December 2008 – Lina Branter

Vacation Haze

This whole idea of vacation is strange. It always makes me slightly uncomfortable, mainly because I have an uneasy suspicion that if I actually stop and do nothing for a day, I won’t be able to get back to the usual pace I need to keep in order to maintain our life. But here IContinue reading “Vacation Haze”

The things we pass on

I saw it coming from a mile away. Seated on the hard wooden bench pushed against the wall to wall mirrors, I saw her face go red, the timid half-smile replaced with a wide-eyed look of terror. The eyes going wide in an attempt to not let the tears welling in the tear ducts overwhelmContinue reading “The things we pass on”

A Guide on How to Survive the Staff Christmas Party

The Annual Christmas Party is a new phenomena for me. The last couple of years I have been able to avoid them by working in such a huge organization that my absence would not be commented on. However I have a new job, with a whole new organizational culture. One in which my absence wouldContinue reading “A Guide on How to Survive the Staff Christmas Party”

Banning the hoodie:Another way of overpolicing our children

I came across this article from School Library Journal the other day and was horrified. Here is an excerpt from this article: In October, school officials banned students at North Garland High School in Texas from wearing hooded sweatshirts, alleging that kids could use them to hide their faces from security cameras or to concealContinue reading “Banning the hoodie:Another way of overpolicing our children”

Overheard and Unbelievable

I read the Nanny Diaries a couple of years ago. Although it was a horribly written book (the movie was not much better), it stayed with me as my first introduction into the insane things people did to their kids in the name of education (or more like the insane orders parents give their nanniesContinue reading “Overheard and Unbelievable”