Towards Valuation of the Arts
Posted by Rey
The Arts aren’t important. They’re the cherry on top; the second layer of frosting; a pretty, yet ultimately unnecessary, addition. Really they’re nice, look really well on your living room wall, or playing from your stereo system—they might even make you think pretty things; but really, they’re not necessary.
After all, they’re the first thing to go on any budget. If a person has to choose to invest in food or the Arts, food will almost always win. Even if it’s the option between an extravagant (unnecessary) dinner and a night at the opera—the arts can just go. It’s not like we need the Arts to live.
Oh sure, when we can afford it, we should do something about the Arts because they make us feel better about ourselves, elevate our self-estimation, reveal our intelligence, sophistication and culture. But really, beyond those incidental perks they are ultimately unimportant. So…
‘Twas The Night Before Printing
Posted by Rey
An original poem inspired by ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore.
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1500
Posted by Rey
While randomly musing about life and all of its material costs, I thought I would do a list of things that add up to $1500. Just interesting once you consider the ridiculousness of the equal dollar amounts.
Article Tags>> expensive | moneyNo Book For You
Posted by Rey
Well, Governor Rendell approved the new state budget where our property taxes remain the same, more money is put into the public schools and the money for the public library gets cut. Yesterday I was told that in the near future they’d be charging for inter-library loans. An elderly lady on the line started stammering that it’s fair, it’s fair.
Fall 2009 TV Season
Posted by Rey
In this post I refer to the television season as an actual season of the year. So the Fall Season is one season and the spring season is a second season, even if television (20-26 episodes = 1 season) doesn’t work like that. I use this vernacular because sometimes shows don’t come back after January and it works in my head.
Article Tags>> cougar town | flash forward | stargate universeRacism, Bloggers and Being Black
Posted by Rey
On Facebook, I’ve seen some Pennsylvania friends calling for the (I think wrongful) boycott of a local businessman on account of his perceived racism with a link to a blog post on Obama’s inauguration as proof. I followed the link and didn’t think it was racist (though one phrase could have been de-contextualized as such) but I’ll get to that after my disclaimer (in case I get a bunch of people calling me racist). I’m a dark-skinned US Born Dominican. If I’m allowed to comment on race now, I’ll proceed.
A Poem “The Cricket”
Posted by Rey
In honor of Edgar Allen Poe (and his poem The Raven) and in memory of the crickets that like to appear in my home every year (a moment of silence for them, please), around this time:
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5 Initially Wrongheaded (But Potentially Contextually Understandable) Reasons to Home School
Posted by Rey
I was planning to post this after my 10 reasons to home school, and even after my 5 stupid reasons to opt out of home school in favor of public school, but I faced another problem.
What if home schooling parents started offering their opinions of what they thought were good reasons to opt out of public school and then my post came out listing their reasons as wrongheaded? That would be highly suspect and embarrassing!
My second problem is that some of these comments make a lot of sense in the right context. Their initial problem is that they take a wrong view of education but, based on the right context, these reasons are sometimes justifiable.
Therefore, here are five wrongheaded yet potentially contextually understandable and justifiable reasons to home (instead of public) school your children:
Article Tags>> education | home schooling | kids5 Stupid Reasons Not To Home School (and Do Public School Instead)
Posted by Rey
In defensive discussions justifying my parental rights and educational choices for my children, I often find myself repeating my lists of reasons. I have 10 solid reasons why we home-school, which I was going to post today, but then I had an internal struggle.
What if people (as they sometimes do) started offering some responses which tied into some incomprehensibly stupid reasons to opt out of home-schooling and send my kids to school? I mean, they’d see this post and think I was spring boarding off of their incomprehensibly stupid comments. I am therefore ethically required to post this first!
My second struggle is that this post can only exist if people understand my number one reason for home-schooling: I can’t afford private school. I really can’t. I’m trying to save for retirement and the college education of three kids; it’s impossible to pay private school tuition right now.
With conscience assuaged, and the number one reason listed to my reader (that’s you), all struggles are rested. I can unapologetically offer five undeniably and incomprehensibly stupid reasons to opt-out of home school and send kids to school:
Article Tags>> homeschooling | school | teachingTaplet PC Dreamin’
Posted by Rey
I’ve been flitting around tech stores trying out multi-touch capable laptops searching, hoping, for the perfect Multi-Functional All-Purpose Swiss Army Tech Tool. What I’m hoping is that this tool replaces my leather Bible, works as a note-taking tool, allows me to design anything from articles to websites on the run, and has the sheer work-horse power to create and display professional presentations. I dream of a Perfected Tablet PC.
But Tablet PC’s are just not there yet. They offer all the features that you can find on your standard multi-touch smart phone, but I’m not looking for a glorified phone or a laptop transformer—I’m looking for the Future of portable computing. So here’s where I’m thinking the market needs help:
Article Tags>> computing | laptop | pc