Comments for The Random Avenger

Comment on in which things that should have been obvious years ago are belatedly made clear… by Chadicus

Chadicus — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:08:26 +0000

which is great — I love writing that way . a rough map of the mountain leaves a capacity to be surprised. I just tend to jump from mountain to mountain in the middle of free-form drafts, and basically switch the kind of book I’m writing halfway through, which is not a recipe for success. Or sanity, as if that was an option anyway.

Comment on in which things that should have been obvious years ago are belatedly made clear… by Unfocused Me

Unfocused Me — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:41:16 +0000

Makes sense to me — So far I seem to be writing parallel to my pre-NaNoWriMo outline. I’m going in the same direction, from the same starting point, and will get to the same finish line and will stop at a couple of the same roadside restaurants, but otherwise nothing looks the same. The structure is similar, but the details are all different.

Comment on A rant (probably only slightly paranoid) by Chadicus

Chadicus — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:03:35 +0000

Thanks for everyone’s support. Since posting this the problem has actually gotten worse. According to my wife, who had to go pick him up from the school the other day because of his behavior (he didn’t hurt anyone, destroy property, or even really talk back, he just kept being uncooperative), “It looks like we have a smart, strong-willed child vs. a control freak.” Which sounds harsh but is probably accurate (and part of that, she would know. won’t say which one). Added to this the teacher keeps bringing up her own personal problem and has broken down in class, and I think we just have a lot going wrong here.

Not that that excuses his behavior, but we are going to have a conference with the principal and see if we can’t at least change what classroom he’s in. I don’t want to waste a year of his education for stupid reasons. I just hate being one of THOSE parents, but it seemes to be warranted here.

Comment on A rant (probably only slightly paranoid) by katrinastonoff

katrinastonoff — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:39:29 +0000

We had a similar problem too, with our son. First Grade was painful, from Day 1 to the end. If he pulled only two tickets, it was a good day. He was bored stiff, and the teacher absolutely refused to entertain the most remote possibility that it was boredom causing his behavior problems.

We met with the principal at the end of the year and told her about the problem. Our school doesn’t have a gifted program until Fourth Grade, but she put him in a multi-age classroom where the teachers have more flexibility with curriculum and can let the brighter children zoom ahead. Voila! Totally different child. In Second Grade, he pulled two tickets the entire year — both on the same day, when they had a substitute teacher. He’s now in Third Grade and happily reading his Sixth Grade sister’s science text for fun.

Good for you for sticking up for your son. He’ll survive the frustrating, boring year as long as he realizes HE isn’t the problem.

Comment on A rant (probably only slightly paranoid) by Unfocused Me

Unfocused Me — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:01:56 +0000

My daughter had a similar problem in the transition from K to 1st. We met with the first grade teacher at the beginning of the year to talk about how she was going to handle our kid, and we got patted on the head and told it would be fine – it was pretty clear she didn’t believe us. Unfocused Girl became progressively more unhappy about school, and when we scheduled a meeting we heard about odd behavior problems that the teacher thought might be Asperger’s but quickly turned out – surprise – to be utter boredom. Finally the teacher agreed to toss most of the curriculum out the window for her, and we convinced our daughter that when she was ready to move on to something new it was ok to talk to the teacher about it. We pulled her out of the school after 1st grade and she’s much happier at the new one (and so is the teacher, who was completely overwhelmed by her). Hang in there, and keep standing up for your son. The only fights we ever regretted were the ones where we backed down.

Comment on A rant (probably only slightly paranoid) by Corrim

Corrim — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:27:44 +0000

Wow!! Raegan’s work is the same thing…. All the pictures!!!! Ugh! And aren’t they doing sooo much more at this age then we did? I don’t remember doing story problems and all this other stuff in first grade. Yesterday she had to draw 16 COWS!!! then cross out and make the math sentence but THEN they had a problem of 5 ducks and 3 cows and the question was how many feet all together!!! Really!!!?? Rae really is great at reading and spelling and she is in the accellerated level however last week she had to pick two words on her own and the teacher allowed her to pick “constellation” and “responsibility”…,, ok come on!! She could spell th out loud but misspelled on test. So teacher really moved her down for this week even though she got all her “real” spelling words correct. I don’t get it.

Comment on things that have disturbed me lately by Chadicus

Chadicus — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:10:14 +0000

The Passion of the Christ was a loong movie produced and Directed by Mel Gibson. It is is aramaic, with subtitles. It is extreeeeeemely true to life in showing that tortures that were inflicted upon Jesus during the crucifiction. Indeed, It’s pretty much a two-hour-long toture scene where you are supposed to feel every lash, every pouning of the nail. It’s a pretty compelling piece of art if taken that way, and many adult christians have said it was helpful to them in their faith.

There is also, to put it bluntly, and extremely anti-semitic throughline. While it is true to the bible-story, nearly ever (non-Jesus) jewish character is presented as the worst of shylock-like sterotypes, and they are all dirty, rat-like, yellow-black-teethed, etc. a lot of people, including Gibson, have claimed he is just tryong to stay historically accurate. Given the anit-semitic drunken tirade Gibson gave during his arrest, it’s hard to defend that argument.

anyway, there’s some background,a nd why I so so squicked out by it being shelved (probably innocently by some poor receptionist who said “hey! Jesus!” and put it with the kids stuff.)

Comment on things that have disturbed me lately by Unfocused Me

Unfocused Me — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:43:36 +0000

I feel like I should know what “The Passion of the Christ” is. Hang on, quick search on the ol’ Scroogle Scraper (I do like my anonymity) and… oh, that. That’s really strange – maybe it’s some kind of weird test for his patients?

And your cousin’s kids have seen it? Wasn’t it performed in Aramaic? Were there subtitles? Were your cousin’s kids sitting through it, texting their friends about the lame foreign movie their dad was making them watch?

Comment on Just in case you were wondering … by Chadicus

Chadicus — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:48:58 +0000

Yes, but instead of a gold-foil stamp and a ribbon, it has a polka-dotted interrobang symbol.

Comment on Just in case you were wondering … by Unfocused Me

Unfocused Me — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:05:17 +0000

They give you a certificate?!?!?