Twilight — Okay, I’ll Bite

I read the first 15 pages and put it down — just too much self–pity. The character was so morose she needed therapy, not a change of scenery. Wasn't in the mood for the drama, and couldn't believe they made four books featuring this sadsack.

The daughter won’t read it; the son tried but hated it. We bought it; it’s sitting here on the shelf, so it’s only logical that I get our money’s worth and read the darn thing.

Curious about the hoopla anyway; that means it must get better.

I'm picking it up again. It may take a while, since moms are the busiest people in the world (after certain world leaders, of course).

Okay, four years too late, but I’ll “bite” [sigh].   Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1), here I come.

Myrtle Avenue Elevated Train Exhibit at Transit Museum

I remember the “El” — when Myrtle Avenue was covered by an elevated train from downtown all the way to Williamsburg. I loved being allowed to stand at the front window of the first car, watching the tracks curve along. But I’m certain the darkened streets underneath helped to fuel the looting during the first City blackout in 1965. It’s taken 30 years, but it’s a much brighter, sunnier walk down Myrtle nowadays.

The new photo exhibit at the New York Transit Museum should be really interesting.

It’s great to have any opportunity to look at before-and-after pictures of our neighborhoods, and humbling to know this beautiful borough didn’t start with the birth of us.

From the Transit Museum’s website:

“At midnight on October 3, 1969 the last train on the Myrtle Avenue El departed Borough Hall. After 80 years of service the line would be demolished. Photographer Theresa King, who rode the train daily in her childhood, spent the day documenting the trains, stations, passengers, and views from the elevated platform. Forty years later this photo essay, shot in a single day, provides a glimpse into the past and preserves a memory of growing up in Brooklyn.”

If you’ve never been to the Transit Museum on a school trip, every New Yorker must go. While it’s best to be escorted by a tour guide, just reading–up ahead of time and then sitting down (delicately) and rubbing your hands over those woven seats will bring back sense memories for native NY parents. Your kids may be embarrassed when you refuse to stand back up!

New York Transit Museum

Last Day of the Myrtle Avenue El: Photographs by Theresa King

September 29, 2009 – February 28, 2010

Tuesday – Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday Noon to 5 p.m.

Closed Mondays and major holidays

Admission

Adults $5

Children 3 – 17 years of age $3

Senior Citizens (62+) $3

Seniors Free Wednesdays

A bargain! A Great Idea!

High School Admissions Perils Part I

It's that time of year again in our beloved City.

High School Admissions Time!

This is the first entry in the public school admissions series. Middle School Madness begins at the end of the year.

Just learned that my treasured resource, insideschools.org, will not have enough funding to be able to produce an Open House/Tours web page this year!

No offense to one of my favorite websites, but that was one of the two most important pages on their site (the individual school reviews is the other). It has been very helpful over the years to be able to refer to one source and get an accurate overview of when all the events were happening.

Don't even bother looking at the Department of Education's website; there you'll only get the most general, superficial information. You're going to have do more work yourself: calling every school for Open House dates. You will have to call more than once, for not every school has confirmed dates yet. The staff at the popular schools will really enjoy fielding the extra phone calls. Insideschools' Open House page was a great timesaver on all sides.

Ask Judy of insideschools says that their calendar will have to suffice. By this time in previous years, open house dates from all over the City would be posted on the now-inactive page; as of this writing, insideschool's calendar is pitiful.

Now we have to depend on the parent coordinators, guidance counselors and other staff to submit events to insideschool's calendar themselves! These people are too busy!

Another advantage to the Open House page: you could see listings for other schools that would have never crossed your mind to investigate before. There are the same five knee-jerk Manhattan and Brooklyn choices that go on every decent student's application. But how do you learn of the existence of the NYC iSchool, Brooklyn Latin or Bedford Academy? Some guidance counselors are better/more accessible than others, so how do you come across these lesser-knowns on your own: word-of-mouth or seeing it on the defunct insideschools' tours list.

I fear that insideschools will become less important. Their valuable school reviews will become obsolete without updates and we won't need to refer to the site at all after that. I hope that never happens.

Even when I wasn't going through an admissions process, I'd read through their school reviews just out of curiosity.

The solutions to keep insideschools current and informative?

1. Submit comments about your school to the summary/reviews page.
2. Insideschools is a non-profit. Donate $25 + and receive a subscription to Time Out Kids magazine. That's a great deal in itself.

I've already given.

So as we go into this harrowing time of year: tours, tests, applications, new school year and all the holidays interspersed, we will be writing about the Perils of High School Admission.

Obama Speech — Controversy Abounds

I’ve waited a week to see how bad the fallout would be from President Obama’s back–to–school speech. As we all know from the news stories, the repercussions were devastating to our youth and may have damaged our country forever!

It's an OUTRAGE!

Since President Obama spoke those unwisely–chosen words, our poor American children have:

• Google–searched how to become a Communist on the internet
  
• Joined the listserv mailing list of the Socialist Party website
  
• Made images of the President as wallpaper for their home and school computers
  
• Asked their parents for cosmetic surgery to enlarge their ears
  
• Insisted they go to summer camp in Jakarta
  
• Sent Build–a–Bear gift certificates to Sasha and Malia
  
• Sought out and made friends with bi–racial people
  
• Memorized every word of Dreams from My Father and are reading The Audacity of Hope to toddlers on the playgrounds
  
• Ruined their pillow cases by sleeping with inkjet printouts of the President’s picture underneath
  
• Downloaded Reverend Wright speeches on their iPods.
  
• Shouted “Fired Up/Ready to Go!” in the school halls instead of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
  

I told you this would happen! President Obama is a danger! The children will believe every word he says! His smile will make the kids like him!

And the worst part: children of people who oppose the President will realize their parents could be wrong!

Here’s an excerpt from this speech of indoctrination, full text on whitehouse.gov:

“When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday — at 4:30 in the morning.

“Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, ‘this is no picnic for me either, buster.’”

Wait, there’s more:

“Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.”

Can you believe he said the below quote out–loud?

“I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work — that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things. But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

“That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures.”

And look at this bold–faced lie:

“And no matter what you want to do with your life — I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.”

So, now that he had the students’ undivided attention — did you see the swooning, the enraptured faces — he moved in for the kill:

“The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best… So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?”

Now, wipe the shocked looks off your faces.

CALM DOWN.

The world is still spinning on its axis.

Pigs did not sprout wings and go airborne, and hell is still sizzling below.

None of the above repercussions occurred. The US government still runs under the Constitution.

And the best part: children of people who oppose the President may realize their parents possibly could be wrong!

But that is not the end of the world. It should be okay to disagree; love of a child should not depend on whether they agree with their parents on politics.

Photo: Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press

How insecure can people be?

How secure can an opinion be if one is afraid of even hearing an opposing view?

Actually it’s a GOOD THING to learn about the opposing view. That will result in the formation of a better argument on your side!

It was a great speech. Those who saw it in person will take those inspiring words to heart and never forget it.

Those children who saw it on television monitors were mightily moved by it… at least until the lunch bell rang.

Become a Critic Reviewing the Arts!

Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors are invited to apply to High 5's arts criticism program. Those in this FREE program will be able to see dance, music performances, theater and studio art in the City and learn how to be a reviewer!

The Open House is September 30 at 4:30; applications are due October 2. Check out The High5 Teen Reviewer and Critics Program. A Great Idea!

See previous entry on High 5's discount ticket program.

Nyah Nyah — School is Coming! Part 3

School is here!

Put a smile on your face, whether you want to go back or not; here is the best back–to–school commercial ever.

Totally Wicked.

Nyah Nyah — School is Coming! Part 2

This video is for all the parents who have run out of ideas to keep their children occupied over the summer break.

(Although, I can't imagine in New York, that one couldn't find something to do every day, and that doesn't just go for those with ever–full wallets.)

It's just around the corner now!

September Also Means…

“Declaration of Independence” • John Trumbull • Oil on canvas • 1817 • See it in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building!

September not only means back-to-school; it means back-to-Congress, too.

Finally, Facebook members are passing around a message that is more substantive than where they rank on some strange "What kind of Teletubbie are you?"-type quiz:

“No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. (And no one should have to jump through hoops to get a referral, or to get their claims processed expediently). If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.”

Children should be made aware of the everyday goings-on in the country; it should not occur only every 4 years with a bet on who-lost/who-won. The only way to ensure our children will be able to grow up to be independent, logically-thinking adults, is to expose them to the government and world issues, and discuss all the sides objectively, without name-calling. If they come to a surprising conclusion, do not punish them; then is the time to tell your side. Tell them how and why you feel a certain way. If they still disagree with you, simply say, “In this country, you have a right to your opinion. Perhaps with more life experience, you will change your mind. DO KNOW THAT I STILL LOVE YOU, EVEN WHEN WE DISAGREE.”

And then, really mean what you say.

Nyah Nyah — School is Coming! Part 1

What’s your reaction to the fast–approaching new school year?

Yippee!

Aw, man!

Yikes!

Already?

Why can't there be 2 months of school and 10 vacation!

Well, for many parents, it’s “Nyah, nyah” (complete with thumbs in ears and tongue out).

Actually, I was one of those nerdy kids that liked school, but even I felt apprehension: who would be in my class, what would the teachers’ personalities be, etc.

To share the anxiety and bridge the “generation gap”, I’ve found an old commercial that used to broadcast* in August, one that still causes impending doom:

And no, kids, the stop–action was stylistically stuttered; animation techniques were more advanced than that in 1972.

* broadcast [brôd'kast] (verb) definition: to transmit a tv or radio program via air waves.

Next week we’ll define the term “LP”.  Ha-ha.

“Death of Why” written by a Brooklynite

Brooklyn–born Andrea Batista Schlesinger gave a compelling lecture that can be seen on C-Span’s website about her new book, The Death of Why?. I haven’t read it yet, but the book raises the issue that people no longer ask questions — questions that upon finding out the answers, the world changes for the better.

The books’ subtitle is: “The Decline of Questioning and the Future of Democracy”. Hmm, does complacency of the people lead to the decline of a country?

Well, as inopportune a child's question can be at times, I've made a point of encouraging them to ask questions and always answering when my kids have asked "why?"… unless they're asking for the umpteenth time why they have to wash dishes. (Guess I have no patience for laziness veiled as a repeated question already answered.)

On leave from the Drum Major Institute (a think tank established in 1961 by Harry Wachtel, an adviser to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), Schlesinger is presently a policy adviser to Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign. Whether you approve of the campaign or not, The Death of Why? really sounds great and… well… raises questions!