Heinz hired a new ad company to launch their new deli mayo.  The company came up with a funny TV spot, but it has sparked controversy because it shows ….are you ready?…two men…aparantly married and raising children…kissing!

Not making out.  Not having sex.  Just a little “I’m heading to the office, see you later” kiss.

I always forget that there are some people that think “the gays” shouldn’t have families and can’t be “normal,” so this kind of thing always seems like a tempest in a tea pot to me.  As a hairdresser (and a theater major) I may have met a few of “the gays” in my time.  And some of them have families.  So it just doesn’t seem strange to me.  (I am always excited when kids have two parents of any gender because it is WAY HARD to do it alone.)

So, without further ado, here is the link to the silly little video.  Don’t watch it if it is going to upset you.

There.  You have been warned.  And don’t bother leaving any cranky remarks about how gays getting married will be the end of civilization as we know it.  To do so would be assuming that I thought the way things are is good and should be preserved.  Go bark up a different tree.

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I don’t write much about politics.  But every once in a while, I get something stuck in my craw.

Today it is campaign fund raising.

Click on over to CNN to see a chart of campaign reciepts (through March).

Now add the 31 million that Obama raised and the 22 million for Clinton in April.

Now stay away from sharp objects because if you feel anything like I do, this news will make you want to open a vein.

I have a very simple view of the world, I know.  But here’s how I see it: There are a ton of projects that we (as a country) need or would like to do if only we had the money.

But we have an extra half a billion to spend on this contest?

It just makes me sad.

Yes, they are going to dig up Pacific Avenue. Again.

Apparently no one checked the soil upon which we built a road and a light rail.

The Tribune has a story with all the details, but here is the schedule: Start digging after the Tall Ships event, finish in November.

We have never been so thankful for our rear building parking and entrance. While the construction will make things unpleasant, it will not cripple us in the same way it would if we only had access from Pacific Avenue.

Downtown Tacoma businesses win bid to postpone rebuilding of Pacific Avenue

JASON HAGEY; jason.hagey@thenewstribune.com

Published: March 17th, 2008 01:00 AM | Updated: March 17th, 2008 04:44 AM

Score one for the merchants. After hearing from downtown business owners, the City of Tacoma has decided to delay its plan to shore up sinking Pacific Avenue until after Tall Ships Tacoma 2008.Once the ships – and throngs of expected visitors – leave town, work will begin, possibly as early as July 8 but more likely the following Monday, July 14, said Dan Seabrands, a Tacoma public works engineers. The $2.6 million repair of the substructure between South 17th and South 25th streets is expected to be finished by about mid-November, before the heart of the holiday shopping season, Seabrands said.

Read the rest of the story here.

Here in Washington, all students have to take and pass the WASL test. It has been controversial, and I am no fan.

*Update 3/28/08* Governor approves removal of the Math WASL.

When I was a kid, it was not uncommon to have students who had strengths in math who were not great writers. I don’t know if the demographics have changed, but we have decided that in order to succeed at math, you now must be a good writer. Yup. You heard me. Everyone has to have strong skills in everything. Remember the kid who just knew the math answer? Well, now he has to explain how he knows. It is a new era of story problems. And you better have a good explanation, because a computer isn’t reading your penciled-in circles, we have hired college students to read the answers and grade them.

The state has put sample tests online with examples of good answers. I challenge parents to take the test your child is taking and see how well you do. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I couldn’t pass the 5th grade test when my kids’ elementary school offered it to parents so we could learn what it was all about. Yes, I said it. I am not smarter than a fifth grader.)

I know that there are much better forums for discussing school policies and education philosophies, but this is my soap box, and I get to stand on it when the mood strikes.

Here is the bottom line as I see it:

Our high school drop out rate is 30%. (I think that is a big number.)

We are doing a crappy job of meeting the individual needs of a diverse student population. (How can you when there are 1900 of them in one school?)

We are holding college as the ultimate ideal for all students (when clearly not every student is headed there. Also, as more kids apply to colleges, more of them are rejected because there are still only a limited number of admission slots available every year and these students are lost without a backup plan because we didn’t prepare them for a non-college career option.)

We are trying to smash all our square pegs into round holes (maybe they are the 30% who drop out… Tacoma has made great inroads in this area with its School of The Arts. It is a success story that I wish were in use more. Our children are snowflakes, not a robot army. Not every child can learn effectively with the same method of instruction.)

We have demeaned the trades as career options (and I know that I still need mechanics, plumbers and electricians, do you? Even though the graduation requirements (below) mention vocational and technical schools, the schools still seem to push college as the “best” choice.)

We need more career training for kids who are not interested in college. (Technical high schools & Apprenticeships are a good place to start. Waiting until after high school to get this training this is too late for the 30% of kids who have dropped out. We need these options available to them while they are still interested in learning.)

Here are the complete graduation requirements for students from the Office of The Superintendent of Public Instruction:

Washington State High School Graduation Requirements

In 2000, the State Board of Education approved four new statewide graduation requirements to take effect with the graduating Class of 2008. This class was chosen because it is the first class educated with the state’s learning standards since kindergarten. Together, the requirements are designed to ensure that every public high school student graduates with the following fundamental skills:

1. Read with comprehension, write with skill, and communicate effectively and responsibly in a variety of ways and settings.
2. Know and apply the core concepts and principles of mathematics; social, physical and life sciences; civics and history; geography; the arts; and health and fitness.
3. Think analytically, logically and creatively, and integrate experience and knowledge to form reasoned judgments and solve problems.
4. Understand the importance of work and how performance, effort and decisions directly affect future career and educational opportunities.

In addition to any local graduation requirements, all students must complete four statewide requirements:

High School and Beyond Plan: Students develop a plan for meeting the high school graduation requirements and for connecting successfully to their next steps in life. A student’s plan should include the classes needed in preparation for a 2- or 4-year college, vocational or technical school, certificate program or the workforce.

Credit Requirements: Students pass a required number of classes and earn credits in English, math, science (including one lab), social studies, health and fitness, visual or performing arts, occupational education and electives. Most school districts expect students to go above and beyond the state’s required 19 credits.

Complete a Culminating Project: This integrated learning project helps students understand the connection between school and the real world. Some Samples include a portfolio collection, studying topics of interest, engaging in meaningful career internships, or developing in-depth projects to name a few. Some schools have students present their findings, for example, in a research paper, through a multi-media presentation to peers or to a school/community panel. In fact, many school districts already have activities in place that will count towards the culminating project graduation requirement.

Earn a Certificate of Academic Achievement or Certificate of Individual Achievement: The certificates tell families, schools, businesses and colleges that an individual student has mastered a minimum set of skills by graduation. Students earn the Certificate of Academic Achievement by meeting state reading, writing and math standards on the High School Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) or on one of the Certificate of Academic Achievement Options (state-approved alternatives to the WASL). Students in special education programs who are unable to take the High School WASL can earn the Certificate of Individual Achievement by demonstrating their skills through a portfolio or a WASL designed for a different grade level.

Until 2013, students can still earn a diploma without one of the certificates if they:

- Meet the state’s reading and writing standards, and

- Earn math credits and test annually until graduation.

Why must it take so long and cost so much to campaign?

Every time I read a headline about the latest record breaking campaign fund-raising, I wonder what we could buy with all that money. The numbers have gotten so large that they are obscene, and somehow we seem to be numb to them.

I am feeling a little disheartened by my country and the priorities we have. We (the people and our companies) donate millions to get our favorite in charge and it seems a bit like gambling. There is no guarantee that the candidate that we support will vanquish all the others, but yet, the dollars flow in to try to help.

Sometimes when I have a big handbag, I put more things into it because I have the space to spare. Do you think the campaigns spend so much just because they have it to spare? More ads. More signs. And it’s still the primaries!

I just can’t help but wonder how many months of health insurance we could get for $55 million.

And don’t think for a minute that I am picking on one team more than another. I have enough malaise to spread around equally.

Feel free to explain to me why I should feel differently.

I try to understand what my government does and why they do it. I want to believe that they have my best interests at heart. But sometimes I am perplexed and I need someone to explain it to me. (Feel free to explain it to me in a comment, but use little words, cause I am simple and just a girl!)

When we call in oil executives to speak to congress about their record breaking profits, they aren’t sworn in. We wouldn’t want them to have to tell the truth. And we wouldn’t want to have to prosecute them for perjury.

But the baseball players, boy howdy, they had better tell us the truth about what they shot in their ass!

I know steroids are illegal. But, Jesus Harold Christ on rubber crutches, does Congress have NOTHING BETTER to do?

Because of my must-learn-everything-the-hard-way son, I have had the opportunity to watch the Pierce County justice system crawl along at an unbelievably slow pace.

It seems now that I am not the only one who thinks things take longer than they should.  From the Tribune:

Pierce County Superior Court judges to target case backlog

Proposal offers solutions after audit shows delays in Superior Court system

ADAM LYNN; adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com

Published: February 28th, 2008 01:00 AM | Updated: February 28th, 2008 06:26 AM

Stung by an audit that said they move too slowly, Pierce County’s Superior Court judges are implementing changes they hope will reduce a backlog of cases clogging the county’s criminal justice system.

Click here to read the whole story.

Upside of suspects staying in county while they await trial: much of their sentence time is already served by the time they are found guilty.

Downside: over-crowded facilities and overtime for the corrections staff.

I thought you would be interested to see the time-line of my kid’s case as an example.  (Remember, we have suspects waive their right to a speedy trial because no one (prosecution or defense) is ready to deal with the case.)

For clarification, CONTINUED means that what ever was supposed to happen didn’t because someone (prosecution or defense) wasn’t ready or wasn’t available.  After 16 months, I am sure the prosecution and the defense were glad to see the end of this case!

When I was in college a million years ago (when dinosaurs roamed the earth), I wrote for the college paper.  As an editor, I wrote a weekly editorial.  As I was 18 at the time, the law raising the drinking age to 21 was a topic near to my heart.  At the time, I thought my writing was brilliant.  (A recent attic clean-out brought me face to face with these old articles and the painful realization that I was not nearly as brilliant as I thought I was at the time. This realization is giving me some perspective and assistance with my parenting since these teenagers of mine are convinced they are brilliant and I am convinced they are idiots.)

But more to the point:

When the drinking age was raised to 21, my most poignant comment was “Raising the drinking age will not stop teens from drinking, it just makes criminals of those who do.”

So now, twenty years down the road, some states are re-thinking the legal age. They have various reasons; from wanting to allow soldiers who risk their lives for us to lift a beer afterward to wanting to stop “underground” drinking.

Underground drinking is what they call it when kids drink outside bars and clubs (where when they become intoxicated, they are no longer served alcohol).  Some people believe that because it is unmonitored, kids drink more in private than they would if they were in public.

There are some challenges I have with the age issue. If we are doing it because of brain development, then the drinking age should be 25 (the age at which the frontal lobe is most developed.) If we are doing it to save lives from drunk driving, I am really confused as is already illegal to drive drunk at any age.

Here in the US, we seem to favor a staggered tier system of allowable behaviors. The thought behind that being that as one matures, one can handle more responsibility.

You can drive at 16, you can vote at 18, you can drink at 21.

It is a fine theory. However, knowing teenagers as I do, I know that they will find access to alcohol no matter the age the state says you must be to buy it.  In fact, I know lots of people who never after 21 did they drink as much as they did when they were under-age.

I had a strange conversation with my 18 year old (collect, from prison…) wherein he told me he would usually buy bottom-shelf liquor.  I asked why he would do that since it tasted like crap.  He said he wasn’t drinking it because it tasted good, he was drinking to get drunk.  I asked him how that had worked out for him, seeing as he is in prison and I am not.  He didn’t think that was funny.

For the record, I have strongly encouraged my children NOT to drink (or experiment with drugs for that matter) because of their birth family’s addiction issues.  But, as we all know by now, I am an idiot who should be ignored.

Any thoughts?

When I read about the political pollsters hanging out in salons, I emailed my friend Mary Atherton at Modern Salon. She has posted about it in this month’s magazine and in her blog. She is interested in hearing your thoughts. Click on over and tell her what you think.

I was watching TV this weekend and was excited to hear of
another instance of salons in the mainstream press: candidates in
South Carolina are focusing on salons in attempt to persuade women voters.

Many people believe that women will be the key to this year’s election
of our president. Where better to target women than in the community
space where they can “let their hair down?”

In salons across America, hairdressers are asking their clients “is
there a candidate that excites you?”

Read the NY Times article.

Hairdressers should feel empowered to know that the salon is more than just a place where customers exchange money for goods and services; in many
places it is the seat and soul of a community.

I find it very interesting that the subject of Happiness has moved out of the esoteric, self-help genre and into the mainstream news.

(Read the Washington Post article.)

Maybe all the recent political focus on the Constitution has reminded us that our Founding Fathers thought that Happiness was so important, they gave us (in our Declaration of Independence) the right to pursue it.

Two hundred years ago the pursuit of happiness was considered important enough to put in this powerful document.  Turns out it is also in the 1947 Constitution of Japan.

So why now is Happiness making the news? Are we feeling less happy than in the past? Are we less busy providing the basics and now can focus on loftier thoughts? Is the mainstream press tired of covering bad news and instead is focusing on subjects like Happiness? Has America gone all hippie/kumbaya?

I’d love to hear what you think.

I try really hard not to talk about politics because it is nearly impossible to do so without ticking someone off. But this morning’s news story is driving me crazy. As the parent of two teenagers, perhaps I am especially touchy when it comes to adolescent behavior, so forgive if you disagree with this interpretation.

Click here to read the story.

Have you ever told a kid not to do something and not been specific enough?

Parent: Johnny, don’t swing the cat by the tail.

Johnny: OK

Next day

Parent: Johnny! The cat is bald! Didn’t I tell you to leave him alone?

Johnny: No. You told me not to swing him by the tail.

Parent: And why do you think I said that?

Johnny: I don’t know.

Parent: Damn it! You know good and well I meant not to torture or torment the cat at all.

Johnny: Yeah. Well. That’s not what you said.

Eventually the parent learns to be crystal clear in their communication with the child.

Perhaps the people keeping a check on things in government haven’t learned that lesson.

It was bound to happen.  I plow into this blogosphere with great intentions and bugger it all up.

Here’s the seedy tale.

I found a really great article about a bacon cookie recipe.  I posted it on my bog, stating that it and other great recipes could be found at http://neverbashfulwithbutter.blogspot.com/.

Then I got readers.  By their comments, I determined that they believed this was MY recipe.  I tried to clear it up and just made things worse (go figure!)

I asked a blogger friend what was the proper protocol on linking to other authors and he thought I was accusing the original author of plagiarism.  On my behalf, he very kindly wrote a letter to the original author asking her to cease and desist before I could explain myself to him.  (Yikes!)

I have emailed an apology to the author. 

I am prepared for all the comments on what a moron I am.

I read lots of articles about how to blog, and I have never seen this topic come up. 

Feel free to direct me to more helpful information!

This photo provided by the Mayor’s Office of Magdalena de Kino, Mexico shows Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes in the office of Adriana Hoyos Rodriguez, the mayor of Magdalena de Kino in Sonora, Mexico, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007. Cordova, 26, an illegal immigrant who rescued a 9-year-old boy from the southern Arizona desert Thanksgiving Day said Wednesday he was thinking of his own four children when he halted his two-day walk from Mexico to help the boy. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Mayor’s Office of Magdalena de Kino)

You may have read this story of a Mexican immigrant who came across a boy and his mother after their van crashed on a Forest Service road near the Mexican border.

When I heard the story, I was awash in two completely different thoughts.

1. What a blessing to this boy to have a guardian angel. Imagine being nine, surviving the crash that killed your mother, and having the spend the night alone in the middle of nowhere.

2. Crap! The guy goes a good turn for a stranger and will get bounced back because of it. Truly, no good deed goes unpunished!

I was very happy today to see that the man has been granted a work visa and can legally stay and work here.

I know some of you have very strong feelings about immigration, and you may disagree with this. My thought is that we could use more people here who put the needs of a person at crisis ahead of their own needs. I think we can all agree that while helping the boy was the right thing to do, it certainly wasn’t the easiest choice and not everyone would have acted with such integrity.

UPDATE:

A client emailed me a link to photos of the protest.

Seems pretty low-key.  Hope tomorrow is the same. 

The news vans were here this morning, but there seems to be nothing to report. Clients have been arriving fine. No horrible traffic. We can’t see the site of the “official” protest area, so I can’t tell you if anyone is there or not, but I am happy to report that things are smooth so far!

Protesters plan to ’shut down’ downtown

SCOTT FONTAINE; The News Tribune

Published: November 8th, 2007 05:37 PM

Protesters plan to “shut down” downtown Tacoma Friday and Saturday to “send a very clear message that will be heard by the powers that be” that they’re unhappy with federal immigration policy.The group, spearheaded by a group of self-proclaimed anarchists, is unhappy with the 1,000-bed Northwest Detention Center on the Tideflats. It’s the main detention center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement for Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

The protest will be centered at a “green zone” near Tollefson Plaza at South 17th Street and Pacific Avenue. “Bring puppets, musical instruments, signs, banners, creativity and passion,” a Web page about the protest reads. “The rest of downtown will be open to diverse and creative tactics!”

The protest was planned at Pitch Pipe Infoshop at 617 South 17th St. It bills itself as “a not-for-profit, collectively run radical lending library and community space” and boasts it “has the potential to become a hub for regional anarchist networking, skill sharing, and organizing.”

No one from the shop returned phone calls or e-mail messages.

There also appears to be a counter-protest brewing. A group called March for America! sent out a mass e-mail in a “call to all American patriots who are able, to stand in solidarity against the communist/socialist/anarchist pawns who call for an end to the nation state, who call for an end to America.”

Jonnie Crivello, the founder of March for America! Washington, was unsure how many people the group will have because of short organizing time.

The Tacoma Police Department expects the rally to be peaceful. However, it’s also heard that some smaller groups might use the rally as a way to move throughout the downtown corridor and engage in “unlawful behavior,” police officials said. The department is prepared to respond if there is illegal activity during the rally.

The department has been aware of the rally since last month and have been planning their response.

“Hopefully we won’t be needed whatsoever,” spokesman Mark Fulghum said. “We’ll be ready in case we are.”

The department encourages business owners and residents to go about their activities as usual. However, they ask business owners to make sure their outside area is free of debris and obstructions like sandwich boards, displays and other signage. Officials ask people to report suspicious activity to the police.

The Business Improvement Area is adding an extra security patrol Saturday, Paul Ellis said.

Patricia Lecy-Davis, the president of the Downtown Merchants Association, said she’s not sure what to expect, but one thing should be different.

“This will be the largest crowd we’ve had in downtown for a while,” she laughed.

Few expect violence to erupt, but some businesses near Tollefson Plaza are taking precautions. The Courtyard by Marriott hotel at 1515 Commerce St. will add an extra security guard this weekend, front-office manager Jennifer Chell said. Warren Cabes, the owner of Tacoma Art Supply at 1552 Jefferson Ave., said his biggest concern is customers finding parking this weekend. And, he adds, the protest could become a positive.

“I might (tell the protestors), ‘Well, you know, this is an art store,” he said. “We sell markers and paint if you want to make signs.’”

There is a protest planned next week (November 9/10). You can read here what it is about and what is planned. I guess when your business is near the Federal Courthouse, you have to be prepared for the occasional protest. Our concern for this one is that their stated goal is to “Shut Down Tacoma.” We don’t want to see WTO-style destruction and mayhem. If you have any inside scoop, we’d love to hear it!

A (French) Buddhist monk talks about the science and philosophy of happiness. Enjoy.

TED | Talks | Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness (video)