Old World Swine

O Frabjous Day!

Huzzah! Our daughter is being confirmed tonight. Her confirmation name is Bernadatte. It is great to see her so excited about it. She really understands.

Celebration after Mass.

Jerks Have Free Speech, Too

I have never seen a whole episode of South Park. Don't plan to. I hear its funny enough, but there's no shortage of funny stuff out there, probably a mere fraction of which would be enough to keep me chuckling right into the grave, even without, you know, making a special effort to crap all over the religion that me and my family and friends profess and hold dear.

Same with Family Guy. Funny stuff, and often filthy and/or blasphemous. Thank you, no. They are free to do as they like, and I am free to take a pass.

Now I read a headline (I happily admit to knowing nothing more about it) which notes that South Park is receiving death threats from Muslims because the show's writers have worked up the bile to blaspheme Mohammed.

Meh.

I didn't appreciate it when South Park went out of their way to rub my face in the dirt, I don't expect that your ordinary Muslim likes the experience any better. South Park are a bunch of jerks, in other words, and the fact that they are taking a break from being jerks toward me in order to be jerks toward someone else doesn't change my opinion of them at all.

At the same time, I don't remember hearing about the show receiving death threats from angry Presbyterians or the Knights of Columbus after making fun of Jesus. There's something in that, too.

We do have free speech, here, and that includes jerks.

As I say... meh. Christianity - and I dare say Islam - will be here long after South Park is not even the hazy memory of a memory.

The Return of Strep-enwolf

Blogging has been feeble lately because (I discovered) that sinus infection I had a couple of weeks ago was no ordinary bug, but is in fact Strep, as first became apparent this weekend when the nasty blighter came roaring back. Symptoms aren't yet as bad as they were in Round One, but my throat hurts like... well, it hurts and I'll spare you a comparison or a laundry list of aches and pains.

In this state, it's all I can manage to corral my daily charge of 135 kids (in successive smaller mobs of 20-25).

Incidentally...

A boy came to my classroom door a few days ago, after school, and asked me how I liked the drawing he had done in class that day.

I gazed at the ceiling for a few seconds as I thought to myself "Help me out here... exactly which, of the 140 projects I've seen today, was it?".

Instead, I guessed, "Ummm... you mean your chameleon picture?". He nodded, "Yeah."

My eyes involuntarily rolled upward again, trying to remember it. I thought I did. Maybe.

"Oh, yes. I did like it. You did a god job." He smiled a little.

Afterward, I could have banged my head on the cinder block wall... "Dumb! How could I have blown it more thoroughly? When a student comes to your door asking if you liked their drawing, you smile and say immediately - without hesitation - "It was awesome. You really did great on that one."

Why didn't I do that? I think because I'm a guy. When you ask me something about a recent event, my mind starts working in a very prosaic, rational and linear fashion right back to the event in question, so I can give the most accurate answer possible. Accuracy, truth, the exchange of relevant information... that is what questions and answers are about.

I  was just a tick too slow to understand that what he was really asking me was, "Do you like me?". And as a consequence, I gave him an answer that was the equivalent of "Well, from what I can remember, I like you reasonably well.".

Dumb!

I won't get caught flat-footed like that again. Most female teachers would have known, I think, to give the inquiring child their warmest smile and say, "Your drawing was fantastic. I think it's one of your best yet.".

Correct me if you think I'm off base, here, with the male/female thing. I suppose it could be just a rookie mistake, but it seems typical of that particular kind of emotional tone-deafness from which men more often suffer.

"Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."

This very likely doesn't speak well of me, but I was thinking recently about bacon and wondered if perhaps the Old Testament prohibition on pork was initially put in place because the good Lord was holding the flesh of the noble swine in reserve as The Yummiest Thing On The Planet, which ought properly to be brought forth only after the Resurrection. Anyway, there must be some reason ham is such a popular Easter dish.

Christ is risen! Spring is here... and there's bacon! I don't know how anyone could eat bacon and doubt the essential goodness of God.