Taking part in Manic Monday again. Found it here.

If you had to be named after one of the 50 states, which would it be?
I’m going to have to go with none on this. There are only a few states that you could use as a name. Virgina, Georgia, Montana, Mary(land), Washington, Indiana…now there are cities you could use, but that wasn’t the question.

Where do you go for advice?
Google. If I need a more personal answer it has to be Djembe, the wonderful husband.

What is the sickest you’ve ever been?
Oh my. It’s a toss up. Both occurred during grad school. The first was my first semester. I had respiratory infections for weeks. It just would not get better. Eventually I also had to deal with pleurisy which felt like I was breaking a rib with every breath. PAINFUL. Trying to get through the last weeks of that first grad semester was horrible. The second time was also due to the weakened body because of grad school stress. It was the summer before my last semester. I had a sinus infection and a soaring fever. Turns out I also had a spider bite or something that exacerbated the problem. During my three day grad class marathon I took as much over the counter ibuprofen as a prescription would allow and as frequent as I could without exceeding the daily allowance. When I got home I felt horrible. Jem, being the magnificent individual that he is, let me sleep. When I could barely keep my head up and had knots behind my ears it was time to let a doc take a shot at making it better. Several thousand mg of antibiotics later and I was as good as new.

TMI? Well, that was the question.

I recently had to read for school the book Gangsta in the House by the gang guy, Mike Knox.

From his site: The book, Gangsta in the House, is a collection of observations and conclusions made by a fifteen-year veteran police officer from Houston, Texas. The book begins with the prologue which is a graphic fictional account of a drive-by shooting and is based on a compilation of real life incidents.

Gangsta in the House is written with a conversational style, but does include a touch of humor. The subject is, however, very serious and relevant to today’s social environment. The book should take the mystery out of the gang experience and open doors to understanding why these young people do the things they do. An explanation about how gang members perceive the world differently than “normal” people and how that different perception occurs is offered. (more)

OK book and a good start if you are wanting to be more aware of the gang mentality. If you are wanting to know what the signs, tagging and lingo mean then it is of minimal benefit. According to the author it isn’t necessary for educators or the general public to know all of this because they need to focus on the understanding of why gangs are what they are, how teens get caught up in the gang life, and how important it is to remove graffiti within 48 hours. I disagree. I think it is important for educators to understand all the things Knox mentions, but we also need to be aware of what we are seeing. If you have an understanding of the symbols you will look around the school and be absolutely amazed at what is right under your nose. Now, many of the thugs are simply wannabes and there isn’t too much to concern yourself over. However, you do not want their wannabe gang clothing to draw attention to your school. Looking at their notebooks you would imagine they are really talented in the area of abstract art. We need to understand why the student with the blue t-shirt doesn’t ever get along with the student with the red Jordan’s. Not to mention the days that they decide to dress alike. Wow, they must be really good friends…or there is something planned to take place that day. Awareness is important.

The intro of Knox’s book was disturbing. I didn’t realize how disturbing until I dreamed a mall event that involved my child. I tend to internalize my stress. It was the most devastating nightmare I have ever had. I won’t rehash it here because I am trying to erase those images. In fact, that is as far as I will mention on the subject. If you have kids, what is your worst fear? If you don’t have children I venture to say that I don’t think you can understand. You can have an idea, but . . . well I guess it really depends on the person, but still…

One of the cable channels had a gang documentary series that really outlined the proliferation of gang mentality into the mainstream. It was really interesting and rather frightening. Again I say, awareness is essential in battling this societal cancer.

Negatives of the book: It seemed to take a “poor me” stance with the gang protagonists. Gang members have low self esteem. Gang members do not have the support system at home. Gang members feel like their only hope is the gang. For me that equates with parents saying, “Oh, my child has ADD/ADHD/ODD/PAPD/yadda-yadda” and using that as the excuse. Pardon me, not to minimize the issue but all those things are excuses. Funny how many ADD etc… children can focus for hours on something non school related and behave when they want something. IMO there is over diagnosis which minimizes the significance of those who TRULY suffer from the various disorders. (Yes, it is debilitating for some.) Back to gangs…it’s all an excuse. I admit there are contributing factors, but I think society has made it cool to be part of the gang. Listen to the radio. Read the lyrics. Watch TV. Look around. Scary? Yes, a little. However, all those kids with their hat tilted, leg rolled up, color matching, baggy pant wearing, tat tagged kids are not gang members. Some of them are just going for the look. They’ll have their hat tilted one direction and the wrong pant leg rolled because they have no clue what it means. As a result a real gang member will beat the snot out of them because they are dissing. (Dissing, my spell-check didn’t underline. See, that is how much gangs have influenced. Spell checkers do not pick up on the slang as misspelled words!)

Knox points out that gangs have a different mentality. Agreed. Their moral sense is skewed. Do they have a moral sense? Yes, sort of. Think of a dictatorship that is totally intolerant of any behavior outside the expected. Blind loyalty is expected of the society. Blind loyalty to the gang is expected of its members. What are the consequences of not following the dictator or speaking out against the dictator? Death. If your facing death or action that you know to be wrong it will take a significant strength of will to do the right thing. For teens peer pressure is a strong factor in many of their decisions. So what can we do if it is their peers who influence them? I don’t know. We can be the support system that helps them realize how destructive the gang life is and that their IS a way out, and it doesn’t have to be in a body bag. Know described an alternative school program that sounded ideal. Going into that would make this post never ending. Discipline in schools is a major issue that administrators are terrified to address. Shoot, they turn a blind eye to the gang issue. Gangs? In our school? No, no…not at all. We don’t have a gang problem. The few students we might have are simply wannabes. I can not tell you how many times I have heard school thugs referred to as wannabes. Who do you think is targeted for gang membership? THOSE WHO ALREADY LOOK AND ACT THE PART! The wannabes are just as dangerous and arguably more so because they are ignorant of gang protocol.

So what do we do? Quit pretending there isn’t a problem. Quit allowing them to wear their crowns, diamonds, numbers, colors, styles, etc… in the school environment. School is for education, not showing off your apparel. *GASP* are you suggesting unifroms? I don’t have a problem with it. *SHOCK-GASP* but what about self expression? Yeah, is that working? Save self expression for the weekend. I’m concerned about the classroom and education taking place. “I can’t afford to buy uniforms for school.” Yeah, don’t buy the Jordans and there’s two outfits. Next. *Ugh, schools are becoming just like a dictatorship.* Yeah, choose your dictatorship. Bloods, Crips, Folk, People, Low Riders, or school. Your choice. Which has the highest survival rate. Isn’t that a bit drastic? If we don’t get a handle on it then it is going to be even further out of hand. Is it really that big of a problem? Yes.

*This post hasn’t been edited. I have three little girls roaming around trying to get my attention in any way possible. Morning coffee has not been uninterrupted. I would never correct your spelling, grammar, or word usage so please do me the same courtesy. I’ll fix the mistakes later.*

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Relaxing to the sounds of: Jack Johnson - Upside Down
via FoxyTunes

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing
Phyllis Diller

I agree.

Yeah its a little chilly here in the deep South. Calling for snow, but I predict not in my area. Didn’t make all my goals for the week, but I am going to take care of the one where I get to spend an evening with Djembe.

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Really, do you need 13 reasons? Isn’t that tomorrow is Friday good enough? It’s entering a three day weekend.

Question…and this is a real question and I am seeking real answers.

Is this true? Anyone know? Lurkers, jump in here. What do you think? My immediate thought was that someone, for sick kicks and giggles, decided to play with their photoshop. When I open the pic in my photo editing program I can’t see any evidence of manipulation. I checked truthorfiction.com and that site kept correcting my spelling. I checked Snopes and got undetermined. So, what do you know about it? If it is true then it is a very sad statement for society today…even if it isn’t.

(click for bigger)

Snopes says…

I would just about bet there is not a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread on the shelves of local markets. I’m certain that prayers are going up for school closings. Please no. I want Good Friday off and I don’t want to lose it because it is slushy and slick.

On a different note, a kid from Saltillo, MS made it to Hollywood on American Idol. We lived close to there before the last move. Perty kewl…He doesn’t sound bad, but I don’t think he’ll make it too far with his country roots. But then…there was always Sanjaya…LOL

This is ROFLMAO funny. Jem told me about it the other day and I found the link on a Yank Gone South:
I laughed so hard at the clown car comment that Jem had to tell me to breathe. It was one of those gasping kind with tears streaming…Just struck me as funny.

Check it out:Olan Mills Photos

*I really have to change my link color, you can hardly see that!

Will reality TV bring it with season 7 of American Idol? Here’s a play by play…

Oh my…Mr. U-ka and How Deep Is Your Love. Heavily accented, sweet guy, but phew. LOL!!! Paula: “I think you should keep singing for your enjoyment.” Too funny.

OMG!!! “Let my pppl gooooo” Dude sounds like he’s been on a binge. LOOOOOOW and drunk.

The first few weeks are so funny.

Who names their kid Temptress? And wow, she plays linebacker. Big gal. Sweet, but she can’t sing. Ahhh it’s a group hug and Simon is being sweet.

Oh dear…another one that sounds drunk. Really people. Wow. “crickets”

Instead of a dash of beauty, they get a dose of Udi (Udgeet). LOL! Udi sounds oogie. He is monotone and has no clue! Someone hand this guy a bucket and a wheel chair! Has his wife been telling him that he can sing? Really..

You know, I watch this show and there are times I just hold my breath. There are some scary people in this world. It’s even more frightening when they think they have talent.

Alexis, free spirit or freak? Strangeness. The voice isn’t the worst that I’ve heard, but she is in her own world. Simon: “possessed” Should she feel complimented that he said she seemed to be channeling Janis Joplin, Pat Benatar. LOL Yes, freak.

After the sad stories you can only hope that the person can sing. Angela- has a daughter with something similar to cerebral palsy. Working full time as a singer she better be able to. We will see more of this story.

Milo…39 (yeah right) Singing, No Sex Allowed… (Yes, this is one of those breath holding moments.) Simon- “We call it creepy.” I’m going to agree. Scary people…phew

The cage fighter…Wow she could kick Simon’s @55. And with the jello comment I think she would be justified. Singing Amazing Grace. Very nice and she’s cute.

I can’t believe Paula just sent a guy away to wax his chest hair before he sings. LOL cruel…and a little funny. He was wearing a belly dancing outfit. WEIRD.

And next up…stalker dude. SECURITY! Stalker dude sexual predator. OMG why hasn’t security stopped this guy! Singing to Paula about stalking her. And again I say…FREAK

And the real Ms. Stalker takes the stage. 28, single mom, and ready for her chance. Not a bad voice, but I don’t particularly like the crooner sound in a female. Picky about my female voices. Not usually a fan. She made it through but barely.

OMG Dude got his chest waxed. Pain pain pain. He waxed his entire chest and jiggly belly. ew. ow.

Chris Watson, like it. He has the look. He has a voice and a good attitude. He can pull off the dreads too.

Well, Star Wars Princess is interesting. Nice grandparents, strange kid. Her voice isn’t horrible…and then she starts some weird breaking thing in her voice. Simon- “give my love to the wookie” What’s a wookie? I just asked Jem and he did this weird sound. OMG tears. ROFL. (I’ve never seen Star Wars.)

And last up Brooke, the nanny to twins. Never seen a rated R movie, wow. Not many people can say that. OMG Simon is mean. I don’t think her voice is all that. Daring Simon to bring her to the dark side…danger! LOL.

Next up- Texas.

Yes, this is another meme to keep me posting. Yeah, yeah…I know what I posted about routine on my Saturday saying. I found Manic Monday, shockingly enough, at the Manic Monday blog site when I was looking for an image for my own manic Monday image. This was before I knew there was a meme. Soooo… will it become routine? Don’t know, but it gives me something to type about when my brain feels like mush.

So here are the questions:
Which sex do you think has it easier in our culture? Have you ever wished you were the opposite sex?
Men. No doubt. Not that I think our culture hasn’t come a long way in the whole equality of the sexes, but gender roles are still present. Not that we actually observe all gender roles either. Let’s face it, there are some men who are better at the cooking and such. For instance, Jem cooks some amazing meals. He made lasagna tonight and it was awesome. I think that a lot of the difficulty that women face with regard to ease in culture is self imposed. Those who have a career outside of the home also feel the desire to meet all the gender specific roles inside the home. Now some of us are able to get over that hurdle. I’m also going to play the uterus card here. Guys, get back to me after you’ve had a baby.

When I was little I was a tom-boy and so wished I could be a boy so that they would let me play all their cool games. Finally, they let me play anyway and I beat them. *sigh* It was then cool to be a powerful girl.

What books from your childhood would you like to share with your children?
Actually pass on to them or just have them read? I had a Mother Goose book that was part of a children’s encyclopedia set. I would love to have that to give to them. My favorite series was The Boxcar Children. In the third grade I fell in love with that series. I also enjoyed Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden mysteries. I had several very old copies of Nancy Drew books. The covers were worn, the pages were brown and brittle. It would be great to have those on my shelf today.

What is one talent or skill you don’t possess but always wanted?
To play the piano. Gymnastics would be cool too.

Stopping by for Manic Monday? Leave a comment and comment luv should link your last post. Love Mr. Linky, but that is just too much like work.

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Relaxing to the sounds of: Aerosmith - I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing
via FoxyTunes

1- Prepare Latin American revolutions lesson and PPT.
2- Again, have all grades taken this week entered by Friday.
3- Have girls create their video blog entry to post to the family site.
4- Make it to the gym 3x this week.
5- Spend at least one evening with Djembe not worrying about anything. Jem, clear your schedule and let me know what works.

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Relaxing to the sounds of: John Mayer - Neon
via FoxyTunes