Silence is not always golden

I thought the lack of a response to the posting I made at the end of January was a little strange. It was absolutely the most opinionated, inflammatory posting in the young life of my blog, but the response was mild, to say the least.

Until today. Wow!

There are three entries here, but it is only the last two (from today) that require a response. Allow me to address the issue of the talk-radio host condemning liberals as "anti-God", and I'll address the rest later.

If this talk-radio host was referring to the entire Democratic party as "anti-God" then he is an idiot. But he no more speaks for the majority of Republicans with his opinion than the nutcase professor Ward Churchill speaks for the majority of the Democratic party with his. ("The people who died in the World Trade Towers were Nazis who had it coming," or words to that effect.) Extreme opinions exist in both political parties, and nobody in the mainstream of either party can fairly judge the other by the tail ends of their bell curve.

If the talk-radio host was referring to a sub-set of the Democratic Party as "anti-God", I find that position hard to argue against. There is an "anti-God" subset of the Republican party, for that matter.

But are you serious that a visitor to your church is "invited to participate in communion regardless of his ...personal spiritual beliefs"? Is a visitor asked to believe that Jesus is the Christ? How about that communion is a holy sacrament remembering the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf? Would one of my "anti-God" Republicans be invited to communion?

I assume there is some expectation about a person's essential spiritual beliefs, and that failure to agree with those beliefs would mean you were not invited to participate. If so, then we agree in principal that some things are not to be tolerated - we just might disagree on the details of where to draw those lines. If not, then communion is not really a holy sacrament - it's snack time with really small portions. In other words, if it can mean anything, then it means nothing.

Speaking of tolerance, you agree that "certain things should not be tolerated", (t-shirts to be printed soon), but then do not specify that which shouldn't be tolerated. Surely you're not saying that the free, public expression of the opinions of that radio host shouldn't be tolerated? I await your clarification.

The Crazy Craniums

Several posts ago, I mentioned Austin's participation in an extra-curricular activity known as Destination ImagiNation. As we spent 13 hours yesterday at Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, TX for the Gulf Coast Regional DI tournament, I thought I would tell you what this is all about.

Destination ImagiNation, (DI), according to their website (www.destinationimagination.org) is:

"...one of the world's largest creativity and problem solving programs for youth of all ages, with thousands of participants in 47 US states, 15 countries and Canadian provinces participating annually. Destination ImagiNation® helps kids develop a unique and critical skill set by emphasizing: creativity, brainstorming, critical thinking skills, presentation skills, problem solving, project management, knowledge application, confidence, teamwork, time management, collaboration and research skills.

Our teams solve two types of Challenges within the program year. The Central Team Challenge involves structural, technical or theatrical oriented Challenges and takes several months to solve. Throughout that time the teams also practice improvisational Instant Challenges, which stimulate the team’s ability to think quickly and creatively with only minutes to prepare solutions. When tournament time rolls around, each team’s score reflects its Central Team Challenge performance plus its response to an Instant Challenge."

Hamilton Elementary, (Austin's school), has a very well developed volunteer group supporting this program, and sent five teams to the regional tournament. Four of those teams won the right to go to the State DI competition in Lubbock. One did not.

There were five "Team Challenges" for all DI teams across the United States this year. DIzzy Derby required designing and building a motorized vehicle which could carry up to 2 kids and could be navigated around a course. These teams also had to prepare a skit to describe "the action", had to prepare methods to respond to technical challenges during the skit (change a tire, lift the vehicle without touching it), etc... Our crazy neighbor's daughter is on a team from Hamilton that won 1st place in the elementary school division for this Challenge and is going to state.

Another challenge involved studying 12 modes of transportation, and then, on the day of the competition, the team is given a scenario around which they have 30 minutes to create a six-minute long improv skit incorporating 1 mode of transportation chosen by the judges, as well as other creative elements. Another challenge involves building a bridge from lightweight materials, estimating how much weight it can support during the team challenge, and creating a skit which involves "bridges (or connections) which exist between two cultures". You get the idea.

Austin's team chose to participate in "Live: It's RaDIo DI!" Their challenge involved creating an 8-minute skit telling a story via a live radio broadcast, incorporating live sound effect elements, an eccentric character and a commercial break. Immediately before their presentation, the judges give them a "breaking news headline". The team then had 1 minute to develop a "news story" around the headline, and figure out how to incorporate that "improv element" into their broadcast.

Their skit was "The Dr. Kookenstein Show", featuring Austin as Dr. Kookenstein, (speaking in a British accent, something I'm not sure I ever really grasped but something he did surprisingly well). As the broadcast begins, he and his assistant Hunchenstein had created a potion which turned two girls into a cat and monkey. It was interrupted with a commercial break and a news bulletin regarding the Empire State Building sinking (their improv element). Then, returning to the broadcast, the girls/animals proceeded to escape from the Dr's laboratory, followed by a comedic encounter with Labbott and Marcello, who proceeded to confuse the Dr. and H-stein with their "cat's on 1st street, monkey's on second" routine, followed by the girls/animals and the Dr. & H getting into a brawl on 2nd street where the broadcast came to a cliffhanging conclusion. The broadcast was enhanced with sound effects ranging from a homemade rainstick, keyboard, splashing in water, buzzers, corks uncorking, balloons popping, and many others. If you didn't follow all that, it's okay. It all made sense as you watched it unfold.

The Crazy Craniums, as they named their team, included 3 boys and 4 girls from the 4th grade at Hamilton. They won a "Renaissance Award" for best set design. The judges cited their creation of a wall (4'x6'x1" thick styrofoam sheet) which separated the radio station on one side from a living room on the other. The living room side of the set featured two of the girls listening to the broadcast on an old time radio they made, and a cuckoo clock on the wall with a cuckoo bird which popped out of the clock (a dowel rod stuck through the wall from the radio station side with a cuckoo bird on the end) to announce the time for the "Dr. Kookenstein" show to begin. They were the ONLY team of nearly 100 in the Gulf Coast region (including jr. high and high school teams) which incorporated listeners into their broadcast, and did it in an ingenious way.

Oh, and they also won 2nd place in the elementary school level, which allows them to go to the State Competition in Lubbock! Texas Tech is hosting the tournament April 8-9th, and everyone should come! I mean, haven't you all just been looking for any excuse to spend a weekend in Lubbock, Texas! (It's truly beautiful in springtime. Unless it's snowing. Or there's a tornado. Or a dust storm. Weevils can be a problem sometimes, sure...)

Two quick observations about Austin's response to their victory. He was so excited by their winning 2nd place, that when the other students from his school started chanting "Ham-il-ton, Ham-il-ton", Austin turned to them, (away from the judges presenting the trophy and medals), and begin raising his arms in the air to encourage/lead their chanting - in front of a gymnasium filled with about 1,000 students and adult partners(!) So swept up in this glorious moment was he, that upon returning to where the team were sitting, he realized he had forgotten to get his medal. With somewhat less panache, he slipped up to one of the judges a few minutes later and explained his bone-headedness.

The second observation involved Austin's "we're going to Disneyland" moment. When we got down to the gym floor after all the prizes were awarded, Austin was talking to one of the two other boys on the team. He was obviously very excited, and very hoarse. After hugs and congratulations, he turned to his friend Cameron and whispered, "Dude - we get to ride on a bus with a toilet".

Ah, the simple things...

The Boomerang & The Boy Who Belonged to Himself

Bedtime at our house is fairly consistent.

Austin ("The Boomerang" as we like to call him) gets put to bed about 8:30. Then, for the next 30-45 minutes, he experiences severe dehydration (up to get a refill on his water), remembers school work due tomorrow (up to tell Mom), obsesses over "something" stuck in his tooth (up to floss), worries about me going to bed before he falls asleep and turning off all the lights (up to ask me how late I'll be up), and otherwise creates a dozen or more "reasons" to get out of bed over and over.

He asks me to "snuggle" with him every night - usually I do, sometimes not. When I do, we lie down in his bed, he spoons right up against me, and then starts in with the questions. Or he tells me stuff that happened that day at school, often involving girls who are tormenting him, conflicts on the playground, or the various and many shortcomings of his teachers. No matter how much the world has changed in 30 years, I'm sure my last bedtime thoughts as a 4th grader were probably about awful girls, dumb teachers and recess, too.

When he was little, he used to want me to sing to him, or tell him a story about when I was little: his favorites were always the ones involving his Uncle Steve and me getting into trouble with his Grandpa. (There are several of that variety!) For a while, he used to want me to make up a story, usually involving characters from the Harry Potter books. I'd start making up some nonsense about terrible and outrageous misfortune, and he'd laugh and beg me to tell him more. Many nights, Shelley would hear us giggling 30 minutes past his bedtime, and would have to come in and remind us both 'tomorrow's a school day' or some other responsible thing. He loved to be rocked and sung to when he was a baby. I guess he still needs that, in a bigger, cooler way, of course.

Braden ("The Boy Who Belonged to Himself" as we like to call him, a reference from Shelley's childhood book "Mister Dog" - which he loves) has his customs, too. He only wants Mommy now, at bedtime or most of the rest of the day for that matter. Needless to say, Shelley is ready for me to take over with Braden by bedtime, and I try every night to initiate the sleep sequence. I usually succeed in getting his underwear exchanged for a pull-up, get the pj's on, teeth brushed. Occasionally I get to read him a few books. But by the time the lamp by his bed is turned out, he wants me to "go vay", and (here's my favorite) "keen kitchen da-ee".

Let me explain. When I was still allowed to put him to bed (books, songs, tuck in) he used to ask for "mo sawns" every time I said it was time to go to sleep. I would say "okay, one more song", each time telling him "this is the last song then Braden has to go to sleep". "Kay da-ee," would come the reply, and then we would repeat the cycle. I eventually could get away by telling him I had to go clean the kitchen. For some reason, that was okay and he would roll over and go to sleep.

Now, he doesn't want even one "mo sawn", and he directs me to "keen kitchen" as soon as I get him covered up. If I do start to sing a song, (usually "Sunshine on my Shoulders" by John Denver, his favorite and the song he asks Shelley to play EVERY time they are in the car together), he will interrupt me and say "seen yeow bird da-ee". (Yeow is pronounced like "yellow" if you removed the l's and made it one syllable.) I start to sing "yellow bird, high up in banana tree", but always stop short sometime around "banana", sputter and say "that's not Daddy's song, that's Mommy's song". For reasons known only to my two year old, this cracks him up, every night, without fail. He will laugh and cover his mouth like we've done something we shouldn't have. Then "keen kitchen".

Regardless of how bad my day has been, or how rotten the boys have behaved, the first time I check on them after they have fallen asleep causes instant amnesia and I am overwhelmed by their absolute sweetness and innocence. They will always be babies when they sleep...