This is an even better way to create fairness in schools. I disagree with the author, though, that this will lead to less dissent. I think our feelings on race make us less able to criticize race-based policies. Income based policies would face a lot more complaint. After all, think how acceptable it is to use the term “white trash” in our society. Here’s the article:

http://www.slate.com/id/2169443/fr/rss/

I do like the idea though.

So, Coker has got me thinking about societal pressure a lot lately. He’s been talking a lot about the difficulty of not judging other people. Which is nearly impossible, and we all know that. But it got me thinking about the question of why we judge. And I’ve been wondering if perhaps this is our pack behavior. This is our way of passing down important knowledge that is not easily ascertained by cause and effect. Like “have sex and you’ll get pregnant” is pretty simple to teach kids. It’s much harder to get them to understand how much their life might suck if they have a kid at 12. How they might not get to finish high school. How much fun they might miss out in college, etc. Thus we build in societal judging of young mothers. It’s worked decently well for millions of years. And it’s fascinating to me, because we’re obviously in a period where it’s less accepted to judge people. Or at least we think that’s true. In reality we’re just better at segmenting ourselves into populates that just judge fat people, or welfare moms, or soccer moms. Whatever, our little tribe is not. But we encounter so many other tribes in our day to day lives that we get to the point where we pretend we’re not judging anyone. Except in reality we are. Oh we are…

Obviously there are great reasons to buck the trends. The struggle for civil rights is a great reason to buck conventional wisdom. But at least with race now we live under the opposite polarity. We judge people who have the slightest tendencies to do or say things that are degrading to a particular race. So we haven’t gotten rid of that particular taboo. We’ve just moved the mass consensus to the other side. I’m not sure you can actually get rid of this tribal judging. I just think you can move it around on the value map.

It’s interesting to see how people fit into these trends. Some people seem to be the tastemakers in this respect. Setting the bar for those in their tribe. And sometimes various people in the tribe can be the tastemakers on different subjects. Perhaps someone who is a strong foodie in the tribe decides which wines and cheese are good. And the rest of the tribe follows. Because they don’t know as much about wine and cheese. And suddenly you have an entire tribe that judges people who drink St. Genevieve. But is that a bad thing? It’s more a fascinating thing. And when the St. Genevieve drinkers come up against this tribe, perhaps they have a reason that St. Genevieve is a good wine. Perhaps they are thrifty and feel that it’s a waste of money to spend that much money on wine. Their tribe judges people who spend excessively on food. Who’s right? Who cares? These are both valid points, and their judging helps to mold their tribes.

I think one of the unfortunate fallouts of this is that some people can’t take the criticism. This is a clash of cultures man! You can’t just say, I’m pissed off by this or that makes me angry. You’ve got to confront the idea. No one in life is going to have the same life experiences and there’s no way they’re going to understand how your experiences shape your opinion unless you tell them. And then confront your own. Which one is more valid for you? And are you perhaps angry because you see the validity of the other side, but it’s not what you want in your life? Might you need some personal growth and rejection of past dogmas? Unfortunately, with certain people and certain settings we don’t feel free to debate. Work is a great example of this for me. So there becomes less and less to talk about. Because if you can’t talk about your values, what are you really talking about? TV, I guess.

The downside to tribal life is that while we can get meaning and security from keeping a set of values, we also can stagnate and become “old fashioned”. Becoming “old fashioned” I don’t believe is a function of believing in certain things that are no longer hip. It is a function of settling in, and no longer accepting new ideas. Of settling in as one of the tribe with no input on direction.

We no longer have vast country sized tribes. You don’t see Nazi Germany’s or 1950’s US anymore. We’re fragmented. Our migration patterns, and communications patterns allow us to find a very small, personalized tribe. And to reform our tribe as we see fit. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Am I the only one thinking about it (and feeling that perhaps it is postive for our society as a whole)?

So last night I did another Sunstroke 5k at town lake. Anyone who’d like to join me for one of those feel free. They’re a lot of fun. Anyway, last night I finished in 25:19.5 which is 8.07/mile. That completely blows away my previous times, and gets me close to the under 8 minute mile mark (which I psychologically really want to get under). I wonder if my dietary changes have been helping this. Julie is doing weight watchers, so I’ve been making food that has a lot less fat. And cutting out most of the fat that remains. The hardest part is olive oil. I get to put in at most 4 teaspoons per dish. Most call for about 3 tablespoons, so that’s been a challenge.

As soon as Julie downloads this weekends pictures, I want to have a food post about this great salmon dish I made.

Talk about burning the bridges behind him:

And Thomas said, “Simply putting students together under the same roof does not necessarily mean that the students will learn together or even interact. Furthermore, it is unclear whether increased interracial contact improves racial attitudes and relations.”

Welcome back to pre-1950s America ya’ll. I’m guessing those “Quiet Riots” aren’t going to stay quiet for another generation. The “I pay my taxes to send my kids to a good school” folks have won. We’ll have our semi-private schools (barrier of entry - ability to afford a 200k+ house, and not be red-lined by real estate agents), and we’ll have our “public schools”. I can’t even write how angry this makes me. Every kid deserves to go to a “good school”. If the school in your neighborhood is not “good”, then it is your duty as an American to go in, and help improve it, not to transfer your kid to a “good” school. Otherwise, pay for the privilege to be a racist asshole and send your kid to a private school. Public schools are socialism. And part of the deal for your child to get a fantastic education, is that you make sure other kids can get a fantastic education. That’s how socialism works. Everyone has to do their part. If you want to opt out, opt out and send your kid to a private school, but don’t ruin it for the rest of us.

So, I’ve come to the realization that I now live with another person in the house. It’s funny how they really only become little people once they start walking. Yesterday, I kept seeing this little person zipping around just outside of my peripheral vision. A midget person. Too small to be real. Moving like a Jim Henson puppet circa 1984. Like the little Alien that bursts out of one’s chest and starts zipping around.

Sidetrack Shouldn’t there be an alien pull toy? That baby alien always seemed like it was on a cart being pulled by a string (which it probably was), shouldn’t there be a baby alien for babies? Goo.

Anytime I actually catch her eye, she gives me this mischievous smile and wobbles off in the other direction. Sometimes she claps as if to say, “Soon, I’ll be free of my tyrannical overlords!” She can still crawl faster than she can walk, but even she can tell that the real power is in walking, and she’s almost there. Almost, there…

It was a cool night. I walked out into the garage. I hefted the bag of dirty diapers and put them inside the back of the fence. I threw the last of our scrap wood into the trash can, and left the lid off, awaiting the bag Julie was filling with cat excrement. I picked up the recycling and walked down to the curb, placing it next to the trash can. I looked up the drive way. There stood our trash can, awaiting Punky pooh. I looked back at the trash can at the curb. I opened the lid to confirm. It wasn’t out trash. I walked back up and brought Julie out. She looked at the trash can at the curb. Looked back to the trash can silhouetted at the edge of our garage. Illuminated like a modern day religious icon. She sat stunned. I sat stunned. After a bit of discussion, we noticed that our neighbors didn’t have their garbage can out. We pushed the can over to their side of the street, pushed down our cart, and closed the garage. Who knows if that was their garbage can, or if it is the rolling dutchman, moved from house to house, old trash looking for a home to reside in front of so that it can be picked up, stopping, but never for long. Rolling ever onward. Its owner forever searching amidst rows and rows of identical receptacles. Cursing that they did not right down their can’s serial number. Oh yes, your can has a serial number. Look and see.

There’s a grasshopper in the hallway, for a start.

Fly On The Windscreen

I can see this becoming a music blog.

I think this is what happens when one of the “Quiet Riots” Barack Obama refers to becomes not so quiet. I just don’t know how we fix our communities. Barack should really come up with a different name for this trend though. I don’t think anyone finds the term “Quiet Riot” frightening. Except perhaps parent’s concerned about their girlz rockin’ their boyz. I joke, but I really don’t have a clue. And I’m not hearing ideas from politicians on how to make this better.

On a more cheerful note, we should totally start trying to do this. Julie and I have been rocking two cloth bags recently. It’s pretty cool. Trying to get the baggers to not wrap everything in plastic and then put it in the cloth bags is still a bit of a trial, but I’m sure it’ll get better. I really don’t need my plastic encased meat wrapped in another layer of plastic. Thanks.

Speaking of cloth bags, I was bagging groceries last night, holding Stella. Normally when I start bagging groceries a bagger mysteriously just pops up out of nowhere. I have a feeling HEB has a policy that it’s bad news if a manager sees you just standing around while a customer is bagging. Anyway. I’m bagging one handed. Holding Stella. Which I was sure would cause not one, but perhaps seven baggers to pop out of the woodwork. Those seven dwarves would take my place so I could resume my busy schedule of asking Stella to locate her tummy or playing her tummy tuba, leg trombone, and arm trumpet. Except no one showed up. Which I suppose isn’t that much of a loss. Even one handed I can bag faster than most of their employees.

I’m way behind on my 30/60/90 project. I keep forgetting to charge my laptop.

This post is really random. Fantastic.

Stella and I went bathing suit shopping with Julie last night. Going clothing shopping has become one of my favorite things. Stella and I have so much fun while Julie tries stuff on. Last night Stella was checking herself out in the mirrored clothing stands. Wandering around the store. Pushing her stroller around. Checking out prices. Pushing her stroller from a chair. Trying to figure out why her stroller wouldn’t push anymore once she set the brakes. She was busy. She ended up pushing the stroller from the dressing rooms all the way over to the cashier line. Then out into the mall proper. We didn’t need to go to the mall proper, but that’s not a big deal. It was a lot of fun.

And a lady waiting for the dressing rooms said Stella was really smart for figuring out how the brakes on her stroller worked. I’m sure she is smart, but I think it’s mostly just “push the buttons” syndrome. Stella definitely got to push da’ buttons.

I almost got blown away on the way to work today. Barely held onto my umbrella. The rain’s not so bad, but the wind’s wooly. I’ve decided that it’s a good day to listen to the Pet Shop Boys’ Behaviour.

We got the tape for Behaviour originally in the former Soviet Union. It was a bootleg from the black market. Kate, did Slava get that for you? How did it get into our possession?

Don’t worry, though, piracy foes. I’m pretty sure it’s now been been bought by our family several times over. Julie and I alone have both the tape and the CD.

It’s been a week since I posted? That’s just sad. I feel like I’m posting every day. I just don’t get it. So I’m going to do Austin Script Works’ 30/60/90 project. Hopefully, it’ll get me writing.

Last Wednesday I ran the Sunstroke Summer Stampede 5k. My whole fan section came out to cheer me on (Mom, Dad, Stella, and Julie). I thought I’d done horribly, especially since I’d only recently started running regularly again, but the time came in ok. I did 26:37, which looking back at last year’s time is a little slower. I find it frightening how consistent I am at running these 5ks.

So what happened this weekend?

I dunno it was a blur.

Friday, I worked from home. Stella and I got in a lot of quality time, as well as a run. That evening we decided to go check out a mid-century modern home we’d seen advertised. It was actually affordable which was a shock. A cheap MCM home seems to be in the $350-450 range. We checked it out. It had a fantastic living room and kitchen, but the rest of the house was just ok. And there was no garage, which we can’t do. Need somewhere to store the table saw, platforms, and props. We came home and I cooked fajitas for Mom, Dad, Christine, Brian, and Julie. It was a nice evening.

Saturday morning we got up and went over to Erin’s to help her move. This year was not as smooth as last time. Erin was far more prepared, and had pretty much everything packed up, but we only had 6 people, so it took about 3 more trips than last time. We vegged for a little bit and hung out, drinking beer and eating pizza. We got home, and got a shower, then went over and ate some fantastic filet’s that Christine made at my parent’s house. And mushrooms. Even Stella approved, and she’s been a bit finicky lately. Julie went to a theater party (you can see her blog post), and I stayed home and watched some horror movies on Netflix.

Sunday I slept in till 10am with Stella puttering around my prone body. She must have mostly slept or pounded on me, because she only pulled her blocks out. We got up and hurriedly got the house ready for our open house. The roses were blooming for it, so that was nice. We went over to my parent’s house for creamed eggs on toast with Christine, Brian, Katie, Ryan, Mom, Dad, Julie and Stella. It was a nice time. We headed back to our house, where we played with Stella and napped, then over to Anna and Sean’s for movie night. We watched DOA which was great fun. And I had to love a twist that revolved around rival writers. Yeah, a film noir movie about writers. Can’t beat it. Got home, did a bunch more chores and went to bed, where I slept horribly because I’d napped during the day.

I got up and helped to get the house ready, and jumped on the bus to work about 9am. What a weekend. We need a weekend just sitting around soon…