11D

Bhutto Assassinated

A couple of hours ago, the media reported that Benazir Bhutto was wounded. Now, we find out that she died in the attack. What a tragedy.

Ta-ta

I've been meaning to post something about Jamie Lee Spears or the new philanthropy rating system or Obama's popularity with conservatives, but the blog has been low priority for the past few days. Party planning and paper grading have been absorbed all my attention. So, I'm officially signing off for the next few days.

Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Happy New Year. Happy Eating Way Too Much. Happy Drinking One Too Many. Happy Excess. Happy Family.

See you all in a few days.

Laura

Midweek Journal

Yesterday, I had to put down the stack of blue books and drive over to Ian's school for the Holiday Show.

Ian's Transitional Kindergarten is housed in a regular public school a half an hour away in FancyTown. Since Ian takes the bus and we don't live anywhere near the school, I don't know any of the other parents. I am not sure whether Ian's special needs class interacts much with the rest of the school. When I walked into the auditorium, I found a seat as far as possible from the chattering parents and opened up the New Yorker. Then I pull outed my sign that said, "I hate all people. Leave me alone."

There were a lot of men there that afternoon. But the dads were of a different species than the shaved head, flannel shirt, goatee dads in our town. Clean shaven and v-neck sweaters.

First, the Kindergarteners filed into the auditorium. And the paparazzi went mad. Camcorders and two foot long zoom lens captured the moment. If I stood on tiptoe, I could see Ian in the front row looking alternatively concerned and amused. The music teacher led the kids in her own original holiday compositions about penguins and snow flakes. Ian wasn't singing, but he looked happy enough up there. He was doing fine, until he caught sight of the microphone and ran up and started talking into it. I think he was giving the speech from "Robots," which begins "Ladies and Gentle-robots."  His teacher gave him the big hook and his performance was done.

So, I had driven a half an hour to this show and was being TORTURED by listening to other kids recite poetry and sing songs about penguins. Those shows are god awful, but are redeemed by the joy of seeing your kid on stage and fooling yourself that your kid is the most beautiful one in the room. And my kid was truly the most beautiful one up there. For the short time he was up there.

Now I was really grouchy. And then the lady next to me kept farting. And the New Yorker had too many short stories.

But as the kids were filing out of the room, Ian's teacher stopped and pointed out my face in the crowd. What a happy boy. And I waved like all the other fools in the room.

Question of the Day - Overwhelmed

I am paralyzed. Too much to do. Where to start first? Grade? Buy the boys new pants? Figure out the remaining Christmas purchases? Plan the menu for two parties? Start Christmas cards? Play video games (thanks Megan. Not.)?

Question of the Day: What do you have to do today?

Because I Love This Song

Good.

Times When I Wish the Mute Kid Was Mute Again

After I dropped off Jonah at Taekwondo practice, Ian and I went to Shop Rite, because our juice boxes levels were down to the E. Bad news.

We browsed around and picked up other things we needed. We had to kill an hour before it was time to pick up Jonah. Wheeling past the meat shelves, an old guy drove by in a motorized cart. He was huge with a dirty coat and matted hair. As he passed us, he coughed a big phlemy cough. Clearly a guy who spent most of his time in front of a TV with a carton of smokes.

Ian pointed at him and shouted, "Look, it's a scary monsta! It's a monsta!"

I covered his mouth, and we darted down the fruit roll up aisle.

Spreadin' Love

Heeeey! Eszter is in the New York Times talking about facebook and politics. Good show, Eszter!

While I was administering a final this morning, I read that facebook article and an article on political ignorance and the Bush tax cuts. Henry linked to that article this morning. Discussion there.

Dad's talking about his book on HNN.

An interesting new blog devoted to putting a face behind the label, "adjunct."

A new campaign aimed at raising awareness about neurological disorders. There's a growing debate in this community about whether conditions, such as ADD, ADHD, Asperger's, are really illnesses or disorders. Whether they should be considered something that destroys the mind or whether they are just a different form of consciousness. Instead of viewing these individuals as damaged, the world has to support neurological diversity. The article links to a blogger that I've read a few times, Kristina Chew.

Our Bodies, Ourselves asked Hillary Clinton about her health care plan and women's health issues.

Ron Paul is raking in the internet cash.

Weekend Journal

At around seven this morning, we woke up to pleasant sounds of Ian chirping to himself in the boy's bedroom. He was happily talking about the credits to his favorite movies or reciting television commercials or singing his songs. They he climbed up to Jonah's bunk to wake him up. Luck for us, Jonah is too good natured to care too much about this rude awaking. Besides, he wanted to see if the snow came over night. It had.

Better Living Through Chemicals

I'm not personally invested in the medication debate, but I've read with great interest some very memorable posts by bloggers who say that anti-depressants have changed their lives. Must read the latest one by Dooce. (780 comments already.) It ranks up there with Flea's post on how Ritalan helped her son.

Question of the Day - Christmas Shopping

Question(s) of the Day - Have you done the patriotic thing and bolstered the economy this month? What's on your list? What charity are you supporting this season?