The Good, the Bad, and the Awful

So, this post was going to be about books I've read recently, but I'm changing it because these new stories are just CRYING for a post. As I've revealed before, I'm a complete news junkie, checking FoxNews and CNN and Slate several times a day, and it's always fascinating. I love the sheer variety of all that goes on in this world, first of all, and it's also interesting to see what the mainstream media decides to focus on. Here are 3 things I've read in just the last 10 minutes:

1. The Good. I actually found this article last, because the other 2 caught my eye and then I had to find a good article (to match my great post title). There is rather a dearth of positive articles in ready sight this evening, so a rat will have to do. Pixar is putting out another good, funny, non-dirty movie for families to enjoy. I really like this studio on behalf of parents and any future offspring that I might have. I want to see this, even though I don't have kids- Pixar has always made the price of a movie ticket worth it before.

2. The Bad. Mitt Romney, presidential candidate, apparently has some 'splaining to do, after a story he told to an interviewer about how he strapped the family dog to the roof of the car for a 12-hour trip, back in 1983. To make things worse, he was telling this story as an example of how he's great in a crisis, because the dog got diarhhea and Gov. Romney was apparently Johnny-on-the-spot washing it off the car. Animal-rights activists are now howling mad (pun intended). How could he possibly have thought that was a good anecdote to share?!? That makes another reason that I hope he doesn't win the Republican nomination (I hope this guy does).

3. The Awful. As if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict didn't have enough to keep it going, Palestinian TV has been showing a kid's show, featuring a very Mickey-Mouse lookalike rodent named Farfour, which teaches little Palestinians why the Israelis are so very bad and why it's the best goal in life to hurt them. This predictably raised a worldwide outcry, so the TV station has decided to pull the show. However, they didn't just pull it; they killed off Farfour by a supposed Israeli! Yes, that's right, kids, your favorite friendly Palestinian mouse was just beaten to death, on camera, by an Israeli. Now how do you feel about those evil people? This just makes me really sad, because it will just put up another obstacle to getting future generations to cooperate together.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring. Any news items you've found particularly note-worthy lately?

Top 5 Eats in Phoenix

So here is the meme that Veronica passed over to me. (Aside- HH and I were wondering how to pronounce the word 'meme'. Anyone know? He thinks it's 'meh-meh', and I think it's 'meem'). Guidelines:
1. List the person who tagged you.
2. State your location.
3. Top 5 favorite local restaurants
4. Tag 5 more people.

Answers:
1. Veronica!
2. Phoenix, Arizona (north Phoenix... this city is becoming more and more like LA, in which suburbs that can loosely be referred to as 'Phoenix' are getting really spread out. If someone recommends a restaurant in, say, Chandler, that's an hour's drive away. So I specify- north Phoenix).
3. My favorite places (I include major chains in this because a) Veronica did, and b) because the branch is local, even if it isn't exclusive to Phoenix :-)
1. Macaroni Grill. Not just because of the good entrees (I love Italian!), but because of that fabulous bread they give you before the meal.
2. Monti's Steakhouse. Another place that gives excellent bread before the meal, plus great steaks, and it's over 100 years old!
3. Manuel's Mexican food. I really love their Hawaiian tacos. Great guacamole!
4. Pick Up Stix. Not even close to real Chinese food, but great tasting, and they have excellent little cream cheese wontons. I'm bummed they discontinued the Honey Chicken though. :-(
5. Wildflower Bread Co. A salad-sandwich-pasta place that has a big variety of items to try. I wish they had more locations. I love their butternut squash ravioli!

4. People I tag: Stacy, Staci, Beth, Brad, and Candace. :-)

Hm. On reflecting upon this list, I note that all my Top 5 choices are fairly expensive and fairly fattening. Sigh. Ah well....

Huzzah for summer!

Ah, summer... when students are not at school, when teachers can read a book or dip in a pool, when it gets hot enough in Phoenix to fry an egg on the sidewalk.... fun times! In fact, I've been having such a good time that I've neglected to post anything for some time. :-( Sorry about that, loyal readers! Thank Veronica for nudging me out of my stupor. (I'll be posting my answers to the meme she tagged me with shortly). First, however, since my last post was about our imminent departure to Disneyland, I'll start with that. I've been choking down reluctant spoonfuls of crow ever since we returned (feathers taste so awful!) because I did, in fact, have a splendid time at the Magic Kingdom. I've even been admitting that to people who ask about it. Does this erase my years of aversion to Disneyland? Not quite... I still have a few bones to pick with the philosophy of "Your Dreams will Come True" being fed to little kids. And I still don't like pink or the Small World ride. But I feel a little less reluctance to going there than I did before. :-)
Part of this, of course, comes from going with great company. Not only was HH along, but my dear sister in law Stacy, her roommates Liz and Vangie, the irrepressable Josh, and of course Candace and Nathanael. Candace and I have been to Disneyland together 3 times now: 1) in college, with someone who shares a first name with a famous duck. Good times! 2) after college, when I was newly dating HH (24 hours or so newly) and C & N got engaged. Hard to beat a trip where your good friend gets happily engaged! 3) This recent time, as married couples. Excellent times! I suppose it will be time to add #4 when we each have ourselves some offspring. :-) Plus, on this trip, my baby brother and my former student Kristy also came by. Fabulous times!
The other part of enjoying Disneyland, for me, is the nostalgia. I love nostalgia. It's one of the few things I enjoy about getting older... more stuff to be nostalgic about. So one of the highlights of our trip was something that I loved as a little kid- the Electric Light Parade. I was sad when it was discontinued in the 90s, and thrilled that it was put back in the California Adventure park. Watching that, with the funky music, the spinning snails, the caterpillar and his hookah, was such fun! HH even got me a mint-chip ice cream cone to make the experience even better. :-) Other nostalgic highlights were the Tiki Room (another favorite when I was a kid) and getting to ride the monorail. Stuff like that makes me realize why I will take my kid to Disneyland someday (though not as often as the aforementioned Veronica :-) - because there is a certain special-ness to Disneyland (where else do you get to ride a monorail?) and because then they can have their own nostalgia-fest someday. It's a bit strange, thinking that I'll be able to shape my children's experiences in their childhood, and thus indirectly control what they someday feel nostalgic about. I'm going to try my best to give them a kick-butt childhood! :-) And a part of that will definitely include the Haunted Mansion, Matterhorn, and Tiki Room.
S0, the crow eaten, the humble pie consumed, and the rental car returned to its roost: I did enjoy our trip to Disneyland!

Road Trip!

Tomorrow night (well, the wee hours of Saturday, actually) we leave for the happiest place on earth. I don't agree with that moniker, because there are about a zillion other places that make me happier. I remember being disillusioned with Disneyland way back when I was 6 or 7, because even though it was really fun to go to, we still had to walk in the heat and I didn't get all the souveniers I asked for and there were long lines. (Plus I was never that fond of pink, and princesses, etc. My favorite area of the park was always Adventureland, and I would dream about taking a vacation to a real tropical forest instead of just the Tiki Room. Although I did love the Tiki Room song). Anyway- I am looking forward to this weekend, though, because it will be spent with good friends (who are also very fun people). My baby brother may even join us for the day! And a couple of those good friends dearly love Disneyland, so it will be fun watching them have such a good time.
How do you feel about Disneyland? Why do you like it, or tolerate it, or loathe it (or anything on that spectrum)?

Oh Dear....

Hey, look at me! Two posts in one day! I guess the fact that there are only 4 more days of school is giving me energy. :-)
So, I told this funny story to HH the other day, and he wants to post it on his blog too. It's that good (or sad, depending on how you look at it). A couple weeks ago in my 6th hour class, we were discussing the Cold War. (My 6th hour is filled with chatterboxes, because it's the end of the day, and some rather airheaded kids. That may sound mean, but you'll see what I'm talking about.) So, we were talking about Russia and how it's no longer communist, and the kids asked me what other countries are still communist. So we talked about Cuba, and China, and changing forms of communism. Some of the kids know that I've been to China (I have a map on the wall marking the places I've been), and they started asking me questions. Then the conversation turned to the Chinese language (no, not part of the lesson plan, but there was like 7 minutes left in the day and we all just wanted to get to the end of it). I told them how complicated Chinese is, and how there are over 3000 common characters to memorize, etc. Then students wanted to know how different languages got started, so I told them that languages change over time as groups live apart from each other (no Tower of Babel can be mentioned). So one girl in the second row raises her hand... 'Mrs. Petry, I don't get it!' 'What don't you get, Student X?" I asked. (Now Student X has a history of coming out with 'blonde' questions. Sometimes I think she just pretends dumb to get attention, and sometimes I'm not sure...) Anyway, she replied. "I just don't get it. If Chinese is so complicated, why did they stop using English and switch to that?"
Sigh. No, Student X, English is not the original language of the human race. You might be proud to be an American, but there are some things in this world actually didn't start with us. Shocker.

Immigration Arguments

The immigration debate continues to build in the US, especially here in Arizona where the border is long, mostly unguarded, and busy with illegal immigrants crossing. The new immigration bill put forward by Congress last week seems like a hopeful step, but I wouldn't be surprised if it meets the fate of most other compromise bills- opposed by each side because it doesn't give either side enough of what it wants. I hope the parties can see the wisdom in compromising, given that the alternative is continuing to do nothing, but sometimes wisdom seems to be lacking in Washington DC...
Something that bothers me, though, is the amount of hostility I hear from many people, including Christians, towards illegal immigrants. My 8th grade students (who have never been known to think of facts when an opinion of their parents will do) hardly have to hear a mention of illegal immigrants before their righteous (and sometimes racist) indignation boils over. Back in April, we had just finished viewing a video about some people in East Germany who built their own hot air balloon to escape communism and get to West Germany. The kids seemed very sympathetic to the family- 'they were so brave', etc. But when I asked them if this made them feel differently about the immigration debate in Arizona, they instantly switched their position. 'Lazy, taking jobs from Americans', etc. (And of course the kids thought of these things all on their own, because 8th graders LOVE to sit around discussing social policy in their free time :-) But anyway, it's a symptom of a much greater mood in the country. And I've heard many adults hold a very black-and-white position too: 1. People are breaking the law to immigrate. 2. Lawbreakers should be punished.
Now, both those points are true, I admit. However, I can't help but feel that the blame is being grossly misplaced in this situation. Maybe it's my empathetic nature (wanting to take care of sick kittens and all that), but I truly think that people's anger should be directed much less at the immigrants and more at the Mexican government and NAFTA trading partners that continue to make conditions ripe for immigration. There's a mental analogy that I keep thinking of lately:
Two pastures of sheep, side by side, separated by an (old and broken) fence. On one side, the grass is green and lush, the water trough is sparkling, there are shady trees, and the sheep are content and fat (maybe a little too fat). The little lambs gambol about happily, not a care in the world. On the other side, the grass is scrubby and patchy, the wind stirs up dust that clogs the sheeps' eyes, the water trough has mold in it, and the sun is hot and dry. The little lambs are skinny and coughing and hardly have energy to play. Now there is a gate between these two pastures, but there's a sign on it that says only one out of 100 sheep in pasture 2 will be chosen to go to pasture 1 (though a rich sheep can pay off the gatekeeper too). There's a law that says no other sheep in pasture 2 can go over to pasture 1.
So it seems to me, as I think of that scene, that there should be anger at the shepherds who care for the sheep. There should be anger at the land-management company. There should be anger at the groundskeepers. There should be calls for change and reform in all those areas. But, I think, there should be a great deal more sympathy and understanding for those poor sheep. I know what I would do if I was in pasture 2.

Happy birthday, brother!

Even with me as a big sister, my brother has made it to the ripe old age of 24. He's got the battle scars to show it, too! And he still actually likes me, I think... imagine that. :-)