ok, so sesame street live was...... hm. a necessary evil? i am torn over it, since the initial wonder, fascination, and joy made it worth it, but the overstimulation and exhaustion that soon followed made it questionable. how many songs in how many styles can you possibly fit into an hour and a half? how many colors? how many dancing characters, how many musical instruments, how much lights, sound, action? uhhhhhhhh. why an intermission (to sell $10 elmo balloons, that's why)? why a second half that draaaaaaaaagged, during which every parent COULD NOT wait for the finale, and i think more than a few of the kids too. mine was pretty "eh!" with it by then. i'm glad we went, but i know now i will not take him to every event of this type. he has way more fun with a cardboard box at this juncture.
the jist of the show was "everything makes music." also sub "anyone." i DO not agree...... lots of things make sounds, but not music (according to the show, a doorbell or a telephone "make music"). and while anyone might reasonably be able to smack a cowbell with a stick, it's not necessarily going to be musical, it might be something that it's like, SHUT UP, PLEASE. it raises a lot of questions in my mind, why is there so much propaganda to get kids into music? i think they are naturally drawn to it, it doesn't have to be shoved down their throats. and as far as the YOU can make music, that's fine and everything, but it's part of that insidious self-esteem campaign that i'm always so wary of. i realize plenty of kids grow up in households where they are ignored or put down, and that self worth is essential to learning. but ALWAYS telling kids how great they are, and they can do anything if they just try and practice and you can do it and all that, hmmmm. big time paranoia on my part, but sometimes i think it's all some scheme to market a next-gen pill, to make them feel this great feeling about themselves that they've been led to believe they're always supposed to feel.
it also has me thinking "what exactly qualifies as music?" kind of thoughts, but that's a whole nother can of worms......
Trisha's Journal
My Podcast Link
03/03/2008 10:14 #43535
not necessarily necessary01/20/2008 21:53 #42966
"sanctioned"?? hmmmi randomly came across this from looking around on the irs's website. i'm not exactly sure how the things below count as charitable contributions. seems like it ought to be deducted as part of work related expenses or the like. maybe the captains are killing the whales charitably. for the eskimos, i mean, not for the whales.
but, as always, i'm sure our fine gov't knows exactly what it's doing.
it's odd, i don't think of whaling as something that goes on anymore. i mean, are there a lot of existing eskimos, who need a lot of dead whale?
Expenses of Whaling Captains
You may be able to deduct as a charitable contribution the reasonable and necessary whaling expenses paid during the year in carrying out sanctioned whaling activities. The deduction is limited to $10,000 a year. To claim the deduction, you must be recognized by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission as a whaling captain charged with the responsibility of maintaining and carrying out sanctioned whaling activities.
Sanctioned whaling activities are subsistence bowhead whale hunting activities conducted under the management plan of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission.
Whaling expenses include expenses for:
*
Acquiring and maintaining whaling boats, weapons, and gear used in sanctioned whaling activities,
*
Supplying food for the crew and other provisions for carrying out these activities, and
*
Storing and distributing the catch from these activities.
but, as always, i'm sure our fine gov't knows exactly what it's doing.
it's odd, i don't think of whaling as something that goes on anymore. i mean, are there a lot of existing eskimos, who need a lot of dead whale?
Expenses of Whaling Captains
You may be able to deduct as a charitable contribution the reasonable and necessary whaling expenses paid during the year in carrying out sanctioned whaling activities. The deduction is limited to $10,000 a year. To claim the deduction, you must be recognized by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission as a whaling captain charged with the responsibility of maintaining and carrying out sanctioned whaling activities.
Sanctioned whaling activities are subsistence bowhead whale hunting activities conducted under the management plan of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission.
Whaling expenses include expenses for:
*
Acquiring and maintaining whaling boats, weapons, and gear used in sanctioned whaling activities,
*
Supplying food for the crew and other provisions for carrying out these activities, and
*
Storing and distributing the catch from these activities.
metalpeter - 01/21/08 17:07
James you could not have cause you do Unsancationed whaling and sell the meat to Burger King. Yes seriously years ago Some burger kings (not sure where) used whale meat. If people still do it legaly it would make sense. It is like any other business where some of you can deduct stuff for your taxes.
James you could not have cause you do Unsancationed whaling and sell the meat to Burger King. Yes seriously years ago Some burger kings (not sure where) used whale meat. If people still do it legaly it would make sense. It is like any other business where some of you can deduct stuff for your taxes.
james - 01/20/08 22:52
You mean I could have deducted all that?
You mean I could have deducted all that?
01/03/2008 14:22 #42738
love that octopus
http://estrip.org/elmwood/users/trisha/images/0108/th_10013030103.jpg12/10/2007 15:13 #42457
discipline? yeah, right...so i go upstairs to free my son, who isn't napping despite the fact that i KNOW he's beat, and i think, 'hm, it kinda smells like baby powder.' one second later i know just what happened, and sure enough, he's standing at his gate, COVERED from hair to feet in it, standing in a big white pile of it, smiling like a cherub (of course). what can i do but laugh? so then he laughs, and i TRY to do the right thing and tell him that's naughty, but he's laughing and i'm laughing and there's powder all over the goddamn floor. sigh......
libertad - 12/10/07 22:59
I love when you post about your kids.
I love when you post about your kids.
jenks - 12/10/07 21:11
hahahah that reminds me of this picture I posted- same exact thing. You want to strangle 'em, but how could you...
:::link:::
hahahah that reminds me of this picture I posted- same exact thing. You want to strangle 'em, but how could you...
:::link:::
metalpeter - 12/10/07 17:57
I know this sounds kinda wrong, but I don't mean it that way. I know it is made to help cover up bad smells but doesn't Baby Powder smell so nice and fresh and good or maybe it is just me, I also like the smell of Gasoline (for cars not for setting things on fire with).
I know this sounds kinda wrong, but I don't mean it that way. I know it is made to help cover up bad smells but doesn't Baby Powder smell so nice and fresh and good or maybe it is just me, I also like the smell of Gasoline (for cars not for setting things on fire with).
11/24/2007 13:54 #42270
wouldn't it be nice...if everyone just MADE each other a nice gift for christmas, and left it at that. yeah, there'd still be a lot of purchases going on, you'd need materials, but each thing would be so much more from the heart, rather than an obligatory object. plus it might encourage people to expand their skills and talents. you'd have to be a real cold hearted grinch to just half-ass something, or to talk trash about someone's less-than-perfect creation.
eh. what do i know. christ was born, the son of god, here you go, here's an ipod.
and that said, i write with the full knowledge that my list, while long, doesn't have a single homemade thing on it.... i definitely don't know a cobbler. and i'm not making anything for the kids, though i plan to for the adults.
in any case, it's still my very favorite holiday, despite rampant spending and bad behavior. like a simpleton, i am so easily distracted by all the shininess and sparklies, the cinnamon scents and mountains of cookies, the fact that a tree is dragged indoors and totally fucked with. i love it, every last bit.
eh. what do i know. christ was born, the son of god, here you go, here's an ipod.
and that said, i write with the full knowledge that my list, while long, doesn't have a single homemade thing on it.... i definitely don't know a cobbler. and i'm not making anything for the kids, though i plan to for the adults.
in any case, it's still my very favorite holiday, despite rampant spending and bad behavior. like a simpleton, i am so easily distracted by all the shininess and sparklies, the cinnamon scents and mountains of cookies, the fact that a tree is dragged indoors and totally fucked with. i love it, every last bit.
imk2 - 11/24/07 14:02
i am making most of my gifts. just about everyone is getting a hand painted flower pot. actually, if you took into account the amount of time it took into painting those flower pots, they'd all be worth about 500 dollars each. i hope people like them as much as i do.
i am making most of my gifts. just about everyone is getting a hand painted flower pot. actually, if you took into account the amount of time it took into painting those flower pots, they'd all be worth about 500 dollars each. i hope people like them as much as i do.
In terms of the Self Esteem thing. I think that kids should have self esteem about them sleves but not what they do. Coming in last should be last and you lost no go practice till you can beat the other kid. I understand that the world is very competetive and that people are trying to teach about particapating and that the result isn't allways what matters. But they aren't doing it the right way. There are some kids who don't have self esteem and if they fail at things then it gets lower and those kids need to be taught how to deal with things as opposed to it is ok here is your award for coming in 15th last. They then get rewarded for failing.
In terms of Music. Everyone defines what is music for them selves. It is kinda like asking what is art? I think what happens most times is someone doesn't like the music or it doesn't follow the rules they think of what music is so they say it isn't music. I think it is also important to know and consider that we mostly use music for entrainment and or to make it our selves. But that isn't all it is used for. Sometimes it is a way to tell stories, gain realigous enlightenment or even communacate to someone else.
I think music education is something important to learn. However what teachers must understand is that it has to be fun. When I took a music class I didn't really care because the music wasn't anything I was into. Now if the teacher would have brought out a Guitar and played some classic rock for a few minutes and gone through the notes then explained that before you can get to play that you have to learn the basics first I would have been all into it. The reason that learning music is good is that it is a different way of learning then for other classes. I call it physical learning meaning that you have to use your fingers and/or how you breath to manipulate something to make a sound. Learning music also teaches you how to read notes and that is like no other form of reading. When you get into the timing aspect that is another way to learn. But what learning music also does it that you can play something exactly how it is written and be perfect or you can improvise and have fun with a piece by changing one little thing. But maybe most importantly it breaks up the day and gives kids a reason to come to school. "man who cares about all these old dead white guys and when am I ever going to need all this crap" Becomes " I can't wait till we all jam out at the end of class today".
If I can education-nerd dork out on ya for a second.
Music is awesome for kids for so many reasons. So much of how we communicate has to do with noise and language has a lot to do with pitch, timbre, dynamics. Music has all those things in droves. Kids with learning disabilities often have problems either interpreting these subtle parts of language or have problems reproducing them in their own speech.
Educators also love the hell out of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, which says, briefly, that intelligence can be understood as a composite of eight different types of intelligence. Music hits on at least three of those, two of which are the most important in our culture.
But, that does not mean you have to teach kids to think telephones make music when all they do is make headaches.
Makes me glad we are past those days