Readers — This is an amazing article from The New Republic by Jenny Jarvie about a phenom called “trigger warnings” — warnings written on blog posts and, increasingly, everywhere else, that tell folks that the material they’re about to read may “trigger” awful thoughts: Initially, trigger warnings were used in self-help and feminist forums to help readers who might have post traumatic stress disorder to avoid graphic content that might cause painful memories, flashbacks, or panic attacks. But they kept spreading, and now: Last week, student leaders at the University of California, Santa Barbara, passed a resolution urging officials to…
Author: lskenazy
Let’s remember we can all BE LIKE THIS LADY! And like the school kids, too. Let’s replace suspicion and fear with WARMTH! God knows this is a winter we really need it! – L.
Readers — Unplug your gall-o-meters before you read this story or they might explode: When a fire alarm went off in a St. Paul Minnesota High School, everyone was evacuated, including a 14-year-old who’d been swimming and was not given time to grab her clothes. I can totally understand hustling her out of the building, given the fear of a real fire. What blows my mind is this: But due to school policy, she wasn’t allowed to sit in a faculty-member’s car. “We kind of huddled up and made a circle around me, and the other kids who were cold,”…
Readers — As the mom of two Scouts (of the boy variety), I am so sorry to see some troops turning into a morass of red tape, Worst-First thinking and CYA. Time to whittle down the fears! — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I thought I wouldn’t ever do this, but I think I’m going to have to. I am easing my daughter out of Girl Scouts.A friend of mine, a former GS leader, assures me that this is the local group being buffleheaded, not national rules. But practically speaking, it doesn’t matter. It’s the local group or…
Readers — This mom’s Facebook post about preparing her child for an unlikely but not unthinkable problem — being locked outside in the freezing cold — made sense to me: …Most of us are aware of the tragedy that occurred yesterday in Bemidji, MN where a 6 year old girl died from exposure to the extremes cold. This led my husband and I to wonder, what would our 6 year old little girl do if she, for any reason, ever found herself stuck outside. So we decided to ask, well, we were shocked at what we heard….she had answers, but…
UPDATE: The school that suspended 17-year-old Chaz Seale for accidentally packing a beer instead of a soda in his lunch has relented and is now allowing him BACK. Lucky him! Going back to where the folks in charge can’t tell the difference between a crime and a mistake! Anyway, his “minor in possession” charge will be dropped, too. I was happy to read that the superintendent admitted that the school officials botched this. Maybe they can be suspended for 60 days? — L. Readers — I don’t like to simply chronicle the stunningly asinine decisions made by school administrators…
Readers — This is just a rather perfect illustration of the way our society works now, when it comes to parents, schools, media, fear, mistakes and, heck, let’s throw in umbrage. A great-grandpa picked up the wrong kindergartener from school. The two boys had similar hats, and the one gramps took home had his hat pulled all the way over his head. Frankly, I can see how that could happen. Gramps got home, realized his mistake, alerted the school. The principal called the mom to say her son had been accidentally picked up by the wrong man — someone known…
Readers — I was looking up “rat experiments” (don’t ask!) and came upon this incredible comic by Stuart McMillen, tracing the lure of drugs on two sets of rats: One group held in isolated pens, the other in “Rat Park” — a fragrant, outdoorsy pen filled with things to explore and a bunch of fellow rats. If you read the comic, I think you’ll see the rat/kid analogy as plain as the whiskers on your face. Er…nose. While we can’t precisely extrapolate from rats to humans, it does seem significant that when the rats are cooped up, isolated (but safe…
Readers — Please first take a guess as to why the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled these shoes last week. Then, read the real rationale. (Boldface mine.) Recall Date: February 20, 2014 Eastman Footwear Recalls Coleman Runestone Children’s Shoes Due to Laceration Hazard WASHINGTON, D.C. – Consumers should stop using this product unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product. Hazard: The metal rivets surrounding the holes where the shoestring is secured on the shoes can have sharp edges, posing a laceration hazard. Units: About 12,200 Description: The Runestone children’s shoes…
Readers — Welcome to the wisdom of Philip Howard, the lawyer, intellectual, and founder of Common Good, whose book “Life Without Lawyers” opened my eyes to how we got so risk-averse. Here’s that whole book boiled down, more or less, in a recent blogpost by Howard. It explains how we got to the point where we feel free to sue everybody for everything, and the effect this fear of being sued has. The red ink is my effort to BOLD his great points: The Evil of Investing in Litigation, by Philip Howard …A side effect of the 1960s rights revolution…