Messages in celluloid...

I have a cousin who is much younger than me; when he was little, his proclivity for running around the house in his underwear earned him the nickname "SpongeBob No-Pants." Predictably, he hated it and often proclaimed his disgust for the show.

SpongeBob SquarePants debuted 10 years ago this spring. If you were to tell me that 10 years ago, I would have dismissed it out of hand. I was still babysitting then and well-versed in kids shows. I'd seen SBSQ and thought it was stupid, bordering on occasionally gross. But James Parker wrote an article in the June issue of "The Atlantic" that made me re-examine the show more closely for meaning I had not previously attributed to SpongeBob. 

That article pushed me toward re-thinking other cartoons and looking for lessons hidden in the technicolor. Sneaky adults, trying to sandwich morality between mythical blue creatures wearing white mushroom-shaped hats and multi-colored bears with magical powers in their tummies...

Yahoo! News had an article this morning on a movie remake of "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" that is in the works. Studios are trying to ride the rodent wave begun with "Ratatouille" and continued by "The Tale of Desperaux" and "G-Force." I have to confess, when I read the Newbery medal-winning book years ago, I had a hard time with it. The feeling of having to slog through it comes back to me. I think I struggled to keep all the rats straight. However, as the article pointed out, refreshing my memory, the story - Mrs. Frisby needing the help of former lab rats to move her sick son and escape from imminent death-by-farmer's plow - does have a distinct parable regarding evolution and community about  in it. 

I wish the subject of my last story had been around when I was younger. The New York Times previewed a new web-based (the things they come up with these days...) cartoon-series that will "air" on the AOL website and feature an animated version of super-investor Warren Buffet. The series, called "The Secret Millionaires Club," aims to teach 6-11 year-olds how to be responsible with money and avoid pitfalls like credit cards and impatient investing. While I had no credit cards and no concept of the stock market when I was younger, kids do these days, and it's a smart move to arm them with information now, while they are still adaptable enough to absorb it. 

(Image courtesy of the New York Times)

California dreamin'...

As I write this, the sun is straining to get through a solid white curtain of clouds. It's brighter than it has been in days, and there is the rumor of sunshine and temperatures in the 70's this afternoon. I know I've been a little (and by a little, I mean a lot) obsessed with the weather lately, but I have seriously never experienced three straight weeks of rain before. It was very disconcerting. 

So in celebration of the potential end of dreary, I have found some stories about the Golden State and/or its citizens. I have only been there once - to San Francisco/Stanford for an NCAA women's tennis regional - but I really liked it and plan to go back to San Francisco. Sorry, Mom. Between pit bulls and earthquakes, you just can't win. : )

While Mrs. Obama was in the city by the Bay to promote the President's new national volunteering initiative, Sasha and Malia inaugurated a new cable car with their grandmother. According to msnbc.com, they rode from Nob Hill to Lombard Street, the "crookedest street in the world." 

The San Diego Union-Tribune had a cute little piece on a recent dog surfing competition that was part of the Purina Challenge. Sadly their weather looks like ours, but the story was adorable, with little features on some of the dogs competing in each of the size categories. 

A man who can make an unwashed, eye-liner-wearing pirate hot is certainly something. Turns out actor Johnny Depp is also living proof you can be really, really ridiculously good-looking and a nice person. In Chicago to celebrate the premiere of his latest movie, he and a group of co-stars and other movie people went out to dinner until the wee hours of the morning at a steakhouse. To compensate his waiter for working so late, Depp gave the man a $4000 tip on a $4400 bill (Yahoo! News)

The LA Times has a great, three-page story on Khadijah Williams, a homeless student who used her own initiative and intelligence to get herself a spot at Harvard for the fall. This young woman has an inner strength and drive that people three times her age should admire. To be that self-aware so young and to make the connections between her goals and how to get there is phenomenal. 

(Photo courtesy of the San Diego Union-Tribune)

Back to the Future...

Up until last summer I lived my life in academic years. Both my parents were teachers and from when I was three on, I went to school. I graduated college and started working at the university level in athletics, so I basically just stayed in school. Ten months into my current 9-5, corporate setting job I finally feel like I'm living in a normal calendar year. But 23 years of school - God that's a frightening thought - have left me with a fondness for the month of June and that "last day of school" feeling. 

It is graduation season, and ABC News' website had a story on this year's crop of graduation speakers who have the challenge of coming up with something to say to college grads who are facing the worst job market/economy in many, many years. That is not a task I would want. My speaker, way back in 2004 when the getting was still good, spent 20 minutes of my life talking about his research on the Human Genome Project (for which he did not get credit, he was keen to note) with bitterness dripping from every word, much like the monsoon that was falling on our heads. I would have preferred JK Rowling or Big Bird. The speakers this year seem to have struck a good balance of realism and optimism.

This next story is a follow-up to one I had recently on Myron Rolle. He too travels around the country speaking to high-schoolers about his life and the choices he made to get to be a star safety and Rhodes Scholar. The Wisconsin State Journal details a speech he gave to African-American high-school seniors in Madison about the necessity of education in reaching your goals. The child of two teachers and a fan of learning myself, I don't care what color you are or if you play a sport...Rolle's message is a good one.

Both the graduation speakers and Myron Rolle talk about having hope for and in your future. One little Iraqi girl is on the road to having a hopeful future herself after being blinded in a roadside bombing that killed her mother. She and her father flew to England, according to the Palestine Telegraph, to for her to have reconstructive surgery and receive prosthetic eyes. For all the PC-ness in the US we forget the rest of the world still views disfigurement and disability as something akin to leprosy. Because of the generosity of Sunday Times readers who donated money, the little girl can now have a chance to be a productive member of Iraqi society.

(Photo Credit: AP)

Taking off the crankypants...

For the last few days I've been very cranky. Since I'm not four, I have refrained from stomping my feet and screaming; instead, I had the adult version of a tantrum - sulking, not talking to others and taking out the stupidest things on other people who didn't deserve my nonsense. The reasons for being cranky varied, but it became clear this morning while reading an interview on msnbc.com that all of those "reasons" were pathetic when compared to things other people have going wrong in their lives.

Bob Woodruff was a journalist embedded in Iraq when he suffered brain damage after being caught in a roadside blast. He developed aphasia, which results when damage occurs to the part of the brain that affects speech. Here was a man who made his life's work explaining what was happening in the world to other people, and now he couldn't form the sentences he wanted to? Fortunately, Woodruff recovered and is now using his fame and reach to help wounded soldiers and their families receive the help and medical care they may not get using just their own resources. 

The city of Montreal is taking a novel approach to reducing, reusing and recycling its own resources. United Press International had a story earlier this month on the new Bixi program in Montreal. Members of the subscription service can pick up city-owned and maintained bicycles, ride them wherever they need to go and then return them to kiosks. You can do this as many times as you want per day. The pick up/return stations are all solar-powered, so they can be placed all over the city without the need to dig up anything. It's kinda like ZipCar but better for the environment and your health. 

A group of 293 fourth- through eighth-graders proved children are still very interested in improving their intelligence. Last night Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas, was crowned the champion of the 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, she earned the honor after correctly spelling Laodicean, which means halfhearted in respect to religion or politics. Nearly all of the words in this article cited as ones the kids had to spell would have been too difficult for me, so hats off. While it's unfortunate most kids are attracted only by glitz to pursuits that used to be attractive in and of themselves, I'm glad the bee had a good time slot on a major network so it will continue to attract children's interest.

(Photo credit: Philly.com)

School daze...

I've commented before on how many mothers with strollers and people with dogs I've seen walking around my neighborhoods now the weather has turned nice. I'm even hitting the pavement more now that I don't need to add six layers of clothing just to avoid losing a limb to frost bite. 

Aside from mamas and mutts, one thing that has struck me since I started my current job (and thus started commuting in the opposite direction of before) is the amount of kids who walk to school in one of the more affluent neighborhoods I drive through. Growing up where walking to school simply wasn't an option unless I really wanted the pioneer experience and rose with the dawn, the sight of middle- and high-schoolers walking to school took me aback. I thought that went the way of soda parlors and drive-in movies. 

Redding.com notes a school district in California that is pushing for a comeback for strolling to class. I'm not entirely sure what qualifications you need to be a "walking expert" (putting one foot in front of the other with minimal falling over seems to be a given), but the article cites the wisdom of such luminaries in explaining why the enforced exercise not only saves money but turns the children into better students. 

The brilliant resiliency of children was highlighted by boston.com today in a story perfectly titled "From Heavy Hearts, a Song Soars." While waiting for his morning school bus, 15 year-old Soheil Turner was shot dead; his killer remains unidentified. His school, Warren-Prescott in Charlestown, is a combined elementary and middle school, and many of the students and teachers had known him for years. While still grieving for the loss of their friend, the school chorus boarded a bus the next day for a choir competition at an amusement park. Their rendition of "What a Wonderful World" blew away the judges and the competition - which consisted of middle and high school choirs much more established and accomplished then Warren-Prescott. Several W-P soloists and musicians won individual awards as well. 

Escambia County in Florida recently held its 15th annual Cox Inspirational Hero Celebration honoring 40 kindergarten through high school students for overcoming all sorts of barriers from language to physical disability (you may have to scroll down a bit; the picture is not showing up on my computer so I'm not sure if it works). First of all, it's awesome this is the 15th year they're doing this, and second of all, make sure you read the bios of two of the children who won a big award. They're sweet and sure to bring a smile to your face. 

(Photo credit: www.crh.noaa.gov)