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Hi everyone! I just have a few things to say, then back to my self imposed
lurkedom! (I just couldn't resist!)
First on Emenim and other musical artists. Choosing to restrict a child's
interest in music which has content that *you* may find objectionable is of
course a parental issue. You may have moral or religious issues with the
language. But educating yourself on the whys and wherefores would be a good
thing. I could go on and on about how Marshal Mathers (Emenim) had a horrible
childhood, raised by a mother with serious issues, married a woman who, long
story short, took advantage, and used her child as a pawn.... I will say that
he writes about what he knows, he has made a market for himself, and is
learning along the way. (His music reflects that learning) He tells a great
story through his music, and if you can get past the language, (there are
censored/clean copies of his music available, you don't have to buy the
original version!) and know a little about his life, his music is really deep
and moving. All this, and I am not really a big rap fan! <g>

On painting windows, or putting signs up. The town I live in is really weird.
It is the capitol city and we have more than our share of politicians and
lawyers. We also have our share of weird/way-out-there religious element too.
One thing that we have way too much of is signs. A man named Fred Phelps
lives here with his family/religious community, he is a disbarred
lawyer/preacher extrodinare! Our town will have seminars on how to "combat"
the (soon to be held) KKK/arian nation rally on the capital steps, but sits
idly by for years as Mr. Phelps preaches hate from the street corner daily. I
know from experience that the one way to draw people away from your cause is
to put up signs telling everyone how what they are doing is wrong. So with
that background, I think putting up signs or painting on windows could be
very tacky, and that is just my opinion and not an attempt to make anyone
feel bad. I guess my point is, if you want to educate the educators about
unschooling, painting negative and blasting quotes about how bad school is
won't get the job done. And it just might make you look like some fanatical,
kooky, nut.

One last bit... Sandra, I really enjoyed hearing about the conference! I hope
others who went will share too!!! (More! More! Give me More!) I also liked
hearing about the video game talk. I think I need a copy of that to share
with certain members of my family. (myself included, as sometimes I slip and
wonder what the kids really learn from the PS2!) Jack would be a good kid to
show his skills off. Only being 6, he really amazes me with his ability. He
loves to play Spiderman and a role-playing game for kids called Jak and
Daxter. I love to sit and watch him play, he is so animated, he gives me blow
by blow descriptions of what he has just done. (even though I am sitting
right there! <g>) He will even pause the game, jump up, run to me and reenact
the game for me, complete with descriptions that go like this, "Then I jumped
up and BOOM! I fell into dark eco and died! then i came back and had to get
some more powercells so I went to the farmer and chased his cows back to the
fence and he gave me his cell and did you know you have to slap the cows to
get them to go? Did you have to slap your cows to get them to go
along-time-ago-back-when-you-were-little? I bet you didn't live on the beach
with your cows..." All the time his face is glowing, and you can tell his
brain is going faster then he can get the words out! How do I get a copy of
that tape?!!? <g>
~Nancy~back to lurkedom




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