NRU

Many yummy things come out of Oakland ... wish they got more press like this.

I don't think this is what we thought global warming would look like... but it is possibly more heartbreaking than those dust bowl scenarios.  I think we are courting disaster either way ... and we don't see our part in it at all.

I have an uncle who moved to the high desert a long time ago because he was stationed out there, but he never came back.  Whenever I asked him why, he always told me that Oxnard was going to fall into the ocean and he would have beach front property some day.  Well, that has never come to pass, but it looks like the geologists are starting to side with my uncle now... time to head for the hills?

Hooray for BEES! I love them probably because I have never been stung, so I don't have the sense to fear them.  All I can think of are those pollen crazy bees rolling around in the middle of beautiful poppies at the Getty Center.  HOORAY FOR BEES!

This is heartbreaking, and not just because I worked for an organization whose stated goal was to close the gap.

Well, this NRU has taken a dark turn, and I grudgingly include this here because the story has emerged (again) due to the suicide cluster in an affluent, overachieving part of Silicon Valley. The truth is, as the article points out, this is not a problem only for the rich or the smart, it is an issue for all teenagers.  I loved the best advice this psychologist (M. Levine) offered to parents on On Point: say no more often. Children need to learn, from an early age, that they cannot have what they want all the time, right away, or even, sometimes at all.  It is an adult's job to teach children that it is not, in fact, the end of the world when things are not just right, right now.  We should also help children to understand that waiting for things to pass/happen is also a way of the world.  For all of you that think that kids will pick up on this on their own, meander over to an elementary school and have a candid conversation with the principal about the kinds of "behavior" problems he/she witnesses every day.  It is our job as adults, and primarily that of parents, so, yes, the fingers will be pointing directly at you - get used to it, or do something about it with your children. [Getting off the soapbox - the great thing about the blog is being able to spout off knowing that hardly anyone reads it, therefore, many tiny feelings intact in my non-internet circle of people.]

Ok, in an attempt to take us back into the light, a little pop culture that is Los Angeles inspired but the story is really about Mexico and a band called Mexrissey -- and this is really for Joel, who if he hasn't seen this, would LOVE it.  Taken me so long to post this, here is the follow up on how it went.