No Need to Search for Made-in-America Label at Crystal Bridges Museum
I have a love-hate relationship with Walmart. I hate that the company puts corporate profits above American manufacturing jobs. I won’t even get into the lack of customer service. If one more Walmart manager tells me they don’t have something and I find it right on the shelf, I’m going to scream.
But I love Crystal Bridges, the museum that Walmart money built. Opened on 11-11-11, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a gem in the Ozarks. But unlike the mass-manufactured products Walmart buys from foreign Continue reading
Public Disdain a Needless Response to Charish Periwinkle’s Murder
Rayne Periwinkle, the Jacksonville, Fla., mother whose eight-year-old daughter was murdered after being abducted from a Wal-Mart McDonalds by a pedophile on Friday, is receiving a royal reaming on CafeMom, a popular women’s social networking website.
Replies to a rancorous post on the case range from mild disparagement to outright vitriol. Nearly all point a finger at the mother. “Who needs enemies with a mother like that?” one reply said. “Fry her ass and sterilize her so she can’t have any more kids to endanger,” said another response. The venom goes on.
It’s mob mentality. Anonymous accusations. A chance to feel superior. The sad truth is, such hateful comments represent Continue reading
When Life Gives You Lemons, Parent Anyway
For children, there is no such thing as quality time. Or a perfect time. Or a time when they understand that parents just can’t be there. That’s because they’re kids, and they need all the time we can give them – regardless of our situation.
In the 2009 movie, Company Men, sales executive Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) becomes depressed after losing a six-figure income when his company, a major Boston shipbuilder, decides to down-size prior to a merger. The income that had afforded his family many of the finer things in life is suddenly Continue reading
Court Does The Right Thing Clearing Raquel Nelson of Homicide Charges: She Lost Her Son. She Didn’t Need Jail Time
Italian educator Maria Montessori said that the loss of an object is punishment enough for a child. If they pick up a glass object and drop it, and it breaks into tiny pieces, that loss is sufficient. They should not be scolded. That is how I felt Raquel Nelson should have been treated by the judicial system when a drunk driver struck and killed her four-year-old son, A.J.
According to a July 27, 2011 story by Today contributor Scott Stump, “[Nelson] was convicted of second-degree vehicular homicide, reckless conduct, and failure to use a crosswalk during an incident
Hungry Mom Kitchen Makes Gluten-Free Energy Bars
Don’t these look delicious? They have just the right combination of chewy and a crunchy. I was typing away earlier today, revising a decodable text children’s story that I wrote some years ago. (I’m hoping to get it published!) My energy started to wane as the hours ticked by and I soon found myself in the kitchen. Here’s what happened. Continue reading
