Lips Were Made For Smoking

Yesterday's excursion to Thibodeaux, Louisiana was a successful one. Jane went with some of the students from her school as a part of the Science Olympiad team that represents the school. This was a regional and the team barely made it out and into the state competition by finishing 4th. the top four teams from each region advance. Because the team has 6th through 9th graders, the 6th graders like Jane are mostly on the fringe, entered in only two of the 15 events. Every school has to allow the 6th graders to be in at least two areas of competition. Jane's were building a small replica suspension bridge of wood, as light and string as possible, and some type of miniature propulsion care. She and her two partners did not win any medals for those two projects.
Anyway, she enjoyed the experience and benefited from it. I stayed home and voted in the big election today, bit may go to the state competition when it is held.
How addictive is smoking cigarettes? It has to rank with cocaine addiction, food addiction and many others. But the latest evidence of how cigarettes can take control of a person comes from the surgeons in France who did a face transplant, new nose, chin and lips from a brain-dead donor after being mauled by her dog last spring, on an unidentified 38 year old woman last November.
You guessed it! That woman has resumed her smoking habit, new lips and all. This inanity comes after the face transplant has been one struggle after another in trying to fight against rejection problems, and with the fact that after surgery smoking impairs circulation to tissue, which raises the risk of rejection. Surely, the woman must be psychologically ill as well as addicted to her smoking. But her smoking even now makes one who doesn't smoke (me , for instance) very thankful not to be controlled by nicotine.
What does a parent of a misbehaving, failing teen student do to improve her daughter's grades? In most cases it is to find some positive reinforcement or to see that the failing teen studies more and receives tutoring in whatever subjects are most difficult. But the there are negative punishments too. Some parents, the ones with little control over their kids, seem to need to be overtly harsh and controlling before their little ones will behave and act responsibly in school. Take the case of Tasha Henderson of Edmond, Oklahoma. Tasha got tired of her 14 year old daughter's poor grades, her chronic lateness to classes and her surly and disrespectful words to her teachers, so she took extreme measures to teach daughter Coretta a lesson. Tasha made Coretta stand at a busy Oklahoma City intersection with a cardboard sign that read: " I don't do my homework and I act up in school, so my parents are preparing me for my future. Will work for food."
Haha I think mom Tasha probably missed a few classes in her day too. What a cruel and disgraceful punishment that was. Tasha told reporters that she knows it ",may not work", but that "I felt I owed it to my child to at least try." My goodness! It's fortunate she didn't feel she owed it to Tasha to publicly flog her. I think Tasha must believe she lives in Singapore. After about an hour of holding the sign, police arrived (one motorist called and complained of Coretta being "psychologically abused") and told the mom and daughter to leave.
But wait! Tasha says Coretta has improved greatly in both attitude and grades since the public humiliation. But the punishment has engendered many letters and calls to radio stations and newspapers, some in praise and others blasting her for her cruelty to her daughter. I know what you are thinking.."I should make and hold up my own sign for writing such stupidity in this blog.