More NRU

This will break your heart, but I am so thankful for this mother's gift of honesty.  I don't know what the answer is... and neither does she, but she is certainly correct in saying that it is a conversation that we must have.  Not, of course, to the exclusion of the gun control discussion ... but, yes, we can't get anywhere without this discussion.  And, let me say, that this is, indeed, the kind of discussion that academia can help us with.  I saw Tanya Luhrman talking about her comparative work on mental illness, and I think there is something about the way we deal with it that is causing the problem.

I read these two pieces on some low income students at Ivies ... with pain and elation.  On the one hand, I wish that it were not true that they had to go through this.  On the other hand, I hold a tremendous amount of hope reading their words. I sincerely hope that they both hold on to their ability to see and tell it like it is.  Being at the Ivies tends to soften views on the harshness we see when we get there... hold on to that edge.

On a much lighter note, this story is about a small town outside of Madrid (Spain not NM) and the issue they have with dog people not picking up the poop.

I wish that our elected officials had this much integrity -- to stand behind what they believe and do something about gun control.  I know that this is a drop in the bucket, but it is more than nothing ... and the fact that the citizens did it matters ... now we need to use that same fire in our bellies to get the elected folks to understand that we mean it.

The Los Angeles Times has been teasing me with this story for what seems like weeks ... I hope you can open it. It's a winner.  Sending lots of love to James, his mom, grandpa and siblings: that is what family is all about.

I love bears, love them. I wish I had seen them in the wild ... and am hoping that it will happen some day. I loved this story about how the SoCal Bad News Bears came to be... that redhead momma with her two cubs will steal your heart any day.  This town in northern NM has an interesting relationship with the bears, too.

UPDATE:  Forgot to post up this one before I published...  This man's story begs us to also reconsider what we know, don't know, and do for people with autism.  Why can't we figure out how to build on people's strengths?