Ah, few people appreciate my sense of humor, so I know how you feel.

Re-reading The Book Thief and Animal Farm. My job this fall will be to teach social studies units paralleling each novel, a cross-curricular adventure, as it were. I've done this before, but I taught both the novel and the social studies connections/background. I'm nervous about having to coordinate with another teacher. Teachers can be a bit territorial!

I don't see many posts by Emily lately; I enjoyed her thoughtfulness and spunk.   

No, I've never been to Nicaragua. I've been as far south as Guatemala when traveling as a girl with my family. A different world. The guards at the Mexican border almost didn't let us cross back over because, I think, it was 1969 and one of my brothers looked liked a stereotypical hippie. We had to empty out our whole tent trailer and car so that they could search for pot, I guess.

How nice that you have tea with biscuit. I enjoy afternoon tea, which is not a typical ritual in the USA. Does biscuitmean what Americans would call a cookie (a sweet treat)? We refer to biscuits as a non-sweetened roll, more to have with the evening meal. I once baked cookies for a homesick young lady from South Africa. She thanked me and said, "The biscuits - they were lovely!" I was a bit confused, but smiled graciously.

Very cute  - a doggy who is friendly with the kitty. In my experience, cats are always attacking indifferent dogs.

Sonya sounds like a true friend. I'm sure you bring other benefits to the relationship, such as your sense of humor!

"I think it is (or it's) the right thing..." is correct, with "is" being the verb. We would not say, "I think it right thing." However, and this is tricky, more formal speakers sometimes say, "I think it the right thing to..." Another example is, "I think it best that you ..." These two examples are grammatically correct in terms of boring, complicated rules of grammar (content clauses, objects and predicates, blah, blah, blah), but I last heard this kind of speech on Downton Abbey! Hope this helps.

Read with my students an article about menstrual huts in Nepal. You?

Oh, that's what I thought you meant. On that note, I must go to bed and try not to ponder further.

What you say is true IF both parties have an attitude that fosters free exchange of ideas without taking everything personally and the discussion is not used as an excuse to win an argument for the sake of one's ego. People such as this are few and far between, in my experience.

Yeah, I am always suspicious of people who seem to go out of their way to let others know what noble feelings they have, what kind deeds they perform. In my experience, its a cover for not being so wonderful. 

My sons seemed to take an interest in the spectacle of the planes blowing up the WTC, but did not appear to care about any other aspect of it.
I did not allow an excessive amount of coverage to be seen/heard in my home at that time. Kids can get overwhelmed when it comes to issues like this that they have no control over. We talked about it, but I wanted them to maintain a reasonable sense of safety. 

Wrinkly turkey neck? Does that mean what I think it means?

It's more an issue of I feel as I feel, purely on an emotional level, and others feel as they feel. It's best, IMO, not to force one's views on others. Of course, I'll discuss my beliefs if asked. When I say "judgey," it's not as if I think that someone who eats meat is a bad person and I must tell them that. I just don't like the fact that people eat meat when it causes so much suffering.

I never liked meat as a child, stopped eating it around age 16 when I became aware of the treatment of the animals used for food. If meat were necessary for life and health, I'd not be so judgey of meat-eaters (which I am, but see the following). Don't miss it. I still eat/drink dairy products because I am too lazy to plan/prepare a healthy vegan diet and like to think that the cows providing the milk are not suffering. I have "cheated" with clams, mussels, oysters on a few occasions because I tell myself that these creatures don't have a developed enough nervous system to suffer. No, I don't practice TM or anything like it. I twice had some meat as a dinner guest; took a small slither, nibbled a bite, pushed it around my plate, covered it with mashed potatoes, etc. I don't like to force my opinions on others.

Though on virtue-signaling and people who seem to be a bit to self-aggrandizing in terms of their love for all mankind:

The psychology of rescuers (those who risk their lives to save potential victims of genocide) is actually a "thing." Interestingly, they are a widely diverse group. However, they tend to have a few things in common, one of which is NOT necessarily being seen universally as kind or good or nice. They have a high level of empathy, but a genuine sort that is not for show. They tend to feel more personal responsibility for others in danger. (Rather than say how terrible the killing is, they act.) However, many more than might be expected are those whom their peers would never have suspected would take such risks for others. They are often not very popular and care little about pleasing others. They follow laws because they make sense and are ethical, not out of fear of judgement. Hence, when their society's ideas of right and wrong are turned on their head, rescuers continue to follow their own moral compass and often are able to go "under the radar." They also tend to come from parents who, through example or more directly, communicated their belief that no group of people were less than another. They often had positive relationship(s) with the hunted group as children. (For instance, in the Holocaust, they might have turned off electric lights for Jews in their neighborhood. ) My favorite story is about a French tailor whom most people just tolerated because he did good work and delivered promptly. He saved scores of Jews, hiding them in a hidden compartment in his car. With piles of suits on top of everything, he drove back and forth between
the north and south zones, each time going through a dangerous checkpoint. No one knew about this until those whom he saved stated this. He never said a word.

I took Lee's statement "Sometimes, although not 50/50, people have to share the blame" to mean that the victim, well, shared the blame. When I walk in certain neighborhoods in my fine city, I see people who are extremely vulnerable to criminal behavior everywhere. Still, I never consider stealing a woman's last dollar, mounting men for my own gratification, punching anyone out in order to get out my frustrations. If I were to do any of these things, I would hold myself 100% responsible for my actions. It would NEVER occur to me that the poor sick addicts would share in the responsibility for my choice to violate their rights to feel secure in terms of person or property. "Well, he was just lying there and the money was hanging out of his pocket, so..."

As for the drinking issue, I am always amazed at how people across cultures seem to not view alcohol as the drug it is. It never ceases to amaze me when I read studies calling pot "the gateway drug" for addicts. Right. I've actually never met an addict (and I've known more than a few, worked in a rehab center) who did not have their first sips of booze well before their first tokes of Mary Jane. And I've seen many, many more lives destroyed  by alcohol addiction than addiction to any other substance. I've accompanied people to AA meetings when NA meetings were not available, always sharing the caveat that one should never admit to being addicted to something other than booze because the reaction is swift and sure - the dignity of the other attendees is shored up by the belief that they are not like THEM. Sure, I'll have one mixed drink when out to dinner, but despise drunkenness. I wish that this woman was not drunk, for her own sake. But she shares no blame for someone raping her.

Yeah, I think that some kids at the age you were either didn't care very much or grew anxious from seeing news accounts and videos over and over again. Also, it is natural to feel more disengaged when an event happens on the other side of the world.

True that kids would have been OK if the event happened at the same time the following week, although who know if the timing would have been the same? Either way, the connection between what happened and the planned trip hit a nerve.

I was at work, about 75 miles from New York. My principal asked if I'd heard what had just happened, and I said, "No, what?" He told me to just go home and hug my kids. On the way, I heard on the radio what had happened; by that time, it was pretty clear that the incidents were related and intentional. My twins, who were to turn 11 the next day, were looking forward to a school field trip scheduled for the following week. At one point, they were to go to the top of the World Trade Center to survey the city. Where were you? What was your response at first?

And yes, I agreed with you and others that we are all mixed.

Yes, I'd prefer a free DNA test. Unfortunately, they are not typically given for free, hence the payment.

Usually, the books are either all free OR all cheap, but not at the same time. Yes, I prefer free everything.

Oh, yes, libraries in my area frequently offer free books, as well as those for less than $1.00 to raise money. On man's trash is another man's treasure!

RRA1  -

People though to be indigenous to North America were initially (and for a long time) referred to as Indians because, as the story goes, when Christopher Columbus  arrived, he assumed that he was in the area of India and Southeast Asia and called them that. Around the middle of the 20th Century, use of the term Native American was considered more respectful. My understanding is that most NAs prefer to be referred to in terms of their particular group - Penobscot, Lakota, Miccosukee, etc. To confuse matters further, however, I've been to numerous PowWows (cultural events/meetings of NAs) in which many take no offense at the use of the term Indian, finding it more economical. They will note that the NA label resulted in no better treatment or conditions for their people, anyway.

I encourage you to get a DNA test. Mine was "on sale" for $49.00 and confirmed much of what I already knew via family lore and other evidence. You might learn some interesting things that could open up cobwebs in the brains of older relatives. 

How are you enjoying the Hitchcock stories? I used to read a Hitchcock magazine, back in the 70s, with his short stories and others like them. I think I read "The Secret of the crooked Cat" somewhere else. As I recall, I enjoyed the realism of life in the circus back in the day - different from what the public saw.

Not even 99/1%. This kind of thinking is just what is used by predators to help justify their behavior. "Oooh, she dressed like this or that, is in a vulnerable state, etc., so it's OK to do XYZ!" She was 100% for engaging in risky behavior, that is an issue of self-protection between herself and herself. He is 100% responsible for aggressing on another human being. Huge difference.

1.  Manioca - Who knew it was the source of tapioca? Not me.
2.  Fredericka - Sounds better for a woman's name.
3.  Pizza - I'm a vegetarian.
4.  Spider, I guess. Hate both.
5.  Silly - Sounds more fun.
6.  Brick - warn and cozy look.
7.  Neither. Both annoy me.
8.  Cooly cool, definitely, Just sounds more...cool.
9.  Steering wheel - Takes me places, doesn't stop me.
10.  Meadows  - sounds more romantic.

Wow! Fascinating stuff. I'm guessing that we will find more and more DNA sharing among those Black and White people of southern descent. Their lives were so intertwined, especially in terms of slave owners and slaves. I recall reading an article addressing the fact that, while the master/slave situation was the source of much mixing of DNA, a another significant source were relationships between slaves and indentured.servants, especially from the British Isles.

My goodness, Lee Marshall.  I agree that it is advisable that we all avoid imbibing excessive amounts of  alcohol and other drugs for our own sakes, as that leaves us less able to protect ourselves. That is a far cry, however, from saying that the victim of a sexual assault  shares responsibility with a rapist for his choice to violate her. This man aggressed on her. If someone forgets to lock their car door does that make a carjacker less culpable?