Musings and Mirth

About Me

I spend way too much thinking about me. This is the blank space where that paragraph should be.

Guaranteed Mood Lifter

If you’re feeling sad and lonely, there’s a service I can render:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b99vu9bH2Zc[/youtube]

But if you want to swoon:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0h7fnIwK4o[/youtube]

Beach Camping is Impossible in California

Unless you’re one of those people who makes reservations one year in advance. I am so not one of those people. There is camping up and down the coast, all booked solid. Since my daughter and I can’t afford to go to Italy this year (barring some monetary miracle, it doesn’t look good) and with the dollar so weak and the economy so sucky why go anywhere or do anything? Vegas is a possibility, cheap and easy just the way we like it. I need a money making scheme that works and fast.

Only in L.A.

After driving through this hot and crowded city in pursuit of an elusive paycheck, I drove down Hollywood Blvd. for the first time in a while and what did I see but two reality shows being filmed, a lot more fans crowding in front of the Mann’s Chinese than ever before, including spillage over to the Kodak Building, which used to see no action, and a vibrant tourist season in full swing. Driving over Laurel Canyon Blvd. and into Studio City what should I pass but three bikini clad girls being photographed in the middle of Ventura Blvd. It’s funny and surreal all at once. Rush hour? Three half-dressed girls bending over? Emma, who was with me, kept saying “OH MY GOD!” And it was worthy of that.

Unfortunately, I had no camera with me to record this tawdry event. I hope someone somewhere did.

One School Indivisible

I had to laugh yesterday when we delivered our hard-won newspaper to our fourth grade class and other administrators around the school and a new parent approached. Her daughter was being brought into the fifth grade magnet. Supposedly, according to the admins, there would be no slots for fifth graders and if there would be slots they would go to minorities, like African American or Korean – but no, this kid was lily white, internet friends. So she wanted a copy of the newspaper and just to be a bitch, as I am now comfortable being (“Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hold onto) I said, “oh, well this is from the HOME SCHOOL, not the magnet.”

I know I sound bitter. I guess I am bitter – not because I think my daughter did not get a good education but because I willingly put her in a position of being crowded into a school of people who think their kids are “better thans.” And I’m not talking about the inner city, low income smart kids who get bussed in, I’m talking about the Hollywood Hills parents who are supposed to be in the home school but crowd their own kids into the magnet, thus depriving a low income kid of a slot. Sound fucked up? Well these parents figure, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. So they get the 12 extra magnet points upon graduation and they play the game because it’s prestigious to have their kids in the program and it’s a better program maybe? I don’t even know at this point, all I know is that it is wholly wrong on many levels

What Does “Gifted and Talented” Mean Anyway?

There is an odd sort of disconnect in the Los Angeles educational industry, I should call it, where there are programs that are springing up everywhere that parents can fork out vast amounts of dough to send their kids. They aren’t cushy summer camps where the idea is to swim with dolphins or become a cheerleader for a week, or better yet, ride horses on a ranch somewhere, something my own daughter would love to do but for the cost. Now, there are all of these grand opportunities for “gifted” kids cropping up in Los Angeles that are simply too costly for most people to afford. Then again, are they? Perhaps they are only designed to educate the class of people who already have good education at their fingertips. There is, for instance, a young writers program offered out of UCLA and for a week or so it cost close to $500. Horse camp, Emma’s favorite thing ever, is $400 per week. The Sally Ride Science camp held out of Cal Tech is around $700 for one week, give or take. You can apply for financial aid but best case scenario you are going to get it for half off.

Why are there not these types of camps available for low income or struggling kids? Something has gone terribly, woefully wrong. I think, if I ever actually do become a teacher, I will make it my personal mission to help build enriching summer camps, not the YMCA type but really productive camps that look good on a child’s record, for all.

Sorry, that’s just my rant for the moment. More to come.