Load of Bollix

I want a dog. I do not want a child. Mostly I do not want a child because I'm not ready for my body to become host to another for 9 months and all the grossness that goes with it (yea, it's life, it's beautiful, it's not in my five year plan. Sorry Moms).* Jim also wants a dog. He routinely points out, in my frequent moments of despair over dying dogless, that we WILL get one. We are buying a proper house with a yard; we are thisclose to fulfilling our goal. Except getting a dog is a BIG commitment. This is what everyone tells me when I say we want a dog. They inhale slowly, put on a grave face and say precisely that: "Having a dog is a BIG commitment." And then they elaborate: You have to feed it, walk it, groom it, train it, take it to the vet, and, get this, find someone to watch it while you are away. At this point another dog owner and/or stranger will invariably chime in with the requisite "It's nothing like having a cat" line. For all of

There are many things that don’t make sense in this world. Of the top of my head, I can think of just a few: why I’m listening to Kanye West as I type this and why 15 year old boys like to draw penises (in sharpie) in each other’s $100 year books. (In education this is called a hook. I “hooked” you in by referencing pop culture and genitalia. Point-me). Here’s what else doesn’t make sense: public education. The problem is, when you can’t fire bad teachers, they’ll be a fair amount of bad teachers. And when we expect kids to do nothing, they’ll do just that. And at that point, you must wonder what separates you, a public-ivy trained, Masters degree holding professional, from a v. well paid babysitter. In high school history class, we “teach” the last 190,000+ years of human existence. We cram it down the throats of adolescents beginning at 7:20 AM, when, research shows, their little brains are most def. NOT at the ready. In this quest, some try (emphasis on the try) t