They're Leaving Room in the Judging

August 20, 2020

Have you ever looked at online reviews? Have you ever noticed that someone will praise the work quality, the professionalism, and the promptness of completion—and then award the company four out of five stars? What else are they expecting?

Maybe they’re used to the Olympics, where the judges don’t give high marks to the first participants, because they’re expecting the later ones to be better.

So are these people going to hire another electrician for the same job and see if they do it better?

Remember, We're All Related

 

August 19, 2020

 

A few years ago I learned that aspen trees reproduce by having sprouts grow from tree roots that are near the surface. So one aspen tree can become a grove of trees—but they’re all the same tree. They’re genetically identical—clones, as it were.*

Willow trees do something similar, but a willow frond can float downstream and plant itself elsewhere, moving the genes around. One writer claims that all the weeping willows in the world are genetically identical.

Since we’re all the same species, I wish people acted like we all shared the same root system, and took care of each other accordingly.

 

I should get a T-shirt printed that says, “Be a willow.”**

 

 

*(On a less elevated note, crab grass propagates the same way. But it’s not as charming an image.)

 

 **(“Be an aspen” would sum up my feelings more accurately, but “Be a willow” sounds better.)

 

Tightening Procedures

 

August 17, 2020

 

Patrol officers in Renton, WA were following procedure when they locked their vehicles, with the engines running, while they went to speak to a suspected car thief. But it seems like the procedure didn’t take into account the chutzpah of certain suspects.

The officers tried to talk to the suspect, but he walked away; he then reached through the open window of one of the patrol cars, unlocked it, and took the car for a ride.

The car and the suspect were both recovered.

 

No word on whether procedure will now dictate closed windows and extra keys for the patrol cars.

Wanna Take That Back?

 

August 15, 2020

The blog site has been updated. Now, before you publish a post, it asks, “Publish Post? This will publish this post to your blog.”

I feel like it’s saying, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

 

It makes me uneasy.

They Can Enforce the Dress Code, but not the Mask Mandate

 

August 10, 2020

 

I saw an article the other day about the Georgia school that suspended a student for taking a picture of the crowded school hallway, full of unmasked students. School administrators said that they were unable to enforce a mask mandate.

Kelsey Stiegman, of Seventeen magazine, pointed out that the school district has a dress code about how long shorts must be; that shoulders must be covered; and that one middle school devotes 3 pages of its dress code to leggings.

Why, she asks, can schools take the time to measure how long a girl’s shorts are, and make students abide by a dress code; but can’t make students abide by a mask mandate? Especially when you can tell at a glance who is and who isn’t wearing a mask?

 

Excellent question.

 

 

School Is Not Day Care

 

August 11, 2020

Letter to Kathleen Parker, columnist at the Washington Post:

Dear Ms. Parker:

You made some cogent points in your column about why teachers should be considered front-line workers and return to school.

But you almost lost me in the second sentence: “In the other [ear], an exhausted mother of two young children tells me she's praying her kids can go back to school.”

School is not day care, Ms. Parker. Exhausted mothers can find like-minded parents online and trade babysitting dates.

School is there for students to learn, not so parents can park their kids and go to work. (Yes, as a working mother, I did have trouble juggling work and kids when school was out; so I know whereof I speak.)

PLEASE do not spread the notion that school exists to give parents a break from their children. Teachers are not babysitters. Please don't reinforce the idea that that's what they are. Too many people think that already.

Art Exploration

August 5, 2020

The St. Louis Art Museum emails an Object of the Day to members. Today’s was a print by Maija Isola, which was donated by Marimekko Corporation. I looked up Marimekko and found out that it is a store in Finland that produces clothing, home goods, etc.,  and that Isola used to design for them. 

I got curious and looked at the Marimekko website. The clothing didn’t move me much, but the “Our Story” section of their website had a dazzling video about their fabric printing. It was only a few seconds long, but I loved it.

 Art Exploration really CAN take you places!