So How Are We Doing?

Well, seeing as how it's been over three months, I think a check in is naturally in order. Many of us made resolutions for the new year and have found adhering to them to be rather challenging. I told you all that my ultimate goal was to go vegan. This has been difficult in ways I had not anticipated. Giving up meat and poultry and fish is really not an issue--but the DAIRY! that has been another story. If ever a girl loved her cookies and cakes and chocolates and cheeses, it is your own mrs. s. SO, i fitfully exerted myself for the first few months, and it's really not until this past week or so that I began taking this no dairy aspect of the resolution to heart. Luckily I found some tasty vegan treats to store at home (eat pastry cookie dough is super delectable...)m but it's really amazing how hard it is to go out into the world for food consumption when you're got these dietary restrictions. Anyway, I'm now seriously doing my best, instead of my half-hearted attempt earlier in the year.

And what of you all? Are you keeping true to your resolutions or not? :)

A Question of Culpability

So over the weekend I read this book about a woman who, having spent 2 years in prison for killing a mother and her 12 year old daughter while driving drunk, only to discover some 20 odd years later that she hadn't actually been behind the wheel at the time. During these 20 years she joined AA and maintained her sobriety, doing everything she can to amend for her sin, her entire life now structured around doing the right thing for others.

When she finds out that she wasn't the one to mow the mother and daughter down, her relief is palpable--like a sheet of grief lifting off her life--but her husband does not share her joy. According to him, even though she wasn't the one driving, she set the steps in motion which resulted in their death. She went out, intent on getting drunk, driving on a suspended license due previous drunk driving convictions, and while it was true that she gave her keys to a man she thought was more sober than she, she was prone to drinking so much that her judgment back then was perpetually impaired. And so, based on her husband's ethical code, this potentially liberating discovery that someone else was behind the wheel is no more than a technicality on the scales of justice.

An interesting proposition. What do you think? Just because she wasn't driving at the time, is she absolved of accountability? Two years in prison--basing her whole life thereafter on trying to be better. Or is she still guilty, having defied the law by repeatedly driving with a suspended license, drinking to the point of amnesiac black outs, and on route to possibly hitting someone anyway?

Some of you may be aware that certain restaurants are now legally required to provide the nutritional information for their offerings to their clientele. Now you can see exactly how many grams of saturated fat those scrumptious French fries have, and as for that fabulous burger, well that too shall hide no caloric secrets from you. The reason behind this is to help people make better food choices, as far too great a proportion of our population is obese, and that, in turn, leads to increased health care costs for everyone, trim and not so trim alike.

Now, while I am in favor of this, my mister is not. He thinks people should be more responsible for their food consumption on their own--that restaurants should not have to inform their patrons how sodium and fat riddled are their meals. While it is true that people OUGHT to employ common sense and will power when it comes to their food (and their waistlines), it is also true that many do not, and anything that makes people at least think twice before stuffing some fat laden treat into their mouths has got to have some merit.

What do you think? Does this mandate remove personal responsibility or does it help people make better choices?

More (MIS) Adventures in Samson Land

Some of you may recall a few weeks back that there was a race for the senate seat in Massachusetts. The republican candidate emerged victorious. Well, my sister-in-law posted a comment on her Facebook page that basically said the people of Massachusetts were brainless fools. Several other of her Facebook friends posted like comments condemning the people of this aforementioned state as heartless followers intent on dooming our nation. Well, I posted a little comment saying that maybe it really didn't have so much to do with being a democrat or a republican so much as it did with being an independent thinker--and people were voting based on individual candidate's merits as opposed to what their party affiliation was.

Soon, though, I found a message in my inbox from my brother. Evidently my sister-in-law took such umbrage at a dissenting view that she felt the need to UNFRIEND me, and my brother decided to take me task for discussing politics in a public arena (Wendy, if you want to disagree with Erika, the kitchen is the proper place) and demanding an apology for hurting her feelings (I would desist and apologize for making trouble).

WELL, seeing as how she was the one to bring up politics ON FACEBOOK, which is hardly a private space, and how all I did was express a politely dissenting view, I declined to proffer this apology.

However, I remain UNFRIENDED and have no desire to submit a pathetic little friend request to Erika. But what does she think? That she will never need to speak to me again? She's married to my brother! The mother of my niece! Is she not going to talk to me when I call to wish this little niece a happy birthday? Will she forgo dinner when I come out to visit? How should I behave when I interact with her?

It's Only Fair

Seeing as how I asked all of you firsties to tell me your New Year's resolutions, it's only fair that I tell you mine. As I indicated on some of your papers, mine is food oriented. I've always kind of known that the way animals in food the human food chain are treated is not exactly humane, but after reading some books--The Ominvore's Dilemma, Fast Food Nation, Chew on This, In Defense of Food--and watching the movie Food, Inc., I really just can't close my eyes and dip into that ever so delectable of foods, orange chicken, with the same elan. Seeing those conveyer belts with baby chicks, the routine deprivation of light and space for these animals, the inappropriate food provided them, the way they have to basically live in their feces--all of this has made me reevaluate my relationship with the food I consume.

And it's not just the way the animals who are slaughtered for food are treated, but the ones who produce other products I so dearly love--eggs, dairy, ICE CREAM... I want these animals who produce the milk in my coffee to graze on grass instead of the corn and other feed that they are not naturally meant to consume. I want them to experience fresh air and the ability to turn around without becoming stuck in poop.

And so, my immediate resolution is to forgo all meat and poultry from here on out, and all my dairy must be cruelty free, which means the cows producing my milk and sour cream and cheese must be pasture-raised, and I have an ice cream maker so that I can make my own tasty frozen treats from cows that enjoyed space and air and fresh greens.

Hopefully the resolution will stick!

Report Cards...

Perhaps you don't realize it, but we teachers are also subject to grueling deadlines, never more so than when report cards loom over us. It takes HOURS to compose articulate snippets that convey the essence of a student, and sometimes we wonder how much time and thought you all put into reading and processing them. Do you focus more on the actual letter grade and ignore our description? What about your parents? Would you prefer to receive just a letter grade? How would you feel about just receiving a narrative without the grade? What are your thoughts on this entire process of grading and evaluating?

It's a Big World Out There

Whether or not you agree with American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq and all the other places they go, the very fact they go in support of American ideals is a beautiful thing--because what our country represents is indeed beautiful. I have no qualms about saying the United States is among the most noble of countries, if not the most noble.

And think about those soldiers who willingly leave behind their families, their homes, their comfort in the name of freedom. How hard it must be to sustain faith at such a distance.

So take a moment and click on the link below and say a little thank you!

http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1024.html