Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Life

Life has been a little crazy for me right now. Until yesterday, I felt like I was flying around at a hundred miles an hour and I just needed to slow down. I guess that's my pitiful excuse for why I haven't written in so long. In reality, I just haven't written because I haven't felt motivated. It's not like stuff hasn't been happening in my life - I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and write. Huh. But now I figure I have to start again, otherwise this will end up like every other blog I've written. You know, I'm really into it for a while, but then I stop and make up excuses as to why.

Anyway, I have been busy doing other things. I finished another two crochet projects - a blanket and a beret. I'm trying to switch between projects that take a while to make and "instant gratification" projects which take a couple of hours to make. I've got this pile of Christmas gifts growing on the rocking chair in my living room and it's nice to see some progress being made. The current project now is a lacy shawl for my aunt - definitely not "instant gratification." On the reading front, I am still trudging through The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. It's a good book, but it's long and has a lot of information in it, so it's taking me a while to read it. I am almost half way through it though, so yay!

Also, last week I drove down to Austin with my sister-in-law and my niece to protest the proposed changes by the SBOE (State Board of Education) for the social studies standards. I would love to say the protest was a success and the board postponed the final vote to review the standards again, but that's not what happened. On Friday (almost a week ago now), the SBOE passed the standards. I am so frustrated with the board with what's been going on. They clearly put their own agenda before one that focused on what students need - they've forced their political, personal, and religious views of history into what students will be taught now. This is not just me voicing my own views, they really did rewrite history at one point. In the 11th grade U.S. History Standards (if you care to look this up), they erase the current standard on Sen. Joe McCarthy (talking about what he did was wrong) and changed it to something along the lines of "Discuss how Sen. McCarthy, HUAC, etc. actually found Communists in the U.S. government." For anyone who lived during the 1950s or has studied history, you know this is not what happened with McCarthyism. In reality, McCarthy and HUAC maybe found 15/20 real Communists in the government (if you know the actual number, please feel free to let me know what that is). Now, I'm hoping and praying something else will come up that will make the SBOE review the standards with actual teachers and historians.

That and work is pretty much what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks. I am going to try to do a better job of writing at least once a week, maybe more.

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