Happy Change Day!

I hope everyone was able to watch the coverage of the inauguration. What an awe-inspiring day. I'm not even going to mention the minutiae (the word Charles Gibson used, I know, a hundred times) or the posts on Facebook that are extremely negative.

What I want to focus on were the many, many faces of hope today. Tomorrow is a new day and one which Ezra Klein at The American Prospect aptly states will be the realization of Obama, no longer the idea of Obama. I'm excited about that. Mistakes will be made, no doubt; no one could take the highest office in the land and not make a mistake. However, whatever mistakes are made will be by a man of integrity, a man who is not perfect but believes in Americans and that those same Americans can be the change our country needs. He recognizes that not only do we not all look alike, we also think differently, believe differently, have sex differently, and speak differently. I can stand behind a man who understands that and who is willing to include all of us anyway.

I respect this man. I respect the fact that he has ideals. I respect the fact that he is young. I respect that he is (fairly) new to politics. I respect his differences, and I respect his similarities.

I am hopeful. I hope. I'll be the first to say I need to personally put that hope into action. Service, as he said, is what we need. I'm not quite sure how or where to start, but I will make a pledge to serve, to do what I can where I can in order to make our nation a better place to live, love, work, and be happy and free.

Happy Thank God I'm Not a Mother on Mother's Day Day

I like kids, I do. But after nearly three years of being a dog owner, I think to myself, Golly Gee Whiz, how would I handle a child -one I would have to feed several times a day instead of simply filling a water and food bowl and setting them on the floor of the kitchen; one whose priorities are crying, playing, eating, drinking, snacking, mess-making, talking, rolling on the floor, etc; one whose life would suddenly come before my own. I know I am selfish - I'll be the first to admit it. Plus,how doesanyonehavetime for a child? I barely have time to make it to the gym after work, walk aforementioned dog, eat dinner, shower, and sleep.

So .... to all the mothers out there, including my own: I am impressed. I am quite a bit humbled and a small bit shamefaced for my self-centered ways. Enjoy your day with kids or without.

Dedicated to Joni, a new mom going through quite a bit of hell - and to Sommer and Virginia, expectant, young, kick ass mommies to be.

Southeast Texas Assholery

Wow. Just wow. Our local paper The Beaumont Enterprise, links to a blog called The Bayou. Now, I do understand this is a blog; however, it is linked to the newspaper. Plus, its daily titles are listed in the Top Headlines section of the Enterprise's website. On Friday, the blogger (who apparently is also the editor of the newspaper), blogged about how 1 in 20 nurses in Texas have criminal histories. This, I don't have such a problem with, although the post and the links pretty much refer to female nurses only.

No, the problem I have is that the title of the post was "Naughty Nurses" with some assholish like addition on the end (I don't remember what it was now, but it was very suggestive). It also had the Blink 182 album cover with the "sexy" nurse posted as the photo to go with the post. Alone, the title is suggestive. With the picture, the post is sexist and offensive. So I posted. If anyone follows up and goes over there, I am anonymous number one as my blogger name wouldn't work when I signed in. Between yesterday and today, there have been 23 other comments. Several were extremely hateful toward my fairly-innocuous comment. Of course, what interested me the most, were the fat girl, lesbian comments. I have never had this personally directed at me, and I guess that just shows how backward my area still is, but I was really really shocked. I responded once I checked back over there today.

I cannot explain why it made me feel so badly, but it did. The comments were just such .... vitriol.

Email the editor/contributor/blogger at TheBayou@BeaumontEnterprise.com.

And We Wonder Why Teachers Are Leaving the Field in Record Numbers

My mother (and father too actually) is a teacher. She teaches sixth grade and deals with some pretty bratty kids. However, my mom is also an excellent teacher and is usually able to turn even some pretty hardened students around. This year, though, she has one student who has repeatedly given her problems. She has spoken with parents, written notes to teachers, and discussed the situation with her principal. Her male principal typically brushes her off and basically tells her to deal with it herself. Recently, this student has become much worse and has said some pretty inappropriate things to and around my mother. Again, she has taken all available actions to no avail. Her principal most recently told her to think about "the best interest of the student."

Yesterday afternoon she called me, extremely upset because this same student had told an entire classroom (in another teacher's class) that my mother was his lover and that he wasn't supposed to tell. That teacher called my mother to relay the extraordinary story. My mother then called the student's parents and set up a meeting. She also emailed an extremely professional letter to the assistant principal and principal, requesting the student be removed from her class. Both gentlemen told her she was overreacting and that she simply needed to brush the kid off because "everyone knows how he is."

The problems here are numerous; however, I will focus on the ones that upset me the most. First, instead of treating my mother with the respect that she deserves, she was brushed off and told she was overreacting. I do not think, though, in this day and age that it is an overreaction for a teacher to be concerned when a comment like this is made. Unfortunately, if this claim was taken seriously by ANYONE, my mother would be investigated and likely suspended during such investigation. Additionally, this student, even at this tender age, realizes the power that sex has. It got him attention, number one, but I am sure he also knows a comment like that could potentially penalize my mother. To me, however, the actions of the student are secondary to the actions of the administration. Even after the two principals discouraged my mother from taking an action that she is well within her rights to take (asking that he be removed from her classroom), it was only when she brought up the fact that it was harrassment that anything at all was done about it. My mother is in no way litigious, nor is she trying to retaliate against this kid. She simply wanted her very real fears and concerns to be addressed and validated.

What disturbs me the most is that my mother, an extremely independent woman, was made to feel foolish by these two men after already feeling wronged by this male student.

UPDATE: The student was removed from her classroom and will be dealt with accordingly. In other news, Mom is looking for a job!

Wow! I Can't Believe This Is Texas.

I was just surprised and a little bit pleased that Governor Rick Perry (Gov. Good Hair, as Molly Ivins called him) "signed an order today making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer." Read the full article. The vaccine is Gardasil, a product by Merck that prevents human papillomavirus, HPV, as it is commonly referred to.

There has been much discussion over the vaccine on various blogs; in fact, there was just one on feministing yesterday with many people extremely upset over the government's intervention. This is a complex issue because I agree with some of the arguments, i.e. the government is putting the burden of protection on women, forceable vaccination, unknown long-term effects.

The article I've linked to also discusses Perry's ties to Merck, which makes me a bit suspicious as well in that the article says that one of the company's lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, former chief of staff. I don't like such dealings when it comes to government. I like a government that has my best interests at heart.

However, I am also pleased that Perry went against the conservative right who argue that the vaccine will encourage and condone premarital sex and "interfere with the way parents raise their children." My response to that is twofold: It's just a vaccine. You're not handing the girl a dildo and condoms and shoving them at boys. Second, what about other vaccines that children are required to receive? Does that "interfere with the way parents raise their children"? Even if an individual is a virgin at marriage, (although according to recent reports, that is rare) - the disease can still be contracted from the other partner. Wise up. If you care so much about your child, care about their health.

So yea! Texas. I can't believe we were the first.

[Update: Additionally, those parents that would like to opt out of the vaccination may do so by filing an affidavit objecting to the vaccine (AP) so really there should be no reason for such complaints.]