Electronic Report Cards

Schools are going electronic here in my state and in many other..in issuing report cards. Yep, those schools aren't sending home report cards for parent to sign . Instead, they are making grades available to parents with secure accounts online. Ahhhhhhhhh What is a lousy student to do to hide those grades these days? It's not possible to erase that F and make it an 'A' anymore. Good thing I am finished with school...

Under the computer report card system paper copies of report cards will remain available for those without computers. But few people here don't have a computer at home or at a minimum access to one to see the grades little John made in school Let's see....some of my favorite excuses for hiding my report card from mom and dad are now gone. "The dog ate my report card" "My teacher is so proud of my report card she is keeping it posted at school". "It's being delayed for issuance." None of those will work for today's kids.

Hmmmmmmmmm First they post grades and then what? More data? How is a goof off like I was in my school years supposed to have fun in school anymore? I don't know how much information is available to parents this way, but it might lead to individual student to web where the teachers could give full reports on the student's progress or lack of progress and all their subjects. It would also be an opportunity to inform the parents of their kids' behavior in school which would help coordinate a successful learning atmosphere. Not good for the kiddies.

But I foresee some problems with the school/teachers posting more than just the occasional grade. It would entail a huge time investment for teachers to update a students page every day. When would they be expected to do this? Most teachers are swamped with work in school and have no time for that extra role.

And what about privacy for the kids? No web site is secure from others either sneaking a look at private information or , in the case of the savvy geeks in school, changing grades on line to please mom and dad. Too, what proof does the teacher have that the parents even saw the report card on line or that it didn't end up in their "spam" file? What we have in most schools now, a signed piece of paper as a report card, is a record for both the parent and teacher.
One thing is for sure. I give thanks to the failing Gods above that they didn't have this kind of electronic report card system when I was in school.

Too Fancy Clothes

I had a long Saturday, being on a movie set from 6 am to 6:30 pm. This one was a made for TV movie called 'I Believe in Love'. It stars a former child Disney actress, now turned singer, Hilary Duff. The movie story revolve around a young Cosmopolitan Magazine writer, played by Duff, in New York. She only dates men in business suits.

Yes, it is a comedy. New Orleans his being turned into Manhattan for the film. My tiny contribution that day was to walk with a brief case into a bank (no, I didn't rob it..you were thinking I would in real life) and later in the day to be a background customer in a Brooks Brothers clothing store.

The movie set was in a real Brooks Brothers store. It's one of those "for the wealthy or foolish" only places. Since we were on set for most of the afternoon at that location I perused the clothes there. There were $300 slacks, $200 ties, and suits well over $1000 each. The quality of that merchandise? It was slightly more upscale, but surely does not warrant such high prices. There was the usual silk and wool, but I am not sure it was of quality that is commensurate with the prices asked for purchasing it. Haha I saw the same "made in India". made in China" tags that are on the "cheap" clothing sold in most stores.

The store was still operating between takes and there were some customers picking up merchandise and looking or browsing to buy. I wonder how many sales places like that has each day, given the prices. But then, the mark-up on prices is so high it need not sell in great volume to make a profit. Brooks Brothers started as a men's clothing store many years ago, but the reality of men not being shoppers to the degree that women are turned it into a store for everyone.

This leads me to the observation that we men know of but dare not speak to shopping crazy women. that is, "why are women's clothing so much better looking and of better quality than are men's? Women want us to dress better, but the selection of clothes for men is far more limited to accomplish that. Anyway, I am the sloppy type who does not care about the look of clothes. I prefer comfort and will wear the same group of things too often because they are more comfortable.

Can you imagine a man (hehe... a straight one, not a gay one) in high heels or caked with an hour of make-up? It will not happen. Women have been steered to over dress and over make-up by devices like the better clothing options they can buy.

On balance, we men should be grateful there are fewer options of wear and that we do not have to use make up on our own faces.So the uppity, stylish stores like Brooks Brothers are not only very expensive, but an invitation for men to primp in front of a mirror and wear uncomfortable clothing. You'll never see me in Brooks Brothers any time soon.

French Identity Crises

I love to make observations about some weaknesses in the "French Armor". That is want to toss spears at the alleged superiority some French and some non French think possesses that nation. So today how about an observation or two on the changing image the French are evolving into. They are in an..uh..identity crisis, I think. And it is all tied to the massive Muslim and African immigration in France over the last 25 years or so. It appears, in a desperate attempt to save it's traditional view of itself, that France is trying to recapture that arrogant "we are special and the best because we are French" image.

To try to stop the "Muslim horde" changes the French now propagandize school kids about how the "real French" are the only authentic ones. They sing patriotic songs in class, study about French heroes of the past, forbid any non French language or clothing to be worn by the kiddies, legislate to ensure all things naturally French have precedence over the foreign etc. And what is wrong with a little romantic Gallic pride you may ask? Isn't it that shared collective culture that makes any nation great? Well, not if that process includes throwing the Muslim culture and beliefs in the trash.

The French have taken a love it or leave it (France) attitude, an either "you are one of us or not...and get out if not" view. It's not a surprise, the French superiority complex has always been around, but with Muslims numbers increasing so fast the French natives are throwing up a reactionary defense to "save France". This is causing a great deal of tension between the native French and the immigrant French, bringing about a huge increase of the discrimination long obvious in France against non ethnic French.Stopping immigration is now the most common election theme of French politicians. And the French citizens vote for anyone who wants to throw out the immigrants or stop more from coming. The fact of the matter is that today what is French is much harder to define than what we saw in the past. A few natives even suggest it is time for a French make-over, that the French stubbornness to be anything other than native is what has caused France to slip into second rate status in the world. These more progressive natives welcome the changes immigrants are bringing to modernize French culture...but they are usually shouted down or shunned when they promote that idea.

Nations always have identity changes/crises. But countries like France, such as Iran for another example, are intolerant and inflexible of change and handle it badly. To make matters worse, the Muslim "invaders' may be be even more intolerant and inflexible that the French culture it attempts to merge with. It's a clash of stubbornness that is bound to produce more friction than any reasonable French citizen wants.

I wonder if this cultural clash is a microcosm of the Muslim versus Non Muslim spat going on in other places in the world. It's so frustrating one wants to tear off his chador and stomp on it in protest.

Hate Crimes

Throughout the early '90s, state legislatures across the country began to adopt new measures seeking to outlaw what are referred to as “hate crimes.” A typical hate crime statute increases the severity of punishment for a crime deemed to be motivated by prejudice against a victim's race, religion, ethnic origin, and, in some cases, sexual orientation. It is a crazy notion, I think, to make a crime category based on "intent". But this is the age of political correctness . I am not surprised that such things as "hate crime laws" exist.

The federal government has such laws too. Congress has just made an addition to federal "hate crime laws" that are already on the books, extending protection against hate crimes to homosexuals. I am all for protecting homosexuals from bigots and from crimes, but the idea that the reason for a crime makes a crime more or less severe is both false and contrary to fairness. By this reasoning, all crimes should have categories of penalties based on the motivation of the offender. For example, robbery should now be okay as long as the assailant is poor and hungry.

We have many laws now that cover all types of crime. Society can't legislate against what people "think" because of a "motive" for a crime. Most crimes stem from hatred of some kind, and all crime victims suffer equally regardless of intent of the criminal. Properly labeling something a 'hate crime' should be based on using common sense in the sentencing process, not be part of a specific and potentially never ending list that targets crimes toward a particular group of people.

I think hate crime charges detract from the original, far more heinous offense that was committed. Murder is murder, rape is rape, arson is arson, nothing more or less despite who or what the victim is. All the hate crime charges are is a way to further inflame public passion, something that has no place in an American court of law in the first place. But in this age sense is nonsense and reality not politically correct.

Gadget Mania

I am being driven mad by others e-mail, iPhones, texts, Facebook updates, Twitter "tweets," checking a bank balance, gaming, intuitive online searches with computers, Data is being collected, presented and acted upon in real time today. To the gadget addicts it's all about immediacy and instantaneous data and is so sad. But privacy, intimacy in communication and simple communication are often sacrificed in the process. Just observe people dinning in a restaurant today and you will see some ignoring their dinning mate while they get intimate with their cell phones.

This is the Age of the Gadget, a time when a lack of common sense and self discipline have estranged humans from each other as they have built a wall (the technology) between each other that is a pile of gadgets, most of which are used excessively and rudely. But don't tell them to unplug! It is impossible for them. People tend to go through withdrawal when denied their constant gadget stimulation, as if on heroine. When they can't use one of the devices that seems to control their lives they have no life at all. Users have surrendered to and accepted a lack of privacy that comes with being addicted to their gadgets, surrendering some of their personal freedom in the balance.

But do we need to be connected out side of professional /business reasons? Or are we all so codependent that we want to be connected so as not to feel left out? Too, many people have lost the ability or never learned how to communicate face to face because of those gadgets. The devices have made us lazy and non communicative on a personal level. Solitude is found many forms today, including interacting with others through gadgets.

Some of the devices strip us naked, revealing to anyone, anywhere all about us. I find that a little dehumanizing, and the unknown is often the most attractive qualities people possess. Sure the technology has good aspects, but those are often trampled in search for the negatives. Perhaps getting those gadgets so quickly and so often does not give humans time to evaluate their usefulness. What is new or trendy becomes what is good, not what is beneficial to our lives.

I wonder where the love of all this gadgetry will lead. Will gadgets completely take over human reason and occupy all of our time? Or we will finally, objectively evaluate them and use them for good rather than to escape reality/ What do you think?

All Saints Day

I did my duty on November 1st. With flowers in hand I headed to see the four tombs at Hope Mausoleum housing my parents and brother, my maternal grandparents and my maternal grandparents and my mom's sister and husband. I placed the requisite flowers, meditated about those long gone loved ones, and browsed to see the condition of the mausoleum, and I observed both the other still alive occupants of the mausoleum and the engravings on some of the dead ones that tell stories ordinary and fascinating. In largely Catholic New Orleans, All Saints Day on November 1st and All Souls' Day on November 2nd have been observed for centuries through rituals celebrating life over death. You are expected to "visits the graves' of departed ones.

New Orleanians pay special attention to their graveyards. Friends and relatives of the deceased show up on those days, cleaning and painting tombs, and decorating them with fall flowers and leaving mementos on the tomb. Sometimes religious services are even held in the cemeteries. In early days, All Saints Day was quite a family event, when everyone socialized, bringing refreshments and leaving keepsakes such as "immortelles”. While this may seem bizarre, it is no more strange than the habits of citizens practiced in late 19th century American west's in which huge cheering s crowds would turn out to watch, eat and party at a town's public hanging of criminals convicted of various deeds. One honors loved dead ones, the other cheers the death of strangers.

Hope Mausoleum is a sedate burial site, a huge marbled palace encased in granite that was constructed because some underground burials were producing too many floating bodies as rains popped up the caskets and deposited the remains above. But we have some weird cemetery rituals that are still on-going at some of the others here.

One example is St. Roch Cemetery. Its chapel is most notable for the "relic room", where plaster casts of body parts, braces, crutches, and the like, are placed in recognition of cures affected through the intercession of St. Roch. Yep! People still go to a cemetery to pray for cures. But wait! Women also still pray there for St. Roch to find a husband for them.

On my visit to Hope I saw mostly old people who were probably there for recently deceased spouses or siblings. The only young people I noticed, and it was crowded, were small children who were no doubt being initiated in the practice of "cemetery visiting". I doubt those kids will retain and interest in such a thing when older. This generation of immediate gratification and electronic stimulation has little room for cemetery visiting. Just as funerals are becoming less frequent and burials in cemeteries being replaced by cremation, the New Orleans habit of remembering loved ones at cemeteries will, no doubt, "die" a slow but steady death.

It's too bad, because cemeteries are really more for the living than for the dead.

Halloween Warning

I am Catholic. But some of the churches policies are baffling to me. The newest pope, Pope Benedict is the most conservative pope we have had in more than 50 years. It almost appears that he believes the church is still the powerful Medieval force it once was, and that the worshippers still believe in Medieval ideology.

The latest crazy Catholic Church pronouncement came the day before Halloween. In it the Vatican warned parents not to let their kids dress up as ghosts and goblins for Halloween, calling it a pagan celebration of "terror, fear and death". The Vatican issued its warning through its official newspaper, L' Osservatore Tomanao, in an article headlined "Halloween's Dangerous Messages."How out of touch is that! Halloween dangerous? Maybe they think the candy given to kids is the apple from the Garden of Eden. Does the church really think we celebrate Halloween in its original/historical form..as a pagan worship? Doesn't the church realize it is a non religious fun day for kids and adults, and that there is no sacrilege involved? Strangely too, the Pope's warning about "evil" Halloween targeted small children who have no concept of Halloween other than trick or treat, Halloween parties and foods and making or carving pumpkins and other innocent Halloween activities....Parents should "be aware of this and try to direct the meaning of the feast towards wholesomeness and beauty rather than terror, fear and death," it said.

The church should not take itself so seriously. I doubt that anyone puts any religious connotation into Halloween anymore. Except the Vatican. But then the Catholic Church still pretends to live in those Medieval days when worshippers who dared defy the church were tortured or condemned to hell. Curious how out of touch the Vatican is even with it's own churches and organizations. When I was a child, the local Catholic school celebrated Halloween. I bet they did on Halloween too. At least that's what I observe here in the New Orleans area. Many Catholic schools and organizations even have Halloween dances and parties for kids or adults.

Perhaps the church should concentrate on some of the evil within itself- the financial and sexual scandals in the church , for instance. Or perhaps deal with the spiritual lives of its followers, followers who are confused about what the Catholic Church is and want a clear definition from the vatican of it. Why doesn't the Roman Catholic Church take a good look at itself? It scares me a lot more than kids knocking on my door with goblin suits on.

Where To Bury Them

There's a new twist on the biggest and real (as opposed to phony global warming issue) problem- overpopulation. Not only are there too many humans alive on this planet. Now there seems to be too many dead ones too. The world's burial spaces are becoming overcrowded. London, population 8 million, is crowded with the living and now with the dead.

There are many millions more under the soil of a city that has been inhabited for 2,000 years. And London is rapidly running out of places to put them. So now the city's largest cemetery is trying to persuade Londoners to share a grave with a stranger. And more cemeteries are thinking of doing the same. This could signal the death of burials and the rebirth of cremation. Even though over half of all Londeners now use cremation, in Britons and the west in general, there are some who have strong beliefs against it. Resummation, or "flame less cremation," a process that uses an alkaline solution to dissolve bodies is a future possibility for those who are "afraid of fire". But it is not yet recognized in British law.

But the problem is a very British one. Many other European countries regularly reuse old graves after a couple of decades. Britain does not, as a result of old piecemeal regulations and national traditions against it. For many, an Englishman's tomb, like his home, is his castle. That is a similar attitude in America, but we have a great deal more open space for more burials. In much of Britain, reusing old graves remains illegal. Instead of birth control, they need death control. Putting more bodies in existing tomb is said to be the least offensive way to do it.

But will mom put Uncle Edward in a tomb already that is already occupied? That is the dilemma. I wouldn't want to be buried with that crazy aunt of mine..just think about being buried with Michael Jackson? Haha Well, if the deceased is not a little boy it might be ok. Some strange burial fellowships might result. Just think how disturbing for the dead it would be if these mismatched people were buried in the same tomb.
- George Bush and any Islamic terrorist
- Kayne West and Taylor Swift
- Beyonce and Whoppie Goldberg
- Pope Benedict and any Rabbi
- Albert Einstein and Mr. Bean

It's too much to bear...Well, with many religions against anything except a single family tomb burial and the contented image that a green, pastoral grave site gives us we probably haven't seen the end of graves and more burials in them. Burial give humans a sense of contentment at death that they need. And who wants to sleep in the same tomb with Michael Jackson!