More on things that make me crazy...

Some of you read my post on this woman who was denied service at Steak N Shake because she is deaf.

Fox News Chicago picked up the story and so did a lot of other bloggers.

This is what she writes on her blog:
Last night, shortly after calling the corporate headquarters via relay, an employee from their Human Resources division called me. She sent me an email apologizing for the incident. She called again this morning to see if we could set up a meeting with the manager in question and discuss the issue. They agreed to provide an interpreter for this meeting.

What do you think? Will you go to Steak and Shake? I think I won't.

Jacob's Ladder...in Haiku, of course

Jake left Be'ersheva
On his way to find a wife
He stopped for the night.

He lay on a rock
He slept well - and had a dream
It was a good one.

A ladder he saw
Reaching up to the heavens
Angels on its rungs -

Going up and down.
And God gave Jake a blessing:
Things are good for you -

This land is your land
You will have a lot of kids
You'll spread all over.

Jake woke up and said:
"Surely God is in this place!
How could I not know!?"

"This place is awesome!"
He made an altar of rock
And named it Bethel.

Then Jake kept going.
He ran into his cousin
Pretty girl Rachel.

It's love at first sight!
"I'll work seven years for you"
he told his uncle...

"If I can have her."
And so they agreed - a deal!
But trickery loomed.

(Remember Jake's trick?
He duped his dad for blessing...
Now it is his turn.)

Instead of Rachel
Laban did a switcheroo
Leah was the girl!

After the wedding
Jacob complained he was tricked
Demanded Rachel.

Laban said, "No prob."
"Just work another seven!"
Jacob said okay.

Leah had children;
Rachel did not have any.
Lots of sons were born.

Reuben and Simeon,
Levi and Judah and Dan...
Naftali and Gad.

Asher, Issachar
Zebulon and then Dinah
Finally - Joseph!

Only one was Ray's
The rest were all born by Sis
Or by the "maid" wives.

Jake fin'lly moves on
Decides it's time to get out
But Laban's not pleased.

They leave in the night
Jake and clan sneak out of camp
But Rach messes up.

She steals Laban's "gods"
He finds his idols missing.
So he chases them.

Laban catches up
And searches for his idols
But Rach hides them well

Laban plays "sad dad"
They agree to disagree
The two make a pact.

Laban goes away
Back to his land...Jake to his
They parted their way.

Ah...the joys of Genesis!

See more Haiku Friday here...

Art and Seeing

For our motzei Shabbat activity (after Shabbat ends, on Saturday night), we had the unexpected pleasure of an hour or so out...my m-in-law was home with the kids, and so we dashed out to see the Highwood Fine Arts Festival, a very small art show in our own small town. While much of the art was nice and somewhat ordinary, we were delighted with the art of Inna Deriy, who paints with pigmented polymers on stone, wood, and canvas. Let me tell you, it leads to gorgeous colors and beautiful images. I am not even really sure what a polymer is (I know I wouldn't eat it!) but I know what I think is beautiful.

I wasn't able to find a picture of the small piece that we bought. It has the image of tree trunks. I love images of trees...I think trees are so incredible and wonderful as a symbol of longevity in nature. I also love the Jewish imagery of the Torah as the Tree of Life, and I also love the idea of a family tree. Overall, I'm a tree girl.

I did find this image, though, and it is quite beautiful. There is also a story about it that the artist's husband shared with us while we perused the booth. He said a blind woman was walking through an art fair they were doing once, and she bemoaned that she couldn't really see all the art that her companion was describing. He offered to let her touch this painting (at the time it was all white, with just the texture of the image -- it's hard to see in the picture here but all her art is very textured), and as she ran her fingers over it, she said, "oh, it's tulips!" but they hadn't even told her what it was.

It is amazing how our senses work. Many people who have full functional use of their eyes are "blind" to the world, not seeing beauty or love....or not seeing problems in the world. This story was a beautiful reminder that we shouldn't always just see with our eyes...

Role Models or Anti-Role Models?

Definitely, the sports world seems to be falling apart.

Let's see....the Yahoo Sports Headlines today:

- Michael Vick's (Atlanta Falcons football) dogfighting charges
- NBA match-fixing scandal
- two NHL stars arrested for disorderly conduct
- Michael Rasmussen removed from the Tour de France
- Baseball's steroids scandal
- New York Islanders re-sign Chris Simon, who was suspended for attacking another player

Hmm...I think it's time to find some new role models outside of the sporting world, that's for sure.

On the upside, I was impressed with Tiger Woods' decision to release photos of his new baby (so cute) without "selling" them to the press. And of course, I'm excited about the Chicago Cubs' current winning thing (and the Brewers, I am a Milwaukee girl at heart)...

but I can't really find a lot of role modeling for my own children in the sports world. I see so many kids wearing sports jerseys, t-shirts, hats, and thinking so much about the professional sporting world. In some ways this makes me so sad. There are so many other role models out there that we can introduce our children to. Perhaps it's time to stop idolizing these athletes....

On the other hand, it is possible that these scandals can serve for us another purpose. Maybe these folks (athletes and also actors such as Lindsay Lohan, arrested again with another DUI), provide us with the opportunity to see how NOT to act, provide us with anti-role models for our children. We can point out the wrongs in their behavior as an example to ourselves and our families how not to act. Or, as Julia Keller explained on May 15th in the Chicago Tribune, we can use their inflated salaries to remind us about what's really important:

Fat salaries worth every penny

Everybody reacts to the news of Roger Clemens' new salary the same way: First, there's the head tilt ("Did I hear that right?"). Next, there's the petulant extension of the lower lip ("It isn't fair -- what about all the starving kids in the world?").

If you're not a baseball fan, here's a recap: Clemens, 44, who retires and then returns about as often as most people brush their teeth, signed a contract with the New York Yankees last week. He'll get a reported $28 million for the rest of the season, or about $4.67 million a month, a number that seemed to stun even insanely enraptured baseball fans.

Don't firefighters perform a more important function? How about pre-school teachers?Isn't Clemens' compensation absurd? Or Oprah's? Or Katie Couric's?

There was a time I would've thought so. But not anymore. I've come to believe that we actually need the occasional jolt of a glaring disparity such as this. How else can we remind ourselves that in our hearts, we really do value preschool teachers over pitchers? Or firefighters over first basemen? Yankees owner George Steinbrenner doesn't -- clearly, he believes Clemens is worth the dough, while nuns and nurses aren't -- but we each get to set our own moral compass, even if ours is only theoretical.

C.S. Lewis used to wonder at people who claimed they don't believe in God because of all the evil in the world. His point: If there's no God, then where did we get these abstract concepts of good and evil, anyway? If there were no straight lines, we wouldn't know what to call a crooked one. Crooked compared with what?

We need Clemens' crazy paycheck to remind us of what we really revere. Our outrage is more dazzling than any fastball. Our anger puts us on the side of the angels -- and not just the ones who won the Series back in '02.

Too Much Praise?

My son came home from the last day of his sports class/program with a trophy. What for? I asked him. "Because I won it!" he said. Turns out, as you might have guessed, everyone got a trophy. ???? Why a trophy? What is the need to reward my child because I signed him up for this program? He enjoyed it -- in fact, he loved it. It was non-competitive, a different sports activity each week. I loved that he loved it. Did we need a trophy that will collect dust and then find its way to a landfill to remind us of this pre-school activity? I don't think so.

I heard a piece on NPR that spoke to this problem, and I found this article that talks about this phenomenon of the "most praised" generation.

You, You, You -- you really are special, you are! You've got everything
going for you. You're attractive, witty, brilliant. "Gifted" is the word
that comes to mind.
Childhood in recent decades has been defined by
such stroking -- by parents who see their job as building self-esteem,
by soccer coaches who give every player a trophy, by schools that used
to name one "student of the month" and these days name 40.
Now, as this greatest generation grows up, the culture of praise is reaching
deeply into the adult world. Bosses, professors and mates are feeling
the need to lavish praise on young adults, particularly twentysomethings, or else see them wither under an unfamiliar compliment deficit.

I'm not sure exactly what the message is that my son took home along with his trophy. Just showing up is great -- but does it deserve an award? Sometimes. But how do I teach him the difference?

A little too early for that?!

Although I haven't got a good picture (hard to take a pic of this moving activity...I will try for a video, tho), I am scared to announce that my daughter has learned to roll over.

Here is what BabyCenter says about rolling over:
Your baby may be able to kick himself over, from his tummy to his back, as early as age 2 to 3 months. It may take him until he's about 5 or 6 months to flip from back to front, though, because he needs stronger neck and arm muscles for that maneuver.

Yeah. Well.

She's 3 months old.

Back to front, front to back...across the room!

This is madness. You're supposed to be able to leave them alone still.

Guess not!

Do you think she just wants to be able to chase after her brothers!?

How often do we think about milestones for our children? How often are we rushing to the next stage, wishing they could start school, learn to read, ride a bike, get their drivers' license, walk already, talk already....I have always tried so hard to "live in the moment" with my kiddos, trying to enjoy the stage that they're in (even if I might hate it!) because I know it will be fleeting...But this is a little much for me!