Wisdom

Enjoy this video.This poor girl had her wisdom teeth removed while some evil jokester filmed the aftermath and posted it on You Tube. I will spare you the boring details, but I recently finished a round of pain killers and muscle relaxers, and spent seven days in a similar condition . Luckily, no evil friends snuck in to film me...at least none that I know of.

*****Although I haven't written too much about books or reading lately, it's not because I haven't been doing so. Customers generally want to talk about what they are reading, but the past weeks, I have had more and more concerned conversations about the situation with our newly elected governor. People who know me understand that I am not the most political person, but I do applaud and appreciate those who stay on top of the issues, and those who choose to serve the public in an elected capacity.

I don't pretend to understand the breadth and depth of the proposed budget, but I am deeply worried about the repercussions this will have in the long and short term upon education. Sadly, I am not hopeful that a compromise will be reached, and the face of education will change quickly and dramatically. There are so many unknowns, but I worry about how the overall quality of education will be impacted. There may be larger class sizes, a high percentage of beginning teachers, fewer aides, less money for current materials...all frightening and negative possiblities.

I would like to offer this suggestion to any of you with time in your lives...next fall, stop in at your neighborhood school and offer your help. I plan to do just that. I figure I have some skills that might be useful to a teacher with a overcrowded classroom. Maybe I can read with a student, or help generated ideas for a paper. 1st and 2nd grade math are also within my skill level. We need to dig in and do some work to insure that our littlest students get off to a solid start. Please help if you can.

*****What am I reading? Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.