Crappy places to live (and send your kids to school)

People talk about the widening of the so-called "achievement gap" in the academic performance of city kids vs. suburban kids, which, unfortunately, boils down to, in large measure, minority kids vs. white kids.

This is a problem, but consider this. The top 2 news stories in yesterday evening's local news were:

1. A boy who was arrested for bringing a loaded gun to Weaver High School in Hartford

2. A man who flashed an elementary school classroom in New Britain


Now, these two stories are taken from one day's news, and I am making somewhat of a generalization. However, how is the achievement gap ever going to close when you have incidents like this happening in city schools? I know I couldn't focus on learning if a classmate had a gun, or some dude opened up his trenchcoat my classroom.

The thing is, if you compare graduation rates, test scores, grade point averages, crime, DCF referrals and a whole bunch of other criteria, it is sad to say, but you'd be a fool to send your kids to these low-performing, crime-ridden communities. The problem is, people can't afford to move anywhere else. What can they do, other than hope for a magnet school slot in a better town? What can they do, other than be good parents, and instill in them good values? I guess you cross your fingers and do a lot of hoping.

Losing things

Things we've lost (that I can remember) since having kids:
(I'm not necessarily blaming them, it's just that our brains can only tend to higher priority matters, like if our son has a knife or our daughter is about to lick an ant trap...)

1. Two cellphones

2. Three cordless phones (somewhere there is a giant stash of telecommunications equipment...)

3. My watch

4. Various books (including a specific one about lighthouses)

5. A set of car keys

6. Many, many pens (both kids like using them)

7. Hair (in my case)

8. Sleep (mostly in my wife's case)

9. The ability to stay up past 10 p.m.

10. The ability to sleep past 6 a.m.

Gun Control

I'm wondering about something: The second amendment guarantees us the right to keep and bear arms, including semiautomatic weapons, a vast majority of which end up in the hands of those who shouldn't have them, but marijuana is illegal?

The reason I bring this up is because yesterday an 8-year-old from Connecticut accidentally shot himself, with his father standing right beside him at a gun fair in Massachusetts.
(See story: http://www.courant.com/community/news/ec/hc-ap-gunaccident-1027,0,7933566.story)

I fail to understand how "productive" ways of guns ownership (hunting, self defense?) can outweigh the problems associated with guns.

Just tonight on NBC Nightly News, it was reported that, in this horrible economy, gun sales were up 10 percent in the last few months. Brian Williams didn't have a very good explanation for why this is true during the broadcast, saying that perhaps people are taking money out of their banks and keeping it at home, so they need a gun to protect them. Is a knife or baseball bat not good enough? Are people that paranoid about getting robbed?

And then we have video of Sarah Palin taking target practice, showing off her ability to shoot a handgun and people are getting excited about this?

If it were up to me, police, armored truck drivers and DEP employees would carry guns. I just don't see why common people need them, or should have them.

John McCain and Mr. Roper

As we watch CNN's weekend political coverage, it just occurred to my wife and me that the weird smile that McCain makes after telling a joke is just like Mr. Roper, of Three's Company (see Best Sitcoms post), looking into the camera with his sinister smile after busting on his wife's mother, or poking fun of Mrs. Roper.

I hope the photos convey this effectively.

Dark chocolate

When the media reports that something is good for you that was previously thought not to be good for you, like alcohol, people who use, or abuse, that substance tend to get a little excited. Much has been written about the antioxidant power of red wine, for instance. But the amount of flavenol or reservatrol, or whatever the substance in the skin of a grape is called that would deliver the high dose of antioxidants needed to boost peoples' health is equivalent, I heard, to 90 bottles of wine. A day.

There are, of course, other sources of antioxidant riches. Broccoli apparently has some. But broccoli is not that exciting to eat. Yogurt even has some stomach-balancing property in it. But yogurt, too, is nothing special.

Chocolate, now, has some potential. "Dark" chocolate, as opposed to milk chocolate, also been shown to have some antioxidant properties. When I heard this a year or two ago, I bought some dark chocolate M and Ms. And ate the whole bag - in, I think, two nights.

Over the last three weeks or so, we've (I've) bought some dark chocolate candy bars. Far and away, Whole Foods swiss dark chocolate is the best. Newman's, not so good. Hershey's dark chocolate, decent. Whole Foods, at $1.99 a pop, is outstanding.

The trick is to make it last more than one night.

Powell for President

Colin Powell, the decorated war hero and former secretary of state, told Tom Brokaw yesterday on "Meet the Press" that he is supporting Barack Obama for president, which is better, in my opinion, than supporting John McCain. Obama, despite his relative inexperience, understands that the country must look forward, and as cliche-ridden as it sounds, change. McCain, I'm sorry, just isn't convincing about leading us out of the recession, war, health care crisis, environmental and climate woes, etc. And Obama has a better plan for the middle class, which is helpful to me.

But what sort of troubled me about the announcement was the idea that Powell, who has essentially sworn off public service, or people like him, isn't running for the nation's highest office himself. While Obama is articulate and visionary, Powell is that and so much more. He's seasoned, he's tested, he's accomplished. Obama's intelligent, but Powell is a classic novel to Obama's short story. (McCain would be a letter to the editor...)

It's understandable that Colin Powell does not want to serve his country as president - he's already done so much. But it's depressing that the presidential race never truly garners the best possible candidates - only the candidates who are willing to run, can get their party's backing, raise millions, and are generally popular.

The Leader of the Free World is an awfully powerful title, but a salary of $400,000 a year (which is what a U.S. president makes) seems a touch low, and the toll, physically, emotionally, on the president and his family, isn't always good.

Still, it'd be nice to see a truly intelligent, talented, creative, innovative, tough, and sensible leader - a modern day Rennaissance Man (or woman) - in the White House. For now, I guess, Obama is the best we have.

When you look at who's there now, it's clear to see that it could be worse.

58 degrees just isn't right

My quest to not have to turn on the heat until November came to a reluctant end tonight when I set the upstairs thermostat to 63 degrees, clicking on the oil burner, which you can now hear shuddering in the basement.

The daytime temperature upstairs today dipped to 58 degrees, which may be the reason why noses are running for everyone in my family. It was an act of mercy -- I felt a little guilty when the kids' cheeks were cold in the morning -- and to avoid co-pays at the pediatrician.

But, mostly, I felt a little stubborn.

Let's see how long 3/4 a tank of oil lasts us.

Note: Tomorrow morning, once everyone's up, the heat goes off.

Breaking News!

Well, it's not really breaking, but Education Week, the fine weekly (not daily) paper of the education industry, published my new essay/commentary, titled, "How My Three-Year-Old Taught Me About Education."

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/10/08/07polochanin.h28.html