http://www.esrnational.org/otc/index.php

“Educators for Social Responsibility’s ONLINE TEACHER CENTER.

As a leading national center for teaching about conflict and social responsibility, ESR has been providing effective and credible resources for teaching important current issues for over 20 years. Our Online Teacher Center provides teaching resources on a range of issues related to international security, conflict resolution, peacemaking, violence prevention, and social responsibility.”

http://www.jewfaq.org

I am not a Jew, but I grew up with a lot of Jews and find a lot of comfort in the familiar observations of the holidays; plus I absolutely love synagogue. I also like the Web site in today’s Link of the Day because it has always provided good information about Judaism in an easily digestible format.

» Continue reading “Link of the Day”

The other day I read an observation about how adults teach ourselves that our bedrooms and beds should only be for sleeping, but then we turn our childrens’ bedrooms into playrooms and wonder why they fight sleep. Personally, I don’t know that I have ever personally had a problem with my boys sleeping in their rooms after playing in them, but I have historically had problems with insomnia that were exacerbated by treating my room as an office or student lounge and not a bedroom.

» Continue reading “Bedroom or playroom?”

It’s a Tibetan saying. I thought it was doubly apt as the Dalai Lama is set to celebrate 50 years of exile from Tibet and the people of Tibet labor under oppressive restrictions on basic freedoms that we take for granted. But, I also found other meanings to it; I am sure that I could find a million ways to apply this saying to my life. Today, this one application trumped: I wanted to apply this idea of compassion to myself and others who tend to view themselves or others with a critical, skewed, even pessimistic perspective.

» Continue reading ““Who looks not with compassion sees not what the eyes of compassion see. “”

I am quirky; this my friends know. I have an affinity for the dentist’s office, hospitals, and needles. I don’t mind blood draws, I think hospitals smell nice, and I have a tendency to fall asleep while getting my teeth cleaned. I can’t help it, I am just stressed out enough and just enough of a hausfrau martyr that the only way I can relax is through forced confinement. Hospital stays are the only vacations I get from my kids, and the dentist’s chair, these days, is the closest I will get to a spa.

» Continue reading “Interesting Moments in the Dentist’s Chair”

http://www.archive.org/index.php

The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.

» Continue reading “Link of the Day”

I am currently reading a book called “Cross-X: The Amazing True Story of How the Most Unlikely Team from the Most Unlikely of Places Overcame Staggering Obstacles at Home and at School to Challenge the Debate Community on Race, Power, and Education.” I kid you not, that is the name on the cover. Cross-X is what adorns the title page inside the book, so we will go with that for the remainder of this post.

» Continue reading “Book of the Day”

I spent a lot of time today walking, working, talking to a good friend, and talking to my husband. We shared our fears that we are trying to force a square peg into a round hole by staying in an area that is good in theory but much more difficult to reconcile with our urban souls in practice.

The fact is that we want to raise our kids in a decent area, we want to be able to afford a home in a community where people care, but we also want to be close to people our own age and enjoy the urban activities we miss. We want to live in a progressive area and live progressive lives and it’s difficult to do when you’re in a conservative mecca.

» Continue reading “A Full Day”

Along the lines of a conversation I had online with some friends, today I implemented what I hope will be a new tradition in our house. Rather than fighting to get my older son to vaguely tell me about his day, I have five questions I think every family should consider answering at the dinner table.

What made you happy today?
What did you learn today?
What did you do to help someone today?
What was your favorite moment of the day?
What was the biggest problem you had today and how did you solve it?

» Continue reading “Roses and Thorns”

Only there’s no beer, no ping pong, no passed out sorority chicks, and no fun. What do we have? A riot of vomit all over my fucking house.

AUGH!

All winter we’ve been assaulted by a myriad of stomach viruses; it has been a plague to which no one has been immune. Tonight, it started with the tank telling me he spent recess in the nurse’s office because he had a tummy ache. Then at dinner, he refused sweet potatoes, chicken, and green beans. I told him if he wanted more white potatoes he had to eat three green beans for me.

» Continue reading “Like a Frat House Beer Pong Tournament”