Thanksgiving Thanks

So, to the usual Thanksgiving reflections: Family, baby, health, a home, etc. All the little warm fuzzies that make up the season. And our new flat screen t.v, of course.

So I'm all signed up for classes next semester. Yay! It's been a couple years since I have been in school, so I'm understandably a little nervous about the whole shebang. Especially since grad school is quite a bit more difficult than undergraduate work, so I'll have to step up. But I've got a new laptop, so when I need to escape the babyish chaos, I can run over to Starbucks, or the library, or even Borders and work on school work.

I guess we'll see. The art museum library wants to have us volunteers (there are 5 of us now) staff the library on Saturdays, so it can be open to the public then. That is planned for February, possibly, so that might be cool. Something other than monotonous cataloguing. I think I'll have to learn a bit more about art tho, if I'm going to be answering any reference or research questions. Eek.

So it's been a good thanksgiving. I'm thankful for the chance to stay home and go to school and further my career. I'm thinking of concentrating on being a Youth Services Librarian. They seem to be in desperate need of those right now. Plus, what could be more rewarding than giving the next generation a love of books? Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Hugs not Drugs

An eighth grade girl in Illinois was suspended after hugging two of her friends after school the other day. She said that she was just hugging them good bye since school was out, though they were still on school grounds. The school quoted their handbook on Msnbc, saying that their policy states that "Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved." The girl, on her appearance on the Today show, said that they had just come from a "Hugs not Drugs" school presentation. Hmmm, something's fishy here.

What kind of double standard are we sending our kids today? I understand the school's position, partly, because of all the current emphasis on sexual harassment, not only in the workplace for adults, but in schools as well. I understand their intentions, but someone, in some distant school board meeting had a rock-solid reason for implementing this policy. So much so, in fact, the the school directors passed, stamped, and sealed it as law. And policy, once in place, is very difficult to repeal. One school said that they put their policy in place because the students were coming into classes late because they were hugging their friends in the hallway.

So the school is between a rock and a hard place; they were, as they said, "just following policy". But what kind of a world is it where hugging a friend goodbye is considered "poor taste and poor judgment"? Where is the allowance for intentions or circumstance? Is there no defense for the student? Why should the student even have to defend her actions? I hugged my friends practically every day when I was in middle school. I can certainly tell you, I'd rather have kids being late for class from hugging rather than from drugs, or alcohol, violence, or indifference, or any of the myriad issues that assault our youth. Don't the desperately bleak problems facing our schools today deserve more attention (both from the school board and the media) than a girl hugging her friend?

Come on people, let's focus on the real problems here, not a spontaneous moment of friendly affection. I, for one, would have our youth be a generation who want to hug their friends rather than kill them. Isn't that the entire point of social education?

Hug Your Kids

So maybe this post and the last one will make me seem like a morbid person. I'm not, really, I swear. It's just that so much has happened lately that the precariousness of life is forefront in my mind. This, too, shall pass, I'm sure, but while it's here you'll just have to put up with my maudlin babbling.

First there were the Southern California fires. Then last week there was a double homicide in Sacramento where a mother found the bodies of her son and her ex-husband. That mother was one of our temps, so that one hit really close to home since I knew her. And just yesterday there was a 108 car pile up near Fresno on the freeway. It just continually hammers home the point that life is not permanent, and for some, it is even less so. You may die, I may die. Today, tomorrow, or 80 years from now. Who knows.

I'll keep this one short, since it is so depressing a subject. Hug your kids, your spouse, your parents. I've never enjoyed Judah so much as I have lately. Even things that would normally frustrate me: getting up 4 times in a single night with him. This week, I cherish it because it means that we're both here and together. What more could a mother ask for?