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The Truth and Nothing but the Truth. Part 2.
June 1st, 2008
You guys gave me some good questions, although some were definitely better than others. I did answer each and every one totally honestly. Feel free to C&P your answers in the comments! I would love to know, for example, how Kari P (who never comments) feels about glass eyes.
What is your least favorite book of all time? Hum. This a harder question than you would think because I probably don’t remember it, if I remembered it, then it at least made an impression of some sort, therefore not being a terrible book. So I would have to say, some really boring, horribly written book I have forgotten about. The one that I slogged through because I had to for school but was not crazy about? Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
Do you honestly think W has done a good job in his presidency? I voted for him twice, and I still think he was/is better than Gore or Kerry. I think he has done some very good things, and has made some poor decisions. I think that could be said about any president. (this answer was like four paragraphs long with examples and everything, but I deleted it because I just don’t feel up to political debate right now. Maybe later.)
Where do you see yourself in ten years? (have I answered some of these before?) Living in the same town, I would say that I would be working 20-30 hours a week in either the Insurance field, or in some sort of civil service job for the city/county/state. I will have an almost twelve year old and an (MAYBE) eightish year old. I will have just celebrated my fifteenth anniversary to the most wonderful man in the world.
What are your dreams for The Son’s future? I would love for him to be a minister. I think he has the charisma to be a politician, but mostly I just want him to be a happy, productive member of society. Oh, and live no more than four minutes away from me.
What current event has made you the maddest? I get mad when I hear about people taking bad care of their kids. I get mad that there are governments that care more about politics than their people. I get really, really mad when asshat celebrities comment about current events. Be it Sharon Stone being a moron about China, or when Paris Hilton tells us who to vote for. Seriously, you have no idea what you are talking about, so just STFU.
What current event has made you the saddest? People using religion to be a jerk makes me very sad. I think that Christianity is about love, and it is heartbreaking to see it abused and twisted into hate.
What current event has left you feeling apathetic? Anything sports related. Really who cares? And Why? If all the money spent on major league sports was spent on education or feeding the hungry then we would have a lot smarter and healthier population.
Hey You, did you know that I will be going to see Wicked when it comes to Omaha next year? No, that is awesome!
Jealous? Yes! Maybe I should come visit and see it with you.
Remember when I gave you my copy of the book because I thought you would like it? I do, and I LOVED IT.
Have you read the sequel (that came out approx. 2 yrs ago)? Yes, in fact Son of a Witch is on my favorites list. I wonder when the third book will come out?
Describe the causation, parameters, and effects of hatred. Likewise love. Good lord JHJ. Okay, um. Yeah. Hate: I would say that Fear always causes hate, and we hate the things we are the most afraid of. Also maybe ignorance? We hate the things/people we do not understand. I suppose the only parameters of hate are death and education. There will always be hate, because there will always be sin and fear and ignorance because we are human. The effects of hatred? Uh, all bad things ever? Self limiting behavior? Loneliness? Love: Grace has enabled us all to love, to feel loved, to be loved. Love, real love, is without boundaries. All goodness and light comes from love. That and puppies.
I note that you didn’t swear to tell the whole truth in the title of this entry. Is this to protect your carefully cultivated anonymity? Partially that, and also because these questions could be volumes of information, and I don’t really think anyone wants to read that.
If you could choose any artist from history, who would you select to paint your portrait? Well that depends, would I go back in time or would they come to present day? If I were to go back in time I would have to say Michelangelo, just so I could ask him questions, and see the Renaissance in person, (oh, I would need an interpreter as well). If the artist were to come here, I would say Johannes Vermeer, because his portraits are just, wow.
Use food as a metaphor to provide some insight into yourself. Warm, comforting, gets better with a little age, small amounts of onion that bite, chunks of ham that get all the attention, Tubers provide the bulk—they grow the most in the dark places, but are not useful until they come into the light. (Potato soup)
Would you rather have a booger hanging out of your nose or bad breath? Bad Breath.
If you had to choose between “wet” or “cold,” which would you choose and why? Wet, I love to be in lakes, rivers, oceans, pools, tubs, showers
What’s up with that? Well ShoeShe, it turns out that there is quite a lot up with that. Check it out.
Why do people say, “To be honest with you,” are they lying every other time they talk to me? I think that when people say “to be honest with you” it is before they say something they would rather not say at all, but have to for some reason, so they really want you to know it is true.
Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Since wolves are carnivores, any kind of meat should be afraid of them. Their diet ranges from big game, such as elk and moose, to earthworms, berries and grasshoppers. To avoid using too much energy catching their food, wolves prey on weaker members of a herd, such as old, young or sick animals. In summer, when the herds migrate, wolves eat mice, birds and even fish. They may also eat carrion. Al had better watch out.
When did you first know yourself? Myself has been constantly changing, so as soon as I think I have a grip of who I am, I grow up a little more. So…never.
Who has been most influential in your life? My brother, I am the classic elder sibling, always needing to be right, and often controlling. Eldests strive to keep or regain parental attention through conformity. They usually develop competent, responsible behavior and become very discouraged by failure. They strive to protect and help others, and to please. Yup , that is me. And it is all his fault.
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Three cords.
Do you have an “alias”? My son calls me Mama, and I get sweetheart, and honeys from various people. I actually really like my real name and I LOVE The Son’s name, so it is hard to keep up with the Hey Yous and The Sons all the time.
What has been the most frivolous thing you’ve ever done? Used a credit card to go to expensive restaurants, or shopping with my friends in college. Whilst unemployed.
What action have you most regretted? I would like to say there are things I should have done differently, for example, breaking up with pshyco old boyfriends a year sooner, but they make me who I am now, and make me appreciate the blessings I have. I guess I would have to say that I have said hurtful things to people when I did not mean them…or I meant them, but should have kept my mouth shut anyway.
If you could do anything for one week, regardless time and cost, what would you do? Is safety also not an issue? And can you assure me that The Son will not be traumatized? I would go work in a medical clinic for women in AIDS ravaged Africa.
I think you owe it to your readers to divulge why in the world you’re afraid of eye injuries and glass eyes. (mainly for those who didn’t know you were Ommatophobic). When I was 13 and sitting at my desk in Coach Aldred’s seventh grade classroom at North Forsyth Junior High, there was a group of kids making fun of this girl, Catrina. She was overweight, had greasy, long, dark brown hair, and a weird eye. Instead of saying anything, I just wrote a note to my friend. Catrina lost it, and started screaming at them, and started to cry. Her wonky eye looked even weirder, so she popped it out, (it made a noise!) and kind of rolled it around in her hands for second, stuck it in her mouth to wash it off, and then put it back in. The mean kids shrieked and left her alone. I felt totally grossed out by what she had just done, and by what I had NOT just done. Ever since, I have had an irrational fear of prosthetic eyes. Crazy, I know.
So, there is a little more about me. Other unknown facts? There is a huge purple stuffed hippo in my master closet; I have not slept with her since I got married, but she (her name is Violet) still comes out if I am sick or upset about something. What else? Hum, I love the TV show Little House on the Prairie. When I found out I was PG, I wanted a girl. (I am glad I was WRONG!) I used to Nest all day during work at the heartless cellular company. I do not always brush my teeth before I go to bed. And finally, I NEVER get a bowl for ice cream, it is straight out of the carton or nothing.
9 Responses to “The Truth and Nothing but the Truth. Part 2.”
My darling daughter-in-law,
This is in answer to the hoping your child(ren) live no more than 4 minutes away from you…be prepared for that to not happen. That way, you’ll be prepared for the possibilities. Grown sons sometimes stay close to home, as in cases where there is a family business/farm/etc. but more often than not, they go through a time when they have to experience the “wide world”. And, sometimes, never return to their hometown.
I hope yours will live close by, because that will mean they and my resulting great-grandchildren will not be too far from me as well. (Hey, I’m selfish and I admit it.)
Sorry, I don’t mean to sound negative…just be prepared as I was to see your son(s) move away, be sure to make contingency plans, and then hope you don’t have to use them. Of course, in my case, FFIL and I chose to encourage both sons to grow up, move out, move on, and NOT return to their unpromising hometown since we planned to leave as well “someday”…hopefully TheSon’s hometown will continue to be promising enough to meet all of his life’s desires.
I’m so grateful that, although its about 55 more than 4 minutes away, you, TheSon and OurSon are close enough NOW for decently regular visits.
Ummm…I reread my post. Please forgive the small number of grammatical errors…it’s been a classic post-rainy-day Monday all DAY long.
It feels like I’ve said the following a thousand times since last Friday, “No, I’m sorry, the state student test score reports have not been delivered. Yes, I understand that they were to be delivered by May 31, but they are not here yet. No, I’m sorry, I haven’t been able to see if they’re posted online yet because I have had so many interruptions. Yes, it IS true that the testing company sold the Kindergarten test as a practice item to many schools in the state, thus invalidating the test results, so, yes, all students in that Kindergarten cohort will take ANOTHER test in the fall.”
Where’s the vat of Calgon when you need it????????
Ooops–sorry for hijacking your blog, HeyYou.
A resulting question for HeyYou: As a person that once wanted to be a lobbyist for a children’s organization, do you believe the current atmosphere of “test and stress” in America’s education system needs to be changed…and what role should your generation of young parents play in the national debate of NCLB?
I’m not Hey You, but I think NCLB is a crock of you know what. Things were much better (at least for me, personally) when it was okay to separate kids by learning levels or aptitudes. That all went by the wayside when I was in about third or fourth grade. I remember a dramatic difference in my education at that point in my life. I was no longer in classes with all the smart kids, and teachers didn’t really know what to do with us (the kids who had finished fourth grade math books in first grade), so they had us “help” the other kids. I don’t know if you’ve watched a third grader try to “help” another student, but the end result is usually something like “copying.” In addition, I was no longer stimulated. I began daydreaming. I lost my appetite for knowledge, because no “food” was available. We had to wait until junior high so we could get back into “honors” classes to be stimulated, but at that point, we had all gone several years without such stimulation. It really is tragic that in an effort to be politically correct, schools, educators and mostly government officials who know nothing about the educational process make decisions that negatively affect an entire generation (and then some).
Now, I realize that some would argue that the kids who weren’t in the “smart” class had a stigma. To be honest with you, I never noticed who was in what class. I knew that I was in a class that kept me learning and held my attention, because it moved at my pace. I knew that some of my friends weren’t in my math class, but were in my reading class. I knew that most of the kids I was in GT with were also in all my other classes, but I didn’t really know how all the classes were split up, nor did I care. There were four classes in each grade at my elementary school, and they were classified something like this: Above Average, Higher Average, Lower Average, Below Average. But, this was done in each subset (i.e., math, language, reading, social studies, etc.), so it was possible that you might be in an above average math class but below average reading class…or vice versa. It worked then. I don’t know why it wouldn’t work now, other than that we’re afraid to offend people.
Okay, I’ve officially decided to stop here. I think I’ll blog about this on my own blog - http://www.shoeshe.wordpress.com.
Add to my above comment that I find it a waste of time, educational opportunity, money and energy to have as much testing as we now do.
Plus, there is a particular school in my hometown that teaches to the tests. I know people say that about a lot of schools, but this one in particular gives grades on the practice tests and tells kids they’ve failed when they don’t do as well as they had hoped. This particular school ranks very highly in the state on test scores at all grade levels. However, college retention rates are terrible for this particular school’s graduates. Maybe those kids are doing very well on those tests and are able to secure more money for their teachers and school district. But, when it comes to life, they just don’t have the knowledge or desire to succeed. Life isn’t some big test. Life is an experience…a journey…a quest for knowledge. If you are constantly testing, then you’ve got to be missing some other key component to the educational process, i.e. hands-on learning, experiences that round out a student’s desire to learn, extracurriculars, etc.
Really…sorry about this (taking over the comment section), but I find that I’m slightly (okay…more than slightly) passionate about this subject, and I really am not sure why. I have no kids, though lately I’ve been toying with the notion of going back to school to get a teaching degree. What do you think?
ShoeShe - you would do a wonderful job as a teacher! In regards to NCLB, I never really felt that it affected me until I started working with an educational audiologist at an elementary school in Wichita. That school was in danger of being sanctioned because of its test scores in reading. The biggest issue was that many of the deaf/hard of hearing children in the city attended this school, and deaf/hoh tend to have more trouble with literacy.
I understand about being ahead of your classmates, but I was never offered a choice seeing as I attended a VERY small rural school. I had to share my valedictorian honors with a girl who took shop and basketball for credit, while I was taking advanced math, physics, and AP English. I felt that it was unfair at the time, but later realized that it didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
I’m curious to see what Hey You and Cat have to say on the NCLB issue, since they both have children who are either school-age or will be soon.
Glad I touched a nerve. Educators are, for the most part, forced to jump through the legal hoops of NCLB in order to avoid its sanctions. The head of the nail? Congress. The testing companies are the winners here…oh, and the “supplemental educational service” providers. They are all making millions on the backs of children and I imagine there is a HUGE lobby in Washington now doing its darndest to keep NCLB as is, without the revisions. Which would make Ted Kennedy happy since he’s the co-author and self-proclaimed owner of the bill.
So……….what to do about it?
You know what else is a crock? Not adapting the tests to those with special needs. There is a girl in my hometown who was featured on the news. She is nearly blind (not all the way blind, but she doesn’t see well). Her mother requested that someone read her the test questions, because too much reading is a strain on whatever is wrong with her eyes. They rejected the claim. The girl wound up skipping school the week they did testing in protest.
If you really want to leave no child behind, then don’t you think you should accommodate kids who need special arrangements?
It seems that there are many learning styles and adaptations to fit the needs of many children who are not necessarily “below average,” but who instead have some sort of learning disability or challenge or handicap that makes it necessary to adapt or change the way tests are given.
Actually, I think in a few years we’ll see that all this testing is detrimental to the learning process. I think we’ll see burnout (among both teachers and students). I think we’ll see kids forego college, because they don’t think they’re capable (that’s what they’re told if they don’t do well on these tests). I think we’ll see increased truancy. I think we’ll see more behavior problems as students are constantly labeled. I also think we’re making kids grow up too fast. I just don’t think all this testing is a good idea.
I don’t really know what to do about it. Quite frankly I have no vested interest in the matter at this point.
Nice website!!
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