Fifty years ago, back when teachers were allowed to actually teach and be creative as they did so, my Hawai'ian-born third-grade teacher had us put on a traditional Hawai'ian May Day pageant for our parents. She taught us songs, which she accompanied on her ukelele. All the kids learned the hula moves that went with the songs and we performed them ( Read more... )

Tonight we decorated our Christmas tree. I put it up and strung it with lights on Sunday, but Lydia's studying schedule didn't allow her to participate until tonight. With chemistry and math tests behind her, we put up ornaments that wouldn't break if knocked off or be ruined if chewed on. This was wise, seeing as Tora has climbed to the top of the ( Read more... )

I just learned that Penn State has fired the football coach and the president for failing to ensure the safety of children under their supervision. About time. Maybe they had no legal obligation to report (and if necessary re-report) sexual abuse of children, but there's a moral standard that is higher than mere laws ( Read more... )

I forgive exactly one of my many tormentors. He was one of the worst from junior high and when he approached me outside the high school where some friends and I were waiting for the bus, my blood ran cold. My friends closed in around me and one put his hand protectively on my shoulder. My abuser dropped down on his knees and apologized for what he ( Read more... )

Someone I know on Facebook, who I'm sure won't read this, said that he was glad his public school teachers taught him to keep an open mind. Here's my rundown of my teachers ( Read more... )

I busted the dress code in junior high that prohibited pants for girls as being "inappropriate attire" and "distracting." This was in, I think, 1970, when miniskirts ruled. Apparently the sight of a girl in pants that completely covered her legs was more of a distraction to the adolescent boys than a girl in a skirt that barely covered her butt. ( Read more... )

We had a nice little 5.8 earthquake in my area on Tuesday. I was at home, between trips to Reno for Worldcon and to Pennsylvania to see my mother off (in the capable hands of my brother) to her new home in Alaska. The quake woke me from a nap on the sofa; we had a smaller quake a few years ago so I knew what it was. But it just kept going! ( Read more... )

The page is called "Hippie High School, [my hometown and state]." Very strange! No names associated, no pics. But it sure was Hippie High School when I was there from 1971 to 1974! The dress code had been mostly eliminated several years before, allowing, among other things, the wearing of pants by girls (a big deal back then). Miniskirts were the ( Read more... )

I'm a bit late with this entry, but that's okay because now I'll be writing about my first love on Valentines day ( Read more... )

My daughter Lydia is going to a predominantly black and hispanic school, and strangely has been casually accepted by the black kids but mostly not by the hispanic. Some of the the hispanic girls get together in groups and talk about people in Spanish in front of them, leering and pointing at them. Charming. And of course there's a black history ( Read more... )