tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37206595668287887042024-03-05T03:35:12.922-08:00Just Kidding...,But SeriouslyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-79262197210705007492019-02-06T13:23:00.001-08:002019-02-06T13:35:32.835-08:00Bewitching<br />
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Dear Mr. Weeks,<br />
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We’re building a new school, parts of it, anyway. I know it’ll be great, because we have $66 million to spend, so it’s all but guaranteed to be exquisite. Still, a gal can have an independent vision, can’t she? I know you’ve been gone for 83 years, but I’m hoping that your great ghost still haunts our city and that you’ll be willing to cast a creative spell upon our project. P.S. please bring Mr. Farr with you and bewitch us with the following:<br />
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- That neoclassical design that was so enchanting.<br />
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- At the entry, the warm embrace of a kindly foyer beckoning us to come in.<br />
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- Arches and winding paths preparing the way for school-day meandering.<br />
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- Floors of enormous tiles in haunting shades of umber; textured and warm, there to greet the ready steps of our students.<br />
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- Grant us the treasure of a library filled top to bottom with books and a fireplace by which to enjoy them (it will have to be gas this time around. Since you’ve been gone we destroyed the environment and wood fires are frowned upon.)<br />
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- Please whisk away all flimsy drywall and let our students know the prized finish of a beautifully textured plaster wall and how it makes a place feel warm and cherished, like an old family home.<br />
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- Please make the thoroughfare from classroom to classroom a lovely portico, allowing shelter and nature all at once and igniting the urge to linger.<br />
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- Given his success with the Exedra and City Hall and the original Havens School, perhaps Mr. Farr could wave his visitant hand over what appears to be an unfortunate lack of set-backs. Are we not desirous of lawn and trees to soften the transition from home to school? Will we cast our students out of the car and into the classroom with nary a blade of grass as a buffer? Car…concrete…classroom. Oh, dear. Yes, Mr. Farr is just the person to address this oversight.<br />
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- I recently read that the lofty top floor of the 3-story building would be reserved for Mr. Booker and other administrators, but certainly that must have been a misprint. I know that whoever designed the building would insist that the students enjoy the restorative benefits of an inspiring view from the top floor. But to be on the safe side, would you please make sure of it?<br />
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I know it’s not realistic. Sheetrock and CAD/CAM are much more affordable than the artisan techniques of the past. It’s probably a lot harder to weave all the new and much needed technology in and out of plaster walls, and let’s face it, all manner of shenanigans could occur in those dreamy porticos. But for all the millions – all 66 of them – a bit of charm doesn’t seem unreasonable, does it? A bit of texture? A bit of character? A bit of soul?<br />
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And so, Mr. Weeks because the thought of our students having to walk along flat, white, anemic halls keeps me awake at night, I do respectfully request an inspiring bewitching at the earliest possible moment to avoid such a tragedy!<br />
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Sincerely,<br />
E. BoyerAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-43654801462748650572019-01-16T13:20:00.003-08:002019-01-16T13:24:35.166-08:00 Scottish Records Office<blockquote style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; color: #212121;" type="cite">
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<span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Well, who could blame me? I heard <b style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">SRO</i></b> and my <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">inner</span> Highlander thought, “Well, I’ll be darned, a Scottish Records Office and right on campus...how exciting!” Upon further contemplation I wondered why, on earth Mr. Booker was suddenly so interested in the cataloging of Scottish records. Very fishy.<span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>Well, one thought led to another. Would Mr. Booker’s newfound interest in the Scots be used for good or for evil? <span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>Would Piedmont’s new Scottish Records Office be a source of pride for the thistle-eating Highlanders? Would paintings of our ancestral Picts and Gaels hang from it’s walls? Or, was something sinister brewing? Perhaps our new SRO would be nothing more than a new and glorified private office for Mr. Booker <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">disguised </span></i>as a Scottish Records Office. Alba gu brâth!! <span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">And, what about Sgt. Bowers? I suppose I couldn't blame him for being intrigued; the warrior-wear of the mighty Galloglasses was indeed something a police officer might covet.</span> </span><span style="color: inherit; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I’d have to get to the bottom of it. With a love for all things Scottish, I braved the rickety, pull-down stairs to the attic in search of my tartan sash.</span></span><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="color: inherit; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I figured this new Scottish Records Office would be one of two things: celebratory or sinister and a proper tartan sash was appropriate for either.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">O.k, so I jumped the gun. As it turns out, the SRO in this case isn’t for compiling records of the Scottish. C’mon, I’m an old Highlander; it was an honest mistake! </span><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Apparently, an SRO is a Student Resource Officer. Fine. Duly noted. Not one to let the efforts of a tartan-sash-search-and-rescue go to waste, I decided to do a little Scottish style reconnaissance</span><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I poured myself a Benromach, wrapped myself in the sash and hunkered down on the couch for a proper Googling of this <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">other SRO.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mr. Booker and Police Chief Bowers are proposing that a School Resource Officer be assigned to PHS, Millennium and PMS. Initially, I thought why not? Anything for safety and let’s add them to Havens, Beach & Wildwood, as well. However, it seems the issue is far more complicated:</span></span></div>
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<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- SROs are not security guards.<span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>They are armed police officers. Their job is to police classrooms and hallways. According to a segment on NPR, “Despite a high level of consensus among researchers and criminal justice experts that SROs should undergo extensive and specialized training, few of the 19,000 SROs in the United States are, in fact trained. Incredibly, there are no national standards – and in many cases no state standards – for SRO training, which means there is little consistency in how they are prepared to work in schools.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">-After the deadly Columbine High School shooting, the number of SROs in schools began to grow, but according to Marc Shindler, head of the Justice Policy Institute, there is no evidence to show that adding SROs results in safer schools. </span><span style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"In fact, the data really shows otherwise — that this is largely a failed approach in devoting a significant amount of resources but not getting the outcome in school safety that we are all looking for."</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">-Research shows that there can also be unintended consequences for students and especially students of color. They included higher rates of suspension and expulsions and in many cases arrests, which can set kids on a path to the criminal justice system for very minor offenses.<span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Many experts suggest that <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">restorative practices</i> have far better outcomes for both racial and ethnic minorities and the community as a whole.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">-Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School had an experienced, armed sheriff’s deputy on duty at the time of the horrible shooting; he never discharged his weapon. </span><span style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The video footage shows that the officer remained outside in a defensive position during the shooting.</span></span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s no surprise to me that we would consider a police officer on our school campuses. It has a way of making us feel safer, but just because we <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">feel</i> a certain thing doesn’t necessarily make it true. Sadly, the tragic massacres that have occurred in schools have highlighted the <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">limits </i>of school security measures rather than the benefits.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I wish I knew more, but after just an hour or two into my Google search, the mothball smell from the sash was making me nauseous and the Benromach threw me for a loop, so I had to call it quits for the evening, but based on the little that I’ve learned so far, I hope we’ll insist on researching other options before we give the green light to an idea that seems based in fear, but little else. <span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-755794475201903542018-12-12T13:07:00.001-08:002018-12-12T13:14:15.104-08:00Five Minutes<div style="background-color: white; font-family: cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<span style="color: black;">E. Boyer</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Blowers blow, mowers mow, hammers bang, babies
cry, music blares, doors slam, mufflers roar, dishes clink, balls bounce, birds
squawk, bells ring, drums beat, horns honk, and thusly on and on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">I read the thread, several weeks ago on <i>Nextdoor </i>about
a call to the authorities due to a dog barking while in the Dracena dog park. I
gathered from the thread that it’s been determined that five minutes of barking
is considered excessive. </span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">My goodness, five minutes? I should say from the
outset that I’m not bothered by barking dogs. Nor am I bothered by crying
babies, raucous party-goers or any of the other noisy things that exist.</span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">These aren’t things that I <i>love </i>hearing at 1:00
a.m., but day-to-day I see them as naturally occurring in a neighborhood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">To be a little miffed by barking is one thing, but to make the
decision to call law enforcement about it is, in my opinion, quite another.
Good heavens, how can we manage to get through the challenges of the day if we
can’t tolerate even five minutes of a barking dog? Why is the bark of a dog so
vexing?</span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Why, of all things is it barking that drives one to the fence or
to the phone to wage war? I ask sincerely because we often endure the year-long
cacophony of neighborhood home remodeling projects complete with jackhammering
and a poorly-tuned radio blaring day-in-day-out. Combine that with the
onslaught of vehicles that roll in at 7:45 a.m. and take-up every available
parking spot around your house, giant dumpsters and a port-a-potty all to the
sound of a table saw for 8 hours every day for the duration of the project.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">How about the neighbor whose conversations sound like the
bellowing of a drunken sailor? I have a neighbor who truly sounds like the
female version of Gilbert Gottfried and her loud voice never fails to
startle. </span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">It’s exactly what I imagine the public herald sounded like, making
announcements in the Roman Forum!</span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Call the police? Of course not, but I do attest
that it’s far more alarming than a barking dog.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Five a.m. walking groups, anyone? Indeed, and right below my
bedroom window I’m treated to what sounds like 5 or 6 energetic walkers
huffing, puffing and loudly chattering as if the whole world should be awake at
this hour.</span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Though initially surprised by the inconsiderate gabbing at such a
decibel and at such an hour, I confess I rather like it, now and use it as my
M,W,F alarm clock to get up and do a few sit-ups and jumping-jacks that I
otherwise wouldn’t do had my peaceful slumber not been interrupted. </span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">File a complaint? No, I chalk it up to the inconsiderate
obliviousness that currently plagues our society and use it to my advantage
with abs of steel from the aforementioned sit-ups.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">I find that these real-life examples help me put dog barking into
perspective. Full disclosure, however, it was nip-n-tuck a time or two with the
bellowing-drunken-sailor-lady.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">What happens once the barking culprit is identified? What does one
do with the dog once they’ve reached the five-minute limit? A muzzle?
Confinement? </span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">It doesn’t seem fitting, does it? Descendants of the ancient wolf,
their “wild ancestry ignited by the scent of a competing canine” only to be
squashed by a five-minute barking limit…oh, the injustice and humiliation put
upon such a storied creature!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">I suppose one could site the right to a peaceful existence, but
where does that begin and end? Isn’t the constantly complaining neighbor <i>also</i> nuisance?
As much as we’re entitled to a peaceful existence, are we not equally entitled
to the simple pleasure of walking the dog, knowing that the dog may behave as a
dog and occasionally bark?</span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">If you told me that a dog was barking
incessantly, day and night I would agree that intervention (and perhaps the
installation of triple-pane windows) might be in order, but five minutes? Let’s
face it; we decide what things we’ll tolerate and draw a line in the sand for
those that we won’t. Example:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Neighbor #1) Five minutes of barking = Is that the angels singing?
Oh, it’s just my barking dog.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Neighbor #2) Five minutes of dog barking = The Hounds of
Baskerville! Fetch my pistol!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Sigh…why must we take ourselves so seriously? For heaven’s sake,
from time to time could we just take a deep breath and ask ourselves; how big
of an ass am I being right now? If you’re calling the police for five minutes
of dog barking, the answer is <i>extra-large.</i></span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Couldn’t we gather-up just a tiny bit of tolerance?</span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Recruit a little patience? During this time when our country, nay
most of the world seems to be smothered with the weight of a droning,
hate-filled torrent, it seems that the sound of a barking dog would be
charming. No?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">To the woman who told of her experience on Nextdoor: I’m sorry to
hear about your episode with a complaining park neighbor. Honestly, I wouldn’t
give it a second thought.</span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">As long as there are barking dogs there will be
people to complain about them. </span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "inherit" , "serif"; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Such is the arrangement when neighbors and their
sensibilities intersect. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">So, bark if you will, dogs and complain if you must, neighbors,
but surely I won't be bothered by either. </span><span style="border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "" "emojifont" "" , "serif"; padding: 0in;">The
world is filled with noisy things and we have but a limited time to enjoy
them…woof!</span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-71867509922100538252018-07-11T21:10:00.006-07:002018-07-11T21:16:22.274-07:00Cotton Candy Kid<div class="MsoNormal">
E. Boyer<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTZu8QqU6OZcfy21z7Jk0JRTmjwIUtuRdgN35oXuiL5Ln-vXAvXUQ0wqDoRfbW85ZdhLRpJzK_nc0UhhairMNnJjahFy9qKH5y1enit8hYWNluF23Q3SJH5pev43bqjwfy0YMT230XsyS_/s1600/cotton+candy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="923" data-original-width="615" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTZu8QqU6OZcfy21z7Jk0JRTmjwIUtuRdgN35oXuiL5Ln-vXAvXUQ0wqDoRfbW85ZdhLRpJzK_nc0UhhairMNnJjahFy9qKH5y1enit8hYWNluF23Q3SJH5pev43bqjwfy0YMT230XsyS_/s320/cotton+candy.jpg" width="213" /></a>Our parade...Pipsy Tipsy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What a crowd! Chalk it up to good ‘ole Piedmont patriotism and the green
light to start drinking before noon! What’s the point of independence if not
the freedom to get shnockered on your front porch mid-morning?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What the heck, count me in! I happily take my
spot at curbside every year amidst the throng on Highland Avenue. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Ever the observer, I had a few thoughts:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Is it me or have we been short on floats the past few years?
Maybe I’m remembering it wrong or getting it mixed-up with parades from my
childhood, but it seems like we used to have more floats. I know we have flatbeds
with dancing kids atop and the occasional costumed parent, but I’m referring to
the papier-mache variety that takes 6 months to construct. Is the coveted
Highland Cup no longer enough to summon the fighting clansman spirit? Have we
lost the edge that drove us to our garages, attics and craft stores in search
of bits of inspiration that would crush the competing neighbor floats? Crepe paper,
plywood, bailing twine, chicken wire, all to achieve just the right finishing
touches to our float entries (Fourth of July <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and </i>Homecoming, for that matter.) I would have thought that the
younger crowd, now with children of their own, would take the reins; that seems
to be when this sort of inspiration is ignited. Not a criticism, just a
curiosity for the future of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think, perhaps the young folks, who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are</i>
typically the life-blood of such traditions aren’t in town for the Fourth as
often as they once were. Summering. Travelling. Camps. Today’s exhausted mother
of three will only once be convinced to stay in town for the parade if other
destinations beckon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that and it’s
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Sorry, the kids are going to camp and I’m
going to the lake for a week of peace and quiet. There’s a dock and a stack of magazines
and I don’t intend to miss either for 45 minutes of dogs and cars.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ouch! O.k., we get it; a hodge-podge of cars
(although this year they really were quite good!) lots of dogs in spangled
ribbon and a truly strange gaggle of men wearing inner tubes isn’t quite the
lure one needs to stay in town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Allow an old gal a few suggestions, keeping in mind that I
just returned from said parade and I write from my front porch where, indeed I
sit with a Bloody Mary into which I put 6 pieces of bacon, thus blaming the
following on sodium…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Throw the damned candy! Listen carefully; there is but one
reason that a child between the ages of 3 and 13 is interested in going to a
parade. Candy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, the only reason
kids this age get out of bed on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">any</i>
morning is the omnipresent hope that at some point during the day the
opportunity for candy might present itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I know; your kid <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“doesn’t really
like candy.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, they do and it’s
the only reason they want to go to the parade. Tossing peppermints or Tootsie
Rolls out of a car during a parade is like giving out toothbrushes on
Halloween.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s bunk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Full-size Kit Kats, folks!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rule of thumb; if it doesn’t leave a little
bruise when it bonks them on the forehead, it wasn’t big enough. The kids will
happily endure a little roughing-up as a means to an end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re kids and we’re talkin’ candy. They
understand the risks and it’s a mission they’re willing to accept.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Something to further ruffle the anti-candy-throwing feathers:
SuperSoakers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember those?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The giant, high-powered water gun with a 40-foot
stream!<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> </span>Why not take the take the sugar component to the next level?
You want a happy kid, blast ‘em in the kisser with an Icee-filled SuperSoaker…I
recommend cherry cola. Picture it; kids standing wide-mouthed like baby birds waiting
for the mayor or some other local such-and-such to take aim and fire. Shrieks of excitement all around! It would surpass
their wildest dreams and they would look upon being the “target” of such cold, sugary
goodnes<span style="background: white; font-family: "calibri";">s</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span>as the single most important
moment in their childhood. Yes, it’ll be messy; that’s why God created soap. The
Icee SuperSoaker. 100%, yes, yes, yes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cotton Candy. Forget the paper cone and let’s get a cotton candy
dunk tank; arms and legs straight into the spinner. Voila! Cotton candy kid!
It will instantly blow their little minds and they’ll be occupied for hours eating
the sugary web off of their own limbs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>C’mon, folks, get the little tykes off the devices and send them for a
full-body plunge into the cotton candy twirl-a-whirl! They’ll be revved-up like
Howler monkeys from all the sugar, but they’ll run it off afterwards at the
block party and then around 7:30 they’ll crash and burn and sleep like little
angels until morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A win-win! Now,
where’s the harm in that?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The giant Snail was an attention-grabber, no question. Why? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fire. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
see fire and it sparks our primal flame. We’re drawn to it’s hypnotic powers.
Fire invokes our inferno-powered superego.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We imagine ourselves flying in on the backs of fire-breathing dragons on
a mission of vengeance and retribution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Kids imagine a similar scenario, but with unicorns, minions and
hamsters....all fire-breathing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes,
indeed, fire stirs the soul and gives an event such as a parade a certain flare
that can’t be underestimated. As this year’s fire-breathing snail began it’s
journey down Highland I had a moment of concern that it’s flames might set
ablaze the arc of balloons overhead and wouldn’t that have been a spectacle?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, I quickly reminded myself that Piedmont
prides itself on a phenomenal fire department and they’d have us covered in the
event of any such mishap. And by the way, given that papier-mache might make a
comeback it’s not unreasonable to imagine that mishaps could occur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, going forward I say that the float with
the biggest fire component is the clear winner!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s all
I have in the way of suggestions for the parade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, this is precisely why they won’t let me
sit on the parade committee.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Happy summer!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next
stop, 7-Eleven for an Icee, which could be a disaster after all that bacon. <o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-65619889227235809462017-11-01T17:31:00.000-07:002017-11-01T17:31:27.073-07:00Pancakes, then off the cliff<div class="p1">
E. Boyer</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
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Something pleasant, to start…Sunday morning is often dad-duty in Piedmont. I seldom venture much beyond Piedmont on Sundays, therefore my Sunday observations are limited to these 10.5 square miles. If you haven’t experienced an early Piedmont Sunday morning on foot, I must caution that you’re “pleasant experience account” is at a deficit. Piedmont, in the early hours before all the gears start churning is hard to beat. It’s a lovely calm of green and quiet and in these pre-sunshine hours, the charming, old houses, tended lawns and thoughtful little parks are beautifully softened with an air-brushing of sorts, a magical gauzy filter that the best photo app could never recreate. </div>
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It’s in these wee Sunday hours that dads and kids are soft-shoeing around the grass and play structures and sandy pits. Some sit silently enjoying their coffee, observing as their toddlers explore the curiosities that abound, allowing them to teeter and tumble, dig, poke, prod and occasionally eat things that aren’t necessarily food. Others take the opportunity to impart wisdom on how best to stack the twigs or mold the sand; once the goopy blob resembles something, they give their final assessment with cheerful enthusiasm, <i>“You made a pancake! That’s very impressive!” </i>I can’t help but wonder if the toddler thought it looked more like Howard, the family dog. It doesn’t matter. It’s dads and kids spending a glorious morning in the park...love and quality-time wrapped into one. It’s this softer side of Piedmont that is so completely enchanting. </div>
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Once the gears in our town <i>do</i> start to churn and the day-to-day starts rolling it can be harder to spot those tender moments….</div>
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Just up the hill from the charming father-child scene there’s the still-contentious lawn over which, it’s rumored, never-seen Methusela’esque creatures stand watch in the event that a dog cavorts about and mucks it up, rendering the lawn useless; for what, I don’t know. I would have thought that cavorting dogs were the very purpose of such a grassy patch. Turns out, you can get a hefty ticket for that. Such a silly thing.</div>
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From there it veers off the cliff. Topics that used to seem paramount are now trivial side notes; the abysmally sub-standard community pool, a so-called athletic director hired under questionable circumstances, cell towers, the lack of transparency within the PUSD, playfields, acts of hate and racism in our schools. Those have all been put on the back burner these past few months when a controversial Mayor, Facebook<span class="s1"> </span>and un-fit teachers took center stage.</div>
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There was a time when I foolishly thought social media might be a handy tool for recipe exchanges and seeing photos of friends and family in distant corners. Focus your audio, folks: if you plan on dipping your toe in the political pool on Facebook, gird yourself sufficiently; it’s not for the tender hearted. </div>
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You see, our President is off his kadoova, which has emboldened some to spout their inner-most ugly thoughts in the form of <i>posts,</i> which in turn has all the “friends” on Facebook bickering like wild cats. Honestly, the fur was flying. It goes something like this: you snuggle-up on your couch in your stretchy weekend pants with a bowl of Kettle Chips, a glass of wine and laptop at the ready. Then, you log onto Facebook and as if by witchcraft you suddenly feel cloaked in anonymity and<br />
un-touchability. You see a post that gets in your craw and before you know it you’re typing a blue streak; teeth grinding, expletives flying, jaw clenching and then it happens…you hit the button that lets the whole world know your darkest stretchy-pants-wine-and-kettle chip-induced thoughts. And just like that you go from being a regular old city council member and Mayor to an absolute oddity and outcast. Poof!</div>
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Sadly, there’s another troubling topic on Piedmont’s list of current events: in the coming weeks we’ll hear a lot of about the difference between a crime and something that is merely inappropriate. We’ll hear that men have been objectifying women and girls since the beginning of time. We’ll hear that the only reason this is coming about is because of the Harvey Weinstein accusers. Don’t be fooled or intimidated, folks. The PUSD and it’s band of unconditional supporters will defend the institution like Davey Crockett at the Alamo. It’s a blindness that I truly cannot comprehend. Administrative leave? God sakes, is Mr. Booker so far gone that he can’t see even the most obvious wrongdoing? When will this public servant rise to the position and stop putting on a show at the expense of our children? Why we would ever tolerate such abhorrent behavior from someone charged with educating our children is beyond me. I often wonder why, in a situation like this we don’t storm the walls and demand that a teacher such as the one on this case be immediately removed. How I long for a bit of activism! Achieve the honorable? My goodness, Mr. Booker, we aren’t even coming close.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-66683071201387049722016-06-21T09:45:00.002-07:002016-06-21T10:17:48.102-07:00Packaged<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">E. Boyer</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpvsFOhdh9PAfZdiUYYOEhj9a0MVzXnKiewlmLxr0sAo0xExure33VaAdslkqzfs-H6n6GwJ-acbz2K4JAEs-eegsEe-WvcKzhyphenhyphenrtpETwCALP7HYrZyYbrgukys7TcBEu2t49hlng6DouF/s1600/hot.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpvsFOhdh9PAfZdiUYYOEhj9a0MVzXnKiewlmLxr0sAo0xExure33VaAdslkqzfs-H6n6GwJ-acbz2K4JAEs-eegsEe-WvcKzhyphenhyphenrtpETwCALP7HYrZyYbrgukys7TcBEu2t49hlng6DouF/s200/hot.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The flags of the world, plants of the Canary Islands and thousands of bits and pieces about the continents. Those were things I learned from out-of-date copies of National Geographic that were buried in a giant pile high along the walls of my uncle Gil’s tool shed along with innumerable copies of The Saturday Evening Post, Life and the somewhat saucy for that time, Men’s Adventure.
My ability to chime in on any Gilbert and Sullivan sing-along can be traced to the tip-top radio show, Information Please. Politics 1A came to me via a crackly radio broadcast and the haze of my father’s cigarette smoke at our little breakfast table. I don’t imagine this would be considered the <i>“educationally appropriate comfortable and secure learning environment” </i>that Mr. Booker envisions for the facilities upgrade – but a learning environment it was. I offer this only to suggest the subjectivity of the matter. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Yes, it’s predictable that talk of a $65 million bond in this small town with it’s small school enrollment will get the old gal to the typewriter, but not for the reasons you might imagine. I actually think a new facility is a good idea. Familiar eyes often fail to see the deterioration of a thing, which explains the dated wallpaper in so many of our bathrooms. I like the change-the-carpet-every-five-years-whether-it-needs-it-or-not motto. A drab and dreary space is just that. But with regard to the schools, there are two things going on that bother me. Neither is about the bond, itself, but about the predictable presentation and the thing that’s missing. </span><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> The presentation </span></u><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Why must we always be sold a bill of goods? Why not simply say that we want something new rather than package-up our desire as an urgent need? <i>“A positive school climate in which kids can learn?” “Educationally appropriate learning environment?”</i>
For heaven’s sake, this is such meaningless speech. Fluffy filler in a term paper written an hour before the deadline. What does this gibberish even mean? We have a tendency to sound the alarm when we decide we want something new. I haven’t noticed the desperately needed wheelchair accessible issues being addressed at the Alan Harvey Theater. Anyone remember that? After all the shameful exploitive tactics for funding I would have thought, at the very least, a handicap ramp would have been installed by now.
Seems the egos of those in charge of the failed bond measure trumped the needs of those in wheelchairs. I imagine this bond will be “packaged” in much the same way. Perhaps this time a child suffering from heat exhaustion in a classroom will be depicted on lawn signs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Would I approve a bond for $65 million? Absolutely. Will I approve it without a definitive plan by a professional with a track record of success and with assurances for time and budget, instead leaving the allocation of funds at the discretion of what a few school officials deem an <i>“educationally appropriate learning environment?” </i> Absolutely not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Last month, Swiss engineers finished the 35.4-mile Gotthard Railway Tunnel, which bores clear through the Alps. That’s high-speed rail running deep beneath the Alps, folks… Germany to Italy in 20 minutes. It took 17 years and was completed on time and on budget. On time and on budget. I’m no engineer, but I think this means they had a plan. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Three of our schools were renovated within this last decade, but (oops!) the climate control was never addressed. Air conditioning units were discussed, but they were thought esthetically unappealing and not in the budget. Good Lord. Before this proposed bond goes on the ballot, shouldn’t we have a real plan as opposed to a flippity-jib of flowery adjectives? An educationally appropriate learning environment to some could mean uncle Gil’s tool shed and a brand new air-conditioned building to others. I’m just not convinced that Mr. Booker’s definition of an</span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> “educationally appropriate learning environment,” </i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">whatever that is, constitutes a master plan. Call me fussy, but I need a little more to make an informed decision.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing I do know is that all public works projects require an engineering, construction and architect’s estimate and a timeline for completion, regardless of the number of job phases, none of which we have for this project. This makes me think that $65 million has little to do with a specific construction plan and more to do with the fact that it represents 100% of the district’s bond capacity. Which, in turn, makes me feel like the current plan is “Hey, the money is there, let’s grab it and figure the rest out later.” Not exactly the transparency our community deserves. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u> The thing that’s missing</u> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> But here’s the rub. Why in heaven’s name are we’re talking about improving the physical space when we’re cutting programs? Is it just me or does this seem like remodeling the kitchen when we can’t afford to buy food? Do we want a sparkling new facility? Yes, who wouldn’t? But why aren’t we giving any attention to a bond that would enhance education. That’s the only reason we send our children to school.
I’m told it’s because there’s no real way to sell education. Built-in tutoring and enrichment programs can’t really be packaged in a way that gets people excited about writing checks. According to one source, permanent walls and air conditioning sell, but education...not so much.
The thinking is that there just isn’t a way to take a plan for tutoring and other academic enhancements, package them up in a tidy bond and present it to the public. Too vague and non-tangible.
I disagree. There are plenty of educators and students who I believe could plan it, package it, present it and put it into action. Students are struggling under the stress of keeping up academically. We all know it, but we don’t like to talk about it because it isn’t wonderful.
If we have the wherewithal to raise $65 million dollars for our schools, shouldn’t a big portion of it be put toward education? For the life of me, I’ll never understand this. But then, what do I know? I learned world history in a tool shed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Piedmont being Piedmont, I’m sure we’ll soon have new facilities and students will continue to muddle through homework on the their own during the wee hours. And so, as I surrender to this existing state of affairs, I offer a suggestion.
While we’re working on a plan that might at least take HVAC into consideration, this time around, how ‘bout a few aesthetically unappealing air-conditioning units and a meeting...maybe with the Swiss.
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-28612469131824551492015-04-30T09:10:00.002-07:002015-04-30T09:28:09.125-07:00First, Fourth, SecondOh, we’ve got trouble. Right here in River City. That’s trouble with a capital “T” and that rhymes with “P” and stands for pretty funny how you go from 4th to 2nd unbeknownst to the judges. This is a small town, folks. When stories go ‘round about backroom shenanigans at the 50th annual Leonard J. Waxdeck Bird Calling contest, not only will the birds returneth again to their nest, but they’ll ruffle a few feathers when they get there! Angry Birds will suddenly take on a whole new meaning! In other words, some among us may take such things seriously. Judging by the 200+ in attendance at the Champagne and Strawberry Party, honoring Mr. Waxdeck and the 50th Anniversary of the contest, there are quite a few who do, indeed take the contest and it’s reputation seriously.
Slightly off topic, I must take a moment to say that, were Mr. Waxdeck alive, he would have been humbled by such a special event, held at the home of Ron and Gloria Gruber on Saturday, the night after the contest itself. It was the sort of party that, sadly, has become a scarcity. A charming, more genteel side of Piedmont that is now often drowned-out by an abundance of ill-mannered blow-hards. This was a party of Piedmont’s quiet and confident, pleasant and at ease. Think of it as Piedmont’s true power-players, but the ones with manners. If you missed it, you missed Piedmont at it’s finest. An afternoon to savor.
Back to the feather-ruffling…
As far as I can tell, the group of contestants who won second place, were scratched at the last minute and the fourth place group was somehow bumped-up to the second place spot. How do you bump-up fourth and disregard third altogether? Shouldn’t third have been bumped to second? More importantly, why was second scratched in the first place? I imagine there’s a good explanation, but I hereby give fair warning that some are crying “Cock-a-doodle-dooty!” You see, when you tinker with the reputation of the 50-year tradition that put Piedmont on the map nationally, you also tinker with the sensibilities of those who put that tradition in place. If home-cooking is suspected in the bird calling contest, it will render it nothing more than a sham. That’s tinkering, with a capital T! A bird is known by his feathers, Mr. Brown. Unless you want to be known as the yellow-bellied dodo who hurled the bird calling contest into extinction, you just might wanna clear things up for us.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHd8npfcP7POEdeYGKnQK36fCJaKSIx_uBAttHP_NGRGabK421ulzfCMr7lbkpluu4fez7nxRwrGyGOGUEW-dPj5X2Nt0AfQJU5k_EJXMt9X-DK2eviOkb48jBt1D57TFMnwvAApuvtndv/s1600/bird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHd8npfcP7POEdeYGKnQK36fCJaKSIx_uBAttHP_NGRGabK421ulzfCMr7lbkpluu4fez7nxRwrGyGOGUEW-dPj5X2Nt0AfQJU5k_EJXMt9X-DK2eviOkb48jBt1D57TFMnwvAApuvtndv/s320/bird.jpg" /></a></div>Fifty years of tradition translates to a lot of old birds and old birds are hard to pluck. Cuckaw!! Cuckaw!!
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-45695109917116223482015-04-15T17:53:00.001-07:002015-04-15T17:59:49.317-07:00Quasimodo Hump<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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E. Boyer<br />
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I suppose I’ve evolved<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></i>After the typical resistance and the standard learning curve, I’ve adapted and caught-on to most of the current technology.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>A liberal old bird, I like to think that I’m a forward thinker and doing my darndest to stay current. <span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I cut out the carbs, subscribe to Netflix, have a smart phone, pay my bills online, I’m not shocked or surprised by sexuality, I’m fascinated by other cultures, I watched Breaking Bad (although, I was never fully convinced that Walter’s career move was very well thought out,) I’ve resisted the Rockports and elastic-waist pants (unless absolutely necessary,) I get my boarding pass via text and I’ve added things like agave syrup and coconut oil to my pantry. Truly, I’m at least in the game, as they say, at staying relevant. However, there is something that has me feeling a little old and cranky…</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I know we can’t put the genie back in the bottle and I do, in fact, find texting enormously handy.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>But, for heaven’s sake, it’s becoming a bit of a plague..an opiate, of sorts.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>We seem so bound by the technology that many of us exist in a state of profound mental dullness, paralyzed and unable to complete sentences or tasks without a constant checking and re-checking of our "screen." Teenagers, as a result of their nearly constant static, hunched-over position have developed a Quasimodo hump!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Men and women with an assumed knowledge of certain etiquette have all but abandoned these rules in favor of scrolling through an endless stream of Facebook updates and old text conversations<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21px;">while in the midst of a conversation!<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span> Why accept a dinner invitation, if you spend the evening looking down at your phone?<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Wouldn’t it be better to stay at home? There’s no benefit in having you in attendance if you have nothing to contribute.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Research suggests that cell phones may inhibit our ability to connect with the people right next to us and there are now commercials urging parents to put down their cell phones and practice talking to their children.<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 15pt; line-height: 28px;"> <span style="line-height: 28px;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21px;">Practice!</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 15pt; line-height: 28px;"><span style="line-height: 28px;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21px;">Which is to say we’ve all but forgotten how it’s done!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Well, my heaven’s… a very sad state, indeed.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21px;">I suppose this is a stale opinion to many and as a society, I believe we’ve come to accept the deficit of social skills associated with cell phone usage.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>But, for the record, </span>I simply can’t abide.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>There are far too many interesting people/places/things that deserve my full attention.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I find it altogether worrisome when I think of the potential blight associated with this constant disconnectedness.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I’m not sure that the <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">bad</i> in this particular Pandora’s Box is worth the bit of good.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I was in a local coffee shop recently and noticed a little girl of about 3 years old and her father having breakfast together.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>The little girl chatted away while her father scrolled through his cell phone.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>She asked endless questions to which her father never responded.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>She would wait for a second or two in hopes of a response and then sadly look away and continue chatting to herself and poking around at her muffin.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I still feel like crying. If only he knew that in an instant, she won’t look the same, she won’t sound the same, she won’t <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">be</i> the same.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>He’ll blink and just like that..she’ll be grown-up.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>If he knew, he might have put down his phone.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Hindsight.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Honestly, the child would have been better off having breakfast with one of the overly caffeinated “regulars.”<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Lively conversation with a stranger would have been more beneficial to the young girl than enduing the pointless, empty vessel that her parent was proving to be that morning.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Please, folks, take your thumbs out of the scroll-ready position, stand up and look out toward the vast horizon that awaits.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">No, it’s not something new..you just forgot about it while you were looking at dog memes.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Say “hello” to your family members and ask them about their day.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">When they respond, maintain eye contact no matter how strong the urge to check the latest Pinterest boards for organization and storage ideas.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Keep both hands on the wheel until you reach your destination and remember that nothing in your in-box is ever groundbreaking…is it?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Be honest.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">They say that progress can often introduce problems.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Judging by the dullness and Quasimodo humps, I’d have to agree!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Chicken pot-pie, anyone?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-20678695230361329512015-04-01T13:42:00.005-07:002015-04-01T13:42:53.836-07:00The Big Top and Two Other Items<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">“The more things change the more they stay
the same.” </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ahhh, truer words have never been spoken…or
written, to be precise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would this not have
been a delightful time for Alphonse Karr to write for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Piedmont Post?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>A heyday for
the keen satirist!<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Didn’t someone in
weeks past predict that Mr. Booker would be the new Superintendent and
therefore why waste taxpayer dollars on the search?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could have sworn I read that
somewhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to say that it was a bit
of letdown after all the drumroll and Ivy League chatter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was expecting a Leland Stanford and instead
got more of a P.T. Barnum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go
figure!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why not throw in a couple of
show ponies to sit on the school board and we’d have ourselves a three-ring circus!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">But, since we
chose the path of least resistance, I have to wonder if we might just as well
have skipped the faux superintendent search and put the taxpayer dollars to
better use in, say…the classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know,
I’m like a broken record…classroom, classroom, classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So boring and yet so crucial to things like...a
school. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #2a2c2f; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><b>"Ladies and Gentlemen,
Children of all Ages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Welcome to the
Greatest Show on Earth!"</b><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br />
P.S.</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #2a2c2f; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"> </span></i>Two items in last
week’s Post that didn’t make it to the Big Top, but I just had to mention:</div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
1) <i>Do You want To Sleep With Me?</i><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Good Christ!! Mr. Wieler, please don’t <u>ever </u>write those words
again. Sheesh!!</span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
22) Mr. Hoag, be assured that my traditional,
wood-burning fireplace soothes my troubled soul at this very moment with it’s
glowing embers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, a wood burning
fireplace is second only to chicken pot pie on my “warm and fuzzy list.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, surely you’ve read about the
inefficiencies of such a fireplace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Soul-soothing, indeed, but one of those new-fangled, energy efficient
gas jobs might make your home even more attractive to the
environmentally/health minded types who are buying houses these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heck, you might want to install one now while
you still live there so you can enjoy it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Imbeciles everywhere are doing it! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Helpful hint: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imbecile</i> may not be your most <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">effective</i>
choice for addressing the folks at the BAAQMD. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just saying…</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-53144845471332121262015-03-18T18:59:00.001-07:002017-11-02T18:17:14.910-07:00And They Come Out Swinging<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9AgwqhGTs_m96_Lfbe_LE48nbj1FHLB4OBlPUSIAO1XtGbO3JRGP3eeUQ9qLXAuZz8fH9n_Oqf0xW7uBqGO9aEW_JvUVOjzYjGRGS9BnUK1d9WA4_MOZWlIS3vb3n_Q2WbgI3CILqid4/s1600/boxing+bell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg9AgwqhGTs_m96_Lfbe_LE48nbj1FHLB4OBlPUSIAO1XtGbO3JRGP3eeUQ9qLXAuZz8fH9n_Oqf0xW7uBqGO9aEW_JvUVOjzYjGRGS9BnUK1d9WA4_MOZWlIS3vb3n_Q2WbgI3CILqid4/s1600/boxing+bell.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></span><br />
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<u>E. Boyer</u></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;"><br /></span></span>
I think we’re making progress.</span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px;"> "Newspaper bickering," as I like to call it, seems to have settled down a bit. </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;">For a while, there it felt like we were on the verge of another epic Piedmont showdown..reading </span><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">The Post </span></i><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;">has been a little like sitting ringside at Madison Square Garden!</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></span><br />
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">Based on what I’ve read and with the word </span><i style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">superintendent</i><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;"> now permanently</span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">emblazoned</span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #ac193d; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">on my corneas, the latest topic for a potential Ali-Frazier redux seems to be that of the search for a new superintendent.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">I’m not preparing you for a sermon on my thoughts regarding the next superintendent or how we should conduct the search.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">Heaven knows we’ve *</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">ahem*<b style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px;"> </b></span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">covered that sufficiently!</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">Full disclosure?</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">I’m not as interested as I should be.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">There.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">I said it.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">I know all of the reasons </span><i style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">why </i><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">I should be interested, but I’m just not.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">It’s rather like the recent movie, </span><i style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Boyhood.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></i><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">I was supposed to like it and I was told it was brilliant.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">The truth is that I found it boring and the only thing I thought brilliant about it was the marketing that convinced everyone that it was brilliant.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">I did, however, find the “emperor’s new clothes syndrome” that it produced, genuinely fascinating.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">But, since we already have someone </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #ac193d; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">covering </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">movie reviews in </span><i style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The Post</i><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">, I’ll stick to the superintendent saga.</span></div>
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px;">Based on the around-town-chatter, some of us may or may not have gone a titch too far.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>How far is too far?<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Society has a way of letting us know.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>We might ignore one’s frequent intoxicated episodes, but privately, we find them sophomoric and uninteresting.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>And, we might smile politely at the delivery of yet another know-it-all sermon, but it mostly reinforces our decision to scratch you from the </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #ac193d; line-height: normal;">short-</span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">list </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;">for being insufferable.</span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;">Indeed, there are the unspoken limits, which when exceeded can land you in the penalty box. </span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;">So, how far was too far in the “superintendent situation?”</span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;">Well, there are always two sides and in this case, they’ve been described thusly:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Side A: Too far with less-than-transparent handling of a public issue that demands transparency and a whole lot of cockamamie in-house shuffling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Side B: Too far with scrutinizing the aforementioned issue under something akin to deep-space capable magnification! I think we’ve reached node lambda on the scrutiny (and coverage) of this one.</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Yep, just like that and our local newspaper turned into a hot bed of cuckoo-pants!!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;">Like any town, Piedmont has issues that can be polarizing.</span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;">Measure E, which happened, the community pool complex which didn't, Moraga Canyon playfield..didn't, the under grounding fiasco..did, and Measure H, which didn’t.</span><span style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;">The list goes on and on. </span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;">You win some, you lose some.</span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;">Sadly, differing opinions have the power to sever life-long friendships.</span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: normal;">It’s hard to believe that people in our town still don’t speak to one another because of plans for a sports field.</span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Funny, how topics of School officials, theater renovations and sports fields can throw everyone into a psychotic state while issues of much greater consequence are mostly hushed.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I’ll never understand it.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Ahh, well…first world problems, for the most part here in Piedmont.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Not bad when you consider the bigger picture. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Still, I can’t help but wonder if sometimes we’re a little too eager to put up our dukes when we disagree. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Up next?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The discussion about short-term rentals in Piedmont.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Ding, ding, ding...and they come out swinging!!</span></div>
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</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-52710651572766664662014-06-11T18:29:00.000-07:002014-06-11T18:30:49.035-07:00Fruit Punch, Anyone?E. Boyer<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw5mXzdyi70mKfPnv2YjZHpL9TTyQhLlq2KDF3KFqkM0pXAA2aOX6Rv4ZwVyk9mOwC7_vINLZJjxKEk-Mgo9eDFeCdEbw4PRAzm7nziIiFQGTwE0YkXdbIL2mECsGoy7EKMG3tr52x1fHQ/s1600/punch+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw5mXzdyi70mKfPnv2YjZHpL9TTyQhLlq2KDF3KFqkM0pXAA2aOX6Rv4ZwVyk9mOwC7_vINLZJjxKEk-Mgo9eDFeCdEbw4PRAzm7nziIiFQGTwE0YkXdbIL2mECsGoy7EKMG3tr52x1fHQ/s1600/punch+2.jpg" height="258" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: large; line-height: normal;">For the record I’m not a teetotaler and I enjoy a gin and tonic on occasion.<span style="line-height: 22px;"> <span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span></span>But, maybe because I’m old and my brain is fully developed and unlike a teenager, I understand that I’m<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;">not</i><span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span>invincible and I know that one drink is good and that 8 are not.<span style="line-height: 22px;"> <span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span></span>It’s one of the benefits of being older.<span style="line-height: 22px;"> <span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span></span>Teenagers, no matter how intelligent, don’t have this advantage and even those at the top of the class don't have the ability to see the long-term consequences that drinking can bring.<span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span>With that in mind, the PHS 2014 graduation ceremony scheduled for tomorrow and with the long standing tradition of alcohol at graduation parties, I offer two things:<span style="line-height: 22px;"> <span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span></span>a column on the same topic, originally titled <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;">No, Mom, I Don't Want A Glass Of Chardonnay, </i>first printed in the<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;">Post</i><span style="line-height: 22px;"> in 2010 </span>and a few sobering thoughts.</span></div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: large; line-height: normal;">The sobering thoughts:</span></div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: large; line-height: normal;">*According to the Center for Disease Control 62% of high school seniors admit to binge drinking. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: large; line-height: normal;">*A California Highway Patrol study has shown that “by far, the highest number of teen drunk driving<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><u style="line-height: 22px;">fatalities<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span></u>happen on graduation night.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">*</span><span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span>A young person's<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/neuroscience" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;">brain</span></a><span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span>is still developing well into the twenties and can be harmed by excessive drinking. Studies have shown that alcohol can cause long-term damage to the brain and impair<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/memory" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;">memory</span></a>, coordination, and movement. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: large; line-height: normal;"> And, the column:</span></span><br />
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #262626; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Ahhhh, high school graduation. Our talented young fledglings leaving the nest, flying high on to their bright and promising futures. Filled with dreams and optimism about the adventures they’ll soon embark upon. So scholarly in their cap and gown often draped with a colorful flower lei for a touch of whimsy. The weather cooperates fully in deference to the significance of the day and the stands are filled to capacity with adoring relatives. Yes indeed, this is the stuff of which dreams are made. Wait…whatha..why is that child vomiting? Come to think of it, all of these promising young graduates look a little green around the gills. Oh, for corn sakes! Is it possible that the little Einsteins are hungover?!? Well, pick your chin up off the floor, what did you expect? Most of them are coming from an all-nighter that one of the families hosted to honor the young darlings. I know, I know, the legal drinking age is 21 in the state of California but apparently in Piedmont this law is open to interpretation. So, fast forward and here we are with hungover high school graduates because somebody’s parent had the bright idea that the best way to be popular in their child’s eyes would be to host the teenage cocktail party. And yes, Mrs. Takeyourbrainoutofyourass, wine and champagne are, in fact, still considered alcohol. And no, serving it in pretty little glasses doesn’t change that. Being drunk after 17 crystal flutes of champagne served in someone’s beautifully landscaped yard is no different than being drunk from 7 shots of Tequilla served up at the local bar. Seriously guys, what’s the deal with this? #1 It’s illegal. #2 It’s dangerous. #3 No, none of the kids think you’re cool, in fact they find you downright immature and creepy and if the alcohol doesn’t make them vomit, being served a drink by someone’s scantily clad mom definitely will. Yep…”pathetic” is the word one student used to summarize their opinion of the parents at a few of such gatherings. Well, for heaven’s sake, that’s sad. To put all that time and energy into planning the perfect party, the countless hours deciding between Merlot or Cabernet, Margarita or Cosmopolitan, Corona or Trumer Pilsner and then to be thought of as merely <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;">pathetic. </i>Gee, that’s…well…pathetic! Tip: Six words a high school student <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;">never </i>wants to hear muttered from his parents lips while at a party..”<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;">Sweetheart, would you like a beer?”</i> <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;">Uh..no, mom. Actually, what I was hoping for was a positive role model, love and guidance and for you to be my rock in this rough and unpredictable river of life. And while you’re at it, could you please stop trying to be cool in front of my friends? You already had your turn at being a kid and it’s our turn, now. We’ll secretly get our own beer if we want it and there are way more important things you could be helping us with.</i> Seriously, that’s what they’re saying. Congrats class of 2014! Yes, most of you really are smarter than your parents!</span></span></div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: #262626; line-height: 22px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-size: large; line-height: normal;">Send 'em off safely, folks..they'll have plenty of irresponsible drinking opportunities when they're in college and it's .ok. to give them other options at home. Fruit Punch comes to mind! Try the old classic made with frozen lemonade, Hawaiian Punch, ginger-ale and rainbow sherbet..they'll love it!! It's<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 22px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><span style="line-height: 22px; text-indent: 0px !important;">never<span class="ecxApple-converted-space" style="line-height: 22px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span></span></i>too late to set a good example.</span></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-66923189652416983762014-06-04T16:05:00.002-07:002014-06-04T19:58:39.107-07:00RocketsGood Lord..please excuse the ghastly title they used in the Post!! This column was meant to be titled simply <i>Rockets</i>. <br />
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E. Boyer<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFrSNOA38deXyVzh_DCSv7AQiUxna5Jyx-mbXfl0OqJbqcw4E7jzL4kfC9h3X4WUSohaDlPWMP7BcEjlEW4DuPDkMDGNsGt-_H2wKpq0pRp1KIktcYt7osIK7vOoOgt3e11Cf2pAu1712I/s1600/modelrocket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFrSNOA38deXyVzh_DCSv7AQiUxna5Jyx-mbXfl0OqJbqcw4E7jzL4kfC9h3X4WUSohaDlPWMP7BcEjlEW4DuPDkMDGNsGt-_H2wKpq0pRp1KIktcYt7osIK7vOoOgt3e11Cf2pAu1712I/s1600/modelrocket.jpg" height="320" width="204" /></a>When I was growing up, we built rockets. We would spend our weekends in pleasant-weather months collecting balsa wood scraps, paint and sundry other items and constructing the most elaborate hodge-podge of model rockets.<br />
We would all gather in the field just below our elementary school and from sun-up to sun-down, watch with anticipation as we took turns launching them into the sky, marveling whenever a plain, unassuming model would reach greater heights than all the others. Yes, there was a time when kids could walk into the local Woolworths and buy explosives – firecrackers, Cherry Bombs, Piccolo Petes, Roman Candles, Jumbo Magic Snakes, Ground Spinners, Repeaters and Mega Sparklers, all with nary a glance from the checkout clerk. Indeed, a thing of the past.<br />
We weren't very well put out back then. At best we were a homely but congenial pack and no one knew us outside of our miniscule circle of family and friends. We were insignificant. But, during those rocket-launching afternoons, we were famous!<br />
Unless you grew up on the rural outskirts, you may not be aware that staking claim on the abandoned fort in the woods of the previous year's graduating class was a coveted rite of passage...think of it as a fraternity/sorority house take-over for the underprivileged. And as children without electronic devices did back in those days, we would re-tell the day's events in such a fort. The stories would often become exaggerated, with bigger explosives and higher heights and our imaginations knew no bounds...we lived in city apartments with important books stacked floor to ceiling, we stood in front of classrooms and talked about important things, we built futuristic cars, we became doctors and cured everyone, we wrote books and we went to the moon. After all, we built rockets and launched them high into the sky...certainly, we could do anything. Such was our dream-soaked childhood.<br />
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I don't think kids these days are building forts in the woods, or buying explosives at Woolworths, but according to an article I read in the Post, they<i> are</i> building "hovercrafts." Yes...from scraps and ingenuity, Piedmont Middle School students achieved actual lift-off a few weeks ago on a San Mateo school blacktop in the world's largest Maker Faire. I hope when they gather together with sketches, wood scraps, gadgets and such that they relax for awhile, laze around on the warm pavement and imagine wild and ambitious things for themselves. I hope from their science symposium afternoons, thoughts spring forth of apartments with even more books, standing in front of bigger classrooms talking about even more important things, building even better cars and solving the most troublesome of problems. I hope they imagine being part of significant things and I hope they imagine going to the moon. After all, they have built hovercrafts, so certainly they can do anything.<br />
Well done, you dreamers of dreams!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-16385789108320010742014-05-21T13:12:00.002-07:002014-05-21T13:15:23.649-07:00The Jackass CategoryE. Boyer<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Rxa-8BVssgnKRdUXmyXp97p3Cy6KHyRhqVqSEJqXlKO7PV_Lo2FNwbKBm11SSgFHiXrZKAvnl5BFDk_A13-MZfZuFXPwKm76Nv9fdfX2AS7VMDbQcgIKBljnv0PgLoBC7lrhc7zjJADA/s1600/chorus+line.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Rxa-8BVssgnKRdUXmyXp97p3Cy6KHyRhqVqSEJqXlKO7PV_Lo2FNwbKBm11SSgFHiXrZKAvnl5BFDk_A13-MZfZuFXPwKm76Nv9fdfX2AS7VMDbQcgIKBljnv0PgLoBC7lrhc7zjJADA/s1600/chorus+line.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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Do
we need a new theater? Yes. Is it because someone fell off the stage
or tripped down the steps? No. I understand that most students who
participated in theater during their high school years hold dear
memories of camaraderie beneath the dusty, backstage rafters and moments
of center-stage glory. It makes sense that they would fiercely defend
their theater's right to enhancements and that they would carry the
torch of thespian pride. But, to cite falling off the stage, tripping
down the steps or simply having fond memories as justification for the
theater's renovation isn't exactly compelling. Understandable from
nostalgic, young college students, but not compelling. Still, I think
even among the most devoted of PHS theater alumni we'd be hard pressed
to find any who would agree with the notion that decreasing the number
of seats in such an elaborate remodel is a good idea. Their letters to
the editor may be sophomoric, but the students aren't unintelligent. </div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Students
in support of their old theater is admirable. Charming, in fact.
What's abhorrent is the exploitation of one community member's
disability as a pitch for the project. I honestly feel like crying
every time I see the marketing pieces and lawn signs for Measure H...a
thoughtless design as if someone used the first wheelchair image they
found on a Google search and rushed to print so they could sound the
accessibility alarm as quickly as possible. I'm embarrassed and ashamed
that our town is using one young man in particular and disabled people
in general in this terrible way. It seems our audacity knows no bounds
when it comes to getting what we want. If addressing the needs of
disabled community members is the reason for the new theater, why wasn't
the theater made more accessible long ago with ramps, appropriate
seating areas and larger bathrooms? Now, when we want funds for a new
theater we're suddenly passionate about the need for improved
accessibility? Folks, why do we do this? Every time we want something
we cry "safety" and now, for this particular project, we're adding
"accessibility." With Havens, an epic collapse was surely just ahead if
we didn't rush to replace it, crushing all of the children inside.
Now, with the theater it's suddenly about the urgent need for
trip-proof stairs and improved accessibility. Why can't we just say
that we want a shiny new theater instead of using someone's disability
to garner support? Don't we <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">assume</i> that
any school renovation project will include upgrades for safety and
accessibility..isn't it a requirement? Why are we waving it around as
though it's our thoughtful gift to the disabled community? I'm <u style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;">disgusted</i> </u>and it might surprise you to know that <span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;">I'm in favor of a new theater even at the ridiculous cost because I understand that this is how things work in Piedmont.</span> But,
these latest shenanigans by whomever is steering this behemoth is so
infuriating to me that it's given me pause to reconsider. It would be
nice if occasionally we could refrain from turning into jackasses every
time a project is in the pipeline and using someone's disability as a<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </i>marketing tactic<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </i>absolutely
falls into the jackass category. Are they corrupt? Lazy? Indifferent?
Certainly not. I think people who get involved with such an undertaking
have only good intentions, but somewhere in the process they often lose
their minds and the whole things starts to resemble a carnival
side-show! What should be a community effort to determine what
upgrades are needed, what all the additional fun stuff will cost and how
much the community is willing to pay for turns into a colossal mess.</span></div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">
</span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">There
is no shame in saying we want a nice theater. Piedmont is a community
with million dollar homes on every street, our teenage children drive
luxury vehicles, we have second homes, belong to exclusive country
clubs, our kindergarteners have iPhones and suddenly we're overcome with
such gentility and decorum that we can't admit that we want a swanky
new theater?!? For the record, <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;">I</i> want
a swanky new theater, but I'm not about to grab disabled people off the
street to do my bidding for me! Raise my taxes, ask me for a donation
and put the damn thing out for a vote! They got away with the fear
mongering in the Havens boondoggle, but we're weary this time around.
Why not try a little honesty in your pitch? Something like: <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;">"Let's
build a beautiful, new theater. Our performing arts programs deserve
it and so do we, for that matter. My clothes feel sticky when I leave
the Alan Harvey Theatre. A tetanus shot comes to mind every time I get
jabbed from the springs in the worn-out seats and the carpet smells like
urine and old play dough. The stage is ugly, the sound system is
pointless and the drapes look like something from a Bela Lugosi movie.
The whole thing is depressing. Let's build a new theatre. It'll be
expensive, but it'll be great and of course we'll make it safe and
A.D.A. complaint." </i>Put <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;">that </i>on the lawn signs and you've got my vote!</span></div>
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</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-47440492568006806422014-05-07T06:44:00.000-07:002014-05-07T12:01:50.426-07:00They"ll Be Even More Likely To Root For You...Part I<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1d1d1d; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">E. Boyer</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Tahoma;">Using someone else’s words was not the column I had in mind for my return, but a friend threatened to reveal, in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Tahoma;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">The Post</i>, the closely-guarded secret ingredient in my coconut cake if I didn’t <i>“say something about <span style="line-height: 21px;">the bragging!</span>” </i><span style="line-height: 21px;"><i> </i> </span>Well, for heaven’s sake, what, in the world, is going on out there?<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Let’s face it, this <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">is </i>Piedmont and we’re no strangers to boastful sorts, but If someone is tooting their own horn so much that it has the town whipped-up into a frenzy, I guess it calls for some action. Perhaps a chicken pot-pie! After all, not all bragging is based in narcissism and some studies even suggest that low self-esteem is to blame.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Either way, I'm a firm believer that a homemade chicken pot-pie can temper the most vainglorious of narcissists and brighten the darkest of moods! </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Tahoma;">I knew a really smart man who used to say <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">“You see those houses?<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Everybody who lives in “em is a millionaire.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>So, don’t ever go around thinking you’re so special.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Everyone around here is special!” </i><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>The old-school approach to humility. A thing of the past, I’m afraid.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>In this day and age, there’s no shortage of smart people.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>We have handheld devices that know where we are and can tell us where we’re going!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Someone really smart did that.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>We have cures for diseases that used to kill people.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Someone really smart did that, too.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I’m going to say something that may ruffle a few feathers:<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Most of us aren’t stunned when we hear that you went to a well-known college.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> We respect it, but we aren't stunned or awestruck. Lot's </span>of us went to prestigious colleges, but you may not be aware of it because we don’t talk about it all the time. More interestingly, many of us attended </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Tahoma;">not- so-prestigious colleges and went on to do remarkable things with our lives and the self-made folks..no formal education and no inheritance from mom and pop, but who still became known leaders in their industry with only talent and ambition..even more interesting.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I believe education is invaluable, but I also believe that it’s only a small part of a broad and sweeping bigger picture and that humility and good manners have become miserably underrated.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Tahoma;">So, here's my "something" to appease my traitorous friend. Some friend!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>An article that seemed just right for this occasion. The article originally appeared describing 7 "types," but the editor of <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">The Post</i> said everyone would fall asleep reading something that long.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Hmph!!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Doesn’t he know that all <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">Post </i>readers are very highly educated and used to reading lengthy and important documents?!?<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Anyway, I’ll begin with types 1 and 2 and if someone doesn’t burn my house down between now and next week, Ill carry on with parts 3 and 4!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Tahoma;">I know Piedmonters are practically perfect in every way, but some of our kindred clan need a gentle reminder every now and again... </span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #1d1d1d; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 21px;">Bragging—When is it OK and When is it Not OK?</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #414141; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21px;">Use your bragging rights with caution</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21px;">, </span><span style="color: #414141; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 21px;">by <u style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #414141; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/susan-krauss-whitbourne-phd" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D.</a></span></u></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #343434; font-family: Tahoma;">Almost no one likes a show-off but almost everyone likes to show off, at least a little. Some showing off happens by accident and some in a deliberate attempt to manipulate others. In either case, though, you run the risk of looking a bit too satisfied with yourself if not downright conceited. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #343434; font-family: Tahoma;">The best way to brag about yourself to others is probably not to brag at all. Let other people do the bragging for you. However, because our feelings of <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201205/get-in-touch-your-hidden-narcissist" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><u style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #1d1d1d; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: none;">self-esteem and self-confidence</span></u></a> rest on being able to take pride in our achievements, it’s not only okay, but healthy, to brag about yourself to yourself. Giving yourself a mental pat on the back for a job well done can help boost your feelings of self-efficacy, prepare you for future successes, and even avoid the experience of <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/depression/symptoms" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><u style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #1d1d1d; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: none;">depression</span></u></a>. You don’t have to hide your light completely under a bushel, though. Later I’ll show you how to claim your bragging rights without looking too boastful.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3b6023; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 21px;">There is surprisingly little research in psychology on bragging, though there is plenty on the related concept of narcissism, where you become excessively full of pride (even though you may not feel that way on the inside). There is also a great deal of research on the flip side of bragging, which is depression and low <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/self-esteem" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><u style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #1d1d1d; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: none;">self-esteem</span></u></a>. Fortunately, University of Manchester social psychologist Susan Speer (2012) provides us with an excellent article on the less pejorative term “self-praise.” Her work highlights the ways to brag that will get you in trouble along with the one way that is reasonably acceptable. She bases these on two considerations: epistemology and social norms.</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 21px;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 21px;">The epistemology of bragging refers to the question of whether something you say about yourself can be verified or not. How do I know you’re telling the truth when you claim to have achieved some great outcome? If you tell me but don’t give me hard evidence, I have to rely on your word and your word alone. When bragging is based on your self-report only, you run the risk of not being believed.</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 21px;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 21px;">The social norms of bragging refer to the fact that our culture expects people to be modest. People who aren’t modest violate those expectations. There is also a practical side to this social norm. Impression <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/leadership" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><u style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #1d1d1d; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: none;">management</span></u></a> is all about leading others to view you favorably. If they think you’re trying too hard, they’ll be turned off and you'll achieve exactly the opposite of your desired impact on others. This is especially true if the qualities you're showing off aren't the ones that interest the other person. </span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 21px;">Bragging Type #1. Directly drawing attention to your own great personal qualities.</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 21px;">This is the least desirable way to brag. In Speer's framework, this is the least likely form of self-praise to be believable and the most likely to violate social norms. Without confirming evidence, people are not likely to believe you when you say that you possess positive qualities such as being smart, well-liked, or talented. There’s no way of knowing for sure whether you have these qualities, and so they are forced to take your word for it. Even if the claims can be validated, though (i.e. you really are attractive objectively) direct bragging violates the social norm against portraying yourself in such a positive light. Oddly enough, for whatever reason, although it’s not okay to claim to be great, it is okay to be <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201206/9-ways-win-fans-and-influence-people" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><u style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #1d1d1d; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: none;">self-deprecating</span></u></a> by reporting on your own flaws. You can't lay claim to being smart, but it's okay to admit to being stupid. You’ve got to be careful with this, though, because you run the risk of looking like you’re fishing for a compliment, which is almost as annoying to people, and possibly more so, than just plain bragging.</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 21px;"></span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 21px;">Bragging Type #2. Directly drawing attention to something you’ve done.</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 21px;">You may feel that it’s immodest to say you’re a fantastic person but okay to say that you’ve accomplished some great feats. You’ve won a gold medal at the Olympics. By most people’s standards, it would seem that it’s okay to be happy about this and even mention it in your bio. It would not seem okay to wear your gold medal while running errands around town or introducing yourself as “Gold medalist so-and-so.” It may be cute when a toddler loudly proclaims her prowess in building the tallest stack of blocks to the others in her play group, but the chances are that by the time she reaches preschool, she’ll have been told by <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/parenting" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><u style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #1d1d1d; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: none;">parents</span></u></a> or teachers to keep her glories at least a little bit more to herself. As an example, Speer cites this exchange from an episode of the British Celebrity Apprentice:</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 21px;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 21px;">Contestant: I think I’ve shown glimmers of brilliance since I’ve been here.</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 21px;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 21px;">The M.C.: Don’t get carried away with yourself… you’re no Bill Gates. Trust me.</span><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 21px;"></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-21083201074462200832013-09-04T12:56:00.004-07:002013-09-04T13:06:28.348-07:00Charming Sister Season<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqflR681OEfVStZ0zEbE2j0VZJaThk3bu_t2xJpxDnWg0LncGQi1c1rxZcxXkuq2pgOsMhEZyLjaE2xDlTwIIEI9Wm7GEcBbm6jkSIfYwGPhVmBOeGCmPhf00fm7nZx-Nx-aehvCk0sRcU/s1600/jumping+in+lake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqflR681OEfVStZ0zEbE2j0VZJaThk3bu_t2xJpxDnWg0LncGQi1c1rxZcxXkuq2pgOsMhEZyLjaE2xDlTwIIEI9Wm7GEcBbm6jkSIfYwGPhVmBOeGCmPhf00fm7nZx-Nx-aehvCk0sRcU/s320/jumping+in+lake.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Such boastful ways, you Tahoe’s winter..tisk, tisk, have you no shame?<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Surely, you’ve met the likes of your alter ego, summer.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>When one can find no match for your majestic snow covered peaks, they’re taken aback upon discovery of your charming sister season.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>With disarming wiles and beauty beyond description…our love for her can come as no surprise.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>It took only the Summer of Tahoe to render Aphrodite a pouting runner-up. <span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>And poor, poor Botticelli…even The Birth of Venus seemed a little <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">less </i>somehow.</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Make way, you harried race to the lift lines! Afternoons of toe dipping at the dock’s edge are ambitious enough.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>The drudging along with skis and poles seems foolish now as we make our way to the lake with nothing more than a haphazardly towel.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Winter’s gravy-laden pot roasts and potatoes seem commonplace when compared to the whimsy of a Tahoe summer dinner… an assortment of foraged snacks, chips, olives and bits of cheese among them, punctuated with old friends Ben & Jerry...1 pint, 3 spoons. No, no, the après-ski bourbon- soaked boast of traversing downhill in the latest hi-tech equipment is no match for the crawdad trappers who are truly skilled, catching the days quota with only a string and a scrap of bacon.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>So, shush, you bragging skiers! It’s the thermos of coffee at the end of the dock on a glassy morning lake that really steals the show.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Let the insulated Obermeyer and Burton garb stuff the trunks of winter.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>The effortless grace of an ancient Turkey Trot t-shirt and grocery store flip-flops are Tahoe summer’s only requirement.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I felt the first of Fall in the air a few nights ago which prompted this love letter, of sorts.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I’ll miss Tahoe’s summer.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>But, unlike the Bay Area, Tahoe’s seasons are precise.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>So, I’ll indulge in my melancholy for only a moment.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>After all, Tahoe’s heady autumn has been known to have a few tricks up her crimsoning sleeve…<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
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</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-13873429546571671332013-05-29T13:20:00.000-07:002013-05-29T16:45:52.673-07:00No, Mom I Don't Want A Glass Of Chardonnay!<br />
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 21px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><b>With high school graduation just around the corner and graduation parties one right after the next, I thought a dusting-off of this one might come in handy...</b></span></i></span><br />
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Ahhhh, high school graduation. Our talented young fledglings leaving the nest, flying high on to their bright and promising futures. Filled with dreams and optimism about the adventures they’ll soon embark upon. So scholarly in their cap and gown often draped with a colorful flower lei for a touch of whimsy. The weather cooperates fully in deference to the significance of the day and the stands are filled to capacity with adoring relatives. Yes indeed, this is the stuff of which dreams are made. Wait…whatha..why is that child vomiting? Come to think of it, all of these promising young graduates look a little green around the gills. Oh, for corn sakes! Is it possible that the little Einsteins are hungover?!? Well, pick your chin up off the floor, what did you expect? Most of them are coming from an all-nighter that one of the families hosted to honor the young darlings. I know, I know, the legal drinking age is 21 in the state of California but apparently in Piedmont this law is open to interpretation. So, fast forward and here we are with hungover high school graduates because somebody’s parent had the bright idea that the best way to be popular in their child’s eyes would be to host the teenage cocktail party. And yes, Mrs. Takeyourbrainoutofyourass, wine and champagne are, in fact, still considered alcohol. And no, serving it in pretty little glasses doesn’t change that. Being drunk after 17 crystal flutes of champagne served in someone’s beautifully landscaped yard is no different than being drunk from 7 shots of Tequilla served up at the local bar. Seriously guys, what’s the deal with this? #1 It’s illegal. #2 It’s dangerous. #3 No, none of the kids think you’re cool, in fact they find you downright immature and creepy and if the alcohol doesn’t make them vomit, being served a drink by someone’s scantily clad mom definitely will. Yep…”pathetic” is the word one student used to summarize their opinion of the parents at a few of such gatherings. Well, for heaven’s sake, that’s sad. To put all that time and energy into planning the perfect party, the countless hours deciding between Merlot or Cabernet, Margarita or Cosmopolitan, Corona or Trumer Pilsner and then to be thought of as merely <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 19px;">pathetic. </i>Gee, that’s…well…pathetic! Tip: Six words a high school student <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 19px;">never </i>wants to hear muttered from his parents lips while at a party..”<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 19px;">Sweetheart, would you like a beer?”</i> <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 19px;">Uh..no, mom. Actually, what I was hoping for was a positive role model, love and guidance and for you to be my rock in this rough and unpredictable river of life. And while you’re at it, could you please stop trying to be cool in front of my friends? You already had your turn at being a kid and it’s our turn, now. We’ll secretly get our own beer if we want it and there are way more important things you could be helping us with.</i> Seriously, that’s what they’re saying.</span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; line-height: 19px;">Congrats class of 2013! Yes, most of you really are smarter than your parents!</span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-66694890026263249752013-04-10T18:02:00.000-07:002013-04-10T18:02:12.816-07:00Come Forth, Young Warblers!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">E. Boyer</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Signs of Spring are showing themselves.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">My desk, which is often visible to all who walk by, is now hidden by a canopy of green that never fails as a screen between me and passersby this time of year.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I’m reading last week’s Post and notice that with the exception of home invasions, burglaries, license plate reader debate, questions of fire services outsourcing and college acceptance/rejection anxieties, everything else seems as it should be in Piedmont.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Nineteen real estate ads, the White Elephant Sale story, PAINTS Bird House Gala story, requisite </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">smile-with-head-tilt photos of a pre-Spring Fling event, fifteen summer camp ads and CSL’s House Tour info.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Classic signs of Spring in Piedmont.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Everything right as rain.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">It’s no wonder that 50'ish years ago the Bird Calling Contest sprang from Piedmont’s springtime springy-ness.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Newcomers, which incidentally is anyone who has been in Piedmont less than 30 years, may not know that in it’s heyday, the Leonard J. Waxdeck Bird Calling Contest was the event of the year.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">If the only version of Piedmont’s bird calling contest you’ve seen has been in the last fifteen years, then you haven’t really seen </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">The</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> Bird Calling Contest.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">We’re living in a time where praise is handed out like peep-show pamphlets on the Vegas strip. <span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Everything is <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">amazing</i> or <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">fantastic</i> or worst of all…<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">funny.</i><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I believe the generalized dummying-down is such an injustice. In the case of the birdcalling contest, the dummying-down was an absolute tragedy.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>When did we start defining funny as someone simply acting ridiculous? <span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">Funny</i> is serious business.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>It isn’t funny to get up on a stage in a costume that involved no thought doing a skit that involved no preparation.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Improvisation is one thing, but that requires genuine talent from someone who is skilled at thinking on their feet, not someone who simply forgot their lines and looks ridiculous.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>That’s called a waste of everyone’s time and money.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I’d also like to point out that making references to obscure movie lines with which only three of your friends are familiar is not a good <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">bit</i>.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>It’s painful at a high school graduation ceremony with grandparents, aunts and uncles in the stands wondering what in the hell you’re talking about and it’s painful in a school production like, say, a bird calling contest when your skit has everyone wondering why they didn’t stay at home to watch <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">Mad Men</i> re-runs.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>God sakes, kids, step up your game!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Your routine for the bird-calling contest should take months of planning!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>The birdcall should be authentic!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Everyone from the President to Tim Lincicum and Alice Waters to Sheryl Sandberg should get an invitation!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>This is the big time!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>This is the Leonard J. Waxdeck Birdcalling Contest!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I know they’ve changed the name, but they shouldn’t have! This was the event that made Walter Cronkite break down and laugh on air!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Tickets were sold-out months in advance!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>You could hock those babies on the street for triple the face value!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Attendees dressed to the nines for the occasion!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Strawberries and champagne were served pre-event and of course, with glass <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">not</i> plastic and linen napkins, <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">obviously!</i><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>This was top-notch stuff, people.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>The theater was perfumed with an abundance of fresh floral arrangements and t.v cameras from every station lined the periphery of the theater and all of Magnolia Avenue, for that matter!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Please, can someone go back and review the history books on this one?<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Things don’t always stand up to the test of time, but this is something that would.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Unlike the current..<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">ahem</i>..birdcalling contest, the original had no skits.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>It was strictly birdcalls.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Tongue and cheek, the whole affair, mind you, but birdcalls, nonetheless.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>There are two camps on this topic, but I admit that, if done well, I think the skits add something.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>However, in recent years there have been very few skits that were worthy of note and in fact most were an abomination.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>It occurred to me that we’ve become so much a nation of <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">Beevis & Butthead</i> type humor that today’s youth really may not have an understanding of what constitutes intelligent humor.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Subjective, of course, but still…bad is bad no matter how many feathers we tape to it. <span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I rather like the addition of the skits assuming they’re actually funny.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Funny, for purposes of a birdcalling contest, would be anything that makes the entire audience roar with laughter.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>The sound of three teenage boys sniggering to an otherwise awkward cricket-silence would indicate that it was <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">not </i>funny. <span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Sadly and horrifyingly, recent years have produced many such moments.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">There are plenty of Piedmonters who were actual participants in the original bird-calling contest and let’s face it…they took out 45s of bird calls on loan from the library, wore plaid suits, buckskin shoes and sequined evening gowns..they took this stuff seriously!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>I’m sure they have photographs and video footage of the event that they’re just waiting to dust-off and share with someone..anyone!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>That’s right…the blueprint for this event is right here in town just waiting to be unfurled.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Things of the past aren’t always worth resurrecting, but this one really is.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>There must be at least a few among the current PHS student body suppressing their inner-warbler.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Pretty please, release the caged and other-feathered among you and restore this Piedmont tradition to it’s original grandeur! Call out to those who came before you…the drumming woodpecker, the winnowing snipe, the sing-songy zebrafinch!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>They’ll help you put Piedmont on the map once again!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Let’s face it; you need them.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>How can you be expected to re-produce something that you know nothing about?<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>In essence, you’ve been left at your post, ill-equipped for such a tall order.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Maybe, then, this should be a call to arms to those birdcallers of the Leonard J. Waxdeck era to come forth with tutelage for the young and unknowing fledglings.<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Show yourselves!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Quickly!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>The survival of this once beloved Piedmont tradition depends on you!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span>Cuckaawww! Cuckaawww! Cuckaawww!!<span style="line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.35em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
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</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-26196844996755354522013-03-27T10:04:00.000-07:002013-03-27T10:14:41.401-07:00Hello, Daahlink..It's Me, Golda<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">E. Boyer</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Unsettling, isn’t it?<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>That a perfect stranger can come into your house without your permission.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>They can take your things, terrorized you or your family and make you understand in a moment how very little control you have over the “out of left field” occurrences.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Fear can take us down a notch.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>All of my fantasies of squaring-off with an intruder in my doorway in my Annie Oakley outfit and toting a 12 gauge are really just that..fantasy.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>It sounds so easy in my imaginary version, strutting around town claiming that “<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;">If the devil walks down my street, I’ll meet him half way!”</i> daring anyone to make the mistake of rifling through my car or barging into my home. <span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>My imaginary version has me sauntering around my lawn John Wayne style, in chaps and ready with a pistol in each hand.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Or Clint Eastwood style, taunting all the pimply-faced hoodlums…”Go ahead you little bastard..make my day!”<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Aaahhh, fantasy.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>The place where we can be our perfect selves and then…<b style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;">screeeeeeach!</i></b><span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Back to reality.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>That’s the place where I’m more like Mrs. Kravitz than Annie Oakley and more like Dagwood Bumstead than John Wayne. <span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Yep..confronted with an intruder I’d most likely<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>help them pack-up all of my valuables, make them a cheese sandwich and offer them a ride to BART.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>So, I’ve decided that my goal is to avoid an intrusion rather than endure one.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Judging by the alarm and locksmith company trucks that have lined the streets of Piedmont in the last few weeks, there are others in town with similar goals. <span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>And, why not?<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>If a six-inch deadbolt and an alligator-filled moat are the only things standing between me and a peaceful night’s sleep, count me in!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I’ve seen another sign-of-the-times popping up here and there. Window bars.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Oh sure, they’re the fancy, decorative variety, but window bars, none the less.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>They aren’t <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;">everywhere</i>, but I’ve spotted a few basement and first story windows in town that are newly fortified.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Whatever it takes to prevent an intrusion.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>It got me thinking, though as I passed one such house…what makes Piedmont different from any other crime-rattled city?<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>After all, once the bars go up on the windows, doesn’t that say something about the neighborhood?<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Many, many years ago I knew a real estate agent, Golda Solowitz, who told me<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span><i>“Oy gevalt, Daahlink, if there are bars on the windows God forbid you should live in such a neighborhood!”</i><span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><i> </i> </span>I can’t help thinking of Golda these last few months with all the new security upgrades and wondering how Piedmont will justify it’s lofty home prices if the Golda Solowitzs of the world see it as just another town with bars on it’s windows.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>It used to be that we could tout the fact our police department and emergency services had a very quick response time, but lately that seems to be a topic of debate.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Our police department has the good fortune of protecting a town that knows very little of home invasions and such.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Thank goodness.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>But, as a result some are questioning the department’s readiness for such crimes.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>How prepared could they be when they have so little exposure to this sort of thing in Piedmont? <span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>It isn’t a criticism necessarily, but rather an observation.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Wearing a uniform doesn’t guarantee a skill set.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>After all, you can dance around the house in your underwear, but that doesn’t make you Madonna!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">I did notice that the Police Department has snazzy new patrol cars.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> It seems the </span>conservative Crown Victorias have been replaced with Dodge Chargers.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Yowza!<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Well, it worked for the Dukes of Hazard so I suppose it could work for Piedmont.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Still, I wonder if it might have been more prudent to consider forfeiting the new round of muscle cars and instead invest the money in investigative skills training for our officers.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Or some other kind of training that might be relevant given our current state of lock-down.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>I know there’s probably an earmark sort of thing for new cars every few years, but drastic times call for drastic measures.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Why not <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;">take one for the team</i> and re-purpose the funds to better use?<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>I also read in last week’s Post that the City is now considering a million dollar investment in license plate readers at all entry points to the Piedmont.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>That’s a lot of money for a project that seems a little willy-nilly-let’s-do-something-fast.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>I was reminded of the haste with which those portable classrooms sprang up on the Havens playground and I suddenly felt a little queasy. <span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>Heck, a million dollars combined with the funds from the Dukes of Hazard cars and our police department could get training that would genuinely make a difference.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>I don’t know about you, but I'd sleep a lot better at night knowing that my police department was at Perry Mason/Columbo/Krav Maga status.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> </span>It’s too bad because the alligators really aren’t very practical, it takes me 10 minutes to secure all the new locks on my front door and Golda Solowitz would absolutely hate the metal bars.<span style="line-height: 21px; text-indent: 0px !important;"> <i>"Oy gevalt</i></span><i>, Daahlink...honestly!"</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br />
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</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-29053842657124805202012-12-19T19:30:00.002-08:002012-12-19T19:40:08.503-08:00No Words<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br style="line-height: 17px;" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Gray,</i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Who feels like writing this week with such tragedy? I've found myself heartsick and without words, but came across these few lovely ones...</i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 17px;"><i>Sincerely,</i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">E. </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">We shall not ever meet them bearded in heaven</span><br style="line-height: 17px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">Nor sunning themselves among the bald of hell;</span><br style="line-height: 17px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">If anywhere, in the deserted schoolyard at twilight,</span><br style="line-height: 17px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">forming a ring, perhaps, or joining hands i</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">n games whose very names we have forgotten.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">Come memory, let us seek them there in the shadows.</span><br style="line-height: 17px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">~ Donald Justice</span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-47376446010332547192012-12-05T17:20:00.001-08:002012-12-05T17:26:02.079-08:00Gratitude, Sheets, Heros and Lighting<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPFwpiV1TYF8fd8BxiVQ6K6DQwFlNgZjDj63DWK_deU8ez7OC60QvM7CbWlQPayKfp-ANVcPPEW5NYQJNsLs1MCqQl0o4nJWvQjLDitRgTBQH_x4cJNgeZv7YiTgrkSmapCyR1_f0vD6Fq/s1600/light+bulb+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPFwpiV1TYF8fd8BxiVQ6K6DQwFlNgZjDj63DWK_deU8ez7OC60QvM7CbWlQPayKfp-ANVcPPEW5NYQJNsLs1MCqQl0o4nJWvQjLDitRgTBQH_x4cJNgeZv7YiTgrkSmapCyR1_f0vD6Fq/s200/light+bulb+2.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"> E. Boyer</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With Thanksgiving behind us and having time now to reflect, I'm reminded that collectively and in the broader scheme we know little of suffering..something for which we can surely give thanks. Watching last night's CNN Hero Awards could put things into perspective. Even though individually, we have our trials and challenges, I think most everyone in Piedmont can find reasons to be grateful . Even at the worst I imagine our pleasant surroundings and vast resources are something of a comfort. I'll amend by saying that this is at least true for me and hence I offer my post-Thanksgiving gratitude. Well, sort of.... </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">It's very early in the morning as I write this column and still dark outside. I have lit, two enormous candles that smell delightful and a giant, glazed churn of a lamp that found itself in my home thirty years ago all the way from Wisconsin. I feel happy every time I turn it on. If you consider that I turn it on twice a day, over 30 years that's 21,900 moments of happiness all thanks to a lamp. It's among the top ten of all-time simple pleasures in my simple life. Few things compare to pleasant lighting. There is, of course, the indescribable joy of sleeping on ironed sheets, but alas, this service seems long gone. At the risk of dating myself, there was a time when homemakers hung their sheets on a line outdoors to dry and yes, ironed them afterwards. Those with funds to spare would even send their laundry </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;">out</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"> once a week and two days later have clean and freshly iron sheets. I can't remember the last time I saw sheets whipping around on the line. Coming from a time and place where this was the norm, I'm bewildered as to why we abandoned the technique. Do they even sell clothespins in the Bay Area anymore?? Be warned..if you sleep on ironed sheets you'll forever be disappointed with anything less. You could travel to Mumbai to experience the essence of the skill by the Dhobi Wallahs, but that's a tad indulgent. But, back to the topic of pleasant lighting and with it an announcement that I suspect will offend...I apologize in advance. It's about the new street lights that have popped up around town over the last year or so. I think you know the one's. They're...hmmmm..what's the word??? Awful. I'm sorry, but there it is. I'm thankful that we have people in our community that are kind, thoughtful and generous enough to make such contributions, but can I be honest and say that...</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><span style="line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;">I HATE THOSE LIGHTS!!!</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"> When I look at them my eyes feel like I'm wearing someone else's prescription! They look like steely beacons leading to an ominous alley-way! They're like a bad and depressing noir film! They're the single bulb hanging from the ceiling of an interrogation room! They're Szell from Marathon Man..Is safe? Is it safe? Is it safe??? One question: Can we please turn them off? Good Lord, they're ghastly! Can we just take a BB gun to those things?? I understanad that we longer iron our sheets, but certainly there must be a child with a BB gun in this town. O.K., o.k....that's probably scimming the edges of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px; text-indent: 0px !important;">inappropriate</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"> and not the most thought-out solution. Forgive me. Well, can someone tell me what the ramifications are if I get up on a ladder and switch them out myself? I promise to research thoroughly the best and most energy efficient alternative, but one with a warm appealing glow. Handcuffs, prison time or just a hefty fine? I could take my chances. Between you and me, my athletic prowess my surpass that of...ahem.. some in our police department. Ten to one says I can out-run most of them. Hey, you don't get to be my age and maintain cholesterol levels of 140 by sitting on the couch! Say the word and I'm on a ladder. So much for my post-Thanksgiving gratitude. Because I'm human and imperfect, occasional complaining isn't out of the question for me especially when my eyes feel like they have sand in them every time I look at those glaring lights. It's terrible, I know. In my heart of hearts, I really want to be a CNN Hero, but as you can see by my ridiculous criticism of the (ghastly) lights, I have selfish and ungrateful tendencies which render me unworthy. But, sincerely..</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 17px;">they really were </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">incredible this year! People with broader minds and selfless character doing the most commendable things. I'm genuinely appreciative and struck by their efforts. There...back on topic... post-Thanksgiving gratitude. Not for pleasant lighting and luxurious sheets, but for selfless people. The CNN awards ceremony was uplifting. I think it made anyone watching want to be a better person which made me feel even saltier about my criticism of those...lights. Unworthy, remember? I liked the intro which was delivered by Harvey Keitel. He could make a recitation of The </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">Itsy Bitsy Spider</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"> sound interesting, but lovely and inspiring words none the less:</span></span><span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
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<i>"...We don't build statues to these people, we might not even notice them, but they don't care about that because their actions are not calculated to gain recognition or reward. What they do is who they are. <br style="line-height: 17px;" /><br style="line-height: 17px;" />As a young Marine, I was taught to help people who could not help themselves. All over the world, right now, people are putting this principle into action and saving lives. <br style="line-height: 17px;" /><br style="line-height: 17px;" />These heroes speak one language, the language of humanity. There are different kinds of heroes around us. Those who, in that unforgiving minute, rise to the occasion when the moment calls for it, daily grind it out heroes who wake up every morning and humbly change the world..."</i><br />
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<span style="line-height: 17px;">P.S. But seriously, folks...I bet even the CNN Heros wouldn't like those lights.</span></div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: large; line-height: normal;">E. Boyer</span></div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: large; line-height: normal;">I’m writing this column on the Saturday before the election, but as you’re reading it, we’ll likely know the outcome of things long debated. I hope, no matter the outcome, we can go back to being civilized. Nice. Dare I say...<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 20px;">polite </i>to one another? I’m not sure what happens during an election year, but it’s as if we lose our minds! The aggressive nature that surfaces is shocking. There was a time when people allowed others the luxury of privacy in their voting preferences. These days, such boundaries have all but vanished. Recently, I was in a grocery store and while standing in the check-out line one man said to another, with sufficient volume to guarantee that anyone in earshot would hear him, “Anyone who votes for _______ is an idiot!” All I really wanted from my trip to the grocery store was a quart of milk and a bag of spinach. A perfect stranger deciding that I’m an idiot wasn’t really on my list. Interesting, isn’t it, how comfortable our society has become with overbearing unsolicited opinions? How I long for boundaries. </span></div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: large; line-height: normal;">For my part, once I’ve cast my vote I’ll accept the outcome. I’m not inclined to flatten the tires of any neighbor who voted for the other candidate nor will I snarl at anyone at the next city council meeting if we had differing views on local measures. Oh, sure, I’ll do some eye-rolling, but...I’ll do it privately. Good Lord...the absurdity of politics.</span></div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: large; line-height: normal;">I came across this message on a blog devoted to leadership, the name of which I can’t recall. The message was intended to help young adults, high school and college age, who lost an election. It’s a good message and although not my own words, I offer it sincerely to the also-rans of this year’s election..be it Measure Y or the Presidency...a little post-election pick-me-up...</span></div>
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<span class="ecxApple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: large; line-height: normal;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 20px;">“...Thank you for taking a risk and putting yourself out there as a viable candidate. Thank you for recognizing your strengths and giftedness and your willingness to use those for us. Thank you for giving us a choice, a good choice, for the position being filled. Thank you for wanting to make a difference. Thank you for being the one to step up and stand out when a lot of other people sat back and blended in.”</i></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-48267746262509168852012-10-24T15:27:00.000-07:002012-10-24T15:27:01.328-07:00Wagon Circling: Great for Pioneers!<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Classic displays of Piedmont Pollyanna’ism are ever present. At times I rather like it...complete denial no matter what. I do it with what I refer to as “vacation food.” The things I eat while on vacation don’t really count. It’s as though I never ate them. Eight hundred calorie cupcakes at 11:00 p.m. are of absolutely no consequence. A “sharing size” bag of peanut M&M’s which I chose <i>not </i>to share and instead enjoyed alone at midnight while in bed reading the <i>Times, </i>is wiped clean from the food diary once the vacation is over. So, indeed I understand the inner-machinations of denial. And just like eating nine million calories before bed can result in a ghastly outcome, so too can denial about other things. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Baloney,</i> is how, I believe, one contributor described it when referring to reports of troubling times for Piedmont high-schoolers. I assume this was the "nonsense" variety as opposed to Oscar-Mayer's version. A long time ago and early on in my children’s high school careers I learned that any success they might have or Pleasantville’ish euphoria they might experience could be lost in a moment. I never took any of it for granted and never assumed it was a guarantee. I enjoyed it with them while it was there, but knew that my children were just as susceptible to failure, pain, embarrassment and tragedy as any other child. I breathe a heavy sigh of relief when I see my children today as lovely, healthy and productive adults. I know that it could easily have gone the other way and I’m genuinely grateful that they grew into their current, full-grown versions. Believe me, it was nip and tuck for a couple of them! Although I’m a devoted fan of nonsense, I <i>do </i>wonder about the sagacity of wrapping such broad topics as “the high school experience” in a blanket of it. One person’s nonsense is another person’s genuinely troubling time. While it’s true that some students sail through high school with nary a bump in the road and un-touched by unpleasantries, many children struggle and have a very difficult and often terrible time. I believe we should applaud the children and parents who get through the high school years unscathed. It’s good and challenging work. But, I also believe that we should respect that others may not be so lucky. Saying over and over again that something is a certain way does not magically make it true across the board.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">According to...well...just about about every news station and publication from here to Timbuktu, Piedmont high school does have a few troubling spots. While it may be true that this latest development is an old occurrence cloaked in a new name, it’s still grossly indecorous and I venture to say that a good many young women, having been victimized, publicized and then cast aside like an old garment, are embarrassed, hurt...or worse. I also feel badly for the ill-mannered and ill-advised male students who participated. Imagine beginning your young adulthood believing that this was the right course for becoming the man you one day hope to be. A very low place from which to begin. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I suspect this latest episode will be met with much of the the typical Piedmont wagon-circling...”Oh, that’s ridiculous.” “You can’t punish them..it’s their Senior year!” “Making an issue of this will affect their college applications!” And, of course, we’ll hear from more than one of the wink-n-nod crowd that “Boys will be boys!” Well, sometimes, as it turns out, it’s more like “boys will be jack-asses” and if the grown-ups in their lives don’t soon explain right from wrong and demand better in this regard, those boys may result in very unappealing versions of men. Broken-down <i>ex-</i>athletes, with boring stories of their high school glory days, alone and balding, on the couch with a 12 pack of Schlitz, watching t.v., rubbing their big fat bellies and wondering what it would be like to have a meaningful relationship with a woman. Not pretty. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Reel ‘em in, folks. Have a chat with your boys. And your girls. All kids are good and worthwhile, but could often use tutoring in things other than academics. Circling the wagon may have been a good defense tactic for the pioneers, but not very effective with badly behaved teenagers. Just wondering...has anyone considered actual consequences? Just a thought. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Maya Angelou wrote that <i>“..all god’s children need traveling shoes.”</i></span><span style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i> </i></span><span style="font: 16.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I couldn't agree more.<i> </i>Time to<i> </i>lace ‘em up... tight! </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-45957584330878516382012-09-19T18:40:00.005-07:002012-09-19T18:44:49.887-07:00Kiss the Cook!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPUq0jb3cJHz3veTscNe1V07-khin7SR6xbio1wDKjSzKo_CIuPbh9zvt8OOBmxRAqjJYvRkdg0F1k7G9Rq2qroPiW6DDsX0gtTaQ4zccAHJBDiQ1vV0P1zqHM441ZPDiZQqPj9SwQnwf/s1600/making+gnocchi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPUq0jb3cJHz3veTscNe1V07-khin7SR6xbio1wDKjSzKo_CIuPbh9zvt8OOBmxRAqjJYvRkdg0F1k7G9Rq2qroPiW6DDsX0gtTaQ4zccAHJBDiQ1vV0P1zqHM441ZPDiZQqPj9SwQnwf/s200/making+gnocchi.jpg" width="180" /></a>E. Boyer<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 15px;">“..Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels” </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"> A celebrity,whose name escapes me, said that. Two things we know..1) this was a very </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 15px;">thin</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"> celebrity and 2) she clearly never had Josie Giovanetti’s gorgonzola gnocchi.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><i>She </i>was Mrs. Giovanetti..Carla’s mom, but the <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 15px;">place.</i>.that comforting harbor of love and garlic commonly referred to was <i>“Josie’s kitchen.” </i>A place where absolutely nothing was new..everything had the patina of decades of beautiful sauces embedded in it’s copper or cast iron soul. No matter how dire your situation, being in her kitchen would set things right.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">Her bolognese would get you back on your feet, her pasta fagiole would calm your nerves and her gorgonzola gnocchi with homemade sausage would part the clouds and restore your faith in mankind. Lou Pepitone swore and maintains to this day that he once heard angels sing in Josie’s kitchen when he took a fork-full of those beloved gorgonzola gnocchi. It may be worth noting that Lou was also a regular at The Cloverleaf Bar just down the street and the “angel episode” occurred on the heels of bartender, Kip MacAuliffe’s 76th birthday celebration which typically turned into two days of all the green beer you could drink for $5. Still, far be it from me to dispute the celestial powers of Josie Giovanetti’s beloved gnocchi. A part of everyone from the neighborhood was squarely rooted in that that lovely woman’s refuge we called a kitchen. It was where we learned about grapes for wine, to “fold” not mix, that sometimes good food takes a long time to make..but not always..a tomato and bread salad was <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 15px;">“as good as anything.”</i> She was from Italy. <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 15px;">“Abruzzo..the best part”</i> she would say. She lived a life full of cheese and flour, olive oil and garlic, tiny little cups of espresso and people, people and more people..she was the embodiment of humor and kindness. Christmas, in her kitchen, was preceded by a month of <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 15px;">Pizzelle</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"> production. A tin of those licorice flavored gems were prized and coveted. It wasn’t unusual to see a young child, five or six years old, at Josie’s table with a cafe au lait and a plate of the delicate cookies..oblivious to the notion that coffee was reserved for adults. La dolce vita.. this was the only way to enjoy the heavenly crisps!</span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">I have to chuckle when I see all the trendy restaurants in the area tout “salume” and “artisnal bread and cheese.” There was a time when these were everyday, after-school snacks for Italian home cooks. A day without a little pecorino and sopressata was like a day without sunshine! I haven’t seen a homemade pizelle in over a decade even though I’ve seen lots of fancy gadgets that claim to make the job easier. It’s funny how, the more sophisticated the kitchen becomes, the less cooking we seem to do in it! I wonder if it’s because we know we’ll never do it as well as the Josie Giovanettis of the world. Or, maybe it’s because we traded in our aprons for other endeavors. Who knows? The only thing I really know with certainty is that whoever said <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 15px;">“Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels” </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">never had Josie Giovanetti’s gorgonzola gnocchi with homemade sausage. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;">Kiss the cook, guys! Those memorable meals pack an emotional wallop...</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-38447365891675856422012-08-29T17:00:00.000-07:002012-08-29T17:00:32.595-07:00Toddler Pageant<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
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Why do we go straight to “That’s awesome!” and “You’re amazing!” with our kids? What about telling them that they’re pretty darned good or that if they keep trying they’ll be better or to keep at it and they’ll get there? Awesome and amazing? <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">Really? </i> Albert Einstein, Leonardo DaVinci and the Grand Canyon are all examples of amazing. The elementary school art show...not so much. Good? Yes. Darling? Absolutely. But, awesome? Well, let’s see. Did it fill you with awe? Did it have the capacity to inspire awe? Did you experience a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear and wonder? No, I didn’t think so.</div>
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It’s hard for kids who have been told at every brush stroke or bat swing or high note that they’re <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">the best</i> and I imagine it’s a great disappointment to them when they discover on their own that they really aren’t. They have eyes and ears and brains and when the competition out shines them, they know it. Piedmont is a bite-sized town, folks. Because your son is the football star here, is no guarantee that the the same will be true when he goes to college. Because your daughter is the darling of the drama department here, doesn’t seal any deal for her on Broadway. It’s a big world filled with many talented and gifted people. Indeed, you child may be one of them. But, maybe not. In fact, probably not. But, we all see great things in our children, don’t we? I know I did. I was genuinely interested in seeing all of their mediocre artwork, hearing all of their abysmal musical pieces and watching all of their bush-league sporting events. They held 100% of my attention and interest. They<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"> really </i>did seem more talented than the other children, but only because they were my children and my eyes couldn’t see it any other way. It’s nature’s built-in mechanism for protecting children...parents are blinded by complete adoration for the little ruffians! Otherwise they’d be tossed out on their ear for being so wretched in the teenage years! </div>
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A word of advice to parents. Stop bragging so much about your kids. It’s one thing to be proud, but it’s another thing, entirely, to be an obnoxious bore about the (debatable) accomplishments of your children. I offer this advice with your very best interest in mind. You see, it’s embarrassing as<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"> hell </i>to squawk about the college offers that await thanks to you child’s athletic talent, only to discover that those offers actually only go to the genuinely talented 0.09% of the of the country’s 250,000 high school talent pool which, incidentally, often makes Piedmont athletics look like Kinder-Kids Sports Camp. Same goes for your student with the 4.0 GPA...a shoe-in for UCLA. Kid stuff. Sorry, they’ll have to get in line behind the other 53,000 who have equally impressive grades and far more interesting life-stories. Oh, sure, a couple of kids will make it to a coach’s look-see roster or the go-to-the-head-of-the-class academic list, but most won’t. It must feel like a giant sucker-punch after being told by their parents all those years that they were <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"><b style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 17px;">the best.</b></i></div>
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It’s tough out there, folks. Believe me when I tell you that the kids have their ear to ground and their finger on the pulse of all this stuff. They know how they stack up.. on the real-world meter<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;"><u style="line-height: 17px;"> and </u></i>the parent meter. Imagine their difficulty in having to reconcile the two very different realities. That’s the part that worries me. It’s natural to boast a bit about our kids..distasteful and irritating, yes, but natural. It’s the insane <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">public promotion campaign</i>that begins in 9th grade and ends sadly and abruptly when, instead of the full ride to UCLA that the parents have blabbed about incessantly, they pack off to an obscure feeder program on the outskirts of Milwaukee! Good Lord, people! Stop doing this to your children and stop doing it to yourself. Yes, everyone is talking about you. When you think they’re listening and interested in yet another recital about your child, they’re actually counting the times you say his/her name because they have $100 riding in the neighborhood betting pool that you’ll exceed your past party record. Yep, it’s come to that. You’re the subject of a betting pool! It’s as whack-a-doodle as a toddler pageant, but with bigger kids!</div>
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Here’s the thing...the Milwaukee feeder school is just fine. It only seems somehow bad because it’s being compared to Stephen Hawking/LeBron James/Eleanor Roosevelt<i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">’esque</i> plan that got into the head of some poor kid’s parent. The result? A child feeling salty because his/her parents did way too much grand-standing. </div>
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Love ‘em, folks. Chances are, they aren’t headed for the splendor and greatness that you imagine. But, they’re all pretty good and mostly headed for pretty good things. </div>
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In the meantime, I’ve got fifty bucks on you-know-who to break the record... </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720659566828788704.post-47441067820429070122012-08-22T17:48:00.000-07:002012-08-23T06:47:39.351-07:00Usually Involves Toast<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZfwuJ5Taa_I-mKmQbg0niX4Ubh07e-uvx4bO2OJieG5-8EVexWRm9bk8il-ryxxrQ0IXiVB0jqVFAwTi6SS7UAcwLuf-UVd8yGavqfmP3qi2vwoLIlqBg3F_ei8JFh4HwNN8GRpu2LgXS/s1600/Sunset_rider2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZfwuJ5Taa_I-mKmQbg0niX4Ubh07e-uvx4bO2OJieG5-8EVexWRm9bk8il-ryxxrQ0IXiVB0jqVFAwTi6SS7UAcwLuf-UVd8yGavqfmP3qi2vwoLIlqBg3F_ei8JFh4HwNN8GRpu2LgXS/s200/Sunset_rider2.jpg" width="135" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 15px; text-indent: 0px !important;">E. Boyer</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 15px; text-indent: 0px !important;">It’s good to take a break. Gives us time to think and breathe and consider. When I sat down to write this column, the topic I had in mind was <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 15px; text-indent: 0px !important;">objectionable people</i>, but upon further contemplation, I decided that there’s no shortage of objectionable people in Piedmont, many of whom will be here for a long time and therefore plenty of time to write about them. So, I turned my mind to someone who will only be here for a short time, more. This, in turn, led me to two topics that I rarely confront in my column. Sadness...and toast.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">The best compliment my column could ever achieve has always been a nod from the Post’s seldom seen or heard “proof reading department.” When she thought it was genuinely funny, I felt that it might be pretty good. Sadly, she won’t be able to read any more of my columns...that time has passed. When I think about her, I’ll think fondly of impromptu dinners, love of politics, sharing a gin and tonic, ice cream and Bailey’s and something her partner described to me when I saw him last: when the housekeeper arrived, her routine was not to get down to the business of housecleaning, but for her and the housekeeper to sit at the dining room table and talk for a very long time...just catching up. <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 15px; text-indent: 0px !important;">“It usually involves toast” </i>he said. The housecleaning was always secondary. The image, for me, was a reminder of the significance of simple pleasures with special people. It was also a reminder that the true gems in life don’t always hold court at every party and often don’t even attend parties, preferring to socialize with only the intimate few whose friendship they value. They don’t always serve haute cuisine to the movers and shakers, but deliver the most memorable of occasions at their cluttered dining room table, often involving only toast and strong coffee. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 15px; text-indent: 0px !important;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 15px; text-indent: 0px !important;">Because I know the Post’s “proof reading department” would hate this particular column, I’ll attempt redemption by ending on a brighter note...</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 15px; text-indent: 0px !important;">I’m appreciative of those friends and family who know that I’m always amenable to leftover pizza and cookies from a bag. I’m happy to report that I have no idea how much money those most important to me have and that no one dear to me ever feels they must call in advance before stopping by my house. I hold sacred the less-than-glamourous truths with which I’ve been entrusted and value most the company of those who don’t feel compelled to tidy-up before I come over for dinner. In short, my life is filled to the brim with happiness due, in no small part, to the most basic and lovely of life’s occurrences. Significant people are not always cloaked in glorious pomp. They often prefer to enter unannounced and leave a path emblazoned with humility, intelligence and kindness. They know all too well that, with the right folks, few things in life are better than a good piece of toast.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 15px; text-indent: 0px !important;">Respectfully submitted and with love to Anne..</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187781143340915533noreply@blogger.com