Shipwrecked & Comatose

Unless you live off-grid and far away from any major civilization hubs, you probably know about the Louisiana Board of Education's decision to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom in the state.  This caused controversy around the nation. Public institutions are not supposed to favor one religion over another. Public schools are not legally allowed to enforce a religious code on students. Contrary to the beliefs of many hardcore Christians, children are allowed to make their own religious observations as long as they do their work and do not disrupt the classes, but the school can't direct their religious activities.  The Ten Commandments come from the holy text of two major religious groups in the country. Forcing children to know the Ten Commandments is telling children the rules for Judaism and Christianity are ones they should know, even if they don't practice either of those religions. School administrators and board members who support such a display will ar

After Mother's Day it's officially Planting Time. I have my herbs and flowers back on the balcony During the months when the boxes and pots were all empty, birds would often come to rest in our boxes. Blue jays were notorious for digging them up (there was something edible buried in there they loved to dig for) and spreading dirt everywhere. Mourning doves like to sit there and do little more than coo.  These birds deposited seeds in my boxes, as birds doo (spelling error intentional) and I had a few small plant sprouts already growing. I had to uproot them so I could plant my flowers. I couldn't stop wondering what would happen if I let them grow. What kinds of plants were they? Would I be able to identify them if when they matured? What would my balcony look like if let my plants go wild? Curious as I was, I chose not to find out.                                                                                                               *** For most of my life, the coll

One of pop culture's biggest controversies: Should Andie have gone for Duckie, or did she make the right choice in taking Blane back? Pretty in Pink was one of the defining movies of my generation, and nearly forty years after its release, GenXers still discuss it at length. I belong to a couple of Gen X groups on social media and the topic is often tossed around. The opinions are always sharply divided. After reading multiple arguments about this movie, I realized I had something to say about the topic. ( If you haven't seen it, or don't at least know the plot, click here . I won't explain it in this post .) You want to know what's strange? When I saw the movie as a teen, I was Team Blane.*  Why would I be rooting for Blane? I admit he was the kind of guy I found physically attractive in high school, but he also represented the kind of people I hated. He was too good looking to be trustworthy. I knew boys in high school who came from those rich-boy cliques like th

The United States has never been more divided. This divided country will fall apart. Are we headed for another civil war? It's hard to listen to any political commentary these days without hearing about how "divided" the country is. The United States isn't united. It's an assemblage of different groups who all have different goals and dreams and lifestyles and values. It's urban again rural, liberal against conservative, Christians against non-Christians, native-born against immigrants. The entire country is a powder keg of hate waiting to blow because nobody can agree on anything anymore. Is it really? The mass media and all the various political commentators feed us these stories about American division every day. They can't be wrong, can they? It's not as if the news outlets, owned by giant media conglomerates and run by billionaires have any stake in keeping us afraid, right? The media are all reporting the facts and there is no advantage to making

Am I obsessed with food?  Whenever I see those Salonpas commercials on TV, and the commercial ends with a tag for the company that sells it, I hear the VO sing, "Hisamitsu" and all I hear is "Tiramisu." ### In case you're not convinced, I was typing a client's name in an email today whose last name was Duncan. I instinctively spelled it Dunkin first. ### Facebook is full of dumb stuff, but if there is one game on Facebook that is beginning to irk me above all others, it's "Nametests" and similar apps. In most cases, the user is asked to select an image or a answer a short question, and it spits back some excuse for wisdom or tells you your fortune, or maybe provides some supposedly deep insight into the kind of person you are. This is usually along the lines of, "You have been through a lot of difficulties, which made you a strong person, but you are still vulnerable," or "You have a heart of gold, but if anyone crosses you or mi