Where is Your Imagination?

I’ll tell you where…lost inside a Wii (or Kinect or Play Station or etc.) The obsession with video games is detrimental to our kids’ imagination and creativity.

I took a poll yesterday and 21 out 24 of my 7 year olds have a video game system of some kind. That’s very interesting to me working at socio-economically challenged school such as mine. Over 80% of my school is on free or reduced lunch. I have to send my own books home with my kids and BEG and bribe them to read, since video games seem to be valued quite a bit more in their homes.

A day doesn’t go by without a mention of what level of Sonic someone is on or how excited they are about the new game their parents just bought them. Most creative writing assignments include at least one sentence about a video game. Every year I do a writing lesson using metaphors, which is a difficult concept for second graders. The kids write a poem to their mom for Mother’s Day. The lesson has the students make a list of their most favorite things. Then we write a poem comparing their mom to their favorite things. It is taken from a very cute book called You Are to Me. Every year several of our moms are compared to an Xbox or a DS. Don’t get my wrong. I like a good game of “Just Dance” as much as the next person. However, the addiction that some kids have to these games seems to be damaging them academically.

I’m sure every generation has a vice that the previous one shakes their fist at but, but before video games kids had to create their own fun. They had to use their imagination to go to far away places and pretend to be different characters. Nowadays make-believe is created for kids. All they have to do is stare (relentlessly) at the screen. That’s not good in so many ways.

Good Advice?

I have finally come up with a New Year’s resolution…kind of. I don’t really like resolutions since they are usually broken before the end of the month. Anyhow, my resolution is to stop giving advice.

You see, I’m a “fixer”. Not in the international spy or assassin way, although that would be cool, but rather in the teacher way. I like to help people solve their problems. Not by telling them what to do, well sometimes I like that too, but by talking about the problem and helping them lay out their options. I’m not going to do that anymore. Of course, I will be there if friends want to talk and still be supportive, but from now on, I will just listen without putting in my two cents.

This is not coming from a cold place in my heart or because my advice wasn’t taken, actually nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, I want to concentrate on my own problems and change the things I want to change in my own life without getting caught up in doing that for other people. I am notorious for taking on issues that don’t really concern me out of my need to help others. More often than not, that has bitten me in the butt and/or taken a lot of my time that really should have been focused elsewhere. I don’t think that is healthy.

Just this afternoon, I got a text from a friend. After some discussion, a minor problem was mentioned. As I started to text back my advice I stopped myself. This person wasn’t having a life crisis, no one was in danger, so my response was a simple, “Oh, I’m sorry.” I can not tell you how freeing that was. This person was just fine without me trying to help and I didn’t spend my own time involved in a problem that was not mine. That’s when I decided that “butting out” was to be my New Years resolution. Wish me luck!

This picture has nothing to do with this post other than it makes me happy.

It Still Wouldn’t Hurt To Change Our Rhetoric

After this past weekend’s shooting in Arizona, there have been so many editorials about how the conservatives’ violent rhetoric led to this tragedy. Those being blamed have shot back and thus, the political finger pointing continues.

It’s a bit of a stretch to blame the violent tone of much of the bipartisan debate. If that were the case, Sarah Palin would have the entire Tea Party “movement” out there with actual rifles lining up the liberals in their “crosshairs”. You don’t know how it pains me NOT to place this blame on Palin. In fact, most of us are probably guilty of this type of speech at one time or another…”If he’s late again, I’m going to kill him!”

With that being said, what is the reason that angry, violent speech has become part of the political debate. Some of the things that have been said or written take on such a vicious tone…

"We hunt liberal, tree-hugging Democrats, although it does seem like a waste of good ammunition." Gregg Harper, Mississippi Third

"People are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying, my goodness, what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you, the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out," –Sharon Angle, Nevada Senate Candidate

"Barack Obama is the worst president in history. ... Somebody has to go to Washington and knock the hell out of the place." – Ben Quayle, Arizona Third

These statements did not lead to a shooting rampage however they did lead to more violent rhetoric. It seems to continue on and on. There isn’t any need for it. In fact, it comes across as uninspired, uneducated, and downright foolish. Unfortunately, over the last couple of years the nation is becoming immune to it. It’s not to say that there aren’t those in government who speak intelligently and don’t resort to malicious words towards their opponents. Regrettably, the media doesn’t usually cover such individuals.

Going back to the Arizona shootings, I will leave it to Jon Stewart to add an additional reason to leave out the violence in the political arena…

I do think that its important for us to watch our rhetoric, I do think that its a worthwhile goal not to conflate our political opponents with our enemies if for no other reason than to draw a better distinction between the manifestos of paranoid mad men and what passes for acceptable political and pundit speak. It would be really nice if the ramblings of crazy people didn’t in any way resemble how we actually talk to each other on TV. Let’s at least make troubled individuals easier to spot.

A Helpful Tip

On Saturday, I went to the movies and, as usual, got a a piece of popcorn stuck in my teeth.  Actually it was stuck in my gums, between my teeth, like a sliver.  For the last five days I have flossed and brushed and flossed and brushed to no avail.  Over the last day or so, it’s caused me some pain and I could tell that my gums were irritated (as was I). 

I decided to call the dentist in the morning to make an appointment to have them take care of it with all their expensive fancy tools.  As a last ditch effort I did a search on Bing to see if there was anything else I could try that would save me a trip to the dentist. 

The first site I visited was a forum and a solution was requested for my exact problem. (You gotta love that internet!)  The first couple responses recommended to use floss, a toothbrush, or a toothpick; all which I had tried.  A bit further down there was a reply by a practicing dentist.  This is what it said…

All the previous answers are bunk! Try this...take a piece of floss about 6 inches long. Then, tie a knot in the floss near the mid-way spot on the floss. Next, pop the floss between the teeth. Now, pull the knot back and forth between the teeth where the kernel is stuck. Whalla! It will hurt a little and probably even bleed, but the corn kernel will come out.

I tell you what…that was one of the very best tips I have every read.  It worked!  Just a little pain and then a sigh of relief when the pestering kernel was removed by the knot in the floss.  This 30 second search saved me from a night of swollen gums and the cost of a visit to the dentist.  Definitely a tip worth remembering!

Is That Snow?!?!

The city where I live, just north of Los Angeles, has had snow three times since I have been alive – 1973 (the year I was born), 1988, and 1989.  The newspaper reported that we also got snow in 2007, but I don’t remember that so it must have been very little.  So January 2, 2011 goes on my record book as the first snow we’ve had in over 20 years.  Yes, we got snow!

Rain was predicted for the day.  Although it was cloudy this morning, we didn’t see any rain until about 12:30 PM when I left to pick up a friend at  the Los Angeles Airport.  Driving over the hill on the freeway the rain seemed to be a little flakier than usual, but as the thought of snow popped in my head, I drove down the hill into the Valley where the rain was falling.  Traffic in LA is bad enough on a delightfully sunny day, so when we have any type of weather, it often comes to a stand still.  My ride down was fairly quick, other than the rain, but the ride back into town was very slow moving so by the time we arrived back into town, about two and a half hours had passed since I had left.  As we drove over the hill it took us a minute to realize what we were seeing.

That’s snow you guys!

Driving Into My Neighborhood

My house
The View From the Front Porch
The Backyard
Rigby’s first snow…she seemed to enjoy it! Footprints

It continued to snow into the evening and actually started to accumulate over time.  This is the backyard a couple hours later.  

My trees (especially the poor palms) are drooping with the weight.  But as I write this, the precipitation has stopped and the temperature has gone up a tiny bit.  It sounds as if it is raining, but it’s really the water melting off the trees, fences, and roofs.  We probably won’t have much left when morning comes. 

Granted, I know that those of you who live where there is actually winter weather on a regular basis are probably laughing at these pictures and asking, “You call that snow?!?!”  I lived in New England for 8 years so I have seen my share of snowy weather, but I have been back in Southern California for 11 years now and this is the first snow I’ve seen since then.  I’m basking in the excitement of it!  I love winter!

Starting Off 2011 With Some Silly

Just signed up for a Carla Sonheim class that starts at the end of the week.  Carla authored this super fun book…
which is a great tool to get those creative juices flowing.

So when I heard about the class I had to sign up. 

Upon signing up, download silly activity worksheets everyday for an entire month.  I’m going to try it out for my own art endeavors, but I also hope to bring some of the ideas into my classroom.  Since school isn’t really about fun these days, I think this class might allow me to infuse some art into the day in a quick way.  I can’t wait to start!

Check out Carla’s blog.  It’s all about the fun!

Christmas in Hawaii

Every other year I spend Christmas in Hawaii. 2010 was my year to travel. Here are some highlights…

Spending a couple of days in Honolulu before heading to Kona. I left rainy Los Angeles only to arrive in flooding Honolulu.

We washed away our rain sorrows with tropical beverages.
After a rainy drive to North Shore, hoping to catch some big wave surfing, the storm actually decreased the wave size and there was little to see other than this big guy. Honus are my favorite part of Hawaii.

Spending Christmas in Hawaii doesn’t usually feel much like Christmas to me. It’s hot and humid…I like me a good winter. I’m never really feeling the holiday spirit when sweating. However, after a break in the rain, we ventured out to Honolulu City Hall. They decorated the entire square block for Christmas and it bettered my holiday mood a little bit.


The sun shown through the clouds as we prepared to depart to the Big Island.

Upon arriving in Kona, we finally saw our first sunset of the trip.

The next day was spent on a card-playing marathon. We played for 7 whole hours while it poured down more rain.

Presents were wrapped and put by the tree.
Christmas Eve was spent at home with friends and the famous “Hanukkah” brisket.

Shopping the day after Christmas always seems like a good idea on Christmas day. Not only was it crowded, but with the cost to carry luggage these days, shopping and traveling don’t really mix.

So it was a good time to have some more tropical drinks and watch the ocean.


Most of the final full day in Kona consisted of a trip to Hawi, a small art town with some great galleries and shops. There is a shop there called Pura Vida, and I visit it each time I come in to town. They have the most amazing jewelry.

Heading home this morning. It was a nice trip, but I’m glad to be on my way back home.