These Crazy Times: May 2008

It's Here, It's Here!

The 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee Championship Finals:
8:00 to 10:00 p.m. EDT
Live on ABC: Independence Ballroom

YAY!!!

Yes I cheer these kids on, yes I feel bad for them when they mess up a word and get knocked out of the competition because these kids, in my opinion are the best and brightest and will someday run the world. They also work so very hard to get to this point and I think it's quite an accomplishment for them!

Check it out, cheer them on!

WTF!

This is disgusting and quite frankly, that teacher should be admonished for her behavior and encouraging this behavior from the kids in her classroom.

Students vote autistic 5-year-old out of class

It sounds like somebody has been watching too many reality shows. Namely, Wendy Portillo, a teacher at Morningside Elementary in Port St. Lucie, Florida. She turned her kindergarten classroom into a cruel version of Survivor by allowing her students to vote a fellow student out of the class.

The banished child is 5-year-old Alex Barton, who is in the process of being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning type of autism. Not uncommon to his condition, Alex has had some behavioral issues and as a result, spends a lot of time in the principal's office.

After returning to Ms. Portillo's classroom after a recent visit with the principal, his teacher decided to punish him with humiliation. She had Alex stand at the front of the class while his fellow students listed off what they didn't like about him. After informing him that they found him "disgusting" and "annoying", the class was instructed to vote on whether or not Alex should be allowed to stay in the class. By a 14 to 2 margin, they voted him out.

Alex hasn't been back to school since then, but his mother, Melissa Barton, says he is still reliving the incident. The night after it happened, she says she overheard him saying "I'm not special" over and over.

Incredibly, an investigation by the state attorney's office concluded that Alex's treatment did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse and no charges have been filed. I don't know what the criteria for emotional abuse is, but if this doesn't meet it, what does? My heart breaks for all the children involved in this incident.

I'd like to vote this teacher out...better yet, I'd like to break my foot off in her ass.

P.S. - for Girlcottboys - and for anyone else who can't and/or doesn't read carefully...this article was written by Sandy Maples. Then again I never said I wrote it and prefaced it as such! (Don't want to hurt any feelings now)

Time to Remember - Memorial Day 2008

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Why Delta Sucks Ass or You Too Can Treat People Like Shit

Dear Delta,
BLOW ME! You are the SUCK! And this is why.

A friend of mine borrowed my suitcase (which was a gift from my Aunt) to take a trip to Spain on your crap-tastic airline. Getting there went well. He arrived, the luggage arrived, everything was great.

But oh no...you couldn't just let it go from there and make the return trip just as pleasant, could you? Nope. Your baggage handlers, both human and automated destroyed my suitcase to the point where it looked like the plane ran it over, backed over it to see what it hit the first time, then ran back over and dragged it down the runway.

Your response? "We'll try to repair it and in the event we can't, we'll REPLACE IT!" REPLACE, for your pea brains means to give back (whether by purchasing a new item or some fucking form of magic), the same item or it's equivalent. Offering to fix that bag was like offering to unbend a hub cab that had been run over by 20 freight trains. Ain't happenin'.

So my friend kept following up for a status and got the big run around. He finally realized you weren't going to make good on your offer and now he has to replace the suitcase himself.

You've got to be buggin' out if you think for one moment that I believe that a) you're not responsible and b) you can't afford it. Your flight costs have gone up, well BEFORE the price of gas went up. Not to mention Jet Fuel and gas...not the same shit. Your customer service has gone to shit, your on flight service is laughable at best, if your hub wasn't Atlanta with the throngs of business people that fly in and out of here, you'd be more fucked than a hooker on Peachtree and 10th.

Can't afford to replace a suitcase? Yeah, guess that may have cut into that ridiculous million plus salary that you have to pay to your fat cats at the top, who apparently think they shit gold and don't have to be responsible for their actions, let alone the actions of a company.

Bottom Line - You're the SUCK! AirTran gets all my business from now on.

Happy Mother's Day

Dear Mom,
Today is May 12th, 2008 – Mother’s Day and I am here in Tennessee spending it with you. While driving here and while here, as I do at all times really, I think about how much you’ve done for me, how much you mean to me and how much I couldn’t have accomplished without you.

You had me when you were 19 and now I am 36. I imagine that your life was put on hold for quite some time in order to raise me, then my brother and finally my sister. No having children of my own, I can’t imagine what that must have been like. I remember seeing the sacrifices you made, and can recognize them now, but I’ll never know what it’s really like to put my life on hold and be responsible for another human being.

With that said, I want to thank you for the following;

1. Helping me get myself dressed in the morning for school and combing my hair.
2. Making breakfast and letting me help, especially with pancakes and cake that Harold the cat, later jumped into.
3. Making 36 cupcakes the night before the class party AND delivering them.
4. Showing up with the class Christmas tree, even though I “forgot” to ask.
5. Keeping all the “ornaments” I’ve made. From paper chains to clothespin reindeer and still pulling them at, now that I’m 36 years old.
6. Little League, Baseball, Softball, Volleyball, Ice Hockey games, being there, even in the freezing cold and never complaining – and also buying all the equipment that went with it.
7. Money for school dances.
8. Money for the “Book Fair”
9. For instilling in me the joy of reading, the importance of patients and what working hard can really get you.
10. Staying on me about “did you get your homework done”? And pushing me to go to college
11. Warning me about people I shouldn’t hang out with, letting me do it anyway and not saying “I told you so.”
12. For giving me the LOVE that is BLACK LICORICE – damn that stuff is good.
13. For encouraging me, even to this day.
14. For not walking away from me when I told you I was gay.
15. For letting me make my own mistakes and still be able to say “I love you”.
16. For teaching me that life is hard, and sometimes you just have to get used to the fact and work through it.
17. For encouraging me in my successes and not lecturing me for my failures.
18. For calling just to say “I’ve not heard from you, are things okay?”
19. For teaching me that even the simple things, like popping bubble wrap can be a great stress reduction.
20. For all the numerous vacations you took me on when I was a kid
21. For making me realize that things can always be worse but they can always be better.
22. For teaching me to be nice and kind to everyone, because you never know what someone else is going through.
23. To not hit my brother. (I was far older than my sister when she came along, so this was not a question.)
24. To say please and thank you, always.
25. For always letting me know that I can ALWAYS come home.

My admiration, love and and adoration for you, knows no bounds and for that I am grateful.

I love you, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day.

Jeri