Dear Sweet, Neglected Blog,

I know it's been weeks since you've heard from me and I'm so very sorry. Please believe me... it's not because my feelings for you have changed.

I've just been busy living ..... homeschooling, learning to sew while teaching the girls how to sew, camping again, hitting library sales and used book stores, housecleaning a little, (cough)turning41(cough), watching the leaves turn beautiful, cheering at soccer games, designing a photobook, and most recently, teaching a class at our homeschool co-op.

So you see my sweet blog, as much as I've wanted to, I simply haven't had an opportunity to write. I've been very productive with my time this month.

What, you don't believe me?

OK, if you must know, I did play a game or two of Spider Solitaire. I allowed myself a few minutes of mind-numbing leisure. Is that a sin, I ask you? Is that a crime? Is that a felony?

Alright, alRIGHT...... maybe it was more than a game or two.

But I NEVER let it get out of control. Really.

But, this is me! You knew I'd be back. You knew I'd eventually have to write about how much fun we had camping, and how the draining of the lake left an otherworldly landscape for us to walk around on, and how we saw dozens of animal tracks, and how I couldn't tell whether Keith or Sissy was prouder that she made the hike up to Molly's Knob, and how we laughed when Peanut said, "Mommy, I hear some happiness, and I think it's coming from that playground!"

And how we didn't want to leave. How we never want to leave. Because when we're camping, we don't have any distractions from each other. We're really together, not just in-the-same-room-together. And leaving means coming home to telephones and computers, and committments, and turning on the TV out of habit, and generally?
Being in the same room, but not so much together.

So anyway, that's a little of what October has looked like for me. I'll be back when I can, but I'm not making any promises I'm not sure I can keep.

We're still OK, right?

your slacker friend,

Nina

A Conversation That Could Have Been Much Shorter, Had I But Known ....

As we pulled out of the gas station the other night, something in the window of the mini-mart caught Peanut's eye.

She was entranced ....

"The Lottery! Ohhhh, man, I'd just LOVE to play the Lottery!"

ME: (somewhat surprised) You would?

SHE: "Oh yeah, I 'd LOVE to. You can win like, a MILLION DOLLARS!"

ME: (to myself) I'm too tired to discuss the Lottery with a 7 - year old..... maybe she'll drop it...

SHE: " Do you have to be an adult to play the Lottery?"

ME: I believe you do, yes.

SHE: " Darn it, Darn it, DARN it! It's not fair."

ME: (to myself) Come on Sissy, are you asleep back there? How about a little change of topic?

SHE: " Well, the first thing I'm going to do when I'm 18 is play the Lottery! "

SHE: "Have you ever played the Lottery, Mommy?"

ME: No, I haven't.

SHE: "You HAVEN'T?? You have GOT to be kidding me!! Why NOT??"

ME: .....well, because your chances of winning big are like, less than one in a million .....

SHE: "What does that mean?"

ME: (to myself) ....I am sooo tired .

ME: (to Peanut) Just that your chance of winning a million dollars is so tiny, that it's really a waste of money...... it's like buying a ticket to nowhere, really.

ME: (to myself) trying to anticipate her next question..... wondering how I'm going to explain the seductive power of big money, and how people who live in poverty and can barely feed their families, sometimes spend their hard-earned money week after week, on a ticket to nowhere......

"SHE: (interrupting my train of thought)

WHAT!?!? You mean you have to PAY for Lottery tickets???

Well, I'm NEVER going to play the Lottery as long as I live!!

Have You Been Celebrating Banned Book Week?

The American Library Association designates one week every year "Banned Book Week". The idea is to draw attention to books that have been banned or challenged in public and school libraries over the years, and to encourage people to "celebrate the freedom to read".
I can dig that.

I've seen some of the lists the ALA puts out including the Top 100 Most Challenged Books 1990 - 2000. (The word "banned" is really not accurate, since, thanks to the ALA's clout, very few of these books are actually banned or permanently removed from library shelves.)

My heart is really broken over some things I've learned this week .

To begin with, attempts have been made to remove some great books off the public shelves by some misguided people.

To Kill A Mockingbird for example, was challenged on the grounds that it contained themes of racism. This book, which I read for the first time as an adult, is on the short list of my all - time favorite books. And yeah, there is racism in the book .... because the plot exposes racism. It makes you wonder if the people who challenge some of these books actually read them.

The Diary of Anne Frank , which should be read at least twice in a lifetime - once as a teenager and once as a parent, supposedly is "sexually explicit". I can say with confidence that there is no part of the book that fits that description, and my "inappropriate content antennae " are pretty good, especially when choosing books I want my children to read at some point.

But what causes me even more sadness, is that there are books on the lists that I feel
belong on the lists.

To be specific, sex education should not be taught to a 9 year - old while she's innocently browsing through the children's department of the public library. Yet a quick check on my city library's website shows several books targeted at children, that are listed on Frequently Challenged Book lists because they attempt to do just that..... educate my children without my knowledge or consent, on the topic of human sexuality . What's more, these books will remain on the shelves because the ALA is quick to cry "Censorship!" at the mention of removing them, some of which contain detailed drawings and statements which undermine the values I'm trying to teach my children.

And you know, I'm not even saying I want these books banned per se.
Maybe they have a place in the adult section, so that parents who choose to can use them as a resource when they decide their children should be enlightened about such things.
Maybe they have a place on bookstore shelves.

I'm just saying, as a regular library patron with a couple of kids who are getting this whole Dewey Decimal system thing, and are starting to search for and find their own books and are really stoked about that, that I don't want these books under the noses of my children as they peruse the bookshelves. My children don't want me standing over them as they look for books. They're really proud of being able to use the library independently and my very presence on the same aisle, cuts into that independence. But now, I feel like my hand has been forced because the ALA has decide noone should be denied the opportunity to read whatever junk is being written.

"Free access to everything by everyone, regardless of age" seems to be their slogan.

Even more disturbing is that some of these books line the shelves of the public school libraries, outside the watchful eye of the parent, but within easy reach of our children.

I can't really describe here how I feel toward those who would steal the innocence of my children, and fill their minds with immorality under the cloak of "education".

Going to cool off, now.

Banned Book week ends tomorrow. Go read a book. Go read a banned book, if you want. But for pete's sake, make it a good one.