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Showing posts from September, 2008

Psychic encounters of the worst kind

Although I never want to talk about it, and I won't again, I'm psychic. Not psychic in that Allison Dubois way (the character in Medium, who happens to be a real person), but in the way that most parents, especially moms, are psychic. We are so in tune with our children that it allows us to know some things even though we are normally clueless. I don't know why it's more prevalent in mothers, but in my experience, it is. My mother has keyed in on me whenever things have been especially horrible for me. My anguish has woken her up. But she's not the only one. One afternoon my husband and I were outside and we both heard our son's voice call, "mom!" It was the voice of pain and fear. I looked at him and said, "did you hear that?" My husband said yes, it was our oldest boy who was at boy scout camp. We got into the car and started driving from Hilo toward Honokaa. When we got the phone call, Isaac was already on the way to the emergency roo...

Why those who can MUST teach

One of my colleagues sent me this link. Dalton Sherman is a 5th grader who talked to 20,000 educators in Dallas. When the occupation keeps getting slammed, when the budgets keep getting cut, educators need to believe that what they are doing matters. And it does.

What are they teaching?

Ken and Pono, our youngest, come home from cub scouts and right away Pono says, "Mom, dad says I have to ask you." Me: Yes? Pono: What's afterbirth? (Of course I'm eating dinner, but Pono says, Dad said it's the sack for the baby. Did it hurt? Me: Did having you hurt? Yes. Did the afterbirth hurt? No. Where is this coming from? Is that what you guys were talking about at cub scouts? (Ken's the pack leader - I know he was spending this afternoon trying to figure out what he was covering tonight, but come on.) Pono: You know that chant about Papa and Wakea? Me: Yes, (now Ahi's getting involved in the conversation from the other room, I hear him chanting) O Wakea noho ia Papahanaumoku Hanau o Hawai'i he moku Hanau o Maui he moku . . . Pono: The end of the chant says that Kaho'olawe is the afterbirth. I wanted to know what that was. Ahi: He 'ula a'o Kaho'olawe - oh yeah, I guess so, afterbirth. Me: H...

Samurai Girl

Finally a teen girl heroine who is not obsessed with boys, parties, gossip and money! ABC family's newest series, Samurai Girl is about Heaven, a Japanese princess (yeah, yeah, she has money, but it's not about that) that loses her brother when her arranged marriage in San Francisco is attacked by ninja hired by yakuza. She can't trust her own family and must reach out to an old friend and some new ones in order to survive long enough to avenge her brother's death and fulfill her destiny. Go girl power! Yes, the actress is not Japanese, she's Chinese (that bugs my husband, but that's Hollywood), but she is not afraid to kick some booty. We need more of these types of heroines with great diva shoes and the know-how to wield a sword.