Newsvine Survivor June 7, 2007

I am participating in Newsvine’s very own Survivor series. Which is slightly frightening, because I’m up against some really amazing people.

If you’d like to follow it, insert the following url into your feed reader:

http://survivor.newsvine.com/_feeds/rss2/master?articles&seeds

Or, just join Newsvine! That’d be even better, now wouldn’t it?

Of course, I’ll be cross posting all of my articles here on VikiBabbles, but you’ll want to read the work of all the others, just so you can see how much better I am. Plus, you should vote for me, because that’s how I’ll win. And I know you want me to win.

Actually, wait to join Newsvine until I invite you. That’s one of the challenges–to get the most people to join Newsvine and get them to write a post saying I got you to join. I expect your cooperation.

Coming later: the continuation of Letters from the Past.

Lollapalooza 2007–Press Pass, Baby June 6, 2007

The following was posted to Newsvine. I’ve cross-posted it here, because I will be cross-posting all of the articles/interviews I write as a result of this FUCKING AMAZING turn of events.

Holy hell, my friends.

Remember when Forest Browne challenged us all to go ahead and ask for press passes to events because he did for the America’s Cup, and got it?

Remember when Brian Ford talked about it in his article Information Regarding Press Passes ?

From the email I received today in response to my request for a press pass to cover Lollapalooza for Newsvine:

I am confirming 1 media pass to cover Lollapalooza for Newsvine.com
I will be in touch as the date gets closer! Let me know if you need anything else…

From the Lollapalooza site, in the Press section, where you apply for a press pass:

WEB ZINES AND BLOGGERS:
Web zine writers and bloggers MUST provide specific information about your site in the description section of the application. Please include accurate web traffic numbers. Let us know the audience your site reaches as well as what type of coverage you plan for Lollapalooza. Credentials for web zines and blogs are extremely limited and will be evaluated closely.

You know what that means? It means that this is important. It means that an extremely large event, covered world-wide, has approved Newsvine as a valid source of news.

Of course, I am freakin’ giddy beyond words to have received a free pass to Lollapalooza, which I have attended for the last two years. Of course, I’m having to explain to my kids that they can’t come because Mommy will be working (hee hee!)

But most importantly, I’m giddy because I do feel that this gives not only me some (badly needed) credibility, but Newsvine as a whole.

Yes, we have our Useless Articles. But we also have Celestina being interviewed on the radio and discussing Newsvine. We have Killfile providing us updates on the Virginia Tech shooting faster than the AP could do it (and please see killfile’s column for subsequent articles and discussions). We have Sandy Frost, the latest recipient of the Random Act of Vineness (see also), reporting about the Shriners.

So what does that all mean?

It means Newsvine is going to hit the big time. That’s what it means.

It also means I need your input.

What do you want to hear about? Who do you want to hear from? I am waiting for information about interviewing particular artists, and when/how that will happen. But…

Myk? I assume you’d like me to talk to Regina Spektor? I know I want to.

Eric? I know you’ll have a list. And I want it.

What about the rest of you?

Here’s the link to the Lollapalooza website. You can find the lineup there.

As I’m typing this article, I’ve received an email that I need to coordinate interviews ahead of time.

So, it’s up to you, folks. Who do you want to hear from?

More letters from the past… May 27, 2007

Here’s the continuation of the very long note I wrote my best friend when I was a sophomore in high school. The first part can be found below.

High Susan you are such a loser to come to school for a half a day of school even if you’re only here for one period because you have 7th free. I have no idea of what I am talking about. Do you? My hair looks like shit. So Susie what do I do? I am extremely tired and I have been having a nic fit for the past day. I gave Dawn a dollar yesterday and she hasn’t given me a pack yet [Cigarettes cost $.85/pack when I first started smoking, and we usually relied on Dawn to buy our cigarettes, though I don't recall why]. I’m gonna kill her because I have been needing a feeg [this was our word for cigarette, one of them anyway] for so long. Mr. Brandon is talking about the huge test we are going to take tomorrow. i am going to fail it and I am upset. I am such a loser right now. Everyone is a loser because I said so I am in a very shitty room mood. I can’t even write the right words down I dislike this pen. The ink doesn’t follow flow correctly. I haven’t done the reading so the test is gonna be very difficult. I’m gonna pitch this pen into my purse and withdraw another one. So I did. Aren’t you happy? My whole body aches from hunger and tiredness. I am going to make potatoes first thing when we get to your house, okay? My hair looks terrible. Last night I got so bored that I wrote a story but I didn’t finish it. I like it, and I’m gonna write it really good and next time we have to write a fiction paper, I’ll hand that in and get an A. I am such a loser. Mr. Brandon is telling us that we can’t just walk into a friend’s kitchen, open up the fridge and eat without getting punishments. I always do that at your house and I’ve never been punished. How gay I hate English teachers they are so queer.

34 more minutes of english. It is so damn boring. I will be very glad to get rid of it [little did I know that by senior year, I would have taken all my required classes but didn't want to graduate early, so I took two semesters full of English classes and gym]. I don’t know what I’m talking about. Mr. Brandon is saying things and I thinks he’s full of shit. My brain aches do you like this note? Are you enjoying it? Do you like how my handwriting changes every few sentences? I don’t know why this is happening. He keeps making parallels with the Bible. 8 pages of this note is pretty long. I wonder how much I can write in exactly thirty more minutes left. Guess what? I am going to take over your job of writing what happened to Herman:

Herman, who was in the delivery room, gazed in horror as the black baby’s head popped out of Elvira’s body. He thought to himself, “There must be some black genes back somewhere aways in mine and Elvira’s ancestors somewhere,” but he knew it wasn’t true. He knew Elvira had cheated on him, even with their child inside her. He felt terrible and betrayed, and he ran out of the room. Elvira’s love for him gave her the strength to get up and run after him, with the black baby’s head hanging out of her body. The doctors yelled after her but she pulled a gun out of her bra and said, “Get back, you ugly shitheads! Don’t touch me! I’ll shoot ya!” and she ran after Herman, although it was quite difficult to do so because of the baby hanging out. She grabs Herman and yells at him, saying “I know what you’re thinking but it’s not true. I was raped, RAPED by Mona’s quote unquote loyal slave! Raped Herman, raped. I didn’t say anything because he threatened to kill me if I did! Now do you understand?”

Herman said yes , and they kissed passionately when suddenly Elvira screamed and the baby popped out but ohmigod! The baby was black and white striped! Genetic discoveries! Elvira had made history again! 15 more minutes of this class! You must figure out the reaction of Herman and Elvira–what do they do with their piece of shit baby and their zebra baby? Discuss and return to me by tomorrow.

OH MY GOD

I am so queer! Nice story but I like it, don’t you? We really have to get together some kind of time line for the adventures of Herman and Wyatt Earp, okay?

13 MORE MINUTES OF THIS CLASS

then I get to have a nice relaxing cigarette. I can’t wait. Odysseus is a real show off. he is gay. This whole book just makes me so sick. It’s all about how great Odysseus is because he can get through all these ordeals. Mr. B assumes we have read the book but we haven’t so he’s having problems. My nose itches and I have to pick it very badly just kidding dearie! I hate all the people in this class who know things. Well dear, I think I must go now. I’ll give you this and you must write me back in it, okay?

Love,

Drug [was this my nickname? seriously? I don't remember that.]

PS–twelve long pages

———————————————————————–

Oh, for the love of Pete! Was I really this person once? I suppose I was. There’s written evidence of it. I vividly remember Mr. B. His lower lip would collect a ball of spit, and we’d make bets on who it would hit when it finally launched. His voice droned.

Just for fun May 26, 2007

Just for fun, I changed the theme. I’ll go back to the other one shortly. I just thought this one was pretty.

UPDATE: I changed it back already. I like this one.

Wow! Look! A post! May 23, 2007

So, I got inspired by this news article to dig out an envelope I have filled with letters that are twenty years old or more. I thought I’d share some of it with you all.

A little trip down memory lane…

The first little thing to fall in my lap when I pulled everything out was a bunch of chinese fortune cookie fortunes and a Bazooka Joe comic, paper-clipped together. I STILL refer to these things because I believe I was blessed by them.

Bazooka Joe foretold: You will never run out of money.

Fortune cookies:

You will inherit some money or a small piece of land.
Look! Good fortune is around you.
You will be showered with good luck.
You will inherit money and jewelry (I did, about three weeks after I got this fortune).
In God we trust; all others must pay cash (what the hell kind of fortune is that? I think I only kept it because it referred to money).

I’m glad I had faith in all those weird things, because I have NEVER run out of money. I’ve been close, but I’ve always managed to find some when it’s needed.

Another fun thing in the envelope was a spiral notebook–some crappy free thing given out at the beginning of the school year. In it is a note I wrote to my friend Susan:

Susie–where are you? You haven’t been in school for 2 days! We got this gay notebook in homeroom today. Guess who was in here (in my homeroom) helping the teacher? Ms. Markun. She left a while ago but now she’s back! She’s wearing this velour green dress with little elastic decoration on the sleeves (which are short) and the neck. Her bra is working a little better today but not good enough! I have a scummy homeroom, except for [name redacted, haven't seen this girl in 20 years, don't want to see her again via her attorney]. Melina has the best one. Carol, Steve, Matt, and lots of others are in it. Marie [don't even remember ever knowing a Marie, but it may have been Melina's sister] has a suspension tomorrow for ditching isn’t that funny. Dawn, Christy, and Joyce got drunk before school today in a little field by El Marquis. There is five more long minutes left of this boring homeroom. How do you like this note. We are all going to your house after school today whether you like it or not. My parents are being gay about my grades now (esp. my dad, of course). He wants to take me and my mom out to lunch next week to discuss my grades. My dad is such a damn homosexual [I'm guessing we thought of that as an insult, but of course, I no longer do, now that I know a lot of really awesome homosexuals]. I can’t stand him at all. Must go for now.

High! I’m back and I’m in etymology, which is extremely boring because we are supposed to be studying for tomorrow’s test but I’m not. Too bad, eh? Can you babysit at my house tonight for a couple hours? I certainly hope so! I have to babysit at 6, and my mom is leaving at 5:30 and Dad and John won’t be home until about 7:00 so can you please? Mamajul lulee [this is one of the pet names we had for my mother. I have no idea what the fuck it means] would really appreciate it. I have to babysit at Bell’s tonight please spare me. The woman makes me want to throw up if you know what I mean. She’s so damn annoying. Jane won’t stop bugging me about Steve [Jane, I remember, but Steve? No idea]. I wish they would both go crawl in a hole and leave me alone. I feel like a fool writing in this gay little notebook. Take a look at the front cover. Ain’t it nice? 19 more long boring minutes left what do I have to say nothing but oh my god!

NEWS BULLETIN

ON HERMAN & WYATT [don't ask]

Herman is living in sin with his sister Elvira, who just had their son Edgar. Now Edgar is a mighty disgusting looking little fellow. he is very short, about 5 inches long from head to toe and his skin is dark and lumpy, but not black. All his body parts are fat and lumpy, strangely resembling large pieces of shit! He is disgusting! His face is a large round lump of shit and he is completely bald. What an ugly deformity. The doctor informed Herman and Elvira that he discovered a terrible thing during an examination of the baby’s body. His brain was a large turd. The baby would probably not live for more than a few months. If he did, then he’d live for a long time. One very bad thing about him was that he always smelled like dogshit. GROSS! So Herman and Elvira accepted this disgusting baby, and started to live a life of happiness. Elvira’s stomach had swelled again, however, and upon examination it was found she was pregnant again, but it was due in a few weeks! She had fucked around a few weeks after having become pg with Edgar, and now she was the highlight of the science world, first having a piece of shit for a baby, and then having another baby 3 weeks after the first one! Strange! She soon had the baby, and it was BLACK! Tell what Herman’s reactions were…

That’s your job. I’m sick of writing but I have nothing else to do so I will! How are we all gonna get to your house, I wonder? Take the bus, would be logical. How are we gonna organize this I am so confused! Jeeze louise I have to find everybody and figure it out! Why didn’t you come to school today? You are such an ugly wimp. I dislike your babiness. How gay, not coming to school. Guess what I wore today. A skirt. Yes, I AM a dumbshit. I wore a skirt on a half day! Exactly five more minutes of this gay class! Bogus boringness! Poopak [that's really someone's name, but I have to use it because it was really her name and I can't believe I knew someone who's name was Poopak. Come to think of it, that bitch stabbed me in the back the year after this note was written] would’ve given me a ride to school, but I forgot to call her and ask her I am so silly. Maybe she’ll give me a ride home but she has 7th free so maybe she went home. Do you like this note? This note is about 6 pages long maybe 5 but I have problems. Yesterday my dad said I could learn how to drive the Triumph [a TR6, I forget the year] but you have to know how to count to drive a stick. Must go now.

Love,
Viki

Okay, so I continued this note for another 6 pages or so, but this post is already ridiculous, so I’ll continue it tomorrow.

First off, I love that last line, don’t you? I cannot WAIT to remind my father that he once said something like that to me. Although, I think I was failing Geometry at the time, so I probably deserved it.

Secondly, this note isn’t really all that amusing, but it’s a funny little peek inside the brain of a 15 year old girl in 1984-85.

Thirdly, I have a weird vague memory of this Ms. Markun person. She was some kind of roving helper lady, occasional substitute, and Susan and I hated her with some serious venom.

Okay, I posted. Happy now?

Tomorrow, the continuation of the note.

Hi May 15, 2007

I miss my blog.

I just handed in the last of my work for this semester, supposedly my last semester of classes. Maybe that means I’ll start writing in my blog more? I hope so, because I miss it.

I miss all the people I got to know who came here to read what I wrote, regardless of how silly it might have been. I miss being able to say whatever the hell I wanted to say.

I am returning, my friends. I am. Slowly but surely, the Viki will Babble again.

Writing is Not a Crime April 29, 2007

The following was originally posted on Newsvine:

“The power of expression is greater than the power of fear.” -firsty

You know how it goes…inspiration hits and either you go with it or you don’t.

Since the tragedy at Virginia Tech, I’ve done a lot of thinking about the damage that will be done to freedom of expression. I wrote about it here, and seeded a couple of articles about a high school student who was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct because an essay he wrote as part of a free writing assignment disturbed his teacher. Those articles are here and here. Brian White seeded an article about this same student, Allen Lee, that includes the full text of the essay. You can find that here.

My friend Ira Brooker, co-founder and co-editor of No Touching Magazine, sent the following bit of beautiful and frightening satire out via email, and this is what really got me rolling on this whole concept to begin with:

I certainly love how much the media is playing up the Virginia Tech shooter’s status as a creative writer. His fictional stories of violence are being held up as evidence of his deranged state and possible warning signs that the school should have acted upon sooner. This evening I saw a psychologist point to one of the fellow’s fictional revenge stories and say, “Well, he was obviously molested by someone at some point.” Yes, obviously!

I don’t write much violence myself – just not my style – but over the last few years I’ve met a lot of writers who do. Gruesome, detailed stuff, too. I’m grateful to the media for clueing me in to these ticking time bombs. Little did I realize how many hours I was spending in close proximity to potential mass murderers.

It’s not like we haven’t seen this played out before. Years before William Faulkner’s convictions for incest and forcible castration of a relative, ‘The Sound and the Fury’ gave us a window to his thinly veiled perversions. John Irving somehow continues to walk among free men despite his veritable confession to vehicular manslaughter in ‘The World According to Garp.’ Heck, even the late, beloved Kurt Vonnegut regularly shrugged off the laws of time and space. “Unstuck in time,” my eye!

We all know that creative writers are a dangerous and unstable breed. Thankfully, we have this stubborn tendency to tip our hands by spelling out our impending misdeeds on the printed page. The real danger here is inaction. We owe it to ourselves and the public to immediately report writers trafficking in violent and/or unsettling ideas. Too often our tendency is to shake our heads and wonder where our classmates come up with this crazy stuff. Instead, we should strive to keep them from acting out this crazy stuff, as they almost certainly will. If only this young man’s fellow writers had taken that initiative, this might all have been averted.

Thank God the mainstream media was there to give us this stark reminder.

So, I’m doing all this thinking, discussing in the comment threads of the above linked articles and seeds, and firsty says two things that stopped me in my tracks.

1. Writing is Not a Crime
2. The power of expression is greater than the power of fear

What followed was a frenzy of activity the likes of which my brain has not engaged in for months. Within an hour, I had set up a new group here at Newsvine: The Group and had purchased a new domain: Writing Is Not A Crime.com.

So now what?

The Newsvine Group

I invite everyone to join the Newsvine group. You may post articles or seeds to the group that tell stories of writers being oppressed. Attempts to silence writers through fear, intimidation, prosecution, whatever. Any writer, any age. This is not the place, however, for fiction. I do see the irony of placing restrictions on what people can post to a group called Writing is Not a Crime, but I want the focus to stay uncluttered.

Also welcome are essays expressing your opinion of free speech, how it works and where it doesn’t. This is certainly not limited to the United States, either.

In the coming week, I will write up a more specific set of guidelines for the group, and I welcome any and all suggestions.

The Website

Damn, it’s easy to set up a website. A couple clicks, a credit card, and you’re good to go. Right?

Ah, no. My experience with a web presence so far has involved blogging. My skills go no further than minimal customization of somebody else’s template. What I have in mind for the site goes further than what a standard blog set-up can do. I’ve had a couple of suggestions (joomla being one of them) from fellow Viners on what to use, but I have only just begun trying to figure it out. I’d really appreciate your ideas and suggestions on how I can do what I want to do.

What the hell do you want to do, Viki?

I’d like to have separate sections of the site for the following:

1. Original fiction. The disturbing kind. (This does not mean I’ll publish everything. It still has to be good.)
2. Original essays, opinion pieces, memoir, etc. around the subject of free speech/freedom of expression or the lack therof.
3. Links to news stories about the suppression of free speech.
4. Possibly a forum area for discussion? Is this a pain in the ass? Too big a bite to try to chew this early?

I’d like some additional “pages”:

1. A contact page with submission information.
2. An “about” page featuring the mission statement of the site
3. A links page. Links will need to be organized into separate categories.

The front/main page will feature links to all the areas of the site, probably the UN declaration on free speech and the 1st amendment, maybe quotes from various and sundry writers that relate to free speech in some way.

There’s probably more I haven’t thought of yet.

Eventually, I’d like to publish a print version. In order to finance that, I’ll likely need to run ads on the site. Any suggestions on the subject of advertising would be helpful, also. AdSense? Any others?

I need a graphic. A logo. I know we’ve got a lot of artists around here. Any volunteers? I can’t offer to pay you, at least not yet, but full credit will be given to the logo’s designer all over the site, and also links to the artists website/newsvine column, whatever you’d like.

So, what do you think? Is this doable, or am I insane?

Say Goodbye to Freedom of Expression… April 29, 2007

I seeded a story this afternoon about a high school student who was “was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with the misdemeanor for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.”

Come again?

Disorderly conduct, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine, is often filed for such pranks as pulling a fire alarm or dialing 911 unnecessarily, he said. But it can also apply when someone’s writings disturb an individual, Delelio said.

“The teacher was alarmed and disturbed by the content,” he said.

So, is that the consequence of the Virginia Tech massacre? That anyone can be arrested because something they wrote was disturbing? The contents of the essay were not released, nor will they likely be released. It would be an assumption to say that it’s possible the teacher was alarmed based on the recent tragedy, but that’s where I’m laying my bets.

I am a writing teacher. I go out of my way to make sure my students, be they 3rd graders or college students, understand that they have the permission to express themselves and tell their stories, whatever those stories might be.

I’m at a loss here. Where is this leading? Will writers begin to be afraid to write what they want for fear of being reported to the authorities? Are we really going back in time? I’ve written stories of violence, stories of rape. Stories that made my classmates uncomfortable, surely. I’ve also sat in class and listened to the stories of my fellow students and I’ve been frightened, uncomfortable. But at the work, the scene, what is being shown to me. I’ve never been afraid of the student.

Well, that’s a lie.

I had a situation last semester with a student of mine who wasn’t violent, but clearly unbalanced. It wasn’t until a loud and public verbal altercation (security called, etc.) that I was able to convince my superiors that this student might need some help that I certainly couldn’t provide. But it was a combination of her bizarre behavior and the patterns in her writing that led me to my conclusions. Based on her writing alone, I just thought she wasn’t cut out to be a writer and should never have made it as far as she did in the program. But when she began to talk about visions of dead relatives doing physically impossible things, and then returning the following week claiming these things actually happened, then returning the following week claiming these things were a dream…well, that’s when I started to get nervous.

But that’s the point. It was the combination of the behavior plus the writing that got me thinking, just as it was a combination of behavior plus the writing that made Seung Hui Cho’s writing teachers and fellow students nervous.

Do I dare mention that the young man arrested for his essay was Chinese-American? Does that add just one more crazy twist onto this nightmare? Is it too much to believe that this teacher would see an asian writing violence, have the VT tragedy on her mind, and come to some unfair conclusions?

It’s all too much, isn’t it? It’s too much to think about, so I should just stop, and pretend none of this is really happening, or that it will all die down and go away. Nevermind that the President of the United States reacted to the tragedy by telling the country to be vigilant for odd behavior, and to report it. Nobody listens to him anyway, right? Right?

I had some high school students in a class last semester who had never before been given the permission to write about their experience. Never before been given the opportunity to write in their own language; to put down on the page the things they hear, the things they see. When they realized I wasn’t kidding, it was like opening a floodgate. Stories about having to sell drugs as a middle schooler, being involved in sexual relationships at 13, 14. Having someone in their lives whom they refer to as their “baby daddy,’ even though they’ve just entered high school. Writing about parents arguing about meeting the rent, paying the bills, buying food. Writing about stealing, guns, violence in their schools. How the gang members know they won’t be able to get the guns into school, so they have someone pull the fire alarm, so that their target has to come outside, and shooting them there, nevermind who else they hit in the process.

I refuse to turn around now and tell these young adults that they’d better not write about that stuff anymore because they might get in trouble. They might get reported to the authorities and arrested. They might get suspended from school or sent to jail because they “disturbed” someone. NEWSFLASH people!!! Life is disturbing! I’ll be damned if I’m going to teach the next generation to keep their mouths shut about what they see and feel and experience.

Originally posted on Newsvine

What’s New Pussycat? April 4, 2007

I’ll tell you what’s new. Fifth Graders are having sex. In school, while their classmates watch and a student stands as a lookout. Sixth Graders are doing it too, also in their classrooms. And if they’re doing it in their classrooms when the teacher leaves for a few minutes, you better believe they’re doing it elsewhere.

Why does this concern me so? Why do I get a little hard, hot pit in my gut when I read stories like this? Because I have a 4th grade son and a 6th grade daughter, that’s why.

I’m going to let my thoughts wander for a minute here…

My son watches The Golden Girls. That’s right. You heard me. The Golden Girls is my son’s favorite show. He makes sure to get up early so that he can watch the two back-to-back episodes on Lifetime every morning before he leaves for school. When the second episode ends, he knows it’s time to head for the bus stop. We recently got a DVR (yes, we’re behind the times, leave me alone), and of course he figured out how to program it before we did, and when we got home from our recent vacation, he had 198 episodes to watch.

When he first began watching it, I’d be in the kitchen, making breakfast or school lunches, and I’d hear a line, maybe Blanche asking something like “You know what’s the worst thing about leaving a party?” and Rose answering, “Looking for your underpants in the big pile?” and I’d go in the den and say, “Anthony, I don’t think this is really appropriate for you to watch,” and I’d make him change the channel. You know what he’d switch to? MTV. After a week of that, I gave up. If The Golden Girls is slightly inappropriate, then MTV is hard-core S&M porn. With animals.

Just this morning, I walked in to make sure he was ready for school, and he was, sitting there on the couch, shoes on and tied, backpack strapped on, raptly tuned in to Blanche having a conversation with her brother. About his homosexuality. And his new boyfriend. I don’t know when this episode originally aired, but a quick check of Wikipedia tells me that The Golden Girls aired from 1985-1992. And in this episode, Blanche realized that her homophobia was foolish, especially in light of the love she had for her brother, and they came to a peaceful and loving agreement. Her brother even asked her, “So, you okay with a new brother-in-law?” She hesitated at first, and then smiled and took them both in a big hug. This was what? Fifteen, twenty years ago? We were just starting to accept the fact that AIDS was not just a gay man’s disease. More than that, we were just finding that out. And a show about four old women living together in Miami is tackling not only homosexuality, but gay marriage?

After he left for school, I went to Wikipedia and looked up The Golden Girls, and was reminded that it was a show ahead of its time. They tackled issues like “menopause, gun control, impotence, safe sex, domestic violence, suicide, cross-dressing, lesbianism, euthanasia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, artificial insemination and senility. Perhaps the most controversial episode involved Rose getting tested for HIV years after receiving an untested blood transfusion and having to wait 72 hours for the results.” (Wikipedia). In the eighties and early nineties? Nobody was talking about that stuff. Now, those things are regular topics of discussion.

So, what am I saying here? Am I saying that I wish we were back in a time where these things weren’t discussed? No. Maybe what I’m wishing is that we were living in a time when children aren’t having sex before they get out of elementary school. Literally.

We can blame so many things for this: bad parenting, ignorant teachers or administrators, hormones in our food causing our children’s bodies to mature faster, too much sex on television, in video games, on the internet. We can blame all of it. But what the hell does the blame game solve?

Nothing. Because while we sit around and argue about why it is that children are engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior before they are emotionally and physically ready, they’re still doing it. And we’re not doing anything to stop it.

What should be done? I have no idea. I didn’t write this article to provide you with an answer, because I don’t have one. I didn’t write it because I think I have a right to tell anyone how to run their lives or raise their children, because I don’t. I wrote it because I’m scared. I’m scared for my children. I’m scared for all children. I’m scared for the children of the future. Because if when I was in 5th grade, the thought of kissing a boy made me want to puke, and now 5th graders are having public sex, what are things going to be like when my grandchildren are in 5th grade? How much worse can it get?

I originally wrote this for Newsvine, but I owe this blog some attention, so I’m cheating by posting it here, too.

Alright, alright, so it’s been awhile… March 21, 2007

So sue me. Seriously. Go ahead. Sue me. I’d be happy to win a judgement against you for a frivolous lawsuit and take your house.

Some random stuff:

1. I’ve lived in this house for nearly 12 years, and we never got water in the basement until we carpeted it. I am currently running the shop vac, trying to keep on top of the water soaking my carpeting, while my husband is out on innumerable calls. He works for a company that has a contract to maintain the pump houses on Chicago’s expressways. I called him to see when he’d be home (secretly hoping it’d be soon, so he could take care of the basement water situation), and he informed me that he would be out for a very long time, probably all night, and that he was just at a flooded viaduct where search and rescue had to be called, because there’s a car trapped, and they’re reasonably sure there’s somebody trapped. That makes my water-logged carpeting seem like a very minor problem.

2. I’m leaving for Florida on Friday morning. I wrote an essay about my favorite piece of Florida for a class last semester, and I just published it on Newsvine (you all should REALLY join Newsvine. I’ll send you invites. Just let me know). You can read it HERE. Please leave comments. And join Newsvine. I am the Newsvine Drinking Contest Queen, two times running. And while some of you might not think that’s something to toot my damn horn about, that’s your problem. I’m tooting. Toot! Toot!

3. Um… I don’t have a 3.

While I’m in Florida, I will do my best to “borrow” the wireless connection of the guy who lives above my parents condo. It involves me sitting on the floor of the hallway, but I’ll do it. Because I’m addicted to the internet, mostly. But I’ll do it for you. I’ll try to be good and post some pics of the vacation. My husband is actually willing to set aside his hatred for Florida and come with us this year, so we’ll have fun. He and I have a running gin rummy tournament going (I’m so beating him).

I wish I were being better about posting on my ole blog here. There’s something awfully annoying about the way life cuts in on my blogging time. And Newsvine. I’m addicted to Newsvine. And you should be, too.