The Office Dogs

The Office Dogs, doing what they do. 

Rescuing our youth, one at a time

Like many of my colleagues in higher education, I am accustomed to students whose math skills require remedial attention in a college environment. Increasingly I am alarmed to find more and more students with fundamental math and writing skills that are in desperate need of remediation. I am more alarmed that I have been in past due to the level of math skills absent, not just poorly understood, but missing altogether. However, math is not the only basic skill that is missing. Many students are unable, or mostly unable, to write a sentence with a capital letter to begin, and a period at the end. Assignments are sometimes submitted using the jargon and language that has been developed for texting, and for popular social media venues. In addition, many students do not read textbook assigned chapters, or instructions prior to submitting assignments. There is seemingly a huge disconnect between what we need to know to compete in the global workforce, as well as enough education to read and interpret a newspaper, choose from a menu, keep a checkbook in balance, etc. and what we do know. This is very scary considering what it takes to make a living in a difficult economy.   

Having been a product of the U.S. public education system myself, and having had to work to through my own educational deficiencies in the past, I can attest that those who find themselves unprepared with respect to a quality education can indeed triumph in higher education given time, persistence, and encouragement. 

However, I am increasingly afraid for our future generations given that we are not fixing our education system in this country nearly fast enough, if at all. My own K-12 education was sub-par at best, and with the current indicators from my perspective discouraging, it may be that the state of our education system is dire. We can no longer wring our hands and say that we might well lose a generation of children if we were to take the drastic steps to tear down our education system to its foundation, and begin again with a new model, because we have already lost a few if not several generations to an abysmally inadequate system.

I propose that we begin by rescuing our youth, one person at a time. By this I mean that I will pledge myself to helping each student individually, if at all possible, to begin the process that is bridging the gap between what they do know, and what they must know. Because I am very fond of all topics mathematical and scientific, this may be an opportunity that holds at least as much benefit for me, as it may for those who need the knowledge and the ability to apply it. Nothing feels quite like the learning process, and that is a good thing! 

Purge Pollution Pledge

I pledge myself to doing my part to purge my environment of pollution and waste. I pledge to take the following actions, but not limited to these actions, to clean up my space and the general environs around me: 

• I will strive to keep the area around my home clear and free of garbage

• I will be prepared to clean up the public spaces around where I may be, as appropriate

• I will proactively look for other ways that I can avoid polluting as it may relate to my lifestyle

• Do my best to set a good example for others to begin a life-long approach to reducing our common footprint on the environment

It is my intention to take a holistic approach to my impact on the environment. 

Holistic (adjective): Characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole. (Dictionary.com)

By walking the two office dogs, I see a circuit around my neighborhood. It never ceases to amaze me how much trash and garbage has been dropped/dumped into almost every nook and cranny. After not walking over the weekend, I went out today, a Monday, to find that our route had been visited by a few days worth of trash. I am impressed by the notion that all it would take to clean up my neighborhood and yours, is a pocket of time (30 minutes, 15 minutes, how ever long it takes) regularly devoted to picking up trash and disposing of it as appropriate. 

I will, will you? 

Walking on Thursday

Out on my walk with my two walking-buddies today, we came across a minivan with a bumper sticker that read "Republicans for Voldemort". For a Harry Potter maniac like me, this message can have at least two interpretations. One, it could be that the owner of the bumper sticker is expressing their opinion that the Republican Party is destined for greatness if they were to choose Voldemort as their leader. After all as Mr. Olevander says when he is selling Harry Potter his wand, that they can all expect greatness from Harry because with the brother of his new wand, Voldemort had done terrible, yet great things. It seems to me that Voldemort was misaligned with respect to applying his genius. 

Another interpretation could be that this is a rallying cry for Republicans to find themselves a leader with a brain; no doubt there are smart people buried within the Party. Also, it would be helpful if their spokesperson could be consensus-building, possess integrity, and even the merest inkling of reasonable-ness. 

Others: It could also be that a democrat or libertarian owns the vehicle, and is expressing the opinion that Republicans are evil people looking for an evil leader. I feel confident that there are other interpretations for this bumper sticker, but also recognize that I cannot spend the day concocting any more. Back to work I go!  

Back to the routine!

Today I have returned to walking with Fred and George after a few weeks off. Fred and George (F & G) are our two dogs that are brothers, and comrades in arms as it may relate to walking around our neighborhood. Our dogs are somewhat famous for the origin of their names (from Fred and George Weasley in the Harry Potter books; many thanks to J.K. Rowling for her amazing characters!), and for their personalities. In our return to the walk today, they had to check each and every spot for any changes since we last went by. Ergo there were many stops, giving me the opportunity to continue working toward keeping my biceps in good condition.

Another feature of our walk is to pick up as much garbage as we can while fending off the intensions, real or imagined, of the other dogs in our neighborhood. Today, in between flexing my biceps I picked up a moderate amount of trash to sort and dispose of in an appropriate manner. The amount that can be gathered depends on the dogs' cooperation as well as the size of the bag that I have brought with us. Having been away from our normal route for a few weeks, there was a fair amount of trash built up. It never ceases to amaze me that there is so much trash lying about having been apparently discarded by hand, or through careless disposal in a garbage can, or not. It may be time to contact my local municipality to propose a Clean It Up! day. Perhaps one (or more) of the local municipalities could sponsor an event that would ask citizens to look around at their surroundings, pick up any trash there, and dispose of it in an environmentally friendly manner. Just picking up and putting trash in the garbage can or a recycling bin could go a long way toward protecting the environment from the hazards of build up of solid waste. Such an event could also promote civic pride while encouraging everyone to pick up trash that is evident in their yards, neighborhoods, and communities. Hmmmm... what municipality should I contact first?

Other benefits of the walk include two very tired dogs that will sleep so I can be productive, and taking the opportunity to pick a few plums from our very young tree, and eat one on the spot. Ah, the small pleasures of life!

Cookie Mania

In preparation for traveling to see my sister tomorrow, for whom I always like to bring something chocolatey (or, brown as we like to say), I have made a batch of World Peace Cookies (a recipe from Dorie Greenspan and Bon Appetit). They are absolutely beautiful and delicious. After all what could go wrong when mixing together butter, sugar, and chocolate? My kitchen companion is Madame Biddy who has overseen the cookie baking process for me. We have been enjoying all the rewards that come from cooking in general and baking in particular. We have been enjoying the delights that come with making something delicious such as the amazing aroma that is enveloping the house at present. For this batch of cookies I have my favorite taste tester, my husband and very favorite roommate. I have received the nod of approval from him, so I can pack up the cookies (leaving some behind for him) to take to my sister.

This is where I confess to being a devoted, if not a fanatical cookie maker. I have a family that has long had the benefit of amazing cookies, if I do say so myself. However, I find myself in need of people to bake for as my family is full-up on cookies at present as is my freezer. I am also a devoted pie maker, or a 'Pie Queen' ala Anne Dimock and her wonderful book, Humble Pie. Having made hundreds of pies in the last two decades or so I feel compelled to try new varieties and recipes. Once again, my family can only eat so much pie per week; thank heavens that Thanksgiving is around the corner so that I can really flex my pie muscles.

I wonder if cookie breaks were taken while teachers' union officials and their contract negotiating counterparts hammer out a new contract, would result in successful negotiations more quickly. Or if those who are walking the tightrope of trade and other policy instrument development with significant challenges, would benefit from a cookie break to the let off steam. What could be better for the negotiations themselves, much less the condition of each individual id than enjoying a delicious cookie with one's beverage of choice? It could represent a breakthrough method for tough negotiations. I submit that it would be difficult to be surly when eating a cookie that leaves crumbs on one's face, and indeed such crumbs that have to be pointed out to the one besmirched. Such an exchange could scarcely occur without laughter, or a snigger at the very least.

Thank you Dorie Greenspan for another delicious cookie recipe!

My Maiden Post

This is just my first post, because there has to be a first post.  Nothing else will be said in this post, but –whew!– I got that out of the way!