Peek-a-boo
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My New Best Friend
My good friend asked me to go with her to a local bird store several months ago. I should have known better because this was right after my beloved cockatiel died. As soon as we walked into the store, Ryan, the manager, thrust this little, feather-less creature into my hand and it was love at first flight!
Of course, the story is complicated, but the bottom line is that I am now “mother” to Ethel, my adorable, 4-month old green cheek conure.
This is just a brief introduction, but there will be many more tales to come.
Hint: How Ethel loves to watch what’s on my computer screen and add to its interest by pecking at the touch screen to see what she can come up with next,
A Village and a Very Sick Dog
Chavo came back – again. He came back to the shelter a few weeks ago, but no one recognized him. I did. Somewhere inside the little, shriveled dog in the kennel hid the big head and broad chest that was once filled out and healthy. At first the dog in this kennel was only vaguely familiar. I looked at his intake card, saw the name Chavo, and looked again at the pathetic dog laying in his kennel, too tired to even get up. This was not the chesty little low-rider pitbull I remembered and loved. This was a sick skeleton with glassy eyes, and foamy mouth.
I wanted to murder the people who did this to him.
It took a village to nurse Chavo back to health. Once his condition became known to the techs and vet, he was quickly whisked to the quiet and protected part of the shelter. Word spread like wildfire about our once robust little low-rider. We all prayed and kept vigil outside his kennel. After two days of not eating and utter lethargy, doc did exploratory surgery on him and pulled a walnut from Chavo’s digestive tract.
And so Chavo began to heal. He ate hungrily and had his own cheering squad urging him through every bite, every step. At first he was allowed just short walks, and we lined up for our turn “at Chavo.” Before long, walks became longer and longer until he was finally allowed back into the adoption part of the shelter.
One day I came looking forward to a walk with Chavo, only to find he’d been adopted. Selfishly, my heart sank. But I heard it was a good thing. Good people. Good for Chavo, and ultimately good for all of us in the village who brought a near-death, low-rider pit back to life and into a home with good, loving people.
Gender Neutral (Not)
The list of terms describing gender preferences is astounding. When I was younger, there was no such list and there were lots of behind the hand whispers and mocking of those who displayed characteristics of gender outside the norm. That is not so much the case at all today and that is a good thing.
What is not a good thing is the accompanying list of pronouns and other terms people want others to refer to them by. We have such a situation where I work and it is stressful trying to remember if this person is a they or them, an anyone or a nobody. Then there may also be a preference for other defined pronoun words. The more comprehensive list of gender-neutral pronouns is as follows:
He/She — Zie, Sie, Ey, Ve, Tey, E
Him/Her — Zim, Sie, Em, Ver, Ter, Em
His/Her — Zir, Hir, Eir, Vis, Tem, Eir
His/Hers — Zis, Hirs, Eirs, Vers, Ters, Eirs
Himself/Herself — Zieself, Hirself, Eirself, Verself, Terself, Emself
Here’s the rub for me. If you want to be called something, that is your freedom. Fine. But on the other hand, it is my freedom to turn down your request. Aren’t there more important things than to insist on being viewed in a very prescribed and calculated way? Why not just be what we are – people!
I work with a “they” who insists on remaining gender neutral and who wrote our department a long tome on why this was important. This person dresses as a boy, but is a woman by physiology and a mother by choice. I am confused because this person is militant in her stand on gender neutrality, yet goes to such an extreme as to dress as a selected gender? This is not gender neutral. This person’s baby is now about 2 years old, no one knows its true sex, and it is called Winter. I wonder how this “it” is going to manage in a very un-gender neutral society.
Hamilton Visits and Charms
I was dubious. The hype has been relentless ever since last spring when the touring Broadway show lineup was announced and Hamilton was among the fare. I mean, I liked the idea of a musical couched in an historical backdrop, but hip hop?
Yep. Showing my age. I am mostly a consumer of classical and jazz music and cringe every time I am at a stop light next to a car with hip hop screaming out its open windows.
I was, simply put, not a fan, until last night.
And now I get it. I get the hoopla and the hype and everything in between because this show is a cultural phenomenon, bringing together races, religions, and generations into toe tapping, head bobbing, and occasional tear-dropping magic.
If you can, try your very best to find a ticket. Join the HamFam and be transported into a fantasy where history meets hiphop.
E-book or Paper Book: Which is the Best for You?
By the Numbers
According to the respected Pew Research Center, print books remain the most popular reading medium with 67 percent of Americans having read at least one paper book in the last year. Of these, 39 percent will only read paper books while 29 percent read in both paper and e-book formats, with just 7 percent reading only e-books. The numbers are couched in the fact that the average American reads 12 books/year. Age is also a factor with 10 percent of those aged 18 to 29 reading only e-books compared to 5 percent of those ages 50 – 64.
As for devices, it’s either paper back or hardcover for paper books, while e-readers have expanded their reading devices to include smart phones, tablets, and even audio formats.
Regardless of which format you prefer, there are advantages and disadvantages to each.
The mind slows when reading print allowing for deeper critical thinking
According to an article in the Huffington Post, there are 10 reasons why print is better that e-books.
Why Print is Better
- Reading print books is a tactile activity that offers pleasurable experiences for the senses of smell, touch, and sight.
- Studies show that reading in print is better for retention. You may not remember all the clues and evidence in that mystery you are savoring read digitally.
- Books last decades longer than digital devices.
- Keeping old, treasured books around elicits memories, good and bad, of the time you read them.
- Giving a book to a friend is a special gesture.
- You can underline, dog-ear, highlight, and write in the margins of a book – all cognition strengthening activities.
- The covers and jackets of books people read on a bus or subway can be a snapshot of a city’s culture.
- Books in print give writers higher royalties than their e-book versions.
- Books are soothing and healthier. Light-emitting e-books interfere with sleep and general health.
- Books are less likely to be stolen which is not true of an e-reading device.
On the Other Hand
10 reasons why e-books are better
- You can download them instantly without having to leave home.
- They are usually more portable.
- When borrowed from the library, there are no late fees for library e-books.
- They provide readers with built-in dictionaries.
- They don’t require bookcases for storage.
- You can set your preferred font size and style.
- It’s easier to find hard to find niche topics.
- They are more environmentally friendly (really?).
- You don’t need a reading light – they come with their own.
- They are usually cheaper than their paper book counterparts.
My Take
I am a ravenous hard-copy reader! That’s not to say I don’t read the occasional e-book (I do have a Kindle which I mainly use to play Words with Friends and watch Netflix movies). Ever since I was in grade school, I have smelled books and have been known to pick one title over another because it smelled better. No can do with an e-book. In the summer I love to take a good mystery to the beach or pool – can you see dropping the e-book device into the water or clogging its memory with sand? I do agree about the space issue, but I feel warm and cozy in my study which is lined with books, some even going back to those grade school days – and that’s a LONG time ago!
Anyway, whichever is your book media of choice, I wish you hours and hours of magic and memories from your treasured volume or screen.
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
It reads like a combined horror, suspense and true crime story, and that’s because it is all those things. Getting this book was totally random. I was surfing books on Amazon when I came across the thoroughly intriguing title, and when I saw its almost 5-star rating, it was a slam dunk order.
(Even though I have a Kindle, I still order most of my books in hard copy – its like the brick and mortar versus virtual classroom thing.)
Back to bleeding, er, uh Bad Blood.
Although the story is about a Silicon Valley start-up named Theranos, intrinsic to that is the story of its founder, a then 19-year-old Stanford University dropout named Elizabeth Holmes who eventually became the world’s youngest female self-made billionaire. Begun with her vision to make the world a better place, Elizabeth conceived of performing blood tests on people by drawing blood with a finger prick and running it through small, Theranos designed and built blood analyzers. However – there was a hitch–her system didn’t work.
Tests came back inaccurate and many were really run on the several traditional (big) analyzers the company had purchased from other manufacturers. People became panicked when results suggested imminent strokes and out-of-whack TSH values. Meanwhile, the more it didn’t work, the more Elizabeth explained things away with exaggerations that eventually segued into out-and-out lies.
Elizabeth is a striking woman whose idol was Steve Jobs of Apple. Her dream was to be the Steve Jobs of the medical world. She even emulated him in the way she dressed, with her black turtlenecks and slacks. One of her traits that startled many who met her was her voice. Whether cultivated or natural, it was a deep, manly, baritone that didn’t pair with the blond, ruby-lipped stunner.
Elizabeth ran the company along with her live-in lover, Sunny Balwani. She had an amazing talent of attracting older, successful men to join her Board of Directors, including George Schultz, former U.S. Secretary of State and George Mattis, a former U.S. Secretary of Defense. Most of her board members were totally taken with this beautiful young woman with the deep voice who could spin yarns into amazing products that came unraveled before they were even real.
Sunny and Elizabeth ruled the company ruthlessly, never hesitating to fire someone on the spot, which they did with progressive frequency as employees began to realize they were partaking in what was soon to be deemed a fraud of major proportion.
Anyway, I have become obsessed with this story and its central figure, Elizabeth Holmes. Although technically a business-based story, this is really a read about an astonishing success story turned into ashes, overnight!
If you are looking for a great read of epic proportions,
give Bad Blood a try.
Spa Baths and Cabbage Leaves
He didn’t have a name. They give all the dogs a name, but for some reason, this sad-eyed boy got passed by. He was the quintessential hang dog, rarely lifting his head to make eye contact, but when he did, my heart melted. I just wanted him to have a name.
I went to see him today. They gave him a name. It’s Carter. He has a bad skin condition, so I helped one of the other volunteers give him the spa bath treatment. He seemed to love the attention, especially when we got “the spot” and his leg jerked in happy harmony with butt scrubs.
I don’t know what will happen with him. I pray for the perfect family to come along and adopt him. He’s in the adoption row now, so there’s plenty of hope.
I learned something new today, too. Actually, it seems I always learn something new when I go to the shelter. Today we had to treat a mama dog who had suffered from a case of mastitis. The treatment? Hold cold leaves of cabbage on the offending teats. It works! Yesterday all she wanted to do was lay down and have the cabbage leaves pressed against her. Today? All she wanted was to bounce around and play. She is better. Cabbage leaves work on sore teats! Who would have guessed?
Is Correct Use of the English Language Doomed?
I am a grammar geek. That’s not to say I always get it right, but I love thinking about it and see grammar as a giant puzzle that deserves to be dealt with justly and correctly. After all, I grew up in the age of sentence diagramming, which I loved and still think of fondly.
I am also an English teacher. I teach college students whose idea of grammar is to see how many letters they can eliminate in a word to have it still make sense: u, imho, lol, among many, many others.
The students I teach are mostly serious students and good people. The course I teach is an upper level course that focuses on business writing. One of its main premises is that the students come to it equipped with the skills of grammar, and if lacking, it is up to them to seek remedial help.
Ha!
The other day I administered an exercise having to do with subject-verb agreement, sentence structure, punctuation, and a short essay. Granted, some of the questions were on the complex-side, but theoretically, questions these students should be able to handle. The results were abysmal.
I’m in mourning as I watch the purity of my lovely language losing out to the era of text messages, disappearing photos, and beyond-casual email. In fact, I am appalled at the some emotionally-charged, poorly formatted and incompetently-written emails that come across my desk from students these days.
What is the answer? I declare that there is none. The language will evolve or dissolve and the question now is, does anybody care?
The Skirt
It had been a long and crazy day. I taught in the morning, had office hours after, rushed home to get my dogs out, changed into jeans, and then went off to the shelter to walk the dogs. That evening my daughter and I were going out to dinner first before seeing the play Chicago! I rushed home after walking the dogs, changed back into my pencil skirt and top, and off my daughter and I went to begin our evening romp.
Dinner was good – I had my usual – a cheese omelet. Then, off to the theater. We parked on a back street and started the ½ block walk to the theater. About halfway there I felt something odd around my ankles. I looked down and to my horror, discovered my skirt had fallen down. I yanked that baby up as fast as I could and proceeded to spend the rest of the evening with one hand firmly grasping the top of that skirt.
My daughter and I about rolled down the street laughing at this new “mom-ism” caper. Interestingly, while gripping the skirt after “the incident,” I thought the waistband was awfully loose and wondered if I had lost weight.
Anyway, I made it home with skirt more or less intact and when I took it off, I discovered that when I redressed myself, I put the darn thing on upside down.
The moral of this story is that pencil skirts only go on one way and it’s best to identify the position of the waistband before putting one on.
madmuser 