Domestic Psychology

Gay Street 2009

// April 28th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // flickr, local

Friday Night Pics

// April 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // flickr, life, local, music, people

you lost me at the cultural entitlement rant

// April 14th, 2009 // No Comments » // local, media, parenting, people, school

Yesterday, someone recommended an article in the Bearden Shopper-News to me. It was described as an intelligently thought out explanation based on existing research. So, I read the front page article, “Thinking outside the AJ.” The article was accurately described as intelligent UNTIL the author decided to complain that high school “has BECOME a cultural entitlement” because of things like the prom. Seriously? Don’t you think that high school students have had Friday night football games and a yearly prom for more than a few decades now? Have you missed that one of the points of after school activities is creating a sense of community and school pride? Don’t you recognize the benefits of high school students participating in organized school sports and activities? Many high school students work very hard on their classes and a little bit of fluff to break the monotony is not entitlement.

As for the rest of your article, while I agree that school is about learning, I want to see the existing school hours spent as wisely as possible. That does not necessarily equate to more hours in a classroom. We are still talking about children. Eliminating home and parents from a child’s waking hours is a suggestion that should not even be entertained. The arguments against later start times are just as important as the “teens need to sleep in” study. Having Knox County high schools on two different schedules would make it impossible for students at one school to take classes or be on teams with students at another school. The dual-enrollment college classes would have to choose one of the two schedules, leaving out a large group of potential dual-enrollment students. Students who already stay at school until 9 pm several nights a week would be out until 10 pm on school nights. Teachers who volunteer to sponsor after school clubs would be far less likely to do so when it would mean not having dinner with their own families. Moving clubs and activities to before school negates the entire “sleeping in” benefit that you are touting. Local businesses would hire the students from schools on the earlier schedule and students on the later schedule would be less able to find part-time jobs to save for college expenses.

Lastly, let’s talk about your idea that education “won’t ever happen” as long as we are not “thinking outside the AJ.” Without the people in the Andrew Jackson building, there would be NO public education system. We have to think and do WITH the people in the AJ. People from area universities, businesses and agencies that serve children and families were in the AJ this week to collaborate on solutions. Solutions that don’t ask underpaid teachers to work longer hours. Solutions that recognize that learning isn’t just sitting at a desk. Solutions that don’t ask schools to be parents. Solutions that don’t blame football games and prom.

Is that something shiny?

// April 2nd, 2009 // 7 Comments » // local, school

Sometimes, I wonder if our School Board and/or Superintendent suggest changes like school uniforms, the start date of school and the start time of school, just to distract everyone. Maybe they do these things to give the illusion that parents’ input is considered in our school system. Maybe it’s the only way they can get parents to attend meetings. I don’t know. I have an opinion on these issues, but I don’t feel like grabbing torches and pitchforks over them. I would prefer to be in an uproar about all the teachers cut from next year’s budget, eliminating programs that help at-risk students succeed or the need for full-service, community schools. Choosing my battles is the phrase that comes to mind, except I don’t want to fight. Aren’t we on the same team? Don’t we all want whatever is best for students?

Community Schools

// March 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // child welfare, me, school

Knox County NEEDS to have someone or a group of someones attending the Coalition for Community Schools Learning Lab. IF that person could be me, the event would be live blogged. IF an agency or group sponsored me, I would wear a t-shirt with their logo to the event. I am an education and mental health advocate because I care, but I am also just a volunteer. I CAN be bought.

imaginary post about Knoxville

// March 5th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // blogging, local, me

Let’s just pretend this is a post about what is right and wrong with Knoxville. Imagine it is insightful and edgy. I used words with more than two syllables and lots of economic, education and cultural references in my pretend post today. It irritates you and you agree with it all at once. Doesn’t everyone gets one imaginary post a year?

good thing February is short

// February 24th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // life, local, people

At the beginning of February, the house at the end of our cove had a chimney fire. It was very expensive for the owner, but no people or animals were injured. A little over a week later, a giant tree fell in the street in front of the fire survivor’s house. It blocked off traffic and everyone in the neighborhood was without power for 23 hours. For a week, everything was peaceful. This morning, we woke up to a full creek and tracked it to a water break at Northshore. Northshore was closed and our typically quiet neighborhood became a major traffic area. For no good reason, people circled through our cove all day. Then, as suddenly as the loud, fast, dangerous traffic started – it stopped. Except, the scene out the front and back windows showed a stream of cars and trucks. Cars and trucks that were not moving and annoyed people who were getting out of the cars to find the source of the problem. Apparently, an 18-wheeler that shouldn’t have been on our narrow little residential roads was stuck. Guess where? Right in front of the neighbor who survived a fire and just missed getting squished by a fallen tree. Guess why? Did you look at the picture of the downed tree from last week? See those utility lines that were pulled down? Well, Comcast never came by to get those lines back where they belonged, so the big truck that was already struggling on a tiny street became tangled in Comcast cables. The police eventually made it to the scene of the problem and the entire path through our neighborhood had to be cleared so an 18-wheeler could BACK UP the entire route. That truck driver deserves a gold medal for driving under difficult conditions.

I’m starting to wonder if the neighbor who survived the fire is living in a house built over an Indian cemetery. I’m certain that he is glad February is almost over.

my Friday & Sunday drive

// February 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // flickr, me, TN, travel

I love this drive. The drive up the Interstate is hectic and the journey through the small town is painfully slow, but from that moment on, the drive just makes me happy. It is calm, quiet and beautiful. I drive past pastures filled with cows, horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, buffalo and camels. Based on the road debris, there is a skunk farm with poor security somewhere near the other farms. The skunks don’t lessen the peace that I feel on this journey. There are beautiful homes and abandoned trailers. I occasionally lower my eyebrows at the giant trucks filled with trees going to the mills, but I just can’t get stuck worrying about anything when I am surrounded by the mountains. I live in a quiet city with a downtown community that seethes with disgust for people who live in the suburbs (or anything they label as the West part of town). I couldn’t stand to live downtown. I would suffocate on the street. I love my quiet neighborhood of tiny homes and big hearted people, but someday . . . maybe . . . if I’m very lucky . . . I can live in the mountains. If not, well, you know where to throw my ashes.

it’s a bit windy out there

// February 11th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // flickr, local, weather

Stir Fry Cafe

// January 5th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // food, local

I am more than a little bit infatuated with Stir Fry Cafe. For less than 10 dollars, I can have a dinner of miso soup and Brooklyn rolls. Just before New Year’s Eve, I got a cell phone message promoting sushi and drink specials at, well, I don’t know for certain where because there was no restaurant in the text ad. Since the only restaurant I have invited to send me phone ads is Stir Fry, I am guessing it was Stir Fry that had sushi and drink specials. For Stir Fry’s sake, I hope that they include their NAME in future ads. Last week, Doug and I took Tommy to Stir Fry as a special treat before Tommy left for school. Okay, maybe we went because it’s my favorite restaurant right now, but we’ll just pretend it wasn’t my selfish choice of location. During our meal, we were constantly swatting away gnats. Halfway through the meal, Doug realized it wasn’t just three gnats, but a dozen gnats clustered on the wall over our table. We pointed it out to the waiter, thinking he would clean the spot or move us to a less gnat populated table. The waiter sympathetically agreed that it was kind of gross and noted that the gnats used to hang out on a different wall. Umm, ew. I’m thinking that as much as I love this particular Stir Fry location, it might be time to try a Stir Fry in one of the other areas of town. Either that or wait until spring to return and have our meal in the patio area. The bugs have never bothered us on the patio.