The things that go through my head

This was good for a laugh.

The drug war gets stupider. Today’s story is about the manufacturer’s of plastic penises, known as the Whizzinator, marketed on the internet to help you pass your drug test. George Wills and Robert Catalano face up to eight years in jail and a $500, 000 fine after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy.

Instead of realizing that drug testing is a wasteful fraud and doing something useful to help addicts that need it, the Feds go after the creators of the Whizzinator. I wonder how long it will take for someone to find a different way to foil your drug test. A google search turns up many other products designed to help you continue your drug habits without letting THE MAN get you down. It looks like they will be really busy if they plan to arrest all these people.

Of course, putting a stop to drug abuse isn’t really the point. That is impossible and I believe that most people who give it some thought, realize that. Instead, we should be trying to limit the harm that drug abuse can do to people. If they want and need some help and support to quit a harmful habit, give them the support they need. If people are using drugs in the privacy of their own home and not harming anybody else, leave them alone. Arresting drug users and imposing expensive and useless tests that can be foiled with equipment widely available on the internet is not the way to go about “helping” drug abusers.

Why am I posting this? It’s a kid on a crusty old combine. Danged if I know why I am posting it.

Also, here is a picture of my sister Krissy riding Tequila and my daughter Hannah riding Corby. Tequila is the brown and white paint horse and Corby is the worlds’ awesomest and cutest white horse with a black mane. No offense Tequila but Corby > than you.

I hope Krissy doesn’t see this post.

This made me lol. I will have to finish reading this when I get home from school.

I am writing this post because I was going to comment on this article over at feministing, but I forgot my password. Anyway, the question posed was this: Is it a common practice for doctor’s offices, particularly OBGYN’s, to promote plastic surgery?

Yes, it is very, very common. I was completely disgusted with my old doctor’s office because not only is their office full of pamphlets promoting pointless, painful procedures such as boob jobs and nose jobs. They also offer easy payment plans so that you can go into all kinds of debt in order to pay for your new enhanced body parts. The pamphlets were full of used-car salesman tactics. 24 easy payments of $200!! I was pretty grossed out and the only reason I still go there is that it is next to impossible to find a family doctor. Beggars can’t be choosers. The doctor that did my prenatal care during my second pregnancy is now profiting from womens’ insecurities about their appearance caused by our bogus society that continually promotes bogus patriarchal beauty standards. I should have known she was a tool when she commented that I had hardly gained any weight during my pregnancy and the baby weight would drop right off after delivery. I suppose that was supposed to be a compliment.

When I go to the doctor I have to make a tough choice between my health and my morals and unfortunately my health wins.

It never fails to amaze or entertain me the conversations that I have with people after they learn that I teach kids for a living. I am continually getting sympathy from people of my parents’ generation because educators are no longer allowed to beat children when they misbehave. Just the other day when I was enjoying a cold beverage with my dad and his friends’ they all regaled me with tales from their misbegotten youth. “I remember one time I got beat for mouthing off to my teacher. And do you know what happened when I got home? I got it even worse from my parents. No wonder kids these days don’t listen. They know you can’t touch’em anymore.” This is then followed by a tirade about the downfall of society caused by a lack of corporal punishment. Seriously, this is what I hear over and over again many times when I am having a casual conversation about school. I wonder if they really think that educators sit around bemoaning the fact that they can not beat children that get out of line. Perhaps they imagine that school staff rooms are full of teachers sighing over their unused whips and straps.

I can honestly say that I have never once heard a teacher say that they wish they could hit their students to keep them in line. I have never personally felt that way, and I am not just saying that so people will come to my blog, read this and then tell me how great I am. My ego is big enough as it is! I suppose I am just puzzled by this sort of thinking. One time, in a fit of temper and after getting some bad advice from an influential but unnamed individual in my life, I slapped my child. I felt so guilty and terrible that I never, ever did it again.

What on earth does it teach your children when you have to hit them to make them behave? They learn that asserting authority just for the hell of it over someone less powerful than you is honorable. They learn that they only need to do the right thing when there is the threat of punishment hanging over their heads. They learn that violence is the best way to solve their problems. But do they learn to value education when they are forced to go through the motions of learning? Just because the kids are sitting still and doing a good impression of looking interested in what the teacher is talking about, doesn’t mean the students are learning anything. Except how to conform. It’s much more difficult to teach kids to value learning for its’ own sake. Or to teach kids to do the right thing even when nobody is around to see it or punish you for doing the wrong thing. Beating them is pretty much taking the easy way out.

I’m so glad that I don’t have the option of hitting kids because living in the time when it was socially acceptable to beat children would have made me go looney tunes, I am quite sure. Thinking for yourself sure can be rough at times.

Which reminds me. I was thinking of doing some book reviews. Since I love complaining about things that I love and hate so much, it should be right up my alley. Right now I am re-reading the Little House on the Prairie series with my children. It’s pretty good stuff, as corporal punishment of children in school was very common back then. It really demonstrates how far we have come as a society that that is not considered socially acceptable anymore. Anyway, I have no idea when I will have some time to throw a book review together so I won’t make any promises. But I sure do have a lot to say about Little House on the Prairie so I am quite sure that I will get to it soon. I will have to whip out my Blackberry and put it on my to-do list.

I was annoyed about the recent kerfuffle over Nutana’s proposal to do away with failing grades. I sent the Star Phoenix this letter on Friday but they decided not to print it. I would like to think they made this editorial decision based on the fact that they basically wrote the same thing in the forum section today. But with more words and less awesome. That thought is holding my ego together. Here goes nothing, I hope you like it.

Collegiate Renewal

I am very disappointed about the recent bad press in regards to Nutana Collegiate’s proposal to abolish failing grades. I would encourage anyone who wishes to criticize this proposal to do a little research in order to have an informed opinion. This proposal will be a very minor change. It does not mean that students will be pushed ahead if they have not completed a course. A grade of 49% or under indicates that a student has not yet met the course requirements. Thus, putting an “incomplete” on the transcript is quite accurate.

This initiative is just one of many ideas that are being proposed as part of the Saskatoon public school board’s collegiate renewal initiative. There are many reasons why education remains beyond the reach of many people. We really need to do a better job of being inclusive and focusing on learning rather than grading. Learning can not be summed up by a letter or number grade. We need to examine why so many people continue to be frustrated with school. This will require members of the public and the media to be more informed about what this requires. I would encourage everyone to read readily available public documents which are accessible on the school boards’ web site at www.spsd.sk.ca. There are many interesting schools of thought regarding traditional grading practices that need to be examined and discussed in a meaningful way. The works of Ann Davies and Alfie Kohn would be a good place to start. Hopefully we can move beyond meaningless criticism and have an intelligent conversation about educational reform.

I haven’t been blogging this weekend because I have been too busy playing Rock Band. I can’t tell you how much I love this game. It is the best waste of time I have ever had. It rules. I can strum along on my guitar shaped video game controller and feel like I actually have some talent. The family makes a great band, Katy as the lead singer, Hannah on drums and me on guitar. I think that my nerdy blogger boyfriend has gotten tired of it, not that I could blame him for that. I couldn’t get interested in SPORE and he is addicted to that game.

What I love the most about Rock Band is the fact that it gives me a new appreciation for musicians. I can hardly play Enter Sandman while stone-cold sober on a plastic controller. I usually get booed off the stage in EASY mode because I am so terrible. Can you imagine how badly I would fail at making music if I had to play with a real guitar and I ingested the substances that these rock stars use? That would be very funny and you would all have a great time pointing and laughing but it would definitely not be musical. It would be sad.

I love living vicariously through others with the use of technology. Thus, I love Rock Band. As my children would say, it’s my BFFFL.

The crazy speaks for itself. What could I possibly say about this? Get out the popcorn and have yourself a good laugh. It’s just too bad that these people are actually serious.

Mrs. Lovejoy and her ilk are at it again.  Sales of individual cigars have been banned in Maryland. If you want a cigar, you have to buy 5 at a time.  The rationale for this pointless action is to prevent youth from becoming addicted to tobacco and becoming lifelong users of cigars.   Also, they are worried about the recent trend of hollowing out the cigar and filling it with marijuana.  In other words, the kids wisely chose to stay away from tobacco, a highly dangerous and addictive drug and went for the safer alternative.

Even if you believe that eradicating use of marijuana and tobacco is a good idea, I just can’t imagine why anybody thinks that banning the individual sale of cigars is going to make any difference.  The kids will just find some other way to entertain themselves.  This may even be a good opportunity for some enterprising youths to make some moeny.  I’m sure that some kids will buy a five pack and sell them individually to their friends.  Trends come and go and adults over-react, often in counterproductive ways.  Besides, there are much better ways to get people to voluntarily give up their bad habits.