DigitalPenny

This morning I decided to perform the task of cleaning my junk drawers (I had two in my kitchen). I've dreaded cleaning them for some time. Apparently I am a poor organizer when it comes to putting away those items my family considers miscellaneous. Well here's a list of what I found.

1. pencils


2. pens


3. markers


4. highlighters


5. a few crayons


6. dimes


7. a ton of pennies


8. screws


9. nails


10. shower curtain hooks


11. rubber bands


12. guitar parts


13. eye glasses and case


14. MACE


15. dental floss


16. a toothbrush


17. wires


18. chords that you plug into something


19. nylon rope


20. cassette tapes


21. several jazz CDs


22. two DVD movies


23. loose photos


24. photos in an envelope


25. two thank you cards


26. a birthday invitation


27. written instructions and manual for installing a dishwasher


28. receipts from grocery purchases


29. a light bulb


30. chapstick


31. swim goggles


32. a bottle of Elmer's glue


33. several small brown paper lunch bags


34. several business cards


35. sugar packets


36. plastic gloves, used for cleaning


37. a nitted hat


38. four screw drivers


39. a hammer


40. a garage door opener


41. a set of walkie-talkies and it's charging base


42. a Downey ball


43. a pad lock


44. tweezers


45. a combination lock


46. several plastic knives


47. napkins


48. a protractor


49. a tape measure


50. a grip master (used for building finger strength)


51. expired coupons


52. several band-aids


53. thumb tacks


54. chalk


55. balloons


56. a Directv access card


57. bread ties


58. a small jar of Tiger Balm


59. a bookmark


60. a carpenter's knife


61. parts from that door we replaced, and


62. one of those peg board games from the Craker Barrel Country Store

Posted by Digitalpenny at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A child has been suspended for three days because of touching another child.

What's wrong with us? I'm totally not understanding what's gone wrong. Are we so morally constipated that we have to accuse 6 year old children of sexual harassment for rubbing the skin of another child? Was the touching in the genital area? Do we need to separate boys and girls at public schools? What's really going on? Is there a behavior problem? Is the child not learning or willing to be taught? Is there a language issue?

This is really sad. I'd hate to think that my 6 year old would be suspended for any amout of days for touching another student on their back.

Posted by Digitalpenny at 02:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Why is it that everytime one hears the word "Diversity" it seems that the term is automatically linked to African Americans?

When you think about or hear that word, do you not conjure an image of the African American people? Now, why do you think that is? I put that word in a google image search. You look at the list of images and tell me if infact the first two images or any of the images that follow are what you think of when you imagine or hear or see that word.

Has this word become the new sub-word for the "N-word" that we aren't supposed to use? Everything diverse is always color pitted against whiteness. I don't like it; I tell you.

Just this morning I was reading an article about New Jersey's Amistad Commission whose goal is to make possible that African American history be taught in all public schools at all levels in the state of New Jersey. Huge task, right? Well according to Erin Texeira, an AP reporter, the Amistad Commission has "just two full-time staffers [and]...is struggling" to reinforce the state law that's been passed to support the effort. As I continued to read the article, Erin notes

Last month, [New Jersey's Board of Education] approved a new multicultural elective called "Diversity in America," but Carr [a concerned parent] reviewed the class outline and said it "continues to give short shrift to our history."

Tell me this. Why are there only two people staffed to enforce a law that encompasses a state? Why was the course, a course about African American history, titled as such? AND WHY is this an elective course, not a required one? Here are three more typified and recurring examples (my questions of course) of why we associate that word "Diversity" with abstractions of brown first and then other images and words.

It seems that there are never enough of us hired to make a difference. That when given an opportunity to make a wrong right, we are labeled. AND no one is being required or forced to learn about an all inclusive United States of American history.

Why then must we continue to use that word?

Posted by Digitalpenny at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Isn't this wonderful and playful? If only I could get this framed:

Source: Chicago Tribune "Photos of the Day" 2/7/2006: (The Daily Messenger photo by Rikki Van Camp)

Posted by Digitalpenny at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

just as the year begins. I want to give a grand shout-out to my little brother, "Big Daddy". Yep, that's what we call him. And he wears it well.

HAPPY B-DAY AURB!!!

I know you will enyoy yourself at some point during the day today and all weekend long.

Posted by Digitalpenny at 03:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Am I going crazy?

For some time now, I've been in a mental and emotional yo-yoish kind of mood. You might call them mood swings. This has been going on for about 2 1/2 years now.

Last night was really shitty. I took a metal ruler and hit M-jr with it. This wasn't just one slap on the arm. I felt the rage. It took everything in me not to take my hands around his neck and choke him. What did he do? I don't remember. That's the problem; I don't remember. I'm so sad.

I know that I'm under a great deal of stress, but I've got to handle it differently, especially knowing that I have to continue to be a mom. I'm not abusing any of my kids, I love each of them. But sometimes they make me so damed mad; I can't think. I know that I'm only cranky and harmonal when my body begins its journey into that space we women term as "that time of the month". A while ago, I put myself on black cohosh, but haven't taken it in a few months. Since I stopped taking it, I tend to feel more depressed and more rage when my body is beginnng the journey. Pre-PMS is a bitch, and PMS is her cousin, the whore. Right now I need to feel like I'm the pure maiden in the white dress meandering through a field of poppies.

Posted by Digitalpenny at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)