little old lady or stealing oxygen from a guy with breathing problems. Who could do such a thing (I realize that an argument could be made about hospitals stealing but that's another story.)
Teenagers do such things.
Mary,
You should get a cane with flames on it like House.
My volleyball team has a perfect 0-6 record after last night. I'll have to start getting there earlier to stretch and warm up, and by stretch and warm up i mean drink more beer.
Frank
Just a thought...I'm guessing that vampire parents have to teach thier vampire kids to not run through the house with a wooden stake.
Tom
em said...
"Yes Des, you're right - it was Pitt and they were ranked 23rd at the time. ND /Georgia Tech game is at 3:30 Eastern."
Perhaps we can go to the bar that has the taxidermied bear behind plexi for a likely 11AM Nebraska/Nevada start time and then head to Goodtimes for the ND/GTech game. The first bar would be Jude friendly. It's carpeted.
Funny!
Hey Des, I visited the Republic of Pepperloin for a diversion from the ordinary. It appears you haven't posted anything new. What gives?
And by the way, Congratulations on your award. Don't you think that there should be a shoot in Algona's best restaurant and bar for maybe a beef commercial?
Another thought...I think it's a good idea to carry two sacks of stuff around. That way when someone asks you to give them a hand with something you can say, "Sorry, I got these sacks."
Tom
Easter 1999, at the farm, Dee and I both had newborns. I was standing up and holding Liam in my arms and Dee tried to hand me Donny. I don't think saying, "I got these two sacks," would work on everyone. :-<>
I just sent this email to my boss but she's not responded:
it's too nice. it is a travesty and venial sin that we are all working.
p
Ahh-venial sins, the misdemeanors of unholy transgressions
On Friday this girl I work with organized an outing to Medieval Times in Schaumberg. A white limo picked the nine of us up from work. The show was amazing and the food was wonderfully horrible. The first course was something called Dragon’s Blood which wasn’t actually the blood of a dragon. Rather, it was chunky tomato soup. That was accompanied by standard garlic bread. For the main course, we had half a chicken that looked as if it hadn’t been cooked properly – like the way they would have cooked it in Medieval Times. Did I mention they don’t use utensils in Medieval Times? Thing is, there weren’t utensils in Medieval Times. Hence, there are no utensils at Medieval Times. Jeanine Garafalo couldn’t have said it better. In fact, if you’ve ever seen The Cable Guy I have to tell you that was an extremely accurate depiction of what it’s like. But I don’t think you and a friend would be able to fight without proper training. The knights I saw were wonderful actors and could take a spill as good as anybody. Our Yellow Knight didn’t make it past the second round and I felt much shame. That didn’t prevent me from talking smack to two eleven year olds who were rooting for the red knight (who was a total homo by the way). My girlfriend was afraid of catching avian flu from the falconry show. I was more wary of having eating my pink chicken in the proximity of horses going number two.
I recommend going. It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.
Mets pitcher Johnny Maine makes 315,000 a year and he has an ERA of 2.15 (or something close to that.) Meanwhile, Pedro Martinez makes over 14,000,000 a year.
Des - I've been to Medieval Times in So. Cal. (I think near you, Em). Your description is right on. But, you failed to mention that the servers are actually wentches (that's what we were told by the PA announcer when we went 15 years ago - a less pc world then).
Did they have a little museum of medieval torture devices? The one I went to did. The pear is the most horrific thing I've ever seen...aside from the chicken they served.
Tom
Has anyone ever heard of this- I think it's something our family will have to adopt:
I went to a Stock the Bar party this weekend for Andy's sister and her fiance. Everyone brings the couple one or two nice bottles of liquor and by the end of the night, most of it was gone. It was at his cousin's, a huge house in Rockbrook, and almost everyone stayed the night there so we didn't have to worry about anyone driving home drunk. It was a lot of fun.
They started off the night by braking into a pinata stuffed with tiny bottles of booze.
Pinata~ Sounds like an event for the...The 2nd Annual Eli Cash~Graveyard Games.
Is there a hose and sprinkler on the farm? That would be a fun and easy way to get the kids clean.
A pinata stuffed with tiny bottles of booze (wrong message for the kids? Oh, well...) being flailed at by six people at a time with brightly colored buckets on their heads. Fun!
What a world, what a world...when an injustice is a guy getting paid $315,000 a year to play baseball. I think the players union should propose a million-dollar-a-year salary cap if the owners agree to cut ticket prices by 80%. Come on. Save baseball! Who could possibly need or want more than a million a year? Johnny Maine is a good pitcher.
Mary, someone who frequents that bar knows where your cane is. You should post a wanted poster that really shames the thief. A person who steals a cane should be beaten with it.
Oh! Oh! Stevo and I bought on sale a little two-room shower tent for the farm. It doesn't address the water temperature issue, but at least you can get naked, lather up and have hose water sprinkle down on you to rinse off. And people outside can enjoy the sounds made by people showering in freezing water.
That Braden Sure Knows How To Work A Shift Key.
Tonight - the thrilling 2-hour season finale of 24 wherein hopefully Jack will get the bomb back from the Chinese and the crucial component back from his evil father and wrest the presidency back from the morally bankrupt vice-president. Maybe he'll perform emergency surgery on the President and bring him out of the coma. And save the head ot CTU from taking the blame for the terrorists and leave Ricky Schroeder poised to take his place while he rides off into the sunset to enjoy a levitical marriage with the innocent widow of his evil brother. Ricky has shown that he has the stuff to take Jack's place: a black/white moral compass combined with a willingness to torture evil guys to save innocent good people. Whaddya think?
For those of you who don'twatch... just thought I'd mention that Jack's evil brother (now dead, having been killed by Jack's evil father) was played by Ron Howard's evil brother. Isn't that funny?
And Jack's evil father is played by the kindly farmer from that pig movie a few years ago. Makes you wonder what Jack's mother looked like.
I have never seen an episode of "24" but I have now seen episodes of both the Simpsons and Southpark that satirize it so I know what it is all about.
If you just do a straightforward synopsis of the episodes it becomes a satire. But it's a fun, action-packed adventure.
One night a few weeks ago TBS (I think) had 3 episodes of 24 in a row...we were riveted!! I think they were old ones...
Tom, this was in yesterday's LA Times:
Wanted: Chef - Just dinners! $80-85K. M-F. Couple in Beverly Hills loves fine cuisine. CIA trained a plus.
Tom and I, just, returned from an all day extravaganza of gardening at Sarah's...looks very nice...but, it's a bummer to come home and not have the chance to sit back, "in awe," of it's splendor. Oh well, we can next week. :-)
Yes, 24...we love it!
Tom,
The servers are still called wenches. But I didn't see the torture devices. But they did have a Medieval dance floor.
Apparently they had red spotlights and Beyonce and R Kelly in Medieval Times.
Des
I'm watching a show right now on TLC that's called Raising 16 Children. You all might want to check it out. The Duggers have some interesting strategies (or tricks) to raising all these kids. For instance, when they go on vacation, they all wear the same thing (red polos and khakis) so they can keep track of one another in crowded places. Their "car" is a bus-like vehicle that looks like the rental car shuttles you see at airports.
I think they said they spend $1600 to 2000 a month on food. That sounded like a lot at first. But per person it's really very efficient. I bet the Duggers make some mad trips to Sam's Club or Costco.
Oh, brother. She's pregnant again. The ultrasound suspects it to be another girl.
This is too much. I'm taking a klonopin and going to bed.
Good night.
Last night while watching 24 I turned to Nance and said, "Has this show always been this stupid?"
She assured me it was. It's entertainment has turned from a "can Jack save the world again?" to "can I hear a dummer line than the last one I just heard?"
still it gets my recommendation.
Tam
no - I've not transgendered..I'm still Tom.
Mets have a BIG series with the Braves starting today. The two teams have already changed leads in the division 22 times this year.
Also - Emily. John Maine may not be making much ($300k/year) but bench player (and pretty good outfielder) Carlos Gomez is making $20,000 and hitting over .300.
24 really IS ridiculous. I mean come on...would some hot, young, middle eastern, gal, who was previously, "in holding," under suspision of being a, "leak," really be running CTU during such a crisis and post 9/11? Do we really give a crapola that Chloe is preggers? Furthermore, at the show's rate...she won't give birth until the year 2287! Milo Shmilo what a dummy. Oh and Jack's, "tender moment," with Audrey was so NOT a tender moment. Blah, blah, blah. And, tough guy Jack is reduced to mush by William Devane's presence? I don't think so. In 24 hours, not one person ate a sammy or used the bathroom. I could go on and on, but will not...this show is stupid.
We're bummed that the season is over. :-(
In short...if this is how our government really fights terrorism we're all screwed.
Tom
I looked up that family online, Des. They scare me. I'm so glad we didn't dress alike growing up. They are home schooled, obviously. Bible study is their favorite part of the day.
P
I've watched, quite a few, episodes and think it's very entertaining. Ironically, I have thought(to myself)...man I'd love to talk with them about their family. Then, I remember that I'm married to a person that grew up in a family like that! Ha, ha.
OK, this season really left a lot of loose ends dangling, like what about the WWII-style roundups of Arabic people that was such an issue in the beginning of the season, with the president's sister's boyfriend being held in a "detention facility?" Will next season pick up right where this one left off, or will Chloe already be the world's most scowly mom of a toddler that gets kidnapped by the terrorists in Wal-Mart? Will William Devane ever recover the over-the-top sly self-parodying humor that he showed in Knots Landing? It's almost like they switched writing teams halfway through the season. I hope the president wakes up before January.
Oh, yeah, and I wanted the mom of Jack's nephew to punch someone, anyone, in the nose after she got her son back. I would have.
C~ You're forgetting that Chloe will only be 24 hours into her pregnancy by this fall and will only be 48 hours into it by next summer.
That woman has to be the most organized woman in the world. At the moment, in our house, Thomas has lost his 3week old glasses and Joe has lost the keys to his airplane and the security pass to get into the airport to check his plane for the keys. It was fun digging through the garbage for those items this morning before the garbage man came.
We had the funeral recently of a guy who left his wife after they had 17 children together, trading her for a younger model who had 7 kids. In the week before he died, he called both families to come to the hospital and reconcile. The funeral was very nice and civilized, with both families there, but everyone else was still thinking< "Well, that's nice, but that bastard..."
C~ Oh never mind (about Chloe)...I read your post too fast. :-)
If you ever get a chance, listen to the weekly NPR show called "This American Life." Here it's on Tuesday mornings. It's people telling stories, sometimes with a common theme, sometimes just a hodgepodge. It's great. I try never to miss it.
Cathy - are you taling about the show that is narrated by the gay guy? If so, it IS a good show.
They can make an otherwise mundane topic seem interesting. For instance, they could interview someone like us Straub kids who picked up rocks or bailed hay for Chuck Behr and capture all the loonacy bourne of the bordom a group of kids endure out on a muddy or dusty peice of ground... Employed by a one of a kind guy.
The show has a way of portraying vividly what people's life time experiences are all about.
When I look back at those days working for Chuck Behr a whole sitcom could be made of it.
Tom
That's the one! It's great.
In CB there are quite a few of the people (I don't know the name of their religion) where the women always wear their hair long with a little headscarf tied behind the head and long skirts, and I used to look at them and think anyone can wear a skirt but how do you find so many skirts that look so relentlessly unfashionable? Then last week I stopped at Bayless Park to sit and watch people after a long evening meeting, and I saw a whole extended family of them, and one young woman still had on the scarf and long hair and skirt but somehow she pulled it off and just looked like that was her fashion choice that day. She looked secular. And I thought, that's their future daughter-in-law, and the parents are somewhat dismayed but putting on a good face, and hoping she'll settle down or that the son will dump her or maybe she'sjust sowing a few wild oats. I made up a whole scenario. But I was impressed with how she somehow managed to rebel while not breaking any of the rules. I couldn't even tell what was different, but it shone like a spotlight. I think a swan's going to bust out of that ugly duckling suit any day now.
OK, now, why are a bunch of fundamentalist Christians scary? Would you describe an afghan family where the women all wear headscarves scary? Or a buddhist family? Or some Sioux clan that all wore something that identified them with a certain belief system? People who home-school their their kids or read the Bible together are no more "all alike" than any other identifiable group. This is not an endorsement of any certain belief system or culture, just a plea for TRUE liberalism.
There is a strong movement among some in the Catholic church for home schooling (Uncle Bob is pretty involved) at St.Peter's (where he did his mission) many of the families home school...I couldn't and wouldn't do it!! Especially not through 12th grade...plus I think it weakens the local Catholic schools, especially in small towns.
Desmond, thanks goodness Granny and Grandpa didn't raise us like that...matching clothes, bus, etc...what was amazing is that we were all so (individually) involved with extra activities, and Mom and Dad made it to almost everything. We did swim team, baseball-softball, golf, etc for the summer and then winter stuff, too!
Although for one of our trips to New York in the red Edsel station wagon, Dad did want to have all the kids just travel in their bathing suits - it would be so much easier to hit the pool when we stopped at the motels - but Mom nixed that idea.
In the home-schooling movement some of it is countercultural (good for them; true Christianity IS counter-cultural) but I think some of it is a symptom of a growing anti-intellectual feeling in the Church that bothers me. Like, a lot of Catholics think the Jesuits are some kind of subversive anti-church because they prize intellect and education as part of their unique charism. Like you're supposed to check your brain at the door of the church. But I am not automatically against home-schooling, I think there can be good social, religious and philosophical reasons for it. I wouldn't do it.
I think home schoolers are escapists from society. You need to be a part of the community you live in, otherwise you are running away from what it means to be christian. Christians should not be separatists. Or course ,iIf you lived in an area with an awful school system that would be a different situation.
Also how can one person home school 17 people of varying levels and ages?
P
I cannot imagine home schooling...ishy...I can barely tolerate homework!
One last thing about 24...if they EVER introduce Kevin Bacon...I will stop watching, and that's a promise. So there, hmph.
Did anyone see the movie Jesus Camp? I think all, or almost all, the kids in that were home schooled. It was really kind of frightening.
jesus was home schooled.
How did a teacher of a one-room schoolhouse teach 17 or more children of varying ages and they came out of eight grades knowing a hell of a lot more grammar and math and geography and classics than kids do now? Plus homeschoolers are not limited to a "school day", they can teach any time. There could be an argument made that almost any big-city public school is a toxic environment for learning. I am not saying that I believe this. I just think that the knee-jerk response to home schooling is not always right. Hippies used to home-school their kids because they did not want them to buy into the materialistic, shallow, warrior culture that they thought was mainstream America. Were they wrong? Maybe. Maybe not.
Awww, if 24 ever introduces Kevin Bacon I will watch it for sure. I just don't want it to be the evil Kevin Bacon. Can't you just see Kevin and Ricky and Jack all in a row getting "footloose?"
I hope that in the future America will be written as a fearsome, warlike country. That way a lot of high schools will call their teams "Americans".
Tom
I do not oppose home schooling nor do I think it's bad for kids. I just could never, ever, never do it...icky.
Stevo's sister Karen teaches 25 kindergarteners in a Hammond public school. This year she had a 7-year-old in diapers because the parents just never went thru the hassle of toilet-training her. This kid would answer back and curse her out and threaten violence every day. She had several kids who were completely unsocialized, who were absolutely incapable of taking orders or sitting still, with the impulse control of 2-year-olds. She had 2 mainstreamed kids who years ago would have been in a special ed class. Several children of drug addicts, several bright well-behaved kids, several somewhere in between. Two questions: how much are kids learning in that atmosphere, and is a private school, where parents pay thousands of dollars to have their kids in an environment that (hopefully) reflects their values and priorities, an unchristian escape from reality?
Although I am arguing against the automatic anti-homeschool camp, I must state that I wouldn't make that choice, but maybe that's because I never had to.
Many republicans are in favor of school vouchers because of the ineptitude of many public schools. I'm in agreement.
Tom
As I said, there are situations where homeschooling makes sense, perhaps on a short term basis. But as a way of life I think it's a bad model. We don't live in the same world that one room schoolhouses thrived in, do we? The world is much more global. Interpersonal relationships and understanding are so much more important today. Societies regularly bump up against one another in ways that did not used to happen. P
school marms in the one room school houses used to be able to beat some sense into kids. that's what's missing. fear.
Let's hope these folks don't home school:
GALVESTON, Texas — A baby girl was released from a hospital 11 days after police say she was burned in a motel microwave oven.
The infant's mother blamed the devil for what happened, saying Satan compelled her husband to put the baby in the microwave. The devil "saw my husband as a threat" because of his efforts to become a preacher, Eva Marie Mauldin, 20, told Houston television station KHOU.
"He would never do anything to hurt her," she said. "Satan was working through his weaknesses."
After all my defense of home-schooling, I must say that here in CB, the business manager of St. Albert's homeschools his kids and I think that's bogus. Put your money where your mouth is. First of all, he leaves work for an hour every day because he's the "principal" of the homeschool and he needs to check in. Nobody else leaves the school campus like that. Secondly, he told a staff member here that his son has a vocation to the priesthood. The kid is 8 years old. OK, scary.
Why don't they fire that guy, Cathy???Why isn't his wife the fricken "principal" of the home school...so weird.
The Catholic schools in Omaha are awesome, and many of the public schools are, as well.
All the Catholic schools offer financial aid, so the thought that you can't go, doesn't fly...with the Diosecan schools, like Roncalli and Skutt, anyway, maybe not Marian, Prep and Duchense, but they all have work study and offer other aid, I think...If you want to go, you can!
Omaha has 8 Catholic High schools, how come Des Moines only has one?
Also, I have to take issue with calling public schools "inept." They have to take everyone. They deal with a heterogeneous clientele, not a group of people who all believe or act or look the same way. They are teaching in classrooms with all sorts of intellectual, emotional, social issues that private schools never have to deal with. Their mission is to teach everyone, even the ones who don't fit. They can't whack anyone. Good Catholic that I am, I am not at all sure that private school vouchers are right. Like No Child Left Behind, they have the net effect of taking money and energy away from the schools that need it most. Public schools, like all government institutions, are unwieldy, top-heavy, bogged down by politics and hamstrung by silly rules. Yet the great American ideal of tax-supported education for everyone is the baseline. If you want better, get involved and make it better. If you want something else, maybe you pay for it. As long as the public schools are property-tax supported, it seems an injustice to take away some of that revenue for people who can afford private school. Maybe a different funding model...(she sounds like a democrat!)
The whole Diocese of Des Moines has only two Catholic high schools. I don't know why. Southwest Iowa is statistically the least Catholic area in Iowa. Fewer rich Catholics?
Open enrollment across the board and school vouchers would see a dramatic increase in public school performance.
Not all are inept. But many are. The old sink or swim scenario may not be a bad idea. Parents who give a damn (and most do) would make sure their kids got to a decent school.
If a school became completely inept then at that time an intesive overhaul of that school could take place.
A free market of sorts in education
is just what the doctor ordered. It will never happen.
Tom
Cathy...I don't think that rich Catholics equates a high school, in fact I know it doesn't...Catholics from all economic levels who believe in the system, support a school. many school systems in smaller towns were built on the sweat of concerned Catholic parents, and personally Mike and I sacrificed to sent our kids, especially the past few years...$500/month, we give up alot.
The old sink or swim means that kids whose parents don't give a damn are doomed to the bottom of the pool. The schools with the poorest performance should be overhauled! And class size halved, and teachers' helpers hired, and environment upgraded, and decent healthy food served for breakfast and lunch, and before-and-after-school programs increased and improved to combat the poor social or cultural conditions that those students come from.
I didn't mean that only rich Catholics support Catholic schools, just that there are/were fewer Catholics here with the money or incentive to get schools built in the first place. Or maybe the Catholics that were here just culturally didn't value Catholic schools for whatever reason. Or maybe our diocesan funding model is screwed up. Why, in Council Bluffs, are four parishes sending 2/3 to 3/4 of their total parish revenue to a Catholic school system that graduates less than 75 seniors a year? Should the diocese be helping more? I don't know. I don't believe that Catholic schools are for rich kids, although I'm afraid it's going that way.
i think you're wrong :-) for the reasons I stated above...you have not experienced that whole system, as an adult...
Cathy - you said, "The old sink or swim means that kids whose parents don't give a damn are doomed to the bottom of the pool."
That is why I (prior to your statement) said, "If a school became completely inept then at that time an intesive overhaul of that school could take place."
Tom
I've known some Porsche enthusiasts who can't afford a Porsche.
I would venture to guess that Omaha indexes high in people of Polish, Italian and Irish decent (relative to other cities in the area) only because of its not-so-recent history of providing work for these people. More recently, there's been enormous growth in the Hispanic population. That could contribute to the number of Catholics (and Catholic schools).
I've heard DesMoines is chock full of Methodists!
Just a tid bit about quite a few of Des Moines Catholic grade schools: They have easy access to public schools' help for referrals, advice, and even visits from special ed. teachers and the AEA. Still, many of them don't use it or only use it in the worst case scenarios. They can get the help from very well trained Special ed. public school teachers to learn better monitoring skills for their most needy students, but never use it. I know of a few cases that other schools have contacted them, but they turned down the help and the kids ended up having to go to a public school.
Either way, public or Catholic schools aren't ever going to get better until there's better teacher training at colleges, and old teachers are made to go to more refresher courses. The law says that all kids should be in the least restrictive (hopefully non-special ed) classroom as much as possible. Iowa, which is supposed to pride itself on great education for everyone, has one of the highest percentages of time students spend in a restrictive, special ed classroom through out the day because many (older) teachers never had to deal with accomodating everyone's needs and don't feel comfortable about it. I absolutly do not think new teachers are better than older ones. I just think that many people who never had any kind of special ed training need to get it now if they are still going to teach.
Well stated Ellen!
Anybody watching Wyeth stock? They just got FDA approval for a pill that gets rid of woman's periods (and therefor PMS). It is intended as an oral conraceptive.
Ellen, do you agree with that policy, that kids should be in mainstream classrooms as much as possible? If so, are there special ed aides commensurate with the number of special needs students? I don't have an opinion one way or another, I'm just curious.
To be fair to Catholic schools: their main mission is to educate Catholics. The product is supposed to be an educated, practicing Catholic. With the limited resources they have, when they are facing a situation that would further stress those resources and tax the already overworked teachers, I suppose it's natural that they would pass on those problems to the public school system, which is tax-supported and has vastly greater resources, than opt to accept government help with its attendant rules, regulations and bureaucracy. Whether that is the most Christian approach toward those special-needs students or their families is another question.
My girlfriend is a grade school teacher in a Mineapolis suburb. She has @30 students. Half are esl...when there's a problem she has to contact a translator and that is difficult to arrange in a timely manner. 2 are autistic. 1 has no arms. A handful of ebd. Very few have the last name of their mother or other siblings. Very few have dads that live with them. She is hesitant to send work home as it may never be seen again. She says that she has about 6 children that are average or above and that they suffer the most as she simply cannot meet their needs while managing/teaching the others. Her school's, "open door," policy allows over-exuberant and bored mother's to come and go as they please. She has one in particular that comes in, unanounced, and causes a huge distraction...weekly. In fact, just recently, she was playing with the kids at recess and she scolded an autsitic child (her son is too) and this little boy darted off into the street and ran, crying all the way. The police had to be called and it was a mess.
I bet that in the olden days if you were a barbarian and you and your friends were sacking Rome that probably the most embarassing thing that could happen to you is you get your cape caught on something and you need to ask a buddy to get you unstuck.
Tom
Well that lightened the mood.
30 kids in a classroom in a Minneapolis suburb? That's crazy.
Someone should approach the school's administration with the idea that the "open-door" policy is a huge security risk, and say that any parent has the right to sit quietly and observe but if they disrupt the class they will be asked to leave. They should not be allowed to interact with the kids. That school is setting itself up for trouble. But mostly it's hard to imagine that kind of setting in a Minnesota public school.
This, particular, parent is a pain in the butt and has complained and caused problems (past years) 'cuz she wasn't happy with her child's learning environment. My friend is just relieved that she likes her as his teacher. I think the school is nervous to rock the boat with her. She, literally, comes in during a lesson and says, "hi," to all the kids and chats and sits by her child and his aid.
Think how many prisons are warehousing people convicted of non-violent crimes because of stupid mandatory sentencing laws. Imagine if we freed up half the prison resources and put it directly into more teachers, better school buildings, more counselors, social workers, special-needs teachers (which also encompasses teachers who know how to deal with children whose parents have literally never disciplined their children) Yet you get towns clamoring to build a prison because it means jobs and money, who won't pass a bond issue to build a couple new classrooms, so kids in the oldest school in town are taking classes in the furnace room and their teachers are paying for supplies out of their own pockets. Okay, I'm done with that.
Update on the painting weekend: Ortegas and Jayjacks will arrive on Friday afternoon. Jayjacks will bring (compliments of Mom and Dad) hamburgers & hot dogs, sloppy Joes, Barbacued ribs and something for a feast on Sunday night, beer & pop and a few odds and ends. I suggest that everyone planning to sleep in a bed bring sheets so we don't have to worry about trying to launder linens on Memorial Day. Also bring your own towels for the same reason. We could use some breakfast or lunch stuff, desserts, fruit, etc. Board games for bored kids? Does anyone have a shop vac? Ours just died, and it might help with cleaning up paint chips. Ryan asked Stevo if he should bring golf clubs and Stevo said yes. Hmmm. Ryan also has arranged for us to get Sherwin-Williams primer wholesale (yay!) and I suppose a sprayer wouldn't hurt although I think it will be mostly brushwork. Tarps. Scrapers. Window blades & masking tape. Brushes of course. Anything you have for housepainting. Music! Decent clothes to wear to mass on Sunday!
Hedge clippers! Did I miss anything?
I can'tbelieveI misspelled barbecue. I could be disowned for that.
In 3 innings of work on the mound last night Eli struck out 9 batters, walked 4 - gave up no hits or runs.
Maybe now i'm bragging a little bit.
Tom
Eli really had a good game. He must go to a Catholic school. The Old Timer
Eli's teacher said (report card) that he is, "very perceptive and sets the standard for other students,"...and, Liam's teacher said, "it was very enjoyable getting to know you and you're a wonderful example of hard work paying off."
Very pleased. :-)
Ellen's safe, private school had a bomb scare this morning and was evacuated. After an inspection and letting the time pass that the bomb was supposed to go off(the kids stayed on the grounds) they all returned to classes. How'd you like to teach after that?
I'll bring some breakfast food and snacks, sometime Saturday. I think I have some kid-friendly activities. And of course I'll bring the "I'm Hungry" song.
I think children should be in the Least restrictive setting Most of the time- that is Appropriate for them. Obviously a child with severe and profound disabilities cannot stay in the regular classroom the whole time. But a kid who needs a different spelling test or different math problems shouldn't have to leave the room. The problem is that many teachers are just not changing their lessons so more kids can stay in their classroom more time during the day. In my classes, I have never written an activity, lesson plan, or unit where it wasn't required that we make very specific accomodations for ELL, Special Ed, and above average students. I have taught in multi-ability (and multi-age) classrooms where I had to do this. It's not hard because it's been engrained in me to do so, but I can see how the thougth of teaching so many different students at once would be overwhelming if you've never done it before. The resources for more "para-professionals"/ aids in Iowa is increasing quite a bit, so there are more and more in the classroom, along with team teaching to help this problem.
In Iowa, there was a big study done that showed teachers talk, look, and pay attention less to the unattractive kids than the pretty ones. That's so sad! Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy. My favorite quote is, "You can't hate children on company time."
That and, "Are you a Mexican or a Mexican't?"
People my age tend to think of classrooms as rows of desks where everyone's doing the same thing at the same time. If the architecture of the classroom allows for different activities to be going on at once and plenty of teachers/aides to work with the different groups or individuals, it could work out great. It would be fun to design classrooms.
Eli & Liam rock!
Eli should have pitched the first three innings for the Mets last night.
Don't know if they still do this but when I was going thru St. Cecelia and then St. Joe they had the classes (about 25-30 kids)periodically break into 3 smaller groups. The slow learners, the average learners and the fast learners.
Teaching would be modified during these sessions to reflect the abilities of the group.
I went from a slow learner (because I was a goof-off) in 2nd or 3rd grade, to an average learner sometime in 4th or 5th grade. And finally a fast learner in 7th grade.
I don't recall if my terminilogy is correct (fast, slow, average) but that is how I remember them being referred to in the class room.
And, I can assure you that your spot in the social pecking order had a lot to do with what group you were in (again - fast, average or slow).
Tom
I bet if you were a barbarian sacking Rome with your friends it would be even more embarassing if you forgot for a minute that you were a barbarian and ordered a veggie pizza in front of your barbarian friends.
I remember in first grade I was moved to the other first grade room and Ryan Lynch was moved to my room. I didn't know why that made Dad so happy, but I think I might have a clue now...
When I was in 6th grade I was in a shared classroom with Don - half 5th grade and half 6th. There were 47 kids in that room, held at bay by Sister Michael, who was considered one of the good nuns to get because even though she decked kids and humiliated them on a regular basis, she also made jokes sometimes.
About the Mets: Ed, I'm blaming you. If you wouldn't have said anything about the game, I wouldn't have known it was on and I wouldn't have wasted 3 lousy hours. Now I have to watch again tonight. Yes, they could have used Eli.
About teaching: maybe I'm one of the old ones, but as a high school teacher how am I supposed to prepare kids for college and work on phonics at the same time? I would have kids with third grade reading levels along with kids at a 12th grade reading level in a class with 40 kids. Basically, at the end of the day, you feel like you haven't really helped anybody because you're faling the kids who need the most help and you're failing to challenge the advanced students. When we would read a short story,let's say Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil," I could read the whole thing aloud, in class, stopping to discuss plot, style, symbolism, imagery, etc and spend a week doing it. Then if you asked them to write a paper or take a quiz, some kids still wouldn't get it. On the other hand I had a kid in class who could read the whole thing on his own in twenty minutes and turn in a great essay the next day without the benefit of any classroom discussion. A high school teacher usually sees 100-150 students a day. We were supposed to have individual lesson plans for those with special needs, but I gotta tell you, it was hard. ANd I put in a lot of hours at home and at school and I still never was able to feel like I was doing a good job for everyone. Don't even get me started on grading. A kid could graduate with a 4.0 and not be at all prepared for college. Plus, how can I be fair in giving the kid who wrote two nonsensical paragraphs an A (because his IEP says that's what I can expect) and giving the smart kid who wrote two, solid pages of anaysis a B? Grades are seriously inflated. Not that grades are the most important thing, but for those who want to and have the ability to go to college, this is how we measure their abilities. Being a teacher is kind of like being a student. You know that feeling you always had that you should be studying every time you watched TV or went out. Being a teacher, you always feel like you should be working on school work. And the guilt...
I think least restrictive environment is ideal, but the reg. classroom teacher need support from aids. All the training in the work isn't going to fix the problem. We need to keep challenging all our students, of course. But we cannnot forget the importance of challenging the brightest as well. IF we don't, other countries with better education systems will leave us in the dust.
As far as what Tom described, that was tracking, which really makes sense, but you're not even allowed to utter the word "Tracking" anymore or you'll be strung up by your toes. By the time they get to high school, many students have tracked themselves by taking honors classes, etc. But where I taught in L.A. they didn't really have honors classes, so everyone was mixed together. In Macedonia, the classes were broken up by English Language profiency levels and it was great. I had a ninth grade "Regular" and an 11th grade "Advanced" and it made planning and teaching much more enjoyable.
Blah, blah blah.
I remember in my second grade class (which had 9 students) there were two kids who were given different reading and math assignments. Only one day Sr. Benjamin forgot that she had different assignments for different kids and she laid a beating on one of the slow kids because he did not do the work that was assigned to the rest of us (but not him). Now that was traumatic for a second grader. Sitting there knowing that the kid getting the beating didn't deserve it but not being able to say anything because you didn't want to be the one getting the beating.
Funny.
Oh, by the way, Scott's going to a SF Giants game tonight because Bobblehead is going. I told him to tell me what she wears. Do you think she even owns a pair of jeans? I've never seen her laugh. I guess her detail likes working for her though, they say she's nice. Powell was a grouch, Albright was great. Apparently none of the SS likes Hillary, but they loved Bill. They say she's a big B____.
I blame Sr. Benjamin for my terrible Math skills. In second grade I innocently raised my hand and said, "I don't understand." (I don't recall what we were working on.) She exploded at me, walked over to me, yelling, hitting me on the head with her pen, which she had just pulled out of her mouth, and yelled,"What do you mean you don't understand?!?" I wasn't going to ask any more questions after that. She was a very large woman who seemed to relish tormenting little 2nd graders.
The best St. Michaels memory though is Miss Elbert jumping up and down on Ed's water gun.
Do you remember when David Koppen from my class went down to your room Ed? He was NOT stupid either. Not book smart but he just hated school so had them fooled about how remedial he really was. So he went down like 4 grades or something.
P
They still do tracking, they
just call it something else, I think...speaking of tracking...if you track kids coming out of public vs. Catholic high schools and the scholarship money and their test scores...the Catholic schools are way ahead...So, besides for Catholic schools existing to educate practicing Catholics, their students do VERY well at graduation time, and with their limited resources (in Omaha) they always win state in most of the sports...and the newspaper comp, etc...
Catholic schools are 100% full of students whose parents value their educations enough to pay, sacrifice, and get involved. Of course they test higher than a school system that has 100% of the students whose parents can barely be bothered to get them to school at all. At the highest student levels they test about the same. The teachers who teach for a long time in Catholic schools are very dedicated because they are settling for less pay in exchange for other things they think are more important (good for them!) I totally value my Catholic education, but when you get into comparisons of test scores, etc, you're really comparing apples and oranges. The cream of the (parenting) crop vs. the whole pool of parents from best to worst. As in religious ed, it's all about the parents. As for sports, I don't know. Maybe, there again, your pool of students are from families with higher expectations, more discipline, etc, or maybe God just helps them a little because he loves them best. By the way, all those qualities (test scores, scholarships, sports, etc) could be said about any private school.
In addition, there are very few students who do not speak ENglish as their first language at Catholic schools, which of course affects test scores, etc. I wish Catholic schools could be more diverse. I wish society in general could be more integrated.
Again, just for clarification, I am pro-Catholic schools. There's no comparison between the Catholic school kids and the public school kids in my Confirmation prep classes in their knowledge of Church stuff, or in the numbers of them who seem to have real faith or at least think about God once in a while. To me, the most important test is: can I tell a difference by how they treat others, respect adults, show kindness, practice humility, act like Christians? Well, not so much. A higher percentage of them actually participate in parish life, but not so much higher as you might think. When I said that I'm afraid that Catholic schoold are becoming schools for the rich, I meant that there are plenty of Catholic families whose kids are in Catholic schools who never come to weekend masses in the parishes. They are cultural Catholics, not practicing Catholics. They say "I'm Catholic" the way you might say, "I'm Irish". Many of the people who homeschool do so because the schools aren't Catholic enough for them! Most are very old-school Catholic, way too conserrvative for my taste, but some feel that the Catholic (private) school is not teaching enough of the loving values they associate with Christianity. There is definitely a snobbery problem at St. Albert's, (frankly acknowledged by several faculty and administration members) and a lot of students who have transferred to the larger public schools have done much better, socially and academically. Again, it's all about the parents. For that reason, I think that Catholic-school advocates should avoid triumphalist, we're-better-than-them unfair comparisons and concentrate on their own strengths and mission. If I were trying to sell a parent on my Catholic school, I would pull out test scores if asked, but my sell would be, "Here at St. Whatever, your child will talk about God every single day and about how what God means in how we deal with others."
OK, that last sentence was goofy. But you know what I mean.
By the way, I think that the Jayjacks and ORtegas and whomever else shows up to paint, should get a "Spirit of Leon/Decatur" award.
There was a bomb scare in Topeka yesterday when somebody left two robot-looking statues in front of the capitol. They blocked off streets and called in the bomb squad to look at them. They were somewhat wiry and made of metal, so I guess they looked threatening to somebody. I thought they were cute, even comical, but maybe that's more threatening. It's always the nice looking statues that turn out to be bombs.
Anyway, it turned out that they were just statues. And whoever made them got a lot of free advertising from our newspaper and the tv stations. I feel used.
Free advertising wouldn't seem to be much good if they don't know who did it.
Cathy-you seem to have a real frustration with St. Alberts. What's with the snobbery there? Can you elaborate? I'm most concerned with how you think it came about as I don't want anything like that at Garrigan, where we're just trying to do our duty as the good Lord gave us the light to see it.
Monica, do you remember that little blond haired boy in jesus camp? He wasn't a main character but they kept showing him bc he was weeping so hard over his sins.
At one point in this movie, they are all basically worshiping a cardboard cut out of g. bush.
P
St. Albert's has a real problem, almost un-definable...I can't see it happening in Algona, but is worth questioning HOW...BUT, Cathy, St. Albert's is not like any Catholic high school in Omaha. By the way, there are many non-Catholics who attend Marian... Jews and Baptists, among others.
Westside High School does compare test wise and sports wise with Prep and Marian, again it's not a HUGE district and the parent involvement is HUGE.
Diversity is a non-issue in these discussions, I think.
Time to take off the rose colored glasses:
Growing up Garrigan had more than it's share of snobby, better-than-you kids. I suspect that it's the same at most private schools.
At the same time, I like to believe that Garrigan also had/has more than it's share of good citizens. Also, suspect it's the same at most Catholic schools.
Tom
I think that it's nice to have our boys attend school with children who share the same belief in Christ. I like it that their teachers say, "God bless you," and that their art projects et cetera reflect their faith. :-)
Had we stayed in Redwood Falls...our boys would have attended a private Lutheran school as it was the only Christian schooling choice. I would have been absolutley fine with that. Of course, I am glad that they have Seton instead. :-)
On another note: I asked a public school attending server, once, what the perception was of Garrigan kids. She surprised me when she said, "That you're poor." I said, "huh?" She said that Garrigan kids don't have the same classroom opportunites that they do."
Kudos to the following Seton teachers: Mrs. McGuire; Mrs. Lind and Mrs. Kinseth. :-)
Pat, I do remember that boy. He made me sad because he was obviously looking for love in his life. He just seemed so sad and he was searching for someone or something to love him. I didn't watch the whole movie but the preacher boy creeped me out.
I'm all for religious ed. but this was total brainwashing of 8-12 year olds. Who are easy to brainwash.
Tom-I agree that Garrigan has its share of snobs, but St. Albert's sounds like an extreme case and I'm curious as to why. Was it built and immediatly considered elite or snobby? Or has it been around forever and turn into snobville? If so, why?
Lutheran school? Are you kiddin? Lutheran schools don't have good football teams. Hey- how about a place that will home-school your kids for you?
Em- I think you have a good point about the classroom settings. I was thinking only of grade school, where ability gaps between students is probably a lot smaller than in high schoolers. Also, when you are working on concrete basic skills in grade school, it's a lot easier to plan out different assignments than it would be to do for complexe ideas taught in older grades. Of course more aids are going to make a huge difference, and there should be a lot more of them, but that's something that won't come with out more money- and strong teacher advocation in IEP meetings. It's also a lot easier to meet everyone's needs when you have them the whole day. You can integrate one subject into another easier (if it's done right) This lends itself to more meaningful learning, and the ability to do more long-term projects that students are actually interested in. I do believe that high schoolers can still be given different assignments, requirements, etc. Do they have to be reading the same story? (That's probably a school policy issue, not an individual teacher issue though) I think that advanced students know and appreciate that they are being graded differently than others. If they didn't want to be, they wouldn't be in honors classes. Also, no matter what a teacher does to try to hide differences in ability levels, even kidergarteners are going to know who are the smart kids and who are the below average ones.
As for St. Albert, I think that snobbery probably stems from the parents. I have quite a few good friends that transfered sometime between jr. high and senior year from SA. They all did it because there's a big popularity problem and the parents are too involved. They all say a lot of parents act like they're better, and the kids start to do it, too. I know poplarity/bullies is a problem in every school, but when Joe and I were in high school, that was never a huge problem at the public schools. I feel very grateful that went to a public school because I think I was give a lot more oppertunities (than I would have at St. Albert) and there were no cliques in my grade or the grade above me. I hope that my mother agrees.
The St. Albert system is about as old as Garrigan. It pretty much put an end to the parish grade schools. There are some wonderful people at St. Albert, but I feel like there is a secular elitism creeping in to the culture.
St. Albert graduates some really good and nice kids, and they do mission trips and community service projects, yet SOME of those kids (and their parents) wouldn't touch a lower-class local with a ten-foot pole. The new superintendent is really working hard to change the culture there, because the school system as a whole seems to suffer from sense of entitlement. I think it's hard to balance the needs of a school system against the needs of the parishes when so many of the school families really don't support the parishes. To many of these families, St. Albert's is their parish. In the past, they even offered masses on Sundays up there, so no need to go to your church and drop an envelope in the collection. It's really a justice issue. Our parish has 200 kids attending St. Albert's. We have 300 who don't. St. albert's gets 3/4 of our parish's annual budget, around $350,000. I get about $5000 for adult lifelong religious ed, whole-family faith formation, sacramental prep for 3 parishes (including the Catholic-school kids) and catechist development. To be fair, I've been making it work with that money and if I told Father I just had to have more, he'd find it. But the school board doesn't listen to the local priests, and I think the priests are going to give them a rude awakening sometime soon. Example: the priests proposed that the school try as hard as possible not to have athletic events on Sundays (except for state tourneys, etc.), because parishes try to have dinners, festivals, church events then. The board just flatly refused to even consider it, no counetr-proposals, no compromise. I can't believe the priests didn't stand up as a body and say, "Well, your check will be late this month." Anyway, I simply do not believe there's no snobbery at Prep or Duschesne. No snotty upper-middle-class kids with a sense of entitlement? It's a hard balancing act, to try to show why your school is worth spending so much to attend, without encouraging an air of superiority. And I agree with Ellen, that it's largely some parents' fault and it's the duty of parents to teach their kids humility and compassion and that's sorely lacking in some of those families. But also, it's partly just because you expect better from someone receiving a religious education. Everyone in Council Bluffs always knew Heelan and Duschesne teams were the snottiest teams they played in any sport, and maybe that could be because they expected better. But I think you should expect better! Otherwise, what's the point of the school in the first place?
Why were the CB schools playing Duschesne? It's Class C I think (about 200 girls).
Caitlin always said there were no cliques at Marian...as far as diversity, I would bet the Black kids pretty much all sit together at lunch at the big public school...that doesn't happen at Marian.
I think it's interesting that some are writing about schools they simply don't know, at all.
Also...you said, before, that the Saint Albert's kids were the snottiest, but then later said the Duchesne and Heelan kids were...and before (few years ago) said the Westside kids were...why is everyone is "the snotty" kids, maybe they aren't!
Reread exactly what I said.
Catholic schools are a shining example of living what you believe. When they present their message well to the world it's an apostleship. When they don't, it stands out that much more, because we (rightly) expect more of them. Garrigan presents very well, at least from what I know. St. Albert's has some problems.
There are snobs everywhere, Public and Private schools...teach your kids how to deal with them, and they (your kids) can go far in the world, no intimidation. We used to call dealing with the very wealthy Jewish moms and their kids as "green beret training"..it's all good! (They turned out to be great kids, for the most part.)
Miss Elbert jumping up and down on Ed's water gun - you just aren't going to get that at a public school!
So, all Jewish kids are snobs?
Of course not! Mary just happens to be anti-semetic. Look closely at any final solutins she offers on this snob problem.
Oh, I keep forgetting that Joe K. is part Jewish...sorry Joe K. Brush that tooth well!
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