Turning Ten

The blog quietly turned ten last month. I was compelled to start writing ten years ago because of the amazing stories surrounding the birth of my first child. Humans are known to birth frequently - more than two babies are born on Planet Earth every second. But when it happens to you, you sit up and notice :-)

Vivian also turned ten this month, and a lot less quietly. On her birthday we went to Fonda San Miguel for an early dinner and then back home for cake with friends and Uncle Alu and Aunt Michelle.

Then, more than a week later, she had a small party at home. Just close friends and 80's fashion and some karaoke. Instead of cake we had a pile of cookies with a single candle on top. When the kids weren't singing, the moms did. Even Evan (as Marty McFly in a plaid shirt and puffy jacket vest) and cousin Ava belted out a very serious rendition of a duet.

By the time the last of over sixty kids and a few dozen parents had left it was past 11pm. Jo and I surveyed the house and the yard and we felt like we had just witnessed a rager at a frat house. But I'm getting ahead of myself - that is at least a full seven years away.

Hunger

Tomorrow, Magellan students will package ten thousand bags of food for delivery to places in the world where people are starving. Earlier this week we cooked a bag from last year's event - a mixture of rice, soy, lentil, dehydrated carrots, and a vitamin/flavor pack. We had pork tenderloin in Goan coconut curry to go with it, otherwise it would have been pretty basic.

For tomorrow's event I made some slides to add context to the event (probably for 2nd graders upwards). Here they are. Mostly pretty disheartening.

The Death of Privilege

If you are like me, in the last two months you've have heard at least one fairly well-off usually white person rail about white privilege about once a day.

Privilege matters. Here's an interesting story by Toby Morris from Auckland that shows how two different lives ended up because of different privileges (if you can't see it, click here: http://deadstate.org/youll-never-see-privilege-the-same-way-again-after-looking-at-this-comic/)

Besides changing Richard's ignorant attitude once he reached the pinnacle of success what should the arc of his life or Paula's have looked like to not make the story end this way? Could Richard have helped Paula? Could society (we) somehow boost Paula's privileges or diminish Richard's?

I have a dirty secret. I try to triple-coat Vivian and Evan in privileges every waking second of every day. Organic local food from Whole Foods to stave off the early onset of strange modern maladies. Private education to bypass the whims of the Texas State Board of Education. A Land Rover so their drive to and from said private school is safer. Spanish language education to help make them globally more marketable. Trips to Sweden and Tahiti to teach them about the world. Tutoring to beat dyslexia. Taekwondo to build self confidence. Dinner table discussions about Einstein. Limited screen time to give their nascent creativity a chance. Lots of Harry Potter, god knows why. In the coming years I'll try to protect them from drugs and teenage pregnancy and naked snap chat photos and push and shove them towards a meaningful higher education and perhaps even nice mates.

People richer in resources and/or more neurotic or dedicated in the pursuit of privilege than me laugh at my feeble efforts as they go about bestowing yacht sized privileges on their offspring. And others with fewer resources/hangups smile and shake their heads. And prepare to complain about privilege later.

As long as everyone in the world is not literally exactly equal, individuals (and groups) have privileges due to the very nature of being unequal. That sucks big time. Even worse - they/we put in systems to maintain structural differences in privileges. Meta privileges. Everything that separates your child from the most underprivileged wretched disease/war/poverty/uncertainty/crime filled child's life in the world is due to individual, structural or generational privileges. How much of this can be legislated away? Or do we crave privilege while we very hypocritically complain about it. 

The End

The end is near. Meanwhile, the sunsets are spectacular.

We liberals in America have our panties tied in knots and nobody else really gives a shit. But as an atheist in a world of believers I witness that belief (in whatever) is way stronger than just the facts Ma'm. Welcome to my world. Alternative facts are how the world has always rolled. 

Tree House

After a year's sabbatical (I don't work outside in warm weather) we are back to the tree house. With Evan's help I'll have it done in no time.

This morning Evan hums:

"I'm sexy and I know it"

After a few times I tell time that this is inappropriate for his age. 

"Why?"

"Do you know what sexy means?"

"I know what sex means"

"Well - sexy means you want to have lots of sex with that person"

"Arghhhhhhh"

A little bit later:

"So dad, do you think you are sexy?"
"Yes. Very sexy"
"I don't think so"
"You better check with mom"
"Mom - is Dad sexy?"
"Sure"
From across the room, Vivian covers her ears and screams and runs out.

JoEllen and I have open conversations with our kids about these things. Earlier this week I described the scene from "Everything you wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask". The part where Woody Allen is dressed as a sperm and they are getting ready to rush the egg. Evan and Vivian imagined the part and pretended to swim towards an egg. It's either going to all work out or Vivian and Evan and going to spend a lot of time in therapy as adults.

For instance, when Vivian drew this on the white board the other morning.

Me: "Vivian - that's a great sketch"
Vivian: "Thanks, Dad"
Jo: "Why is that girl standing on a hairy penis?"
Vivian: "Mom - it's a runway, not a penis. Those are people in the crowd"
Jo: "Oh - it really looks like a hairy penis"

Scouting

This morning I let Evan sleep in instead of driving downtown and joining a few thousand other scouts for the "Report to State" parade because of selfish reasons. I could not stand the thought of spending a nice Saturday morning with Texas politicians pontificating about how the country is going to shit in a hand basket now that the Boy Scouts of America has agreed to allow trans kids to join. Besides, grown-ups in scouts uniforms freak me out a bit.

But the lad is loving scouting. He got a pocket knife and a sheath for Christmas, knows the the Law and Oath forwards and backwards and had a fun time with the EMS crew that showed up last Sunday at their scouts meeting for a show and tell.

Camping

Last week we camped out at Colorado Bend State park. The nights were cold, the days absolutely wonderful. We found out again that we love being outdoors with friends. And Jo still dislikes sleeping in a tent - especially without a sleeping bag.

The highlight was hanging around the campfire with the kids telling stories. Then there was the song:

I farted
It tickled
My butt cheeks jiggled
So I did it again

I told my kids that they would never sing this once the camping trip was over. So they sang it over and over and over for two hours. I thought Tim was going to smack himself in the head with his paddle and slowly and happily fall overboard and drown. Except the river was too shallow and we hit every rock. While they sang.

Tahiti

Grant emailed this photo to me last week. From around August 2012 and one of the best sailing trips. Vivian - you are five and Evan is two. Good times.