The Daily Brief

Joanne Jacobs shares a story from Bennett, CO. Seems a music teacher showed elementary students segments of a video series designed to acquaint children with opera.

Sounds like a noble goal to me. And perfectly in keeping with her tasks as a music teacher.

Unfortunately, the segment she showed was about the opera Faust. It included scenes with Mephistopheles, a scene showing a man being killed with a sword, and references to suicide. And some parents came unglued.

“Any adult with common sense would not think that video was appropriate for a young person to see. I’m not sure it’s appropriate for a high school student,” Robby Warner said after two of her children saw the video.

Another parent, Casey Goodwin, said, “I think it glorifies Satan in some way.”

The teacher had to send a written apology to the parents of the 250 students she showed the videos too, and has suffered character attacks, as well. Some have even called her a satan worshipper.

You can read the news article here.

I’ve got to say, I consider myself a fundamentalist Christian, and I think the parents were out of line. Maybe Faust isn’t the right material for the age group she showed it to, but that doesn’t make her an evil person.

(crossposted at my personal blog)

BlackFive (the Paratrooper of Love) will be on CNN this weekend, talking about, in his words, the uber-coverage of the Woodruff wounding.

He had a good post about same, a few days ago.

I didn’t go into the office today, because what I’m doing this week can be done from home. So I didn’t see any one from work, or talk to anyone from work, or check my voicemail (because I rarely get any, so why bother).

If I *had* checked my voicemail, then I wouldn’t have been so surprised by the email I received at 430pm, with a subject line: “(co-worker’s) funeral arrangements”

One of my co-workers, who works in a different city, is no longer with us. I racked my brain, trying to remember if I’d heard of him being ill, and couldn’t remember anything like that. One of my co-workers called to make sure I knew, and told me that he didn’t come to work Tues. morning, and they found him dead in his home. The cause of death is unknown, at this time.

He was younger than I, and easy to talk to. I didn’t have tons of interaction with him, since we’re in different cities, but I still feel the loss, and can only describe myself as stunned.

There should be something profound I can say here, about the frailty of life, but profundity is escaping me, just now.

I’ll miss you, B. Godspeed.

From Yahoo! News… (posted 90 minutes ago)

WASHINGTON – Rep. Tom DeLay, the defiant face of a conservative revolution in Congress, stepped down as House majority leader on Saturday under pressure from Republicans staggered by an election-year corruption scandal.

(snip)

DeLay temporarily gave up his leadership post after he was charged, but always insisted he would reclaim his duties after clearing his name.

His turnabout cleared the way for leadership elections among Republicans buffeted by poor polls and by lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s confessions of guilt on corruption charges in connection with congressional wining and dining.

Those of you who deeply care about and study these things, tell me – will it make a difference? From what I’ve been reading, he was right to step down, but will it really change anything?

While you’re at it, can you tell me if there has ever truly been a time in our history where Congress cared more about the nation than about their own political parties? Or am I just getting overly cynical in my not-so-old-age?

Blonde Sagacity posts about a special train ride – no, it wasn’t the Polar Express. It was more special than that. The complete article can be found here.

It seems that last year a certain Philadelphia gentleman and his wife were sad when they thought about the troops who were stuck at Walter Reed and Bethesda, recovering from wounds received overseas. So this year, they decided to do something about it.

Since the gentleman in question owns a few luxury rail cars, he hooked up with other luxury rail car owners, and they ran a special train to the Army/Navy football game. Luxury cars, gourmet meals, seats on the 50-yard line, corporate goodie bags, and each military member was allowed to bring a guest (the Marines chose to forego the guests, so that more Marines could attend). The guests got goodie bags, too. There were no press on the train, no politicians, and no “pentagon suits” so the troops could just enjoy themselves.

Probably the part of the article that hit me the hardest was towards the end. The author was detailing the reactions of the philanthropists and their guests, and it was wonderful to read. I especially liked this paragraph:

The most poignant moment for the Levins was when 11 Marines hugged them goodbye, then sang them the Marine Hymn on the platform at Union Station.

“One of the guys was blind, but he said, ‘I can’t see you, but man, you must be f—ing beautiful!’ ” says Bennett. “I got a lump so big in my throat, I couldn’t even answer him.”

It’s been three weeks, but the Levins and their guests are still feeling the day’s love.

“My Christmas came early,” says Levin, who is Jewish and who loves the Christmas season. “I can’t describe the feeling in the air.”

Anyone wanna play cards? There are currently 20 spam comments about poker waiting to be dealt with – I’m saving those for Kevin/Timmer/Mom cause I don’t know if y’all do anything special with them. (delete, mark as spam, block, whatever)

I guess I should just be grateful that it’s only card spam, and not some of the other stuff that I’ve seen on occasion.

I hate spam.

…And I might come back later and yank this post, as not really being related to the overall theme of our blog, but sometimes you just gotta dump what’s in your gut, and hope there’s someone who can hear it and relate to it.

Later this week, for the first time in my life, I’ll be going to an Al-Anon meeting. For some reason, this scares me. It shouldn’t. It’s not like I’m the only person in the world who ever grew up in an alcoholic family. It’s not like I’m the only person in the world who ever needed help to keep from wanting to kick the living shit out of someone because of how they behave when they’re “likkered up.” I’m certainly not the only person in the world who has bad childhood memories (or no memories?) of family holidays because there was so much stress/chaos involved in them. So even though I’ll be walking into a room full of strangers, it’s not like I’m walking into a room full of strangers, ya know?

Heck, I won’t even be going alone – I’ve got a friend who’s offered to go with me so there’ll be someone there I know. And we’re going to a meeting that she particularly likes, where she assures me I’ll be safe.

This is actually huge progress, for me. Two years ago, she offered that if I ever wanted to attend a meeting, she’d go with me. At that time, I couldn’t even consider it, because in my brain going to a meeting meant that I was defective, somehow (hmmm… *they’re* the alcoholics, but I’m defective). Recently, I’ve been able to view Al-Anon as a resource that can help me get to where I want to be, which is detached from the emotional chaos that my family generates. It kills me that I can still be sucked into their chaos when I’m 500+ miles away from them.

So I guess that means I’m growing up (not the part about being sucked into their chaos – the other part). Which is not a bad thing. And it probably means I’m healing, which is definitely a good thing. Now, if there were only some way to make it not hurt, then everything would be all better. Or if I could figure out what hurts, or why it hurts. For lack of a better description, my heart hurts.

Is it because I can’t avoid the fact that we weren’t a “Leave it to Beaver” family? (were there any such?) Or is it because I’m the only one in my family who will say that the family was/is alcoholic?

We’re hillbillies. Drinking is what we do. One time when I was home from college, my brother teasingly said maybe I wasn’t really one of the family, since I wasn’t a drinker (I didn’t like the taste of alcohol back then, so I wouldn’t drink). Christmas gifts to grandparents were huge jugs of whiskey, and christmas visits involved lots of alcohol (mostly for the adults, of course). I spent most of my adolescence refusing to drink with my aunt and my grandma, and then listening to them say I thought I was better than they were, since I wouldn’t drink with them. They just kept ignoring the part where I was 14, or 16, or whatever age I was at the various times. (eta: I’m not talking about wine with dinner, I’m talking about sipping whiskey throughout the entire day)

As far as I know, I’m the first one of us to spend 3+ years in therapy, trying to get past my past. And other than my dad’s little brother, who joined AA 15 or so years ago, I’m the only one I know of who’s choosing to go to an Al-Anon meeting. I thought about an Adult Children of Alcoholics meeting, but after some research, I think Al-Anon might be a better fit for me, right now.

I’m hoping to learn how to detach from the family without divorcing the family. And it would probably do me good to learn that I’m not crazy, and not alone. So it’s probably a good idea for me to go.

My therapist told me one time that it’s the *healthy* members of the family who are in therapy. I’m just not feeling very healthy, right now. I’m pretty much feeling defective.

(/personal stuff)

Update: Looks like I won’t be deleting this post 🙂 I came online this morning, ready to delete it, and there was already one comment posted, so I thought I’d wait until I had time to email the commenter and thank him/her for posting, and the next time I looked, there were 6!
I *do* appreciate y’alls support – last night was a wee bit of a meltdown…they’ve been happening fairly frequently this holiday season as my past battles its way into my consciousness again for more healing.

This al-anon decision has been slowly building since last New Year’s Eve, when I was visiting my dad for the holiday, and had to leave the house at 2am to find a motel, because my nephew and his wife (who lived with my dad) were having a drunken row, and it was impossible for me to sleep. Things came to a head with them this fall, and they’ve since been evicted from my dad’s house last month (they weren’t renting from him, they were squatting from him). But it really drove home to me how much enabling is one of our family traditions (denial’s another big one), and then the whole mess just kept dragging on, and everytime I’d hear more about it, I’d get tied up in knots cause I don’t detach well, and so I knew it was time.

It’s still scary – biggest fear is that I’m just gonna sit there Fri night and bawl my eyes out, much as I was doing last night. But I’m ok with that, as long as I know that no one’s gonna jump on me for it. But since I’m no longer hungry, lonely or tired, it’s not as frightening as it seemed last night.

Thanks, everyone, for your support. It really does help. 🙂

Peggy Noonan points me to a joint effort by Time Magazine and the Rocky Mountain News.

I’ve not had time to finish reading the articles, but wanted to point you to them. The RMN article (the bits I’ve read thus far) are written with profound respect, and bring tears to my eyes. It details the homecoming of 2LT James J. Cathey, in the cargo hold of a commercial jet, and tells about Major Steve Beck, a Casualty Assistance Calls Officer. I’ve only gotten to the 2nd page of the article, because I have to get ready for work, but I’ll be rushing to finish it as soon as I can. The Time piece is a photo essay of the same event.

In her column, Peggy says:

The Time version has been speeding all over the Web. The Rocky Mountain News version is more comprehensive in terms of text, and offers this comment from Maj. Steven Beck, the Marine who stood with Second Lt. Jim Cathey’s widow, Katherine, as his coffin was unloaded from the cargo hold of the commercial flight while everyone looked out the windows. He said, “See the people in the windows? They’re going to remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They’re going to remember bringing the Marine home. And they should.”

and the part of her column that I really wanted to share, because she says what most of us say, when we see a military member:

On this December these men and women are a self-given gift to the nation. Thank you men and women of the armed forces of the United States of America. Merry Christmas to you, happy holidays; stay safe, come home.

Thank you. It’s small and not enough but it is so meant, and by all of us.

THANK YOU to all who are currently serving, standing guard between us and the darkness. You are appreciated more than any of us have words to say.

and to all who have served, whether in hot wars or cold wars, thank you as well.

I’ve misplaced your email addy, and need to let you know that I’m arriving in SATX tonight – when next week is a good time for me to buy you a cup of coffee?

Edited to add: My friend and I are running away for the weekend, but Sunday night is available, as well. I fly out of SATX next Fri night.

Timmer, I can’t tell you how glad I am you wrote about your IPOD when you got it. That’s what really got me started thinking about whether I might someday want one.

I now have over 13GB of music/audiobooks (almost 20 days worth!) transferred over to the ‘Pod, but my favorite feature (I think) is that I can copy photos to it and show them to folks, no ‘puter required. I’ll need to get the a/v cable before I take it home with me to Ohio or to Texas for T-giving, because while that little 2″ screen looks great, sometimes you just need a bigger screen.

I also love how easy it is to burn CDs from ITunes. I download audiobooks from audible.com, and burning them to CD was a tedious undertaking, at best. ITunes is much more automated, and seems to be quicker, as well. Not that I need to burn them to CD anymore, since I have the FM transmitter for the ‘Pod, but it’s nice to have an alternative.

I’m not quite to the “how did I live without one” stage, but overall, it’s a gadget I’m glad I’m got.

A year or so ago (maybe a little longer, by now), I emailed Sgt Mom, and said “Hey! Since I now have a job (or a job offer), I’m ready to make good on my promise to buy your book.”

And Mom, in her usual organized fashion, waited for my paypal to arrive, and promptly mailed out an autographed copy of her memoirs, which I, in my usual unorganized fashion, immediately put in a “safe place.”

In my vocabulary, saying something is in “a safe place” means that I’ve utterly forgotten where I stored it for safe-keeping (the current situation with 2 rebate checks -oops). So for almost a year (or a little over a year), I’ve lived my life occasionally thinking “Sure wish I knew where Sgt Mom’s book is.. I bet it would be good airplane reading.” It was probably more than “occasionally,” since everytime I open sgtstryker.com her blog-ad is right there in front of me, the first item on the page to load when I’m on a slow connection.

Last week, in the midst of a 15-minute cleaning frenzy, I sorted through a pile of old mail on the overstuffed chair in the spare bedroom, and found a padded envelope from San Antonio, still safely sealed.

I immediately transferred the magnum opus to a TRULY safe place – my travel backpack, and it has traveled with me to NJ, and is currently enroute with me to MO. I’m only about 20 pages into it as yet, since I want to give it my best attention, but I am THOROUGHLY enjoying the read.

Memoirs are a tricky business… what we think is hilarious can fall flat in the re-telling, leaving the reader or listener with that annoying sense of “guess you had to be there.” This has not been the case with Mom’s book.

Her memories slightly pre-date mine, and we’re from different parts of the country and different educational strata, parent-wise, but the similarities are there, and her memories serve as springboards for my own. Her family photos, reproduced in the book, bring memories of my own family’s photos. And her flowing text leaves me wondering if I could write my own memories as entertainingly as she writes hers.

Most importantly, and this is a huge thing for me, when reading a memoir, I find myself mentally talking to the pages as I read, as if I were having a conversation with her, instead of merely reading dry words on a page.

Well done, Mom!

I’m ever so glad I decided to buy your book, and even more glad that I’ve retrieved it from its safe place.

They have a “Which Serenity Character are you?” quiz

I came out 63% The Operative, 63% Simon Tam, so it decided I was the Operative. Aack! That’s not me!

Then again, I’m not certain I want to be considered like Simon Tam, either…

The rest of my tally:

Which Serenity character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Actually, a few questions…

First, the digital music ones:
1) I know that Timmer has, and loves, his IPOD. I’m pondering taking that jump myself, since my car stereo doesn’t read MP3 cd’s, and I don’t want to replace my in-dash 6-disc changer with my single-disc in-dash MP3 player. I know that if I got an IPOD, I could also get a car adapter (FM transmitter, since I have no cassette deck for a cassette adapter (and when will they come up with some other type of adapter, I wonder?). Do I need to? (get an IPOD, that is). All I’m interested in is digitizing and having easy access to my music collection. I’m not interested in downloading music, at this point.

If I get one, I would get one with a huge hard-drive, and try to store my entire music collection on it, as well as some of my photos. But do I really need to, or am I just having gadget-lust? I know, y’all can’t read my mind to answer that last question. Let’s try these questions, instead.

What are the benefits of getting an IPOD? If you don’t like IPOD, what do you recommend in its place? What are the reasons to NOT get an IPOD?

2) In addition to my CD collection, I still have a fair amount of those little plastic cases with thin mylar strips wrapped on 2 wheels – I think they were called cassette tapes? 😀 How can I digitize those, and also my vinyl collection. I’m looking for least amount of fuss – I’m not a huge audiophile, so perfection isn’t necessary for me, although I must admit it would be nice to clean up the scratches, etc. Related question: Is there an easy way to copy my audio-cassettes or vinyl to a CD?

Now, the visual ones:

1) I recently purchased (and look forward to using) a scanner that will scan slides, 35mm negatives, and (if I purchase an adapter) APS negatives. One of my winter projects is to digitize my 10-years of 35mm photography. It wasn’t until after I bought it that I realized it will NOT support the negatives from the first 30 years of my life — remember the old Kodak Instamatics and 110s? And the Brownie? I had the first 2, Mom had the Brownie. I inherited all the family photos when Mom died, which includes the negatives. Am I going to be stuck scanning those photos, or is there a scanner out there somewhere that will support those negative sizes?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this topic. Please include links, where applicable.