Let’s not forget about fathers along with the mothers who have lost their children. Since many of these children were in schools that were evidently shoddily built perhaps the Chinese will use their grief and outrage at the government at last. These events are true tragedies and we should not bandy that word about the way we do to describe situations that may be terribly sad, but certainly not tragic. And yes, Star, we who live in relative comfort cannot fathom the pain and suffering that many peoples have to bear.

Oh, Lordy, lordy, here we are discussing whether “Sweetie” is appropriate or not when there are BIGGER fishes to fry. If you don’t like being called sweetie, you come back with “apple dumplin” or “Lovin Spoonful” or whatever. Can you imagine what it is like to be any one of the candidates? They are being scrutinized to death and about such silly stuff. I think you have to acquire a mighty tough skin to soldier on month after month and I applaud both Obama and Hillary. I’m afraid I can’t do the same for McCain––––he looks like he’s asleep at the wheel.

A B____don’t be mean. Aren’t we lucky to have a male presidential candidate who speaks for women in that way. Obviously you are angry, but open up, embrace what’s good about all this and try to see the big picture.

Bean: Some individuals do prolong their quarrels beyond any reason for quarreling because in many cases the quarrel has become their life, their definition of who they are. Now–––back to the thread at hand. Racism in the United States is “like a bacillus that we have failed to destroy, a live germ that not only continues to make some of us ill, but retains the capacity to generate new strains of a disease for which we have no certain cure.” George M. Fredrickson This is an apt metaphor and I say to the lady at the party: I am sad, sick, and furious at your illness and how I would like to dunk your head in that rich dessert just for some good laughs around the table. Alas, I control myself.

Actually I do agree with you as I said I certainly was discriminating and would never want to humiliate a student, but I found many of the notes harmless . Re: your daughter who got a clean bill of health from her latest scan. If I recall you mentioned her on another thread.

And you know what Pliny the Younger said about all this: ” That indolent but agreeable condition of doing nothing.” Seems things don’t change much.

Unless you have severe hot flashes, they aren’t bad at all. I actually liked them. For me they were like warm rushes that were sensual and pleasant. Every woman experiences menopause differently. If this site is still going when you DO go through this we’ll walk you through it, hopefully with humor and lots of encouragement. Don’t be scared–––it’s just another phase of the wonder of women.

Well, in that case I would not have read it. Discrimination is of the essence.

I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree. Passing notes is a no-no and the best way to stop this is to read the notes aloud. If you’ve ever been a teacher you know that making big deals out of small things prevents big things taking hold. Of course, this applies to parenting as well. P.S. and speaking of parenting, how is your daughter doing?

Joni: Yes, yes, yes! I, too, have a view of trees, birds, grass, sky, and it fills me–––nature’s magnificence coming into my space and taking over, reminding me of what really matters.

Ah, Jackie, where’s your romantic soul? Surely, somewhere a little boy like that could have copied some lines from a poet, made it his own in order to woo that sweet little girl sitting next to him. I’m as jaded–––turning bright green, actually–––as you probably are, but somehow a video like this brings tears to my eyes because I so do believe in the vital importance of education which of course has to do with reading, but mostly I was moved because it touched me.

I always have two books going––one downstairs for day and one upstairs on my bedside table. I have become very disciplined in my reading and not try to read too many books at one time which always seemed to result in not finishing one or the other. Plus I read other material such as the New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, the New York Times, and sites on the internet. Right now I happen to be reading two biographies of 19th century men––Matthew Arnold and Oscar Wilde––––don’t usually read two bios at the same time, but–––the face of Freya Stark is staring at me from her place on the coffee table begging me to hurry up with Arnold and delve into her. And so I shall.

Frank: This is for you: Afternoon sky the color of Cream of Wheat, a small dollop of butter hazily at the western edge. Getting too old and lazy to write poems, I watch the snowfall From the apple trees. Landscape, as Wang Wei says, softens the sharp edges of isolation. Don’t just do something, sit there. And so I have, so I have, the seasons curling around me like smoke, Gone to the end of the earth and back without a sound.

A DISHWASHER: I get filled up, I rinse away all those sticky particles, I run on many different cycles and when you open me up I deliver my wares sparkling clean. But best of all I eliminate all those nasty little arguments between daughters and mothers regarding negligent dish washing–––––”Mother, these dishes are NOT clean!”–––”Oh, yes, they are, you don’t think I know clean when I see it?” ––––”That’s the problem––you DON’T see that well anymore.” And the drama repeats itself generation after generation and I, thank goodness, have solved that problem.

The day has almost come when nobody will care a farthing any more for who is who sex-wise, or what label should be worn, allotted, or imputed. Sex will, we hope, continue to be an ever-interesting subject, but only because we shall want to pay no further attention to who is getting it right or doing it wrong. Sex will be like the turn-up of the trousers or the length of a skirt. Like fashion itself, it will, or so one hopes, no longer decree, but only amuse. ––––––––––––––a journal entry––author unknown