Time plays an important part in our culture. We speak of it as a living, breathing object, "Time marches on" or "the march of time." We speak of it, as a possession, "I wish I had the time," "I'm out of time," "Will please give me some of your time." We use it like a trader's commodity— money, "I bought some time," "My time was spent foolishly," or "Time well spent."
Time seems to fluctuate as our need or usefulness increases. Time never changes; it is still sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty-four hours in a day. Although it doesn't change, our perception of it does; from the prisoner sentenced to twenty years to the father seeing his twenty year old daughter on her wedding day, that same period is an eternity for one but a short time for the other. To a person trying to beat a deadline time is fleeting, to the employee starting the last day of work before his vacation, it is an eternity. It is unyielding, timeless and as in from the dawn of time yet relentless as in, "Time will tell."
Ecclesiastes 3:1-12 tells it all for us:
"1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live."
K
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Rock-a-bye Baby? Maybe
The "normal" pregnancy rate at Glouchester High School in Glouchester, Mass is four per year in a student body of twelve hundred, but this year the rate quadrupled to seventeen. Principal Joseph Sullivan suspected a prenancy pact amoung the girls to get pregnant and raise the children together by helping each other out. The expectant mothers were nearly all under 16 years old when they got pregnant. One of the oldest of the the group, Lindsay Oliver, 17, appeared on national televison said that was not true but just "a coincidence."
Glouchester Mayor Carolyn Kirk, Superintendent Christopher Farmer and School Committee Chairman Greg Verga held a press conference at City Hall and called the pact a fabrication. "We have not been able to confirm the existence of a pact." Superintendent Farmer reported "There were a group of girls who were being pregnancy tested regularly, leading one to conclude they were not trying hard not to get pregnant."
Wait, Superintendent Farmer, that was 150 tests administered at the high school clinic which indicates to me that they were looking for positive results not failures. In fact some of the health care workers reported long faces when given negative results and "high fives" when positive. There is some slight preceived benefit to a teen pregnancy:
Extra attention (positive or negative) given by the school, the mother's parent(s) and boyfriend.
Clearing of the complexion along with a sort of senrenity nicknamed the Madonna Effect.
Baby will help bring the bond between boyfriend and girlfriend even tighter together.
The mother will become a more complete person.
Their favorite teen star has had (or will have had) a baby and look at how the media treats her.
I believe we should go back to the flour bag baby concept for a high school course called "Home & Family." It would be a coed course where couples would be paired up and given a ten pound bag of flour to represent their "baby." Babies must be changed, "fed" and given tender loving care. No tossing the "kid" in the locker over the weekend. The child must not show evidence of abuse (torn paper wrapper) or mistreatment and a log must be maintained about diaper changings and feedings. Both students must work together to obtain a pass/fail grade. This is not to be an elective course but mandatory.
The charm and idealized legend of being a parent will soon wear off and any glorified thoughts of being a single mother will opt out as soon as possible.
K.
Glouchester Mayor Carolyn Kirk, Superintendent Christopher Farmer and School Committee Chairman Greg Verga held a press conference at City Hall and called the pact a fabrication. "We have not been able to confirm the existence of a pact." Superintendent Farmer reported "There were a group of girls who were being pregnancy tested regularly, leading one to conclude they were not trying hard not to get pregnant."
Wait, Superintendent Farmer, that was 150 tests administered at the high school clinic which indicates to me that they were looking for positive results not failures. In fact some of the health care workers reported long faces when given negative results and "high fives" when positive. There is some slight preceived benefit to a teen pregnancy:
Extra attention (positive or negative) given by the school, the mother's parent(s) and boyfriend.
Clearing of the complexion along with a sort of senrenity nicknamed the Madonna Effect.
Baby will help bring the bond between boyfriend and girlfriend even tighter together.
The mother will become a more complete person.
Their favorite teen star has had (or will have had) a baby and look at how the media treats her.
I believe we should go back to the flour bag baby concept for a high school course called "Home & Family." It would be a coed course where couples would be paired up and given a ten pound bag of flour to represent their "baby." Babies must be changed, "fed" and given tender loving care. No tossing the "kid" in the locker over the weekend. The child must not show evidence of abuse (torn paper wrapper) or mistreatment and a log must be maintained about diaper changings and feedings. Both students must work together to obtain a pass/fail grade. This is not to be an elective course but mandatory.
The charm and idealized legend of being a parent will soon wear off and any glorified thoughts of being a single mother will opt out as soon as possible.
K.
Monday, June 23, 2008
"School Days, School Days, Good old Golden Rule Days"
Well, it has happened again. A female teacher has had inappropriate relations with one of her male students. Maggie Laughlin, 23, a math teacher at a Mentor, OH junior high school is alleged to have oral sex with a 15-year-old student in late May of 2008. This became known after the eighth or tenth incident. There seems to be an epidemic here as this has often occurred before. In Lexington, NB in August 2006, 25-year-old math teacher, Kelsey Peterson had sex twice with her 13-year-old former student. In October 2006, Sharon Rutherford was convicted of having sex with two students under the age of 16. In February 2005 Pamela Turner, 27, a physical education teacher in Tennessee was charged with statutory rape when she had sex with one of her 13 year old students. In December 2003 a Tampa, FL former model— turned teacher, Debra Lafave, 24, had sex with one of her 14-year-old students. The ultimate case involved Mary Kay Letourneau a Seattle teacher who had sexual relationship with a 12 year old sixth-grader; who once bragged to a classmate that he could "sleep with the teach." Their union eventually produced two children. Letourneau spent more than seven years in jail and then married her lover—21-years her junior.
Coincidence here; I think not! Let's be the devil's advocate (in this case the defendant's advocate), and say these teachers were NOT responsible for their actions. There are at least three videos on YouTube where a teacher has been hypnotized in a classroom situation and filmed. Granted, they were acting as if they were clucking chickens and not performing sexual acts but the fact is they were not themselves and had no control over their minds or bodies.
What could appear to more innocent than a female teacher willing to help her struggling male student with his "problem?" The precocious "child" hypnotizes and seduces her, then leaves her with a post-hypnotic suggestion for further encounters. The unwitting teacher sees her pupil repeatedly not knowing that she is being duped. The events eventually come to light when the man-child cannot control his glee and begins to broadcast his tryst throughout the school. The law views the student as the victim and the hapless teacher as the seductress (which is the furthest from the truth).
A simple act of kindness and professionalism could cost the teacher her job, her career, as well as thousands of dollars in fines, bail money, court costs and legal fees. A young lecherous student whose only aim is self-gratification could ruin her life.
K.
Coincidence here; I think not! Let's be the devil's advocate (in this case the defendant's advocate), and say these teachers were NOT responsible for their actions. There are at least three videos on YouTube where a teacher has been hypnotized in a classroom situation and filmed. Granted, they were acting as if they were clucking chickens and not performing sexual acts but the fact is they were not themselves and had no control over their minds or bodies.
What could appear to more innocent than a female teacher willing to help her struggling male student with his "problem?" The precocious "child" hypnotizes and seduces her, then leaves her with a post-hypnotic suggestion for further encounters. The unwitting teacher sees her pupil repeatedly not knowing that she is being duped. The events eventually come to light when the man-child cannot control his glee and begins to broadcast his tryst throughout the school. The law views the student as the victim and the hapless teacher as the seductress (which is the furthest from the truth).
A simple act of kindness and professionalism could cost the teacher her job, her career, as well as thousands of dollars in fines, bail money, court costs and legal fees. A young lecherous student whose only aim is self-gratification could ruin her life.
K.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
I walked ten miles to school in the snow, up hill both ways.
When I was a kid in elementary school during the 1950's, I joined the Boy Scouts. One of the benefits of being a Scout was to receive a paid for subscription to Boy's Life magazine, a BSA publication. This large layout periodical told kids how to bake "planked fish," tied knots and other such stuff that would be useful to the scout who was to "be prepared."
Like any magazine it had advertisers, one of which was the Savage Arms Company of Utica, NY. Savage marketed the Model 24 over and under or combo rifle with a 22 caliber barrel on the top and a 410 shotgun barrel on the bottom, all controlled by the same trigger but which required a lever to select the proper barrel. I attended my first gun show just a few months ago, and I wondered if the rifle that was touted during my childhood would still be marketed. Sure enough, I recognized it immediately. I held this old relic in my hands as I would a long forgotten toy from that same time period.
You might cringe at such an analogy, toys and guns? Yes, but those were much different times; we would like to think it was an age of innocence. This was well before Columbine High School, school multi-murders and zero tolerance. It was also a time when a kid in my high school English class went to the principal and asked if he could bring his rifle to school for a oral presentation or demonstration (a kind of a show and tell). The principal had no problem with that; the student would have his parent bring it to his office in a zippered gun case with the bolt disassembled, the student would pick it up at the office just before the class, and at the conclusion of his presentation returned it the office for the parent to pick up. Oh yes, there was to be no live ammunition (I think he brought in a dummy shell to show how it was extracted from the chamber).
I can vividly remember that unique demonstration, how to hold the rifle, positioning the webbed sling just right to aid in steadiness. I remember the various demonstrated shooting positions—prone, sitting, kneeing, and standing and how triangulation with the sling and your elbow helped to steady the shooter's aim. I cringe to think that back then it was all that simple; just get permission from the principal and bring in a gun. In today's modern, litigation happy, lawyer-dominated world, that principal would have being summarily dismissed. I wonder how much today's kids have missed out of similar experiences.
I'm not a gun advocate mind you, but I can see an opportunity when one presents itself. Today, nursery school teachers may spend hours after kids leave the building wiping down toys, chairs and doorknobs with bleach or disinfectant to prevent the spread of germs. It's for the same reason you won't see a turtle anymore in the classroom—salmonella poisoning. We shelter our children preventing them from "possible" harm. Not very long ago a parent who thought along those lines would have been considered overprotective, today we call it being reasonably prudent. Ah, the good old times, gone but not forgotten.
K.
Like any magazine it had advertisers, one of which was the Savage Arms Company of Utica, NY. Savage marketed the Model 24 over and under or combo rifle with a 22 caliber barrel on the top and a 410 shotgun barrel on the bottom, all controlled by the same trigger but which required a lever to select the proper barrel. I attended my first gun show just a few months ago, and I wondered if the rifle that was touted during my childhood would still be marketed. Sure enough, I recognized it immediately. I held this old relic in my hands as I would a long forgotten toy from that same time period.
You might cringe at such an analogy, toys and guns? Yes, but those were much different times; we would like to think it was an age of innocence. This was well before Columbine High School, school multi-murders and zero tolerance. It was also a time when a kid in my high school English class went to the principal and asked if he could bring his rifle to school for a oral presentation or demonstration (a kind of a show and tell). The principal had no problem with that; the student would have his parent bring it to his office in a zippered gun case with the bolt disassembled, the student would pick it up at the office just before the class, and at the conclusion of his presentation returned it the office for the parent to pick up. Oh yes, there was to be no live ammunition (I think he brought in a dummy shell to show how it was extracted from the chamber).
I can vividly remember that unique demonstration, how to hold the rifle, positioning the webbed sling just right to aid in steadiness. I remember the various demonstrated shooting positions—prone, sitting, kneeing, and standing and how triangulation with the sling and your elbow helped to steady the shooter's aim. I cringe to think that back then it was all that simple; just get permission from the principal and bring in a gun. In today's modern, litigation happy, lawyer-dominated world, that principal would have being summarily dismissed. I wonder how much today's kids have missed out of similar experiences.
I'm not a gun advocate mind you, but I can see an opportunity when one presents itself. Today, nursery school teachers may spend hours after kids leave the building wiping down toys, chairs and doorknobs with bleach or disinfectant to prevent the spread of germs. It's for the same reason you won't see a turtle anymore in the classroom—salmonella poisoning. We shelter our children preventing them from "possible" harm. Not very long ago a parent who thought along those lines would have been considered overprotective, today we call it being reasonably prudent. Ah, the good old times, gone but not forgotten.
K.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
"May I Have the Envelope Please; and the Winner is...."
Can a ten-year-old plot and discontinued TV show about four New York bachelor girls find true happiness in a 2008 movie remake? The producers would like to think so and they're willing to gamble that fans of Sex and the City will be willing to spend millions of dollars to see their favorite show on the big screen. An even more interesting question—can fifty-two year old Kim Cattrall, aka Samantha Jones continue to carry off the role designed for her thirteen years ago as a man eating nymphomaniac? Then again she does look good an evening gown.
The typical Hollywood public relations mill is willing to put a lot of money into press parties and media events, etc. to pump up interest in what would be considered a rehash of the TV's Golden Girls that aired in 1985. You don't look a gift horse in the mouth, at least one the could bring you a tidy return on your investment or can you beat a dead horse to the finish line? My apologies to any inferred reference to Barbaro or Eight Belles.
Dedicated Sex and the City fans will love it, accountants will spend countless hours tallying up the results and make up artists will more than earn their keep. Making those four stars look years younger should earn this movie an Oscar as well as a walk on part at the Society of American Magicians' annual meeting. Readers, can you say abra-cadabera?
K.
The typical Hollywood public relations mill is willing to put a lot of money into press parties and media events, etc. to pump up interest in what would be considered a rehash of the TV's Golden Girls that aired in 1985. You don't look a gift horse in the mouth, at least one the could bring you a tidy return on your investment or can you beat a dead horse to the finish line? My apologies to any inferred reference to Barbaro or Eight Belles.
Dedicated Sex and the City fans will love it, accountants will spend countless hours tallying up the results and make up artists will more than earn their keep. Making those four stars look years younger should earn this movie an Oscar as well as a walk on part at the Society of American Magicians' annual meeting. Readers, can you say abra-cadabera?
K.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
So he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Luke 10:29
I had one of the most frightening experiences that I ever had. Yes, guys can have bad experiences as well. I had just finished driving thirty minutes on the freeway, had gotten off the exit ramp and was making a left hand turn to continue on to my office. My car died. I tried to restart it over and over again without any luck; I was not succeeding. There I was stuck in to the middle of traffic, frustrated, and surrounded by hostile drivers and unsympathic horns, feeling very sorry for myself. I heard the sound of a very familiar voice from a rolled down car window— it was "M" from my office. "K, do you need any help, is there something I can do?" I blurted out "I think I can get it started if I had a can of starting fluid," I said. "Where can I find it?" she replied and after receiving me instructions she drove off.
Another car pulled up; it was a second co-worker, "L" with her darling blond haired child in a car seat behind her. Even though she had the day off, and was going to her mother's house, she asked that familiar question as well "How can I help?" I start to feel better already when a third co-worker "J" called me on my cell phone and asked me if I was all right. I assured her help was on its way when the fourth co-worker, Sean pulled up behind me in his car. His four-way flashers signaled others behind him of my distress and not to use our lane. How can I say this without being silly? Sean was the best thing that ever happened to me just at that moment: he is very a familiar face, a confidant, and better yet a good friend.
For the next hour and a half he stayed with me, we joked, traded stories back and forth and tried to trouble shoot the no start problem. When "M" arrived with the stating fluid, he helped me try to restart my reluctant vehicle. He was my lifesaver, keeping me from going ballistic, or absolutely insane. The police arrived and finally the AAA tow truck, yet Sean stayed with me the entire time even giving me a ride to the office as well as helping me to chase down the parts needed to make the repairs.
These four people personify the story of "The Good Samaritan." I really can't say enough about them, some of which are less than half my age and old enough to be my children. They are a true friends who I shall always be thankful.
K.
Another car pulled up; it was a second co-worker, "L" with her darling blond haired child in a car seat behind her. Even though she had the day off, and was going to her mother's house, she asked that familiar question as well "How can I help?" I start to feel better already when a third co-worker "J" called me on my cell phone and asked me if I was all right. I assured her help was on its way when the fourth co-worker, Sean pulled up behind me in his car. His four-way flashers signaled others behind him of my distress and not to use our lane. How can I say this without being silly? Sean was the best thing that ever happened to me just at that moment: he is very a familiar face, a confidant, and better yet a good friend.
For the next hour and a half he stayed with me, we joked, traded stories back and forth and tried to trouble shoot the no start problem. When "M" arrived with the stating fluid, he helped me try to restart my reluctant vehicle. He was my lifesaver, keeping me from going ballistic, or absolutely insane. The police arrived and finally the AAA tow truck, yet Sean stayed with me the entire time even giving me a ride to the office as well as helping me to chase down the parts needed to make the repairs.
These four people personify the story of "The Good Samaritan." I really can't say enough about them, some of which are less than half my age and old enough to be my children. They are a true friends who I shall always be thankful.
K.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
It’s OK to Do What You Would Like to Do, Just Don’t Get Caught
We all believe in our inalienable rights of the freedom of speech, but just how far can it go? Forty-four students at Stevenson High School in Lavonia, MI were suspended for wearing tee shirts that said "Puschin' It To The Limit" on one side and "Class of .08 Seniors" on the other. The .08 refers to Michigan alcohol limit for intoxicated drivers. The high school principal, Steven Archibald, felt that it was the wrong message and promoted underage drinking. When asked by a local TV station whether it had anything to do with drinking, a student replied, "Oh, yah …it (the reaction from the administration) is kind of pointless…it's just a joke."
Archibald had gotten wind of the upcoming senior prank back in April and had sent parents two messages one by mail and the other via email warning them there would be consequences if this happened. The suspended students involved will have to earn back their right to attend Senior Prom and "walking" (across the stage) during the graduation ceremony. The suspended students were prevented from attending an honors award assembly that same evening.
Mother Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) felt the actions against the student were appropriate as most if not all are underage to begin with; while some suspended students felt that they were being unfairly singled out for their prank. One mother, Dawn Lewis, felt that it was unfair to punish the students who worn the tee shirt and to go after the person who designed the shirt in the first place. "They are kids…what are you going to do?"
Anheuser-Busch in a press release from the headquarters in St. Louis on May 9, 2008 may have anticipated such high jinks. "Especially during the prom and graduation season, parents may face pressure to host teen parties with alcohol," said Carol Clark, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility at Anheuser-Busch. "By exchanging best practices through this new forum ( the Positive Parenting Connection page on MySpace at www.myspace.com/positiveparenting), parents can better understand their role in preventing underage drinking and also realize they're not alone in saying no."
K's comments: hmmm—two notices to "Cease and Desist" or "halt this planned activity" before the event happened are excellent points in Principal Archibald's favor, he is a good high school administrator. MADD spokesperson said the goal was to prevent underage drinking with zero tolerance, is also a good point. The adage "Kids will be kids" and "People have worn tee shirts worse than this."– are poor arguments. I recommend the American Civil Liberties Union or other lawyer groups not even think about getting involved in the one. You have bigger fish to fry.
K.
Archibald had gotten wind of the upcoming senior prank back in April and had sent parents two messages one by mail and the other via email warning them there would be consequences if this happened. The suspended students involved will have to earn back their right to attend Senior Prom and "walking" (across the stage) during the graduation ceremony. The suspended students were prevented from attending an honors award assembly that same evening.
Mother Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) felt the actions against the student were appropriate as most if not all are underage to begin with; while some suspended students felt that they were being unfairly singled out for their prank. One mother, Dawn Lewis, felt that it was unfair to punish the students who worn the tee shirt and to go after the person who designed the shirt in the first place. "They are kids…what are you going to do?"
Anheuser-Busch in a press release from the headquarters in St. Louis on May 9, 2008 may have anticipated such high jinks. "Especially during the prom and graduation season, parents may face pressure to host teen parties with alcohol," said Carol Clark, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility at Anheuser-Busch. "By exchanging best practices through this new forum ( the Positive Parenting Connection page on MySpace at www.myspace.com/positiveparenting), parents can better understand their role in preventing underage drinking and also realize they're not alone in saying no."
K's comments: hmmm—two notices to "Cease and Desist" or "halt this planned activity" before the event happened are excellent points in Principal Archibald's favor, he is a good high school administrator. MADD spokesperson said the goal was to prevent underage drinking with zero tolerance, is also a good point. The adage "Kids will be kids" and "People have worn tee shirts worse than this."– are poor arguments. I recommend the American Civil Liberties Union or other lawyer groups not even think about getting involved in the one. You have bigger fish to fry.
K.
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