Jumat, 30 Mei 2008
2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee
It's tonight! Jen and I will be observing our yearly tradition of watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee. We usually sit there with the dictionary to look up the meanings of the unbelievable words these kids spell!
Kamis, 29 Mei 2008
The Final Countdown
School's out one week from today!
Just saw Jen off with Pam & the kids (she has three). The usual morning mayhem...this morning two of hers had teary eyes and long faces. Pam & I laughed and reminded each other this is the life we'd prayed for. And so it is.
We've survived the cursed FCAT and the dreaded Science Fair project. The final awards ceremony is today.
The sun shining brightly & the grass needs to be mowed after I'm done working today. It's a good life.
Just saw Jen off with Pam & the kids (she has three). The usual morning mayhem...this morning two of hers had teary eyes and long faces. Pam & I laughed and reminded each other this is the life we'd prayed for. And so it is.
We've survived the cursed FCAT and the dreaded Science Fair project. The final awards ceremony is today.
The sun shining brightly & the grass needs to be mowed after I'm done working today. It's a good life.
Come Let Me Offend You
This article appeared in Newsweek magazine back in 1992. Definitely worth reading again...
Come, Let Me Offend You
We Have Become Too Afraid Of Hurting One Another's Feelings
By Eve Drobot NEWSWEEK
Can we talk? It is becoming increasingly difficult, because I never know when I'm inadvertently going to offend you. Here I go, raving about the divine veal piccata I had at that hot new trattoria, and you're gritting your teeth and about to pop a blood vessel because you haven't had a chance to inform me that you are a raging vegetarian who spend is weekends stuffing envelopes for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals.
I mean how can we ever talk if you've always got an agenda I have no way of knowing about? There we are at a party discussing censorship-at least, I think we're discussing censorship-when you bring everything to a grinding halt by announcing you're a Muslim who believes the fatwa against Salman Rushdie is entirely justified. Or, God forbid, I tell a good, old-fashioned heterosexual joke and you stare at me straight-faced and explain you are a lesbian female separatist.
Everywhere I turn, it seems that certain things are no longer deemed appropriate conversation. We are awash in earnestness, afraid to open our mouths because we never know when our words are going to hurt somebody's feelings.
I can understand-even applaud-the taboos on racist and sexist jokes (unless we've established a priori that we're both feminists, in which case, have you heard the one about the man who was so dumb that ... ). But is there anything left to have an opinion on these days besides the weather? Oh, but now you tell me you're an environmentalist, and I have no right to complain about the rain because the atmosphere has been raped by pollution, and if I've used so much as one squirt of hair spray in my life it's probably all my fault anyway. Pardon me.
You see, it has become simply impossible for us to speak to one another as long as you insist on wearing your special interests and sensitivities on your sleeve.
Now, wait a minute. There's a concept. Why don't you wear your agenda on your sleeve, literally? We could develop an entire iconography of sensibilities. Pins, badges, what have you-I'm open to suggestions. Devout Christians wear crosses around their necks; some Jews display a Star of David or Hebrew letters on a chain. We could carry this idea further.
Let's start with a classic and work from there. Take a pink triangle (for gay) and add sequins if you're a drag queen. If you're a male bisexual, how about a pink triangle bisected by the biological symbol for female? Or, if you're a female bisexual, a pink triangle bisected by the biological symbol for male?
Are you sensitive about being a single mother? Let the world know by displaying Dan Quayle's face with a red slash through it.
We could issue broccoli stickpins to vegetarians, bunny heads in profile to animal-rights activists. A pentacle for practicing witches, a golden calf for ardent pagans. A baby basket in front of a door if you were adopted. A child with a suitcase if your parents were immigrants. An ear if someone in your family is deaf, an ear and a musical note if someone in your family is tone-deaf. The possibilities are endless: define your sore point and design an insignia. Wear it proudly, if not defiantly.
And let's not stop with badges. How about making little stamps or stickers to affix to anything you write? Let's say you write a letter to the editor protesting the fatuousness of this article. Append your offended affiliation visually to the letter, thereby ensuring that your opinion will be judged not on the merit of your argument but on the merit of your minority-group adherence.
This sort of symbolic shorthand would certainly have helped get a fellow I know out of a fix he recently found himself in. A major publishing house asked him to select some poems to include in an anthology. Silly liberal-minded fool that he is, he simply chose poems he thought were good. His selections were returned to him for further clarification. Could he lease let the publisher know which poems were written by gays, third generation Americans, Native Americans, refugees, Young Republicans and those who use wheelchairs? When he had supplied the appropriate designation for each entry, then-and only then-could the publisher know that the editor had made the demographically representative choices.
Now, I realize I am probably dating myself, or setting myself up as a total Pollyanna, but wasn't there a time when the goal was not to notice the things that set us apart? Weren't we once working toward a perfect world, where we would see past color, race, creed, gender, ethnic background and physical limitations, straight through to talent and ability? What ever happened to that idea?
I can't pinpoint exactly where it went off the rails, but there must definitely have been a moment in time when somebody figured out there was more to be gained by being indignant than by being right.
You see, we can't talk, we can't think, we can't presume to judge unless we have all the pertinent information. And the most pertinent information these days is: whom does this offend?
Labeling yourself by your narrowest interests has become quite the rage during the past few years. I'm just surprised that no one has thought of taking this trend one logical step further and making those labels outwardly visible. Who knows? There might even be money to be made.
I wish I could take credit for this clever badge idea, but unfortunately, I can't. Some insane fellow with a ridiculous mustache came up with it more than 50 years ago. He wanted homosexuals to wear those pink triangles, Jews to wear yellow Stars of David, and so on. His motives weren't as pure as mine, I grant you. He wanted to kill people. I merely want to avoid hurting their feelings.
Come, Let Me Offend You
We Have Become Too Afraid Of Hurting One Another's Feelings
By Eve Drobot NEWSWEEK
Can we talk? It is becoming increasingly difficult, because I never know when I'm inadvertently going to offend you. Here I go, raving about the divine veal piccata I had at that hot new trattoria, and you're gritting your teeth and about to pop a blood vessel because you haven't had a chance to inform me that you are a raging vegetarian who spend is weekends stuffing envelopes for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals.
I mean how can we ever talk if you've always got an agenda I have no way of knowing about? There we are at a party discussing censorship-at least, I think we're discussing censorship-when you bring everything to a grinding halt by announcing you're a Muslim who believes the fatwa against Salman Rushdie is entirely justified. Or, God forbid, I tell a good, old-fashioned heterosexual joke and you stare at me straight-faced and explain you are a lesbian female separatist.
Everywhere I turn, it seems that certain things are no longer deemed appropriate conversation. We are awash in earnestness, afraid to open our mouths because we never know when our words are going to hurt somebody's feelings.
I can understand-even applaud-the taboos on racist and sexist jokes (unless we've established a priori that we're both feminists, in which case, have you heard the one about the man who was so dumb that ... ). But is there anything left to have an opinion on these days besides the weather? Oh, but now you tell me you're an environmentalist, and I have no right to complain about the rain because the atmosphere has been raped by pollution, and if I've used so much as one squirt of hair spray in my life it's probably all my fault anyway. Pardon me.
You see, it has become simply impossible for us to speak to one another as long as you insist on wearing your special interests and sensitivities on your sleeve.
Now, wait a minute. There's a concept. Why don't you wear your agenda on your sleeve, literally? We could develop an entire iconography of sensibilities. Pins, badges, what have you-I'm open to suggestions. Devout Christians wear crosses around their necks; some Jews display a Star of David or Hebrew letters on a chain. We could carry this idea further.
Let's start with a classic and work from there. Take a pink triangle (for gay) and add sequins if you're a drag queen. If you're a male bisexual, how about a pink triangle bisected by the biological symbol for female? Or, if you're a female bisexual, a pink triangle bisected by the biological symbol for male?
Are you sensitive about being a single mother? Let the world know by displaying Dan Quayle's face with a red slash through it.
We could issue broccoli stickpins to vegetarians, bunny heads in profile to animal-rights activists. A pentacle for practicing witches, a golden calf for ardent pagans. A baby basket in front of a door if you were adopted. A child with a suitcase if your parents were immigrants. An ear if someone in your family is deaf, an ear and a musical note if someone in your family is tone-deaf. The possibilities are endless: define your sore point and design an insignia. Wear it proudly, if not defiantly.
And let's not stop with badges. How about making little stamps or stickers to affix to anything you write? Let's say you write a letter to the editor protesting the fatuousness of this article. Append your offended affiliation visually to the letter, thereby ensuring that your opinion will be judged not on the merit of your argument but on the merit of your minority-group adherence.
This sort of symbolic shorthand would certainly have helped get a fellow I know out of a fix he recently found himself in. A major publishing house asked him to select some poems to include in an anthology. Silly liberal-minded fool that he is, he simply chose poems he thought were good. His selections were returned to him for further clarification. Could he lease let the publisher know which poems were written by gays, third generation Americans, Native Americans, refugees, Young Republicans and those who use wheelchairs? When he had supplied the appropriate designation for each entry, then-and only then-could the publisher know that the editor had made the demographically representative choices.
Now, I realize I am probably dating myself, or setting myself up as a total Pollyanna, but wasn't there a time when the goal was not to notice the things that set us apart? Weren't we once working toward a perfect world, where we would see past color, race, creed, gender, ethnic background and physical limitations, straight through to talent and ability? What ever happened to that idea?
I can't pinpoint exactly where it went off the rails, but there must definitely have been a moment in time when somebody figured out there was more to be gained by being indignant than by being right.
You see, we can't talk, we can't think, we can't presume to judge unless we have all the pertinent information. And the most pertinent information these days is: whom does this offend?
Labeling yourself by your narrowest interests has become quite the rage during the past few years. I'm just surprised that no one has thought of taking this trend one logical step further and making those labels outwardly visible. Who knows? There might even be money to be made.
I wish I could take credit for this clever badge idea, but unfortunately, I can't. Some insane fellow with a ridiculous mustache came up with it more than 50 years ago. He wanted homosexuals to wear those pink triangles, Jews to wear yellow Stars of David, and so on. His motives weren't as pure as mine, I grant you. He wanted to kill people. I merely want to avoid hurting their feelings.
Rabu, 28 Mei 2008
Rachael Ray and the Offensive Scarf
Just how daggone "correct" about everything are we going to have to become?
I laughed when I read this article. I mean, here's way-too-perky Rachael Ray in a scarf I thought was merely a poor pick by some stylist, because it was u-g-l-y. I have since been enlightened. Oh, many thought it looked too much like a keffiyeh (kaffiyeh? - I've seen it spelled both ways, so both are here), a traditional Palestinian scarf. Symbol of terrorism, etc. Huh?
I'll have to rethink my pink flip flops the next time I dash out to get my daughter off the school bus. Silly me, I could be making an incorrect statement of some sort, supporting something I knew nothing about, or offending someone.
Loud & clear...I am NOT bashing Michelle Malkin. I love reading her commentary (http://www.michellemalkin.com/). Personally, I'd like to know who the other critics are & why only Ms. Malkin was specifically named in the AP article. And read her May 27 entry about a recent study on transracial adoption. She nailed it. But on the keffiyeh/kaffiyeh controversy, I'll respectfully disagree.
"Dunkin' Donuts Pulls Rachael Ray Ad Over 'Terror' Symbolism"
CANTON, Mass. — Dunkin' Donuts said Wednesday it stopped running an online advertisement featuring Rachael Ray after complaints that a fringed black-and-white scarf that the celebrity chef wore in the ad offers symbolic support for Muslim extremism and terrorism.
The coffee and baked goods chain said the ad that began appearing online May 7 was pulled over the past weekend because "the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee."
In the spot, Ray wears the scarf around her neck and holds an iced coffee while standing in front of trees with pink blossoms.
Critics, including conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, complained that the scarf looked similar to the black-and-white checkered kaffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf. Critics who fueled online complaints about the ad in blogs say such scarves have come to symbolize Muslim extremism and terrorism.
The kaffiyeh, Malkin wrote in a column posted online last Friday, "has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not-so-ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons."
A statement issued by Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin' Brands Inc., however, said the scarf had a paisley design, and was selected by a stylist for the advertising shoot.
"Absolutely no symbolism was intended," the company said.
Dunkin' spokeswoman Michelle King said the ad appeared on the chain's Web site, as well as other commercial sites.
Malkin, in a posting following up on last week's column, said of Dunkin's decision to pull the ad, "It's refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists."
Ray, host of the Food Network television program "30 Minute Meals" as well as a syndicated daytime talk show, began appearing in ads for Dunkin' Donuts in March 2007. When Dunkin' announced the partnership, it said Ray would be featured in TV, print, radio and online spots in a campaign running through 2010.
I laughed when I read this article. I mean, here's way-too-perky Rachael Ray in a scarf I thought was merely a poor pick by some stylist, because it was u-g-l-y. I have since been enlightened. Oh, many thought it looked too much like a keffiyeh (kaffiyeh? - I've seen it spelled both ways, so both are here), a traditional Palestinian scarf. Symbol of terrorism, etc. Huh?
I'll have to rethink my pink flip flops the next time I dash out to get my daughter off the school bus. Silly me, I could be making an incorrect statement of some sort, supporting something I knew nothing about, or offending someone.
Loud & clear...I am NOT bashing Michelle Malkin. I love reading her commentary (http://www.michellemalkin.com/). Personally, I'd like to know who the other critics are & why only Ms. Malkin was specifically named in the AP article. And read her May 27 entry about a recent study on transracial adoption. She nailed it. But on the keffiyeh/kaffiyeh controversy, I'll respectfully disagree.
"Dunkin' Donuts Pulls Rachael Ray Ad Over 'Terror' Symbolism"
CANTON, Mass. — Dunkin' Donuts said Wednesday it stopped running an online advertisement featuring Rachael Ray after complaints that a fringed black-and-white scarf that the celebrity chef wore in the ad offers symbolic support for Muslim extremism and terrorism.
The coffee and baked goods chain said the ad that began appearing online May 7 was pulled over the past weekend because "the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee."
In the spot, Ray wears the scarf around her neck and holds an iced coffee while standing in front of trees with pink blossoms.
Critics, including conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, complained that the scarf looked similar to the black-and-white checkered kaffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf. Critics who fueled online complaints about the ad in blogs say such scarves have come to symbolize Muslim extremism and terrorism.
The kaffiyeh, Malkin wrote in a column posted online last Friday, "has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not-so-ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons."
A statement issued by Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin' Brands Inc., however, said the scarf had a paisley design, and was selected by a stylist for the advertising shoot.
"Absolutely no symbolism was intended," the company said.
Dunkin' spokeswoman Michelle King said the ad appeared on the chain's Web site, as well as other commercial sites.
Malkin, in a posting following up on last week's column, said of Dunkin's decision to pull the ad, "It's refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists."
Ray, host of the Food Network television program "30 Minute Meals" as well as a syndicated daytime talk show, began appearing in ads for Dunkin' Donuts in March 2007. When Dunkin' announced the partnership, it said Ray would be featured in TV, print, radio and online spots in a campaign running through 2010.
When Celebrities Bloviate
Whoops...Sharon Stone opened her mouth and inserted her foot...From the Associated Press -
"Sharon Stone: Was China Quake "Bad Karma"?"
Published: 5/28/08, 6:05 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Sharon Stone's "karma" comment is having an instant effect on her movie-star status in China.
The 50-year-old actress suggested last week that the devastating May 12 earthquake in China could have been the result of bad karma over the government's treatment of Tibet. That prompted the founder of one of China's biggest cinema chains to say his company would not show her films in his theaters, according to a story in The Hollywood Reporter.
"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else," Stone said Thursday during a Cannes Film Festival red-carpet interview with Hong Kong's Cable Entertainment News. "And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"
Ng See-Yuen, founder of the UME Cineplex chain and the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, called Stone's comments "inappropriate," adding that actors should not bring personal politics to comments about a natural disaster that has left five million Chinese homeless, according to the Reporter.
UME has branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, China's biggest urban movie markets.
During the brief interview, which has also surfaced on YouTube, Stone also said she cried when she received a letter from the Tibetan Foundation asking her to help quake victims.
"They wanted to go and be helpful, and that made me cry," she said. "It was a big lesson to me that sometimes you have to learn to put your head down and be of service even to people who aren't nice to you."
Stone's words created a swell of anger on the Internet, including at least one Chinese Web site devoted solely to disparaging her comments.
"To Sharon Stone's comment, it's unlikely that we will respond," said a woman who answered the phone at the Foreign Ministry in Beijing. She refused to give her name or position.
After-hours phone calls and email to a representative for Stone were not immediately returned Tuesday night.
According to the Web-based database imdb.com, Stone has at least four movies coming up between now and 2010, including "Streets of Blood," "Five Dollars a Day" and "The Year of Getting to Know Us."
Eugene Cho
I LIKE this guy's blog. Check out the words of Eugene Cho (http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/). Worth a look, definitely.
Guatemala and Vietnam Halt Their Adoption Programs
From CNN:
"Halted Foreign Adoption Leave Would-Be Parents In Limbo"
Published: 5/28/08, 5:00 AM EDTFrom Samira J. Simone, Harris Whitbeck and Zain Verjee
CNN(CNN) - The crib in Ellen Darcy's Boston home has sat empty for more than a year. And in suburban Washington, Laura Teresinski has prepared a nursery for a baby that may never arrive.
They and thousands of prospective parents, eager to adopt children from abroad, have found themselves in an emotional legal limbo since two of the most popular countries for international adoptions -- Guatemala and Vietnam -- recently halted their programs.
Now would-be mothers and fathers around the United States wonder what will become of their quest to adopt a child -- a pursuit that can fray nerves, cost up to $30,000 and span several years.
Guatemala announced this month that it would conduct a case-by-case review of every pending foreign adoption case. That put on hold the adoption plans of about 2,000 American families.
The crackdown comes amid reports that some in Guatemala coerce mothers to relinquish their children for adoption -- or steal the children outright and present them as orphans.
Similar accusations have arisen in Vietnam.
After the United States accused adoption agencies there of corruption and baby-selling, Vietnam said in April that it would no longer allow adoptions to the United States.
"My husband and I were absolutely devastated," Teresinski said. "Adoptive parents have put a lot of emotional energy and a lot of financial resources in the process."
Vietnam's decision affects several hundred families.
Families in the United States adopted 4,728 children from Guatemala and 828 from Vietnam last year.
The halt in adoptions from those two nations unfolds against the backdrop of a dramatic rise in international adoptions in the United States.
The number of foreign-born children adopted by U.S. families more than tripled from 1990 to 2004, when it reached a high of 22,884, though the figure has declined slightly each year since.
In 2007, the U.S. granted visas to 19,613 children so they could join an adoptive family in the United States, according to U.S. State Department figures. About 70 percent of those children came from four countries: China, Guatemala, Russia and Ethiopia.
A few other countries have also halted foreign adoptions at various times, including Kazakhstan and Togo.
Yet the suspensions in Vietnam and Guatemala have had the biggest impact -- they're two of the 10 countries that send the most children to adoptive homes in the Unites States.
Fear of fraud stirs heartache.
For Darcy, the review seems more detrimental than helpful. Her adopted daughter, Carolina, remains in a Guatemalan foster home with three dozen other babies. Darcy worries that keeping Carolina, now 15 months old, in a foster home will harm her early development.
"She's not getting one-on-one care by a consistent caretaker," Darcy said, adding later, "Nobody is looking at this as a violation of the kids' human rights except for these (American) parents."
Guatemala, which until now has had little to no oversight of its foreign adoptions, has the highest per capita rate of adoption in the world.
Nearly one in 100 babies born in Guatemala wind up living with adoptive parents in the United States, according to the U.S. consulate in Guatemala.
While adoptive parents in the United States undergo rigorous screening, adoptions in Guatemala had been processed by notaries responsible for determining whether the babies were relinquished voluntarily. They also arrange foster care and handle paperwork -- notaries in Latin America tend to have more legal training than notaries in the United States.
Both Guatemalan and U.S. officials fear the system leads to practices such as paying birth mothers for children or, in some instances, coercion.
Officials in both countries say gaps in regulations and the high sums of money at play -- adoptions can cost up to $30,000 -- may have created unintended incentives in a country where the State Department estimates that 80 percent of the population lives in poverty.
The Guatemalan government has said its review could take a month or longer. As for the American families, they can only wait.
"I think it's overkill," said Darcy, who was matched with Carolina last March and was approved to adopt the girl last winter -- typically one of the last steps before the actual adoption is complete.
"No adoptive parent wants to adopt an abducted child -- a child that wasn't voluntarily relinquished -- but to keep them as hostages is unacceptable," Darcy said.
Guatemala plans reforms
U.S. officials say they sympathize with the parents, but that reviews like the one in Guatemala are in the best interest of the children.
"We feel for them, it's a tough situation," said a State Department official who is not authorized to speak on the record.
"(But) they'll have the comfort of knowing American parents in the future who adopt from Guatemala will get children from a system that has all the safeguards in place so that children are not exploited," the official said.
In the past, Guatemala required birth mothers to sign a document in court saying they were relinquishing their child. They were not required to reveal their reasons.
Now the government may require the presence of the birth mother and child. The goal is to verify identification and make sure the mother is giving up her child voluntarily.
Cleaning up Guatemala's adoption system is a step toward complying with the standards of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, an international agreement that governs adoptions from one country to another. About 70 nations have signed the convention, which seeks to ensure legitimate foreign adoptions.
The United States joined the international convention last year, and rules governing adoptions from one signatory nation to another took effect April 1.
The United States has stopped issuing visas to Guatemalan children after that date, blocking their travel to America -- at least until concerns are addressed.
"We're not pointing fingers at American parents," the State Department official said.
However, the review and changes in Guatemala will ensure that it "does not become a fertile ground for (wrongful) practices on any person, particularly children, who have not been orphaned."
To offset corruption, the U.S. Embassy has added its own requirement: That birth mothers appear with the baby to request a visa for the baby. In August, officials also began requiring two DNA tests to confirm the identities of mother and child.
Still, the Guatemalan solicitor general's office has identified at least 80 cases of adoption irregularities, including baby stealing and false DNA tests.
And the Guatemalan chief prosecutor's office recently launched a criminal investigation into the two laboratories contracted to take DNA samples from birth mothers and children.
'Serious irregularities' in Vietnam
Similar concerns of corruption recently emerged in Vietnam, where investigators had found "serious adoption irregularities," according to a report by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.
Documents had been forged or altered, the embassy said, and some parents were paid, tricked or forced into giving up their children for adoption. In some cases, the embassy said, children were offered for adoption without the knowledge or permission of their parents.
The Vietnamese government has denied the accusations.
Even so, it said in April that it would terminate its adoption agreement with the United States, saying it won't accept applications after July 1. The program is scheduled to end September 1.
Parents in the United States who were matched with an adoptive child in Vietnam before July 1 will be allowed to adopt that child. Prospective parents who had invested time and money, but had not been matched with an adoptive child, appear to be out of luck.
Private adoption agencies insist that nearly all adoptions from Vietnam are problem-free, and they want the adoptions to continue.
"It's hard to let go, because we know we can advocate for these children and make a real difference," said Linda Brownlee, executive director of the nonprofit Adoption Center of Washington, which places children for adoption from Russia, China, Cambodia and Vietnam.
She hopes the United States and Vietnam reach an agreement so that adoptions can continue.
"Without it, I think children are going to be harmed. They are going to die needlessly, and there is going to be trafficking," Brownlee said
"Halted Foreign Adoption Leave Would-Be Parents In Limbo"
Published: 5/28/08, 5:00 AM EDTFrom Samira J. Simone, Harris Whitbeck and Zain Verjee
CNN(CNN) - The crib in Ellen Darcy's Boston home has sat empty for more than a year. And in suburban Washington, Laura Teresinski has prepared a nursery for a baby that may never arrive.
They and thousands of prospective parents, eager to adopt children from abroad, have found themselves in an emotional legal limbo since two of the most popular countries for international adoptions -- Guatemala and Vietnam -- recently halted their programs.
Now would-be mothers and fathers around the United States wonder what will become of their quest to adopt a child -- a pursuit that can fray nerves, cost up to $30,000 and span several years.
Guatemala announced this month that it would conduct a case-by-case review of every pending foreign adoption case. That put on hold the adoption plans of about 2,000 American families.
The crackdown comes amid reports that some in Guatemala coerce mothers to relinquish their children for adoption -- or steal the children outright and present them as orphans.
Similar accusations have arisen in Vietnam.
After the United States accused adoption agencies there of corruption and baby-selling, Vietnam said in April that it would no longer allow adoptions to the United States.
"My husband and I were absolutely devastated," Teresinski said. "Adoptive parents have put a lot of emotional energy and a lot of financial resources in the process."
Vietnam's decision affects several hundred families.
Families in the United States adopted 4,728 children from Guatemala and 828 from Vietnam last year.
The halt in adoptions from those two nations unfolds against the backdrop of a dramatic rise in international adoptions in the United States.
The number of foreign-born children adopted by U.S. families more than tripled from 1990 to 2004, when it reached a high of 22,884, though the figure has declined slightly each year since.
In 2007, the U.S. granted visas to 19,613 children so they could join an adoptive family in the United States, according to U.S. State Department figures. About 70 percent of those children came from four countries: China, Guatemala, Russia and Ethiopia.
A few other countries have also halted foreign adoptions at various times, including Kazakhstan and Togo.
Yet the suspensions in Vietnam and Guatemala have had the biggest impact -- they're two of the 10 countries that send the most children to adoptive homes in the Unites States.
Fear of fraud stirs heartache.
For Darcy, the review seems more detrimental than helpful. Her adopted daughter, Carolina, remains in a Guatemalan foster home with three dozen other babies. Darcy worries that keeping Carolina, now 15 months old, in a foster home will harm her early development.
"She's not getting one-on-one care by a consistent caretaker," Darcy said, adding later, "Nobody is looking at this as a violation of the kids' human rights except for these (American) parents."
Guatemala, which until now has had little to no oversight of its foreign adoptions, has the highest per capita rate of adoption in the world.
Nearly one in 100 babies born in Guatemala wind up living with adoptive parents in the United States, according to the U.S. consulate in Guatemala.
While adoptive parents in the United States undergo rigorous screening, adoptions in Guatemala had been processed by notaries responsible for determining whether the babies were relinquished voluntarily. They also arrange foster care and handle paperwork -- notaries in Latin America tend to have more legal training than notaries in the United States.
Both Guatemalan and U.S. officials fear the system leads to practices such as paying birth mothers for children or, in some instances, coercion.
Officials in both countries say gaps in regulations and the high sums of money at play -- adoptions can cost up to $30,000 -- may have created unintended incentives in a country where the State Department estimates that 80 percent of the population lives in poverty.
The Guatemalan government has said its review could take a month or longer. As for the American families, they can only wait.
"I think it's overkill," said Darcy, who was matched with Carolina last March and was approved to adopt the girl last winter -- typically one of the last steps before the actual adoption is complete.
"No adoptive parent wants to adopt an abducted child -- a child that wasn't voluntarily relinquished -- but to keep them as hostages is unacceptable," Darcy said.
Guatemala plans reforms
U.S. officials say they sympathize with the parents, but that reviews like the one in Guatemala are in the best interest of the children.
"We feel for them, it's a tough situation," said a State Department official who is not authorized to speak on the record.
"(But) they'll have the comfort of knowing American parents in the future who adopt from Guatemala will get children from a system that has all the safeguards in place so that children are not exploited," the official said.
In the past, Guatemala required birth mothers to sign a document in court saying they were relinquishing their child. They were not required to reveal their reasons.
Now the government may require the presence of the birth mother and child. The goal is to verify identification and make sure the mother is giving up her child voluntarily.
Cleaning up Guatemala's adoption system is a step toward complying with the standards of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, an international agreement that governs adoptions from one country to another. About 70 nations have signed the convention, which seeks to ensure legitimate foreign adoptions.
The United States joined the international convention last year, and rules governing adoptions from one signatory nation to another took effect April 1.
The United States has stopped issuing visas to Guatemalan children after that date, blocking their travel to America -- at least until concerns are addressed.
"We're not pointing fingers at American parents," the State Department official said.
However, the review and changes in Guatemala will ensure that it "does not become a fertile ground for (wrongful) practices on any person, particularly children, who have not been orphaned."
To offset corruption, the U.S. Embassy has added its own requirement: That birth mothers appear with the baby to request a visa for the baby. In August, officials also began requiring two DNA tests to confirm the identities of mother and child.
Still, the Guatemalan solicitor general's office has identified at least 80 cases of adoption irregularities, including baby stealing and false DNA tests.
And the Guatemalan chief prosecutor's office recently launched a criminal investigation into the two laboratories contracted to take DNA samples from birth mothers and children.
'Serious irregularities' in Vietnam
Similar concerns of corruption recently emerged in Vietnam, where investigators had found "serious adoption irregularities," according to a report by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.
Documents had been forged or altered, the embassy said, and some parents were paid, tricked or forced into giving up their children for adoption. In some cases, the embassy said, children were offered for adoption without the knowledge or permission of their parents.
The Vietnamese government has denied the accusations.
Even so, it said in April that it would terminate its adoption agreement with the United States, saying it won't accept applications after July 1. The program is scheduled to end September 1.
Parents in the United States who were matched with an adoptive child in Vietnam before July 1 will be allowed to adopt that child. Prospective parents who had invested time and money, but had not been matched with an adoptive child, appear to be out of luck.
Private adoption agencies insist that nearly all adoptions from Vietnam are problem-free, and they want the adoptions to continue.
"It's hard to let go, because we know we can advocate for these children and make a real difference," said Linda Brownlee, executive director of the nonprofit Adoption Center of Washington, which places children for adoption from Russia, China, Cambodia and Vietnam.
She hopes the United States and Vietnam reach an agreement so that adoptions can continue.
"Without it, I think children are going to be harmed. They are going to die needlessly, and there is going to be trafficking," Brownlee said
Selasa, 27 Mei 2008
China Earthquake
At a memorial service, parents hold pictures of their children killed in China's massive earthquake on May 12..Such a tragedy and so many affected by this, both in China and around the world.
My oldest friend, Janet, told me her thoughts went immediately to Jennifer's birth parents, wondering if they were okay. As an adoptive parent, my thoughts first went to the thousands of children in orphanages and foster homes in China, then to the adoptive parents throughout the world waiting for a child.
With a tragedy of such magnitude, I have regretted that I didn't initially think of the two people in China to whom I am most grateful...the parents that gave Jennifer life. I have prayed sincerely in the aftermath that they survived.
Jennifer has questioned China's one-child policy. I try to present the facts to her, without judgment. Here is an article that appeared in the news yesterday...
From the Associated Press.
"China Makes One-Child Policy Exception for Earthquake Affected Families"
BEIJING — Chinese officials said Monday that the country's one-child policy exempts families with a child killed, severely injured or disabled in the country's devastating earthquake.
Those families can obtain a certificate to have another child, the Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee in the capital of hard-hit Sichuan province said.
The earthquake, and its destruction of almost 7,000 classrooms during a school day, left China heartbroken, with newspaper photos focusing on piles of dusty bookbags and small hands emerging from the debris.
With so many shattered families asking questions, the Chengdu committee is clarifying existing one-child policy guidelines, said a committee official surnamed Wang.
"There are just a lot of cases now, so we need to clarify our policies," said Wang, who declined to elaborate.
The May 12 quake was particularly painful to many Chinese because it killed so many only children.
The earthquake has left more than 65,000 people so far, with more than 23,000 missing. Officials have not been able to estimate the number of children killed.
Chinese couples who have more than one child are commonly punished by fines.
The announcement says that if a child born illegally was killed in the quake, the parents will no longer have to pay fines for that child — but the previously paid fines won't be refunded.
If the couple's legally born child is killed and the couple is left with an illegally born child under the age of 18, that child can be registered as the legal child — an important move that gives the child previously denied rights including free nine years of compulsory education.
China's one-child policy was launched in the late 1970s to control China's exploding population and ensure better education and health care.
The law includes certain exceptions for ethnic groups, rural families and families where both parents are only children.
The government says the policy has prevented an additional 400 million births, but critics say it has also led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio as local authorities pursue sometimes severe birth quotas set by Beijing and families abort girls out of a traditional preference for male heirs.
Though commonly called a one-child policy, the rules offer a welter of exceptions and loopholes, some of them put into practice because of widespread opposition to the limits.
For example, in large parts of rural China, most families are allowed a second child, especially if the first was a girl. Local officials often have wide discretion on enforcement, a fact that has made the policy susceptible to corruption.
Many Chinese have shown interest in adopting earthquake orphans, and Monday's announcement says there are no limits on the number of earthquake orphans a family can adopt.
The adoptions, or even a future birth to a family that adopts an orphan, will not face the limitations of the one-child policy.
Officials estimated last week that the quake left about 4,000 orphans, but they warned they would make every effort to connect children with other family members.
Senin, 26 Mei 2008
How About That Mohawk?
My great-nephew, Andrew, enjoying the pool on Sunday, May 25 at his home in Maryland & sporting a mighty fine Mohawk!Nightwish - Phantom of the Opera LIVE
An old friend, Richard, put us onto Nightwish. A great cover of "Phantom".
Music & Lyrics
"Music & Lyrics" is one of Jen's favorite movies & "Pop! Goes My Heart" is her favorite song from the film. It's a hysterical send-up of all the bad 80's videos.
Licensing & Whatnot
About the Foo Fighters "The Pretender" video posted below...
The first time Jen & I saw the Foo Fighters perfom this song, we looked at each other & said, "Oh, yeah, we HAVE to get this CD."
Tried to upload the official video, then the Grammy performance, but due to Sony/BMG & Grammy licensing rights & whatnot, we couldn't get either version to play once we posted it here.
Thank goodness for BBC Radio. The third try was the charm. This is a great song. Turn the speakers UP for this one...
The first time Jen & I saw the Foo Fighters perfom this song, we looked at each other & said, "Oh, yeah, we HAVE to get this CD."
Tried to upload the official video, then the Grammy performance, but due to Sony/BMG & Grammy licensing rights & whatnot, we couldn't get either version to play once we posted it here.
Thank goodness for BBC Radio. The third try was the charm. This is a great song. Turn the speakers UP for this one...
Memorial Day
History of the holiday:
Memorial Day is a United States Federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who perished while in military service to their country. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War, it was expanded after World War I to include casualties of any war or military action.
Memorial Day formerly occurred on May 30, and some, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), advocate returning to this fixed date, although the significance of the date is tenuous. The VFW stated in a 2002 Memorial Day Address, "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed a lot to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."[1] Hawaii's Senator Daniel Inouye, a World War II veteran, has repeatedly introduced measures to return Memorial Day to its traditional day since 1987.
Following the end of the Civil War, many communities set aside a day to mark the end of the war or as a memorial to those who had died. Some of the places creating an early memorial day include Charleston, South Carolina; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; Carbondale, Illinois; Columbus, Mississippi; many communities in Vermont; and some two dozen other cities and towns. These observances eventually coalesced around Decoration Day, honoring the Union dead, and the several Confederate Memorial Days.
According to Professor David Blight of the Yale University History Department, the first memorial day was observed in 1865 by liberated slaves at the historic race track in Charleston. The site was a former Confederate prison camp as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who had died while captive. The freed slaves reinterred the dead Union soldiers from the mass grave to individual graves, fenced in the graveyard & built an entry arch declaring it a Union graveyard - a very daring thing to do in the South shortly after North's victory. On May 30, 1887, the freed slaves returned to the graveyard with flowers they'd picked from the countryside & decorated the individual gravesites, thereby creating the 1st Decoration Day. A parade with thousands of freed blacks and Union soldiers was followed by patriotic singing and a picnic.
The official birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York. The village was credited with being the birthplace because it observed the day on May 5, 1866, and each year thereafter, and because it is likely that the friendship of General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, and General John A. Logan, who led the call for the day to be observed each year and helped spread the event nationwide, was a key factor in its growth.
General Logan had been impressed by the way the South honored their dead with a special day and decided the Union needed a similar day. Reportedly, Logan said that it was most fitting; that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had honored their dead, particularly their heroes, by chaplets of laurel and flowers, and that he intended to issue an order designating a day for decorating the grave of every soldier in the land, and if he could he would have made it a holiday.
Logan had been the principal speaker in a citywide memorial observation on April 29, 1866, at a cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois, an event that likely gave him the idea to make it a national holiday. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans' organization, Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle. The tombs of fallen Union soldiers were decorated in remembrance of this day.
Many of the states of the U.S. South refused to celebrate Decoration Day, due to lingering hostility towards the Union Army and also because there were very few veterans of the Union Army who lived in the South. A notable exception was Columbus, Mississippi, which on April 25, 1866 at its Decoration Day commemorated both the Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery.
The alternative name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882, but did not become more common until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967 . On June 28, 1968, the United States Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved three holidays from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend and for the first time recognized Columbus Day as a federal holiday. The holidays included Washington's Birthday (which evolved into Presidents' Day), Veterans Day, and Memorial Day. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971 . After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply at the state level, all fifty states adopted the measure within a few years, although Veterans Day was eventually changed back to its traditional date. Ironically, most corporate businesses no longer close on Columbus Day or Veterans Day, and an increasing number are staying open on President's Day as well. Memorial Day, however, has endured as one holiday during which most businesses stay closed because it marks the beginning of the "summer vacation season," as does neighboring Canada's Victoria Day, which occurs just before, on the third Monday in May.
Memorial Day is a United States Federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who perished while in military service to their country. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War, it was expanded after World War I to include casualties of any war or military action.
Memorial Day formerly occurred on May 30, and some, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), advocate returning to this fixed date, although the significance of the date is tenuous. The VFW stated in a 2002 Memorial Day Address, "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed a lot to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."[1] Hawaii's Senator Daniel Inouye, a World War II veteran, has repeatedly introduced measures to return Memorial Day to its traditional day since 1987.
Following the end of the Civil War, many communities set aside a day to mark the end of the war or as a memorial to those who had died. Some of the places creating an early memorial day include Charleston, South Carolina; Boalsburg, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; Carbondale, Illinois; Columbus, Mississippi; many communities in Vermont; and some two dozen other cities and towns. These observances eventually coalesced around Decoration Day, honoring the Union dead, and the several Confederate Memorial Days.
According to Professor David Blight of the Yale University History Department, the first memorial day was observed in 1865 by liberated slaves at the historic race track in Charleston. The site was a former Confederate prison camp as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who had died while captive. The freed slaves reinterred the dead Union soldiers from the mass grave to individual graves, fenced in the graveyard & built an entry arch declaring it a Union graveyard - a very daring thing to do in the South shortly after North's victory. On May 30, 1887, the freed slaves returned to the graveyard with flowers they'd picked from the countryside & decorated the individual gravesites, thereby creating the 1st Decoration Day. A parade with thousands of freed blacks and Union soldiers was followed by patriotic singing and a picnic.
The official birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York. The village was credited with being the birthplace because it observed the day on May 5, 1866, and each year thereafter, and because it is likely that the friendship of General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, and General John A. Logan, who led the call for the day to be observed each year and helped spread the event nationwide, was a key factor in its growth.
General Logan had been impressed by the way the South honored their dead with a special day and decided the Union needed a similar day. Reportedly, Logan said that it was most fitting; that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had honored their dead, particularly their heroes, by chaplets of laurel and flowers, and that he intended to issue an order designating a day for decorating the grave of every soldier in the land, and if he could he would have made it a holiday.
Logan had been the principal speaker in a citywide memorial observation on April 29, 1866, at a cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois, an event that likely gave him the idea to make it a national holiday. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans' organization, Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle. The tombs of fallen Union soldiers were decorated in remembrance of this day.
Many of the states of the U.S. South refused to celebrate Decoration Day, due to lingering hostility towards the Union Army and also because there were very few veterans of the Union Army who lived in the South. A notable exception was Columbus, Mississippi, which on April 25, 1866 at its Decoration Day commemorated both the Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery.
The alternative name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882, but did not become more common until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967 . On June 28, 1968, the United States Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved three holidays from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend and for the first time recognized Columbus Day as a federal holiday. The holidays included Washington's Birthday (which evolved into Presidents' Day), Veterans Day, and Memorial Day. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971 . After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply at the state level, all fifty states adopted the measure within a few years, although Veterans Day was eventually changed back to its traditional date. Ironically, most corporate businesses no longer close on Columbus Day or Veterans Day, and an increasing number are staying open on President's Day as well. Memorial Day, however, has endured as one holiday during which most businesses stay closed because it marks the beginning of the "summer vacation season," as does neighboring Canada's Victoria Day, which occurs just before, on the third Monday in May.
Cleopatra's Tomb Found?
Archaeologist Zahi Hawass, shown here in 2005, believes he has found Cleopatra's tomb.This story appeared yesterday in the Sunday Times of London. I got a big kick out of another article on the Fox News site, where they euphemistically referred to Mark Antony as Cleopatra's "boyfriend".
"Flamboyant Archaeologist Believes He Has Identified Cleopatra's Tomb"
by Sara Hashash
A flamboyant archeologist known worldwide for his trademark Indiana Jones hat believes he has identified the site where Cleopatra is buried.
Now, with a team of 12 archeologists and 70 excavators, Zahi Hawass, 60, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has started searching for the entrance to her tomb.
And after a breakthrough two weeks ago he hopes to find her lover, the Roman general Mark Antony, sharing her last resting place at the site of a temple, the Taposiris Magna, 28 miles west of Alexandria.
Hawass has discovered a 400ft tunnel beneath the temple containing clues that the supposedly beautiful queen may lie beneath. “We’ve found tunnels with statues of Cleopatra and many coins bearing her face, things you wouldn’t expect in a typical temple,” he said.
A fortnight ago Hawass’s team discovered a bust of Mark Antony, the Roman general who became Cleopatra’s lover and had three children with her before their ambitions for an Egyptian empire brought them into conflict with Rome.
They committed suicide – he with his sword, she reputedly by clutching an asp to her breast – after being defeated by Octavian in the battle of Actium in 31BC. “Our theory is that both Cleopatra and Mark Antony are buried here,” said Hawass.
The archeologist, best known in Britain for demanding the return of the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum and for promoting the Tutankhamun exhibition at the O2 dome in London, believes the temple’s location would have made it a perfect place for Cleopatra to hide from Octavian’s army.
Work on the site has been suspended until the summer heat abates and is due to resume in November, when Hawass will use radar to search for hidden chambers.
The queen’s life and death were immortalised in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, and the Hollywood movie Cleopatra – starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who fell in love during the filming – but the location of her tomb has remained a mystery.
If Hawass is right, he could make the greatest archeological discovery in Egypt since Tutankhamun’s tomb was uncovered by the British archeologist Howard Carter in 1922.
Other experts are cautious, though. John Baines, professor of Egyptology at Oxford University, warned that searching for royal tombs often proved a “hopeless” task. He also doubted that Antony would be buried alongside his lover.
“It’s unlikely Mark Antony would have a tomb that anyone would be able to discover because he was the enemy at the time he died,” he said.
Hawass, however, remains defiant. “This is our theory. Others may disagree, but we are searching to see if we can prove it,” he said.
Minggu, 25 Mei 2008
Maria Sue Chanxi Chapman 2003-2008
A touching video of a beautiful little girl, gone too soon, and her daddy, who loved her.
12 Days of Highway Christmas
Originally, Jen and I had planned to post this in December. But she's fascinated at the new world of blogging & couldn't wait to add something, so here it is...
The 12 Days of a Highway Christmas by Jennifer & Mom, composed on the road, December 23, 2007, as we were heading to Maryland. It ain’t art, but it’ll do!
Of course, sung to the traditional tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me one Publix truck.
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 2 lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the third day of Christmas, my true live gave to me, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, five Salt Life Stickers! Four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eight highway troopers, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, nine Cracker Barrels, eight highway troopers, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ten Hampton Inns, nine Cracker Barrels, eight highway troopers, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eleven construction zones, ten Hampton Inns, nine Cracker Barrels, eight highway troopers, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, twelve crazy signs, eleven construction zones, ten Hampton Inns, nine Cracker Barrels, eight highway troopers, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers!, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
The 12 Days of a Highway Christmas by Jennifer & Mom, composed on the road, December 23, 2007, as we were heading to Maryland. It ain’t art, but it’ll do!
Of course, sung to the traditional tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me one Publix truck.
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 2 lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the third day of Christmas, my true live gave to me, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, five Salt Life Stickers! Four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eight highway troopers, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, nine Cracker Barrels, eight highway troopers, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ten Hampton Inns, nine Cracker Barrels, eight highway troopers, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eleven construction zones, ten Hampton Inns, nine Cracker Barrels, eight highway troopers, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, twelve crazy signs, eleven construction zones, ten Hampton Inns, nine Cracker Barrels, eight highway troopers, seven children crying, six cell phones ringing, five Salt Life Stickers!, four Fed-Ex trucks, three pokey drivers, two lanes of driving, and a Publix truck.
The Beach
Another favorite work of art from the late Christine Rosamond. The little one reminds me of Jennifer.
Bailey and Zeus
Meet Bailey and Zeus. They are two of the most wonderful dogs, who used to belong to my brother, Jim. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he was no longer able to keep them. Luckily, they went to a marvelous doctor, and are now living the high life on a 150-acre horse farm. While we're happy for their great new life, everyone in the family misses them dearly, and thinks of them often.
The Real Deal
The serious runner...Dr. Orestes Gutierrez (in the white shirt) heading to the finish line at the Gate River Run. Orestes finished 155th...which was fantastic, considering there were about 11,000 that ran the race! And yes, he did beat the guy next to him over the finish line.
She's A Runner
While I personally think running is a masochist's sport, Jennifer has run three 5k races in the last five months. Here she is at the Gate River Run with my dear friend, Pam, and Pam's daughter (and one of Jen's BFFs), Sofi. The GRR was in March, on a wild & windy morning.
Jen & Sofi started running last fall, when they joined Girls on the Run. Pam has run all three 5k races with the girls, and Pam's hubby, Orestes, was Jen's running buddy in their most recent race.
Inspired by Pam & Orestes, Jen has asked me to run the Girls on the Run 5k in December 2008. In a moment of insanity, I told her I would. So in September, I will begin training for my first-ever 5k run. Ouch.
All Things Hannah
Here's Madison, Julia, and my Jennifer, proudly sporting their shirts they got at the Hannah Montana concert. Madison's dad, Gary, stayed glued to the computer to get the tickets for the girls. Madison's mom, Wendy, took the girls to the concert.
A Beautiful Family
What a beautiful family! Meet my niece, Amy, her husband, Buster, my great-nephew, Andrew, and my great-niece, Reilly. We love them & miss being so far from them. Thankfully, Amy is wonderful at taking lots of pictures. I got this one from her own family blog.
Sabtu, 24 Mei 2008
Vespertine Movement
Photo courtesy of Patrick Smith for The Examiner. From left - John Kennelly, Owen McCusker, Zach Wilson, and Mike Guzman.
Bragging about my nephew Zach! Here's an article that ran today in the Baltimore Examinier (http://www.baltimoreexaminer.com/):
Smooth Moves for Vespertine Movement
By Emily Campbell
The naming of Catonsville band Vespertine Movement isn’t exactly an exciting tale.
“We had been playing together for a while and we didn’t exactly have a name,” said vocalist/guitarist John Kennelly. “So Zach and I played around with a dictionary and landed on the word 'vespertine,' which means 'to occur in the evening.’ ”
Creative name or no, the rock-infused jam band Vespertine Movement — which also includes vocalist/guitarist Michael “Guzzi” Guzman, drummer Zach Wilson and bassist Owen McCusker — has had one whirlwind of a ride since coming together a year ago.
The band members, who have been friends since high school, started jamming together at the 8x10’s Open Mic Nights and were asked to come back for the venue’s Five Bands for Five Bucks after impressing the staff. Following those performances, promoted mostly through Facebook and MySpace, VM has landed gigs at Recher Theatre in Towson, the Red House Tavern in Canton and most recently, Sonar in Fells Point.
"It’s definitely been worth every minute,” McCusker said. “I love these guys even after the tough and hectic times. We’ve learned to grow together.”
While they occasionally do covers, most of Vespertine Movement’s material is original; an effort they say is completely collaborative. “Usually one of us will bring one element to the table. Like some lyrics or maybe a riff,” Guzman said. “Then we kind of jam around with it.”
The song “Captain Creevers” is a crowd favorite. “It combines four of our most unique playing styles. For me, it’s bluesy, for Owen it’s funky, for Zach it’s flashy, and for Guzzi it’s just weird and eerie,” Kennelly said.
All four members work and attend college — Wilson and Kennelly at Towson, Guzman at College Park and McCusker at UMBC — but manage to keep the band a priority.
“I still balance school, leisure, and work; but being in Vespertine Movement gets me through. It drives me to get through the week knowing that we will get to jam during the weekend,” Wilson said.
Smooth Moves for Vespertine Movement
By Emily Campbell
The naming of Catonsville band Vespertine Movement isn’t exactly an exciting tale.
“We had been playing together for a while and we didn’t exactly have a name,” said vocalist/guitarist John Kennelly. “So Zach and I played around with a dictionary and landed on the word 'vespertine,' which means 'to occur in the evening.’ ”
Creative name or no, the rock-infused jam band Vespertine Movement — which also includes vocalist/guitarist Michael “Guzzi” Guzman, drummer Zach Wilson and bassist Owen McCusker — has had one whirlwind of a ride since coming together a year ago.
The band members, who have been friends since high school, started jamming together at the 8x10’s Open Mic Nights and were asked to come back for the venue’s Five Bands for Five Bucks after impressing the staff. Following those performances, promoted mostly through Facebook and MySpace, VM has landed gigs at Recher Theatre in Towson, the Red House Tavern in Canton and most recently, Sonar in Fells Point.
"It’s definitely been worth every minute,” McCusker said. “I love these guys even after the tough and hectic times. We’ve learned to grow together.”
While they occasionally do covers, most of Vespertine Movement’s material is original; an effort they say is completely collaborative. “Usually one of us will bring one element to the table. Like some lyrics or maybe a riff,” Guzman said. “Then we kind of jam around with it.”
The song “Captain Creevers” is a crowd favorite. “It combines four of our most unique playing styles. For me, it’s bluesy, for Owen it’s funky, for Zach it’s flashy, and for Guzzi it’s just weird and eerie,” Kennelly said.
All four members work and attend college — Wilson and Kennelly at Towson, Guzman at College Park and McCusker at UMBC — but manage to keep the band a priority.
“I still balance school, leisure, and work; but being in Vespertine Movement gets me through. It drives me to get through the week knowing that we will get to jam during the weekend,” Wilson said.
Maria Sue Chunxi Chapman May 13, 2003 - May 21, 2008
As the mother of a daughter adopted from China, I was in tears at the news that singer Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter, Maria Sue, 5, had died. Maria had celebrated her fifth birthday less than 10 days before the tragic accident that took her life.
Steven and his wife adopted Maria from China in 2004. Her family has asked that donations be made to Shaohannah's Hope, Maria's Miracle Fund(http://www.shaohannahshope.org/), an organization they founded after the adoption of their daughter, Shaohannah, to provide grants to families wishing to adopt.
I found this quote from the author George MacDonald on another site. Truer words were never spoken:
“Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes in the life of a peaceful family, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything seems changed. That family is no more exactly what it was before. Better it ought to be, damaged it may be.
“The result depends on the family itself and its response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, its spiritual weather is altered. But for the family who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophes never come but where they are turned around for good in that family’s life and in other lives they touch.”
Maria's funeral was this morning. Please keep the Chapman family in your prayers, now and in the days ahead, as they move forward in life without their darling daughter.
Steven and his wife adopted Maria from China in 2004. Her family has asked that donations be made to Shaohannah's Hope, Maria's Miracle Fund(http://www.shaohannahshope.org/), an organization they founded after the adoption of their daughter, Shaohannah, to provide grants to families wishing to adopt.
I found this quote from the author George MacDonald on another site. Truer words were never spoken:
“Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes in the life of a peaceful family, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything seems changed. That family is no more exactly what it was before. Better it ought to be, damaged it may be.
“The result depends on the family itself and its response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, its spiritual weather is altered. But for the family who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophes never come but where they are turned around for good in that family’s life and in other lives they touch.”
Maria's funeral was this morning. Please keep the Chapman family in your prayers, now and in the days ahead, as they move forward in life without their darling daughter.
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