blog-worthy.

this is an interesting one on both translation and catholicism in the news...

i'm all about the blog today. one might say it's because i'm bored. i say it's because i have my priorities in order.

this new blog labels thing is tricky, though. what AM i posting about? hmm.

"and knowing is half the battle."

via today's the stranger slog:



things i love about this:
1. the notorious abandoned refrigerator. these must have been everywhere in the 80s. remember when cherie on punky brewster almost died in one of these, too?
2. the huge stache on GI joe. nice.
3. of course, the fact that knowing is half the battle.

300th post! wooooosh.

and, now i'm mad - you can't just take away apostrophes, guys!
also, a potato bug will follow you home unless you buy me this tote bag.

all stories are true. even the ones that shouldn't be.

okay, i'm really excited about this article. but you all know how i get excited about myth and fact. i've written about judith warner's stuff on this before, and again, it's very, very cool.

In each of these examples, real problems – that some girls are engaging in too-young, risky and degrading sex, that some children are being stressed excessively and stifled by nonstop structure, that some boys (poor and minority boys) are doing badly in school, that some children are getting really reckless mental health services – are grossly simplified and, via the magical thinking of dogma and ideology, are elevated to the level of myth.

and then, the magic psycho-analysis. what's this really about? oh, judith warner knows.

All the examples of child myth-making that I’ve mentioned here have to do, at base, with the perceived corruption of childhood, the loss of some kind of “natural” innocence. When they depart from kernels of reality to the level of myth, they are, I believe, largely projections that enable adults to evade things. Specifically, the overblown focus on messed-up kids affords us the possibility of avoiding looking inward and taking responsibility for the highly complex problems of everyday life.

what do you think? i'll buy it.

here's a thing on peta and "intersectional exploitation," which i didn't even know was a term. but it's definitely a thing that peta doesn't seem to get [or care about]. and, below it, a cool piece on how the patriarchy hurts men. this one's for all my male friends who don't think it's cool to be all genderized, either.

snow day! or not.

thanks to kris for this one:
Obama: Snowy Washington Needs 'Chicago Toughness'

and for this opinion:
Some People in Washington Need to 'Lighten Up'

i mean, read the part where CPS stays open because their kids don't have childcare. yeah. about that, ms. private school principal who would rather have kids playing outside. and that's a weird opinion anyway - i mean, who wants to be published saying that their students will be happy to have a snow day and they don't want to make them come to school? [is that what you all got out of it?] aren't you in the business of education? because i know, of course, how much teachers love snow days - but i think we're supposed to pretend to hate them.

i did have one of my first "wow, i'm a real teacher NOW" moments when i got so mad that a snow day was putting us behind...

and also, i'd pull my [hypothetical] kids from school if their principal made fun of me in the washington post. clearly not the way to handle your students' parents. whether or not one of them is the president of the united states.

"have you blogged about casseroles yet?"

why, no! i haven't!

i sent an email to my lunch friends [we alternate days bringing lunch for everyone, and yes, it rules] explaining that i'm living out my 20-something rebellion by baking lots of casseroles, because my mom would never let us eat that stuff when we were little. i mean, she would cook chicken. and rice. and vegetables. and more vegetables. and lots of vegetables. but everything was separate, and healthy, and there was NO velveeta or cream of anything soup to be found anywhere. IMAGINE. so now i'm cooking with all those things. in ONE BIG DISH. covered with bread crumbs. take that, mom.

ahhh, rebelling against great parents. what can you do?

but i love the "you should blog about this" compliment. really? you think i'm funny enough to be published instantly online? OKAY! [speaking of which, same friend gave me this, which is kind of weird - it's like a blog, only old-school! because it's a newspaper.]

i'm watching the friends where monica goes to dance class to find the woman who stole her credit card. i don't think credit card thieves actually, you know, go out in public and socialize using the name of the person whose credit card they stole, but i guess this was before the internet and all. i do love the part where the fake monica hates dead poets' society so much that it makes her decide to, you know, SEIZE THE DAY. because she wasted so much of her life watching that movie. well-played, friends.

and, related time-wasters, from nbc local news tonight:
"i look at the governor these days, and all i can think of is britney spears... when she was unraveling... so i just don't know what to expect next..."
speaking of precision of language - ALL you can think of is britney spears? really? and you're afraid he'll unexpectedly release a comeback album?

also, the new head of chicago public schools is the former head of the CTA [since, yet again, someone close to me got hired by obama]. yes, this seems especially relevant to my life. but i still hate the local news.

sorry about all the links to my own blog. i can't stop.

"the pamchenko? no way. it's too dangerous!"

someone recently asked me how often i blog. well. the answer, apparently, is that it depends on the week. so, some thoughts while i sit on the couch, watching the cutting edge. interspersed with thoughts about the movie.

first of all, how creepy is the dad in this movie? "excuse me, honey, while i pressure you and demean you and take charge of your entire life." and how blatant is the sexual innuendo? and how much of it totally passed me by when i first saw this at age ten?

TWO of my former congressmen are now working for obama. clearly, he loves me. big week big week - and i had one of those nostalgic experiences watching the inauguration on a fuzzy tv in the campus ministry office, then running down to class to listen to the rest of it on the radio. [remember the radio?] then we did this lesson from teaching tolerance about inaugural prayer. [click through for a pdf of inaugural pray-ers in history, too.]

i love that part of the movie on new year's eve when they're about to kiss, and you know it because there are SPARKLERS in between their faces. hahahahahahaha. i also love when they kiss at the end of their routine at the end. why don't we see more of that at the olympics?!

my favorite sean casey is retiring! to work for the MLB network! whoa.

no doubt, my favorite part of this movie is the part where she takes the tequila shots. i think of this literally [yes, LITERALLY] every time i take tequila shots. mostly because the first time i saw it i was like, what the hell is she doing? and why is she wearing sunglasses the next day?

a quick search reveals that i blog about misuse of the word literally all the time. seriously. [if anyone's counting, i use "seriously" much more than "literally." what, you don't spend as much time searching my blog as i do? silly.]

new under "things i like" - passive-agressive notes and the flickr page on pointless road signs. this one is definitely my favorite.

toepick!

"you kiss by the blog."

this week's postsecret [sorry, changes every week] is kind of sad, but this one was too perfect.

i often try to tell people stories that they've already read on my blog. it always makes me really happy, though.