Two, and three.

I am quoting from J. Loewen's book, Lies My Teacher Told Me : "Teachers may try to convince themselves that education's main function is to promote inquiry, not iconography, but in fact the socialization function of schooling remains dominant at least through high school and hardly disappears in college. Education as socialization tells people what to think and how to act and requires them to conform ." (p.350) I have always found it interesting that I can spot a home schooled person with little difficulty. There is an air about them, a something that distinguishes them from other public or privately schooled students. I am not trying to say that home schoolers are better ; I've known many intelligent and well-educated people who have gone through the public school system. But there is something that sets them apart, and I think it is that we were never required to conform . I can see it in my daughter's behavior: she does not act like the kids who are in a ...

This will be my 1, 070 post. I find it hard to fathom that I've written that many posts. Onward and upward: The Bataan Death March. Occurred during WWII, horrific experience, thousands died. Watch "The War" by Ken Burns. It has lots of pictures and descriptions of what happened. In 1989 NMSU's ROTC decided to create a march commemorating and honoring the men who had been forced to participate. This year over 6,000 people participated, and my dad and myself were among them. We did the Honorary 15-mile march rather than the 26.2-mile march, but I'm determined to do the full thing next year. It was an incredible experience, and I'll get to the details soon. First, though, I have to tell you about the Bataan survivors we met. Every participant gets a certificate, and we were advised to get the survivors to sign it. We did, and my dad bought me a book written by Col. Frazier (I think that's his rank, the book is in the bedroom and I can't go get it because ...

Occasionally I will wake up in the morning and wonder what other people, people who don't exercise or plan out meals, think about. What does it feel like, not having these issues weighing on one's mind? Is it liberating? I don't know anyone who doesn't exercise. At least I don't think I do. That being said, there is a difference among exercisers. There are those who, like my in-laws, have decided that they need to exercise for their health, and so they do what's necessary to accomplish that. There are others who get exposed to the fitness bug and run (pun!) with it. And then there are those who, like myself and my brothers, were raised in a "culture of fitness". Allow me to explain. It all started in the womb. My mother never allowed her first two pregnancies to slow her down. She walked/biked, gardened, and only gained 18 pounds with me. When she was pregnant with my brother she tells the story of when she biked to church in freezing cold weather, me ...

Dear Progressive Home Advantage, You might remember me. I am the father of two young but adorable children who is a full time student with the adorable children's mother and a member of the national guard who fulfills all his obligations and makes payments on time and helps others and donates 10% of his income to either the poor or the church. I'm also the name on one of your smaller policies. A policy started on January 12 th for approximately $20k in insurance for a year, for a payment of $225? Something like that. I know it sounded a bit too nice. I should have known better. You see back on March 10 th my car was relieved of my book bag and several other bags containing items worth about 1/10 th to 1/20 th of my policy value. Trying to be high speed and reliable I thought I should report this as soon as possible and called that night for a police report. After doing that I was told by well meaning friends, "hey maybe your insurance will cover this?" So F...

When I was younger I bought this electronic dictionary bookmark thingy. It was rather ugly, awkward, and was soon eclipsed by better technology, but I loved it. I carried it with me everywhere. I also had a plethora of dictionaries. Old ones, new ones; you just never knew what you might need. Of course I had other word books, although interestingly enough no thesaurus. Very odd. Today, although I still own a dictionary just for form's sake, I use the internet. My favorite online resource for the English language is The Free Dictionary , mainly because I like the layout. When I want to cite a definition in one of my papers I go one over to the Merriam Webster site, since it sounds more professional (to me, anyway). For Spanish, I use the SpanishDict site. The definitions are sound (from what I can tell) and the translation engine (I think that's what its called) at least gives me an idea of what to say/what has been said that I can't decipher. That information all by itself...

So in one of my classes, which is entitled Teaching History, all of the students were put into groups and taxed with coming up with one week of lesson plans, one part of which would be assigned to the class as a whole. Oh, and this is an online class. I can email but I don't have recourse to other types of communication. My dear classmates have come up with what originally sounded like an interesting project: interview five people who were 15 or older in 1970. Sounds fun, right? And we only have to ask five questions. Problem is this assignment was only clarified this morning (so far, only one group has managed to be clear in their instructions; all others I've had to ask for clarification) and it's due Monday. And just to be clear that I'm not dragging my feet on this, I'll let you know that the project was assigned late Tuesday/early Wednesday. I am not dragging my feet. So I ask my dad if I can interview him (of course) and if he knows anyone of the correct age. ...

My daughter has been a goldmine of sayings lately. I don't know if anyone else would find what she says hilarious, but in case you do here goes: "Momma, there's a sparking pot right there!" (translation: parking spot) "Momma, a bus has to do what it has to do." (I don't know what a bus needs to do, but apparently she does) In addition to saying the funniest things, she has learned how to bargain: "Momma, how about we watch Diego and then Gilmore Girls. Is that a good plan?" Or this: "It's ok momma it's ok. I'll fix it." (Anytime I express frustration) She also lectures her brother, in fine imitation of myself. That's a bit spooky. She has also taken over washing my car. Isn't she awesome?