Tony Snow is the new Merlin??

Even Merlin had credibility with his homies.

How can Tony Snow say some of the things he does with a straight face?

He must live in some kind of fantasy land.

I am assuming he must be when he denies Bush ever made an Al Quaida-Iraq link to the American Public.

What a joke.

Perception is 9/10 of the law

It's hot this time of year. 96 degrees by 11am . Summertime in the desert is reliable that's for sure-the constancy of the unbearable heat. knowing each day endures-I wonder how our weather reporters keep a straight face???

It was in this environment last week that my third grade class had a bad day. They couldn't seem to line up for lunch and the new vice principal grew frustrated. Since then, the label of "difficult" has been their doom.

We talked about perception. We discussed how we had to be 110% based on that distinction. At this point, no matter what they do, they are now last in line for lunch, leaving them with the leftovers and ten minutes to gobble down their food.

What do we do to change that perception? Continue to do our 110% and take the lumps of distortion?

This happens in the adult world as well. There is no more dangerous profession than education when it comes to perception. I have seen it happen to many good teachers. Something gets into the bonnet of a new administrator about an event. Followed by constant visits and observations of the particular teacher's classroom, looking for evidence to reaffirm the perception, the road to dissidence begins. Until the teacher finds a job at another school, the constant stress of wondering begins to wear. Place that stress on top of the already stressful job of working in an at-risk school, with incredible demands from many levels, and the teacher either 1) transfers to another school, 2) moves to another state or 3) leaves the profession.

Our school district is short 1300 teachers for the 2007-2008 school year.

It's no wonder teachers leave the profession.

All it takes sometimes is one incident to incite the 9/10 rule.

For my kids, it is a tough lesson -unlikely to be forgotten. I am not sure if any good will come of it in their minds. I balance it with challenges that agree with their talents and skills.

They may not have been able to get it together to get in line one day but is that the sum of their behaviors? Like adults, I think not. They just don't have the choice of opting out like we do.

Government Statistics.? hahahahaha.

I'd have to mortgage my house for a cross country trip...lol Could someone tell me where these oil refinery outages are located??

Motorists Unfazed by Climbing Gas Prices

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 16, 2007
Filed at 7:42 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- The rising price of gasoline has certainly increased the amount of complaining from drivers paying $3 a gallon or more to fill up their cars, but it so far has done little to curtail how much people are driving.
That's the message from government statistics showing that demand for gasoline is only just starting to level off even as refinery outages and tight supplies have sent pump prices soaring by 43 percent since the end of January.

The pain in the ass in a group think...

Don't you just hate them? Just when everyone is getting along and agreeing on just about everything at work-and all goes smoothly-they have to jump in and say something totally not within the realm of all those who are working so harmoniously?? Major pain in the ass kind of people!

Who needs it! We work hard all day and they have the nerve to question -when we all AGREE that this is the best way...

They don't always get along with others. Don't eat lunch with us, don't meet after work for a drink...don't always stop by to chat ..they really don't belong-so why don't they just go somewhere where they can find their own kind??

What do they know? We are younger, fresher, have new ideas-we just came out of school-times are different....

So what if they believe they are effective? How can you be effective when you are questioning the status quo?

We don't need their bullshit. We wish they'd just go away....

..So said Enron to those who questioned their business practices...

So said the Bush administration to those who question leadership

So said the Republican Party who questioned Jeffers a few years ago when he followed his conscience..

So said the British monarchy when the loyal citizens of Britan began to question the King's rule...

So said...

So said...

To those with the courage to question, the fortitude to examine and speak another truth..

those with the willingness to speak despite the consequences of resisting group think...

Thank-You. I bow to you.

False accusations made of eight year old girls...

The health aide marched up to me during my lunch hour. She handed me a memo.

"student came to the nursing office before lunch crying, with her friend. Her friend stated during recess four eight year old girls(names listed) wrapped a rope around the girls necked and choked her.

Checked her neck and saw no marks. Asked student if she wanted to remain in the nurses office and she said she wanted to go to lunch."

Four of my third grade students were listed.

The Vice principal trailed behind her.

"Your kids are out of control, her tone accusingly dangerous.

"I read the statement", I replied.

"I don't believe this for a minute. I know these girls and they are some of my best kids. They would never do this."

"I don't want your kids outside for recess, they are out of control.", she stated.

"Not a problem, I told her, if you don't mind my not doing my duty outside I will keep them inside."

I asked the girls about it and they were mortified. In tears.

"That never happened, said one.

"We were playing jumprope and she fell", stated another.

"We would never hurt her", another tearfully replied.

Later in the day the child in question admitted that is exactly what happened and no one tried to choke her.

But it is in writing, in someone's file.

And this old lady does not like that one bit. Those kinds of dangerous accusations can follow a kid through all the years of school and it better not.

I sent an e-mail expressing my concerns that such an accusation was documented before the truth was even ferreted out. I want that memo trashed, and any one who has a copy to return it.

My girls are owed a big fat apology and this kind of garbage needs to stop.

Not one of my students have been written up or sent to the office this year. Not one.

This place needs to get it's act together. School records are dangerous weapons in the wrong hands.

And sadly, we have too many wrong hands in education administration.

Fate: When you draw the horrible mommy card...

We don't get to choose the women who give us birth. I am not so sure I would have done such a good job of that if I could have preplanned my own entry into this world..

Face it, not all moms can love their kids, and usually those same moms have difficulty loving any person. I've ruminated over this throughout my years-from various angles and come to some conclusions. We can't really see the entire picture until we are adults. Even then, sometimes the trauma is too much to dispel the longing and those rigidly held myths that "moms are supposed to"...to what?

Turning trauma into understanding is what prompted my desire to become a practicing therapist for the past twenty years. It takes work and courage to acknowledge pain and the aftermath. Which is for eternity-( don't kid yourself it never disappears-)and if you are lucky it settles into an understanding, tinged with sadness, hopefully compassion. If you are very lucky an integration into your soul and very fiber which allows for loving relationships in the future, healthy ones-well, sort of, for the most part.

This is for all of you (-birth to those final breathing moments) who wander( bewildered, with a swiss cheese like ego) the universe, celebrating Mother's Day in some form 0f bittersweet, sadly, still confused or just resigned state.

No one wrote a recipe for Motherhood. Most women do their best and with as little scarring as possible, send their kids off to adulthood with mostly healthy skills.

Somewhere between Sybil's mother and June Cleaver, we survive our mothers.

My mother sent me an e-mail today. We don't usually maintain contact. It wasn't an argument, or a final say on my part that led to this vague separation. It was easy to just kind of trail off because my mom spent her life allowing relationships to trail off. Nothing had to be said.

I think I first realized she had her own problems when she spent eight months in bed. My father was a brutal man to all of us and she must have been depressed. I grew up quickly. For whatever reasons she spent her lifetime trying to disengage from the six children she had. At age 8 she told me she didn't believe we needed her anymore. That to six children under the age of nine. She married four times. She left each child behind in a ritual of anger-at times leaving us to fend for ourselves for months on end while she paid the rent on the house and gave us money for groceries. Kicking us out long before age 16, she did it for her husbands. Until no child was left. She proceeded to have two more children while I was having my first and left them behind at ages seven and five.

The list in my head continues-she was a lousy cook! Terrible housekeeper! Her method of dealing with her kids? Denigrating, jeering and taunting. Conflict? Slapping, name calling and her famous, silent treatment for days on end-which resulted in everyone of us, I think, on our knees begging for acknowledgement, something carried into adulthood for many of my sisters and brothers.

How did we grow up? Almost all successful-lousy marriages-relating with intimacy was such a mystery-we didn't even know it existed. I think we all thought every relationship was adversarial-until most of us got it right or recognized it would never be that way .

The most important lesson I learned over the years?

Don't waste a minute of precious time on the past. Not that it isn't a part of us but the joy that is in the world if one chooses to find it, live it and celebrate it is free! We are only prisoners in our minds -if we choose it.

I once saw a cartoon showing a man with a huge sack over his shoulder stuck in a doorway. He couldn't fit the bag through the door. When asked were he was going he yelled, "The future!"

The label on the sack? "The past".

I remind myself of that cartoon when I find myself trying to drag that old stuff into the future with me.

The greatest beauty of adulthood??

You get to choose! Yes! You get to eat dessert first, put your feet on the coffee table-or dining room table if you want! Go for it! You get to decide where and how you want to live.

Most importantly-you get to decide your own fate-not your parents.

Lousy parents give us a precious gift. A window into what we do not want to be, live or become. Most people don't get that glimpse and those, I think, become most like their parents. And bless you if you had great parents-we need more of you!

But us? We get to be more!!

We get to be ourselves. Because we learned to become discernible at a young age. We get to pass on the importance of relationships to our children. We have the gift of knowing love is never something to be taken for granted. Knowing how precious love, support, approval and encouragement is for children, we have the honor of bestowing it all on our children.

Such richness is for sultans-and we have it!!

Most importantly?

We know better.

Appreciate your teachers, lunkheads...

It's teacher appreciation week you lazy, bland, uninterested adults. Try and show it.